my solitude, and in the sacredness of the midnight hour brought consolation to my soul. Like a beacon she seemed to light me on my course, dispelling the gloom which surrounded me, and cheering me on to exertion by pointing out the path to happiness here, and the road to heaven hereafter. And the sweet tone of her voice was like music from afar -like some treasured strain as it comes floating on the air, and, wafted by the breeze in the stillness of midnight, recals past scenes of happiness and joy, ere the sorrows of life had furrowed the brow or dimmed the lustre of the eyes which were wont to beam with delight when they looked on the form of her they loved. But why do I indulge in these thoughts, and call to mind what has been, but never shall be again?

"O fortunati nimium sua si bona nôrint !"

Alas! that we had known when we were happy, and had appreciated the days that are gone! Yet, forgive me, Franklin, for 'tis not easy to shut out from the mind the recollections of bygone happiness. They will return and return again, and happy the man, the llusion past, who feels not a pang remain. Yet, ough the returning to the sad blank which the conthat our hopes are crushed, and for ever, fraught with reflections bitter and hard e, still 'tis a consolation, and not a

CHAPTER VIII.

"Hunc Polidorum auri quondam cum pondere magno Infelix Priamus furtim mandârat alendum

Thrëicio regi."

VIRG. ENEID. Lib. 1.

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends
Rough-hew them how we will."

HAMLET, Act V., Sc. 2.

THE Occurrences I have just related had a most salutary effect upon my future conduct, and, on reflecting upon what I had so recently witnessed, and the many shapes in which I had received confirmation of Hailey's treacherous conduct to me, I could not but congratulate myself on my singular good fortune in having so well escaped the snares which for so long a time had beset me on every side. I was in great perplexity, however, for, come what might, my resolve was not to expose my family by calling him to account for his share in the outrage committed upon me. Herbert's reply to my letter coincided with my views, and when I made further communication to him of the interview I had had in Blenheim Park with Hailey's accomplice, he said that much of the diffic was removed, and he hoped that, ere long, knaves, he would be guilty of son

would open the eyes of my father to his real character, and be the means of thwarting any future designs he might have against me. It was agreed, then, that nothing should be done, with the exception of Herbert giving Hailey to understand that he was aware of his cheating propensities, and compelling him by threats to cancel the obligations he had received from him. So far all was well: I learned, too, that he actually was in London, and had given out that he had been wounded in a duel; and a letter which I received from my father gave a sad corroboration to this part of Herbert's communication. It reached me on the morning after my visit to Mr. Bainbridge, and ran as follows:

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So, sir, not content with leaving Oxford without permission, you must needs go to the opera, and exhibit yourself to the public gaze in the company of people of indifferent character! and was not this sufficient disgrace for one night? The gaming table must be the next step in profligacy, and-mark the consequence having won the money of those who could ill afford to lose it, by refusing to give them a chance of winning it back, you bring a quarrel upon George Hailey, who vindicates the honour you have not the spirit to defend, and falls under your high displeasure,

forsooth, he ventures thus tacitly to censure luct. You can do no further good at Oxford, efore, I desire you will take the necessary

money; honestly if you can, but make money." I then began to pilfer from my companions; contrived to be the holder of the common fund when a subscription of any kind was raised, and made a large per centage, which by this time I had learned, in order to salve my conscience, to call by the honest name of "commission." This was a safe mode of proceeding, and I derived considerable profit thereby. At length I began to be suspected, and having, by a long course of successful villany, become confident, as in the former case, and consequently incautious, I was caught in the act of stealing money out of the desk of one of my companions, who, to add to the disgrace, was my intimate friend, and would at any time have shared his last shilling with me. My punishment was summary. That night I was kicked and threshed most unmercifully by my school-fellows, cut dead next morning, and before noon expelled publicly, amid the groans and hisses of the whole school. Yet even then rang in my ears those hateful words, "Charles, make money; honestly if you can, but make money." I returned home, and the friend whom I had wronged kindly accompanied me to break the intelligence to my father, and having done so, and interceded in my behalf, with tears in his eyes he wrung my hand, and bade me farewell, for ever, he said, with marked emphasis; and truly so I found, for when I met him in the street the day

after, and advanced to speak to him, he turned on his heel, and crossed over without deigning to notice me. "Charles," again rang in my ears, "make money; honestly if you can, but make money." My father would not speak to me, would not even see me, and, after remaining at home only long enough to make the necessary arrangements, I was sent to a school in Paris, preparatory to being placed in a merchant's counting-house. I was by this time, however, nearly seventeen, and soon learned in Paris all the baneful habits of the place, what in the shape of gambling, and other disgraceful pursuits; and before my term of banishment had expired was as profligate a young gentleman as ever frequented the gambling-houses of Paris, or any other resort of infamous notoriety. It was long, however, before I became a skilful cheat, but I never forgot the maxim, "make money; honestly if you can, but make money," and never shall to my dying day. At length, after a career of dissipation, during which I had neglected my studies, and had run away from the school at which I had been placed, I determined to return to London, for my money was nearly expended, and as I had not heard for a long time from home, I began to think that something had gone wrong. But my father, on my return, refused to see me, having heard of my continued misconduct, and, sending me one hundred pounds, declared that he had cast me off for ever. My heart was hardened