the poor sufferer revived, I was to bury in my own bosom all that had been said. I acquiesced certainly; the temporal state of my undisguised friend made assent consistent, but I consider that it is a second crime to fulfil a criminal vow.' "The most serious reflections of mere man, when opposed to the bright ensamples of our holy religion, appear as airy vauntings, tinkling nothings: if caution and reserve had actuated the Saviour of mankind, where had been the hopes, the promises of the Christian world? Did not this Prince of peace warn ? and shall those whose humble talents are directed to the ministration of his word, be deterred from their most important office by the tinsel of situation, the imposing distance which man, secure in his opinions, (because guarded by the judicial suffrages of his country) presumptuously dares to maintain ? I know, that to enter the habitation of our neighbour, and tell him that he is a sinner, would be termed a species of enthusiasm, of of misplaced zeal, inconsistent with our mild and gracious system of exhortation; but if the seceder will not meet you on fair ground, if he nourishes his errors, and, by concealment, engrafts them on his heart, to the injury of his immortal soul, it becomes the bounden duty of the watchful shepherd to call home the estranged sheep, to make him of that fold of which none are rejected." "I trust that your zeal, and not your discrimination, makes you thus strenuous," said Sidney, in a voice whose tone was impressively melancholy. 66 They unite, Mr. Sidney, they unite," said the rector; "and so little hope had I of softening your father agreeably to my. wishes, that I had half resolved upon dispatching a messenger a messenger to you. I know your power over sir Ormsby, and esteem you for yourself. Exert your authority, my good young man, and endeavour to convince your father, a man may be a popular landlord, a generous patron, a kind parent, parent, and a munificent friend, without being a faithful servant of that Master whom he vainly imagines he is serving.We must forgive, as we hope to be forgiven,' Mr. Wentworth." 66 "Be wholly explicit, if consistent with your principles," said Sidney, or desist from torturing me thus." "It is my intention," said Firmor. "We will dedicate those hours which must elapse before the return of the chaise, to a brief recurrence of scenes long past;, and I will then leave it to your zeal or discrimination to decide why I am thùs interested." "I will endeavour to blend them," said Sidney, smiling.. CHAP. CHAP. VI. High minds, of native pride and force, Fear, for their scourge, mean villains have, MARMION. "Ir very rarely happens that the shade which deforms the mind of a rich man attains its appropriate name; truth seldom meets the ear of the affluent man. Thus his errors are nourished, and what he arrogantly terms foibles, would, if justly scanned, amount to vices. "I see your repugnance in your countenance, Mr. Wentworth," continued the doctor; " you are unwilling to admit my opinion as well-founded; and it is here I make every allowance for your véry natu ral ral dissension. Yet even this is a species of self-love; your honour and your happiness are so interwoven with that of your parent, that you cannot separate the idea of correctness of conduct from this friend and guardian of your youth. It is an ungracious office to remove this finespun veil; but nature is a powerful, a lenient absolver; and, happily for him whose faults I am about to develop, he possesses a resort, a consolation in the duty and affection of a son, whom any man would be proud to own." Our hero bowed to the nervous compliment of the rector, who, trimming the candles, which were now introduced, began his narration in the following words: "The scholastic education of sir Ormsby Wentworth was imbibed under the roof of my father; the office was undertaken at the solicitation of sir Robert Wentworth, your grandfather. Truth obliges me to say, at that early period, there was in your father strong ebullitions of a hasty disposition, |