"In conversational powers, I think my present compan ion is very rarely, if ever excelled. And why," she added, "such gentlemen mingle in crowds, where their talents are in a great measure lost, instead of meeting in select circles, where they could find congenial minds, at least, in some degree, capable of appreciating then, I can not, indeed, conceive.

15. "But I suppose my ideas of rational enjoyment, of elegant society, are very singular." She stopped short, fearing she was saying too much, but Mr. Westbury requested her to proceed. After a minute's hesitation she said, "I think the crowded drawing-room should be abandoned to those who are capable of no higher enjoyment than gossip, nonsense, flirtations, and eating oysters, confections, and creams; and that people of talent and education, principle and refinement, should associate freely in small circles, and with little ceremony.

16. "In such kind of intercourse, new friendships would be formed, and old ones cemented, the mind and the heart would be improved, and envy and detraction excluded. After an evening spent in such a circle, the monitor within would be at peace, and the blessing and protection of Heaven could be sought without a feeling of shame and self-condemnation."

17. "Then your conscience is really at war with large par ties?" said Mr. Westbury.

"Im

18. "I can not deny that it is," Julia answered. pelled by circumstances, I have striven to think they might sometimes be innocently attended, and perhaps they may; but I confess that the reproaches of my own conscience are more and more severe every time I repeat the indulgence. Whatever they be to others, I am constrained to believe they are not innocent for me."

19. Mr. Westbury made no reply, for at that moment the carriage stopped at their own door, and the subject was not again resumed.

20. Every party was sure to procure for Mrs. Westbury the favor of a call from Mrs. Cunningham. On the following

morning, at as early an hour as etiquette would allow, she made her appearance.

21. "I could not stay away this morning," she said the moment she entered. "I am so vexed and so hurt, I must have the sympathy of some friendly heart; and you are a friend to every one, especially when in trouble."

22. "What troubles you, Mrs. Cunningham ?" Mrs. Westbury inquired.

23. "You recollect," said Mrs. Cunningham, "what I said to you about Mr. Cunningham's indisposition. Well, as soon as I got home, I ran up stairs, of course, you know, to see how he was, expecting to find him in bed and asleep. Judge how I felt, when I found the bed as I left it, and no husband in the chamber. I flew down stairs, and searched every room for him, but in vain. I then rung for the servant, and asked ‘if she knew where Mr. Cunningham was?' 'La, ma'am,' said she, 'I'm sure I don't know. He went out just after you did. He called me to give charge about the fires, and said he was going out. I thought he had altered his mind, and was going to Mrs. T——'s.'

24. "I dismissed the girl, and went to my chamber in agony, as you may suppose. I declare I hardly know what I did or thought for three long hours; for it was so long before Mr. Cunningham came home! I don't know what I said to nim when he came, but he was not the kind, affectionate creature that he had ever been; for he almost harshly told me to cease my upbraidings,'-(upbraidings! think what a word!) 'for, if I sought pleasure where I liked, I must not quarrel with him for doing the same!' My dear Mrs. Westbury, I could not make him tell me where he had been, do all I could and I have horrible surmises. What shall I do? I am sick at heart and almost distracted."

25. "Will you follow my advice, my dear Mrs. Cunning nam ?" said Mrs. Westbury, who truly pitied her distress, much as she blamed her.

26. "O yes, I will do any thing to feel happier than I now

do. Really my heart is brcken," and she burst into a pas sion of tears. Mrs. Westbury attempted to soothe her, and then said: "Forgive me, if I wound, when I would only heal. You have been a little imprudent, and must retrace your steps by conforming to the taste of your husband. He does not like crowds, and you must, in part, relinquish them for his sake,"

27. "And is not that hard ?" said Mrs. Cunningham. 'Why should he not conform to my taste, as well as I to his? Why must men always have their own way?"

28. "That point it is not worth while to discuss," said Mrs. Westbury. "Your happiness, my friend, is at stake. Can you hesitate an instant which to relinquish, these pleasures, which, after all, are so unsatisfying, or the approbation, the happiness, perhaps, the heart even of your husband?"

