Bound by his vow to labor for redress
Of all who suffer wrong, and to enact
By sword and lance the law of gentleness,
(If I may venture of myself to speak,
Trusting that not incongruously I blend
Low things with lofty) I too shall be doomed
To outlive the kindly use and fair esteem
Of the poor calling which my youth embraced
With no unworthy prospect. But enough;
-Thoughts crowd upon me-and 't were seemlier

now

To stop, and yield our gracious Teacher thanks
For the pathetic records which his voice
Hath here delivered; words of heartfelt truth,
Tending to patience when affliction strikes;
To hope and love; to confident repose
In God; and reverence for the dust of Man.”

(

THE EXCURSION.

BOOK EIGHTH.

THE PARSONAGE.

THE PARSONAGE.

ARGUMENT.

Pastor's apology and apprehensions that he might have detained his Auditors too long, the Pastor's invitation to his house.-Solitary disinclined to comply-rallies the Wanderer-and playfully draws a comparison between his itinerant profession and that of the Knighterrant-which leads to Wanderer's giving an account of changes in the Country from the manufacturing spirit.-Favorable effects.-The other side of the picture, and chiefly as it has affected the humbler classes.-Wanderer asserts the hollowness of all national grandeur if unsupported by moral worth.-Physical science unable to support itself.-Lamentations over an excess of manufacturing industry among the humbler Classes of Society.-Picture of a Child employed in a Cotton-mill.-Ignorance and degradation of Children among the agricultural Population reviewed.-Conversation broken off by a renewed Invitation from the Pastor.-Path leading to his House.-Its appearance described.-His Daughter.-His Wife.-His Son (a Boy) enters with his Companion.-Their happpy appearance.-The Wanderer how affected by the sight of them.

THE pensive Sceptic of the lonely vale

To those acknowledgments subscribed his own, With a sedate compliance, which the Priest Failed not to notice, inly pleased, said "If ye, by whom invited I began These narratives of calm and humble life, Be satisfied, 'tis well,-the end is gained; And, in return for sympathy bestowed And patient listening, thanks accept from me. -Life, death, eternity! momentous themes