obtain it; for we love ourselves too well not to desire to be well always."

"All I have to do is to suffer God's holy will, and I shall be exalted in due time; though not as Job, yet with divine comfort here and joy hereafter. It is the grace of God which disposes me to ask after such comforts as the world cannot give. What comfort it can give, I am sure I have felt and experienced to be uncertain and perishing. Such I will never more, the grace of God assisting, look after. And yet I expect a joyful day after some mournful ones; and though I walk sadly through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, humbling myself under the mighty hand of God, who will save in the day of trouble. He knows my sorrows, and the weakness of my person: I commit myself and mine to him. The saddest state of a good soul will one day end in rest. This is my best comfort, and a greater one we cannot have; yet the degree is raised, when we consider that we shall not only rest, but live in regions of unspeakable bliss. This should lead us sweetly through the dark passage of the world, and suffer us to start at nothing we either meet with, or our fears suggest may happen to us."

"I was too rich in possessions while I possessed him. All relish now is gone: I bless God for it, and

pray

that I may more and more

turn the stream of my affections upwards, and set my heart upon the ever-satisfying perfections of God; not starting at his darkest providences, but remembering continually, that his glory, justice, or power, is promoted by every one of them, and that mercy is over all his works, as we shall one day, with ravishing delight, behold. I can truly say, that unless his law had been my delight, I should have perished in my trouble."

Such were the sentiments of lady Russel, whose character still rises in the perspective of history, uninjured by the hand of time, with all its just proportions and moral greatness. It will be interesting to pause a little longer on her varied excellencies. Few have been called to offer so great an instance of resignation and fortitude, and few, probably, would have been equal to the task. He who has assigned to each his allotted station, and duly adapted its various trials, regards with tender indulgence the workmanship of his hands; he "pities our weakness, and remembers that we are dust.”

"The Most High," said this admirable woman, "has not denied me the support of his Holy Spirit, in this long day of my calamity; but He has enabled me in some measure to rejoice in Him, as my portion for ever. He has provided a remedy for all our griefs, by his sure

promises of another life; where there is no death, nor any pain nor trouble, but fulness of joy, in the presence of Him who made us, and will love us for evermore."

To great tenderness of disposition, lady Russel united the most perfect control over all her feelings. This we have seen evinced during her parting with lord Russel on the morning of his execution; and when we consider the greatness of her loss, her consciousness of the injustice of his sentence, and the happiness of their union, it may justly be regarded as one of the most impressive instances of magnanimity and selfcommand, which either ancient or modern history has recorded. She was also called upon to exert a similar firmness on the death of her daughter, the countess of Rutland, who died during her confinement. "Lady Russel," says her biographer, "after seeing her in the coffin, proceeded to her other daughter, married to the duke of Devonshire, from whom it was necessary to conceal the event: she assumed, therefore, a cheerful air, and, with astonishing resolution, answered her anxious enquiries with these words: 'I have seen your sister out of bed to-day.'

Lady Russel had promised her lord to take care of her own life for the sake of their children, and she religiously observed her engagement. She continued his widow to the end;

and, having survived him about forty years, departed in the eightieth year of her age, by that kind of natural transition from the one state of being to another, for which common language seems to have no proper appellation, but which the sacred writers have happily denominated, "falling asleep."

Authorities."Life and Letters of lady Russel." Hume's England.”

MISS MARGARET ANDREWS.

Blest flower, too pure on earth to stay,
Thy peerless sweets have pass'd away:
Yet still to memory's care assign'd,
Ambrosial fragrance breathes behind.

MISS MARGARET ANDREWS, the subject of this memoir, was the only child of Sir Henry and lady Elizabeth Andrews, of Lathbury, in the county of Bucks. She was born in the year

1666.

From her infancy she was remarkable for the sweetness of her disposition, and the pleasure which she derived from hearing the Holy Scriptures; as well as for the affection which she manifested towards her parents, and her tenderness for the poor.

She early discovered a striking indifference to the world; and, as she grew in years, it might be truly said respecting her, that she also grew in favour with God and man. She delighted in daily meditation, and was often seen with her hands and eyes lifted up to heaven, in an attitude expressing the joyful antici