unfoldings to, the divine. Surely we dream of heaven too much as a metamorphosis of our whole nature! My own mind has been somewhat saddened, it is true, in the vain efforts to realize the mode of her present being, her employments, the nature of her intercourse with the highest intelligences of the universe. Let the thought comfort us that whatever changes we experience, her love cannot change."

A sentiment uttered by her cousin, and worthy of being deeply pondered by the gay and busy, is communicated to Mrs. W- on May 8th: "I often think of dear Polly's remark, made in her earnest whisper, with that expression in her eye which gave such force to her utterances: 'I never could have believed that life, and all it contains, would have assumed the aspect to my mind it has done, since I have been laid aside in a sick room.' Ought we not to gird on our armour afresh, and faint not in the strife, seeing we have but the day wherein to work, and that day so brief and uncertain?"

Happily her spirits now began to recover something of their former tone. On the 13th she writes to Mrs. P after having stated her proposed arrangements for her visit: "With you I think that put-off visits, like put-off weddings, are very dubious things. My present purpose, however, is to cheat the goddess who presides over such matters, and present myself at Congleton Station for your further disposal next Tuesday evening, unless your domestic divinity, or some other untoward event, forbids.”—On that day our habitation received such an accession to its hearth-joys as a visitor has rarely furnished.

Through the kindness of Mr. F -, whom business called to Manchester, she had a peep into life, on her

1856]

CONGLETON.

243 way to Congleton, under a phase entirely new. Instruction was derived as well as curiosity gratified. She wrote to him next day : "I have enjoyed what I saw in Manchester yesterday more to day than I did at the time perhaps. Various reflections have been suggested by the remembrance, which I value. I saw some phases of life which were quite new to me, and you would smile perhaps were I to mention them. A day in Manchester warehouses is a very edifying thing in its way, and I thank you for the lessons suggested. They may have their uses some day."

The town

Of Congleton, after a brief inspection, she says: "The surrounding scenery is beautiful. clean and rather pretty. The suburbs especially so, for it abounds in villas and large quiet-looking houses embowered with trees. Vegetation is considerably more advanced here than in our more northern latitude.

"I feel impressed to day with a sense of the insignificance of all the appendages of life as compared with its one great object-spending it for God's glory and the benefit of our fellow-beings. Dr. Kitto-an epitome of whose life I have to-day been reading-has left this impression on my mind. What a noble work he pursued under peculiar disadvantages!"

"I read a review of Dr. Kitto's life in 'The Eclectic,' yesterday," she writes to Miss S. R- on the 22nd. "What a tale of thrilling interest it must be ! A workhouse lad-totally deaf, and of course with imperfect speech, disappointed or rather betrayed in a most passionate attachment, by a faithless lady, and finally married to a gem of a woman, who was thrown upon his sympathy and kindness when suffering from the bereavement of her affianced husband. Her path seems to have been a difficult and blessed one. She was never

absent from his side for ten hours together during all their wedded life. Yet she ransacked libraries for him, and laboured to advance his works with all her might. Of their union she beautifully says, 'I prayed that God who had chosen my difficult path would enable me rightly to walk in it.'"

Who of us, holding opinions to which we attach importance, may not ponder beneficially the sentiment she transmits to Mr. W- -t on May 26th: "In my earnest condemnation of bigotry I have sometimes felt myself indulging in uncharitableness of spirit. The very same bitterness may mark my condemnation of bigotry which marks the bigot I condemn. I say not this, believe me, with any reference to your letter. I speak only of myself. I have deeply felt since I came here how far I have erred in this respect."

Though written some years previously, the following was furnished to the public during this spring.

THE LEPER.

"Woe, woe is me! far from the abodes of men,
And far from spot by human footsteps trod,
And far from all that's reached by human ken,
From kindred, home, all but the curse of God,
I flee; a leper-shunn'd, abhorr'd, and scorn'd,
A thing forgotten, or but lightly mourn'd.
"I thirst-I burn, no hand may give me drink,

Nor with the cooling waters lave my brow;
An outcast vile, from those- from all—I shrink,
Whose voice might sooth, whose hand relief bestow,
In the low depths of my own black despair
My cry of misery doth but echo there.

"The past ccmes o'er me like a troubled dream,
And memory to my torture lends her aid;
That past, nor sighs, nor tears can e'er redeem,
Or cause it from my aching heart to fade.
One vision haunts and fires my madden'd brain,
The wife-the babes I ne'er may see again.

"One voice is with me now! Her gentle tone,

And beaming eye, and smile, whose sweetness spoke
Of woman's earnest, trusting love, alone-

So pure, so fervent, so intense-it woke

My soul to gladness, made me deem that joy,
So rich, was mine for aye, without alloy.

"Hark !-'tis a footstep. Who approaches near
To one who all companionship must flee?

Haste, stranger, from the unclean! Come thou not here
The air a leper breathes is cursed to thee.

It is the scoff'd, revil'd,—the Nazarene !

Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou can'st bid me be clean!'

Low at the Saviour's feet the outcast knelt,

His eye in tenderest pity viewed him there :
'Twas such He came to save. The scorn'd one felt
Through his whole frame the answer to his prayer,
He saw the Saviour look with love serene,

And heard with joy, "I will that thou be clean! "

245

CHAPTER X.

"I

Her views on a vital Christian doctrine temporarily unsettled-The benefit to be secured from the little things of daily life— Christian liberty-The triple nobility of nature, culture, and faith - Importance of an habitual recognition of God-John Sterling --Her brother's decision to embark for Australia-Glimpses of the grand possibilities of our being-Departure of her brother-The duty of cultivating a thankful spirit-The privileges supplied by trials-Emerson's English Traits-The Jehovah-Angel -American writers of fiction-Scanty aids for self-improvement. THEY who would enjoy the sweets of repose must first experience the bitterness of toil. This is as true of the mind as the body. Miss Hessel's views had become unsettled on a doctrine she felt to be of vital importance; and she was now therefore experiencing great solicitude. In a letter to Mr. Wt, she says: have had a floating intention for some time past of asking you for an elucidation of some points in a grand doctrine of Christianity which has somewhat perplexed me. I have been so fearful of being misunderstood if I asked any of my orthodox friends how they would meet such and such objections, that I have let my troubled thoughts heave and surge on, while the mist gathered more thickly. Yesterday, in conversation with Mr. P―, the subject was drawn out of me. He answered my questions without expressing the slightest surprise, furnished me with the strongest arguments, and though he seemed instinctively to understand how far I had gone, uttered no word of reproach, but said cordially, I am glad to find you inquiring into this subject, I have no doubt of the issue. We will talk about this another day, and you shall read Wardlaw's Discourses on the Socinian Controversy.'