pleasure which may be the fourfold reward promised in Scripture to the comforter of the afflicted.

Her story was very interesting. After having related to me some circumstances connected with her situation and her marriage, she spoke of her feelings when she heard of her husband's death. "I had long expected my husband home," she continued," and every day, from morning until night, and from night till morning, I had listened in the hope of hearing his footsteps on the stair; as I looked, with those feelings which none but a mother and a wife can know, upon my baby's face, and asked myself to which of the two he would first give his embrace. On the night I received the information that my child was an orphan and I was a widow, I was sitting by my fireside, and expecting him every moment. My little one was sleeping in his cradle; and, as I had done every day for weeks before, I had laid his clothes before the fire to air, in order that he might change them when he came home. I had but one shilling in the world, and that shilling I had kept untouched for many days, that I might be enabled to procure him something to eat or to drink on his return. I heard a footstep, but I knew it was not his, and a gentle knock upon the door; when the clerk of the owner of my husband's vessel came in. I thought his visit was to inform me of the arrival of the vessel: with a slowness of apprehension that made the blow fall heavier, I understood none of his hints; and it was with some difficulty that the young gentleman could make me conscious of the dreadful event.

"When my reason returned, I fell upon my knees and poured out my whole soul in communion with my Creator. Blessed be his name, he gave me strength to bear the calamity that I thought had left me no other friend-blessed be his name, he enabled me to remember, that 'whom he loveth he chasteneth,' and that often

Behind a frowning Providence

He hides a smiling face.

I flew to my Bible, and I sought and found consolation in the word of Him, who hath promised to be a father to my fatherless babe.

"I calmly took his clothes from before the fire, and laid them carefully in the drawer; kissed my little one; and prayed to God more tranquilly than I had before done. I did not want even for earthly friends; the members of our society had heard of, and pitied my misfortune, and they visited me in my distress. In a few days afterward I received the subscription of the benevolent friends, although strangers, at Penzance. It will enable me to form some plan of support for myself and my orphan, and the God of mercy will bless my exertions."

ANONYMOUS,

ALCANDER AND SEPTIMIUS.

ATHENS, even long after the decline of the Roman empire, still continued the seat of learning, politeness, and wisdom. The emperors and generals, who in these periods of approaching ignorance still felt a passion for science, from time to time added to its buildings, or increased its professor、

ships. Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, was of the number; he repaired those schools which barbarity was suffering to fall into decay, and continued those pensions to men of learning which avaricious governors had monopolized to themselves.

In this city, and about this period, Alcander and Septimius were fellow students together. The one the most subtle reasoner of all the Lyceum; the other the most eloquent speaker in the academic grove. Mutual admiration soon begot an acquaintance, and a similitude of disposition made them perfect friends. Their fortunes were nearly equal, their studies the same, and they were natives of the two most celebrated cities in the world; for Alcander was of Athens, Septimius came from Rome.

In this mutual harmony they lived for some time together, when Alcander, after passing the first part of his youth in the indolence of philosophy, thought at length of entering into the busy world, and as a step previous to this, placed his affections on Hypatia, a lady of exquisite beauty. Hypatia showed no dislike to his addresses. The day of their intended nuptials was fixed, the previous ceremonies were performed, and nothing now remained but her being conducted in triumph to the apartment of the intended bridegroom.

An exultation in his own happiness, or his being unable to enjoy any satisfaction without making his friend Septimius a partner, prevailed upon him to introduce his mistress to his fellow student, which he did with all the gaiety of a man who found himself equally happy in friend

ship and love. But this was an interview fatal to the peace of both. Septimius no sooner saw her, but he was smit with an involuntary passion. He used every effort, but in vain, to suppress desires at once so imprudent and unjust. He retired to his apartment in inexpressible agony; and the emotions of his mind in a short time became so strong, that they brought on a fever, which the physicians judged incurable.

During this illness Alcander watched him with all the anxiety of fondness, and brought his mistress to join in those amiable offices of friendship. The sagacity of the physicians, by this means, soon discovered the cause of their patient's disorder; and Alcander, being apprized of their discovery, at length extorted a confession from the reluctant dying lover.

It would but delay the narrative to describe the conflict between love and friendship in the breast of Alcander on this occasion; it is enough to say, that the Athenians were at this time arrived to such refinement in morals, that every virtue was carried to excess. In short, forgetful of his own felicity, he gave up his intended bride, in all her charms, to the young Roman. They were married privately by his connivance ; and this unlooked-for change of fortune wrought as unexpected a change in the constitution of the now happy Septimius. In a few days he was perfectly recovered, and set out with his fair partner for Rome. Here, by an exertion of those talents of which he was so eminently possessed, he in a few years arrived at the highest dignities of the state, and was constituted the city judge, or prætor.

Meanwhile Alcander not only felt the pain of being separated from his friend and mistress, but a prosecution was also commenced against him by the relations of Hypatia, for his having basely given her up, as was suggested, for money. Neither his innocence of the crime laid to his charge, nor his eloquence in his own defence, was able to withstand the influence of a powerful party.

He was cast, and condemned to pay an enormous fine. Unable to raise so large a sum at the time appointed, his possessions were confiscated, himself stripped of the habit of freedom, exposed in the marketplace, and sold as a slave to the highest bidder.

A merchant of Thrace becoming his purchaser, Alcander, with some other companions of distress, was carried into the region of desolation and sterility. His stated employment was to follow the herds of an imperious master, and his skill in hunting was all that was allowed him to supply a precarious subsistence. Condemned to hope, less servitude, every morning waked him to renewal of famine or toil, and every change of season served but to aggravate his unsheltered distress. Nothing but death or flight was left him, and almost certain death was the conse quence of his attempting to fly. After some years of bondage, however, an opportunity of escaping offered; he embraced it with ardour, and travelling by night, and lodging in caverns by day, to shorten a long story, he at last arrived in Rome. The day of Alcander's arrival, Septimius sat in the forum administering justice; and hither our wanderer came, expecting to be