pulfes might generally be compared to the impreffion which a flone makes upon the clear furface of a glaffy lake, which, after having formed a few tremulous circles, foon refumes its natural tranquillity. But on the prefent occafion he thought of his good-tempered rival, as he termed him, during moft part of his journey to Scotland; and, as neither a whistle nor a fong would always excite new ideas, he frequently expreffed himfelf anxious to know whether the poor fellow had fhot himfelf: "Yet I proteft, "my dear Geraldine," he added, "I "do not laugh at him; for, upon my

foul, if I were as miferable as he "feems to be, I fhould think of nothing "but driving out Cupid's arrows with "a brace of bullets."

As lady Monteith's endeavours to divert her lord from fufpecting Mr. Power court's attachment had proved

ineffectual, fhe determined, by that full confidence which Mrs. Evans had recommended, to remove every fubject of felf-condemnation from her own heart. After having bound his honour by a promise of fecrefy, fhe delivered to him the letters with which I concluded the last Chapter; and she entreated him, as the affair was too ferious for levity, to avoid the diftreffing fubject in their future converfations.

"

Lord Monteith was a ftranger to that

green-eyed monster which mocks the meat it feeds on." The preference his lady had recently given him was too avowed, and her conduct, as well as her principles, too correct to raise fufpicion even in the heart of a Leontes. On the contrary, Mr. Powerfcourt's behaviour excited his warm esteem; and his frank open difpofition compelled him to exclaim, "I cannot think, Geraldine, why

you preferred me to that noble fellow; "I hope he will live to come back to England, that I may thank him for

giving me happiness at the expence of "his own repofe. Let me tell you, 66 very few young fellows of my ac"quaintance would have acted as he " has done."

"I hope," faid the countefs, while heartfelt pleasure lighted up all the charms of her intelligent face, "that I "fhall have the fatisfaction of prefent"ing two friends to each other, highly "deferving of mutual confidence. You "fee I have requested Henry's correfpondence; you, my lord, muft permit "me to communicate it to you; your

fuperior knowledge of the character of "your own sex will enable me to discover "whether his travels are conducive "to his repofe; and you will affift my. "replies by pointing out fuch topics as

"will prove most effectual in promoting "this end, ever remembering that the "efteem and gratitude I now feel for him "must be fubfervient to the stronger at"tachment whence they originated."

Such were the fentiments of lady Monteith; and fuch is the conduct upon which the mufe of history and the muse of fiction alike delight to dwell. The uncorrupted mind avows its divine original, by recurring with fecret compla cency to the portrait of what is perfect, fair, and good. Though the depravity of modern manners may obtain tranfient amufement from thofe highly-coloured fcenes of guilt which the judgment con. demns, the foul only finds conftant gratification in contemplating the lovely pictures of innocence and virtue.

When I recollect that the fubfequent events of this hiftory will lead my narrative through many a painful fcene, I feem

B 3

feem to fhrink with reluctance from the difgufting task of defcribing fyftematic villainy mining the outworks which decorum and religion have placed around female virtue, while the unfufpecting heart becomes entangled by fatanic guile and inbred vanity. I feel that the part moft analagous to my tafte, as well as to my powers, would be to depicture the amiable features of the human cha racter fhaded only by thofe lighter traits of frailty from which the most perfect ftandard of human goodness is not. exempt. But, knowing that the unchriftian morals of the prefent age ftrain their affected charity till they embrace vice, while the most glaring enormities are gloffed over by delicate fubterfuges; and refined liberality expatiates on the goodnefs of the heart, while its poffeffor breaks every precept in the decalogue; I feel fimulated by an ardent, though perhaps