She is returned to B., and I have been to call on her. I never saw any thing so delicate and bird-like as she looked in her white gown, and her lace mob, in a room light and simple, and tasteful and elegant, with nothing fine, except some beautiful green-house plants. Her reception was a charming mixture of sweetness and modesty, a little more respectful than usual, and far more shamefaced! Poor thing! her cheeks must have pained her! But this was the only difference. In every thing else she is still the same Hannah, and has lost none of her old habits of kindness and gratitude. She was making a handsome matronly cap, evidently for her mother, and spoke, even with tears, of her new father's goodness to her and to Susan. She would fetch the cake and wine herself, and would gather, in spite of all remonstrance, some of her choice flowers as a parting nosegay. She did, indeed, just hint at her troubles with visitors and servants,-how strange and sad it was! seemed distressed at ringing the bell, and visibly shrank from the sound of a double knock. But, in spite of these calamities, Hannah is a happy woman. The double rap was her husband's ; and the glow on her cheek, and the smile of her lips and eyes, when he appeared, spoke more plainly than ever, " Any where with him!” MISS MITFORD,

THE GOLDSMITH OF PADUA.

In the end of the fifteenth century, when the cities of Italy were rendered rich by their trade to the Indies, Padua was one of the most flourishing of its towns, and possessed a body of merchants, and particularly goldsmiths, jewellers, and dealers in silk, with whom Venice itself could scarcely bear a comparison. Amongst these

goldsmiths and jewellers, there was one more eminent than his brethren. His dwelling was upon the bridge; and Padua was scarcely more universally known in Italy, than Jeronimo Vincente was known for one of its citizens. "It never rains but it pours," says a northern proverb; "riches beget riches," says an Italian one. Jeronimo found the truth of both these sayings. He was already rich enough to satisfy a dozen merchants, and to make a score of German princes. Fortune, however, did not yet think that she had done enough for him; every day some traveller was arriving at Padua, in the exchange of whose foreign money for the coin of Padua, he obtained some good bargains, and added to his overflowing coffers.

died without relatives but he was appointed their executor. Many paid tribute to his wealth and reputation by leaving him their heir. The city of Padua gave him all their public contracts; and he almost sunk under the weight of trusts, offices, &c., not merely offered, but obtruded and imposed on him.

Who could be more happy than Jeronimo Vincente? So he thought himself as he walked on the bridge of Padua one beautiful summer's evening. A coach of one of the nobles passed at the same moment; no one noticed it. On the other hand, every one who passed him saluted him. "Such have been the effects of my industry, my dexterity in business, and my assiduous application. Yes, Jeronimo, others have to thank their ancestors; you have to thank only yourself. It is all your own merit." And with these reflections his stature, as it were, increased some inches higher, and, assuming a peculiar port, and a self-satisfied step, he walked in vanity, and almost in defiance of every thing and every one, to his own house. He fell asleep in the same mood, and dreamed that the ancient fable of Jupiter was repeated in his house, and that the heavens opened, and descended upon him in a shower of ducats and pistoles. In all this soliloquy of Jeronimo,

the reader will observe, there was not a word or thought of any one but himself; he did not attribute his plenty to the blessing of God; he felt no gratitude to him who had showered down upon him his abundance; his mind, his spirit, and his vanity, were that of Nebuchadnezzar; and the fate of Nebuchadnezzar was nearer to him than he imagined. It is a part of the wise economy of Providence to vindicate the honor and duty which belong to him; it is a part of his mercy to humble those who, in forgetting him, are about to lose themselves. He sends them prosperity as a blessing; they abuse it, and convert it to a curse. He recalls the abused gift, and sends them adversity to bring them to their duty. Such was the course of divine government in the early ages of the world; such it is to the present day; and such did Jeronimo find it much sooner than he expected.

