Exactly as in the first instance I had divined Dulcinea's excellent qualifications to be, did they prove; and the oftener I hear of her family, or visit their delightful residence, the more do I repine for the past, and the more irreparable is my loss in the future. But time has mellowed down the torments of the trial, and has reconciled me in some degree to the loneliness of my solitary position, so that I can regard this passage now, as one fraught with benefit to mental health, and prolific of ideas and sentiments; which, had it not occurred, might probably never have been tested in my experience. On the whole, therefore, I was a gainer, for though, at first, I could reckon no more than that I had gained the loss of Dulcinea, I afterwards reasoned further, and found, undoubtedly, that had I pursued any other course than the one I actually travelled, I should have lost a gain of many valuable inspirations, which I fondly cherish as the dearest and divine tokens of human nature. "What does the man know," says the prophet, "who has never suffered ?"

I never again saw my old friends of Bosphorus Cottage. A visit there would have been a trial which I never could have mustered up sufficient courage to encounter. I was indebted to Gripsmill for the service of recovering my property. He paid a visit to Mrs. Scrabster on my behalf, and repeated the assurances, which I had personally and often given while there, of my deep gratitude for the kindness and amiable attention I had received during my residence; but, as

might naturally have been expected, Mrs. Scrabster displayed considerable severity and dignity in her deportment and language to the exponent of my sentiments, and hardly remarked more than that, "to say the least of it, Mr. Growler had manifested his gratitude in an exceedingly strange and eccentric manner.

We are all fond of tracing the individualities with which, in the course of life, we come in contact, to their end; and I have been curious to learn the catastrophe of the Scrabster family in the great drama of action, where we all play insignificant parts for the development of the great poem of nature. I learned with regret that Emily, the beautiful rose of the Scrabster garden, fell into a decline, and died at an early age. It seems that the very creatures we would exalt as types, and realizations of the ideal of our nature, and would perpetuate on earth in eternal youth and beauty, are too fragile and sensitive for the planet which they transciently adorn, and the nature they involuntarily assume; how else is it that the beautiful and the virtuous die young ? Julia remains at home with mamma to this day, and Lizzy, by my last accounts, after having left the family for some time, had returned, and is still to be found in her original and congenial situation. Tom has grown into a young man of business habits, and follows steadfastly in the paternal footsteps; though, at his age, he can hardly be expected to read the Times with so much interest as his father, yet he places quite as much faith in it; and is quite content, at present, that government and politics, and everything

else, should be left to the criticisms of that journal and the astute approbation of his father, so long as he can enjoy his cigars, and his boating, and his cricketing, and the general indulgence of his rather "fast" propensities and diversions, undisturbed. Mr. and Mrs. Scrabster remain in statu quo-she preserves the same dignity-he the same amiable, punctilious, business-like character, as at first; but their resources have somewhat improved, and I never heard of their venturing upon the trial of another lodger.

*

Be

The episode is complete-its moral obvious. ware of cold colander like chambers, which may drive you to extremities, and develop a proclivity to intricacies and difficulties. Beware of trusting dreams, which encourage too much hope and plunge into the despair of "hopes deferred," which make the heart sick. Beware of seeking for Bosphorus Cottage, when you have already settled your affections down in Kensington; there is no knowing what it may lead to, and for the soul which only seeks rest, it were better that such scenes and experiences were never encountered, even though they do improve and advance us. The cost to the heart and the mind is too great; for no trials, no endurances, not even pleasures and affections can change the character that is innate and essential to us. Human nature we receive, and reason we gain by learning or experience; but through all the reason. we come back to ourselves, and notwithstanding it we remain as before; we live on and gain wisdom it is true, and try many methods of life perhaps, from re

ceiving new information, yet in every change we can recognise ourselves, and we feel sensibly our own identity in every phase of our existence. Hence it is that at this moment I am only a wiser and a sadder man, for all my experience of Bosphorus Cottage, altered in style, and I fear for the worse in appearance, yet I still remain the student and the solitaire as before; but instead of being known as a bear" I am now called, affectionately,

66

GROWLER,

The Hermit.

(The end.)

Hancock and Son, Printers, Aldermanbury.