room. The Doctor was compelled, during supper, to listen to many admonitions from his wife, that he would not fail to write Henry's dismissal in the morning. This great philosopher was not a man of many words, especially when he was left alone with Mrs. Delby; and finding she could get no other reply than "I will consider of it, Mrs. Delby," or, "I will do what I think right," Mrs. Delby grew tired of talking to him, and sat in silence, enjoying her own reflections.

The Doctor retired to his study after supper, as was usual when any momentuous subject occupied his mind. He remained there for two hours, sometimes walking about the room with his hands behind his back; at other times, both hands were folded on his breast-then he would return to his own chair, cross his legs, and fix his eyes upon the fire, but always in deep meditation. He would smile, uncross his legs, and turn over the leaves of a work

on the philosophy of the mind, which he had lying open before him-He would read a little, then smile again; lay his hand upon the book, as if to say, "thou reasonest well;" and then rise and resume his walking. The Doctor was a man of energy and decision; he considered the matter thoroughly, and before two hours had elapsed, his resolution was taken. Just as he was preparing to go to bed, he recollected a few notes that he had written a few years ago, upon madness. He thought they might be useful in the present case. He opened his drawer, where was deposited many precious productions of this great man, which his excessive modesty would not permit him to give to the public. There was his "New System of Education"-his "Search after the Soul"-his Speculations as to the Inhabitants of the Moon"-his" Speech, supposed to be made from a gun-boat, midway between Dover

and Calais, to the French and English People, assembled on the opposite shores." At the bottom of the drawer, he found his "Proofs why Madness might be a Blessing." He read them over, and smiled as he closed the paper. He was satisfied; and putting the MS. uppermost in the drawer to be in readiness the following morning, he retired to bed. He slept however very little, still thinking, and occasionally listening to the tranquil snore of Mrs. Delby, as she slept profoundly by the side of her wakeful lord. "Happy woman!" thought the Doctor; "she sleeps like one of the lower animals, caring nothing for the sciences! Sleep on, gross compound of a little mind and a fat body!-sleep on, I say!"

His own eyes grew heavy-philosophers must sleep as well as their wives. The Doctor felt the universal want of nature overpowering all his faculties;-he almost

lamented that one general law should thus level all distinctions, and that the sage could not rise superior to its influence.He opened his eyes for a moment-it would not do-he turned himself in bedpulled down his night-cap a little lower -buried himself more comfortably in the bed clothes, and fell fast asleep

CHAPTER XXVII.

En effet, l'homme supérieur ou l'homme sensible, se soumet avec effort aux loix de la vie, et l'imagination mélancolique rend heureux un moment, en faisant rêver l'infini. M. DE STAEL SUR LA LITERATURE.

WHERE is Julia ?" said the Doctor, as he saw his wife at the breakfast table, and his daughter not there.

"She will breakfast in her own roomAye, its likely that she should grieve a little at first; but she'll soon get over it, and Captain Elgar will make her a much better husband.--But you will remember and write the letter, Doctor?"