that my want of scientific knowledge was a sad drawback KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. I was now able to undertake work of a much more profitable kind than what I could have done, before I received the instructions of that most excellent Professor, who also did all in his power to recommend me as a tradesman to his acquaintances. By these means I soon made as much as enabled me to retire from all concern with business. Let me add that feasting, drinking, gaming, or companykeeping were never included in my pursuits. I therefore at an advanced age enjoy excellent health and spirits, and walk about at my ease. All these advantanges are within the reach of every workman, if he will only abstain from ale, porter, whisky, &c. What a contrast this is to the generality of workmen when age overtakes them. Even at 40 or 50, do we not find them generally useless for any good purpose. Both body and mind enfeebled by the almost constant use of that accursed beverage, whisky. I beg to add, that while I was a journeyman, I was made to suffer all the petty persecution possible from my shop-mates, because I would not join them in their debasing pursuits. I am now the only one alive out of 23 journeymen who were in that work in 1788-9. Thus I have had a good reward for having in time avoided that vile practice of drinking and idling; and having accustomed myself to hard labour when young, I found as I advanced in life that it was no hardship at the age of 60 to do the hardest work in my line. THE CORN LAWS, alias THE BREAD TAX. Besides prohibiting duties, there are the Corn Laws, for the protection of what is called the agricultural interest, or, in plain parlance, for swelling the rental of the landlord. It appears from the resolutions submitted to the House of Commons by Lord Milton, that the average price of wheat in England, in the year ending February, 1830, had been 64s. 2d. per quarter. The average price on the Continent and in America, during the same period, had been 46s. 3d. per quarter. Now, if there were no restrictions on the importation of corn, the price in England would be nearly the same as in Poland or the United States; but, in consequence of the boroughmongering tax, the price is about 20s. per quarter higher: so that if the annual consumption of corn by the community be 48 millions of quarters, they pay exactly so many pounds additional taxes, in order to swell the rents of the landowners. This tax, be it observed, is chiefly borne by those who are least able to bear itby that class which has been so long disfranchised, and whose consequent poverty now prevents them from availing themselves of the privileges with which the Reform Bill would otherwise invest them. It has been often and justly observed, that a tax upon bread is the most oppressive and unjust that could be imposed upon the industrious classes. The hard-working mechanic, that slaves from morning to night for a scanty support, consumes as much bread, individually, as the Marquess of Westminster, or the Duke of Buccleuch, with his 130,0007. per annum ; and the tradesman's family, when he can support them, eat more bread than the same number in the family of the wealthiest peer. HOW VANITY QUICKENETH THE SENSE OF HEARING. An old naval officer, had lost the hearing of one ear by the bursting of a cannon near him during an action, yet would the faintest echo of an encomium, designed for himself, strike upon the drum of the other, and qwaken his attention as acutely as the sound of a salute om the port guns of a foreign power. PROGRESS OF SCOTCH AGRICULTURE. During the first half of the last century agriculture was in the most miserable state throughout Scotland; but after the Union many of the most active spirits of the country being relieved from political turmoils, and their ambitious schemes of aggrandizement brought to an end by that event, turned their attention to agriculture. Among these Fletcher of Salton and Lord Belhaven, both of whom had eagerly opposed the Union, distinguished themselves by their example and by their writings. In 1733 the society of improvers was formed in Edinburgh, who exerted themselves to introduce the modes of culture then practised in the Low Countries and in England. The turnip husbandry, the first and most important of the improvements in modern agriculture, had been introduced into Norfolk by Lord Townsend from Hanover, whither he had accompanied George I. But the unsettled state of Scotland, the discontents about the malt tax, which broke out into open insurrection in 1725, and the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, impeded all the efforts of the society. Although, therefore, the practice of draining, enclosing, the cultivation of artificial grasses, turnips, and potatoes had been introduced by the middle of the last century to a limited extent in the south-east part of the kingdom, on the estates of some of the land proprietors who paid attention to agriculture, their example was not followed by the tenantry generally, who laboured under a great deficiency of capital, and who were unwilling to adopt changes till they saw them succeed when tried by men in their own rank. Green crops being almost unknown, fresh animal food could not be obtained during one half of the