coach had come in, some twenty minutes before eight; it wanted five minutes to ten when Lady Skrimshaw rang the bell for the tea-equipage to be removed, and asked Susan "if Joe were not come back?"- "Yes, my lady," was the answer," this very moment; there's no letter or parcel for you, and before he came up to say so, he was just getting a bit of supper."-" Ho! I'm sure he's very obliging; pray send him here directly."-In a few minutes Joseph made his appearance, but in a condition which evidenced that he had reasons of state for keeping out of his mistresses' sight as long as possible; and, as on this occasion, when he was not so desperately" disguised," but what he well knew his situation, he always possessed the ludicrous cunning of making himself intolerably deaf and stupid,-nothing could be collected from him, but that he had been to the coach, and thought no letter or parcel had been confided to his care."But Joseph, is it worth while, think you, to sit up for our friends?""O! there's little doubt but they'll come to night Miss, and my lady," replied the crafty tippler; who, if he was little gratified to answer such a question just then, perfectly well knew that there was nothing he liked better than the kitchen corner, with plenty of good cheer, and some fortunate event like the present to put his "mistresses" out of their horrid reglar ways of going to bed at ten o'clock;" an arrangement which Joe always asserted, strenously, to be no ways genteel "-The ladies now began to feel a little alarmed for the safety of their friends, and for the ensuing hour their conjectural colloquy ran on, much in the following style, intermingled only with such interjections as "Hush! hark! listen! silence! now! can't you hold your tongue for a minute or two!" &c.

"Well, this is strange!"

"I suppose we shall have a letter to-morrow of explanations and apology."

"It would have only been civil had they sent one per coach to-night."

"

Perhaps Mr. Dormer has got the gout,"

"Or business may have detained him in town." "Or Miss Dormer may have eloped."

"Or the governess."

"Or one of their family may have died suddenly." L. 35. I.

R

"Mrs. Dormer's mother, I know, has been ill.” "And little Maria is very sickly."

"Or the carriage may have been overturned." Perhaps broken down."

66

"Or a riot, at some place, stopped them."

Likely enough; an election, a fire, or a fair."

"Or they may have stopped on the road to lionize Orkwell Castle, Byng Abbey, the Grey Friars', Lord Stoddart's place, and Wishant Hall, are worth seeing; besides Stapleton Church, Twiford Tower, Dobb's Cavern, and Hoveden Hollow."

"True; or they may have taken a friend in their way, and been over-persuaded to stay dinner, and the night."

This last was at least so plausible a conjecture, that regretting it had not occurred to them sooner, the ladies agreed to torment themselves no longer about their friends, trusting all was well; but Miss Burrell did not venture to suggest also, that her sister might, by possibility, have mistaken the day fixed for their visit. "I wish then Dora," replied Lady Jane, with some little acrimony at having her accuracy called in question; "I wish I had not mislaid Mrs. Dormer's letter; but I am positive she said, we will be with you to an early dinner ou the 8th inst."-Having paid these dilatory friends the compliment of waiting their arrival, till the midnight hour had struck, the discomfited ladies sent their household to bed, and themselves retired to rest."

"Well Jane," quoth Miss Burrell, as her sister next morning entered the breakfast room, "we might have waited long enough for our visitors, considering they are not yet come." "We might indeed Dora," answered Lady Skimshaw, with a smile, and she threw across the table a letter towards Mrss B.; "and I do think I'll never be positive again; no nor never so auxious; nor-nor so careless! see there, the long lost letter, which this morning, as if to give a necessary lesson, I accidentally found! You were right; the 18th is the day, and I dare say when it arrives we shall find no cause to blame our good friends for a want of punctuality."

APHORISM. BY NAPOLEON.

The crimes of children are, in frequent instances, the fruits of the vicious education they have received from their parents.

THE SCHOOL-BOY

The school-boy had been rambling all the day,
A careless, thoughtless idler, till the night
Came on, and warned him homeward; then he left
The meadows where the morning had been passed,
Chasing the butterfly, and took the road

Toward the cottage where his mother dwelt:
He had her parting blessing, and she watched
Once more to breathe the welcome to her child,
Who sauntered lazily-ungrateful boy!
Till deeper darkness came o'er sea and earth,
And then he ran, till, almost breathless grown,
He passed within the wicket-gate which led
Into the village church-yard-then he paused,
And earnestly looked round; for o'er his head
The gloomy cypress waved, and at his feet
Lay the last bed of many a villager.

But on again he pressed with quickened step, Whistling aloud to keep his courage up." The bat came flapping by; the ancient church Threw its deep shadows o'er the path he trod, And the boy trembled like the aspen leaf; For now he fancied that all shapeless forms Came flitting by him, each with a bony hand, And motion as if threatening; while a weight Unearthly pressed the satchel and the slate He strove to keep within his grasp. The wind Played with the feather that adorned his cap, And seemed to whisper something horrible. The clouds had gathered thickly round the moon, But now and then her light shone gloriously Upon the sculptured tombs and humble graves, And in a moment all was dark again,

O'ercome with terror, the pale boy sank down, And wildly gazed around him, till his eye Fell on a stone on which these warning words Were carved :

"Time! thou art flying rapidly

But whither art thou flying?"

"To the grave-which yours will be-
I wait not for the dying.