"felt more ashamed, than on being appealed to by foreigners for those simple details relating to my own nation; of which it seemed almost impossible to them that I should be ignorant. Eaton Hall, then, the magnificent residence of the Marquis of Westminster, was originally a plain brick mansion, built by Sir Thomas Grosvenor, the representative of that ancient family in the reign of William III. The family of Grosvenor, you are probably aware, is of very remote descent. Gilbert de Grosvenor, nephew of William the Conqueror, having accompanied his uncle in the expedition against England, on the latter obtaining the throne of the kingdom, had assigned to him the extensive and fertile lands now ornamented by this noble structure. In the reign of Edward III., although some of the lower part of the building was retained in its original state, the entire superstructure was altered, and the whole enlarged to twice its former size. The design of the architect being, to adapt the highly ornamental style of our old ecclesiastical edifices to the purposes of domestic comfort and utility, the whole aspect of the building was made to exhibit the same beauty of design, and richness of detail, which is so universally admired in York cathedral; while the interior is not less admirable, for its arrangement and adaptation, than the exterior is grand and imposing. The mansion is constructed of light-colored stone, which contrasts beautifully with the deep and sombre foliage of the surrounding woods; and it is principally regarded as presenting two fronts, each consisting of a spacious centre of three stories, terminating in octagonal turrets, and

connected with wings of corresponding archi

tecture.

"The east front is that represented by the picture before you, and scarcely can a more splendid or elegant pile of building be imagined. The west front is entered beneath a lofty-vaulted portico, sufficiently spacious to admit a carriage. Through the vaulted arches, by which the grand saloon is entered, the visiter looks out upon the most picturesque landscape of the river Dee: and thus while surrounded by the armorial bearings of an ancient and noble family, by portraits of the old Earls of Chester, and by all which ingenuity and art could devise to perpetuate the glory and distinction of the house to which this edifice belongs; we gaze with no less delight upon the simple beauties of nature, upon the fields of waving corn, and the cottages of the peasantry, studding the hill-sides here and there, and reminding us of the mutual dependance of the rich and the poor; the one affording protection, and the other labor, for the advantage and benefit of both.

"Henry," said Frederic, his eyes flashing with animation, "when do you think we shall be rich enough to buy land, and build ourselves a great house like this?"

"When we are both Earls Grosvenor," said Henry laughing.

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Nonsense," exclaimed Frederic with impatience, "I don't mean to be laughed out of my purpose. I heard it said one day that whatever a person undertook with sufficient determination, provided he had no physical defect to hinder him, he could accomplish. Now, mother, and now,

Henry, laugh as you will, I do intend to make this my great object—to do something that may be actually seen, in order that I may be remembered when I am dead."

"But you forget," said Henry," that neither you nor I recollected, until my mother told us, either who was the builder, or who was the owner of even this splendid house; and I think you and I are not very likely to build one larger."

"Ah! Frederic," said Mrs. Ashton," you should have been my companion a few weeks ago, when I made a tour with some of my friends through a part of Cornwall. One of our excursions was to visit the ruins of Restormal Castle, and I confess it was a melancholy feeling to me, as I stood upon the spacious ground which this edifice had once covered, and saw there stately trees usurping the place of shattered and crumbling masonry—it was a melancholy feeling to reflect how little could now be learned of the early history of this ruined pile, the name of whose founder is forgotten, and whose origin is unrecorded.

"All that we learn from history of this dilapidated castle is, that it once belonged to the Earls of Cornwall; but as early as the reign of Edward III. it is described as being considerably out of repair. Those who set their hearts upon being remembered for their great possessions, their places of strength, or their princely dwellings, should go and meditate beneath the arches of that ancient ruin, of which an old writer says, in his quaint language: The whole castle beginneth to mourn, and to wring out hard stones for tears, that she that was embraced, visited by, and delighted great

6

princes, is now desolate, forsaken, and forlorn : the cannon needs not batter, nor the pioneer to undermine, nor powder to blow up this so famous a pile, for time and tyranny hath wrought her desolation.'

"Now tell me, Frederic, whether you do not think it would be better to do something for the good of your fellow-creatures to be remembered by, than to build a splendid house, or to fortify a castle ?"

"And perhaps you might have your splendid mansion too," said Henry, "and call it a castle, if you prefer the name, like Sir Richard Arkwright."

"Sir Richard Arkwright !" exclaimed Frederic, with the utmost contempt, "what! and be remembered by my spinning-jennies ?"

"I wish you may be remembered by anything half as useful," observed Mrs. Ashton. "But let me advise you to think again, Frederic, before you give way to this most unreasonable disdain.— Think again upon what is the state of the country in which we live, and what the character of the society among which we move. The men of the present day, especially those with whom we associate, are no longer heroes, adventurers, or even warriors. But they are not the less men of enterprise, and noble daring; for there is more real courage than you perhaps may be aware of, in working out those principles of science which are neither received nor understood by people in general, and which consequently are opposed by prejudice, and vilified by slander.

"Sir Richard Arkwright, whom you presume to despise as a mere mechanic, possessed the sin

gular excellence of acting with prudence, energy,, and good sense, in the two extremes of low and high station, first as an humble workman at Preston, in Lancashire, where he followed the occupation of a barber; and afterward as a gentleman of princely fortune, in which character he was as much distinguished by his good feeling, and good taste, as he had been in his humbler lot by ingenuity, industry, and perseverance."

"And do you think, mother," said Frederic, still retaining his expression of contempt, "do you. really think that I would become a barber, even if by that means I might gain a name?"

"I do not pretend to say," replied Mrs. Ashton, "that you could add anything to your dignity or your merit by becoming a barber now; neither should I recommend the particular occupation to any one, as a step toward greatness; but I do wish you to understand, that it is of no more consequence to a really great man to have been a barber, than it is to you that at some time or other of your life you have stitched a button on your own, or your brother's waistcoat. Neither that particular act in you, nor the shaving of men's beards in the case of Sir Richard, were a part of character; they were distinct acts, which, under existing circumstances, it was your duty to do, but which reflected neither honor nor dishonor upon your conduct in general.

"By persons of good sense, and right feeling, it can never be mentioned as a reproach to Sir Richard Arkwright, that the sphere of his occupations was a lowly and obscure one, at the same time when his active mind was engaged in devi