invited guests to dine with him, a dinner would be provided,—a part of the arrangements which the doctor frequently forgot.

Alas! it is one thing to sketch a scheme of happiness, another to realize it. Not the Goths and Vandals, when they ravaged Rome, ever made such relentless work as did the farmer's widow, when she became the doctor's wife. From that moment nothing was heard in the house or about it, from sunrise to sunset, but the sounds of brooms, brushes, mops, and all the multiplied et ceteras necessary to household purification; while nearly all the remainder of the four and twenty hours (for she was no sleeper, and detested so idle a propensity as sleep in others) was devoted to florid lectures and ejaculations, more emphatic than polite, on the slovenliness of bachelors and the laziness of their servants.

The doctor discovered that the lady, who had said so little before marriage, could say a great deal too much after it; that though he had gained so much admiration from her as a suitor, he won none whatever as a husband. However, he goodnaturedly persuaded himself that there were sufficient grounds for the change; that his house was really a nest of enormities; and he resolved, heroically, to endure the purgatory of the process of reformation for the sake of the paradise which was to be the result.

Mrs. Drennan led her forces into the field; carpets were taken up, and hangings taken down; fires were banished because they made dirt; books because they made litter. Sancho was voted a brute unworthy of the least encouragement; the quiet domestic cat, notwithstanding her innate love of her home, under almost any circumstances, fled outright of her own accord, and never was heard of more; the swallow ceased to build beneath the eaves of the house; the robin red-breast to visit the cill of the windows; an alarum clock, which, like the statue of Memnon, sounded at sunrise, was introduced into the hall; and everything flew or stood affrighted before the bride, but Dolly the cook.

When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug of war.'

Dolly was disposed to view her mistress more in the light of a usurper than a legitimate sovereign: Mrs. Drennan, however, had superior might as well as superior right, and Dolly was ejected; not, it is said, without making an impression on her exterminating mistress, which was not aimed at her heart, but which went to it; and if the process of instantaneous retaliation had not been preferred, an appeal might have been made to the milder hand of the law. Dolly's sufferings in this conflict were not very much commiserated, as it was generally thought that her back was broad enough to bear anything.

Under an attack of nervous irritability, consequent on the ceaseless commotion existing around him, Dr. Drennan retreated once again to strict seclusion in his library. Its exemption from the persecuting "red right hand" of his wife, armed as it ever was

with a duster, was obtained by unceasing locking and watching; but the discordant sounds of her scolding voice penetrated to the sanctum; while daily hints and evening lectures convicted the doctor of unsociality, for his indulgence in bookish seclusion. His goodnature suffered under the reproach; he made efforts to cultivate fireside cordiality; but the mole and the eagle would make as meet companions as did the doctor and his wife.

She was perfect mistress of the faults and affairs of all her neighbours; and while she sat mending holes in stockings and table-cloths, liked nothing so well as making holes in those poor people's characters. Dr. Drennan was, on the contrary, utterly devoid of that perpetual and practical observation which may be called Paul Pryism; and he was full of philanthropic feeling. Thus a mutual and an undisguised interchange of thought produced nothing but disgust; he recoiled from the narrowness of her aims, the enviousness and unkindness of her feelings; she despised what she deemed his affectation, and hated what she thought his folly.

When the doctor found converse impracticable, it occurred to him that he might still preserve some appearance, at least, of the social character, and, perhaps, induce some reform by reading aloud but he gave meat where he ought to have given milk; he could form no conception of the mental indifference, unsusceptibility, and ignorance, which he addressed. Though individuals are incessantly judging each other, how few are qualified or capable of so doing.

It has been said that the lesser cannot comprehend the greater; equally true is the converse. If I may be allowed, I will liken one individual to a vessel which contains a pint; is it to be supposed that individual can understand another which contains a quart? No: it is either utterly unconscious of the other's superiority, or regards the surplus, above its own measure, as superfluous. In the same manner the larger vessel has no, or a very imperfect, idea of the stinted capacity of the smaller, and thence judges it wrongly, or makes fruitless efforts regarding it.

Mrs. Drennan's natural capacity was not deficient; it had suffered from distortion and disuse. Her case, and her husband's, probably, appears an extreme one, it is only because they are morally as incongruous, as they were mentally unsuited. Had her disposition been more quiet, and his less kindly, they would have presented the dull, unvarying, unsympathizing routine, which passes, unknown or unnoticed, behind many of the bright windows, and nicely kept street doors of this metropolis, to go no further.

Let it not be imagined that I contemn, or would cast ridicule upon household duties, or domestic management; so far from that, I regard skill upon those points as among the first essentials of female education. Truly says one of the most enlightened men of the present day, 'Whatever is of any importance, either to the

present or the future comfort of any being, is worthy of care in the degree in which it may be the means of enjoyment, or the cause of suffering. Its minuteness cannot render it unworthy of notice, if it be of any consequence; and what would detract from dignity and greatness would be, not taking care of these minute concerns, but neglecting them.'

I purpose to show, if a patient hearing be accorded me, that philosophy and poetry may beneficially find place in even the kitchen, that household drudgery may be divested of the contemptible character which, unjustly, sinks those devoted to such toils so low in the scale of social existence.

A great number of little things,' says the author I have just quoted, particularly if they often occur, become of greater importance than any single event, however vast and momentous; they produce, taken together, a larger sum of enjoyment, and there seems no possible way of taking care of this collective sum, but by taking care of particular events. And, indeed, the superintendence of minute events implies as much dignity as the superintendence of great events; and our admiration is never more excited than when we contemplate an intelligence which, while it directs the most graud and mighty movements, overlooks not the most insignificant concern capable of effecting the ultimate result.'

