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"What cruel intolerance of this 'squire," exclaimed Frederick: I do not think I could be sorry if the Rockites burnt down his mansion this very night."

"Take care, my dear boy," replied his father, "to keep your just indignation within due bounds, or excess of feeling will make you cruel. To hate crimes, and at the same time to be merciful as well as just to such as commit them, is one of the most difficult duties of Christian charity. You remember who gave us the most sublime example of it, when he prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!' and, I dare say, our friend here has not forgotten to pray for the 'squire."

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"That he hasn't, Sir," said the mother; "it brought the tears into my eyes to hear him, and I said within myself, Sure, God will help us out of this trouble.”” "He has done it," said Mr. D'Arcy : "do not give yourselves another anxious thought. I thank God," (emotion almost prevented his utterance,) "who has sent me hither to relieve two of his persecuted children. But it is too late to fix on our plans to-night; let us have a song of praise upon the harp before we separate, and offer thanksgiving where it is most due," he added, to silence the gratitude of the poor people.

Never were the praises of God sung in a more glorious temple, or the echoes of the valley awakened by hearts so glad and thankful.

On returning to their inn, they ascertained the correctness of the harper's history, and found that the change in this poor young man, who had before been

greatly addicted to intemperance and some other gross vices, was acknowledged by all, and that he was much esteemed, and pitied in his present distress. A cir cumstance which Mrs. Cecil and Sophia had learnt in conversing with the mother, suggested a plan by which the harper might be enabled to provide for himself and his mother, and be raised to a situation for which nature seemed to have qualified him. She had told them, with a mother's fondness, when they were speaking of the beautiful melody which drew them to the spot, that the tune was "made by himself;" and the adaptation of the music to the sentiment convinced them that he possessed genius in his art. Mrs. C. insisted on bearing the expenses of the mother; while Mr. D. proposed to send her son to get acquainted with the science of music, under the care of a competent teacher, in the town of L- ten miles distant; not doubting he would soon be qualified for an organist, and perhaps to instruct in singing and the harp.

The next morning, at six, Mrs. C. and the young people set off to the village of five miles distant, beyond the dominion of the 'squire, where they obtained a rather large cottage, occupied by a decent widow, who engaged to receive the harper and his mother immediately. Mr. D. and Frederick, in the meantime, rode on to the town, to make arrangements for the former, in which they succeeded, and closed this delightful day by carrying the glad tidings to the Lodge.

CHAPTER XV.

TASTE PERVERTED BY SELFISHNESS.

PROCEEDING the next day on their journey, they caught a distant glimpse of the lovely valley, now as interesting to them as it was beautiful; and the view reminded Eliza of an inquiry she wished to make of her father relative to the cause of beauty.

"I met with, yesterday," she said, " in the bower of the inn garden, one of the Annuals, in which was a paper on beauty that appeared to me very ingenious, denying that there was any inherent beauty in objects, and endeavouring to prove that it was derived entirely from association. There were several arguments I did not know how to set aside, yet could not help feeling the theory was wrong, and it seemed to me contrary to the views that writers in different ages have taken of beauty, and to all the language we use when we speak of it."

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"I tried to defend the theory," said Frederick, which, at first, I thought was a true one; and how do you think, papa, I was convinced of my error? By a peacock, which before had been quietly walking about the green, and just then, the sun shining brightly, chose to strut over before us, expanding his rainbow tail as if

on purpose to oppose me. Eliza spoke for him, and asked on what principle of association he became more beautiful than a common fowl, or how it made his scream discord, and the nightingale's song harmony. This I could not answer; and remembering your wish that I should never dispute for victory, held my tongue, and I always do this more readily to Eliza than to any body, because she never triumphs over me, but always finds some excuse for my thinking wrongly. She said then, that the arguments on my side were so plausible, she did not wonder at my opinion, and that she should not feel satisfied herself until she had thought more about it, and asked you and my aunt."

"We will try, then, to arrive at the truth in this affair of beauty, for, if it is not a very important matter, it is always worth while to be right in every thing that is worth thinking about at all; and sometimes, by admitting a wrong principle in small things, that principle is connected, as in a chain, with greater ones, and supports serious errors. I have often thought myself that this denial of inherent beauty is a branch of the modern philosophy, which seems constructed with the view to make man as much as possible the originator of all his faculties and pleasures, and to relieve him from the burden of gratitude to the Creator, as the primary source from whence they were derived. The only rational theory of beauty appears to me to be this, that it is the exhibition of one of the minor attributes of Deity. Nature is the canvass, on which, with a celestial pencil, the Creator presents for our admiration the picture of material perfec

tion existing in his Divine Mind, and which, when lighted up by the new-born sun in the world's young dawn, he pronounced "very good." Beauty is only another term for perfection; moral perfection is goodness; intellectual perfection is truth; and material perfection is beauty: and all concur, the lesser with the greater, in accomplishing the benevolent designs of the Deity-the promotion of human happiness connected with his own glory. Formed in his image, of which we still retain some faint traces, our conscience appreciates moral perfection; our reason, intellectual perfection; and our taste, material perfection. To love and admire all excellence is an attribute of our nature; when material beauty is presented to us, it excites those emotions of love and admiration which are a source of pleasure. Children may be observed almost universally, to show a passionate fondness for flowers, though it must be evident they form no selfish, nor mental, nor moral associations which can occasion that fondness. They do not admire them because they are fashionable decorations of the house or grounds, or because they evince the skill and goodness of the Almighty Maker; nor as emblems of innocence, modesty, or purity. They love them in all situationsin the mossy grottoes of the secluded dell, where the sun alone beholds them, as well as on the enamelled lawn and gay parterre; and if you ask them why, they will tell you, with nature's own true philosophy, 'Because they are beautiful.' It appears to me most clearly, that such objects are a source of pleasure to us from the instinctive and unchangeable relation estab

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