than a groan, she covered her face, and spoke no more.

The old man approached, and whispered that these symptoms always preceded a long fit of obstinate silence. We followed him into another chamber, where refreshment was provided, and he left us. His absence allowed me to express my thoughts on the incompetence of any testament executed by this deso late and debilitated woman, and my abhorrence to the office of witness or dictator. My attorney interrupted me, by begging my remembrance of her history, which a few words will comprise.

Fifty years before the period I am describing, this mansion was inhabited by an ancient English baronet and his wife, whose domestic happiness required no addition except au heir. But the lady was childless, and filled up the vacant place in her affections by edu eating an orphan girl of good family, but no fortune. She was the reputed heiress of her foster-parents till sixteen years after her adoption, when her patroness gave birth to a son. The happy father died soon after, leaving his heir to the guardianship of his wife, whose estates were at her own disposal. Their spoiled and volatile boy was not qualified to guard against the slow, constant, and smooth craft of his competitor. The disparity between his age and her's prevented any union of interests, and his indifference, perhaps, increased envy to hatred. His mother died suddenly, bequeathing all to Melicent, her adopted daughter, and be quitted England in desperate poverty. Melicent became a wife, and the miserable mother of children who resembled her self. Her selfishness could not baffle their rapacity, and in her sixtieth year, in the wretchedness of unpitied imbeciJity, they left her to vegetate in this ruined mansion, the last remnant of her immense estate. The few acres comprised in the forlorn park which surrounds it, would have been insufficient to afford maintenance to a decent household, had not one of her female servants and an old man chosen to remain with her gratuitously. Eleven years had passed since she came to this retirement, and her situation was an object of wondering curiosity to the vulgar, but of solemn compassion to those who observed the progress of retributive justice.

My companion repeated the particu

lars of this family tradition with carnest expressions of his hope that the dying woman might be induced to sign some testamentary deed, restoring the wreck of the estate to the descendants of its lineal possessor, if any such survived. When he found me firm in asserting that the motive could not justify the means, even had the wreck been greater than a dilapidated house and barren park, he alleged the propriety of obtaining at least some legacy for the aged domestics who had been faithful to their trust.

Accustomed to look on the skeleton of human nature, I saw much to suspect, and little to admire, in these domestics. They had probably some hope of reversionary benefit, and her dotage permitted sufficient opportunities of plunder among the rich relics in the mansion. The old man, who appeared to act as porter, steward, aud confidential valet, had some instinc tive sense of my suspicion, and evidently requited it. He obtruded himself repeatedly during our conference, eying us with sullen attention, and often pausing to catch our words, under pretence of renewing the scanty fire and refreshivent. All these circumstances confirmed my opposition to the views of the attorney in his favour, and even created some little doubt of the latter's disinterestedness. We agreed, however, in the propriety of inquiring, whether the mistress of the mansion had recovered herself sufficiently to admit us, She was better, we were told, but deferred our visit till the next morn ing. My companion went to rest, and 1, determining not to sleep in this mysterious house, found an old illu. minated romance, and dozed over it on a couch beside him. Long after midnight, a light, but very distinguish able, footstep passed our chamberdoor, as if descending from the lady's. My vigilant suspicions fixed this circumstance in my mind; and when, at the appointed hour on the following morning, our admission was again postponed, I urged my companion to be peremptory. The female servant then confessed that her mistress could not be found. We instantly entered her apart ment, and continued our search through all that adjoined it, followed by her woman and the old man, to whom I made no scruple in expressing my astonishment at a fight which her debility