year. Each family salted in October or November its supply of beef till Whitsunday. If the cattle were alive in the spring, and able to In the west of Scotland agriculture was in a still more back. go to the pastures without assistance, it was thought sufficient. ward state. When Wight visited Wigtonshire, he found, as lite as 1777, that the rotation of crops, and the beneficial effects of the intervention of green crops among those of corn, were utterly unknown. The system there practised was to raise crops of oats and bear in perpetual succession; or, in order to avoid the thirlage on oats, from which the bear was exempted, one crop of oats, and three or four crops of bear were raised in succession. In Dumfries-shire there was only one road in 1774, that from Dumfries to Portpatrick, which had been made for military purposes fifteen years before that period. Wheat well fitted for its cultivation, as Clackmananshire, Forfarshire, was then little cultivated: it was very rare in many districts &c. In the county of Kirkcudbright bear was grown on the same land in perpetual succession. On the outfield land a return of three for one was considered a fair crop of oats, and three bolls of oats only produced one boll of meal. The barley was so mixed with the seeds of noxious weeds, that the ale made from it produced a narcotic effect on persons not accustomed to drink it. Ayrshire, where the management of the dairy is at present so well understood, is thus described, in "The farm-houses are mere hovels, having an open hearth, a fire place in the middle of the floor, the dunghills at the door, the cattle starving, the people wretched. There are no fallows, no green crops, no artificial grass, no carts, or waggons, and hardly a potato or esculent root. When the late Mr. Barclay succeeded to the estate of Ury, in Kincardineshire, in 1760, there was no road upon it, and consequently, neither carts nor wheel carriages in use. The use of lime, as a manure, was unknown. In the Highland districts, matters were still worse. The land was scourged by a repetition of graincrops, till it refused to bear any longer. Weeds and natural grasses were then allowed to accumulate for a number of years, till the ground gained such heart, as fitted it for a renewal of the former exhausting process. The natural pastures, which were 1750: free to all the community, were, at the same time, overstocked lument. Order being now restored throughout the country, with cattle, and numerous deaths were thus occasioned and justice impartially administered in every district by the every winter. Farms were let to the whole body of King's judges, a change rapidly took place in the moral chatenants in each town or village in run-rig. The subdi- racter of the people. The laziness, the want of industry, and visions or ridges of the farm passing into the hands of the of business habits of the Scotch, are remarked by the English joint tenants in succession, each person had only a temporary travellers at the end of the 17th century. Things seem to have interest in the portion which he happened to hold, and had no been much in the same state as they are in Ireland at present. prospective benefit to induce him to ameliorate it. Agricul- The industry, perseverance, and many of the other good qualities ture, in short, was unknown, and a few black cattle roamed for which the Scotch character is now distinguished, only date over extensive districts which now bring ample revenues to their from the middle of the last century. The chief cause of the beneproprietors. Troops of banditti infested the Highland districts, ficial change of character, must be principally sought in the estaand the counties adjoining. It was usual to pay a sum of blishment of parochial schools. The first effectual provision for money annually to the leaders of these bands for the protection that object had been made during the usurpation by a statute in which the government was too weak to afford. The exacting the year 1646. It authorized a compulsory assessment on the of blackmail, for so the payment was called, was soon convert- heritors of each parish, for the building of a school-house, and ed into a means of extortion and rapine; and though an act the providing of a salary to a Schoolmaster. On the restoraexisted rendering the paying as well as taking of it a capital tion, however, this excellent statute was repealed, together with crime, yet the practice continued. There is still extant all the other laws passed during the Commonwealth, and it was a contract of Blackmail, dated as late as June, 1741, drawn not until the year 1696, that it was re-enacted. Its effects on out on stamped paper, in good formal style, and attested with the national character may be considered to have commenced all the solemnities of law, between James and John Grahame, at the union, though it was nearly half a century later till its elder and younger of Glengyle, and ten gentlemen of the coun- beneficial influence was fully felt. The seeds of agricultural ties of Perth, Stirling, and Dumbarton. By this deed the prosperity had been already sown by the Society of Improvers, Grahames engage, on receiving notice of the theft or robbery of and only required cultivation. This was not long wanting. any cattle, within 48 