Oh may my falls be bright as thine!
May heaven's forgiving rainbow shine
Upon the mist that circles me,

As soft, as now it hangs o'er thee!

LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH.

Patron of the Poor.

A certain cardinal, by the multitude of his generous actions, gave occasion for the world to call him, The Patron of the Poor. This ecclesiastical prince had a constant custom, once a week to give public audience to all indigent people, in the hall of his palace, and to relieve every one, according to their various necessities, or the motions of his own bounty.

One day, a poor widow, encouraged by the fame of his bounty, came into the hall of this cardinal, with her only daughter, a beautiful maid, about fifteen years of age. When her turn came to be heard, among a crowd of petitioners, the cardinal, observing the marks of an extraordinary modesty in her face and carriage, as also in her daughter, encouraged her to tell her wants freely.

She, blushing, and not without tears, thus addressed herself to him: " My lord, I owe, for the rent of my house, five crowns; and, such is my misfortune, that I have no way left to pay it, save what would break my heart, (and my landlord threatens to force me to it,) that is, to disgrace this my only daughter, whom I have hitherto, with great care, educated in the paths of virtue.

What I beg of your eminence is, that you would be pleased to interpose your authority, and protect us from the violence of this cruel man, till, by honest industry, we can procure the money for him." The cardinal, moved with admiration of the woman's virtue

and modest request, bid her be of good courage: then he immediately wrote a billet, "Go," said he, "to my steward, and he shall deliver thee five crowns to pay thy rent.'

The widow, overjoyed, and returning the cardinal a thousand thanks, went directly to the steward, and gave him the note. When he had read it, he told out fifty crowns. She, astonished at the meaning of it, and not knowing what the cardinal had wrote, refused to take above five crowns, saying, she mentioned no more to his eminence, and she was sure it was some mistake.

On the other hand, the steward insisted on his master's order, not daring to call it in question. But all the arguments he could use, were insufficient to prevail on her to take any more than five crowns. Wherefore, to end the controversy, he offered to go back with her to the cardinal, and refer it to him. When they came before that munificent prince, and he was fully informed of the business, "It is true,' said he, "I mistook in writing fifty crowns; give me the paper, and I will rectify it." Upon which he wrote again, saying to the woman, "So much candor and virtue deserves a recompense. Here, I have ordered you five hundred crowns; what you can spare of it, lay up, as a dowry to give with your daughter in marriage."

LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEENTH.
Mental Discipline.

The riches that the mind bestows,
Outshine the purple's proudest dye;
And pale the brightest gold that glows
Beneath the Indian's burning sky.

The mind can dull the deepest smart,
And smooth the bed of suffering,
And midst the winter of the heart,
Can renovate a second spring.

Shall fields be tilled with annual care,
And minds lie fallow ev'ry year?
Oh, since the crop depends on you,
Give them the culture which is due:
Hoe ev'ry weed, and dress the soil,-
So harvest shall repay your toil.
If human minds resemble trees,
(As ev'ry moralist agrees,)

Prune all the stragglers of your vine,
Then shall the purple clusters shine.
The gard'ner knows that fruitful life
Demands his salutary knife;
For ev'ry wild, luxuriant shoot

Or robs the bloom, or starves the fruit.

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LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEENTH.

The Gambler reformed.

He

In Queen Anne's war, Colonel Daniel was an ensign in the English army then in Spain; but he was so absolutely possessed by this evil, that all duty, and every thing else that prevented his gratifying his darling passion, was to him most grievous. scarcely allowed himself time for rest; or, if he slept, his dreams presented packs of cards to his eyes, and the rattling of dice to his ears. His meals were neglected; or, if he attended them, he looked upon that as so much lost time; swallowed his meat with precipitance, and hurried to the dear gaming table again.

For some time, fortune was his friend; and he was

so successful, that he has often spread his winnings on the ground, and rolled himself on them, in order that it might be said of him, "he wallowed in gold." Such was his life for a considerable time; but, as he has often said, and I dare say every considerate man will join with him, "it was the most miserable part of it."

After some time, he was ordered on the recruiting duty, and, at Barcelona, he raised one hundred and fifty recruits for the regiment, though this was left entirely to his sergeant, that he might be more at leisure to attend to his darling passion. After some changes of good and ill luck, fortune declared so openly against him, that, in one unlucky run, he was totally stripped of his last farthing.

In this distress, he applied to a captain of the same regiment with himself for a loan of ten guineas; which was refused, with this speech: " "What! lend my money to a professed gamester! No, sir, I must be excused: for, of necessity, I must lose either my money or my friend; I therefore choose to keep my money." With this taunting refusal, he retired to his lodgings; where he threw himself on the bed, to lay himself and his sorrows to a momentary rest, during the heat of the day.

A bug, gnat, or some such vermin, happening to bite him, he awoke; when his melancholy situation immediately presented itself to him. Without money! and no prospect how to get any to subsist himself and his recruits to the regiment, then at a great distance from him; and should they desert for want of their pay, he must be answerable for it; and he could expect nothing but cashiering, for disappointing the queen's service.

He had no friends; for he whom he had esteemed so, had not only refused to lend him money, but had added taunts to his refusal. He had no acquaintance there; and strangers, he knew, would not let him have

so large a sum as was answerable to his real necessity. This naturally led him to reflect seriously on what had induced him to commence gamester; and this, he presently perceived, was idleness. He had now found the cause, but the cure was still wanting: how was that to be effected so as to prevent a relapse? Something must be done; some method must be pursued, so effectually to employ his time as to prevent his having any to throw away at gaming.

It then occurred to him, that the adjutancy of the regiment was to be disposed of; and this he determined to purchase, as a post the most likely to find him a sufficient and laudable way of passing his time. He had letters of credit, to draw for what sum he pleased, for his promotion in the army, but not to throw away idly, or to encourage his extravagance.

This was well: but the main difficulty remained; and he must get to the regiment before he could take any steps towards the intended purchase, or draw for the sum to make it with. While he was endeavoring to fall upon some expedient to extricate himself out of this dilemma, his friend, who had refused him in the morning, came to pay him a visit. After a very cool reception on the colonel's side, the other began by asking him what steps he intended to take to relieve himself from the anxiety he plainly saw he was in.

The colonel then told him all he had thought upon that head, and the resolution he had made of purchasing the adjutancy, as soon as he could join the regiment. His friend, then getting up and embracing him, said, "My dear Daniel, I refused you in the morning in that abrupt manner, in order to bring you to a sense of the dangerous situation you were in, and to make you reflect seriously on the folly of the way of life you had got into. I heartily rejoice that it has had the desired effect. Pursue the laudable resolution you have made; for be assured, that idleness and gaming are the ruin of youth.