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recounted his labours abundant, his journeyings often, his perils of robbers, his perils in the wilderness, his weariness and painfulness, his frequency in deaths,' the tear of sympathy would spring unconsciously to the eyes of his attentive auditory soon, however, to give place to that of thankfulness, when he dwelt on the goodness and mercy which had followed him,' preserving him amidst innumerable dangers, from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and from the destruction that wasteth in the noon-day.' Thus, their minds were harmonized for the succeeding solemnities. Listening to his unadorned narrative, interwoven with many an expression of gratitude to that Power which had protected him, they insensibly caught a portion of his spirit, and their social intercourse assumed reciprocally a more exalted tone.

Amidst such peaceful and profitable employments, years had glided imperceptibly away. With little diversity of occupation,

there was not much to distinguish their silent lapse and it was only by a family growing up about him, and those infirmities of nature which are the usual precursors, and the invariable attendants, of declining vigour, that du Blesne could perceive that he had already been long a sojourner on earth, and must by and bye be going to the house appointed for all living.' So true it is, that time will wait for none.' Day after day steals on:' still awfully exemplifying the truth of the pathetic lamentation of the Roman exile, to him unalleviated by any ray of hope from beyond the dreariness of that grave, towards which he felt himself borne with a steady and irresistible impulse:-

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Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis.' Ov. (a)

Two of du Blesne's sons, for whom his now more limited income did not permit him, consistently with the duties he owed to his other children, to purchase exemp

(a) Time glides away, and we insensibly

Grow old beneath advancing years.'

tion,* had already been drafted into the legions of the usurper; and, accompanied by the tears and prayers of their kindred, had bid adieu to the home of their nativity, and were gone to slake the ruthless ambition of a tyrant with their blood.

His daughters, too, were verging into womanhood. In them, as a father, he was pleased to behold a modesty of demeanour, combined with an amiable sensibility, and a sympathizing tenderness for the woes of humanity, so indispensable to complete, and such lovely ornaments in, the female character. Nor was it these, only, that gladdened his heart. As one, whose dearest hopes were beyond this fluctuating and evanescent scene, he had higher views. His anxieties reached to eternity, as his efforts were addressed to capacitate for its blessed employments. Deeply conscious, that, without that internal preparation which no human power can bestow, they could never attain to the abodes of happiness, he was solicitous, above all, that they should be

*See note m.

vitally actuated by the spirit, while they professed to be animated by the principles, of christianity. Not, that he would have extirpated the passions; an attempt as futile, as it would have been at variance with the Divine institutions. No: his aim was to turn them into a right channel, and to direct them to the worthiest objects. He would have exalted, and purified, their affections; and, fixing them on heavenly things, so have imbued their minds with a sense of the supreme value of immortality, that, while they descended to hold communion with the concerns of time, they should still testify that this was not their rest.' Thus would he have trained them in the way they should go, and formed them for a felicity which

eye hath not seen'-a felicity that shall endure, when this world, with all that belongs to it, has passed for ever away.

Yet, even here he could rejoice, although perhaps with trembling. While he pleaded the promise,* so cheering to the bosom of a

* ' A promise,' as Mr. Hervey observes, of inestimable worth, never to be forgotten by believing parents, and better

pious parent; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring; and they shall grow up' in knowledge and in grace, 'as willows by the water

courses' he felt, that the God he worshipped was still his friend. Nor did he doubt, that, in the diligent use of the appointed means, and in humble dependance on the blessing from above, his efforts for their eternal welfare would ultimately be crowned with the happiest success.

Hope, indeed, had whispered that the dawnings of a renewed understanding were already

to their children than the largest patrimony, or the richest dowry. It is exceedingly beautiful, and equally comfortable. Not, I will drop, I will distil, but I will pour: denoting a large and copious supply. They shall grow, not as a root out of a dry ground, but as a tree planted in the most kindly soil, where it is plentifully watered, and flourishes in the most ample manner.'

Sensere quid mens rite, quid indoles,
Nutrita faustis sub Penetralibus

Posset.

HORACE,

Were it but train'd with pious care, they knew

What culture with the tender mind could do.