ETHEL WOODVILLE;

OR,

WOMAN'S MINISTRY.

OR,

WOMAN'S MINISTRY.

A Tale for the Times.

"La speme de' malvagi

Svanisce in un momento,

Come spuma in tempesta, o fumo al vento.

Ma de' giusti la speme

Mai non cangia sembianza;

Ed è l' istesso Dio la lor speranza.”—METASTASIO.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

HATCHARD AND CO. 187 PICCADILLY.

MDCCCLLX.

249. t. 378.

ETHEL;

OR,

WOMAN'S MINISTRY.

CHAPTER I.

"May He who erst on Calvary bled,

With all His love, my daughter, bless thee;

Soft dews of mercy o'er thee shed,

Sustain thy soul when woes oppress thee;

May His unfading rays illume

Life's wilderness of guilt and gloom,

Thy star of hope, thy rock of faith,

Thy light in darkness, life in death."-DALE.

"How full of dread, how full of hope, loometh inevitable death of dread, for all have sinned; of hope, for One hath saved. Pass along, pilgrim of life, go to thy grave unfearing; the terrors are but shadows now that haunt the vale of death." -MARTIN TUPPER.

THE last golden rays of the winter sun were shining brightly into a dingy-looking though well-furnished apartment, in a house in the outskirts of the large manufacturing town of Carysford, illuminating for a moment the pale face of a lady, who was reclining on a couch near the window. Kneeling at her side was

VOL. I.

B