know, papa, when I mention places where I have been, and fine things which I have seen, I feel as though I saw the things again, and as if I were here and there at the same time. I like to see beautiful places and objects for this reason: Because, afterwards, I can visit them any moment at my pleasure. And really, these visits, in thought, are very delightful. Alexander Selkirk, you know, papa, says:

'How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compar'd with the speed of its flight,
E'en the tempest itself lags behind,

And the swift-winged arrows of light,’

One of the first excursions we took, papa, was to the seat of a nobleman in the neighbourhood. He had disposed of the mansion and estate, and was going to reside in a distant part of the kingdom. The best pictures and articles of furniture were removed, so that we were not so much pleased as we expected. The house was a fine Gothic building, in the midst of a beautiful park of nearly four hundred acres."

"I should like to have been one of the party: I admire this ancient style of building," said Mr. H.

"There was a fine gallery, with the ceiling very richly ornamented. I was told it was one hundred and fifty feet long. There was an

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oak staircase, papa, which was very large; and it was finely carved. If it had been yours, papa, I am sure you would not have had it daubed over with paint as it was. One part of it was shattered by a cannon-ball, which they showed us, and which they said Oliver Cromwell sent thither in search of his foes. You cannot think, papa, how easily I now keep my journal. See, I only wrote four words about this staircase: staircase; carved; painted; ball. Was not this the way you bade me keep it?"

"It was, my dear."

"There was such a quantity of needlework, you cannot think: it was very fine. There were chairs, and bed-furniture, and tapestry in abundance; and they told us, that a lady, who was mistress of the mansion, worked them all with her own hands, a great many years ago. I hardly could think, papa, that one lady could have done them all. Do you suppose she did?"

"Yes, it may be the case, Edwin. The ladies among our ancestors were eminent for their industry. Most likely it was the labour of her whole life."

"There was a very fine painting of king Charles the First and his queen, with two of

their children. The woman said, that it was the only picture in which that king appears without boots."

"There is something peculiarly pleasing in family pictures. To the eye of a parent, the children always give a charm to such performances."

"We were shown the chamber in which king Charles slept; and the closet in which he was hid many days, though his enemies were in the house. I think, papa, I was more pleased with the park, and the great number of noble trees which every where met the eye, than with the house."

"No doubt: because the best pictures and furniture were removed, Edwin. Did you not say so?"

"Yes, papa; but if every thing had been in its place, I should have been most pleased, I think, with the park and the gardens."

"But why, Edwin?"

"Because, you know, papa, one are the works of men, and the other are the works of God. There was a beautiful Portuguese laurel in the garden: every one admired it, papa. Mr. Wallace measured it, and said, that all around the branches it was about seventy yards. I often thought, that any one must be happy who could call this charming estate his own."