grandchildren. There is no man living so fond of his children, or who possesses a more excellent temper. You would call his house the Academy of Plato. But I should do it an injury, by such a comparison; it is rather a school of Christian goodness, in which piety, virtue, and the liberal sciences are studied by every individual of the family. No wrangling or intemperate language is ever heard ; no one is idle; the discipline of the household is courtesy and benevolence. Every one performs his duty with cheerfulness and alacrity."

Mrs. Roper, the eldest daughter of this amiable family, was more peculiarly distinguished for her talents and genius. She is said to have written Latin in a pure and elegant style: her father delighted in holding an epistolary correspondence with her; and some of her letters, which he communicated in confidence to persons of the most distinguished abilities and learning, received high and just praise.

During the extraordinary malady called the sweating sickness, which commenced in the reign of Henry VII., 1483, and, spreading its contagious influence to London, appeared again, at intervals, five times, till 1528, Mrs. Roper was seized with this disorder. While her recovery was doubtful, her father, who regarded her with peculiar tenderness, abandoned himself to the most violent sorrow; and protested, on her restoration to health, that, had the malady proved fatal, it was his determination to have resigned all business, and for ever to have abjured the world.

Nor was her affection for her father less than that

he entertained for her to take the oath of supremacy to Henry VIII., and was thereupon committed to the Tower, overwhelmed with grief, his daughter was, through incessant importunity, at length allowed to visit him. When admitted to his presence, she left no argument, expostulation, or entreaty, unessayed, to induce him to relent from his purpose. But her eloquence, her tenderness, and her tears, proved alike ineffectual: the principles and constancy of this great but unfortunate man were not to be shaken. Margaret, less tenacious, or less bigoted, had herself taken the oath, with the following reservation: As far as would stand with the law of God.

When Sir Thomas refused

The family, on this affecting occasion, seem again, from a letter addressed by Mrs. Roper to her father to have assembled at Chelsea. "What think you, my most dear father," says she, "doth comfort us in this your absence, at Chelsea? Surely the remembrance of your manner of life passed among us, your holy conversation, your wholesome counsels, your examples of virtue, of which there is hope that they do not only persevere with you, but that they are by God's grace much more increased."

During the imprisonment of Sir Thomas, a frequent intercourse of letters passed between him and this beloved daughter; and when deprived of pen and ink, he contrived to write to her with a coal. These letters are of an affecting nature, and are printed at the conclusion of the works of Sir Thomas More, published by his nephew, Mr. Rastell.

It is related by Dr. Knight, in his life of Erasmus, that sentence having been passed on the chancellor,

his daughter, as he was returning towards the Tower, rushing through the populace and guards, threw herself upon his neck, and, without speaking, in a stupor Even of despair, strained him closely in her arms. the guards, at this affecting scene, melted into compassion, while the fortitude of the illustrious prisoner nearly yielded. "My dear Margaret," said he, "submit with patience; grieve no longer for me, it is the will of God, and must be borne." Tenderly embracing her, he withdrew himself from her arms. He had not proceeded many paces, when she again rushed towards him, and again, in a paroxysm of sorrow, more eloquent than words, threw herself on his bosom. Tears flowed down the venerable cheeks of Sir Thomas, while he gazed on her in tender earnestness. Having entreated her prayers for him, he bade her affectionately farewell.

The cares of Margaret extended to the lifeless remains of her beloved parent. By her interest and exertions, his body was, after his execution, interred in the chapel of St. Peter's ad vincula, within the precincts of the Tower, and was afterwards removed, according to the appointment of Sir Thomas, during his life, to the chancel of the church of Chelsea. His head, having remained fourteen days exposed upon London Bridge, in conformity to his sentence, was about to be cast into the Thames, when it was purchased by his daughter. Being on this occasion inhumanly summoned before the council, she firmly avowed and justified her conduct. This boldness did not escape the vengeance of the king. She was committed to prison; whence, after a short restraint, `and vain attempt to subdue her courage by menaces,

she was liberated, and restored to her husband and family. She survived her father only nine years, and died in 1544, in her thirty-sixth year. In compliance with her desire, the head of her father was interred with her, in her arms, as related by some; or, according to others, deposited in a leaden box, and placed upon the coffin.

HUSBAND AND WIFE.

Among some who have read Blackstone, and more who have not, an opinion prevails, that a husband may chastise his wife, provided the weapon be not thicker than his little finger. For the honour of England, we wish we could pronounce this opinion as legally erroneous as it is ungallant and barbarous. It is much to the credit of our descendants on the other side of the Atlantic, that they have not carried with them this relic of the once savage state of their forefathers. In a case which came before the Supreme Court of South Carolina, some years ago, the presiding judge summed up an admirable view of the law of the republic on the matrimonial relation, by quoting these lines from the “ Honey Moon," which may be said to contain also the law of humanity on the subject:

"The man that lays his hand upon a woman, Save in the way of kindness, is a wretch Whoin 'twere gross flattery to name a coward."

THE MAIDEN'S LEAP.

A daughter of the first Earl of Gowrie was courted by a young gentleman, much inferior in rank and fortune. Her family, though they gave no encouragement to the match, permitted him to visit them at their castle of Ruthven, in Perthshire; and on such occasions, the chamber assigned him was in a tower, near another tower, in which the young lady slept. On one of his visits, the young lady, before the doors were shut, got into her lover's apartment; but some one of the family having discovered it, told her mother, who cutting off, as she thought, all possibility of retreat, hastened to suFprise them; the young lady, however, hearing the well-known steps of her mother hobbling up stairs, ran to the leads, and took a desperate leap of nine feet four inches, over a chasm of sixty feet from the ground, alighted on the battlements of the other tower, whence, descending into her own chamber, she crept into bed. Her mother having in vain sought her in her lover's chamber, came into her room, where finding her seemingly asleep, she apologized for her unjust suspicion. The young lady eloped the following night, and was married. The chasm between the towers is still shown under the appellation of the Maiden's Leap.

SAPPHO.

Sappho's chief favourite, after the death of her husband, Cercolas, was the accomplished Phaon, a