noise; and if ever the uproar exceeded these limits, then one or two of the younger children were brought forward as the delinquents, and made to suffer the punishment due in general to their elder schoolfellows, and not unfrequently to their teachers: for even madame, who was by far the most conscientious of the two aidde-camps of Mrs. Patterson, would not unfrequently indulge herself in telling stories, to make her companions laugh; and then, having excited a merriment which she feared might become excessive, would be obliged to exercise her utmost knowledge of English and Bengalee, in order again to restore things to their proper equilibrium.

"Such being the state of the case, Miss Beaumont and little Flora had reason to think themselves highly privileged in being admitted into our quiet little room during the hours of rest; though Miss Beaumont, when her good humour towards Amelia and her own self-complacency were perfectly restored, would sometimes murmur because at these times Amelia insisted upon being left to read in quiet. You come here, Julia, to avoid talking,' she would often say, 'and if we are to begin gossiping in this room, what do you gain, and what do I lose? Why, all my comfort, and all my peace of mind. I will not talk, and there is the end of the matter.'

"One day, Miss Beaumont, being in higher spirits than usual, said to Amelia, What, I pray you, Amelia Carrisforth, is the use of a friend, if one must not speak to her?"

"O,' said Amelia, smiling, but still not ceasing to read, 'a friend is a pleasant thing to look at.'

"That depends,' said Julia, ‘on her external appearance; I hope you don't think yourself an agreeable object to contemplate.'

"Perhaps my friends,' returned Amelia, 'may like me well enough to think so; but do, dear Julia, attend to the book you have in your hand.'

"A short silence followed, after which Miss Beaumont said, 'Do, Amelia, dear, put down your book for one moment: I have something of great consequence to say to you.'

"Indeed,' said Amelia, 'I have no time to listen to you, I have something to do every minute of the day; and if nothing else can be said against talking, one may say this, that it is a great destroyer of time.'

"I don't see that,' replied Miss Beaumont. deal is to be learned from talking, Amelia.'

666

'A great

"Then,' returned Miss Carrisforth, we ought to be very clever people in this house.'

"Very well, Amelia, very well,' said Miss Beaumont, laughing, 'I see that you can say severe things as well as your neighbours; but, jesting apart, I am sure that nothing is more improving than conversation. The cleverest persons are often made so by conversation; much knowledge is acquired by it; I have even heard that more is derived from it than from the best written books.' "Yes,' said Amelia, 'but not from such conversations as take place between school girls.'

"School girls!' reapeated Miss Beaumont.

"Yes,' returned Amelia, such as we are, young girls of seventeen and eighteen. Depend upon it, Julia, that the less we talk at present the better. And now we are on the subject, I must plainly tell you, that I never am happy when I allow myself to talk much, and that, in every instance, I find it exceedingly difficult, when forced to talk, to say what I ought, and to refrain from saying what I ought not. The wise man saith, In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin; but he that refraineth his lips is wise.' (Prov. x. 19.)

"Well but, Amelia,' said Miss Beaumont, 'you ought to consider that in this house I have no friend but you, no one to whom I can open my heart on any subject, especially on the subject of religion, no one to whom I can tell a single feeling. I have

666 'No one, in short,' said Amelia, 'to whom you can talk about yourself, without the fear of being betrayed.' "Oh, Amelia!' replied Miss Beaumont, what a turn is this to give my words! Talk about myself! I don't want to talk about myself."'

666

Then, my dear friend, of what, or of whom, do you want to talk ?

"O! of a thousand things!' returned Julia.

"If you wish to tell me any thing about my neigh

bours,' replied Amelia, 'I had rather not hear it, unless it is necessary that I should know it.'

"I have nothing particular to tell you about any one, returned Miss Beaumont, 'for you know the people here as well as I do, and I have no doubt that you think much the same of them.'

"It is desirable,' rejoined Amelia, 'that we should all have such an insight into the characters of those with whom we live, as to know where to place our confidence, and choose our friends. But this may be done in general, Julia, without talking much about them; for, indeed, when I consider the commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour," I am astonished at the carelessness with which many of us, calling ourselves Christians, incur this guilt, at the very time, perhaps, when we should tremble openly and rashly to run the hazard of breaking any other of the commandments. Cannot we let our neighbours' characters alone? If they do wrong, they must answer for it to God; or, if we think we cannot benefit them, then let us to their own faces tell them of their faults."

