A cur

I

hold four besides the driver, come into his mind! ricle, however, is an expensive thing. Moreover, it is a shockingly dashing thing, and does not at all suit with the sobriety of his character. Still more especially, it is a thing which would excite remark among his compeers. What would Gardner say? what would Simpson think? what would they all say at the club? However, it is absolutely necessary for health ; that is perfectly clear. think I might venture upon a horse, without being thought very extravagant. Extravagant, did I say? Why, I believe I would gain by keeping a horse. In the first place, if it improved my health, which it is sure to do, what a saving in doctors' bills! Then, I could only ride in the morning before breakfast; to do so, I must go early to bed at night that would save me going to the Bridgewater Arms, where, one night with another, I spend half as much as the daily keep of a horse. And then the opportunity of getting this cheap mare, which Johnson says he is tired of, and has no fault whatever; only three-andtwenty guineas, which the hostler tells me I could get for her at any time I chose to part with her. A stable, too, offered at such a reasonable rent by Bennet, and so near our warehouse, that it may serve at the same time for putting lumber off our hands. As for a groom, our own porter, or even one of the apprentices, will be quite able to attend her. So, really, no one can say that I am in the least extravagant, more especially when my health would be so much improved by it. And, as my wife says, if I don't take good care of my health, where will all the family soon be ? I am therefore determined in future to take proper exercise, and preserve my health whatever be the consequences.

The horse, of course, is bought, and much about the same time it is thought absolutely necessary by the lady of the house, that the family should be removed to sea-bathing quarters. This "absolutely necessary" of Mrs Balderstone startles the gentleman a little at first; for why should

it be absolutely necessary now, and not so before, when our circumstances were not so good? or why should it be absolutely necessary to us, while thousands of families struggle through existence without any such expedient being ever thought of. The objections of Mr Balderstone, however, seldom prove of much avail against the sage reasoning of his lady. "When you have the horse at any rate," says she, "it would be so convenient. You could ride to town every morning to attend business, and come home in the afternoon to dinner. And only think how moderate the rent of the lodgings is-only three guineas a month, including the use of that large garden. we'll save it all in kitchen vegetables, or gooseberries for the children. And, besides, Willy is really in such a state that I cannot think of his being kept in town any longer; the doctor says &c. Mr Balderstone of course gives

in, for not only is he sensible that

"Nocht's to be won at woman's hand,

Unless ye gi'e her a' the plea"

Why,

as the old song says-but he has himself a treacherous inclination towards the indulgence, on the conviction that his health (that is, his pleasure) "requires a taste of the country air in summer."

This does very well for one year; but if things have been continuing still further to prosper with the worthy couple, riding on horseback is found to be a solitary and somewhat dull kind of recreation, not to speak of the mud which you are occasionally compelled to bring home with you, and which is utterly destructive to clothes. Besides, you cannot well hold up an umbrella in riding, and the showers of rain, which it is now quite impossible to count upon not falling, have already almost brought back that bad cold you had in 1829. A doubt at the same time is also begun to be entertained by Mrs Balderstone, if there be any economy in renting a house in the country, even with the advantages of free vegetables and gooseberries.

