dious dwelling. Shared with the partner of his affections, the beauties of its situation opened on his view with attractions, latent until now. With her, he saw in nature what nature only can supply; and, imbibing, imperceptibly, a portion of her delicacy of taste, he gradually learned to appreciate the thousand varieties of scenery which surrounded him. But, while he gazed on them with transport, and often felt astonished, that he could ever have been insensible to their charms, the heavens that were stretched over him, as a curtain' of glory, and the earth that was spread out for him, as a'

beauteous tent to dwell in,' were viewed with an eye as yet unenlightened. He could discern the loveliness and symmetry of the picture before him; but the Divine Artist was overlooked. The fields were enameled with flowers of every hue and odour -the lake lay in its blue expanse—the mountains rose in sublime majesty and the firmament displayed its stupendous magnificence; but the Almighty Power, from which they emanated, was disregarded, and the

honour withheld from Him that was due unto his name.'

Henceforth, he resigned himself to the calm and unsullied gratifications of domestic life, so widely differing from the tumultuous and unprofitable pleasures to which he had been accustomed. The endearing appellations of husband and father, so long despised amidst the whirl of fashion and dissipation, now became doubly sweet, from being contrasted with former feelings; and he derived from their accompanying enjoyments, a felicity, to which he had hitherto been a stranger. As yet, however, there was in his heart a voidan aching void'-which not even the gentle attentions of the companion of his retirement, one of the loveliest of women, nor the insinuating playfulness of his little ones, now increasing in size and number about him, were able to fill. If we may adopt the similitude of the inspired penman, his soul was like the troubled waters which cannot rest.' There was still wanting a something, though he could not define its character, nor in the mean time

estimate its effects, whose absence cast a shade of melancholy over many of his sweetest hours. Now it was, that he was destined to know experimentally, that nothing, below the possession of its Maker, can satisfy the ardent and expansive desires of an immortal spirit. The form of religion which had hitherto rocked him in the cradle of delusive hope, and buoyed him up amidst the jarring sounds of the intoxicating pursuit of amusement, was now found totally unequal to sustain the weight of solitude and reflection, or to cheer those desponding moments, when his mind involuntarily turned itself to the scenes beyond.-But, it was not the Divine purpose ، alway to chide with him : and the medicine he required was not much longer to be denied.

Though promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west,' yet, 'in the dispensation of the fulness of times,' there is a day appointed, wherein the people of God shall be willing to embrace his promises, and walk before him in all holy obedience; for there is 'a day, wherein he will visit them

with power. That auspicious day now dawned on the family of du Blesne. 'The Sun of Righteousness,' whose benign influence had been hitherto neglected or belied, arose at length on this Alpine solitude 'with healing in his wings; and quickly dispersed the clouds of unbelief and darkness, which, until this moment, had hung over it with the gloom of death, and with the silence of the grave.

It was about this time that an event occurred, which was deeply calculated to excite serious consideration, and impress the mind with a salutary conviction of the importance of a future world, and of the necessity for being in readiness to appear at its high tribunal. It called, indeed, as with a voice of judgment: Prepare to meet thy God.' He who makes the winds his messengers, and holds the elements as with a bridle to accomplish his designs, now saw fit to commission the destroying angel,' that his counsel might go forth with the terror of his name.' It was, truly, a visitation of sorrow; but so over-ruled eventually,

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that those, who mourned beneath its weight, were led to trace in it the working of him,

who ordereth all things in heaven and on earth;' whose mercy and truth ever meet together; and who, out of apparent evil, educes good.

The sun had risen serenely, and was already gilding the neighbouring heights, when one of its most cheerful inmates bade a long adieu to the mansion of du Blesne. Intending to catch some fish for the use of the family, as was the frequent recreation of his intervals of study, Amadeus, Albert's third son, was seen early that morning with a nimble step bending his course towards the lake, which was at no great distance, and was soon attained by this youthful mountaineer.

Below the glen, and near the embouchure of the river, his father, whose lands lay in another direction, had purchased for him a small patch of ground, where he had had a harbour constructed, with a pier to facilitate his nautical employments. Here, he superintended the building of a boat, which,