hours after the robbery, and in considera- Many Scotch officers had served in the army under the Duke of tion of an annual payment of L. 4 for every L. 100 of the valued Cumberland, in the low countries, and had there an opportunity rents of the lands subscribed for, either to restore the cattle of learning improved modes of agriculture. On their return within six months, or to pay their value to the owners. The home after the peace of 1748, many of them betook themselves deed is drawn with much precision, and the manuer of giving to farming, an art with which some of them had been acquaintintimation of the thefts, and the places where it is to be given, ed before entering the army; and they introduced the imare distinctly specified. It was, however, only intended to pro- proved system. Their example was followed much more readily vide against robberies on the great scale, for it is provided that than when it had been given by the landed proprietors. But the Grahames were not to be liable for pickeries, and the dis- the tenantry had not the stimulus which an increasing price of tinction between a theft and a pickery is accurately defined. corn is so much calculated to bestow. For a century and a "Declaring that one horse or black cattle stolen within or with-half, the prices had been singularly uniform. We have accurate out doors, or any number of sheep above six, shall be construed accounts of the prices of corn in Scotland, since the year 1627, to be a theft and not pickery." when the Sheriff Fiars, a system of judicially ascertaining the average prices for the year, by the examination of witnesses, before the Sheriff of the county, and a jury, was introduced. The prices so ascertained, are called the Fiars. From the year 1627, to the year 1699, a period of 73 years, the average fiar price of wheat, in East Lothian, was 15s. 63d. per boll, containing almost exactly half a Winchester quarter. From the year 1700, to the year 1735, the average is 14s. 54d. From 1736, to 1770, 14s. 6d. The account of the prices at the Windsor market exhibit a similar result, the fall from the year 1646 to 1770, amounting to about 20 per cent. The rents of land did not, therefore, increase in any appreciable degree, during the first half of the last century. "As an example, I have access to know that one large farmi in the Lothians, was let in the year 1728, at a rent payable in victual, with L. 100 Scots, or L.S. 6s. 8d. of money; and converting the former at the prices of these times, the whole amounted to L.430, a large rent in those days. In 1748, the lease was renewed with an addition to the money rent of L.2 12s. 6d., but with no other addition; and lastly, on the expiry of this lease, without any increase of rent whatever; and many other instances to the same effect might be given." Meantime, various attempts had been made to encourage industry, and to furnish the capital necessary for its successful exertion; but some of these attempts had, at first, an injurious effect. The Royal Bank was established in 1727, but the disputes which immediately arose between it and the Bank of Scotland were attended with the most disastrous consequences. Duncan Forbes of Culloden, then Lord Advocate, in writing to the Duke of Newcastle, 26th June, 1728, says, " At present, credit is run so low by a struggle between the two banks, that money can scarcely be found to go to market with." In 1731 another attempt was made by the Bank of Scotland to settle branches at Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, and Berwick, but they were all recalled in 1733. Such was the miserable state of manufactures and commerce, that imperfect as the state of agriculture was, Scotland then exported corn, and the exportation increased from 23,000 quarters in 1707 to 50,000 quarters in 1743. This fact shews that the cultivation of the soil had been somewhat improved; for the population of the country had increased about one-fifth, and the price of corn had rather fallen. The fall in the price of grain may, however, also be accounted for by a rise in the value of the precious metals during the first half of the last century, as supposed by Dr. Adam Smith; who shows that a fall in the price of grain had taken place in other countries, where no improvement in agriculture appears to have been made. Between the years 1760 and 1777, however, it appears from Wight's Agricultural Surveys, that most of the improvements of the Norfolk and Flemish Husbandry had been introduced into the south-eastern counties. From the great demand for agriculThe rebellion of 1745, though attended with much imme- tural produce occasioned by the increase of our population, and diate evil, proved ultimately of great benefit to Scotland. Be- of the wealth, and consequently of the consumption of the fore that event the English statesmen had overlooked Scotland, country, poorer soils were brought into cultivation, and the despising it as a poor barren country, hardly worthy of their amount of the rental of the southern counties, and probably of attention. The Rebellion showed, that it at least contained ma- the other parts of the kingdom, doubled in the period between terials of a highly dangerous nature, which it was absolutely 1774 and 1794. necessary to watch narrowly, and attention