the lustre of her personal possessions, her pearly teeth and diamond eyes.' "Een drink, then, as ye brewed. Since you can do without my advice, you can do without my money." "Are you not getting rather unreasonable, slightingly of serious matters. These qualMrs. Thomson?" ities I hold not the value of a pin's point "It is too much your habit, John, to speak "Are you not getting excessively imper- unless they are accompanied by the three tinent, Master John Brown?" "Nay, nay! let us not quarrel about a trifle. You surely would allow me some degree of suffrage in a matter so personally interesting as the choice of a wife?" "I wish to meddle with no man's affairs, but for the sake of him-poor William, your father-I cannot but take an interest in your welfare; and if you had made a reasonable match with a young lady of whom I could approve, I will not promise but I might have helped you a little until your business were established, with the understanding that I would receive a legal percentage for what I might advance." "Then, my dear aunt, I feel assured you have but to see my choice to be pleased with her. Such beauty, wit, virtue " "Pooh! I doubt she is some low person, or you would not insist on these things. Is she of a good family? Has she any money, or the prospect of any? That is what I wish to know." "Her family is irreproachable, for her father can trace his genealogy as far back as the days of George III., and none of them ever suffered under the hands of the hangman. As to her wealth, she is possessed, I am happy to say, of a great many properties she has a well-furnished memory, an excellently-cultivated understanding, a superb imagination, a brilliant wit and an unbounded store of affection, not to mention indispensable p's to the character of a good wife-prudence, piety and property." 'And is your favorite up stairs possessed of these qualifications? Tell me, aunt, who is she?" "The lady up stairs is a comparative stranger to me, but I am mightily pleased by what I have seen of her. Your old acquaintance Mrs. Smith of Berwick brought her. She is a Miss Farquhar, and belongs herself, I believe, to that quarter, although Mrs. Smith tells me she has some prospects of finally settling in your own town of Glasgow." "A glass of water, if you please. Tush! I am quite well, aunt. A mere momentary qualm. And now I have to reproach you as well as myself for leaving the ladies so long to themselves by our idle chat on a subject which can be talked over again. We must, for very decency, go up stairs. Please introduce me: it is cruel to delay another moment.' As my aunt ushered me into the room with. the formal explanation of "Mr. Brown, my nephew, from Glasgow," Arabella, who was sitting at a work-table with Mrs. Smith, suddenly started, and a deep blush suffused her neck and forehead. While bowing I contrived to place my finger on my mouth, to indicate I wished no recognition. Mrs. Smith seemed to understand this intuitively, for, although it was through her I had originally become acquainted with Arabella, she spoke of us as entire strangers. Arabella herself bound propensities ever look for exaltation. Deeply as I pity my aunt's illiberalities, henceforth shall I revere her for descrying so speedily your worth. It were in my power at present to deceive her by affecting to follow her counsel in paying my addresses to you. Nay, start not! I cannot do it for my own sake, and dare not do it for yours. If my own soul could condescend to such meanness, it were unworthy of worshipping thine." So saying, I sought my aunt with all haste and told her explicitly that her favorite, Miss Farquhar, was no other than my betrothed. Whether charmed by my candor or by the reciprocity of our tastes, I know not; but my aunt behaved on this occasion in a manner worthy of the sister of my father. Her assistance not only exceeded my expectation, but exceeded my original demand. She even came so far as Glasgow to patronize with her personal presence our wedding. Nor had she ever reason to regret her generosity, for in her declining years Arabella administered to her infirmities like a daughter, and our first-born little boy, William, renewed once more her long-smothered affection; so that the latter days of her life were benignant and blessed as those of its commencement. While living she would scarcely allow the little rascal out of her sight,' and on her death she proved the extent of her love by leaving him all her "A small dose of prussic acid would per- immense property, at my disposal till he came haps be more advisable." "No trifling, John; I am serious. Go to your aunt immediately and tell her the circumstances under which we stand. I can bear this state of duplicity no longer." "Dearest and ever noble-minded, to you as to an angel of light must my poor earth of age, with the exception of only five thousand pounds, which went to the South Sea missions, and a handsome annuity of thirty shillings, which, with some trifling assistance of our own, went to the support of an old housekeeper who had got blind and deaf in her service. ALEXANDER WHITELAW. NOAH. HE sun had sunk behind the | He gazed around, and o'er his head was seen watery waste, When night's pale regent, beautiful and chaste, With silent footsteps stole upon the sight, dreams of night. "Father, come forth!" he cries, with heart elate; "For now the waters do indeed abate." As fearful to awake the Strange to relate, in these unthinking times, azure plain Till, by no intervening shade o'ercast, worn, And storms, as if by human passions torn, The ark, now gliding under easy sail, mars, Moves o'er a liquid firmament of stars. ing ray Shem oped the window to behold the day; And earth until this very hour had run, When the fierce warfare of the heaven is o'er And thunders answering thunders cease to roar, How beautiful to see the sun's bright helm And flash a little sun on every eye: It is the hour of mercy, and invites The few survivors of the Flood draw near; An altar formed with pious haste they rear, And fain would female pity intercede : The traces now were fugitive and faint, The favorite lamb is now condemned to Sorrow was banished from its orbit quite : bleed; He, unsuspecting injury, draws nigh, When Japheth grasps him by his snowy fleece; Upward he looks: his eyes betoken peace; So pure is innocence, so undismayed, He sees no terror in the lifted blade: Then, faint and dying at the altar's base, One look he casts upon the female face, And while the ruddy drops his vesture stain He wonders why he feels the sudden pain. The flame ascends, and while the suppliants kneel And offer up their prayers with pious zeal, They start, they listen, for a sudden sound Disturbs the sacred quiet reigning round. It calls thee, Noah, and the accent flows Soft as a zephyr's whisper to a rose. He turned, and saw a face that seemed to Thy infant eye had caught in summer hour wear A mingled character of joy and care: So wore The insect plunderer of the fragrant flower Loading his little thighs with waxen spoil And humming like a laborer o'er his toil; Beheld thy hand that could not then for bear To seize the poor mechanic seated there: The marks that Care's rude hand had sculp- Disconsolate he roamed his narrow cell, tured o'er, The petty prisoner of a floweret bell. |