rendered almost incredible. At our entrance into her usual sitting-room, I inquired for the massy silver candelabra, which had also disappeared from its place there. Both professed ignorance, but at that instant the lean porter's face. contained the darkest symptoms of guilt It was one of those faces which an honest man hardly dares peruse, and cannot venture to translate. A long chin resting on his breast, a nose resembling an eagle's claw, and eres which had the quickness but not the lastre of a viper's, and now shrunk to the same size, composed his memorable countenance. We have not looked yet," said he, in a tremulous voice, into the ball-room." This part of the mansion, as I have already said, was fallen into ruins, and filled with shrubs and flowers which he had placed there for his mistress's amusement. The memory of this circumstance softened me in his favour, and we followed him to its farthest recess, where, near the broken door of the chapel which adjoined it, we found the unhappy lady lying on her face, already stiff and cold in death. There were no tokens of violence about her person, which was wrapped only in a dight night-dress, and the cold damps of midnight acting on an exposed and debilitated frame might have hastened her decease. The silence which prevailed among us ti the remains were deposited in a fitter spot, arose less from sarprise than from unwillingness to communicate our thoughts. When alone in the library, my attorney asked what remained to be done :- Certainly to acquaint this woman's relalives with her end, and to detain these people till their conduct can be examised. We are not justified in conversing here till seals are placed on every depositary in the house." This suggestion was obeyed; and as some testamentary arrangement seemed to have been contemplated, we deemed ourselves authorized to search. Va, rious useless papers and antique toys were hoarded in the drawers and cabinets, but neither plate por jewels remained. This my companion attempted. to explain, by stating, that the deceased lady had been stripped of nearly all by her thankless relatives, and had subsisted many years on the produce of the few acres which enclosed her manLon. Her man-servant, he added, was

supposed to have received no salary, and professed to live in this ruin rather, from attachment to the last than the present possessors." These last particulars," I said." would, have more effect in the old illuminated romance which amused us last night than in a lawyer's brief. Can you doubt the fate of the silver candlestick, or the meaning of those malignant glances which her porter cast upon us? If he, had any personal attachment to his wretched inistress, his countenance tells me it must have arisen from past fellowship in guilt, or expectation of future recompense.

To avoid farther debate on a point which created opposite opinions, my friend renewed his inquisition into clo sets and desks, while I pursued mine among the shelves of the library. Wo were both thus engaged, when the ob ject of my suspicions presented him self. He had smoothed his grey hair, and it commanded my respect till they were justified." Sir," he began, ́addressing himself to the attorney, "I have no claims here-nothing is owing to me, but before I leave this house, I could wish-I came to beg one book as a memorial of it"-and he fixed his eyes on a large mildewed volume, which my companion immediately took from its shelf, and was going to give; when reading the purport of my looks, be bade him wait, till to-morrow. The man's glance at me as he withdrew was a compound of anger, contempt, and chagrin, which induced me to examine the volume closely. It was a manu, script selection of literary anecdotes, partly written by a female, and partly by a bold masculine hand. In the lat ter style were several citations on subjects connected, with jurisprudence, in which the first possessor of this mansion, had gained high rauk. One leaf carefully doubled down contained Gesper's pleasant story of a conscientious attor ney perplexed by discovering a will which disinherited some poor relatives. Gesper's procurator was an Utopian," said my legal friend, wrinkling up his nose- Such fine sentiments are fit for the chintz and tassels, but not for the firm pillared posts of an honest man's bed." Then putting on his spectacles, he viewed three large chests of sarcophagus form, each very, appropriately decorated with the family crest, a long-tailed demon, which in a

dimmer and lonelier hour might have caused some superstitious terrors. "And I tell you plainly," he added, "that if I found a forgotten will among these stores of ancient archives, alienating this superannuated woman's wealth from her natural heirs, I should not scruple to leave it where I had found it."" By this rule," said I, "if a Scotchman was required by the comical law which France has lent Scotland, to restore his wife's dowry to her relatives at her death, how would you advise him to act ?"-" I should say as others have said-it is too great a misfortune to lose a wife and her money too-let him keep it by the law of the land if he can, and if not, by the law of Nature."-" Yet you live by the law of the land?" I replied, smiling." No matter, Counsellor!-Human feeling is older than the law, and ought in some cases to be preferred."-" Well, I grant that man's judgment was the law's ori gin; but the law is the result of many judgments, and therefore should be more weighty than an individual's. Honest Gesner said wisely, I should like one or two neighbours of your liberal opinions, but I should not be safe in a town where every-body thought as you do.""" Why, what harm would have been done if I had guided this avaricious dotard's band to sign a retributive act of justice? The law would not cancel an equitable act, though performed by a lunatic."-" It rests neither with you nor ine," I replied, “to measure the equity or decide the means of retribution. Both may be procured without our interference. I see nothing here which could gratify this singular old man; and a few crown-pieces would be more useful to him than a collection of antiquated references."-" If they are so useless," said my companion, angrily, "I might have been pardoned for delivering them to a person who would value them as the hand-writing of the dead."" For that reason, and to find him a more valuable memorial," I replied, "this book seeins an inducement to renew our search. Some of the pages to which these notes refer have been torn out, and they may be worth finding." My friend understood the bint; and having secretly determined to secure the person of this mysterious old man, I followed through the long suite of rooms occupied, as has been already

