Much study is a weariness of the flesh," Eccles. xii. 12.

"And you walked with him along Rootybank Lane?"

"Yes; and along several other lanes and fields, until it became nearly dark. I look back with great pleasure to that walk.”

'Why? Did he talk very learnedly, and very wisely?"

"It was neither his learning nor his wisdom that pleased me so much as his honesty and simplicity. He told me that God had made his labours in translating the Scriptures, for so many years, a means of impressing their truth on his understanding and on his heart. We talked together of holy things, of the gospel of the Redeemer, and of the hope of eternal life set forth therein, through his sufferings, death, and intercession. My companion seemed not at all to value himself on his knowledge of languages, but rather to set forth the saying of the psalmist "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments,' Psa. cxi. 10. We talked together, as I told you, till darkness came on; and I do believe that we did each other good, encouraging one another, and strengthening each other's hearts in holy things. Not soon shall I forget that pleasant, that tranquil, that happy hour, when all was still, when the

L

stars were in the sky, and we walked together along Rooty-bank Lane, talking together of the word of God.

Heath Pictures-The mother parting with her soldier son at the milestone-The sun in the sky-The furze and the heath-plant in bloom-The lapwing-The flitting cloudsNight-Silence-The stars-The moonlight night-The dark clump of firs on the gloomy heath-The traveller and the robber-The March winds-The colts, the geese, and the sheep-Hampstead-heath, Bagshot-heath, Black-heath, and Finchley Common.

"AMONG Our country sketches, Edwin, it will hardly be right to leave out heath pictures. There are not so many uncultivated moors and commons in England now as formerly; but many of those that remain are interesting

places. I remember once seeing a mother on a rude heath, parting with her son, who had enlisted for a soldier. The young fellow went on singing with his comrades and the recruiting sergeant; but the poor broken-hearted woman sat down on the hillock by the milestone, in the bitterness of her spirit, to gaze after her reckless child. The wild heath, blighted and blasted as it seemed in that part of it, was in sad keeping with the desolation of the bereaved parent. I shall not soon forget the scene.

"That is but a sad picture to begin with." "Let me try, then, to give you another. The sun is shining forth in all his glory. The moor is beautiful, for the rough furze is covered with its dazzling yellow bloom, and a thousand acres of the heath are gorgeous with glowing purple. The lapwing is uttering its wailing cry, the air is scented with wild thyme, and the flitting clouds, snowwhite and silver-edged, are fair to gaze on.

'Their fleeting hues

The traveller cannot trace with memory's eyes,
But he remembers well how fair they were;

How very lovely.''

"The sun, and the glowing furze and heath in bloom, and the silver-edged clouds, all together make a good picture."

"It is night, and not a sound is heard. The world seems hushed in slumber. The

weary peasant is enjoying that repose which toil secures him. The stars are in the sky, bright and clear: every one of them itself a world! Wonderful!-wonderful! Even in the silence they speak eloquently of their Almighty Maker.

'Child of the earth! oh, lift thy glance
To yon bright firmament's expanse;
The glories of its realm explore,
And gaze, and wonder, and adore.

Doth it not speak to every sense
The marvels of Omnipotence?

Seest thou not there the Almighty name
Inscribed in characters of flame?""

"I fancy that I could hear a pin drop, you make everything appear so silent. Please to give me a moonlight picture; and make it as different as you can from the one you have drawn."

"The moon is up, though the heavy dark clouds every now and then obscure her beams. What a lonely place the heath is at this hour of the night! The clump of firs is a patch of ebon blackness upon the heath. and the road goes close beside it. A like v place for robbery, or something worse, is that gloomy spot: but few people travel now by night. Surely that is the sound of an ironshod hoof! A traveller on horseback approaches; the moon is bright, and I can see him. He is entering the dark shadow flung