was thus directed to the means of turning the energies of the country to useful purposes. Among the evils which it was necessary speedily to eradicate, was the great power exercised over the lower orders by the proprietors of land. This is a circumstance remarked by many of the English travellers in the early part of the last century; and it was occasioned by the remains of the feudal system, and by many of the nobility and gentry possessing heritable jurisdictions, by which they were enabled, under colour of law, to oppress the lower orders. After much hesitation and opposition these jurisdictions were abolished in 1747; but not until their owners had exacted L.150,000 sterling from the public revenue, for giving up their right. At present it is necessary to pay judges to adminster the law, and we may judge what was the nature of the justice dealt out by these hereditary judges, when they considered their tribunals an object of emo This increase of the rents of land could only be occasioned by the great improvement of cultivation, for the rise in the price of grain was very inconsiderable. Thus the average price of wheat at Windsor market in the ten years ending with 1775 was L.2 11s. 34d. per quarter; and in the ten years ending with 1795, only 3s. higher. It will be observed this great rise took place before the passing of the Bank Restriction Act in 1797. It is well to remark this fact, because many writers now hold out, that the Restriction Act, by enabling the Bank of England to issue their notes in great quantities and depreciate the currency, and consequently to raise the prices of grain, was the great cause of the rapid progress of agriculture. After this period the price of corn continued rapidly to increase,-wheat rose repeatedly in England to L.6 per quarter, and the average of the eight years, ending with 1813, is L.5, 1s. 9d. In consequence of this great rise, combined with the improvements of agriculture, the rent of land continued rapidly to increase. This increase, in the sixteen years ending with 1811, cannot, in the corn counties, be estimated at less than 100 per cent. upon the rental of 1795. Thus the rental of Berwickshire, which was estimated at L.112,000 in 1795, appeared from the property tax returns, to be L.231,973 in 1811. The county of Renfrew had advanced from L.67,000. to L. 127,068; Edinburghshire, from L.134,575, to L.277,827. We thus see that in less than forty years, the rental of the farms in Scotland had been augmented fourfold. "On one of the largest estates in East Lothian, extensive farms, of a very mixed quality, which had been let on lease, at a rack-rent in 1793, were re-let in 1812 on leases of 21 years, and the rule by which the new rents were fixed, was 24 of the old." In six years, from 1806, to 1813, the rental of Kirkcudbrightshire, rose from L.167,125, to above L.200,000, or 25 per cent. But the increase of the value of stock farms, was still more extraordinary. The rental of Argyleshire was under L.20.000 in 1751. It had risen to L.89,000 in 1799, and to L. 192,000 in 1811. In Caithness there were many instances of farms bringing, in 1809, eight times the rent they had yielded in 1762. In Dumbartonshire, the increase on many farms was tenfold. In the period between 1667, when the valued rent of Scotland was taken, and 1811, the land rental of the whole kingdom increased fifteen fold; but the rental of Inverness, in the same period, was augmented thirty fold. Mr. Smith, in his Agricultural Survey of Galloway, published about twenty years ago, asserts, "that a variety of instances might be adduced, where the present rents of farms are equal to the prices paid for them in the memory of persons still living.' The great increase in the value of stock farms arose in a great degree from the introduction of sheep instead of the rearing of black cattle. The rental of the estate of Chisholm in Strathglass was L.700 in 1783, and in 1827. L.5000. The rental of the Glengary estates increased from L.800 in 1788 to L.6000 or L.7000 in 1827. The improvements in agriculture, and the large capitals which had been acquired by the tenantry, by enabling them to farm in the best manner, and to ameliorate the soil, greatly contributed to the increase of rents. restriction also, by continually raising the prices of grain, and by The bank enabling the bankers to lend large sums of money to the tenantry, had a great effect. The value of estates, particularly in the Highlands, rose enormously. In 1779, the estate of Castlehill, in Inverness-shire, was sold judicially for L.8000. In 1804 it brought L.60,000. In 1787, the barony of Lentran was sold for L.2500-in 1802, for L.20,000. In 1781, the rental of the estate of Glenelg, in Inverness-shire, was L.600;—it was exposed, towards the close of the last century, at L.30,000. In 1811, it was sold for L. 100,000. In 1789, the lands of Ardnagrask were purchased at a judicial sale for L. 1200, the rental then being L.30; in 1825, they were sold for L.6000. The estate of Fairburn, in Ross shire, in 1787, yielded a rental of only L.700 sterling; between 1791 and 1824, it was sold in lots, and brought in all L.80,000 sterling. In 1790, the property of Redcastle, in the same county, was sold by judicial sale for L.25,000, the rental being L. 1000 in 1824, it was purchased by Sir William Fettes, Baronet, for L.135,000 sterling.