that name; and from what I have lately heard of him, I suspect he is the same person."

"Could not I get a sight of him ?" replied the first. "Probably you may," said the other; and presently seeing him cross the court, he pointed him out.

"Ah! that is the truly charitable man!" exclaimed the old clergyman in a rapture. And running up to him, he seized him by the hand and expressed the most affectionate wishes for his welfare.

Mr. Moreland now became well known; and though many were desirous to become acquainted with so good a man, he always avoided any intercourse that would bring himself into notice. It was not till after his death that an old friend thought fit to gratify the world with an account of his private history.

Mr. Moreland was the youngest son of a country gentleman, and came to London at an early age to be educated for commercial life. In this, by diligence and attention, he succeeded so well, that after having passed through the different gradations of clerk, he was admitted a partner in the house, which was one of the first respectability. In this situation he acquired a considerable fortune, and sustained the character of one of the leading merchants of the day. In early life he married an amiable and accomplished lady, who brought him two children: both died in their infancy, and the death of their mother, which followed in a few years, made such an impression on his mind that he gradually withdrew from business. The common pleasures of the world grew daily less interesting to his mind, and he found a vacancy which could only be filled up by reading and contemplation. The liberality of his mind led him to take an interest in the various conditions of society; and in order to extend his knowledge, he visited the different governments of the continent, travelling chiefly on foot, avoiding common routes, that he might have an opportunity of mingling with the mass of the people.

He saw abroad, as well as at home, a great deal of misery; he saw wretchedness everywhere close in the train of splendour. He lamented the evils of the world; but whatever might be their original source, he saw that man had within himself the power of remedying many of them. And it occurred to him that in exercising this power, all duty, all virtue, seemed to consist; and from that time he resolved to direct his attention to the best means of benefiting society.

Full of these meditations, he returned; and convinced that the great inequality of rank and property is one principal cause (though a necessary one) of the ills of life, he resolved, as much as it lay in his power, to counteract it. "How few things," thought he,

are necessary to my external comfort! wholesome food, warm clothing, clean lodging, a little waiting upon, and a few books. Anything else would be superfluous. In what manner, then, ought the remainder to be applied ?"

That he might at once get rid of the craving and burdensome demands which opinion imposes, he took a house in a distant part of the town, where his name was unknown; and of all his former acquaintances he only reserved one or two confidential friends. He selected out of the number of his former domestics one of each sex, steady and confidential, whose lives he made as comfortable as his own. After all the expenses of his household were defrayed, there remained two-thirds of his income, which he applied in secretly relieving the distresses of others.

He chose that his charities should be secret, not only as being utterly averse to all ostentation, but also to avoid those importunities which are often made by unworthy objects. He wished personally to become acquainted with the real circumstances of every case; and it was his chief employment to mingle amongst the people, and to inquire into the private history of

those individuals who came under his observation. If he discovered that their distress proceeded from misfortune, and not from crime, he never failed in adopting a plan to give permanent relief.

His philanthropy was general; but it was his greatest delight to assist those who, by unforeseen circumstances, had been reduced to poverty. Hence the sums which he bestowed were often so considerable as at once to retrieve the affairs of the sufferer; nor did he withdraw support so long as it was necessary.

In his opinions on general subjects he was liberal and free from bigotry, and if they chanced to differ from those recognized in society, he refrained from expressing them.

So he lived, so he died! injuring no one, benefiting many, bearing with pious resignation the evils that fell to his own lot, continually endeavouring to alleviate those of others and hoping to behold a state in which all evil shall be abolished.

THIRTY-FIRST EVENING.

A GLOBE LECTURE.

Papa-Lucy.

Papa. You may remember, Lucy, that I talked to you some time ago about the earth's motion round the sun.

Lucy. Yes, papa; and you then said you would tell me another time somewhat about the other planets.

P. I mean some day to take you to the lecture of an ingenious philosopher, who has contrived a machine that will give you a better notion of these things in an hour, than I could by mere talking in a week. But

it is now my intention to make you better acquainted with this globe which we inhabit, and which, indeed, is the most important to us. Cast your eyes upon this little ball. You see it is a representation of the earth, being covered with a coloured map of the world. This map is crossed with lines in various directions; but all you have to observe, relative to what I am going to talk about, is the great line across the middle, called the equator, or equinoctial line, and the two points at top and bottom, called the poles, of which the uppermost is the northern, the lowermost

the southern.

L. I see them.

P. Now, the sun, which illuminates all the parts of this globe by turns as they roll round before it, shines directly upon the equator, but darts its rays aslant towards the poles; and this is the cause of the great heat perceived in the middle regions of the earth, and of its gradual diminution as you proceed from them on either side towards the extremities. To use a vulgar illustration, it is like a piece of meat roasting before a fire, the middle part of which is liable to be overdone, while the two ends are raw.

L. I can comprehend that.

P. From this simple circumstance, some of the greatest differences on the surface of the earth, with respect to man, other animals, and vegetables, proceed; for heat is the great principle of life and vegetation; and where it most prevails, provided it be accompanied with due moisture, nature is most replenished with all sorts of living and growing things. In general, then, the countries lying on each side about the equator, and forming a broad belt around the globe, called the tropics, or torrid zone, are rich and exuberant in their products to a degree much superior to what we see in our climates. Trees, and other plants, shoot to a vast size, and are clothed in perpetual verdure, and loaded with flowers of the gayest colours and sweetest fra

grance, succeeded by fruits of high flavour or abundant nutriment. The insect tribe is multiplied so as to fill all the air, and many of them astonish by their size and extraordinary forms, and the splendour of their hues. The ground is all alive with reptiles, some harmless, some armed with deadly poisons.

L. O, but I should not like that at all.

P. The birds, however, decked in the gayest plumage conceivable, must give unmixed delight; and a tropical forest, filled with parrots, macaws, and peacocks, and enlivened with the gambols of monkeys and other nimble quadrupeds, must be a very amusing spectacle. The largest of quadrupeds, too, the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus, are natives of these regions; and not only those sublime and harmless animals, but the terrible lion, the cruel tiger, and all the most ravenous beasts of prey, are here found in their greatest bulk and fierceness.

L. That would be worse than the insects and reptiles.

P. The sea, also, is filled with inhabitants of an immense variety of size and figure; not only fishes, but tortoises, and all the shelly tribes. The shores are spread with shells of a beauty unknown to our coasts; for it would seem as though the influence of the solar heat penetrated into the farthest recesses of

nature.

L. How I should like to ramble on the sea-side there!

P. But the elements, too, are there upon a grand and terrific scale. The sky either blazes with intolerable beams, or pours down rain in irresistible torrents. The winds swell to furious hurricanes, which often desolate the whole face of nature in a day. Earthquakes rock the ground, and sometimes open it in chasms, which swallow up entire cities. Storms raise the waves of the ocean into mountains, and drive them in a deluge to the land.