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Those," said her mother, "are the hopes of thirteen. Hear what the wise man said: 'Hope delayed maketh the heart sick.' Now, hope accomplished ceases to be hope. So I have Solomon's authority for saying, that hope is, to say the least, a very doubtful blessing.”

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A CALM.

CHAPTER II.

REFORMATION IN SPAIN, AND ITS FATE.

THE season of the year was spring, ripening into summer; and as the travellers drove into Bayonne, they thought they had never seen so lovely an evening.

"We now enjoy," said Mrs. Delville, a fine climate to the highest advantage. The people sitting outside their doors, or walking for diversion, seem to have no object in view but amusement.

Still is the toiling hand of care,

The panting herds repose;

Yet hark! how through the peopled air

The busy murmur glows.""

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"And yet," said Mr. Delville, we were warned to make the best of our way, for a storm was approaching. I do not perceive any signs of it at present; but the predictions of a shepherd, familiar with the aspect of the heavens, and all the local peculiarities of the plains in which he dwells, are not to be despised."

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The sun set most gorgeously; its vivid red and yellow, deepening at the horizon into hues of liquid gold, were rendered more brilliant by a fringe of dark purple clouds at the very edge of the sun's disk. The air grew close and still; and when the sun set, the bright colours of the sky rapidly gave place to piles of dark lurid clouds, that amply justified the sagacity of the shepherd. The thunder rolled, and the lightning flashed with a depth and brightness unknown in colder regions. The young people gazed on this war of the elements with awe, till the rain descended in torrents; when all the fiercer features of the storm disappeared, and it ceased to interest them. Seated round the cheerful wood-fire burning on the hearth, they sought amusement from their father. The recent tempest had given a shade of gravity to their thoughts, which was heightened by the gloom of the lofty apartment in which they were. seated, and which the flame of the pine-logs but imperfectly lighted.

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Now, sir," said Edward to his father; now is the moment to tell us the history of the Spanish reformers. Every thing around us seems in unison with tales of horror."

"I have no objection," said Mr. Delville; "the more especially that their history, though mournful, is yet calculated to raise high and holy feelings in our hearts. In tracing their sufferings, we

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FIRST SPANISH REFORMER,

shall, I hope, be inspired with gratitude for our happier lot, and stimulated to greater faithfulness in the path of duty. Every Christian, my children, has his own peculiar trials, how fair soever his worldly fortune. In this world we are in a state of probation, and our hearts are constantly tempting us to evil. I told you yesterday, that the first active and sincere converts to the German reformation resided at Seville. The original and chief promoter of this mental freedom, was neither a man of learning nor a member of the clergy.

"Rodrigo de Valér, a native of Lebrixa, an ancient town, about thirty miles from Seville, had spent his youth in the idle and dissipated manner which has long prevailed among the Spanish gentry, A slight knowledge of Latin was the only benefit he derived from his early instructors; the love of horses, dress, and pleasure, engrossed his whole mind, as soon as he was free from their authority. Seville, then at the height of its splendour, was his favourite residence; and he shone there among the young men of family and wealth, a prominent star in the ranks of fashion. Valér was, however, suddenly missed in the gay scenes which he used formerly to enliven; yet his fortune was unimpaired, and his health uninjured, A strange change had been effected in his mind. The gay and volatile Valér was now confined the whole day to his room, with a Latin Bible, the

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only version allowed in Spain. Had he unexpectedly taken a religious turn, and abandoned the world for the church and the confessional, such changes of feeling were too common in Spain to have occasioned much surprise. But this absolute retirement, this neglect of devotional works and pious practices, for a book which even professional divines seldom took the trouble to examine, had in it something peculiar, and not easily accounted for. After continuing for several months his scriptural studies, Valér was observed to court the friendship of the clergy. One of the most eminent was Dr. John Gill, or Egidius, canon magistral (preacher) of the Cathedral of Seville; an office to which he had been unanimously chosen by the archbishop and chapter, as a testimony of superiority among his contemporaries. The learned canon had been admired for his profound knowledge of divinity, rather than for his eloquence; but since his intimacy with Valér, his preaching had assumed a higher tone, his sermons lost their trifling character, and became earnest and powerful addresses to the hearts and the feelings of his hearers; and he was soon the most popular preacher in Seville. That the change which had gained him such public applause was the work of Valér, could not even be suspected by those who were well aware of the immense superiority of the canon's

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