said, by chests of a sarcophagus form, filled with family-archives. A few were unlocked, and seemed to have been lately opened. Perceiving traces of a spade and mattock among the shrubs in the ruined ball-room, I searched every spot with useless diligence: but in the roofless and forsaken chapel, among heaps of broken timber and decayed velvet, stood a chest of the same singular sarcophagus-shape. It opened without difficulty, and underneath an enormous roll of faded parchment we perceived the silver candelabra,—“ Are your prejudices abated now?" said my companion, triumphantly-"The mi serable woman expired near this chest, and the cobwebs which adhered to her hands and garments assure me that the last effort of her life was an attempt to gratify the sole passion that governed it, by hiding her last treasure."—" I have no thoughts of the candlestick now!" I replied" though it has proved as useful as an old dervise's seven-branched one. These parchments are the titles deeds of the estate !-this folio is her will, devising it to the heir of her late benefactress-She has left ample hoards of money and jewels, all indicated here, and all reserved for him. Burn your blank parchments, brother Quitam, and let us look for the legatee."-- My honest attorney did not wait for the command -he vanished with a long laugh of delight, and returned leading in the meagre old man." Now, Counseller, congratulate the lineal representative of this family on his integrity and his indemnification. He quitted this roof, and refused any boon from his enemy while she seemed affluent, but returned to it when it was desolate, and gave bread to its miserable mistress, though poor and infirm himself when she seemed penniless. He only hoped to die under his father's roof, but it has returned to its right owner.”—“ What would have been his fate," said smiling, if you had fabricated i will?"

I have no comment to make on these facts. My prejudice and suspicion form the chief feature in my narrative. May those who peruse it find all their own dispersed by circumstances as felici tous! And may those who doubt the advance of justice beware how they attempt to expedite it by iniquity.

(To be continued.)

V.

THE GLEANER.

No. VII.

–That should teach us, There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them how we will.

HAMLET, Act v. Sc. 2.

Narguing with the avowed sceptick, who has ventured to ridicule religion, and to treat the doctrines and consola tions contained in the Bible as suitable only for a weak mind and uncultivated taste; there is one very forcible proof of the high claims upon our attention which they possess, which we can never urge upon him with the convincing energy which really belongs to it. We may point out to him the long and luminous train of external evidences which history affords; we may dwell upon the purity of the morality of the Gospel; we may defy our opponent to produce from the records of either ancient or modern times, a system so well calculated to subdue the evil passions, or to regulate the inordinate desires of man; and we may adduce the correct delineations of the real character of the human race, which the Word of God contains: and he will consider us as using weapons, which, whilst he feels the sharpness of their edge, he is obliged to acknowledge are such as we have a right to wield in the combat. But there is one proof of the divine, origin of the sacred scriptures, which, though it may often throw a splendid ray over the volume of inspiration, whilst in the hands of the humble and pious Christian, will be regarded, however, by the infidel, when employed, as the mere production of that very credulity, which, in the pride of his boasted "philosophy, falsely so called," he scornfully affects to despise. It is the heart-felt conviction of the truths of the, promises of the Gospel; it is the expe, rimental acquaintance with their power to "bind up the broken heart;" it is the sensible consolations which their still small voice" whispers to the troubled conscience; it is the forcible demonstration they produce as they are engraven upon the mind as with the "Enger of God:" which convey to the osons of the week and lowly discipies of the Saviour" a delightful evidence of their divine origin, which the bistry of the unbelieving will in Vai attempt to destroy. But if we orge these effects, and adduce them as so many proofs of the value of that

But we are willing to join issue with him upon this point: we are willing to leave, for a while, all the external evidences and internal proofs of the authenticity of the scriptures: to relinquish, for the present, all the extrinsic demonstrations, and intrinsic value, of the sacred writings: aud not only to assert our privilege to urge the evidence to which we have alluded; but also to declare, that were there no other satisfactory testimony of the Divine inspiration of the scriptures, this alone would be sufficient to prove it.

