college friend, to spend a week or two with him, and I think I shall embrace it, to see London and its varieties. I suppose he will take me to all that is worth seeing. I only wish you were going there also; we should often join parties, and enjoy these novelties together. Where do you mean to spend your long vacation," continued he. “I also intend," said Charles, " to go to London. I am first engaged to spend a few days in the neighbourhood of my old friend and tutor, the Rev. Mr. Bredwell, in the picturesque valley, as I always call it, and with some dear friends whom I had the happiness of becoming acquainted with when I was there at school. I will set out with you on foot, and we will enjoy the morning walk for some miles on the road, when the first coach which overtakes you may convey you to the metropolis, while I strike off to my friends, and I will afterwards meet you, Deo volente, in London. I shall be at my friend, Mr. Palley's, in whose hospitable and pious family I always find a secure abode when I go to this dangerous and ensnaring place.'

It was agreed, the day was fixed, and in the next chapter we shall observe them pursuing their journey; meanwhile the friends retired to their rooms, each one absorbed with the anticipated pleasures of the pedestrian excursion, and the changing adventures which they might meet with amid rural and metropolitan scenes.

CHAPTER II.

THE EXCURSION TO THE HAPPY VALLEY.

Ar five in the morning, on a day agreed, the friends met to commence their excursion. Each took his greatcoat, the pockets filled with a change of linen, and his umbrella; and thus prepared, they passed down the Highstreet, that range of palaces not to be equalled in the whole world.

As I do not mean to let my readers into the secret where Charles's picturesque valley lies, I shall not inform them whether they took the Henley or the Uxbridge road. The morning was beautiful, the sun rising in the eastern clime had "sowed the earth with orient pearls," the meadows breathed a refreshing breeze, the sun cast a gladsome, not an oppressive beam, the corn fields filled the atmosphere with a reviving fragrance, the larks soaring in the lofty sky, poured forth the notes of praise, and the stirring peasantry seemed awakened to new life with this lovely dawning morn "Well might Cowper observe," said Charles, "God made the country, and man made the town.' Here every object tends to soothe the passions to repose, or to awaken the best affections of the heart. We cannot look up to yonder ethereal sky, nor around us on the cultured earth, teeming with grass for the cattle, and corn for the use of man, decked with beauty, moulded into

magnificence, vocal with notes of joy, and abounding with proofs of happiness, without exclaiming,—

These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty, thine, this universal frame,

Thus wond'rous fair, Thyself how wond'rous then.'

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How different to this, the noisy murky streets of London, where vice meets you at every corner, where fascinating amusements lay their nets for the soul, where the syrens pleasure would make every place of retirement a Sylla or Charybdis-where virtue may be shipwrecked, and peace lost for ever. My dear Rowland, when I consider the sprightliness of your disposition, your taste for novelty and amusement, your delight in the pleasures of fancy and imagination; and when I consider the character and tastes of your friend Peachman, whom you are visiting, excuse me if I say, I tremble for you. We are both young, and perhaps too unsuspicious of the world. Ah! we know not how artful and fascinating are the wicked! Many a promising youth has been withered by the poisonous touch of pleasure. He who walked securely in the country, stumbles into some hidden pitfal in London before he is aware, and instead of suspecting himself, confides in his own power and resolution, and falls. I therefore particularly rejoice that I am paying a visit to a pious family, where a sense of religion will be kept up in my mind by daily devotion, and its value and blessedness pleasingly exhibited in domestic life."

"I thank you," said Rowland, "for your friendly solicitude. I trust I am aware of the danger of improper companions. The stream that flows purely may be tainted when it mingles with a corrupt current. The trifling, the gay, the thoughtless, may lead us to carelessness, and a companion of fools may become as wicked as they, and be

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destroyed with them." "Yes, my dear Rowland," said Charles; "but it is not enough to see the faults of others, nor even to resolve to avoid them ourselves, we must be aware of contracting friendships with such characters. When you see a friend in whose society you delight, declining into irregularities or habitually guilty of some faults, however you may at one time disapprove them, you may become so familiar with them as to be reconciled to them, and, ere long, you may yield to temptation and commit the same faults yourself. It is therefore of importance to select our friends. We must not choose them merely because they sympathize, nor because they appear to be amiable; wait till you know they have solid worth. Choose your friend not so much because he is witty, as because he is wise and prudent to counsel you in the way of safety, and to assist you in difficulties." "What would you recommend," said Rowland, " as the best method which a young man can adopt to shield him against the snares and temptations of his path, especially in such a palæstra of virtue as London ?" "The grand means," said Charles, "is a regular perusal of the Word of God. Daily read some portion of it. Take it as your guide for the day, and lie down with some portion of it for the subject of meditation on your pillow. Pray for the teaching of the Holy Spirit to understand it, and for his influence to fix its truths on your heart, and to give you a disposition to follow its precepts. Examine yourself by this word, whether you have followed its injunctions, and never omit your morning and evening devotions. At this season reflect on the past day, what duties you have done or neglected, what passions of anger, pride, or wantonness you have curbed or indulged-whether you have made any progress in knowledge, any improvement in mind or habit. Examine whether you have lived in the fear and love of

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God. Has a principle, to follow the Saviour who lived and died for you, ruled your heart and conduct? These are the means to keep up a fear of evil in your mind, to make you shrink from the touch of pollution, to make you of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord,' as to what is wrong or inconsistent with your profession and character as a Christian, and with your obligations to your Creator and Redeemer." In such conversation was the walk beguiled, which prepared them to enjoy, with a Lacedemonian relish, a breakfast on the road, and after travelling over beauteous fields, here fragrant with new mown hay, and there waving with corn, they arrived at the high road, where Mr. Rowland Clinton, taking leave of his friend Charles, and expressing his hope soon to see him again in London, mounted the stage coach and was speedily out of sight. Mortimer now pursued his journey alone, and striking into a shorter road, over fields and meadows, soon came in sight of the picturesque valley. Thoughts of the friends he was going to visit occupied his mind, and now, as alone, he beheld the expansive firmament above him, and from a rising ground contemplated the rich prospects around, Homer's picturesque scenery, though it was mid-day, came to his mind

'Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise,

A flood of glory bursts from all the skies,

The conscious swains rejoicing in the sight,

Eye the blue vault and bless the useful light.”*

His mind felt a calm pleasure congenial with the peaceful scenes around him, and as he looked up to Heaven, he said, "There lives my Father, who made all these mun

* Pope's Iliad, viii., 696.