and thirdly, as near the site of the proposed town as he can. I have ordered him, when various lands are surveyed, to forthwith make his selection, and establish himself and party by the erection of a comfortable habitation, so that in the event of our arrival we may at once have a tolerable place of refuge. He has taken out with him for that purpose the frame of a very good roomy house, and I expect to find him comfortably ensconced within it by the time of our arrival."

"Have you any agricultural implements with you, Rennie?" "Oh yes, I have a very large assortment. I have been at great pains in endeavouring to get the best and most approved-my ploughs are mostly upon the Scotch principle, light and handy-for I am determined, as soon as we are safely landed, to commence operations with some spirit."

"Well, I agree with you, it will be a great satisfaction when one has actually made a beginning. I shall indeed rejoice to see my herds and my flocks, my crops and my garden. I am quite a devotee to a patriarchal life, and cannot tolerate the false refinement and the galling armour one is obliged to wear in the stupid monotony of fashionable society; and I feel myself more than happy when I reflect that the possibility is, we may not be very distant neighbours-for then we can render each other mutual assistance, which, I conceive, will occasionally be in demand."

"I can assure you, Blair, my desire is yours; few things would give myself and family more satisfaction. I presume, Blair, that the young ladies are not altogether pleased at the Australian expedition-what say they?"

"You have mistaken them, Rennie. So far from feeling any regret at leaving the follies of the ball, the morning twaddle, and the senseless tea-parties behind them, I am happy to say their only regret was the dear and tried friends that are occasionally to be found in this motley world-found too often at the very period when necessity demands we must leave them for ever behind. My girls are educated entirely under a mother's care-they have never been under the discipline of a stranger's hand; neither have their young minds been directed into impure channels by associating in public seminaries with those whose dispositions are trifling and worthless, and whose bosoms are too often

found not to be softened by the assembly of a school, but hardened into ridiculous manners, and educated utterly false in their views of the world. How often, Rennie, is the heart of the parent racked with grief, when, after years of expense and anxiety, the tenderly-loved girl of their bosoms, having at length completed her education in the public schools-how often then, sir, has the cruel sting of disappointment been sent deep into their vitals when they have beheld the beautiful idol of their souls, in all the loveliness of youth-at a period when she is to be launched upon the rough world, totally ignorant of its ways, distracted with false ideas, a prey to every petty disappointment-standing alone, as she does, gazing upon life as it really is; ignorant, totally ignorant, of what constitutes the real foundation of happiness-a knowledge of and a readiness to meet the common-place events, the everyday routine, of a bustling, a selfish world."

"That, Blair," replied Rennie, "is a philosophy seldom attained by gay young maidens; but certainly the way you have pursued in keeping them clear of the frivolities of a public school will do much for them, particularly when a mother's eye is ever upon them; and, as you observe, a correct knowledge of what the world affords may be, under such circumstances, more efficiently imparted. I am myself no advocate for your finishing schools, your romances, and your love-sick swains, and haunted castles; they pollute the heart, and too often, instead of sending forth a valuable member of society, we see nothing but a flighty waxwork doll, full of imagination, music and dance, but absolutely above the world in which she is destined to move-and so much so in one instance that came to my knowledge in the person of a relation of mine, that she threw herself into a fatal disease by her abstinence, considering it to be actually derogatory to be seen in the fact of eating. Now I mention her, I may just finish her history. This lady-the Miss Belinda-in one of her abstinence fits reduced herself to such a passing shade, that medical advice was called in. The doctor recommended change of air. The beautiful girl-for she was an attenuated beauty-was forthwith removed to a respectable farmer's in the country. There she, like Ophelia, culled the flowers, the pansies, and the willow; she also directed her attention to the sheep-and from the sheep (oh! tell it not in Gath!) to the gay young shepherd!

-Oh, romance! oh, rocks, brigands, and caves !—and oh, sweet, tuneful, gentle Colin, and thy still gentler lambkins! Where are you, Colin ? let the groves answer, and the hills echo it—where are you, and where is the mistress of the humble cot, the miserable Belinda?"

