address being then tolerably good, and my elocutional powers acknowledged as respectable, he requested me to make an attempt to serve him on his benefit night, by taking a part in the performance of the evening. I was fond of declamation,-felt flattered by the request, and consented. The part assigned me was that of "Frederick,' in 'Lovers' Vows.' My début was most successful; and as my circumstances were becoming pressing, I judged nothing would be more easy than to make a fortune by commencing actor. As no opportunity however presented itself, by which I could be introduced on the boards of a regular theatre, I even became content to accept a place among a travelling company; and in barns, sheds, and other temporary buildings, raved as a tyrant, foamed as a madman, or languished as a lover. I made myself generally useful, and soon became expert in adjusting the perukes of the male, and the curls of the female performers. My skill in this way became considerable; and as we were, from the poverty of our establishment, compelled to perform any part which might fall to our lot, as well behind the scenes as before the audience, I felt a degree of gratification rather than regret, that I could be in reality-as well as play it-hair-dresser to the company.

"Such a vagabond life however disgusted me as soon as its novelty had worn off. The poverty behind the scenes was only known to those who were there. The spangled dresses of heroes and

heroines were almost the only clothes they wore, and generally covered bodies wretched with disease and want. I therefore determined to leave them; and with a few pounds in my pocket, which I had prudently hoarded from my fortune's wreck, on the nineteenth anniversary of my birth-day, I made my final exit from such a life, perfectly cured of theatricals, and journeyed, scarcely knowing why or where, towards Bath.

"It was the evening of a lovely summer's day when I drew near that beautiful city. All was tranquil as Eden, before sin entered our world. The sun threw its broad but chaste beams over the whole, and made loveliness look more lovely. A gentle air played around, giving a slight motion to some lofty poplars, and causing a ripple to agitate the surface of the Avon, as it meandered away towards the town of Bristol. Elegance and fashion met the eye at every turn. Stately mansions, whose fronts were richly adorned with rows of sculptured columns of the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, gave a grandeur to the scene, surpassing everything I had before witnessed: while in other directions, houses rising above houses in progressive order, gave a picturesque appearance to the place, which was again relieved from monotony, by an apparent proud superiority maintained by some elevated buildings, which seemed as if looking down on others not less beautiful or extensive, in the vale below. To me all was new: I had never until then visited this

fairy place, although its fame had long been familiar to me.

"I entered the city on the eastern side of it, crossed the river Avon over Pulteney bridge, and passing through the centre of Bath, entered Bathwick, where again astonishment rose high, as fresh prospects, of increasing attraction, opened to my vision, in groves, vistas, lawns, waterfalls, teagardens, &c., which, with all the magic that art could give, spread along the side, and continued even to the summit of Claverton-Hill. I took a wide circuit, and returned into the city on the northeastern side of the town; and while strolling up one of its many streets, my attention was attracted by a notice, exhibited in the window of a hair-dresser's shop, that a journeyman was wanted. Without much consideration, I entered it, and after a few preliminary matters, engaged myself to its worthy owner. I cannot withhold a tear to his memory: -in him I found a second father.

"The family into which I was engaged was small; I was therefore required to lodge in the house, and to this I felt no disposition to object. My employer was a widower, who had nearly reached his sixtieth year. Of four children, only one survived, a daughter; and she was still from home, at a respectable boarding-school. The superintendence of the household affairs was committed to a skilful matron, while an under servant was employed in the menial duties; these, with a youth, an apprentice, made up the establishment.

—a

Here my months passed away most happily.Mr. Hartwell was kind and affectionate. I acquired additional information in my art; and in all its departments being profited by the instructions of my employer, in less than twelve months was considered eminently clever.

"Six months after I had settled at Bath, I learned the death of my father, which had taken place some time before,-and the settlement of the whole of his property on the son of his second wife. Any latent hope which I might have indulged, to enjoy something from my father, was thus blasted; and I therefore determined to turn my mind entirely from it: and it was well I did, for in less than two years, death and misfortune had swept away the mother and her son, and swallowed up the fortune with which my father had enriched them. A few weeks after the news of my father's death reached me, and while I was yet sad at the remembrances it brought with it, Isabel Hartwell returned from school. She had just entered her eighteenth year, and was beautiful as a Seraph. Of her it might have been said, with the greatest propriety,

'She was all that nature could have made her;
Or youthful poets fancy when they love.'

To elegance of person and manners, was added, a winning blandness of temper, which was perfectly irresistible: all knew and felt it, except herself. I had already become a favourite with

her father, although anything like aspiring to his daughter's affection never had entered my mind, and was, I imagine, the last thing that would have struck him. She was allowed however to endeavour to cheer my sadness, by her voice and music, during the winter evenings, after the business of the day had closed. And with all the solicitude of a sister, she strove to relieve my mind; while I, with a pleasure which mocks description, rendered her my assistance to improve in some parts of education, to which she had not fully directed her attention.

"In this delightful situation I had been about two years, when, in consequence of the sudden indisposition of Mr. Hartwell, the whole business devolved on me. My attention and diligence secured for me an increase of esteem even from my employer; while his absence threw me more frequently into the company of Isabel, nor do I think that either of us were backward to improve the occasion. It is scarcely necessary to state, that a reciprocity of feeling, not merely existed between myself and Isabel, but was acknowledged. On the recovery of Mr. Hartwell, he observed, but did not object to it. We were happy in each other's company; and could I have done so, I would not have exchanged my situation for all the fortune which my folly had lost. My Isabel had not completed her nineteenth year, when we were united. On which occasion Mr. Hartwell generously made me a partner with himself in his