a precious gem, if exerted only with judgment; but a dangerous instrument, if used incautiously. Minds, highly wrought, require a tenfold portion of forbearance; first to command themselves, and next to guard against the machinations which ever will be employed against them, by those who have neither generosity to acknowledge their merits, nor virtue to imitate them.

Some spirits are so formed, as it should seem
The mighty hand of Heav'n had bankrupts mabe
Of halt a million, to enrich one mind

With more endowment than to one pertains;
Setting this crested favourite above

The mass of human kind, like some high hill
Casting its shadow o'er the lowly vales;
As 'twere to teach them insignificance:
Or like the sun (peerless in brilliancy)
Riding majestic through the vaulted skies
Spreading his golden beams on this our earth,
And now again withdrawing them-or lest
We underprize that value-ever near-
Yet as the sun, the richest gift of God
Bestowed upon this perishable globe,
Some imperfection entertains, to prove
Omnipotence alone is free from taint;

So in the forming of these lofty minds,
Some grosser matter aptly mingles there
To throw a gloom upon the brighter part:
Or pride too highly wrought, or vanity,
Or overpois'd ambition, vaunting high;
Or vice, or weakness, in some sort to shade
The page sublime of glowing intellect,
And countermine its richer grace and beauty;
Embracing sometimes peril and destruction.

Alas! to man it never yet was given
To breathe the breath of life, and be a God.
The soul, encaged in tenement of clay,
Imbibes contagion from its earthly prison
To circumvent its flight. Mortality-

Heav'n teaches us to know its utmost limits.
Thus far proud man--not farther shalt thou go,
Lest, here on earth, thou shouldst partake of heaven,
Presuming to attain perfectability! ·

This chequered life with sorrow is replete!
Some evils are by Providence ordained;
Sone by our own illsorted fancies framed!
And these the worst;-since nor Philosophy
Can aid-nor yet Religion influence.

When Heaven affliction sends, we bow our heads,
And pray for patience-so Religion aids;

When we do injuries sustain, we call

Philosophy to give us strength of mind!

But, when our follies rob us of our peace,

What hope?-where seek we consolation then?
The grief of fully can admit no cure;

Save in the wisdom of resolved amendment.

THAT it is more difficult to keep a lover, than to win one, is a truth universally allowed; yet, like many other painful truths, it is rather lamented as a misfortune not to be obviated, than considered as a fault of our own creation, for which the remedy lies in our own power. Courtship is too commonly made a system of mutual deception, each striving to conceal their faults, and magnify their virtues, in order to enhance their power: not reflecting, that possession tears away the veil, and renders every trifling defect more glaringly conspicuous. This is one cause of the failure in matrimonial happiness. Another, and

more important one, is, the eagerness with which young women display their attractions, before marriage, and their negligence afterwards; as if it was the business of a wife to render herself disagreeable in the eyes of a husband, though it had been her pride, as a mistress, to make herself fascinating to the senses of her lover.

This too common, and frequently fatal error, was destructive to the happiness of Mr. and Mrs. Lovemore. Equals in birth and fortune, they had met without restraint; and by their own desire, and under the sanction of their friends, they had entered intʊ the marriage state, with every prospect of permanent happiness. Alas! these hopes were transient. The tender Isabel too soon found the ardent lover transformed into a cool and well-bred husband. She was wretched; and imagined herself the most unfortunate woman in the world: yet never once supposed the cause to originate in herself

Isabel Hardingham was the only daughter of weak and indulgent parents: she had been initiated in all he superfluous accomplishments suitable to her birth and fortune; but her mind was uninformed. Young, handsome, elegant, full of gaiety and animation, she had attracted the regard of Lovemore, a young man of fashion, who had vivacity enough to be charmed with the gaieties of the world, yet sense enough to wish for the comforts of a domestic fireside. To him Isabel Hardingham appeared in every respect calculated to become the delightful companion he sought for a companion, whose wit and vivacity would be the subject of universal admiration in public, while her perpetual good humour should be an irresistible charm in private.

A facetious old clergyman, in the country, used archly to bid his young friends "beware of the first quarrel, and they would be sure to live happy all their lives." The first quarrel of Mr. and Mrs. Love

more was indeed the death blow to their peace. Isabel had formed her estimate of domestic duty precisely upon the plan of action by which her father's and mother's conduct was regulated; not taking into consideration the difference between her father and husband, both in point of age and disposition. Her husband was young, and of a volatile temper; her father old, and of a dull, quiet, insipid disposition, willingly subject to the control of her mother; but widely different was the character of Lovemore, and widely different the mode of treatment requisite to secure his happiness in the marriage state.

The first few weeks of their marriage had been spent in gaiety-in a perpetual round of visiting; and Isabel was the happiest of the happy. When, however, this round of gaiety was passing away, she began to feel it her duty, as a good wife, to become grave and steady: a sacrifice by no means required at her hands, nor pleasing in the eyes of Mr. Lovemore; who told her, half in jest, and half in earnest, that had he required a grave old housekeeper, he could have hired one, without taking out a license for the purpose. Isabel felt offended; he laughed at her gravity; but his levity increased the offence: and, reproaching him with cruelty, she wept like a wayward child. He craved her pardon; but there was so much ridicule in his manner, that, far from appeasing her anger, he only irritated her the more: and thinking it a point of wisdom to fly from the approach of a storm, he left her without saying where he was going, or when he should return. This was an aggravation not to be endured; and Isabel gave way to all the bitterness of vexation.

Lovemore, whose temper was extremely good, was really sorry at the uneasiness which he had occasioned to Isabel; and, willing to convince her that he had no intention of giving her pain, he went to a jeweller's and purchased an elegant ornament, two