The want of a general perception of these truths have produced evils which are passing rapidly away before the increasing intelligence of the people. Our Mechanics' Institutions are giving daily evidence that the trades, which have been looked down upon with so much aristocratic contempt, are consistent with poetic feeling and philosophic thought. All hail to the Operatives of England! They are destined to shed more distinction upon her than any naval or military destructives, with stars and garters, flags, and finery to boot, have ever yet done. The decree has gone forth, Down with brute force and blind obedience, and up with the beaming ensign of intelligence, justice, and union.'

a

But the animating principle which has awakened the spirit of the working man, must be brought to bear upon the women of all classes. If a tailor now not only finds, but proves that he has ' soul above buttons,' in like manner must women find and prove that they were not created to feel and think at secondhand, and hardly that; that the tie which unites them to men does not merge them in their husbands, but that it is for women, as equally essential and indispensable co-agents in the work of human progression, to originate high thoughts and views, to advance useful and independent objects, and that the feelings of wife, mother, daughter, and sister, may co-exist with those of the philosopher, philanthropist, and patriot.

One day Dr. Drennan received a message from a neighbouring friend, a poor curate. The messenger's clay-covered shoes were not permitted to sully beyond the threshold of the door, and he

departed, leaving no particulars as to the cause of the sudden summons. Dr. Drennan, however, obeyed it promptly, for he knew that his friend was in bad health. On reaching the curate's dwelling, he found his worst fears realized; the old man had been struck by paralysis, and was not expected long to survive. Motionless, almost speechless, he lay extended upon his bed; but his mind, retained by the strong power of affection, was still present. Life and light yet lingered in his eyes, and they took a glow of more intense lustre as they were lifted to the face of Dr. Drennan, and then turned to a young boy who stood in tears at the bed-side. He was the orphan grandson of the dying man, and scarcely seven years old. For him the spark of life tarried in that aged breast; for him appealing light lingered in those closing eyes. Dr. Drennan understood the mute eloquence of his expiring friend, and answered him more expressively than by words; he took the little fellow upon his knee, and passing an arm around him, and laying a hand upon his fair-haired head, pressed him gently to his bosom, while he bent eyes, swimming with tears and illumined by kindness, on the dying grandsire. One look, effulgent as the feelings from which it sprung-a look in which gratitude, affection, hope, and faith were mingled, gleamed with seraphic beauty upon the boy and his protector, then the eyes, taking a yet more devotional character, were raised, glowed again intensely as before-then fixed for ever.

In a few hours Dr. Drennan said to the boy, Harold, you must come home with me, and be unto me as a son, and I will be unto you as a father.' There was a sweetness in that kindly voice, now touched with an unusual tremor, that unconsciously soothed and cheered the child, who put his hand confidingly into the hand so opportunely held out to his aid, and they went forth together.

Harold had little conception of the bereavement he had sustained he was no stranger to the benevolent man he companioned, and he soon began to prattle as he was wont to do whenever a visit from Dr. Drennan had made a holiday for him: the prospect of an abode at the doctor's house awakened curiosity, expectation, and that prospect of change so pleasant to the young; and Sancho, too, left his master's side, and came round to Harold's, as if willing to chase away any remaining heaviness from his spirit. The boy and dog soon began to sport together, and, after a time, the doctor seated himself on a honeysuckle bank to watch their gambols.

'Harold,' he said, when he rose again, yonder, just below the hill, is my house, the one with the bow-windows: play in the meadows as long as you like, and then let you and Sancho come home together. Again he paused to look at the play-fellows; what power, yet what gentleness in the generous dog! what confidence in that generous nature about the genial child! Why are

not all creatures linked thus?' sighed the doctor, as he walked down the hill.

As he approached his house he looked up at it; the library windows were open, and he fancied he saw the figure of some one in the room. He felt his pocket for the key-it was not there, and he now recollected that he had left it in the door! It instantly flashed across his mind that an incursion had been made into that room of refuge. The idea was soon strengthened, for, at the street door, he picked up a sheet of manuscript which had been blown out of one of the windows. With this mute witness of the violation which he foresaw was going forward, he thundered at the door, hurried up stairs, and entered the library.

Mrs. Drennan, like an adjutant, stood in the midst of it, giving orders to two remorseless housemaids, who were down on their knees scrubbing the floor, which had so lately been strewn with books, papers, maps, and prints.

Who may paint the doctor as he stood

• Struck with severe amazement-hating life,'

in a voiceless convulsion of indignation and despair? The anger of an habitually patient person is the most awful thing on earth; once thoroughly aroused, the doctor was terrific. The domestics fled before the terror of his looks; his spouse, however, stood her ground manfully, I had almost said, but doggedly were the better word, and before the undone scholar could relieve his feelings by a single word, she launched forth a cataract of invective, which, by depriving him of all hope of a hearing, effectually secured his silence. But the desperate state of his feelings demanded some relief, so turning from the living foe of his peace, he fell upon the inanimate agents of her mischief; pails, brooms, brushes, flew out at the windows with the force and celerity of a bomb from a mortar; so that any one chancing to pass the house at the time, and escaping the effects of such windfalls, might have imagined it on fire, and the inmates adopting the readiest mode of saving its contents from conflagration.

Whether Mrs. Drennan imagined that she ran some risk of taking, like a witch, a journey with a broomstick; or that she thought it best to make her exit at the door, seeing that her husband had a prejudice for departures at the window, certainly she made a precipitate retreat down stairs.

At length Dr. Drennan seated himself to draw breath; but with an aspect stern as Marius when he appalled the assassin. It had certainly not been well for the reputation of the doctor's charity or philosophy, to have asked him at that moment his opinion of our eighth Harry's matrimonial system. The doctor was doubtless well read in the book of Job, but none of its consolations occurred to him; and had the absolute power of punishing Mrs. Drennan been suddenly vested in his hands, I will believe