The up. He said, 'I will lie here and die, Betty;' but I got his head in my lap, and Bill cried over him, and said, 'Don't leave him a sixpence, Mr. Page'- I mean to patronize Bill forthwith.' him to a neighbour's house. good man of that house would have interfered, but he was afraid of being murdered!! But for the interference of this brave woman the old man must have been murdered; the son acknowledges this, for his passions are not to be controlled by any one-but Betty Burton." A subsequent letter says-" I have heard the story from Betty Burton's own mouth since I wrote to you; but I do not know that there is any material difference. She placed herself between the ruffian and his victim, But,' she said, 'such arms as these were no match for him; but I managed to get a tight gripe of his collar, and I hung there whilst the old gentleman crawled away to the stable. Then John said he'd take care he did not come in any more, and he forbade anybody going to him; but I was not going to be ordered by him; so I put a candle into the lanthorn, and called my boy Bill, and went to get him "I hope you are sufficiently interested in my poor heroine to bear with me while I tell you that she is one of the women that your late dear sister visited with me. She was then beautiful; in proof of this I may tell you that H- took her picture at three different times, and she was in the exhibition twice. You would find it hard to believe this. Her curling brown hair is now as white as snow; and, except a fine, erect person, there is scarcely a trace of beauty left. She married at fifteen, and she has suffered from a large family, poverty, sickness, and sorrow; they are still pressing hard upon her, and they have nearly done their work."-Tales of Female Heroism. (Burns.) THE CHILD'S INTEGRITY. PASSING One day through Leatherhead, in Surrey, I waited for about an hour whilst my companion was calling on a friend. As I sat patiently in our little carriage, holding the reins of the horse, I was delighted with the scene I am about to relate. At the gate of a small garden on my left hand stood a pretty little girl, the daughter, apparently, of some humble but prosperous me chanic. She was boasting to a girl somewhat older than herself, of the extent and beauty of her nice large garden, and how many gooseberries and currants it contained. On a door-step sat a poor ragged little boy, about eight years of age. Presently I saw him make a rush under my carriage, and fearing the horse might move and injure him, I cried out to him hastily to move out of the way, at the same time asking him why he had ventured there. "I want that gooseberry that is almost under your wheel," was the reply. I, accordingly, moved on a few paces to enable him to reach it, upon which he picked it up and gave it to the little girl who had been boasting of her garden. I begged to know why he did not eat it. ""Twasn't mine," he said; "it belonged to her, I saw her drop it." But, my dear, you picked it up, said I; you might have kept it. "It wasn't mine," reiterated the child. And could you resist such a tempting ripe gooseberry, my little man? said I. "Why, it wasn't mine," persisted the honest child. His manner was rough, and his speech ignorant and rude, but his heart must have been in the right place. AYVIT. The Cabinet. Be sure to teach your children with all the sweetness and gentleness you can; lest if you should be severe, or should over-task them, religion should seem to them rather a burden than a blessing.-BP. KEN. We are but tenants at will in this clay farm; the foundation of all the building is a small substance, always kept cold by an intercourse of air; the pillar, wherefrom the whole is frame-stayed, is only the passage of a little breath; the strength, some few bones tied together with dry strings or sinews; howsoever we piece and patch this poor cottage, it will at last fall into the Lord's hands, and we must give surrender when death shall say: This or that man's time is come. -DR. SUTTON. wilt use it at all.-ST. AUGUSTINE. When age grows low and weak, A chair or litter shows the bier Hath put together a solemnity, And drest his hearse, while he has breath Yet, Lord, instruct us so to die, GEORGE HERBERT. Miscellaneous. A GENOESE COWKEEPER.-There is a If God offer grace to-day, thou knowest little vine-covered terrace, opening from the not whether He will offer the same to-drawing-room; and under this terrace, and morrow; and therefore use it now, if thou forming one side of the little garden, is what used to be the stable. It is now a cowhouse, and has three cows in it, so that we get new milk by the bucket-full. There is no pasturage near, and they never go out, but are constantly lying down and surfeiting themselves with vine leaves-perfect Italian cows The saints of God living in the Church of Christ, are in communion with all the saints departed out of this life, and admitted to the presence of God. Jerusalem is sometimes taken for the Church on earth, sometimes for that part of the Church which is in heaven, to show that, as both are represented by one, so both are but one city of God.