present state of our church, hold out little hope of temporal advantages, nor afford any other prospect than that which leads me on, viz., that of doing good, and of being made" in the hands of God an humble but zealous instrument of salvation to others during my generation. These senti ments after having devoted a great and valuable part of my life to business, have determined me to relinquish a recent (apparently) advantageous offer, and worldly pur suits altogether, and to exert my humble, but I trust persevering and energetic, abilities in God's sacred service," and in the spreading of his holy gospel. Brought up in our venerable church, I feel the highest veneration for her, and am filled with the most reverential feeling when contemplating the stately fabric, in constructing which the founders and builders have persevered, in spite of all opposition, and so many of them borne testimony with their lives to the purity of their designs, and superiority of their execution in raising the structure in all its parts of such unrivalled excellence, revolje

"Matured conviction of the superiority of her doctrines and ordinances over all other forms of faith and tenets whatsoever, and an ardent and enthusiastic love of truth, retains me her warm advocate and supporter; that I may be found worthy the highly dignified and important office of one of her ministers, is my most devout, sincere, and constant prayer need I add, pray for med Should I, however, fail herein, I rely on Heaven's paternal love, and unerring wisdom, fully assured that I shall be directedto into that course which will prove best for myself, my fellow-creatures, and most to the honour and glory of God, by whose grace I am enabled to look back with sorrow and contempt on all former vain pursuits and passing vanities, and to exclaim, with the Psalmist, I had rather t

be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of ungodliness.'

"I find I have occupied your time longer than I at first intended, and I perceive also that I have but weakly expressed what was in my mind. O that I could express myself more in the language of Zion, and forget entirely the Babylonish dialect.

"In conclusion, let me mention that you recommended to me "Scott's Force of Truth." This was a sufficient reason for me to procure the work, which I immediately did. I bless God for it; of all works it was, next to the Bible, what I most wanted; nothing could be more providentially applied to my understanding; and I may truly say, it has been a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my path' in my anxious searching after the truth. Accept my grateful acknowledgments, and believe me most truly your's,

"E. GRANTLY."

"I have many more most interesting communications," said Charles," from my friend Grantly. "I hope you will favour us with them," said Eugenia. "Before I quit," said Charles, " I may, but it is now time for us to walk back to dinner."

CHAPTER VII.

THE WOODLAND WALK AND PICTURESQUE SCENERY.

THE party having exchanged their mutual congratulations, and Charles having promised speedily to re-visit them, he, accompanied by Eugenia, took his leave.

The friends chose another path home. "I wish," said Charles, “to walk through the wood back, in order to visit once more the scenes so familiar to my youth. They slowly ascended therefore the road round the chapel, and, entering a green field, screened from the clouds of dust by a lofty hedge, they began to survey to the right and left that lovely verdant valley which spread below them, The meadows dressed in green, unmixed with gaudy flowers, sometimes undulated with the gentle breeze, presented to the eye a wavy gloss, while two streams intersected them below, running parallel, filled to the lips of their channels. One appeared like a mirror of chrystal flowing beneath them, reflecting the woods near its margin; the other more distant stream divided the meadows from the high road, and its silver line seemed like a barrier of polished steel guarding the calm retreat.

The swan appeared sailing down them with a superb air, displaying her snowy plumes, and loftily bending her head, while the duck was playing her gambols near, pluming her chequered wings and glossy neck, now diving into

the deep, and now darting again up into day; the twittering swallow, too, skimmed the air in wanton circles, and dipped her downy breast in the flood. From this open and enlarged view they now entered the skirts of a thick, umbrageous, and extensive wood, which crowned the hills for miles. There the beech and the oak spread widely their aged branches, and filled with wild grandeur the aerial regions.

"There, perhaps," said Charles, "amid these deep recesses the Druids once performed their solemn superstitious rites two thousand years ago." "These dusky mazes," said Eugenia, "well suited those pensive sages— here amid sympathetic gloom they could gather the miseltoe, and trace without interruption the mysteries of Providence." They now entered an open glade where was a grassy hill which never had been touched with the scythe, but was as level as if smoothed with the roller. The wood retiring around it in a circle composed "a verduous wall of stateliest aspect."

"There," said Eugenia, " stands the house of friendship, the abode of Mr. Kindley, where we are engaged to dine and spend the evening." "I always venerated and respected him" said Charles. "When at school in this neighbourhood we never saw so much of him as I did last evening, when I so much admired his excellent character, and received so much pleasure from his conversation, and when he gave us the friendly invitation before we parted.' "You will have an excellent intellectual treat indeed," said Eugenia, "at his house, which we always call the house of friendship, for so it truly is. There exists pure friendship; all the graces of the christian character shine forth in our beloved and venerated friend, while his acquaintance with the varied characters of mankind and with the ways of men enable him to give us views of the world most just,

accompanied with moral cautions drawn from the rich experience of an extended life. He is like a mariner who has been long tossed by the ocean, becalmed near the abodes of syrens and detained in Calypso's island, and now like another Mentor, has moored his vessel safe in harbour, and issues forth his sage monitions to all the youth who visit him. To you, Charles, his advice may be invaluable. If you are skilful enough to fathom the heart of our wise friend and draw out the deep waters from the fountain, you will find the labour amply repaid.” "With your kind assistance and direction," replied Charles, "I doubt not I shall find lessons of practical and experimental wisdom which could never be explored in books or found within the precincts of a college." The friends now pursued their walk, alternately admiring the fertile valley below and the lofty woods which crowned the hills above, and now overshadowed them.

"These hills," said Charles, "by which we are now surrounded, fill my mind with solemn awe and delight. I can never visit such stupendous scenes without a serious pleasure felt no where else.

"The everlasting hills, the mighty rocks, the overhanging precipices, remind us of some former world, or of the convulsions of a general flood; and are emblems of eternity-palpable proofs of God's omnipotence.

"Was you ever in North Wales? I have been there, and shall never forget my sensations as I travelled along the narrow road, round the promontory of the Snowden mountains, as we were going to Bangor. In passing around the crag, where only a space of a few yards and a tottering stone wall, separate the traveller from an abrupt precipice of two hundred and twenty yards, at the foot of which the ocean roars and foams in mountainous billows; there is brought to the mind, in all its power, what Burke calls