hour to inquire her character. The half-hour, an anxious one to Ade line, having elapfed, a lady knocked at the door, and inquired, in Adeline's hearing, for Mrs. Glenmurray.

"Tell the lady," cried Adeline immediately from the top of the flaircafe, "that Mifs Mowbray will wait on her directly." The footman obeyed, and Mrs. Pemberton was ushered into the parlour: and now, for the first time in her life, Adeline trembled to approach a ftranger; for the first time she felt that fhe was going to appear before a fellow-creature as an object of fcorn, and, though an enthufiaft for virtue, to be confidered as a votary of vice. But it was a mortification which the muft fubmit to undergo; and hastily throwing a large fhawl over her shoulders, to hide her figure as much as poffible, with a trembling hand fhe opened the door, and found herself in the dreaded prefence of Mrs. Pemberton.

"Nor was fhe at all re-affured when the found that lady dreffed in the neat, modeft garb of a strict quaker-a garb which creates an immediate idea in the mind, of more than common rigidness of principles and fanctity of conduct in the wearer of it. Adeline curtfied in filence.

"Mrs. Pemberton bowed her head courteously; then, with a coun tenance of great fweetnefs, and a voice calculated to infpire confidence, faid, I believe thy name is Mowbray; but I came to fee Mrs. Glenmurray and as on thefe occafions I always with to confer with the principal, wouldst thou, if it be not inconvenient, afk the mistress of Mary to let me fee her.'

"I am myfelf the miftrefs of Mary," replied Adeline in a faint voice.

"I ask thine excufe," anfwered Mrs. Pemberton, re seating her felf: " as thou art Mrs. Glenmurray, thou art the perfon I wanted

to fee." "Here Adeline changed colour, overcome with the confcioufnefs that the ought to undeceive her, and the fenfe of the difficulty of doing fo.

But thou art very pale, and feemeft uneafy," continued the gentle quaker" I hope thy husband is not worse."

"Mr. Glenmurray, but not my hufband," faid Adeline," is bet ter to-day."

"Art thou not married ?" asked Mrs. Pemberton with quickness, "I am not."

"And yet thou liveft with the gentleman I named, and art the perfon whom Mary called Mrs. Glenmurray ?"

"I am," replied Adeline, her palenefs yielding to a deep crimson, and her eyes filling with tears.

"Mrs. Pemberton fat for a minute in filence; then rifing with an air of cold dignity, "I fear thy fervant is not likely to fuit me," she obferved," and I will not detain thee any longer."

"She can be an excellent fervant," faltered out Adeline.

"Very likely-but there are objections." So faying the reached the door: but as fhe paffed Adeline the ftopped, interested and affected by the mournful expreffion of her countenance, and the visible effort the made to retain her tears.

"Adeline faw, and felt humbled at the compaffion which her coun

tenance

tenance expressed to be an object of pity was as mortifying as to be an object of fcorn, and she turned her eyes on Mrs. Pemberton with a look of proud indignation: but they met those of Mrs. Pemberton fixed on her with a look of fuch benevolence, that her anger was inftantly fubdued; and it occurred to her that the might make the benevolent compaffion vifible in Mrs. Pemberton's countenance ferviceable to her difarded fervant.

Stay, madam," fhe cried, as Mrs. Pemberton was about to leave. the room, "allow me a moment's converfation with you."

"Mrs. Pemberton, with an eagerness which the fuddenly endea voured to check, returned to her feat.

"I fufpect," faid Adeline, (gathering courage from the confcious kindness of her motive,) that your objection to take Mary Warner into your service proceeds wholly from the situation of her present miftrefs."

"Thou judgeft rightly," was Mrs. Pemberton's anfwer.

"Nor do I wonder," continued Adeline, "that you make this objection; when I confider the prefent prejudices of fociety."

"Prejudices!" foftly exclaimed the benevolent quaker.

"Adeline faintly fmiled, and went on-" But furely you will allow, that in a family quiet and fecluded as ours, and in daily contemplation of an union uninterrupted, faithful, and virtuous, and poffeffing all the facredness of marriage, though without the name, it is not likely that the young woman in queftion fhould have imbibed any vicious habits or principles."

"But in contemplating thy union itself, fhe has lived in the contemplation of vice; and thou wilt own, that, by having given it an air of refpectability, thou haft only made it more dangerous.'

