Mrs. L., were extraordinary, and her unwearied attendance upon her mother, who was confined to her bed a whole twelvemonth preivous to her death, most exemplary. She just lived however, to have the comfort of hearing an account of the returning prosperity of her deserving, but unfortunate son-in-law, and died in the year 1768, five years after my father, in the 84th year of her age. She never made any discovery even to her children of her name, her connexions, or of the early part of her history, previous to her marriage with their father; nor did she leave behind her one single memorial, by which any one of the circumstances of it could be traced.

Mr. L. was now become very desirous that his wife should join him in Antigua, to which accordingly she consented; but the children being too young to take with her, my mother desired that Maria might remain with us, with whom in fact, she had already spent the greater part of her life; and the little boy, although only four years old, was sent to school, under the care and inspection of my mother. Maria continued with us six years after her mother's departure; when her father, having now obtained a lucrative place in Antigua, was extremely desirous of her going thither, and she left us in the year 1774, with an almost broken heart. She was received by her parents, but especially by her father, with the greatest joy; she was in herself a very interesting girl, and he had never seen her since she was five years old, so that he regarded her as a new-found treasure. But the transport was of short con

tinuance; in a very few weeks, she was seized with the country fever, which brought her life into the greatest danger; and before she recovered, he himself was attacked by the same fever, which put a period to his life, and left his widow and daughter destitute and forlorn, to recross the Atlantic, without knowing what course to pursue, when they should once more arrive in England.

I have greatly anticipated the order of time, in the foregoing narrative, in order to give a connected outline of the varied succession of adverse events, brightened now and then indeed, by a transient gleam of prosperity, through which my venerated, aged preceptress, and her worthy sonin-law, descended to the tomb.-I now resume my own history.

CHAPTER 14.

The Author's first introduction to Mr. Lindsey....The impression made upon her mind by this visit....His character contrasted with those she had lately left....Visits other friends... Reasons for declining cards ...Catterick the source of her purest pleasures....Leading objects of her friends there....Their family arrangements....Manner of spending their time....Habitual self-denial....Reflections on the temptations to a habit of dissipation....Its peculiar danger to young Ministers....Anecdote of Mr. Lindsey's school

master.

SOON after our return from Badsworth, in the year 1765, I was kindly invited by my former friend, Mrs. Lindsey, to spend a little time at

Catterick; and I rejoiced in the prospect of renewing an intercourse, from which I had formerly derived both pleasure and advantage. Mr. Lindsey I had never seen. I had heard indeed much of the excellence of his character, yet so greatly, on personal acquaintance, did it exceed my expectation, that I could hardly persuade myself, he was a being of the same order with those, in whose family I had lately been an inmate. Nor was this vivid impression altogether a deception; for assuredly, so wide is the dif ference between those happy few, who are habituated, on genuine Christian principles, to look up to God as their Father and Friend; and those on the contrary," who have him not in all their thoughts," that whatever may be their rank, their talents, or their other acquirements, they may truly be considered as forming a distinct class in the moral and intellectual scale of human being. I recollect at this moment, how forcibly I was struck the day after my arrival, when conversing on the dark scenes from which I had so lately emerged, Mr. L. calmly remarked, "what strange conduct this for accountable creatures !"-To a mind like his, in the remark itself there was nothing extraordinary; but it was so long since I had heard any sentiment of the kind expressed, or even adverted to, in the daily intercourse of life, that I seemed as if suddenly transported into a new world.

It is impossible to describe the powerful effect, which this astonishing contrast produced upon my mind. In the character of Mr. Lindsey,

every Christian virtue was united with the deepest piety, and a temper and disposition the most perfectly amiable; and in their mode of life, Mrs. L. intirely conformed to his wishes. How often was I not ready in secret, to exclaim with the widowed daughter of Naomi, "Where ye live, there would I live; your God shall be my God; where ye die, there would I die, and there also would I be buried!" Never can I be sufficiently thankful to a merciful and kind Providence for the inestimable privilege of forming such a friendship!

After my return home, I endeavoured to express, in a letter to Mrs. Lindsey, some part of the sentiments excited by my late visit. "How improved;" she said to Mr. Lindsey, when she put the letter into his hands, as she afterwards told me: "How improved is my formerly honest young friend, by her residence among fine people, in the art of paying compliments; it is not possible she should really feel one half of what she here expresses." "Are you not uncandid, my dear?" was his characteristic reply. "Is it not more probable, from what we know of her character, that we may be greatly over-rated by her, than that she should be disingenuous and insincere ?"

Our manner of life at Bedale, not being very comfortable, I spent much time, during the first four or five years, in visiting different friends, and particularly, as already mentioned, Mrs. Morritt, who then lived at Cawood, and Lady Strickland, at Boynton. In the first of these families, our

mornings were usually employed in reading, which contributed, as their books were in general well chosen, both to our pleasure and improvement. The evening, when the gentlemen joined the party, were as generally devoted to cards, in which however I never had any share; not that I abstained as thinking the amusement in itself unlawful, but my fortune being much disproportioned to theirs, I could not join them, without hazarding a larger sum, than was convenient to me to lose, and subjecting myself to an anxiety, in itself extremely painful, and in its effects unfavourable to the temper and character. When I was asked the cause of my refusal, I assigned the true one; the force of which they very candidly, and kindly admitted, and did not importune me further.

But the source of my purest enjoyment, was my frequent visits at Catterick, to which, whenever it was convenient to them to receive me, all other engagements were made to give way. With what pleasure did I mount the hired steed, which was to convey me to friends, whom I so much admired and loved! behind my usual squire ; on those occasions, an old man with bags under him, to contain a change or two of apparel. The pleasant villages of Crake-hall and Hornby, through which the road lay, acquired a new interest, from the circumstance of their leading to Catterick; and when the venerable church-steeple, on the top of of the hill, appeared first in sight, how delightful were my anticipations!-If such pure and unmixed pleasure could result from an