them. The weight of blood is on their souls, and they must expiate it by a purifying process, through which they will be brought to a knowledge of the truth. The lower orders are still credulous and fanatic; while the higher are very generally unbelievers, and indifferent and regardless on the subject of religion. So nearly allied are superstition and unbelief. The nation we are about to visit you will find full of contradictions. Nature has done much for the country and its inhabitants; but neglect in the one, and hereditary faults in the other, have contributed to reduce both to a most pitiable and miserable condition. Some one has said of Spain, that She only retains the lingering blessing which remained in Pandora's box-hope.'"

"Which Alexander thought the greatest of all, papa," said Frank.

"Yes," said Mr. Delville; " but that was when he was in the actual possession of his most sanguine wishes. Alexander would not have made that answer if he could have changed places with Darius."

"Hope," said Mrs. Delville," applied to temporal blessings, is a very unsubstantial possession." "But it disguises evils, mamma," said Ellen; " and that is something.

'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,

And robes the mountains in their azure hue.""

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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."

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 amuse

ment.

Still is the toiling hand of care,

The panting herds repose;

Yet hark! how through the peopled air

The busy murmur glows.'"

"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."

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.

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