never brought in closer contact with viands since the days of Adam and Eve, when knives and forks were still an invention in the womb of time; and a single rustic mug was doomed (enviable destiny!) to run the gauntlet of all the pretty lips in the circle. The interstices of the repast (if you will allow me a rather odd expression) were well filled by a number of jokes, some wretched enough, to be sure, but all welcome to those for whose ears they were intended. Quirks and quibbles, catches and misapprehensions, puns and perversions of meaning, all served the purpose. We were fastidious neither as to what we eat, nor what we laughed at.

After thus refreshing ourselves, we were again ready for adventure, and sallied forth to explore the neighbouring church. We loitered some time on the rustic graves, reading the rude and homely inscriptions; and if a passing thought of what we in our turn were destined to become, crossed our minds, it only endeared the present pleasure the more. We then penetrated into the church itself, scrutinizing all its parts. While one of the fair damsels lingered at the altar, in a reverie in which I suspect some future scene was filling her imagination,

another irreverent girl absolutely intruded into the pulpit itself, whence she showered down upon us, if not goodly advice, at least a profusion of smiles and glances, which penetrated quite as deep, and produced quite as strong an effect. We did not, I am afraid, treat the place with all the reverence due to it; although, as we left it, and saw the evening sun streaming through the windows upon the graves of the departed, and upon some ancient figures,

"With hands uplifted on the breast,

In attitude of prayer,"

I, for my own part, could not resist a feeling of deep solemnity, which was increased by the hollow sound of our footsteps as we paced along the aisle. I did not fail to notice the 'squire's pew, so admirably described in the little poem from which I have just taken the two lines last quoted. The actual scene was before me :

"A slanting ray of evening light

Shoots through the yellow pane;
It makes the faded crimson bright,
And gilds the fringe again :
The window's gothic frame-work falls
In oblique shadows on the walls.

And since those trappings first were new,

How many a cloudless day,

To rob the velvet of its hue,

Has come and pass'd away!

How many a setting sun hath made
That curious lattice-work of shade !" *

It was now growing late, and the lengthening shadows of evening warned us that we should have to ride home in the dark unless we hastened our departure. Again mounting our palfreys, we set out on our return at a soberer pace than we came, gratified with the pleasure of the day, and thrown into that quiet mood which often succeeds the vivacity of mirth, and is so much in harmony with the serenity of summer twilight. Our road lay partly over a wild and desolate moor, the fresh and fragrant atmosphere of which was grateful to our senses, while its deep solitude, rendered still deeper by the lateness of the hour, enhanced the prevailing tone of our minds into an indescribable feeling of mingled exhilaration and solemnity. We naturally fell into silent rumination; even the most

* Essays in Rhyme, by Jane Taylor.

vivacious of our company lost for a while their habitual talkativeness, and an occasional remark in an undertone was all that was heard. I suffered the party to pass me, and for about half an hour indulged in the feelings and fancies which in such a scene and at such a time irresistibly crowd on the mind.

Farewell.

F. R.

LETTER VIII.

Unchangeableness of the Radical Properties of Character-Use of this Truth in the Selection of Agents and Occupations; in our Intercourse with Society; and in entering into important Engagements-Adventitious Motives unable to contend in the long run with permanent Principles of Action.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

An essay which lately fell in my way advanced the position that the characters of men never change their radical properties, but ended by declaring, that no useful inference could be derived from the doctrine. The position itself I have had abundant occasion to verify, and far from thinking it incapable of practical application, I scarcely know any which is susceptible of more. Our business, our studies, our pleasures, are all promoted or impeded by the tempers, the passions, the principles, the tastes of our fellow men. What effects we can produce upon these their mental qualities, to what purposes we can render them subser