"Did you get any private conversation with him ?"

"Yes, on the morning when he licensed me to the Curacy."

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'Well, what did he say to you,-I mean about old Soaper and Roost ?"

"Why, it was rather curious; and so, of course, you will not repeat it. When he called me into his library, there was a little hesitation in his manner, which I thought arose from his knowing nothing about me; so I was just going to explain, when he cried out, 'O my good friend, you needn't tell me that, I know all about you.' And to my great surprise, he showed that he did, by mentioning matters which had happened at Oxford, and which I can only suppose had come round to him through the good old Provost, who always thinks well of everybody, you know."

"I know nothing of the kind: but go on."

"The long and the short of the matter was, that he expressed himself interested in my welfare, and even asked about my mother's health; though I am sure I had never named her to him."

"But what did he say about Roost ?"

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Why, that was the odd part of the business; for after speaking so kindly, he turned quite short upon me, and said, 'Pray, Mr. Dove, how comes it that you are going to Roost ?'-' I heard, my Lord, that the curacy was vacant, and applied for it.'-'Vacant! that curacy is always being vacant : you must be the eighth or ninth curate that I have licensed to serve that church since I came to this diocese. Pray, have you ever been to Roost ?''No, my Lord.'. 'Have you ever seen Mr. Soaper?' -No, my Lord.'-' Is it altogether prudent, think you, Mr. Dove, for a man to commit himself to undertake a charge of this sort without seeing the place in which he is to work, and the man with

whom he is to work ?'-'My Lord, if Mr. Soaper was content to engage me, I felt that I could only be thankful. It was for him to object, not for me. If he can put up with my ignorance and inexperience, I can have no fear but that I shall be able to meet his wishes. I am not in a condition to pick and choose. I must earn my bread.'-' Mr. Dove,' said the Bishop, 'I believe it matters little, so far as ourselves are concerned, where our sphere of duty lies, so that, wherever we are, we do our best to serve GOD and promote His glory; but a man in my position must desire to see the right men in the right places; and though you are untried as yet in parochial work, I know enough of you to wish that you had found a more important, and (though perhaps I have no business to say so,) a pleasanter post than Roost is considered to be.' I answered, that every place must needs be an important one for a beginner; and that though I enjoyed a pleasant country and pretty scenery as much as any one, they were not essential to me."

Well, old fellow, and what did the Bishop say to that ?"

"O he smiled, and then went on to remark that be thought I should be thrown away at Roost, and that another kind of man would do better with Mr. Soaper.'

"What kind of man ?"

Come, Harry, I am not going to be crossexamined in that manner!"

"An inferior kind of man, or a thicker-skinned kind of man! which was it ?"

"I have told you that I should not inform you; and you only distress me by asking. The Bishop clearly knows nothing about my faults and infirmities, and I should think had been misinformed about Mr. Soaper."

"Of manners gentle, of affections mild;
In wit, a man; simplicity, a child;
A safe companion, and an easy friend,

Unblamed through life, lamented in the end.'"'

So muttered Harry to himself; and I told him at once that as that was the sort of character I should hope to find in Mr. Soaper, so, judging from his letters, it was what I expected to find in him.

But to this Harry only replied by whistling that foolish song which he always introduces when he wishes to be provoking, "Merrily danced the quaker's wife, and merrily danced the quaker." I do wish I knew how to cure him of his excessive volatility, and of the tendency there is in him to mix jest and earnest to such an extent that I am never quite sure which is which. However, I must do him the justice to say, that on this occasion he only whistled a few bars before he stopped. And then he asked me abruptly whether the Bishop said no more to me. And he was pleased enough, poor fellow, when I repeated the Bishop's promise that he would keep his eye upon me, and his assurance that he felt an interest in me, though he began to whistle again when I said how strongly I felt the need of my being looked after by somebody, for that no one was less fitted to stand alone.

I waited, (this time patiently to all outward appearance, though I was feeling very impatient,) till he had done whistling, in hopes that we should then have had a little rational conversation. But I was not rewarded. He said he was late, and must gallop home. And as he rode off he looked over his shoulder, and exclaimed, "Eighty pounds a year, and a garret gratis! Give my compliments to the Screw and Screwess, and tell them I'll have a warrant out against them for starving their apprentice!"

Kind-hearted Harry! If it had been eight hundred instead of eighty, I do not believe you would have been satisfied. But with me the question lay between eighty pounds, and nought, nought, nought. Now, I am not merely independent, but rich enough to help my dear mother, and repay in some measure, what she has denied herself to spend on me. O the happiness, the luxury of doing this at last! And the additional comfort of having that dear soul Mary to manage everything without revealing my secret! I am truly fortunate. In the first place, I have my lodgings rent free. Then one of our labourers here assured me last week that he didn't believe there was a working man at Roost whose keep cost more than a shilling a day; and as it is impossible that I can require as much support as a fellow who has been driving a plough, or threshing, or digging for twelve hours, less than seven shillings a week ought to keep me. But put it at seven shillings. That would not be nineteen pounds a year. Say that I set apart eleven more for fuel, and clothing, and alms, it would amount to thirty pounds. And so I can safely reckon on adding fifty pounds to my mother's income. It almost seems too bright a vision to be realized; but I have not lived and managed for myself in an expensive University in vain. And past experience will teach me how to manage better still now. Surely I have the greatest cause for thankfulness in my present prospects! Surely mercy and lovingkindness have been following me all the days of my life! "Dominus regit me, et nihil mihi deerit."

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CHAPTER II.

THE ASPECTS OF THE FUTURE.

"Polixenes. I beseech you, if you know aught which does behove my knowledge, Thereof to be informed.

Camillo. Sir, I'll tell you.-Therefore, mark my counsel; Which must be even as swiftly follow'd, as

I mean to utter it."

Winter's Tale.

Ir there be any man in the world who has no business to be fastidious, that man is a parson. If Saint Paul had been fastidious would he have made himself all things to all men ? would not his usefulness have been utterly crippled ? And yet have I been ready to take a prejudice against Roost, the place and the people, merely because at first sight it did not come up to my notions of a well-conducted country village. I suppose my pride was wounded, or rather, and more contemptible still, my vanity was wounded, because as I was driven down the village street, some neglected-looking, barefooted children whooped, and squealed, and threw stones at the horse. A proper person I am to give way to such feelings!

However, a cabbage-stalk that chanced to hit me on the cheek, and putting me into an unmistakeable rage, showed me the sort of tempers to which I was giving way, brought me to my senses, and I saw that I must get rid of such morbid nonsense at once by facing any little unpleasantness which required to be faced. So stopping before the Red Lion, and asking my way to the Vicarage, I proceeded to walk there, while the driver was conveying my luggage to the schoolmaster's house.