that added not a little to the dismal appearance of surrounding objects. Cobwebs, black with the dust of years, hung from the worm-gnawn rafters; old lumber of a most heterogeneous nature, and in too great quantity for so poor a dwelling, lay scattered about in every direction; mouldy shoes, odd legs of stockings, and soiled remnants of female attire, completed the nice disorder; and a filthy, coverless, close-stool of stained wood presented itself, in the most indelicate nudity, before the very entrance of the room.

I approached the cot. One look was sufficient to satisfy roe of the identity of the person therein with Alice Smith, notwithstanding the change which disease had wrought in her appearance. And that change to me, who had known poor Alice in her bloom, was awful. No longer was there clearness in the cheeks, no longer lustre in the eyes, no longer fulness in the lips. The cheeks were yellow and shrunken, the eyes dull and settled deep in their livid sockets, and the lips had lost all form as well as colour.

"Great God!" I exclaimed, forgetting, in the shock this sight occasioned me, the regard I should show cothe feelings of a dying woman, "Is it come to this,— so soon?"

Alice, who had faintly uttered my name the moment I

fntered the room, now raised her faded eyes to mine,

«hile something like a smile played upon her pale lips,

Mid said, in a voice scarce audible,

"And ought 1 to regret the loss of beauty? or, of life?"

'' 0 Alice! but for me you might still"

"Hush! you have ever been kind to me, Mr. Levis ;— alid, indeed, who now but you would visit so poor a wretch

»sl am? But—." She laid her skinny hand upon

mme (—It was cold and damp—). I understood the act; tor she looked at me in silence, and then towards the woman who stood at the foot of the cot devouring all we said. Accordingly, I requested the dame to leave us,— > desire with which she showed reluctance in complying. "Now—will you draw nearer to me, Mr. Levis, and hear the few words Death will yet suffer me to speak]"

There was a single chair in the room; the bottom was broken through, and the untwisted rushes hung down on cither side almost to the floor. I placed it near the head of the cot, and seated myself so as to hear with ease the faintest sound of her broken voice.

"May I ask of you a last favour, Mr. Levis, after my shameful contempt of your generosity ?—my neglect oi your wholesome counsel?"

"Do not speak of it, Alice. It is my neglect that is to blame, not yours. A melancholy quarrel drove me from England, before the two days had expired at the end of which I was again to meet you; and, since my return, I have been so thoughtless as to forget the interest it is my duty to take in your welfare."

"You are deceived, Mr. Levis. I was too wicked to profit by any efforts you could have made in my behalf. The sum you gave me was speedily squandered in follyIt had been the same with me, had you But my

breath grows short. While I yet may, let me obtain the

promise for which I have presumed to send for you, •

and then, if strength be spared me—....' It is

perhaps silly, Mr. Levis, in one who has lived a life of infamy, to care what becomes of her body .after death; but—I feel I shall die with more content, if I know that my poor remains will not be huddled into the grave, like those of other wretches who die as I do. Will you—will you see that I am buried decently?"

"I will."

"God bless you for that!—as for all the other good you

would have done to poor Alice I did not dare.

Mr. Levis, to make this request before the woman who has just left us; for, did she but know your readiness to do any thing for me, there would be no end to her impositions in my name. O, were I to tell you all that I have suffered from her cruelty! J should ere this have been turned into the streets to rot, but for the little

money and the few articles of clothing I had left all

of which she has managed to draw from me, piece by

piece, till now nothing remains. Nor do I believe

she would have done my errand this night, only she expects you will leave with her the means to lay me out and bury me. You see how I lie now."

"And you have suffered, Alice, without any medical aid?—without even an attempt made to restore you?"

"Yes; but—it matters little!"

"0! why did you not send to me, when you know-I am so'willing to assist you ?"•

"I was ashamed—after the bad use I had made of your generosity." So shame, or pride, can exist even in lie breast of a courtesan!

In the little she had already said, Alice had been obliged to pause repeatedly: now, there was a silence for some minutes. She was evidently much exhausted. When at length she spoke, her eyes were fixed upon the light, which I-have said stood at the foot of the col.

"lam sinking rapidly," she said "lam

Batching that candle, Mr. Levis. It is melting fast— the same winds, that have blown upon my head for these Aree months, and have aided in killing me, are fast destroying it—and it will soon expire ;—but I shall die be

! tore it. They did right in placing it by me I

wonder, Mr. Levis, whether any body ever found it easy

lodie?—••— It is not easy for the wicked! O, I

*ra so wretched, I would rather part with life than retain i', were it not for the guilt which sits so heavy on me at this hour. I have, indeed, sometimes tried to think there can be no world hereafter;—but it was a poor relief.—»— Do you think, Mr. Levis, there is any hope of mercy for one so vile as I am?"

"We are told so, Alice, if repentance be sincere.

But do not ask me! I—I am—O, Alice! I am too. icked!"—and covering my face with my hands, I was

about to forget my situation in the painful thoughts which rushed over me; but the dying woman, without remarking my manner, or even appearing to have heard my answer. continued :—

"I have sometimes prayed to God since my sickness. I prayed a little while before you came.—I cannot but think the Almighty will have some compassion on me— my life of crime has been but short, and perhaps the misery I have endured for the last year—may—be"—. Her voice, which had gradually been growing husky and fhdistinct, now ceased altogether, or was heard only in muttering ; and as I watched her, I observed that change of the countenance which betokens instant dissoluti. n. I placed my hand beneath her back, and raised her a little. For at least ha!f-an-hour, she lay almost motionless, and gave no evidence of pain, except by a constant, low moaning, with a trembling of the lips, and occasionally a chattering of the teeth as of one who suffers with cold, while her eyes were fixed on mine with a horrible glassiness. Suddenly she appeared convulsed, and attempted to turn over in my arms—a spasm shook every jnuscle in her face—the eyes rolled, the mouth opened gasping—and both became fixed. The head fell back.

The next moment, the light in the saveall flashed u| wards—quivered for an instant,—the hot wick sank hiss ing in the melted tallow,—and I was left, in darkness, wit '!].• dead,

CHAPTER V.

The heir of Linne is full of golde;

And come with me, my friends, sayd hep-
Let.s drinke, and rant, and merry make,

And he that spares, ne'er mote he thee.

They ranted, drank, and merry made,

Till all his gold it waxed thinne;
And then his friendes they slunk away;

They left the unthrifty heir of Linne.

Heir of Litine.

You are now prosperous; but the day perJiaps is not distant, tbhen you shall be so no longer. My uncle's words were prophetic; and the curse of his wounded spirit soon fell upon me.

I had already sunk by my enormous extravagance one third of my fortune. This, prodigal-like, I little regarded; but when I lost the additional sum of £19,000, by engaging like a fool in a mining speculation in America,! began to fear that the rest of my property would take wings m a similar manner, and thereupon withdrew it from the solid stock companies, among which my uncle Jeremy had left it distributed, to intrust the whole amount to the hands of one banker. The consequence was, that the banker failing, I found myself without a shilling.

Thus plunged, of a sudden, from wealth to poverty, the shock I experienced was of course tremendous. I was at first absolutely stunned by the fall, nor could believe

my situation real. But if the reader will take the

advice I have given him on the one hundred and thirtyseventh page, and, shutting the volume, imagine himself for one moment to be precisely circumstanced as I was,