I thought so," he replied, "and therefore dwelt longer upon it. To bestow honest yet excessive praise is a fault into which the ardent, affectionate, and grateful are often betrayed; forgetting that, by indulging the pleasure of expressing all they feel, they may materially injure their friends. There is nothing, I believe, by which the inflammable pride of the human heart is so easily ignited as by praise; and if we could clearly trace all the evil it has wrought among the popular and the talented, we should find that those who bestow it lavishly commit no venial fault. They, indeed, who are guilty of it, after having spoiled a friend by their idolatry, are often the first to wonder that he shows the weaknesses of man."

"I am afraid," said Mrs. C., "that if our accomplished friends are induced to unite in our conversazione, they will soon be disgusted at meeting so few persons capable of appreciating them."

“ I am rather afraid of it, indeed, my dear Lucy: it requires considerable self-denial for those who have luxuriated, either at home or in literary society, in the incense of perfumed praise, whose sentiments have been echoed by wisdom, and applauded by wit and genius,-to be content to converse with those who evince little sympathy, and less admiration; who will not distinguish their gold from inferior metal, nor know their gems from pebbles.”

"But do you think, dear papa," asked Sophia, who secretly thought that such a devoted and admiring husband as Mr. Ormsby, was exactly what she would

choose herself, "we ought never to express admiration of our friends, or their talents?"

“That would be the contrary extreme, my love; but we shall do so only occasionally and temperately, if we are chiefly solicitous for their real welfare. Commendation will sometimes be useful to stimulate the timid and encourage the desponding; but the very best and safest way of showing admiration is silently, by a respectful deference to the opinions of the wise, and an amiable attention to the feelings of the good."

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE UTOPIAN PHILANTHROPIST CONVERTED-SELFISH ZEAL.

EARLY the next morning, their minister, Mr. Mcalled, and, before he spoke to them all, announced the pleasing intelligence he came to communicate.

"Who do you think,” said he, “is staying at C———— ?” (a watering-place a few miles distant ;) "my old acquaintance Mr. Whately. He has sent me a most gratifying letter, informing me that he is recovering from a serious attack of illness, partly occasioned, he thinks, by the morbid effect produced on his mind by his disappointed schemes and hopes. This illness was, he says, beneficial in arousing him from his misanthropic despondency, and presenting life itself as a boon, a source of happiness, and an object of hope; while he shrunk from the dark and appalling futurity on whose shore he stood. When he grew better, and was one day examining some papers, he found my letter, addressed to him just after the destruction of his Utopian colony. He read it more than once with deep attention, and resolved to attend to my advice, by studying the Bible, to see whether it revealed a rational scheme of happiness. As he read with a sincere desire, he says, to discover truth, and with many mental petitions to the

Creator of the universe, that he would illuminate his understanding, both as to the evidence of the inspiration of this Book, and the right knowledge of its contents, light seemed gradually and increasingly to be shed on every page. If it were, as it professed to be, a revelation from God, he thought it must carry its own credentials with it; and that its doctrines, precepts, and facts, would be found to accord so perfectly with the character of God and the condition of man, that conscience must at once respond to its dictates, and admit its claims. He has found it so, and is now solicitous to be more fully instructed in the way it reveals. renew our intercourse has been his chief inducement to come into this vicinity; and he desires me to procure him the pleasure and advantage of an acquaintance with you, whose character he appears already to know well. I came, therefore, to ask you to appoint an early day for this visit, which I am sure you will regard as a call of true charity."

Το

"And of so important and inviting a nature," replied Mr. D., "that I would not at all delay it; and therefore we will go, if you please, to-day."

The gentlemen soon after set out, and did not return until late in the evening; when, after Mr. D'Arcy had related many of the gratifying incidents of the visit, his family were still farther delighted to hear that Mr. Whately was engaged very shortly to become their guest.

"I shall be very glad," said Mr. M— "to see our interesting friend placed in a situation more favourable to

his religious improvement than the town of C― at present is with no other evangelical minister than my old acquaintance O'Shannon, from whose religion, philanthropy is very nearly excluded; and I fear his preaching and manners will disgust, rather than benefit, a man of Mr. Whately's character."

"I was afraid,” replied Mr. D., "from the few observations I could make on that gentleman during our short interview, that he possessed much of that overstrained spirituality which nearly excludes benevolence from religion, and would render Christians almost as useless in the world as though they were shut up in a cloister. It is, indeed, only exhibiting the ascetic spirit in a modern form."

I

“You have formed but too just an opinion, and the result of this great defect in his character is, that though he has been preaching in various places for the past ten years, with unwearied zeal, scarcely any success has attended his labours. While he was Rector of occupied his pulpit one Sabbath-day, and had an opportunity of knowing something of his proceedings. He made grievous complaints to me of his parishioners, a great many of whom he could not ever induce to attend the church; nor had he any influence over them in any way, even in restraining vice; while the Catholics, though they had no resident priest to excite them, were peculiarly hostile. As I was then a stranger to his general character, all this appeared extraordinary; for though. the success of a minister in the conversion of his hearers should be small, yet a zealous and consistent pastor