We will make the question one which shall become a matter of fact. We will not confine our inquiries to mere speculative probabilities, but will look to actual experience: we will not rest contented with theoretical reasonings, but will draw our arguments from prac tical results. And where, let us ask, in the whole history of mankind, in all the records of the human race, in all the investigations into the peculiarities of the constitution of the mind of man, will be found (if accounted for on mere philosophical principles) an explana tion of that power which the truths of the Gospel afford, to cheer and to support, to console and alleviate? Is there any thing in affliction naturally calculated to soothe ? any thing in pain, to produce resignation? any thing in poverty, to comfort? in want, to enliven in tears, to make the heart to leap for joy ?" in sickness, to console? in distress, to gladden? Is the frown of the great, or the contumelious taunt of the vulgar, likely to promote the hap

piness of the object of their scorn? Are the deprivations of penury, and the miseries of pauperism, calculated to produce in the mind a thankfulness to the Providence which allots our condition? Is the comparison of our own distresses with the apparent bappiness of others, a probable prelude to submissive resignation? Are the bitter recollections of former prosperity, and the heart-rending contrast with present adversity, such as we might suppose to be nearly allied to a cheerful submission? Or (to venture on still holier ground) are the pangs of remorse, the convictions of conscience, the excruciating torments of a wounded spirit, "which none but he that feels it knows," the natural initiatory steps, which lead to that exquisite mental tranquillity, which makes the lately so agitated mind

"Calm and unruffled as a summer's sea, When not a breath of wind blows o'er its surface,"

We alluded in a former Number to the objection against the existence of a superintending Providence, which the infidel has drawn from the prevalence of moral evil. This objection can only have any weight, on the supposition that nothing has been bestowed on man which would serve as a counteraction of that evil. But if, whilst its exist ence is a fact too palpable to be controverted, it can be proved that the cala milies and misery which it has produced have been made instrumental in eventus ally adding to the happiness of those who have been exposed to it, the infer ence that is drawn from it is unfounded: The sceptick says, "You desire me to believe in a revelation which charac: terizes the God who bestowed it as possessed of the most glorious attributes, and amongst these compassion and mercy appear to shine pre-eminent. But I see around me the greatest misery and distress; and as I cannot suppose that these can proceed from such a Being as your Bible describes, I am justified in refusing my belief in its authenticity."-But what is the reply of the humble Christian, unassisted as he may be by the advantages of a culti vated mind, and unaided by the influence of commanding talents "True-Misery does exist-but the attentive perusal of this inspired volume, which you despise, affords an explanation of the apparent mystery, but me lancholy fact. Misery is the punish

ment of sip, and sin has led to the introduction of misery. But amidst all the trials of life, and all the distressing events which occur, I can draw from this inexhaustible source-this neglected book-my most valuable comforts; and can derive, by its encouraging declarations, my purest pleasures from the very existence of those evils which you urge as a proof of my delusion.”

And where else can we look for such effects as religion is able to produce ? Could any of the systems of the ancient philosophers, who were unblessed with the light which we enjoy, afford those consolations which the scriptures bestow? Can any of the visionary theories of modern speculators, who have refused to be guided by the rays of Revelation, remove one pang from the afflicted bosom, or cast a gleam of light across the darkness of affliction? Bid the man who is suffering under all the anguish that sickness, poverty, and want, can inflict, to bear up under his accumulated load of sorrows, but make the experiment without any allusion to the reviving cordials of the promises of the scrip tures, and his agonizing look will tell a tale that needs not words to give it meaning. Offer to the victim of pleasure, who is feeling the thorns that were concealed under the tempting roses of sensual gratifications, the system of Epicurus, and the verses of Lucretius, for his supports - Point the departing victim of disease to the writings of a modern infide!; and what will be the result? A foreboding dread of dissolution-a hope of annihilation chased by the fear of an hereafter-a wavering presentiment of those " new scenes and changes" through which he "must pass," accompanied by the anticipation of a day of retribution-recollections of a life contaminated by guilt, succeeded by a consciousness of its future punishment-and all the appalling attendant upon departure from this world, which render Death "the King of Terrors.":

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But let us change the scene. the cobwebbed hovel of the firm believer in the truths of the Gospel; whose hours have been passed in their perusal, and whose life has been regu fated by its precepts-whose feelings have been softened by the spirit of its tenderness, and whose prospects have been brightened by the splendour of its glories-whose afflictions have becu