spacious apartments, are floored with a mosaicwork of costly marbles; its windows, the whole height of each room, admit the sunshine through the most transparent of plate glass; its high cornices are gilded, and its ceilings gorgeously painted, and a lofty dome, through which, from the central pavement, you may gaze up to the sky with no obstructing medium between, surmounts the whole. With what fairer and nobler emblem could any man desire to shadow forth his character? Ah! but in some low and obscure nook-some narrow closet on the ground floor, shut, locked, and bolted, and the key flung away-or beneath the marble pavement, in a stagnant water puddle, with the richest pattern of mosaic work above, may lie a corpse, half decayed, and still decaying, and diffusing its death scent all through the palace. The inhabitant will not be conscious of it, for it has long been his daily breath! Neither will the visitors, for they smell only the rich odours which the master sedulously scatters through the palace, and the incense which they bring, and delight to burn before him! Now and then, perchance, comes in a seer, before whose sadly gifted eye the whole structure melts into thin air, leaving only the hidden nook, the bolted closet, with the cobwebs festooned over its forgotten door, or the

deadly hole under the pavement, and the decaying corpse within. Here, then, we are to seek the true emblem of the man's character, and of the deed that gives whatever reality it possesses to his life. And beneath the show of a marble palace, that pool of stagnant water, foul with many impurities, and, perhaps, tinged with blood-that secret abomination, above which, possibly, he may say his prayers without remembering it—is this man's miserable soul!'

"Thus you perceive the nature of this admonishing voice. It speaks to every man at certain times, and no place or time is exempt from its intrusive and still soft warnings; by night and by day it whispers, or it roars, in exact proportion to the turpitude of the crime or fault committed.

"Having said thus much upon this highly important subject, I trust I may add one word of application, and I hope, of benefit. These regrets and sorrowful thoughts being the voice of conscience, should by no means be allowed to pass by without teaching us a wholesome and valuable lesson. The consideration of these past misdeeds should indeed humble us to the dust with tears of repentance, and produce a strong determination for our leading a better course of life for the future. And upon this point I could wish to

address myself more particularly to you, who appear not to have considered the religious and moral tendency of this present question. Consider awhile the journey thou goest, and the evils which beset thee, and commune with thy heart on this strange passage through this unknown land. Seldom, indeed, is it that we are sufficiently awakened to mark our own conduct with impartiality, for the greatest part of our existence is steeped in custom and business; neither do we ponder aught, save the habitual course of daily career. If thou art ill at ease, and beset by the talking of that invisible thing which only speaketh ever and anon, when thy chamber door is shut, listen unto its wise counsels, although it should sorrowfully reveal the evil memories of the past— although it should taunt thee bitterly, sitting as a cloud upon thy brow, dark, sombre, repulsive."

Besides these arguments, I endeavoured to convince my audience by the gravity of demeanour with which I delivered them-that quiet garb of self sufficient nothingness, which tells so strikingly with well regulated people, serving, besides, as a covering for an impoverished understanding.

CHAPTER XIII.

"Those who have the ability for the task are usually ready enough to emancipate themselves from gospel restraints, which thwart the ebullitions of passion, and combat the prejudices of the world at every turn."-BISHOP WATSON.

"THERE is very little original in all this," said another. "Every one has often heard this same voice ringing in his ears, and taking up either side of the question. At times it reproaches for faults and misdemeanour, but far oftener does it jeer and deride me with my innocent weakness, and follies. He is no patron saint of what men call RIGHT, and makes me feel quite as much regret for my good nature as for my vicious actions. I know well the inconsistency of our moods-to day believes not to-morrow, nor will it trust yesterday. I am now what I am-I was yesterday what I then was; and the deeds done then may be in contrast and opposition to the tendencies and convictions I feel now; but when they were performed, they were genuine and natural

emanations from the state in which the mind then lived. The present conviction never doubts itself, and never suspects a change, and when it commences to let in reason and prudence, it is faltering, and in decay. Every conscious being undergoes a thousand wild vicissitudes, and the temper and conviction of this hour, whether for good or evil, will doubt and regret any ununiform act of the past, totally forgetting that such an act hadits own good reason and just cause at that time. If you dislike a man at one time conscience reproaches you with ever having loved so unworthy a thing. If you love him now, you loathe the remembrance of every angry word that has been said. Peradventure the time will come, when you will even regret these regrets, scorn the anguish of these consciences, and laugh at yourself for ever having changed the original intentions. What a Janusfaced poltroon is this God of your Idolatry!— this paltry Conscience! None know so well as he how to assume the imperious and over bearing. Here he stands-this hard-featured and haggard Phantom-arrogant in his remorse-ignorant in his regrets. Here he now stands lowering over his victim. Why didst thou do this thing? he saith. Why didst thou not forbear? I am in fear and doubt; the old impulses have passed away, and