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Some day after these cogitations, or rather one morning at breakfast, Mr Balderstone, with his eyes bent on the advertising columns of a newspaper, and his hand supplying his mouth with spoonfuls of warm tea, thus suddenly opens his mind. 'Why, the very thing I was thinking about. You know, my dear, I have for some time had an idea of buying a gig, being quite done up with that horrid riding: and here, I declare, is what will exactly answer the purpose: listen- For sale, an excellent second-hand four-wheeled gig, with double seat, and set of harness in good condition: to be disposed of remarkably cheap, being the property of a gentleman about to leave the country: may be seen at Hobday's from eleven till three, Sundays excepted.' Off I set instantly. No, stop; I must'nt appear to be in a hurry: it would look as if I were too anxious. Let me see; ay, I'll step down about half-past one, and in the meantime I'll go round by the counting-house, and put a few pounds in my pocket. Well, this is really being lucky; you know I mentioned before there would be no additional expense in keeping a gig or a thing of this sort. The same horse will answer, the same premises, the shed in the back court will do for keeping all safe, just as well as a regular coachhouse; the same person, that is, Samuel Hughes, the porter, will keep the whole in trim, I'll warrant him. Besides, I hear the tax is to be taken off gigs of all kinds; and what more need be said on the subject? In fact, it is all one as to expense, and I am sure there can be no comparison between an amusement which one enjoys by himself, and one in which one's wife and children can participate." "Oh, it will be so delightful," strikes in Mrs Balderstone, who has been listening all the time with pleasure depicted in her countenance. Such an excellent plan! By all means, go down and buy the gig; it will be very cheap, I dare say. How nice it will be to have a drive occasionally along with you: the children, too, would be so much the better of it. And as to that neat cottage, my dear,"

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continues she, "which you have been offered so low, you will surely just close with it, and we can all go down in May. I am quite tired of this place, where we are completely overlooked by Mrs Hodgson, the controller-general of the neighbourhood. And I am sure the interest of your money could be nothing to the expense of country lodgings, which you know is always very high;" a fact discovered by Mrs Balderstone since last year, but a very good fact for all that.

Having been already pretty well convinced of the advantage of this bargain, you lose little time in completing it-and then behold you with a country-box, and a curricle, all arising from an idea of saving tenpence of an evening at a club, and the "absolute necessity" that "Willy” should have the benefit of sea-bathing! After such wide and rapid stretches, it is easy to see that you cannot long endure the dust to which you are exposed in an open vehicle in summer, or the cold in winter, but must have a fullgrown carriage at once; and that when once you have got a carriage, you must also have a somewhat larger house to match with it. In short, you very speedily find yourself living in a style of first-rate expense, though every step you made in advancing to it appeared to you at the time as either an attempt at greater frugality, or a matter of downright compulsion.

It would be all very well if these soft appliances were only brought to bear in such cases as the above. But the unfortunate truth is, that we use them most frequently for the extenuation of real guilt, or to bolster us up in some unhappy error of judgment. We would recommend a rigid self-examination in all the affairs that lie between ourselves and our consciences; and when any thing like an easy palliation" can be detected, let it be denounced at once at the bar of our own judgment, and care taken to exclude it for the future. Good is only progressive : many persons may have been in the habit of presenting kind apologies to themselves for their own errors, without knowing

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that they were doing any harm.

It is to such that we

particularly address this little essay; and if it should serve to put even a small part of the number upon their guard, its object will have been accomplished.

FALLACIES OF THE YOUNG.

JUSTICE AND GENEROSITY.

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THE most mistaken ideas prevail among men in general, but especially the young, in respect of what is called generosity. Generosity, in its extreme sense, is the virtue of fools and knaves; while justice is the precious attribute of pure sense and real goodness. Be just before you are generous," says the proverb; and proverbs, however offensive occasionally, never fail to embody what the experience of mankind has found to be most expedient. But this will not please the young man; he must hasten, almost before he has any thing of his own to give, to attain the reputation of being generous and liberal. Every claim whatsoever, that presses upon his attention, must be complied with, whether the property involved in his compliance be really his own, or only part of what has been entrusted into his hands by others. The ultimate necessity of showing that that gift was his own, or of supplying every deficiency which it may have occasioned, does not occur to him; and if it be either discovered to have been another's, or found to occasion a distress to himself or those to whom he is responsible, the effect is not traced to its cause: no, he is still allowed the character of generosity and friendliness, and even perhaps becomes the subject of a sympathising regret to the public, who say of him, with the falsest and most dangerous philosophy, Alas, like all

other good people, he is unfortunate."

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Let all young men be impressed with the propriety-the necessity and a stern necessity it is of being just before