greatest part of her husband's books. This circumstance was quickly spread; their credit was universally blasted; and when the poem was finished, and the author presented it, under the idea of a liberal subscription being entered upon for it, which would doubtless have been the case three months before, he found from the bookseller that he was universally regarded in York as an idle, dissipated man, who ran into debt he had no means of discharging, and exposed his wife and innocent children to bear the brunt of misfortune and the sufferings of poverty. Stung more with the severity of this sentence than the truth it contained, since he conceived that the very people who pronounced it were those who, on his arrival, had made him idle and dissipated, and now, when by incessant application he had redeemed his character, abandoned him without mercy, he hastily repaired to his unhappy wife, declaring that he would instantly fly to the metropolis, where alone he could publish his poem, and where genius never failed to meet with patrons whose wealth and liberality ensured the success due to superior talent. This scheme was found impracticable: the utmost limits of their power only enabled them to proceed to Leeds, where they were obliged to take a poor lodging; which, in the course of a week, was exchanged for one still poorer, and where the infant poor Agnes now nursed at her breast (affected by the suppressed but bitter woes of its unhappy mother), soon breathed its last-the victim of sorrow and imprudence. Over the corpse of his youngest darling the father shed many a heartfelt tear; but the mother's sacrifice, though lamented, was more easily resigned. As soon as she was somewhat recovered from the shock, she earnestly looked around for some employment which should enable her to assist in providing for her family; having lodged in the house of a glover during her residence in York, and being always of an observant turn, and remarkably quick with her needle, she determined on making gloves for sale; and had provided herself with the means of carrying this purpose into effect, when her husband, on perceiving her intention, reprobated it in the severest manner, as a means of injuring him in his profession, and precluding him from appearing in the light of a gentleman. "But our children want bread, my dear Lewis!" This appeal overwhelmed the wretched man with so severe an agony, that Agnes resolved to comply, apparently at least, with his wishes. She soothed his sorrows, praised his poem, predicted its success, and finally persuaded him to resume his habits of sketching, and preparing a few pictures, though she almost dreaded their finishing, knowing that the expense of providing frames was utterly out of her power. During the hours he was in the house, she applied herself to household concerns, and to instructing her two little boys; but the moment he went out she flew to the business she had adopted; and by dint of incessant labour, and that quickness which practice supplies, she was enabled to find food, though very coarse food, for herself and children,—ever making an excuse to their father, on his return, for having dined without him, and providing something more palatable for him, which she was under the necessity of purchasing from the sale of her clothes, or entreating the butcher to trust her. Lewis returned to the study of Nature with increasing avidity; became again a painter; and so long as no one troubled him with claims for money he could not produce, was quite easy as to how his boys were fed or clothed; their smiles were delightful to him, and every display of talent they evinced transported him; but of their real comforts, or their future destination, he either thought not at all, or when, by some pressing circumstances, forced to think, he shrunk from with a weakness that enervated, or self-reproach that overwhelmed him. By degrees the artist emerged from the obscurity that attended his first appearance at Leeds; and a bookseller having permitted his pictures to be hung in his shop, was so fortunate as to dispose of two of them. This circumstance renovated the spirits of Lewis: he took better lodgings immediately, replenished his wardrobe, increased his stock of materials, sent his eldest son to school, and considerably extended his credit with various new tradesmen ; but he neglected to pay those who had trusted him, whom he thus made his enemies, to the sincere grief and mortification of his wife, whose utmost endeavours could not enable her to repay them; for, as he was now much at home, it was impossible for her to carry on her employment with effect, especially as she was in anything but good health, and her second son was a very delicate boy, and occupied much of her attention. Many a heart-breaking sigh did she breathe over him, under the distressing idea that the hardships to which he had been exposed, in consequence of their poverty, had preyed upon his constitution; for notwithstanding all that may be said, and with truth, respecting the healthiness of poor people's children, it will not be found that scanty meals and long protracted fasts produce firm flesh and ruddy looks. Agnes well remem bered that her boys at Manchester were blessed with both, and her heart sickened at the present contrast; but she endeavoured in all her sorrows to look up to her heavenly Father for consolation and strength. After three years' residence in a rich, populous, and hospitable town, Agnes found herself again with a babe at her breast, her second son in his coffin, and her eldest, pale, emaciated, and weeping by her side, without money to procure support for the one, or interment for the other surrounded by creditors she could not satisfy, and far distant from all her natural connections—yet forced to urge the instant departure of her dejected husband, lest every pang she felt should be aggravated by seeing him dragged to a long-threatened prison. CHAPTER III. But why should I his childish feats display? BEATTIE. LUDOVICO was at this period nearly eight years old; he was tall of his age, but extremely slender; his face was very pale, but his black eyes were full of intelligence; and the brown hair, which hung in clustering curls on his forehead, gave him, notwithstanding his wan looks and shabby clothes, the air of a child who had seen better days-especially as his face and the collar of his shirt were always clean; and, from being used to ramble much with his father, he had acquired grace and agility in his gait, and the air of a gentleman in his whole deportment. His temper, when a mere child, had been impetuous, and he inherited from his father a quickness of conception that frequently led him to discover and resent imagined injury; but at the same time he was so warmly attached to all around him, so open to conviction, and so truly sorry for having given offence to any human being, so anxious to make reparation for error, and so grateful for its acceptance, that, although he often did. wrong, he never continued in disgrace. As his mother well knew that a life spent in erring and atoning is inconsistent and useless, it was her particular object so to control this error in early life, that it might never impede his happiness, or obstruct his progress in virtue, beyond the days of infancy; and so wisely had she applied her tender cares to this purpose, that at the period we speak of, a child more amiable, docile, and tractable, could not be found; although his vivacity was still great, and his powers of mind, either as evinced by fortitude or perseverance, very extraordinary, except when bowed down, as at present, by severe affliction: for severe indeed was the stroke which separated him from a brother, whom he not only loved as such with the tenderest affection, but who had been the only companion he had ever known; the poverty which had hung over him having shut him from the houses of the rich, and the refinement naturally imbibed from parents like his, together with the cares of his mother, having rendered it impossible for him to associate with children of a lower class. From these, during the short period he was at school, he had been accustomed to receive much insult, on account of the difficult pronunciation of his name, which had therefore |