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society. Charles could not help eyeing his old friend with secret sentiments of regard, and beholding her mind at present unfettered, and her heart lively and gay, untouched by any influence of passion, and superior to the weakness of the sex, he could not help thinking in his mind of the change which a few years might produce, and the sentiments contained in the following lines passed through his mind :—

Untouched by love, the meadow's breast

Is like the snow on Rona's crest;

High seated in the middle sky,
In bright and barren purity.

But by the sun beams gently kiss'd,
Scarce by the gazing eye 'tis miss'd,
Ere down the lonely valley stealing,

Fresh grass and growth its course revealing;
It cheers the flocks, revives the flower,

And decks some happy shepherd's bower.

The little party now proceeded in their walk, and soon arrived at the house of their acquaintance, Mr. Ashfield; Mr. Hadley rapped, and Mr. Ashfield, who had beheld their approach through his window, was soon at the door. "Welcome, friend Hadley,," said he; "you are come, I hope as usual, to breakfast with me. I hope you and your friends will enjoy it after your fine morning's walk." "No sooner said than done. Come, Mrs. A.," said he, "here is our friend Hadley, and a promising youth from college, and his sprightly daughter Marian. Put on the coffee, bring in the fresh butter, and some new milk, cream, and eggs, and ham, and let us enjoy ourselves." The maids were all busy in an instant, and the fragrant beverage soon graced his hospitable board.

Now here I must introduce to the reader something of

the private character of these friends. They were homely people who had retired from business upon their seven hundred per annum ; but were so attached to good old Mr. Newton, that they regularly attended St. Mary Woolnoth's every Sunday, though at the distance of two miles, where they regularly shook hands with their present visitor. But though such professors of religion, they were fond of the card table, but more fond of wealth and power, on which they prided themselves; there was little, therefore, of spirituality in their conversation; and little of mercy and charity towards those who had acted imprudently and erred from the right way. Of this the reader will be convinced by the following dialogue :

"And pray," said Mr. H., "have you lately heard of your unfortunate daughter-your only child?" "Yes," said Mr. A., kindling with rage; "we have heard and known too much of her. We support her brats at a distant school in Yorkshire, where their unprincipled father is also gone; but we have taken her in; here she is hanging a burthen upon us; but if ever that fellow returns we shall turn her out, and they may both starve together." "She is now at home, then ?" said Mr. H. "Let us see her; perhaps we may be the means of instructing her, and giving a favourable impression of religion." "O no" was the reply. "Nothing will reclaim her from her perverseness; she has even been on the stage, and hates religion and all religious people." Charles thought to himself, "perhaps it was your unkindness and brutish behaviour which riveted her prejudices; if religion had come to her in a smiling form and courted her attention, she might have embraced her as a guardian angel!"

At the desire of the party Mrs. Pearson was called down; and all were struck with the melancholy beauty of her countenance, and the elegance and suavity of her

manners, and the politeness of her conversation, so much in contrast with the repulsive behaviour of her parents.

She engaged the principal attention of the party. The hostile conduct of her parents, who seemed to delight in wounding her feelings by the most poignant allusions and gross remarks, excited the compassion of the visitors, and they begged Mr. A. to allow her to form one of their party on their pedestrian excursion to Enfield ; to which, with an evident reluctance, he at length roughly consented. "Yes, Mary, you may go; take her with you. I do not care what you do with her, so that you will but reform her and make her dislike her husband as much as I do."

The party thus increased, walked away from Mr. A's house, and were no sooner out of sight, than they endeavoured to interest and soothe the mind of Mrs. Pearson, and expressing their surprise at the unkindness of her parents, they requested, if not unpleasant, that she would give them a succinct narrative of, her history. That," said she, “I shall, delight to do in my own defence; for after the remarks you have heard from my worthy parents I wonder you should admit me into your company." She then proceeded as follows:

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CHAPTER XIII.

THE HISTORY OF MRS. PEARSON.

I SHALL date the first page of my misfortunes with my being sent, like other daughters of wealthy tradesmen, to a very fashionable boarding school, where, whatever other improvement I gained, I certainly acquired a taste for dress and fashionable amusements. The theatre and the dance became my delight; and though I was a great favourite with the Rev. John Newton, and with other religious friends in the vacations, yet I contributed more to their amusement by my sprightliness, than I gained spiritual benefit from their example and instructions. My parents, who professed to be numbered amongst the religious class of the community, should assuredly have guarded, in the outset, against my imbibing a taste for the world and its pleasures, if they meant I should move in a religious circle. But devoted as they were to the sole object of getting money, they left me without inquiry to the uncontrouled direction of the amiable but fashionable managers of the boarding school.

My father was so delighted, upon my return from school, with his ruddy-faced, little romping daughter, that he indulged me in the perusal of every romantic tale, delighted to hear me read them, and would laugh and cry with me as he smoked his pipe, and listened to the delu.

sive page. My mother was so engaged in attending methodist meetings and religious assemblies, and in railing at her neighbours, that she seldom noticed my proceedings except with a forbidding frown, and a hope, that one day sovereign and distinguishing grace, as by miracle, would descend upon me in my walks, and turn me in a moment Zion-ward. But when she came to rail at me and my drawings, and my music, and to denounce my books, which were to her all vanity and folly, as she was totally devoid of the smallest taste for the fine arts, she made up for weeks of cold neglect by the fury of her attacks, when passion converted into disgusting deformity a face which was naturally handsome, and her unchristian rage was indulged as pious zeal and holy jealousy. My father, with a good-natured imprudence, endeavoured to make up for these ill tempers by taking me much into company, and frequently to a dance, from whence his principles should have restrained me. And by taking me to a ball at Wilton's rooms, he laid the foundation of years of unhappiness to himself, to my mother, and to me. For there I met with the handsome and accomplished William Pearson, whose polished and elegant manners and fascinating attentions won my heart.

The next day he called and made a favourable impression upon my parents; but, as soon as they learned that he had no wealth and no prospects, they despised him as a fortune hunter and forbid him the house.

My mother's eyes were now opened to the imprudence of their conduct, and she pronounced in a fury the hard and sovereign prohibition of my ever going to a dance again. In vain my father attempted to expostulate; the law, which was to be that of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not, was passed irrevocably, and no persuasions could prevail upon her to reverse it. In vain

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