29. "But why," persisted Mrs. Cunningham, "need he be so obstinate? You see he could go out and stay till two in the morning! It seems as if he did it on purpose to torment me;" and she again burst into tears.

30. "I have not the least doubt," said Mrs. Westbury, "that would you yield to Mr. Cunningham's wishes,—would you let him see, that you care more about pleasing him than yourself, he would cheerfully, and frequently, perhaps, accommodate himself to your taste. Few men will bear being driven, and they would be objects of our contempt if they would; for authority is divinely delegated to them; but almost any man would have generosity enough to take pleasure in gratifying the wife who evidently strives to meet his wishes, and is willing to sacrifice her own pleasures, that she may promote his happiness."

31. "But I can't see," said Mrs. Cunningham, "why my nappiness is not of as much consequence as my husband's ; I can't see why all the sacrifice should be on my side.”

32. "Do you not perceive," said Mrs. Westbury, "that the sacrifices you make, are made to secure your happiness, and not to destroy it?"

33. "I don't know," said Mrs. Cunningham. "I can't bear to have Edward think to manage me as he would a little child, and then punish me as he did last night, if I don't do just as he says. I don't think it fair. And I don't know as it would be of any avail, should I follow your advice. Some mer will be ugly, do what you will! and why should you understand managing the men better than I do? You are two or three years younger!

34. "I never studied how to manage them," said Mrs. Westbury, "but I have thought a good deal on the best way of securing domestic happiness; and reason, observation, and the word of God teach me, that would the wife be happy and beloved, she must be in subjection to her own husband. He may not always be reasonable, but she can not 'usurp au thority,' without at once warring against Heaven and her own • peace and respectability.

35. "Think of it, my dear Mrs. Cunningham; ruminate upon it; and in your decision be careful not to let will influence you to sacrifice a greater good for a less. It is not degrading for a wife to submit to her husband. On the contrary, she never appears more lovely than, when cheerfully and gracefully yielding up her own wishes, that she may comply with his. Women were not made to rule; and, in my view, the wife who attempts to govern, and the husband who submits to be governed, are equally contemptible."

36. "What an admirable wife you would be for a tyrant !" exclaimed Mrs. Cunningham. "I never heard the doctrine of passive obedience more strenuously inculcated. Indeed, you would make a tyrant of any man!"

37. "If any thing would disarm the tyrant," said Mrs. Westbury, "I think this passive obedience would do it, if at the same time, it were a cheerful obedience. But happily, you have no tyrant to disarm. Your husband, I am satisfied, would be easily pleased. Try, my friend, for a little while, to yield to him, and see, if you do not meet a rich reward."

38. "Well, I will think of it," said Mrs. Cunningham, “and, perhaps, shall do as you advise; for really I am wretched now. O dear, I do wish the men were not so obstinate! so overbearing! so selfish!"

QUESTIONS.-1. On what principle are he, I, my, and his, emphatic, twenty-seventh paragraph? See Note VII., page 22. 2. What kin of emphasis on will, thirty-fifth paragraph? See Note VI., page 21

EXERCISE CXXXVIII.

FOREST TREES.

WASHINGTON IRVING.

1. I am fond of listening to the conversation of English gentlemen on rural concerns, and of noticing with what taste and discrimination, and what strong, unaffected interest, they will discuss topics, which, in other countries, are abandoned to mere woodmen, or rustic cultivators. I have heard a noble earl descant on park and forest scenery, with the science and feeling of a painter.

2. He dwelt on the shape and beauty of particular trees on his estate, with as much pride and technical precision, as though he had been discussing the merits of statues in his collection. I found that he had gone considerable distances to examine trees which were celebrated among rural amateurs; for it seems that trees, like horses, have their established points of excellence, and that there are some in England, which enjoy very extensive celebrity from being perfect in their kind.

3. There is something nobly simple and pure in such a taste. It argues, I think, a sweet and generous nature, to have this strong relish for the beauties of vegetation, and this friendship for the hardy and glorious sons of the forest. There is a grandeur of thought connected with this part of rural economy. It is, if I may be allowed the figure, the