went to St. Paul's; but she was ashamed when it was said, none but vulgar people frequented it. I do not say she therefore left her church-I hope she never will; but she went not to the service with an undisturbed and tranquil mind.

One day, I found the young lady in the parlour, in deep, and seemingly sad consideration, with a parcel before her on the table. "I cannot tell what to do," she said to me. "Dame Wenham is very ill-she has nothing to eat, and they want flannel to wrap her in. I have things here ready for her, but John is gone to market, and Sarah is washing, and I have nobody to take them."-"Take them yourself," I replied: "it is no farther than your usual walk, and this parcel is of no great weight."—"This is what I was thinking of," taking up the bundle, "the woman is suffering-perhaps dying-I would not mind carrying it three times as far; but, laying it down again, " it is so ungenteel to carry parcels-I cannot be sure of not meeting anybody." I offered to go with her, and bear the obnoxious burden through the town, but was surprised to see she still hesitated. Well, Julia, what is the matter now? We are losing time, and you say the woman is suffering."-" I am thinking," she repliedI am glad to say, blushing for herself the while"I am thinking, if any body see us, it will be quite as ungenteel to be walking with you and the parcel in your hand, as if I carried it myself."" Then ring for your footman, Julia," I replied, half angrily. "Indeed, I wish I had one," she said, half angry too. "And why have you not one? It is very ungenteel."- "We cannot afford it; you know we are not rich.". -"but then, how came you not to be rich? Your friends at the Hall.". -Julia now perceiving my bearing-she saw I wanted her to

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say that Providence had assigned it otherwise :she blushed, and was silent. "My dear girl," I said, "examine your heart, and see if it is not in actual rebellion against Heaven for the portion assigned you upon earth. And what a portion is it! You have not a single want but those of vanity; you have not a single difficulty, a single care, but those you have created for yourself. And this is the beneficent allotment of which you dare to be ashamed. And you hesitate in the act of duty, lest people should observe that you are-where God has placed you !"

These were the outward appearances of Julia's besetting misery: few, doubtless, in comparison with its actings in her own bosom. I appeal to any lady, similarly possessed with the demon of gentility, without adequate means, to say how many pleasant moments it imbitters, how many duties it suspends, how much falsehood and subterfuge it induces, and how much of sinful passion kindles in the heart: my tale runs long, and my time is running short.

It may be said that I have painted only the disadvantages of keeping good company; which, admitting there be some, are yet overbalanced by the gain. Julia, with her friends, sharing their advantages, and enjoying their society, might feel herself repaid for occasional difficulties at home.

In case any young lady should not know what sort of happiness she misses, by keeping her station and associating with her equals, it would be worth while to describe it. I wish I could. I would measure the moments in which Julia's vanity was gratified, against those in which it was mortified; the hours in which she enjoyed the good society, against those in which she endured it because it was so called; the times of gratitude to Heaven for the

advantages afforded her, against those of self-reproach for the sins she was betrayed into the consciousness of moving in society above herself, against the consciousness of being below the society she moved in the pleasure of seeming to be somebody. against the fear of being discovered to be nobody. I should be obliged to any lady who has tried it, to draw this picture for me. But at present I have a more serious matter.

The lamb, with whose destiny I began my story, seemed for a little while to have the advantage of his fellows in one season he grew to be a sheep, exposed to the same evils, and in another shared their fate. The distinctions of society are nothing more than this. Whether it is or is not a temporal advantage to stand a little higher in the scale, has never been decided; it cannot, because we have no weights, or scale of measurement, by which the happiness of individuals can be compared; and if we had, it must be the happiness of the class, and not of any individual in it. But this we know most certainly. Elevation in life is no security against its severer evils; in many cases it is a greater exposure to them, and a fearful increase of their bitterness. And we know that, one brief season past, the converging paths of life, so seeming distant once, meet in a point and terminate. And thus again I say the high things of the world-I speak comparatively, I mean anything above the point where Heaven has placed us-are not legitimate objects of a Christian's aim. And surely religious parents, who make it an object of pursuit, or even of desire, to bring up their children above their situation, and seek connexion for them in a higher circle, are forgetful altogether of the first principles of their profession: renunciation of the vanities of the world

all in it that tends not to godliness, and comes not from God. And yet daily for this object, in our Christian world, we see principles sacrificed, peace of mind foregone, contamination risked, usefulness abridged, duties neglected, doubtful practices con nived at, selfish expenditure encouraged, the bosom harassed with perpetual struggles against opposing fortunes; for no better object than to gain for our children a little more of that on which a wo has been many times pronounced of God, but never yet a blessing.

A DIFFICULT QUESTION.

I REMEMBER, many years ago, to have occupied the corner of a window-seat in a small but very elegant house in Montague Square, during a morning visit-more interesting than such visits usually are; because there was something to talk about. The ladies who met had each a child, I believe an only girl, just of the age when mothers begin to ask everybody, and tell everybody, how their children are to be educated. The daughter of the house, the little Jemima, was sitting by my side; a delicate little creature, with something very remarkable in her expression. The broad, projecting brow seemed too heavy for its underwork; and by its depression, gave a look of sadness to the countenance, till excited animation raised the eye, beaming vivacity and strength. The sallow paleness of the complexion was so entirely in unison with the features and the stiff dark locks that surrounded them, it was difficult to say whether it was or was not improved by the colour that came and went every time she was looked at or spoken of. I was a Listener then, as well as now, and on this occasion an attentive one; for being not yet a woman, it was very essential to me to learn what sort of a one I had better be: and many indeed were my counter resolutions as the following debate proceeded :—

"You are going to send your daughter to school, I hear?" said Mrs. A., after some discourse of other