That passed, the man of business entered a small, close, and dark room, where many persons, bent on the same errand as himself, were following up their vocation. For be it known, that the aspirant to legal knowlege then and there standing, was one of the clerks appertaining to the attorney who transacted the business of my intended father-in-law; and the mansion wherein for the time being he had his living was neither more nor less than the spot well known as the register office.

Many and many a time had I passed that accursed building, and little did I imagine that within the ponderous pages of the musty volumes heaped on its cobwebbed shelves, the whole front of my offending, as regarded the ill-fated annuity, was inscribed. But so it was, and moreover, with all and full particulars of the transaction set down, without the slightest reservation, if we except that portion which, as it might not inaptly, in some shape or other, have clashed with the usury laws, my foresighted friend, Blackhed, had omitted to transcribe. For, to make good and valid all deeds such as mine, the law wills that the same be entered in that office within a given period after the signatures of the contracting parties have been affixed.

It was not with the slightest suspicion of the discovery about to take place, that orders were issued for ascertaining whether or not honourable mention was made of my name in the leaves of the ponderous tomes already mentioned. But I was afterwards informed that all good and active attorneys, when employed in drawing up marriage settlements, make it their business to ascertain, as far as in them lies, whether the other contracting power be hampered with what is technically termed "incumbrances " or not.

With this praiseworthy motive, the officious man of business despatched his clerk on the ill-fated errand, and but a brief period sufficed to place the attorney in full possession of my

secret.

Astonished at what he well knew his client had not the most remote conception of, he instantly set inquiries on foot, and in almost a less period than it takes me to relate the fact, the persevering wretch gleaned from that traitor, Blackhed, the sum total of my debts; and the full amount of my iniquities was summed up with the grand item of having contracted the marriage agreement for the sole purpose of liquidating my debts with the money of my intended bride, "not caring," as the well informed lawyer thought fit to inform her father, one farthing for the girl, so that I possessed her gold."

Here was a case of unparalleled duplicity and heartless

selfishness laid bare. What could more plainly prove my utter worthlessness and depravity than the facts so unfortunately brought to light in time to save the intended victim from a fate worse than death, that of being linked for life to a mean and unprincipled villain? Nothing could be plainer, nothing more palpably true; and now that my enormities were brought to light, and my dreadful wickedness expatiated upon, there was not one of the poor girl's relations who did not suddenly call to mind at least a score of instances, whereby it was beyond dispute evident, that I had never cared one farthing for my intended, further than as the possessor of wealth.

Long, long years have passed since that dreadful day; but the recollection of the agony I suffered when those foul accusations were hurled at the offender can never be wiped from my remembrance.

To be stigmatized as a spendthrift, gambler, and adventurer, were each bad enough by themselves; but to be told I cared not one iota for her whom I doated on more than life itself; to be taunted to my face with the accusation that I possessed not one spark of kindly feeling towards that woman, whom to render happy I would with alacrity have undergone any suffering, any privation on earth, was beyond my power to bear. At first I was dumb from astonishment, and replied not to the overwhelming charges brought against me; but, as reflection came to my aid, and showed the awful precipice on which I stood, and what the inevitable consequences must be, if I allowed the slanderers to depart unanswered, I endeavoured to suppress my rapidly rising wrath, and demanded that my intended wife should be permitted to be present, when I felt confident of being able satisfactorily to disprove the crimes laid to my charge, though unable to turn aside the pretty well merited verdict of imprudence. But no such thing: the discovery, they said, had fortunately been effected; their dear child, through the intervention of a merciful providence, was rescued from perdition, and never, never more would they consent to hold further communion with a wretch so base and so depraved as I had incontestibly proved myself to be.

Thus melted my vision of happiness away, to be rebuiltnever!

Finding all my prayers and entreaties ineffectual, I at length assumed a bolder tone, and tried to meet their calumnies with retort: but what could I expect to gain by that-unless it were further and more effectually to exasperate the very people whom it was evidently my interest to conciliate? But in the paroxysm of anger these reflections came not to my aid. In the excess of my wrath I answered accusation with accusation, abuse with

abuse, until, worked up into a state of actual phrenzy, I swore, in presence of her kindred, that I would marry my betrothed wife in spite of the whole phalanx of my calumniators; and, having heaped upon their heads every malediction that a fertile and highly excited imagination could suggest, I rushed from the scene of my agony, and hardly knowing in what direction I passed, I turned towards my father's house.

There again was I destined to undergo a second edition of the same scene.

The blame, the fault, was of course laid solely to me. I, and I alone, was the culprit. It was through me that the darling project of my parents was thus shut out for ever; through my base conduct my cup of happiness had been dashed to the ground, and the bitterest gall proffered in its stead. Almost to madness was I goaded on, until, losing all command over myself, I boldly accused my parent of having been the primary cause of all this misery, by refusing to pay for me those debts which he was well aware must eventually be settled.

