exonerate the State from her share of the blame. And now, since both have been equally neglectful, let us vie with each other which can do the most to repair the mischief; let us join in calling loudly on the government to reinstate the Church in a position in which she shall be able to cope with our increased population. But let us not trust too much to government. That has been our chief fault, and is what we are suffering from. If the government will not do its duty, we must not neglect ours. Let our

bishops come forward in the way in which the apostles did; let them say plainly, 'Our numbers are not equal to the duties imposed upon us; we call on you to provide more labourers in the vineyard; furnish you the means, nominate the men if you choose, and if they are, so far as we are able to discern, men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, and of wisdom, we will ordain them to the ministry.' I should like to see each diocese so united together in the bonds of spiritual union, that the bishop might be able continually, according to his commission, 'to set in order what was wanting;' that he might say at his visitation, 'Here a new church is wanting; here a new pastor is wanting; here a new deacon; here an aged pastor or clerk should be pensioned off; here a school wants enlarging; here a gallery building; and that the united diocese should contribute the means for supplying what was needful. If the cost to the diocese were great, I think it impossible to argue that it is not the duty of Churchmen to afford it; but I am persuaded that if we could once get the Church again on a scale suited to the nation, it might be kept up with comparatively little difficulty. By such means our towns might be brought into as good culture as our best-conditioned villages; and instead of the idle, drunken, dissolute artisans, which disgrace their streets, you might train

K

up Christians like old Ambrose. Nor should the magnitude of the work be any discouragement; because every step we take, we do a proportionate amount of good; every new church built, every clergyman appointed, every school brought into union, is likely to convey the benefits of religion into the surrounding neighbourhood; and though I think the soundest and most efficient mode would be for each diocese to act together as an united Christian body, yet, in default of this, if each Churchman would look to his own immediate neighbourhood, and exert himself to provide for its wants, the good done might be incalculable."

Mr. Hammond listened with delight to his enthusiastic and sanguine parishioner, and only wished that there were many more Churchmen like him. The Church would not then be in her present state of insufficiency.

To give society its highest taste,

Well-order'd home man's best delight to make,
And by submissive wisdom, modest skill,
With every gentle care-eluding art,
To raise the virtues, animate the bliss,
And sweeten all the toils of human life;
This be the female dignity and praise.

THOMPSON.

It is quite time that we should introduce our reader more particularly to Mr. Walton's family, and we can assure him that he will find them very agreeable people.

Mr. Walton, when he lived at Trieste, had married the daughter of one of the principal English residents, a lady of excellent principles, as well as of lady-like manners. When she came to settle with her husband at Churchover, she soon won the good opinion of her neighbours and her husband's old friends. Uniting a winning sweetness with a graceful dignity of manner, she set an example of courtesy and good breeding in the small circle of the country town in which she lived; and when she mixed, as she often did, with the neighbouring families, who were her superiors in point of rank and station, she preserved that perfect self-command and propriety of demeanour, equally distant from vulgar forwardness or reserve, which proved her to be fitted alike for any station in which the will of God might place

her.

It is a delightful thing, that natural good breeding, as it is termed, which one sees-and not unfrequently, for it is not confined to any class of life. You may see it in the cottager's wife, or the maidservant, as well as in the highest ranks. And yet true refinement is not natural, strictly speaking, any more than other virtues are natural. Human nature is selfish, violent, and arrogant: what we are describing is the offspring of Christian grace. It is a branch of that charity which "suffereth long and is kind, which envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." It is that modesty and simplicity which results from a meek and quiet spirit; which places the mind above the petty jealousies of this world, and enables those who possess it to act with propriety under all the circumstances of life. This is true refinement; and the politeness of high life is too often

graces of the heart which a Christian faith alone could give. Thus her daughters grew up Christian gentlewomen: they were well principled, well informed, well mannered; fit in every respect to associate with their superiors in rank, but ready to join at the same time, with the most perfect good humour, in the society of their fellow town's-people. Anna, the eldest, was a lively, spirited girl, who generally attracted the first notice. Elizabeth was more retired and diffident, but not inferior to her sister, as those affirmed who knew her best.

It is surprising how much good a family of this sort will do, in a neighbourhood which is fortunate enough to possess them, and able to appreciate their good qualities. Filling with dignity the exact station in which God placed them, and pursuing the quiet tenor of their way, they do, by the very contrast of their deportment, shame people out of that vulgar rivalry and affectation, which is, alas, so generally prevalent.

Many persons seem to think, that, if they are good-natured and open-hearted in their manner, they will have to submit to a good deal of impertinent familiarity from vulgar persons. But even if it were so, is a Christian prepared to say that we should be proud, and cold, and haughty, in order to escape a personal inconvenience? We must, if it be so, be ready to sacrifice a little self-pleasing, and submit to the annoyance.

But I do not think it will be found that Christian courtesy subjects a person to undue familiarity, but rather engenders respect. I will not say that the Miss Waltons, especially Anna, had not, even before they were twenty, received some rather impertinent letters from one or two young men, who mistook their good-natured manner for a mark of more encouragement than was warranted. This was chiefly