also the obedience due from every professing follower of Christ to the explicit, unmistakeable command of his divine Master, "Do ye unto all men even as ye would they should do unto you."

Now, whatever militates against the scriptural law of love, is always found to be a hardening process. That such was the result of a persevering plan to grind the faces of the poor, though not originating in any natural propensity so to do, will be manifested but too plainly in the progress of this narrative. We are to follow a single family through vicissitudes that thousands of English families are perpetually encountering; and in the progress of our tale we will drop that part of the proceeding which had no direct reference to them, and pass on to the moment when, the result of this special meeting having been duly notified for the information of the distant vestry-clerk, preparatory to a board-day. Richard Green was called in, to bear the letter to its destination. The clergyman and doctor, having their hands full, departed as soon as the business was closed; but the rest of the party remained, consisting of the churchwarden, the overseer, and two others; of whom one, a Mr. Stratton, had earned the reputation of being the shrewdest man at foreseeing, and the most skilful at averting impending burdens from the parish, within the whole district. Indeed the eminence thus conceded to him became doubly injurious; for in his anxiety to act up to the character, he was led into paths of deception and cruelty, from which he would otherwise have shrank.

Richard, having made his bow, stood, cap in hand, awaiting his orders. A short whispering dialogue passed between the overseer and Mr. Stratton; at

the close of which the latter addressed him with much kindness. Well, my boy, I hear you are getting on with credit, and likely to make your way respectably in the world?'

Richard blushed, and bowed.

'The cottage that your father left is nicely kept: I often ride past, and notice the good repair of all about it. Does the widow Green manage still for you?'

My grandmother, sir, has taken care of it, and of us too, ever since father died, seven years ago.'

Indeed! a worthy old lady. And how many of you may there be?'

Myself is the eldest, sir; and James, and Mary, and Willy; besides Helen Fleetwood.'

'She's an orphan, I think?'

'Quite, sir; and she has no friend in the world to care for her except granny-and us.'

'Humph! Where was she born?'

'In this parish, sir; and has always lived in it all her life,' answered Richard, with a vivacity that shewed he thought either Helen or the parish had somewhat to boast of in the circumstance.

'How old are you?' asked the overseer.

'Seventeen last July, and Helen is sixteen.' 'And James?'

Thirteen: but being very sickly, you see, sir, he doesn't look so much. Mary is as tall as he, though she's but eleven; and Willy is just eight, if you please sir,' said Richard, who seemed highly gratified at being permitted thus to parade the objects dearest to his heart before the mental view of such fine gentlemen.

A pause ensued; marked by an interchange of

wise looks between the attentive auditors of this family chronology. Mr. Stratton then spoke.

'Oh, by the way, Richard, you will be master of that cottage, won't you?'

'Granny will be mistress of it as long as she lives, and I live,' replied the boy, colouring deeply with emotion.

"Very good: I approve your feeling. And the lease is for ever, isn't it?'

'No, sir: for three lives.'

All stout and hearty, I hope?'

'Two of them are gone,' said the boy, and Mr. Hewitt is the third.'

A sagacious nod from the overseer directed Mr. Stratton's attention to this point, while he repeated, George Hewitt of Oakfield-you know him.'

'And the present landlord,' pursued Stratton, 'is Mr. Grey, of Ipswich ?'

"Yes, sir: we hope he'll renew the lease, as the old landlord told father he'd certainly do if the lives ran out in his time.'

'Well, Richard, be a good lad; you've`a deal of information, I see, and may turn out a great credit to your family. Now take this letter to Mr. Hall, and be sure you wait for an answer, and deliver it here, to the governor, this evening. Do you mind?'

'I will take care to do it, your honour:' replied the lad; then pocketing the letter, he made his obeisance, and hastened away.

A nice, sharp fellow that,' observed the churchwarden. As to the place, it can never be his; but he will maintain himself respectably, I doubt not.'

'I would rather not trust to that,' said the overseer: we have fellows as sharp as he on our hands,

picking oakum. here in this workhouse. As to the family, they are as good as on the books already; Hewitt's life is not worth a day's purchase; Grey has promised-that is, I am sure he will find more profitable tenants than an old woman and a pack of children, who have it, besides, for next to nothing. So we may reckon on Goody Green, her girl, whose settlement is certainly here, and the whole batch of grand-children, including a sickly boy :—a rare discovery you have made for us, Mr. Stratton!'

'I have sprung the game, to be sure: and now suppose I wing them all into another parish, what will you say?'

'That it's the best of many good turns you have done us,' answered Miles, with a bow: 'and moreover that if any living man can do it, Mr. Stratton is the gentleman.'

'Well, take no notice; time will shew.'

When evening came, it found the cottagers seated in their snug kitchen. The widow was busy at her wheel, Helen manufacturing a suit for Willy, out of one that had done good service to James; Mary knitting; James watching the simmerings of his supper, the ingredients for which cross Mr. Buckle had not neglected to supply; and Willy, with no small satisfaction, reciting to Mrs. Barker a hymn that she had desired him to learn. Richard's arrival completed the party; and the story of his interview with the great men and their condescending inquiries was eagerly listened to by all. How very kind of the gentlemen to take such an interest in us,' observed the widow, whose guileless character rendered her unsuspicious of evil. I wish old Buckle had been there,' cried Mary. Did they make any particular

inquiries about me?' demanded Mrs. Barker; and the toss of the head that ensued on hearing Richard's reluctant negative, bespoke a sense of offended dignity while James remarked, 'I wonder you wern't too dashed to speak.'

Helen was silent: Richard had passed very delicately over the part relating to her, merely repeating the question as to her place of birth; but she felt a sort of boding uneasiness at heart, probably from her really reflective mind catching at the obvious tendency of the examination pursued. Mrs. Barker looked at her for a moment, and exclaimed, 'I shouldn't wonder'—then suddenly checking herself, shook her head, and finished by muttering in a mysterious tone a soliloquy not new from her lips: ‘I know the ways of the parish pretty well.'

Prayer closed, as it had commenced, the peaceful and industrious day; and when the widow Green had paid a tiptoe visit to each simple couch, to ascertain that all was comfortable, with a special reference to that of the sickly boy, she knelt down alone, to commend anew herself and her precious charges to him who is the God of the widow, the Father of the fatherless, and who had promised that in answer to the prayer of faith he would guide her with his counsel here, and afterward receive her to glory.

Two months glided on, without any material change in the affairs of our cottagers: but the blasts of winter that stripped the trees of their few remaining leaves, and dashed the foam of ocean over the cliffs, bearing it even to the humble roofs that stood sheltered on their western side, proved too severe for Hewitt. He was given over; and every post might