yielded, and he perceived the likelihood of his speedy marriage. He shrunk from the task which he saw it was his duty to perform.

He finally determined that Henry should know the evils which lay before him, and that Dr. Delby and his daughter should know the consequences which might result. from a marriage with his son. In what manner to inform them, he could not then decide; but that it was his duty to inform them was very evident, and in some way or other he determined to do so.

CHAPTER XXIII

Amusements courted me on every side; and yet I felt the want of something. When I looked further into life---when I thought of the joys and sorrows which await us mortals, I could not but wish for a husband, who would accompany me through the vicissitudes of this world, who, in return for my unbound. ed love, would become in my age a friend and protector. GERMAN THEATRE.

JULIA DELBY felt that all her best affections were given to Henry Welburn, and the conviction that he loved her as ardently as ever, made her little less happy than Henry himself. His appearance: the respectful ardour of his manner; the speaking glances of his eye; the parting pressure of his hand, told her plainly how much

she was beloved. She thought he was improved by losing some of his timidity; but she was gratified to reflect, that while every look and attention told her how much she was beloved, every glance and every motion spoke a homage the most pure and respectful. Julia's residence in London had at first dazzled her, and made her form some very aspiring wishes. She was introduced, by the letters of Mrs. Elwyn, into the society of the noble, the affluent, and the gay. Every thing around her spoke of enjoyment.-She quickly saw how much notice and attention riches could procure, and how little mere merit was regarded when not recommended by wealth or fashion. This she found to be especially the case where women were concerned. A man of known talents, even without fortune or great connections, is well received in the drawing rooms of the great; but his wife is a very different personage: her merit may be great, but if she cannot

command an equipage, and afford parties equal to such society-if she is neither fashionable, nor a woman of family, she will soon find herself sinking to a circle below that which would receive her husband. Julia at first sighed for rank, and that distinction she saw rank could so easily procure. The coronets which adorned the carriages of the great daily rolling through the streets-the eagerness with which titles were pronounced by girls in the school -the contempt they shewed for a mere Mrs. who was neither rich nor fashionable the deference which she saw that Madame paid to the girls of rank who boarded in her house;-all this made Julia's heart give many a sigh for a large fortune and coronet, and form some plans for making a rich conquest, whenever she should have an opportunity. Welburn seemed far below her. The wife of a

country clergyman!-immured far from town-from theatres-from routes-from

all admiration but that of her husbandseemed a state to which she could never

stoop.

So thought Julia for a time, whilst the gaities and the dazzling society to which she had been introduced had the charm of novelty. This charm gradually wore away. She became accustomed to plays, to routes, and to the sight of titled men and women, as well as of carriages with coronets. Her mind was naturally too penetrating to be long deceived by external glitter. At the age of sixteen she was easily enchanted by the glare of high life-but her heart soon repined for a deeper feeling than mere admiration :-she required to be beloved; and amongst the many who flattered and hung around her, the greater number she disliked for their effeminate persons, or despised for their vanity and evident selfishness. The few men who pleas ed her eye, did not yet please her so well as Welburn, with whom she could not help