"

"On this point," cried Adeline, "I fee we must disagree I shall therefore, without further preamble, inform you, madam, that Mary, aware of the difficulty of procuring a fervice, if it were known that fhe had lived with a kept miftrefs, as the phrafe is (here an indignant blush overspread the face of Adeline), defired me to call myfelf the wife of Glenmurray; but this, from my abhorrence of all falfehood, I peremptorily refufed."

"And thou didst well," exclaimed Mrs. Pemberton, " and I refpect thy refolution."

"But my fincerity will, I fear, prevent the poor girl's obtaining other reputable places; and I, alas! am not rich enough to make her amends for the injury which my confcience forces me to do her. But if you, madam, could be prevailed upon to take her into your family, even for a thort time only, to wipe away the difgrace which her living with me has brought upon her-"

"Why can the not remain with thee?" asked Mrs. Pemberton haftily.

"Because fhe, neglected her duty, and, when reproved for it, replied in very injurious language."

66

Prefuming probably on thy way of life?"

"I must confefs that the has reproached me with it."

"And this was all her fault?"

"It was: fhe can be an excellent fervant."

"Thou haft faid enough; thy conscience shall not have the addi

tional

tional burthen to bear, of having deprived a poor girl of her mainte nance-I will take her."

A thoufand thanks to you," replied Adeline: "you have removed a weight off my mind; but my confcience, I blefs God, has none to bear."

No?" returned Mrs. Pemberton: "doft thou deem thy conduct blameless in the eyes of that Being whom thou haft just blessed?” "As far as my connexion with Mr. Glenmurray is concerned, I do.”

"Indeed!"

"Nay, doubt me not-believe me that I never wantonly violate the truth; and that even an evasion, which 1, for the first time in my life, was guilty of to-day, has given me a pang to which I will not again expofe myself."

"And yet, inconfiftent beings as we are," cried Mrs. Pemberton, "firaining at a gnat, and fwallowing a camel, what is the guilt of the evafion which weighs on thy mind, compared to that of living, as thou doft, in an illicit commerce? Surely, furely, thine heart accufes thee; for thy face befpeaks uneafinefs, and thou wilt liften to the whifpers of penitence, and leave, ere long, the man who has betrayed thee."

"The man who has betrayed me! Mr. Glenmurray is no betrayer-he is one of the best of human beings. No, madam: if I had acceded to his wife, I fhould long ago have been his wife; but, from a conviction of the folly of marriage, I have preferred living with him without the performance of a ceremony which, in the eye of rea fon, can confer neither honour nor happiness."

"Poor thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Pemberton, rifing as fhe fpoke, "I understand thee now-thou art one of the enlightened, as they call themselves-thou art one of those wife in their own conceit, who, difregarding the cuftoms of ages, and the dictates of experience, fet up their own opinions against the hallowed inftitutions of men and the will of the Most High."

"Can you blame me," interrupted Adeline, " for acting according to what I think right?"

But haft thou well ftudied the fubject on which thou haft decided? Yet, alas! to thee how vain must be the voice of admonition! (fhe continued, her countenance kindling into strong expreffion as the poke)-From the poor victim of paffion and perfuafion, penitence and amendment might be rationally expected; and fhe, from the path of frailty, might urn again to that of virtue: but for one like thee, glorying in thine iniquity, and erring, not from the too tender heart, but the vain-glorious head,-for thee there is, I fear, no blessed return to the right way; and I, who would have tarried with thee even in the houte of fin, to have reclaimed thee, penitent, now haften from thee, and for ever-firm as thou art in guilt."

As the faid this the reached the door; while Adeline, affected by her emotion, and diftreffed by her language, stood filent and almost abafhed before her.

"But with her hand on the lock fhe turned round, and in a gentler voice faid, "Yet not even against a wilful offender like thee, should one gate that may lead to amendment be fhut. Thy fituation and thy fortunes may foon be greatly changed; affliction may fubdue thy

pride, and the counsel of a friend of thine own fex might then found Iweetly in thine ears. Should that time come, I will be that friend. I am now about to fer off for Lifbon with a very dear friend, about whom I feel as folicitous as thou about thy Glenmurray; and there I fhall remain fome time. Here then is my addrets; and if thou shouldeft want my advice or affittance write to me, and be affured that Rachel Pemberton will try to forget thy errors in thy diftreffes."

