veneration. But in this, as in every thing else, he yielded to convictions of duty, and bowed his inclination for the good of others. He was, indeed, one "whò pleased not himself." Yet had he much to attach him to the spot. Endowed with an exquisite taste for natural beauties, and by education and early habits formed for the improvement of retirement, he seemed made for the situation. Whenever a momentary sensation of discontent crossed his mind, or an inadvertent complaint escaped his lips, he would instantly controul these rising regrets, by a reference to certain principles which to me were then wrapt in mystery, and in their effect on him were magical. I have ample reason, however, to believe that he was too good a man to be addicted to necromancy. The house in which he dwelt was in every respect suited to a person of his retired, yet social, disposition;-one less would have done for himself. I have i often heard him say, he wished it were even larger for his friends. He was more attentive to its internal accommodations than to its outward appearance; as he thought that the daily comfort of the inhabitant ought not to be sacrificed to the transient delight of a casual passenger. He did not despise, but justly appreciated appearances. Many years have rolled away since I visited this my natal spot:-still I have before me the charming scene. The secluded hamlet which he "blessed, not burdened, with his residence," was beautifully situated in a spacious valley lying between two main roads to the metropolis, in that part of the kingdom where the indefatigable industry of man and the luxuriant liberality of nature have combined, as much as may be, to remove the primary curse with which the earth was visited. It seems, from some venerable oaks which yet remain, as though the entire vale had been once co'vered with an extensive wood. Agriculture has changed the aspect and use of much land in this island, but of none more than that about my native place. My father's influence was exerted to encourage the plantation of trees. The mind is naturally led to approve of this; that as in society, so on the ground, as one generation passeth away, another may come. This picturesque scene was enlivened and enriched by a small river, which silently winds its course through - the whole extent of the vale; and to the continued innocence of the dwellers on its banks, an attempt to render it navigable has happily proved abortive. Alas! that improvements in science and commerce should tend to deteriorate moral character! It would not have been so, had not the fruit of that tree been gathered which brought misery into our world, as an inseparable attendant on knowledge. By this meandering stream my father was wont to wander much alone; for, as far as I can remember, there was a placid and pleasing melancholy in his manners and appearance, which seemed to mark him as the most adapted of human beings to dwell in this sequestered spot or whether it is, that with the present temper of my mind all that scenery appears clad in sombre tints, I cannot decide. Frequently we impute that to the spectacle which may belong to the sight; and ascribe that to the object which is really the defect of the visual organ. This early impression concerning his make of mind was confirmed by the following circumstance. When my mother, in the decline of life, was reading the poems of a Northern Bard; at these lines, "E'en strange vicissitudes amused his soul: And if a sigh would sometimes intervene, And down his cheek a tear of pity roll, A sigh, a tear so sweet, he wish'd not to controul:" she exclaimed, "That reminds me of ---!" she let the rest of her thought die in silence; and I imagined she referred to him whom she never ceased to mourn with all the tenderness of a woman, but whose loss she sustained with all the for |