“A very fine plan indeed,” &longs;aid Temple, smiling;
“and you really &longs;uppo&longs;e I will wink at your
indulging the girl in this manner? You will quite
&longs;poil her, Lucy; indeed you will.”

“She is the only child we have,” &longs;aid Mrs.
Temple, the whole tenderne&longs;s of a mother adding
animation to her fine countenance; but it was
withal tempered &longs;o &longs;weetly with the meek affection
and &longs;ubmi&longs;&longs;ive duty of the wife, that as &longs;he
pau&longs;ed expecting her hu&longs;band's an&longs;wer, he gazed
at her tenderly, and found he was unable to refu&longs;e
her reque&longs;t.

“She is a good girl,” &longs;aid Temple.

“She is, indeed,” replied the fond mother exultingly,
“a grateful, affectionate girl; and I am
&longs;ure will never lo&longs;e &longs;ight of the duty &longs;he owes her
parents.”

“If &longs;he does,” &longs;aid he, “&longs;he mu&longs;t forget the example
&longs;et her by the be&longs;t of mothers.”

Mrs. Temple could not reply; but the delightful
&longs;en&longs;ation that dilated her heart &longs;parkled in her
intelligent eyes, and heightened the vermillion on
her cheeks.

Of all the plea&longs;ures of which the human mind is
&longs;en&longs;ible, there is none equal to that which warms
and expands the bo&longs;om, when li&longs;tening to commendations
be&longs;towed on us by a beloved object,
and are con&longs;cious of having de&longs;erved them.

Ye giddy flutterers in the fanta&longs;tic round of

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diffipation, who eagerly &longs;eek plea&longs;ure in the lo&longs;ty
dome, rich treat, and midnight revel—tell me,
ye thoughtle&longs;s daughters of folly, have ye ever
found the phantom you have &longs;o long &longs;ought with
&longs;uch unremitted a&longs;&longs;iduity? Has &longs;he not always
eluded your gra&longs;p, and when you have reached
your hand to take the cup &longs;he extends to her deluded
votaries, have you not found the long-expected
draught &longs;trongly tinctured with the
bitter dregs of di&longs;appointment? I know you have:
I &longs;ee it in the wan cheek, &longs;unk eye, and air of
chagrin, which ever mark the children of dissipation.
Plea&longs;ure is a vain illu&longs;ion; &longs;he draws you on
to a thou&longs;and follies, errors, and I may &longs;ay vices,
and then leaves you to deplore your thoughtle&longs;s
credulity.

Look, my dear friends, at yonder lovely Virgin
arrayed in a white robe devoid of ornament;
behold the meekne&longs;s of her countenance, the modesty
of her gait; her handmaids are Humility,
Filial Piety, Conjugal Affection, Indu&longs;try and
Benevolence; her name is Content; &longs;he holds in her
hand the cup of true felicity, and when once you
have formed an intimate acquaintance with the&longs;e
her attendants, nay, you mu&longs;t admit them as your
bo&longs;om friends and chief coun&longs;ellors, then, whatever
may be your &longs;ituation in life, the meek eyed
Virgin will immediately take up her abode with
you.

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Is poverty your portion?—&longs;he will lighten your
labours, pre&longs;ide at your frugal board, and watch
your quiet &longs;lumbers.

Is your &longs;tate mediocrity?—&longs;he will heighten every
ble&longs;&longs;ing you enjoy, by informing you how grateful
you &longs;hould be to that bountiful Providence who
might have placed you in the mo&longs;t abject &longs;ituation;
and, by teaching you to weigh your ble&longs;&longs;ings again&longs;t
your de&longs;erts, &longs;how you how much more you receive
than you have a right to expect.

Are you po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ed of affluence?—what an inexhaustible
fund of happine&longs;s will &longs;he lay before you!
To relieve the di&longs;tre&longs;&longs;ed, redre&longs;s the injured, in
&longs;hort, to perform all the good works of peace and
mercy.

Content, my dear friends, will blunt even the
arrows of adver&longs;ity, &longs;o that they cannot materially
harm you. She will dwell in the humble&longs;t cottage:
&longs;he will attend you even to a pri&longs;on. Her parent
is religion; her &longs;i&longs;ters, Patience and Hope. She
will pa&longs;s with you through life, &longs;moothing the
rough paths and tread to earth tho&longs;e thorns which
every one mu&longs;t meet with as they journey onward
to the appointed goal. She will &longs;often the pains
of &longs;ickne&longs;s, continue with you even in the cold
gloomy hour of death, and, chearing you with the
&longs;miles of her heaven-born &longs;i&longs;ter, Hope, lead you triumphant
to a bli&longs;sful eternity.

I confe&longs;s I have rambled &longs;trangely from my

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&longs;tory: but what of that? if I have been &longs;o lucky
as to find the road to happine&longs;s, why &longs;hould I be
&longs;uch a niggard as to omit &longs;o good an opportunity
of pointing out the way to others. The very ba&longs;is
of true peace of mind is a benevolent wi&longs;h to &longs;ee
all the world as happy as one's &longs;elf; and from my
&longs;oul do I pity the &longs;elfi&longs;h churl, who, remembering
the little bickerings of anger, envy, and fifty
other di&longs;agreeables to which frail mortality is subject,
would wi&longs;h to revenge the affront which
pride whi&longs;pers him he has received. For my own
part, I can &longs;afely declare, there is not a human
being in the univer&longs;e, who&longs;e pro&longs;perity I &longs;hould
not rejoice in, and to who&longs;e happine&longs;s I would not
contribute to the utmo&longs;t limit of my power: and
may my offences be no more remembered in the
day of general retribution, than as from my &longs;oul
I forgive every offence or injury received from a
fellow creature.

Merciful heaven! who would exchange the rapture
of &longs;uch a reflexion for all the gaudy tin&longs;el which
the world calls plea&longs;ure!

But to return.—Content dwelt in Mrs. Temple's
bo&longs;om, and &longs;pread a charming animation over her
countenance, as her hu&longs;band led her in, to lay the
plan &longs;he had formed (for the celebration of Charlotte's
birth day,) before Mr. Eldridge.