"Well, but I was not going to speak of any one, Amelia,' returned Julia. 'Why are you so warm? I was speaking of conversation in general, and I was regretting that you would not allow me the common privileges of friendship, that is, the sweet intercourse of mutual confidence and interchange of sentiments.'

"Amelia smiled. 'It is a pity, Julia,' she said, 'that we cannot think of some pretty copy of verses, in which all the tender sympathies which you so sweetly imagine, relative to the interchange of sentiments between bosom friends, are described with all the pathos of poetry. How very treacherous my memory must be, not to present to me one single specimen of the kind, when there is hardly a magazine, a newspaper, or a memorandumbook, in which one might not be found. But, seriously speaking, what are these privileges of friendship, and those sweet interchanges of sentiments, but, in plain English, an agreement made by two young people to impart to each other, without reserve, things that ought not be spoken of. If you have any faults to confess, dear Julia, confess them to your God; if you have any

advice to ask, ask it of your guardians; and if you have any secrets to reveal, get rid of the need of them as fast as you can.'

"Very laconic,' said Miss Beaumont, laughing, 'and very saucy too! Well now, I declare, Amelia, if it were possible that I could find any thing tolerable in the shape of a friend in this house, I would renounce you, and take another to my heart. But, surely, such a pack of owls, bats, jays, crows, peacocks, parrots, and adjutants, were never met under one roof. In the first place, there's my stately governess, moving about like a peacock with its starry tail spread to its utmost extent, though, by the bye, the eyes are wanting. Madame de Roseau, dressed in twenty colours, squalling like a paroquet, and

"Stop! stop!' said Amelia: 'let me beg you, Julia, to give us no more of this.'

"No, no, I won't stop,' said Miss Beaumont: 'my fit's upon me; and you shall hear me out. There are Chatterton and Atkins, as vulgar and impudent as the crows in the verandah; and Miss Crawford, bridling and stretching her long neck, like one of the adjutants upon the gate of the burying-ground.'

"Julia,' said Amelia, 'I am ashamed of you. I wish, I heartily wish, that there was more humility in your religion. Surely, surely, if you had a proper view of the depravity of your own nature, it must have some effect in regulating your words.'

"You are angry, Amelia,' said Miss Beaumont. "Yes, I am,' replied the other.

“I do not care what you are,' returned Miss Beaumont, provided you will but be persuaded to talk.'

"To talk?' said Amelia. And so it does not matter what I say, provided I will but talk? Well, then, if this is the case,' she added, getting up, and sitting down on a chair by the table, 'I will avail myself of the opportunity that you now give me, to speak my mind to you on a very important subject, and one on which I have long had serious thoughts. You are a high professor of religion, Julia, and I cannot but think that you often feel its influence. But how is it that your religion does not humble you? I have always understood, that the Holy

Spirit begins his work of conversion by convincing the individual of sin, and by showing him, that, if he is to be saved, or to be made in any degree to differ from other men, that he is in nowise to attribute any glory to himself. This is what my dear mother has again and again told me, and particularly urged on my attention; declaring, that a real work of grace will discover itself most strikingly by its producing deep humility, and cherishing an abiding sense of one's own unworthiness. But how can an habitual sense of sin exist in the individual who feels and gives way to a censorious or insolent spirit? a spirit such as you, Julia, this moment evinced, and which you would be glad to indulge every hour of the day, if I would but encourage you?

"You are really angry, I see,' said Miss Beaumont. "I am,' returned Amelia; I am angry and vexed: you have vexed me, my friend.'

"Miss Beaumont got up, and went to Amelia. 'I am sorry,' she said; 'I know I have been foolish. Pray, ex

cuse me.'

"O, Julia, Julia!' said Amelia, throwing her arms round her neck, 'let us either altogether cease to associate, or else let our intercourse be such as Christians should not be ashamed of.'

"Miss Beaumont again acknowledged her fault, and begged Amelia's pardon: after which, we all returned to our books, and continued engaged with them, till it was time to dress.

"The next evening, if I remember aright, Mrs. Patterson called Amelia down stairs before I was quite dressed; for we always changed our dresses, according to the Indian fashion, about five o'clock; I was, therefore, left alone in our room, the doors being open into the verandah, for the hot season was arrived. The rest of the young ladies were, I thought, gone down, when suddenly a tapping at the gill-mills, near my bed, caught my attention, and Gabrielle called to me, saying, Miss Clara, I have brought you a few Aru Bochara, which I bought on purpose for you.'

"I hastened to take these through the jalousies, and we then entered into a conversation, which lasted some time. She told me that she had been in the next room