the first act of Sir Evan was to purchase him promotion in the regiment; and also, remembering how often he and his brother had lamented the tightness in the money-market of their uncle, to request that the education and charge, in all respects, of his young nephew, might, during his brother's absence, be entrusted to his care.

This proposal was received, as it deserved, with unutterable gratitude by the young captain, and with a volley of warm-hearted Irish thanks by Mrs. McAlpine, formerly the objectionable Miss Ambrose, who seemed bent on pouring out all her feelings at once, so that, like a spent volcano, nothing should be left behind. The best reward to Sir Evan's truly kind intentions on behalf of the boy was when he first heard the clear, ringing, joyous tones of his enraptured young nephew, on his arrival at Cairngorum Castle for his Highland holidays, escaped from a Yorkshire school, where little boys under nine were made as learned and as miserable, by cramming their minds and starving their bodies, as could be contrived for twenty pounds a-year.

Young Allan McAlpine, at half-past eight years old, had a countenance radiant with health and with the lustre of a joyous spirit; yet there was an evidence of latent sensibility, amounting almost to a painful extreme, in the expression of his deep

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blue eye; while his clustering curls shaded a brow as open and intelligent as ever adorned the countenance of youth. His dress was picturesque, the style being chiefly borrowed from the Highland garb; and his figure, the very perfection of childish grace and even dignity, was tall and slightly formed.

The power of rendering others happy was, from this time forth, the measure of Sir Evan McAlpine's wishes, and a spirit of generous self-sacrifice for the common good, his ruling principle. He and Lady Edith Tremorne had a deep reverence and love for human nature generally, and a keen desire to cultivate human excellence around them, as well as to give sympathy and consolation through the deep sorrows of this mortal life, to the afflicted. While considerately administering to all the homely miseries of the vulgar, and their pleasures too, Sir Evan took the opportunity of speaking much with friendly feelings on every subject of common concern to his clansmen, who invariably found that his words of considerate interest were followed by his deeds of liberality. He allotted gardens for the industriously inclined, built schools, established singing classes, and improved their dwellings. He encouraged every sort of rural sport among his dependants, and promoted whatever added to the general cheerfulness without leading

to excess; for in a spirit of majestic and truly enlightened faith, Sir Evan was desirous that every rational, as well as every religious want, should be judiciously, though gradually, supplied.

"Say not, the world runs smooth, while right below
Welters the black fermenting heap of life."

In the new Chief's mind there had arisen a pleasing consciousness of his power to do good among his impoverished clansmen, and a fervent desire to do it well. Nothing excited him so pleasantly as to conquer difficulties; and that he might obtain the best assistance in his great objects, he frankly claimed the good offices of both the Rev. Dr. Macfarlane, the excellent presbyterian incumbent of the parish, and his truly pious, amiable wife; also, of Mr. Clinton, who officiated in that neighbourhood in the very smallest of episcopal chapels, to the very smallest imaginable congregation, on the very smallest of stipends. No one could believe, if the amount were here confidentially named to him, that a gentleman, educated in a university, could attempt to exist on such a mere atom of income; but Mr. Clinton, young, energetic, and enthusiastic, seemed to have no personal expenses, and while achieving impossibilities, a surplus always remained, with which, by denying himself luxuries, he supplied neces

saries to the sick and afflicted. When Sir Evan, on his accession, more than doubled the wellbestowed income of Mr. Clinton, he married an amiable, intelligent young lady, who had long been engaged to share his poverty with him, as soon as they could muster a sufficiency to exist upon together; and the domestic happiness which ensued was best exemplified by the hand-in-hand diligence with which Mr. and Mrs. Clinton united in uprooting the tangled weeds of ignorance around their little parish, and in pursuing a succession of most beneficial plans for the general good. If a clergyman's wife be well chosen, she is not only the best of friends, but the best of housekeepers, and the best of curates; but never was there a more beautiful exemplification of the country parson and his helpmate, than in "the little rectory," as Sir Evan called it, of Clanmarina.

Mr. Clinton's sermons were full of homely kindness, clear doctrine, and strong good sense; while no one ever had a more sociable way of working his parish, being on terms of intimate association with every family belonging to his congregation; for he was ever ready to say, in the spirit of Dr. Chalmers, "Oh that I could get fairly into contact with the souls of my parishioners!" Every Saturday afternoon, Mrs. Clinton invited some of the most pious and intelligent of their neighbours to

spend the evening with her, and to take "tea-pot luck;" while Mr. Clinton, with his fine, solemn, benevolent voice, read aloud some instructive work, and the ladies occupied several hours in making clothes for the destitute poor; so that very soon the ragged school looked no longer ragged.

Mr. and Mrs. Clinton had, for several years, no family; but in the course of time, two fine, highspirited little boys were born, who became, in after years, quite an ornament to the village, with their bright smiling eyes, their boyish laughter, and their active charity-for in every good work their parents allowed them, as the happiest of privileges, to share. Who does not feel the delight of being useful? and to children, from the very earliest age, the consciousness of becoming so brings a glow of warm-hearted happiness.

Lady Edith enjoyed beyond measure attending Mrs. Clinton's tea-parties, which took place in summer amidst the hum of bees and the song of blackbirds beneath a splendid old walnut-tree in the garden; and though the manufacture of tartan kilts and petticoats was, at first, very savage work for her delicate English fingers, yet she had a heart and intellect to appreciate at its inestimable worth the opportunity of so much intellectual and moral improvement. Mrs. Clinton seemed at all