-There was no district, however wild, which did not participate in the improvement, and the rental of the remote isles of Orkney, has increased from L. 19,704 in 1798 to L.65,000 at present. The following account of the change in the south-west counties of Scotland, is from the pen of a very competent judge in such matters, Mr. Loudon, the author of the Encyclopedia of Agriculture:-"The progress which the tract in question has made since we passed through it in 1805, is no less gratifying than it is astonishing. Good lines of road are now formed, where the roads were formerly hilly, circuitous, and always in bad order. Extensive tracts of country which, in 1805, were open waste; for instance, about Lochmaben, in Dumfries-shire, Castle Douglas, in Kirkcudbrightshire, and Galston, in Ayrshire, are now enclosed, drained, sheltered by plantations, studded with farm-houses, and cottages, and subjected to a regular rotation of crops. Many thousands of acres of rocky surface have been planted, and of the steep sides of hills, where aration could not be practised, we think we may safely state, that for every ten acres of plantation, which existed in 1805, there are a thousand in 1831. Almost all the farm-houses and farm-yards of the country have been renewed since the former period, and these now present a most regular and comfortable appearance. A great many of the labourers' cottages have also been rebuilt in a more substantial style, though not, as we shall hereafter show, with that attention to the comfort, decency, and cleanliness of the inhabisauts, which has taken place in farm-houses. Next to the im provement which has taken place in the agriculture of the counlanded proprietors. Almost every gentleman's house has been try, is that which has been effected on the country-seats of the enlarged or rebuilt; new kitchen gardens have been formed, and the pleasure grounds altered; the number of hot-houses is proaches, and scattered timber- trees are now substituted for comincreased, at least a hundred fold, and lodges, winding apnon-place roads, gates, and grass fields; the latter either naked, more or less increased in size; the new buildings are larger, of or displaying only a few round clumps. All the towns have been an improved architecture, and the streets are wider."⚫ la have been greatly increased, but we have no means either of consequence of these improvements, the quantity of grain must estimating the increase accurately, or the quantity of land brought into cultivation. (To be continued.) THE SEA SERPENT. SOLUTION. The public were amused for some time, a few years ago, by the tales of brother Jonathan, respectexistence of creatures of that nature in the ocean, I have ing the huge sea serpent. Without at all disputing the little doubt that a sight I witnessed, in a voyage to the West Indies, was precisely such as some of the Americans had construed into a "sea serpent, a mile in length," agreeing, as it did, with one or two of the accounts given. This line, extending fully a quarter of a mile, fast asleep! The was nothing more than a tribe of black porpoises in one appearance, certainly, was a little singular, not unlike a raft of puncheons, or a ridge of rocks; but the moment it was seen some one exclaimed (I believe the Captain), "Here is a solution of Jonathan's enigma !" and the resemblance to his "sea serpent" was at once striking. A good many years ago, an account appeared in the newspapers of a veritable sea serpent, seen between Coll and Eigg, by the Rev. Niell Maclean, minister of Small Isles. Hebridean seas, if a congregation of grampuses pass for This imagined monster of the deep may be often seen in the following account of a herd: him. A voyager, who committed no mistake, gives the "In the summer of 1821, in sailing from the island of Lewis to the opposite coast of Ross-shire, we passed through an immense drove of grampuses, passing slowly southwards into the Minch. These animals, of which there were probably two hundred, were scattered over an extent of about a square mile. They were of all sizes, from about 30 to 10 feet in length. The sea ously on the waters. was smooth, with a slight breeze, and the sun shone glorideep were of the most interesting, I shall not say ludicrous, The gambols of these monsters of the description. Sometimes one of them suddenly rushed up from the deep, raising himself, bolt upright in the air, until three-fourths of his length were above the surface, and then fell with a noise like thunder, splashing the foam around to a great distance. of the water, as one often sees a salmon do. Sometimes Some of them even leapt entirely out with astonishing velocity. two or three of them would chase each other at the surface, almost all disappear of a sudden, and their rise again was At other times they would marked by a hundred jets of steam, which they emit from their blow-holes. These animals are of a dark colour, and at a distance, on emerging from the water, they seem jet black. The sun glancing upon their polished sides as they rose in promiscuous succession, had a most singular effect." the finest compliment ever paid Sir Walter Scott, was at MAGIC OF A NAME.-SIR WALTER SCOTT.