-BP. PEAR SON. Poetry. MORTIFICATION. How soon doth man decay! Those clouts are little winding sheets, When boys first go to bed, They step into their voluntary graves; Successive nights, like rolling waves, Convey them quickly who are bound for death. When youth is frank and free, In company; That music summons to the knell, Which shall befriend him at the house of death. When man grows staid and wise, Getting a house and home, where he may move Within the circle of his breath, That dumb inclosure maketh love enjoying the dolce far niente all day long. They are presided over and slept with by an old man named Antonio, and his son-two burnt-sienna natives, with naked legs and feet, who wear each a shirt, a pair of trowsers, and a red sash, with a relic, or some sacred charm like a bonbon off a twelfth cake, hanging round the neck. The old man is very anxious to convert me to the catholic faith, and exhorts me frequently. We sit upon a stone by the door, sometimes, in the evening, like Robinson Crusoe and Friday reversed; and he generally relates, towards my conversion, an abridgment of the history of St. Peter-chiefly, I believe, from the unspeakable delight he has in his imitation of the cock.-Dickens's Pictures from Italy. LATE HOURS.-He that rises late in the morning must be in a hurry all the day, and scarce overtake his business at night. ST. IGNATIUS,-BISHOP AND MARTYR. "My affections to the world are crucified." This is a meet motto to preface the life of a holy man. It is the saying of one who was Apostolical, in his office, for he was the successor of Apostles as a Bishop; in his life, for he zealously spread the glad tidings of salvation; in his death, for he drank the red cup of Martyrdom. In these few words, Ignatius summed up the acts of a whole life, spent in the service of his Lord. Of his childhood scarcely any record has survived to our times. An ancient and affectionate Tradition in the East, recognises in him the little child who was set in the midst of the Apostles by our Saviour, when He would teach them that the throne of the saint in heaven is prepared only for the meek and lowly of heart. In his letters to his converts he fondly styles himself, "The Bearer of God," and full well he carried the memory of His Master ever in his heart, giving witness by innocency and faithfulness even unto death, to Him, "Who stood with him and strengthened him.” He was the favoured disciple of both St. Peter and St. Paul. From them, doubtless, he learnt many a saying of the Lord Jesus, which we know not; for one had been with Christ," the eye-witness of His Majesty," the other "was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words." At their departure he was appointed Bishop of Antioch. This city, so dear to us, as the place where the disciples of "the Crucified" were first called Christians, is situated in the northern part of Syria. At this time it was so large, (containing 200,000 inhabitants) that, while consecrated by St. Paul to minister to the Gentiles, Ignatius had a Co-adjutor, named Evodius, who was appointed by St. Peter to attend to the Jews. At his death, Ignatius became sole Bishop. The capital of the Roman Viceroy, Antioch was called the Queen of the East. A magnificent line of mountains, part of the chain of Lebanon, is its natural bulwark to the north. On the other sides it was fortified by walls of vast strength and massive masonry, adorned and strengthened by stately towers at short intervals. Costly aqueducts poured in abundance of water, which, with the cool hill breezes, contributed to the refreshment of a sultry Eastern climate. The wild and steep banks of the broad and beautiful Orontes, were richly clothed with the myrtle and the laurel, the fig tree, the arbutus and sycamore. It was here, says his biographer, that "he escaped with difficulty the violence of the many stormy perse H cutions that arose in the reign of Domitian. Like a wise Pilot at the helm, by prayer and fasting, by constancy in teaching, with intense devotion of spirit, he breasted the surge that bore against him, fearing lest any one timid of heart and unstable should suffer shipwreck. Right joyful was he, when the persecution ceased for a little season. Yet was he inwardly anxious, as though he had not yet attained unto the very love of Christ, or the place of perfection as a disciple. He used to think that, by the confession of Martyrdom, he might attain unto a nearer communion with the Lord. So it was, that he tarried but a short while with the Church, and like the Divine Light, illumined the hearts therein by expounding the Scriptures, when it happened unto him according to his desire." This is the simple memorial of a Ministry of forty years of toil and difficulty. The Emperor Trajan, on his return from his victories in Scythia, stayed awhile in Antioch to mature a fresh campaign