was fuch as I had been drinking) could have produced. -Juft God! faid I, kicking my portmanteau afide, what is there in this world's goods which should fharpen our spirits, and make fo many kind-hearted brethren of us, fall out fo cruelly as we do by the way? When man is at peace with man, how much lighter than a feather is the heaviest of metals in his hand he pulls out his purfe, and, holding it airily and uncomprefs'd, looks round him, as if he fought for an object to share it with. -In doing this I felt every veffel in my frame dilate--the arteries beat all cheerily together, and every power which sustained life, performed it with fo little friction, that 'twould have confounded the most phyfical precieufe in France: with all her materialism, fhe could fcarce have called me a machine.-- I'm confident, faid I to myself, I fhould have overfet her creed. The acceffion of that idea, carried nature, at that time, as high as fhe could go I was at peace with the world before, and this finished the treaty with myfelf -Now, was I King of France, cried I-what a moment for an orphan to have begg'd his father's portmanteau of me ! THE MONK. CALAIS. I HAD fearce utter'd the words, when a poor monk of the order of St. Francis came into the room to beg fomething for his convent. No man cares to have his virtues the fport of contingencies-or one man may be generous as another man is puiffantfed non quo ad hanc-or be it as it may for there is no regular reasoning upon the ebbs and flows of our humours; they may depend upon the fame causes, for aught I know, which influence the tides themselves -'twould oft be no difcredit to us, to - suppose it was fo: I'm sure, at least for myself, that in many a cafe I fhould be more highly fatisfied, to have it faid by the world, "I had an affair with the moon, in which there was neither fin nor fhame," than have it pafs altogether as my own act and deed, wherein there was so much of both. -But be this as it may. The moment I caft my eyes upon him, I was predetermined not to give him a fingle fous, and accordingly I put my purfe in my pocket-button'd it upset myself a little more upon my centre, and advanced up gravely to him: there was fomething, I fear, forbidding in my look: I have his figure this moment before my eyes, and think there was that in it which deferved better. The monk, as I judged from the break in his ton fure, a few scatter'd white hairs upon his temples, being all that remained of it, might be about seventy-But from his eyes, and that fort of fire which was in them, which feemed more temper'd by courtefy than years, could be no more than fixtyTruth might lie between-He was certainly fixtyfive; and the general air of his countenance, notwithstanding something feem'd to have been planting wrinkles in it before their time, agreed to the account. It was one of thofe heads which Guido has often painted-mild, pale,—penetrating, free from all common-place ideas of fat contented ignorance looking downwards upon the earth—it look'd forwards; but look'd, as if it look'd at something beyond this world. How one of his order came by it, heaven above, who let it fall upon a monk's fhoulders, best knows; but it would have fuited a Bramin; and had I met it upon the plains of Indostan, I had reverenced it. The rest of his outline may be given in a few ftrokes; one might put it into the hands of any one to defign, for 'twas neither elegant or otherwise, but as character and expreffion made it fo: it was a thin, spare form, fomething above the common fize, if it loft not the diftinction by a bend forward in the figure, but it was the attitude of Entreaty; and as it now stands prefented to my imagination, it gain'd more than it loft by it. When he had enter'd the room three paces, he ftood still; and laying his left hand upon his breast (a flender white staff with which he journey'd being in his right)— -when I had got close up to him, he introduced himself with the little ftory of the wants of his convent, and the poverty of his order-and did it with fo fimple a grace-and fuch an air of deprecation was there in the whole caft of his look and figure-I was bewitch'd not to have been ftruck with it -A better reafon was, I had predetermined not to give him a single fous. THE MONK. CALAIS. -'Tis very true, faid I, replying to a cast up wards with his eyes, with which he had concluded his address-'tis very true-and heaven be their refource who have no other but the charity of the world, the stock of which, I fear, is no way sufficient for the many great claims which are hourly made upon it. that but once in three ap As I pronounced the words great claims, he gave a flight glance with his eye downwards upon the fleeve of his tunic-I felt the full force of the peal-I acknowledge it, said I-a coarse habit, and with meagre years, diet-are no great matters; and the true point of pity is, as they can be earn'd in the world with fo little industry, that your order should wish to procure them, by preffing upon a fund which is the property of the lame, the blind, the aged, and the infirm-the captive who lies down counting over and over again the days of his afflictions, languishes alfo for his share of it; and had you been of the order of mercy, inftead of the order of St. Francis, poor as I am, -- continued I, pointing at my pormanteau, full cheerfully fhould it have been open'd to you, for the ranfom of the unfortunate-The monk made me a bow but of all others, refumed I, the unfortunate of our own country, furely, have the first rights; and I have left thousands in distress upon our own fhore--The monk gave a cordial wave with his head as much as to fay, No doubt there is mifery enough in every corner of the world, as well as within our convent. But we distinguish, faid I, laying my hand upon the fleeve of his tunic, in return for his appeal-we diftinguish, my good father! betwixt those who wish only to eat the bread of their own labour-and thofe who eat the bread of other people's, and have no other plan in life, but to get through it in floth and ignorance, for the love of God. The poor Francifcan made no reply: a hectic of a moment pafs'd across his chcek, but could not tarry--Nature feemed to have had done with her refentments in him; he showed none--but letting his ftaff fall within his arm, he prefs'd both his hands with refignation upon his breast, and retired. THE MONK. CALAIS. My heart fmote me the moment he shut the door -Pfha! faid I, with an air of careleffnefs, three. feveral times-but it would not do: every ungracious fyllable I had uttered, crowded back into my |