-Perhaps the time of the late coronation. The streets were Charing-cross down to Rose's, in Abingdon Street, though crowded so densely, that he could not make his way from he elbowed ever so stoutly. He applied for help to a serjeant of the Scotch Greys, whose regiment lined the streets. Countryman," said, the soldier, "I am sorry I cannot help you," and made no exertion. Scott whispered his name-the blood rushed to the soldier's brow-he raised his bridle-hand, and exclaimed-" Then, Sir, you shall go down-Corporal Gordon, here-see this gentleman safely to Abingdon Street, come what will!" It is needless to say how well the order was obeyed. Loudon's Magazine, January, 1832. THE STORY-TELLER. ELLEN. BY MISS MITFORD. glance and the cutting jest, to which poor Ellen's want of presence of mind frequently exposed her,-something from which she shrank into the very earth. He was a good man, too, and a kind father,—at least he meant tojbe so,-attentive to her health and comfort, strictly impartial in favours and presents, in pocket-money and amusements, making no difference between the twins, except that which he could not help, the difference in his love. But, to an apprehensive temper, and an affectionate heart, that was everything; and, whilst Charlotte flourished and blossomed like a rose in the sunshine, Ellen sickened and withered like the same plant in the shade. CHARLOTTE and ELLEN PAGE were the twin daughters of the Rector of N., a small town in Dorsetshire. They were his only children, having lost their mother shortly after their birth; and as their father was highly connected, and still more highly accomplished, and possessed good church preferment, with a considerable private fortune, they were reared and educated in the most liberal and expensive style. Whilst mere infants, they had been uncommonly beautiful, and as remarkably alike, as occasionaly hap- Mr. Page lost much enjoyment by this unfortunate parpens with twin sisters, distinguished only by some orna- tiality; for he had taste enough to have particularly vament of dress. Their very nurse, as she used to boast, could|lued the high endowments which formed the delight of the hardly tell her pretty "couplets" apart, so exactly alike few friends to whom his daughter was intimately known. were the soft blue eyes, the rosy cheeks, the cherry lips, To them not only her varied and accurate acquirements, and the curly light hair. Change the turquoise necklace but her singular richness of mind, her grace and propriety for the coral, and nurse herself would not know Charlotte of expression, and fertility of idea, joined to the most perfect from Ellen. This pretty puzzle, this inconvenience, of ignorance of her own superiority, rendered her an object which mammas, and aunts, and grandmammas love to com- of as much admiration as interest. In poetry, especially, plain, did not last long. Either from a concealed fall, or her justness of taste and quickness of feeling were almost from original delicacy of habit, the little Ellen faded and unrivalled. She was no poetress herself, never, I believe, drooped almost into deformity. There was no visible de- even ventured to compose a sonnet; and her enjoyment of fect in her shape, except a slight and almost imperceptible high literature was certainly the keener for that wise ablameness when in quick motion; but there was the mark- stinence from a vain competition. Her admiration was ed and peculiar look in the features, the languor and debi- really worth having. The tears would come into her eyes, Lty, and above all, the distressing consciousness attendant the book would fall from her hand, and she would sit lost upon imperfect formation; and, at the age of twenty years, in ecstacy over some noble passage, till praise, worthy of the contrast between the sisters was even more striking the theme, would burst in unconscious eloquence from her than the likeness had been at two. lips. But the real charm of Ellen Page lay in the softness of her heart, and the generosity of her character; no human being was ever so free from selfishness in all its varied and clinging forms. She literally forgot herself in her pure and ardent sympathy with all whom she loved, or all to whom she could be useful. There were no limits to her indulgence, no bounds to her candour. Shy and timid as she was, she forgot her fears to plead for the innocent, or the penitent, or even the guilty. She was the excuser-general of the neighbourhood, turned every speech and action the sunny side without, and often, in her good-natured acuteness, hit on the real principle of action, when the cunning, and the Charlotte was a fine, robust, noble-looking girl, rather above the middle height. Her eyes and complexion sparkled and glowed with life and health, her rosy lips seemed to be made for smiles, and her glossy brown hair played in natural ringlets round her dimpled face. Her manner was a happy mixture of the playful and the gentle: frank, innocent, and fearless, she relied with a sweet confidence on every body's adness, was ready to be pleased, and secure of pleasing. Her artlessness and naïveté had great success in society, esperially as they were united with the most perfect goodbreeding, and considerable quickness and talent. Her mucal powers were of the most delightful