against Persia and the country of the Parthians. The increase of the Kingdom of Christ attracted the observation of the ambitious and bigoted tyrant, and he commanded that, like the other vassal provinces of heathendom, the Church at Antioch should worship the false idols of the Gentiles. The aged Bishop caused himself to be conducted into the presence of the Persecutor, and there witnessed a good confession. The Emperor bade him be bound and cast to the lions at Rome. With joyfulness Ignatius wound the chains around his neck, as though "precious and spiritual jewelry," ready with St. Paul to be "the bondsman of Christ." Sad and touching is the brief account he gives of his sorrows by the way. "From Syria to Rome my conflict is with wild beasts: by land, by sea, by day and by night, I am fettered to ten leopards, that is, the escort of soldiers, who, the more I do them good, become the more evil towards me. Their injurious conduct is my lesson, but I am not for this cause justified." One pause was permitted him, one season of refreshment, when Bishops and Priests and Deacons from all Asia hastened to the sea-shores of Smyrna, to weep that "they should see his face no more," and yet to rejoice in his confidence and holy purpose. Among that pious band was one, who with him had sat at the feet of the beloved Apostle, St. John, and with him learned that sweet doctrine, that "God is love." The aged Bishop Polycarp was there to comfort his brother, and bid him "God speed upon his journey. They never met again in the pilgrimage on earth. But to Ignatius, that communion was full of blessed joy. They begged his blessing as he parted from them, and he bequeathed his last precious gift to them, in letters to Polycarp, and the Church of Tralles, Magnesia, and Ephesus. We will select one passage from his Epistle to Rome, which he forwarded before his coming. " "May I find the wild beasts ready-I pray that they be-I will entice them to devour me, as sometimes they have not touched men from fear. Nay,-if they will not, when I will, I will compel them. Bear with me, I know what is good for me. I begin now to be a disciple. May nought visible or invisible prevent my winning Christ. Come the pile or the cross, the numberless beasts, the scattering of my bones, the grinding of my whole body, the breaking of my limbs, the fierce buffetings of Satan; only may I attain unto Jesus Christ." In such a holy frame of mind was he, when the expectant Christians met him at the gates of Rome. No tears nor threats moved him. He prayed-that his might be the only sacrifice, and reminded the brethren of the dying words of his dear Master-that they should love one another. In the midst of the rejoicing city-frantic with unholy festivals-the multitudes in the Amphitheatre beheld the old man stand forth the Witness of the true religion." Nay," said he, "I shall be God's corn ground between the jaws of the lions. Oh! may I become white bread unto my Master." Where the Martyr's blood flowed, the Cross of His Master now stands. THE LORD OF THE FOREST AND HIS VASSALS. (CHAP. IV. continued.) "WILL you turn from me now? Do you reject my service ?" said the strange Knight, seeing that Christian tried to loose the golden clasps that held the page's vest. "Ignorant and ungrateful, dare you mock my power? But think not to go unsoiled, there is another stain on the white robe, where the silver fringe has prest. Ha, Ha, the snow grows dark, the flower begins to wither." Christian looked hastily up as he spake, the red fiery eyes scowled upon him, and he knew The Great Champion's once vanquished foe, the Lord of the haunted wood. Shrinking in terror, he looked on his little dove, and she raised up her soft eyes to Heaven; so the child fell on his knees, and spake earnest words, that still lingered in his heart from the holy temple, "From all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil, Good Lord deliver us." There came no voice, nor answering sound, but the Lord of the wood, and the Ladies, held back as if spell-bound; and a strong force came into the child, he tore off the glittering robe, and fled fast down the forest path, while the little dove flew before him straight to his Father's hut. When Lisette clasped her child, as she wiped away his tears of weariness and terror, she was astonished at seeing how brightly the cross shone on his brow; and when at night he told her the tale of all the wondrous things he had seen, she too wondered, and wept in very hopelessness that she understood them not. There was a part of the Lady's garden devoted especially for purposes of meditation, and refreshment, to the students who sought instruction amid the volumes and manuscripts collected in the castle. It was a still solemn spot, with long alleys of stately elms and bending yews, scarcely penetrated by the noon-day sun; but here and there, were open spaces, where the sunbeams slept in unbroken lines on the rich grass; and trees stood alone loaded with golden fruit. |