A Conversation.

thing of him in the great world: his name and title are equally strange to me."

"In the gay world, however," sarcastically answered her son, your Grace would hear enough of him; for he is there acknowledged as one of those political sensualists, who saint it in the pulpit, and sin in the corner."

"We surely should be cautious," quickly interrupted Lady Charlotte," before we embrace a report which may injure the character of those, who must ever be more responsible for their actions than others; being called upon, by the sanctity of their profession, to exhibit, both by practice and precept, an example for edification: but this is a sad world, and I am rather inclined to believe, my dear brother, that what you have heard of Sir William Featherington, prejudical to that purity of morals and honest inge

An Enquiry.

nuousness, which should distinguish a minister of the Gospel, has originated in envy of his talents (and worth. It is said, you know, that our good qualities, rather than our bad ones, mark us out for persecution: whether this is really the case, in the present instance, remains to be proved; and therefore, my dear brother, spite of your bantering, I call upon you, in the name of the Duchess and myself, to give us a plain unvarnished' history of this interesting theologian." -"Why, the varnish, my dear sister, is so very thick, I am told, and so neatly put on, that it requires a very skilful analyzer to shew you the real ground-work of this body compound; but, in these days, when enlightening science rears her head, investigation is enabled to point out the truth; and sometimes to strip the hypocrite of his borrowed sanctity. As this is exactly the case, with respect to Sir William Featherington, I think, my dear

Discussion.

Charlotte, I may promise you an unvarnished tale: you may wonder at it, but you shall hear nothing but what is sanctioned by truth."

"Dare I suppose that my puritanic sister, or that your Grace, had ever turned over the pages of that ingenious, but rather licentious work, known by the title of "The Monk," I could point out some traits in the character of his hero, which might serve as a specimen of the ecclesiastic in question; and, by this means, save myself the pain of a farther delineation; for, where the delusion favours a generous prepossession, it is by no means a pleasant task to undeceive."

Well, well, go on, dear brother,” somewhat hastily, answered Lady Charlotte; "we will judge by fair evidence." Why, Charlotte," returned the Marquis, without appearing to notice the interruption; never, till this moment,

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Continued.

did I suspect you of borrowing false colours! The vegetable tablet rouge, together with the liquid bloom, fade into nothing when compared with your present glow. To whom do you owe the mystic art ?"

As Lady Charlotte did not think it necessary to let her brother into this secret of her toilet, we take upon us to inform our readers, that this Lady had occasionally seen Sir William prior to his obtaining his title at the hospitable mansion of the Dowager Lady Clairville; and the report made of him, by that aimiable character, (over whom he had acquired great ascendancy) falling in with the opinions she had herself formed of his amiability and worth, induced her to receive the elegant attentions he had occasionally paid her with more than common satisfaction.

Lady Charlotte possessed an heart alive

Character of a Clergyman.

to every generous principle; though born to an exalted station, and herself to a suitable fortune, she was endowed with an unaspiring sweetness of disposition, and a mind in which dwelt the purest sensibility to be the Lady Bountiful of a parish was her highest ambition; and to love virtue was inseparable from her

nature.

She believed Sir William Featherington the most amiable of men; and, in a capital, where much fashionable depravity generally prevailed, thought him worthy to be ranked with those orthodox divines, who, by the severity of their manners, and purity of their principles, are best calculated to reform and instruct a wandering and deviating multitude. Such was the opinion formed by Lady Charlotte Stanmore of Sir William Featherington, when she heard, with no small satisfaction, that he was appointed to the living of Bryarsfeldt, within two miles