On a sudden, without any apparent cause, he saw, to his astonishment, the universal respect to his wealth and reputation on a manifest decrease. Some, who had before nearly kissed the ground in his presence, now looked erectly in his face, and kept their straight-forward course, without giving him the honorable side of the path; others kept their bonnets as if they were nailed to their heads; two or three recalled their trusts; others, happening to call for accounts of such trusts, when he was not at home or busy, spoke in a peremptory tone, dropped hints of the laws of the country and the duty of guardians. In plain words, he gradually discovered himself to be as much avoided as he had heretofore been sought. No one was punctual in his attendance but those to whom he paid their weekly or monthly pensions. If there could be any doubt that something extraordinary had happened, Jeronimo had, at length, sufficient proof; for, having put himself in nomination for one of the offices of parochial intendant, and of the great church and treasury of Padua,

a competitor was preferred less wealthy than himself by some thousands.

Jeronimo returned home much confounded at this unexpected defeat. In vain he examined himself and his situation for the cause. "Am I not as rich as ever!" said

he.

a

"Have I defrauded any one?-No. Have I suffered any one to demand their payment of me twice ?—No. What, then, can be the cause of all this?" This was question he could not answer, but the fact became daily and hourly so much more evident, that he shortly found himself as much avoided, and apparently condemned, in every respectable company, as he had formerly been courted and honored.

It is time, however, to give the reader some information as to the actual cause. A whisper was suddenly circulated, that Jeronimo had not acquired his wealth by honest means. It was reported, and gradually believed, that he was an utterer, if not a coiner, of base money. He had the reputation, as has been before said, of being the most able workman in Padua, in gold, silver, and lace; "And surely," said the gossips of Padua, “he does not wear his talent in a napkin. He employs his dexterity to some purpose." "Are you not speaking too fast?" said another neighbor; "I have always held Jeronimo to be an honest man." "And so have I hitherto," Isaid the other. "But do you see this ducat?” and a very good one it is." "So I thought," said the other, "till I assayed it: this ducat I received from Jeronimo; let us prove it at your assay, and you will allow that I did not speak without some good foundation." The proposal was accepted, the trial made, and the ducat found to be base in the proportion of one third copper to two thirds silver.

"Yes,

The name of this neighbor of Jeronimo, who had defended him, was Guiseppe Cognigero, a very worthy and

honest man; not one of those who found a triumph in the downfall of another, though above him in wealth and honor. Guiseppe, as he had said, had always held Jeronimo to be a respectable, worthy citizen. He had had many dealings with him, and had always found him just and punctual to the lowest coin. "Is it possible," said he to himself, that, after such a long course of honesty and reputation, he has so far forgotten himself as to become a common cheat? I will not believe it. But this fact of the base ducat!-Well; but my friend may be mistaken; he might not have received this ducat from Jeronimo. I am resolved I will make a trial of him myself, before I give in to the belief of these reports in the teeth of so fair a character for so many years." Guiseppe was a shrewd man, and never fixed on a purpose but when he had the inge nuity to find the means of executing it. He went immediately to his home, and, taking a hundred ducats from his private store, went with them to the house of Jeronimo. "Signor Jeronimo," said he, "here are a hundred ducats, which I wish to keep secret for a certain purpose. I have just embarked in a speculation of great extent, the result of which no one can foresee. I wish to keep this sum as a deposit, in the event of the failure of my hopes, if you will do me the favor to take the custody of it." Je ronimo, pleased at a confidence to which he was now not much accustomed, very willingly accepted the charge, and Guiseppe took his leave in the full persuasion that the trial would correspond with his expectations, and that report would be proved to be false and malicious.

In the course of a few days, Guiseppe, according to the plan concerted in his own mind, called suddenly on Jeronimo. "My dear friend," said he, "I sincerely rejoice. that I have found you at home: a sudden demand has fallen upon me, and I have an expected occasion for the hundred ducats which I deposited with you." "My good friend," said Jeronimo," do not preface such a trifle with such a