"So faying the left the room, but returned again, before Adeline had recovered herself from the various emotions which he had experienced during her addrefs, to afk her chriftian name. But when Adeline replied, "My name is Adeline Mowbray," Mrs. Pemberton ftarted, and eagerly exclaimed, "Art thou Adeline Mowbray of Gloucestershire-the young heirefs, as fhe was called, of Rofevalley?', "I was once," replied Adeline, finking back into a chair," Adeline Mowbray of Rosevalley."

"Mrs. Pemberton for a few minutes gazed on her in mournful filence: "And art thou," fhe cried, "Adeline Mowbray ? Art thou that courteous, blooming, bleffed being, (for every tongue that I heard name thee bleffed thee) whom I faw only three years ago bound. ing over thy native hills, all grace, and joy, and innocence ?"

"Adeline tried to fpeak, but her voice failed her.

"Art thou fhe," continued Mrs. Pemberton, "whom I faw also leaning from the window of her mother's manfion, and inquiring with the countenance of a pitying angel concerning the health of a wan labourer who limped paft the door?"

"Adeline hid her face with her hands.

"Mrs. Pemberton went on in a lower tone of voice," I came with fome companions to fee thy mother's grounds, and to hear the nightingales in her groves; but-(here Mrs. Pemberton's voice faltered) I have feen a fight far beyond that of the proudeft manfion, faid I to those who asked me of thy mother's feat; I have heard what was fweeter to my car than the voice of the nightingale; I have seen a blooming girl nurfed in idlenefs and profperity, yet active in the difcharge of every christian duty; and I have heard her fpeak in the foothing accents of kindness and of pity, while her name was followed by bleffings, and parents prayed to have a child like her.-O loft, unhappy girl! fuch was Adeline Mowbray and often, very often, has thy graceful image recurred to my remembrance: but, how art thou changed! Where is the open eye of happiness? where is the bloom that spoke a heart at peace with itfelf? I repeat it, and I repeat it with agony.-Father of mercies! is this thy Adeline Mowbray ?"

Here, overcome with emotion, Mrs. Pemberton paufed; but Adeline could not break filence: the rofe, the ftretched out her hand as if going to fpeak, but her utterance failed her, and again the funk

on a chair.

"It was thine," refumed Mrs. Pemberton in a faint and broken voice," to diffufe happiness around thee, and to enjoy wealth unhated, because thy hand difpenfed nobly the riches which it had received bounteously: when the ear heard thee, then it bleffed thee; when the eye faw thee, it gave witness to thee; and yet-"

"Here again the paused, and raised her fine eyes to heaven for a few minutes, as if in prayer; then, preffing Adeline's hand with an

almost

almoft convulfive grafp, fhe drew her bonnet over her face, as if eager to hide the emotion which he was unable to fubdue, and fuddenly left the houfe; while Adeline, ftunned and overwhelmed by the striking contraft which Mrs. Pemberton had drawn between her past and prefent fituation, remained for fome minutes motionless on her seat, a prey to a variety of feelings which the dared not venture to analyse.” P. 103.

We ought perhaps to apologize for this unufually long extract, but we were interefled in the perufal; and we make no doubt our readers will participate with our feeling, and fanc tion our approbation.

ART. IX. The Hiftory of Scotland, from the Union of the Crowns, &c.

(Concluded from p. 502.)

WE have accompanied Mr. Laing step by step through the first and fecond chapters of his Differtation on the murder of Darnley; and have examined every argument of importance, which thofe chapters contain, to prove the guilt of the Queen, and the innocence of the rebels. We have therefore done enough to put our readers on their guard against the author's mode of reafoning, and as we are not inviting an anfwer to the difputation, we fhall pafs through the remainder of it with greater rapidity.

The third chapter is entitled The Conferences at York and Westminster. To thefe it has been objected by the friends of Mary, that he was not confronted by her accufers; that the caufe was prejudged by Elizabeth, before the commencement of the conferences; that he was refufed a fight of the letters, &c. upon which the rebels refted their proof of her guilt; and that when Murray was accufed by her of being privy to the murder of Darnley, the conferences were abruptly broken off, and he was fuffered to return to Scotland with his box and letters, which were never more heard of.

To thefe objections Mr. L. makes no reply-at leaft, none that is entitled to the flighteft regard. He fays indeed, that Elizabeth could not admit Mary into her prefence till the had proved herfelf innocent of the murder of her hufband; and that as fhe had refused to plead her own cause against the rebels but in the prefence of Elizabeth herself, and the ambaffadors of foreign flates, the put it out of the English Queen's power to

confront