two persons so truly amiable as Amelia and Felix would do well to ask themselves whether their behaviour may not sometimes have laid them open to this misconstruction; and whether, by an effort of their own, perhaps no more than some slight shade of difference in countenance or manner, they might not remove from their names the odious though undeserved stigma of pride.

Before I have done with this incipient vice, and soi-disant virtue, proper pride, a word must be addressed to the numbers, including many to whom deference is most due, who will defend pride of birth, under this deceitful appellation. To these

I say,

"Cum referre negas quali sit quisque parente
Natus, dum ingenuus *."

But some are of opinion that noble sentiments are only to be found in men of high descent. I am not prepared to deny that the constitution of the mind, as well as that of the body, may be heredi tary; or that a long series of cultivation may improve the virtues of a race: it is also undeniable, that in the higher ranks of life, opportunities are

Horace, Sat. vi. lib. i.

Il importe peu de quel père on soit né, pourvu qu'on ait de nobles sentimens.

most easily found for all the advantages of education, favourable to the developement of a noble and generous nature. And it has further been justly observed, that a child born in an elevated rank is early accustomed to look down on many of the mere vanities of life, which are so completely within his grasp, that they cease to have any value in his eyes; and that this may, in after life, give an elevation to his ideas less likely to exist in the mind of a person of lower extraction, to whom the same things have, from his very infancy, been objects of desire and of importance. But this dis-tinction belongs not to the blood, but to the education: experience forbids us to believe that noble sentiments are confined to men of high birth; and even if that were granted, it would give no sanction to pride: it would, on the contrary, be rather humbling to suppose that the exalted sentiments upon which we value ourselves, can be traced to no other source than one so intirely independent of our control as birth.

Pride of riches, though perhaps the most common amongst the causes of man's vain-glory, requires but little comment: for of those who feel it none would willingly let it appear, still less would any attempt to justify so contemptible a feeling.

How despicable is the man who possesses so small a portion of self-esteem, as to pride himself on that which forms no part of him, and may be torn from him in a moment! If people must be proud, let it, at least, be of some inherent, unalienable quality, of which chance cannot suddenly deprive them: let them assume the " superbiam quæsitam meritis;" not that for which their riches alone afford them a pretence: these, while possessed, confer no real importance; they cannot even make amends for a deformed person, or a defective education; and if there be a flaw in our descent, they only render the world more alert to discover, and more eager to proclaim it.

"Licèt superbus ambules pecuniâ,
Fortuna non mutat genus

Perhaps the pride of mental acquirements may be more plausibly vindicated; a man may say, with some appearance of truth, "God gave me talents, and I have made a good use of them; assisted by diligent cultivation, they have raised me above all vulgar prejudices, enabled me to take a correct and liberal view of all sublunary things, and given me a decided superiority over the majo

Hor. Ode iv. lib. v.

rity of my fellow-creatures: this I owe to myself, and I may reasonably be proud of it." To such a one I would answer, "If you are proud of your acquirements, it is because you do not know enough; pursue your studies, strive to improve in knowledge, until you begin to feel your own ignorance; labour until you become aware how very little you have done." For what is the amount of all human wisdom?

" "Tis but to know how little can be known,

To see all others' faults, and feel our own *."

I have spoken of pride as a folly: it is beyond the scope of these light pages to treat of it as a vice; but let us not on that account fail to reflect on it often in that more serious point of view.

Pride of heart is a sin of the deepest dye, a presumptuous sin; and I cannot dismiss this subject without earnestly entreating my readers to remember always, that it is a duty of vital importance to us all to guard our hearts diligently against the approaches of so insidious an enemy.

• Pope.

ESSAY XXIII.

ON THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ANNA BOLEYN *.

"Had our first mother worn

But half such beauty, when the serpent came,
His heart, all malice, would have turned to love;
No hand but this, which I do think was once
Cain, the arch murtherer's, could have acted it.”

BEDDOES.

Ir is our happy lot to have been born in an age of civilization; to enjoy, at once, the protection of a firm and equitable government, and the blessings of civil and religious liberty. Justice and mercy, in this happy realm, rule hand in hand. Pardon is daily extended to the guilty, and few are the instances in which innocence suffers. Such may, indeed, occur, for all human decisions are

It ought perhaps to be observed, that the innocence of Anna Boleyn is a disputed point amongst historians: the author, far from wishing to influence the opinions of young readers, recommends them to read the best histories carefully, and form their own judgment.