kind; she sang exquisitely, joining, to great taste and science, a life, and free-wordly-wise, and the cynical, and such as look only for bad on, and buoyancy, quite unusual in that artificial persage, a young lady. Her clear and ringing notes had the effect of a milk-maid's song, as if a mere ebullition of animal pirits; there was no resisting the contagion of Charlotte's gice. She was a general favourite, and, above all, a favourite at home, the apple of her father's eye, the pride and ornament of his house, and the delight and comfort of his life. The two children had been so much alike, and born so bearly together, that the precedence in age had never been definitively settled; but that point seemed very early to deCad itself. Unintentionally, as it were, Charlotte took the ad, gave invitations, received visiters, sate at the head of table, became, in fact and in name Miss Page, while sister continued Miss Ellen. motives, had failed. She had, too, that rare quality, a genuine sympathy, not only with the sorrowful, (there is a pride in that feeling, a superiority,—we have all plenty of that,) but with the happy. She could smile with those who smiled, as well as weep with those who wept, and rejoice in a success to which she had not contributed, protected from every touch of envy no less by her noble spirit than by her pure humility: she never thought of herself. So constituted, it may be imagined that she was, to all who really knew her, an object of intense admiration and love. Servants, children, poor people, all adored Miss Ellen. She had other friends in her own rank of life, who had found her out-many; but her chief friend, her principal admirer, she who loved her with the most entire affecPour Ellen! she was short, and thin, and sickly, and tion, and looked up to her with the most devoted respect, le, with no personal charm but the tender expression of was her sister. Never was the strong and lovely tie of blue eyes and the timid sweetness of her countenance. twin-sisterhood more closely knit than in these two charme resemblance to her sister had vanished altogether, ex-ing young women. Ellen looked on her favoured sister t when, very rarely, some strong emotion of pleasure, word of praise, or a look of kindness from her father, would bring a smile and a blush at once into her face, and ten it up like a sunbeam. Then for a passing moment, she as like Charlotte, and even prettier, there was so much mind, of soul, in the transitory beauty. In manner she unchangeably gentle, and distressingly shy, shy even wkwardness. Shame and fear clung to her like her blow. In company she could neither sing, nor play, nor ak, without trembling, especially when her father was ent; her awe of him was inexpressible. Mr. Page was an of considerable talent and acquirement, of polished elegant manners, and great conversational power, ick, ready, and sarcastic. He never condescended to bis there; but was something very formidable in the keen with a pure and unjealous delight that made its own happiness, a spirit of candour and of justice that never permitted her to cast a shade of blame on the sweet object of her father's partiality: she never indeed blamed him, it seemed to her so natural that every one should prefer her sister. Charlotte, on the other hand, used all her influence for Ellen, protected and defended her, and was half-tempted to murmur at an affection which she would have valued more, if shared equally with that dear friend. Thus they lived in peace and harmony, Charlotte's bolder temper and higher spirits leading and guiding in all common points, whilst, on the more important, she implicitly yielded to Ellen's judgment. But, when they had reached their twenty-first year, a great evil threatened one of the sisters, arising (strange to say) from the other's happiness. Charlotte, the reign ing belle of an extensive and affluent neighbourhood, had had almost as many suitors as Penelope; but, light-hearted, happy at home, constantly busy and gay, she had taken no thought of love, and always struck me as a very likely subject for an old maid: yet her time came at last. A young man, the very reverse of herself, pale, thoughtful, gentlemanlike, and melancholy, wooed and won our fair Euphrosyne. He was the second son of a noble house, and bred to the church; and it was agreed between the fathers, that, as soon as he should be ordained, (for he still wanted some months of the necessary age,) and settled in a family-living held for him by a friend, the young couple should be married. In the meanwhile Mr. Page, who had recently succeeded to some property in Ireland, found it necessary to go thither for a short time; and, unwilling to take his daughters with him, as his estate lay in the disturbed districts, he indulged us with their company during his absence. They came to us in the bursting spring-time, on the very same day with the nightingale; the country was new to them, and they were delighted with the scenery and with our cottage life. We, on our part, were enchanted with our young guests. Charlotte was certainly the most amiable of enamoured damsels, for love with her was but a more sparkling and smiling form of happiness;-all that there was of care and fear in this attachment, fell to Ellen's lot; but even she, though