ed into pure and everlasting love. I shall speak to Elizabeth on the subject, though, Heaven knows, her opinion is just worth as much as that of squire Burrows."

CHAPTER II.

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"I THINK, my dear," said sir Henry, the same evening to his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Graves, as Clementina and Frederick were playing, or rather amusing themselves, at chess, " it is time to separate these children, to avoid the disagreeable, if not unhappy, consequences that may follow an early attachment. They are, to be sure, but children; Frederick is let me see, eleven years last June, and Clementina nearly ten-children, indeed; but they must be separated. The subject has pressed itself upon me for some time past, but particularly within the last twenty-four hours. Clementina must be sent to town, where alone she can acquire those qualifications which belong to her rank in life; and Frederick must be placed at some public school. We cannot help feeling, indeed, the absence of the pleasures which we enjoy at present in their society; but the consciousness of neglecting the duties which we owe them, you as a guardian, and I as a parent, would be a source of still greater uneasiness, and consequently it becomes us to endure those lighter evils which generally precede all permanent advantages."

- Indeed, sir Henry," replied his sister, "you are giving way to unnecessary apprehensions, in suspecting for a moment that these two innocents are forming any other attachment for each other than what children of their age usually do. Besides, when they grow up, they will know what belongs to

their respective ranks. I have always studied to imbue the mind of Clementina with a proper sense of her own importance; and I begin to perceive that my lessons are not lost upon her, and that she already indicates a just sense of family pride. She will never think of attaching herself, therefore, to one whose birth is unknown, and whose connexions, perhaps, are of the lowest description. Even Frederick himself, who, whatever be his birth, possesses a great share of common sense, will never presume to violate the hospitality of your roof, by aspiring to the hand of your daughter, when once he becomes acquainted with the vast difference between him and Clementina, in birth, rank, and fortune. As for sending"

"I am surprised, Elizabeth," interrupted sir Henry, "that you, who never read any thing in your life but novels and romances-pardon me, I except your Bible and Prayer-Book, to which I must own you are zealously attached. -I am surprised, I say, that you, who have read so many novels and works of fiction, would not feel more alarm on this occasion than I should, who deduce all my knowledge of human life from common experience, and the small circle of events which it presents to an individual observer. You cannot forget the many instances related in these works, of young people, who, from an early attachment, have broken through all the barriers which birth, rank, and fortune, opposed to their wishes. That these relations existed only in the idealisms of an imaginary world, I am willing to allow; but you must recollect, that they are not merely potential, having been frequently realized in actual life. Whenever these relations confine themselves, therefore, within the strict precincts of probability, practical wisdom will surely point out to us the necessity of being guided by the precepts which they inculcate.

culcate. For my own part, I must confess that I am no admirer of novels, and therefore do not feel myself qualified to decide how nearly the copies which they give us of human life approach the originals from which they are drawn. I am, however, inclined to think that they are, like all other productions of the human mind, capable of being rendered subservient to all the purposes of vice and virtue. Abstract excellence can have no existence, and can only revel in the speculations of metaphysical theories. Every thing is excellent only as it is excellently applied; and virtue is only a dream, till it is reduced to practice. Novels are, therefore, neither good nor bad, abstracted from the manner in which they are executed; and whenever they afford us lessons of practical wisdom, he only is wise who is guided by the examples which they place before him. We need not, however, resort to romantic history, to enable us to deter