"So ended her romance, I presume," said Mr. Blair; she died of a broken heart?"

no doubt

"No, Blair, she lives yet: the husband has been advanced by some secret benevolent individual to the rank of toll-gate keeper; and the very last time I had occasion to ride through that part of the country, I had the shock to see the unhappy woman washing in a little orchard, by the side of the toll-house; and she held up a hand, bleeding at the wrist, to me for my toll. I knew it was Belinda, but she knew me not. I hastily threw a crown to a little blue-eyed urchin, who had thrust forth his curly flaxen head to look at the traveller; this at once surprised the mother, whom I left standing like a statue, straining her large blue eyes at the unaccountable generosity of the stranger. 'Poor thing!' thought I; thou who wert once too delicate for the very balmy South to blow upon, art now exposed to the rudeness of every blast; and those long and taper fingers, that have swept the keys whiter than the ivory of thy piano, enchanting all beholders-where are they now? The muslin brocade has fled from that snowy bosom― the plain red kerchief is there now, and the herden apron tight embraces that slender waist, which bends to thy irksome task as a reed that a tempest hath broken. May I see her misery no more! a stab, Blair, I did not very readily get over."

It was

"Does her husband treat her kindly?" inquired Mr. B. "Of that," continued Rennie, "I know but little. However, on dit that he is a kind, harmless clown-extremely uncouth, as a matter of course, being totally without education, except the little that his unhappy wife has taught him. Ignorance in the present age (abounding, as it does, with the means of knowledge) is a positive crime; and, in my code of criminal law, I would insert, ‘And be it enacted, that on and after the 1st day of January next, all youths who shall be above the age of ten years, and discovered totally unable to read and write, shall be considered at the disposal of Government, and may be draughted into such regiments or ships as may be thought necessary,'-where the

schoolmaster might be found at home; and that therein, in consideration of their education, they should be compelled to serve till the age of twenty-one-thus making something, as it were, out of nothing; for, in spite of what men may preach about a little learning being a dangerous thing, I maintain the force of the adage, that 'half a loaf is better than no bread.' Ignorance, being too often the parent of crimes, should be made accountable for her progeny, by the very same law and jury who condemned the trumpeter to death, negativing his plea that he fought not, neither slew he any man-but the Judge advanced the fact, above all he was the greater criminal, by being the cause of others fighting."

“I think, Rennie,” cried Mr. Blair, as he turned from the mainmast, against which he had been leaning,-"I think you have reason well on your side; but it will be yet some years ere the little lever of the schoolmaster can heave from its low position, to any favourable elevation, the ponderous mass of ignorance that benights the rural districts.”

CHAPTER XI.

"Thou whose spell can raise the dead,

Bid the prophet's form appear--

Samuel, raise thy buried head;

King, behold the phantom seer!"---SAUL.

"ALL the fat's i' the fire! here's something to talk about-now for it! who's to blame?—there's a secret, find it out!" Thus violently ejaculated Mr. Turkey, as he hastily bounded upon the quarter-deck. There, gentlemen," continued he in an agitated tone, addressing some passengers who were listlessly promenading," there, my fellowwanderers-policies of life insurance are at a premium; who brings such to the market? I'm a purchaser at any price.-Misfortunes never come alone-four this morning, and two last night: here's a listécoute! Imprimis-The jars of London pickled cabbage for the use of the would-be scorbutic, friends, turns out to be all brine and parings of leather!-yea, briny as the very wave that washes yon lee scuppers,and tough! ay, tough as my grandmother's pocket! Gentlemen, elongate not the visage. No. 2-The water is nearly spent, and what little remains stinks-ay, most foully savours, as Don Quixote said to Sancho-Yes, the Don to the Squire-memory serves- Sancho, thou savourest,'—that's Spanish for stink. Notre aqua Thamesiensis est impuris, abominalis,—that's pure and unadulterated Latin-memory serves. Note the third-The tripe is defunct! last bit in the bucket to-day; so, gentlemen, you will get no more of that delectable viscera for thy abominable viscera―at which you find yourselves in no worse a situation than the illustrious Queen Bess herself, of ale-drinking,