I cannot now call to mind the precise words which I uttered nor can I remember half the sentiments to which, in my anger' I gave vent: certain it is that, never, until that moment, had I given such unlicensed utterance to the dictates of passion.

There was no deceit then, I spoke as I felt; and much as I now regret having allowed such an ebullition of temper to escape, at the moment I was incapable of judging between right and wrong.

As I proceeded in my invectives, and by degrees lashed myself into a state of phrenzy, I recapitulated the evils that had occurred, the miserable days, the sleepless nights which had become my portion, the increasing agony which had for so long past been my lot; and I dated the origin of all my woes from the commencement of my distress consequent upon debt, up to the great overwhelming calamity which had that day befallen, from one period alone, viz., the hour when my father refused to attend to my entreaties, answering my acknowledgment of error, and promise of amendment, with the well-remembered sentence, "Ill luck to your bills!"

Whether or not the said bills, out of compliment to my father, were duly condemned, I cannot take upon me to decide, but it was very clear that his dearly-beloved son was in the highway of rendering himself eligible for a similar distinction; and it would be difficult to state the exact limit at which I might have been inclined to check my not very complimentary style of speech, had not the ungovernable fury into which I worked myself, furnished th ery line of which I stood so much in need.

Briefly, then, what between the conflicting emotions which at that moment swayed me with a force as irresistible as strong, and the sudden revulsion occasioned by the dreadful shock of being hurled from the pinnacle of happiness to the depths of despair, I felt my brain turn giddy, the room wherein we stood appeared to swim round, a ringing sound rushed through my ears, a stream of gore burst from my mouth, and the next moment I lay senseless on the floor. I had burst a blood vessel.

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My debts have been long since paid, but till the hour of his death, that reciprocity of kindly feeling which had formerly existed between my father and myself, was never re-awakened.

I am now an old man, the possessor of all that property; the hundredth part of which might, had it been so decreed, have made me very different from what I am. But wherefore do I repine? The motive which withheld the succour, indisputably had its origin in a good, though mistaken notion; but while I blame my ill-judging parent, it should ever be remembered, that had not my own indiscretion and extravagance, in the first instance, paved the way to my after misery, the long years of useless lamentation and regret which subsequently became mine, never would have come to pass.

From my mother I heard, during my convalescence, that months had fleeted by, since the dreadful interview with my father occurred; and many more were the tedious, heavy weeks, ere I was permitted to leave my room.

I know not, nor, indeed, did I ever ask, what might have been the fate of that fair girl, who had been destined to be my wife. Yet it was not from apathy, or any change of affection towards the object of my earliest-my only love; far, far otherwise! I knew that, whatever the impression on her mind might have been, it would have proved worse than useless, had I prosecuted my suit in after times, when, as a confirmed invalid, I was compelled-as indeed I ever have been since-to rest content within the small boundary prescribed by my physicians as the limit of my wanderings, or be compelled to go forth in an easy chair, propelled by a pampered hireling. Would I have been justified, under these circumstances, in disturbing the tranquillity of that loved object, when nothing but a renewal of misery could result? Would that have been the means whereby to prove my still ardent affection and regard? God forbid. I ask not, neither would I thank the lips that told me, whether she be yet living; and if so, whether, like myself-nearly at the termination of her pilgrimage-alone-or, if surrounded by the blooming countenances of prattling groups of children, aye, and grandchildren possibly besides! The last time I gazed on that

lovely form, seems as though at this moment she stood before me radiant in beauty, beaming with all the kind and gentle affections of a woman who knows neither happiness nor peace, unless it be shared with him whom her young and pure heart had singled out from the many, whose sole object had been to obtain the honour of her notice.

As she was then, so, to my mind's eye, does she appear now. Then wherefore, I again ask, should I seek to scare away the only sunny resting-place whereon my mind cares to dwell, to replace the vision, fallacious though it be, with the sad reality of wrinkles and of age?

Such is not my will:-rather let me bask in the glorious sunshine of my ideal fancy. Let me live over again in imagination that blest, though brief period of felicity, and when at last I shake off this "mortal coil," I trust to meet her again as beautiful and good-even as when last we parted.

NOVEMBER.

A SONNET.

YET one smile more, departing, distant sun!
One mellow smile through the soft vapoury air,
Ere, o'er the frozen earth, the loud winds run,
Or snows are sifted o'er the meadows bare.
One smile on the brown hills and naked trees,

And the dark rocks whose summer wreaths are cast,

And the blue gentian flower, that, in the breeze,
Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last.

Yet a few sunny days, in which the bee

Shall murmur by the hedge that skirts the way,

The cricket chirp upon the russet lea,

And man delight to linger in thy ray.

Yet one rich smile, and we will try to bear

The piercing winter frost, and winds, and darken'd air.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

November, 1849.-VOL. I.VI.-NO. CCXXIII.

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