never heard any thing more sensible in my life. Confound you! you shall be Jack again.

Capt. A. I am happy, sir, in the appellation.

Sir A. Why then, Jack, my dear Jack, I will now inform you who the lady really is. Nothing but your passion and violence, you silly fellow, prevented me telling you at first. Prepare, Jack, for wonder and rapture; prepare. What think you of Miss Lydia Languish?

Capt. A. Languish? What, the Languishes of Worcestershire?

Sir A. Worcestershire! No. Did you never meet Mrs. Malaprop, and her niece, Miss Languish, who came into our county just before you were last ordered to your regiment?

Capt. A. Malaprop! Languish! Let me see! I think I do recollect something! Languish! Languish! she squints, don't she? A little red haired girl?

Sir A. Squints! A red haired girl! Zounds! no! Capt. A. Then I must have forgot. It can't be the same person.

Sir A. Jack Jack! What think you of blooming, love-breathing seventeen?

Capt. A. As to that, sir, I am quite indifferent. If I can please you in the matter, I shall be happy.

Sir A. Nay, but, Jack, such eyes! such eyes! so innocently wild! so bashfully irresolute! Then, Jack, her cheeks! her cheeks! Jack! so deeply blushing at the insinuations of her tell-tale eyes! Then, Jack, her lips! O, Jack, lips, smiling at their own discretion! Capt. A. And which is to be mine, sir, the niece or the aunt?

Sir A. Why, you unfeeling, insensible puppy, I despise you. The aunt, indeed! Odds life! when I ran away with your mother, I would not have touched any thing old or ugly to gain an empire.

Capt. A. Not to please your father, sir?

Sir A. To please my father? not to please-oh, my father-odd so!—yes, yes, if my father, indeed, had desired-that's quite another matter-though he wasn't the indulgent father that I am, Jack.

Capt. A. I dare say not, sir.

Sir A.

But, Jack, you are not sorry to find your mistress so beautiful?

Capt. A. Sir, I repeat it, if I please you in this affair, I shall be happy. Not that I think a woman the worse for being handsome. But, sir, if you please to recollect, you before hinted something about a hump or two, one eye, and a few more graces of that kind. Now, without being very nice, I own I should rather choose a wife of mine to have the usual number of limbs, and a limited quantity of back; and, though one eye may be very agreeable, yet as the prejudice has always run in favor of two, I would not wish to affect a singularity in that article.

Sir A. What a phlegmatic sot it is! Why, sirrah, you are an anchorite! A vile, insensible stock! You a soldier? you're a walking block, fit only to dust the company's regimentals on! Odds life, I have a great mind to marry the girl myself!

Capt. A. I am entirely at your disposal. If you should think of addressing Miss Languish yourself, I suppose you would have me marry the aunt; or, if you should change your mind, and take the old lady, 'tis the same to me, I'll marry the niece.

Sir A. Upon my word, Jack, thou art either a very great hypocrite, or-but, come, I know your indifference on such a subject must be all fudge-I'm sure it mustcome, now, come, Jack, confess you've been playing the hypocrite. I'll never forgive you, if you have not.

Capt. A. I'm sorry, sir, that the respect and duty which I bear to you, should be so mistaken.

Sir A. Hang your respect and duty! But, come along with me. I will write a note to Mrs. Malaprop, and you shall visit the lady directly. Her eyes shall be the Promethean torch to you. Come along, I'll never forgive you, if you don't come back stark mad with rapture and impatience; if you don't, faith, I'll marry the girl myself. (Exeunt.)

CCX.-BEAUTIES OF SACRED LITERATURE.

THE traveler, who stands at the well-spring of some mighty river, illustrious alike in the verse of the poet, and the roll of the historian, looks in imagination, down its monarchy of waters," to contemplate all the variety of its fortunes, amid the wilderness of nature, and the habitations of man. He beholds in its course the humble cottage of the peasant, and the splendid palace of opulence and rank.

He sees the rural scenery of field, and orchard, and meadow, or the garden of fashion, glittering with its "wilderness of lamps;" the hamlet or the village, "when unadorned, adorned the most." He marks the ancient city, enriched by the treasures of every clime, embellished with the creations of every art, and glorious in its power, magnificence, and wealth.

The astronomer lifts his eye from the narrow boundary of the visible horizon, and the diminutive forms which decorate the surface of the earth, to the heavens above. He gazes with the intelligence of philosophy, and the enthusiasm of poetry, on the serenity of its azure depths, on its wandering orbs, on the bickering flame of its comets, or the pure light of its hosts of stars.

His soul expands and rises in its conceptions of the grandeur, wisdom, benevolence of God. He worships, in aspirations of praise and gratitude, at the mercy-seat of the invisible Creator. As he contemplates the miracles. of worlds innumerable, and of a boundless universe, his thoughts are exalted and purified. He is filled with amazement, at the marvelous system of the visible universe, and with joy and gratitude at the eternal destiny, and still more glorious attributes of the human soul.

The traveler, when he looks on the river, arrayed in the sublime, the wonderful, the fair, in the works of nature and of art, beholds the image of classic literature. The astronomer who views the heavens with the science which comprehends, and the taste which admires, contemplates in that

glorious personification of the unseen God, the sublimity, beauty, and variety of sacred literature.

Classic literature stands, like the statue of Prometheus, graceful in its beauty, majestic in its power. But sacred literature is the ever-living fire that descends from heaven, instinct with life, immortal, universal. That is the mausoleum of departed nations, splendid yet desolate; and bearing an inscription written indeed, "in the kingly language of the mighty dead." "This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven." Its record is the book of life, spotless and eternal. Its penmen are prophets, apostles, and martyrs. Its ministering servants are cherubim and seraphim, the angel and the archangel.

FROM GRIMKE.

CCXI.-BLESS THE LORD.

BLESS the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul; and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases: who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies: who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide; neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

As the heaven is high above the earth; so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the

field so he flourisheth: for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him; and his righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.

FROM THE BIBLE.

CCXII

CCXII-CONDITION OF THE WICKED.

KNOWEST thou not this of old, since man was placed upon the earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach the clouds, yet he shall perish forever. He shall fly away

as a dream, and shall not be found; yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; they who have seen him shall say, where is he? He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall slay him. In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand shall come upon him. He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. A fire not blown shall consume him. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

The increase of his house shall depart. His goods shall flee away in the day of wrath. The light of the wicked. shall be put out; the light shall be darkened in his tabernacle. The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet. He walketh upon a snare.