sighing at the thought of parting, could not be very miserable whilst her sister was so happy. least in the world, of Sir Charles Grandison. He certainly did excel rather too much in the mere forms of politeness, in clokings and bowings, and handings down stairs; but then he was, like both his prototypes, thoroughly imbued with its finer essence-considerate, attentive, kind, in the most comprehensive sense of that comprehensive word. 1 have certainly known men of deeper learning and mor original genius, but never any one whose powers were bet ter adapted to conversation, who could blend more happicy the most varied and extensive knowledge with the most playful wit and the most interesting and amiable character. Fascinating was the word that seemed made for him. H conversation was entirely free from trickery and displaythe charm was (or seemed to be) perfectly natural: he was an excellent listener: and when he was speaking to any eminent person-orator, artist, or poet-I have sometimes seen a slight hesitation, a momentary diffidence, a attractive as it was unexpected. It was this astonishing evidence of fellow-feeling, joined to the gentleness of his tone, the sweetness of his smile, and his studied avoidance of all particular notice or attention, that first reconciled Ellen to Colonel Falkner. His sister, too, a charming young woman, as like him as Viola to Sebastian, began understand the sensitive properties of this shrinking and delicate flower, which, left to itself, repaid their kind neg. lect by unfolding in a manner that surprised and delighted us all. Before the spring had glided into summer, Elles was as much at home at Holly-grove as with us; talked and laughed and played and sang as freely as Charlet She would indeed break off, if visibly listened to, eithe when speaking or singing; but still the ice was broken that rich, low, mellow voice, unrivalled in pathos and sweetness, might be heard every evening, even by the C# lonel, with little more precaution, not to disturb her praise or notice, than would be used with her fellow-warble the nightingale. She was happy at Holly-grove, and we were delighted but so shifting and various are human feelings and wishe that, as the summer wore on, before the hay-making wa over in its beautiful park, whilst the bees were still in it lime-trees, and the golden beetle lurked in its white ros A few days after their arrival, we happened to dine with our accomplished neighbours, Colonel Falkner and his sister. Our young friends of course accompanied us; and a similarity of age, of liveliness, and of musical talent, speedily recommended Charlotte and Miss Falkner to each other. They became immediately intimate, and were soon almost inseparable. Ellen at first hung back. "The house was too gay, too full of shifting company, of titles, and of strange faces. Miss Falkner was very kind; but she took too much notice of her, introduced her to lords and ladies, talked of her drawings, and pressed her to sing she would rather, if I pleased, stay with me, and walk in the coppice, or sit in the arbour, and one might read Spenser whilst the other worked that would be best of all. Might she stay ?"—"Oh surely! But Colonel Falkner, Ellen, II began to lament that she had ever seen Holly-grove, e thought you would have liked him ?"-"Yes!"" That yes sounds exceedingly like no."-" Why, is he not almost too clever, too elegant, too grand a man? Too mannered, as it were? Too much like what one fancies of a princeof George the Fourth for instance-too high and too condescending? These are strange faults," continued she laughing; "and it is a curious injustice that I should dislike a man merely because he is so graceful, that he makes me feel doubly awkward-so tall, that I am in his presence a conscious dwarf-so alive and eloquent in conversation, that I feel more than ever puzzled and unready. But so it is. To say the truth, I am more afraid of him than of any human being in the world, except one. I may stay with you may I not? and read of Una and of Britomart-that prettiest scene where her old nurse sooths her to sleep? I may stay!" And for two or three mornings she did stay with me; but Charlotte's influence and Miss Falkner's kindness speedily drew her to Holly-grove, at first shily and reluctantly, yet so with an evident, though quiet enjoyment; and we, sure that our young visitors could gain nothing but good in such society, were pleased that they should so vary the humble home-scene. Colonel Falkner was a man in the very prime of life, of that happy age which unites the grace and spirit of youth with the firmness and vigour of manhood. The heir of a large fortune, he had served in the peninsular war, fought in Spain and France, and at Waterloo, and, quitting the army at the peace, had loitered about Germany and Italy and Greece, and only returned on the death of his father, two or three years back, to reside on the family estate, where he had won "golden opinions from all sorts of people." He was, as Ellen truly described him, tall and graceful, and well-bred almost to a fault; reminding her of that beau ideal of courtly elegance, George the Fourth, and me, (pray, reader, do not tell!) me, a little, a very little, the known its master. It was clear to me, that, unintention Eller |