"Poor Ned! thou hast a tender heart; poor boy! — but thy father was a good father, Ned, and it is honest and creditable to thee to show decent sorrow for the loss of such a parent: but he hasn't left thee any thing, Ned; what little he had, he has bequeathed to thy brother and sisters; they are young, thou knowest: he thought thee might get thy own bread. "And he thought right, I hope, dear uncle," I replied; " he did righteously; and I revere his memory the more for taking care of the most helpless."-"But how many hogsheads of tobacco didst thou bring home, Ned? "Three hundred, sir; but if you will allow me till after tea, I will then go with you into the counting-house, and give you every information you require respecting the cargo and the voyage." "Wouldst like to go again, Ned?" "Yes, sir, certainly, if it be your wish: after I have made a short visit to my brother and sisters, I should be very glad to make a second voyage.”· "I don't think thee'll go to Virginia again, Ned; here is a letter for thee from my son Tom, at the Bay of Honduras, and I think thee will find a proposal there more to thy mind.” I thought it right to do as he wished, and instantly read the letter, which, although from a near kinsman, was quite a letter of business; proposing that I should join him at Honduras, and that he would give me a share of the profits, if I would reside there, and allow him to return to England: he would take the part in England his father had been doing, and I should step into his shoes there, as his father wished to retire. I required time to consider of it; and soon after going with my uncle to

the counting-house, entered into a detail on the subject of my recent voyage. Throughout he was well satisfied, and frequently said, I was “no fool :" which expression, from him, meant no ordinary compliment.

On the next day he asked me if I had made up my mind on the proposal of going to Honduras. I said, I had been turning the subject over in my mind, and found that I could say nothing about it. "What dost mean by that?" exclaimed my uncle, testily. "I mean, sir,” said I," that as I neither have money, nor any thing else, but what I derive from you, that it does not become me to say any thing about it, further than I am ready to do whatever you may think me qualified to undertake, and that may be for my welfare." — " That'll do, Ned," said my uncle; "I'll guide thee right, my boy: and Tom is no churl, he will not grudge thee a good outfit, and thy fair earnings. But if he were, am I not thy uncle, and his father? and the staff is in my own hand; I will make no difference between him and thee; thou art a good boy, Ned, and I loved thy father; and thou hast shown thy willingness to lean on me, and be guided by me, and I will not disappoint thee in thy desire: go into the country, and visit thy brother and sisters; and when thou returnest, the brig shall be ready to sail with an investment for Jamaica and the Bay."

The Virginia nightingale had been brought on shore while I was closeted with my uncle. I had not said any thing about it to my aunt, for fear of some accident happening to it; but I came into the parlour as she was admiring it. "La! what a

pretty bird, dear Edward: who have you brought that pretty bird for?" cried she. "For you, aunt, to be sure; for whom else could I bring it? "Well, I thought so, dear Edward, but I was not quite sure for young people do behave themselves so ungraciously now-a-days to their elder relatives, that I did almost wrong thee, my dear boy."-" Nay, aunt; you have always been kind to me, and I am indeed happy in this opportunity of showing you that I remembered my aunt, when a wide sea divided me from her." "So you have, Edward; and you know I love you as a son. Will the bird talk, Edward - what do you call it, Edward?"—" It is a Virginia nightingale, dear aunt." "Oh! then, it is a singing bird?" "Yes, aunt, it sings a little; but not so sweetly as our nightingale: it has received a larger share of beauty from the hand of its Maker, than the nightingale of England, but our nightingale far exceeds it in melody."-"That is as it should be, Edward,

one handsome, another clever to one riches are given; to another health; and so forth. God is wise and just, dear Edward; but you have been taught to know all such things from your good mother, and Parson Goldsmith."

"I hope so, aunt," I replied; "but have you any commands to Awbury (for so was then called the obscure village of my birth); I am going there as soon as I have settled accounts with my uncle as to what I have been doing in America.” "I will trouble you," said she, “with a little parcel for the girls, and my love; and if canst borrow a pillion, I should have no objection to go behind thee, and see what they are all about.". This last part of my

aunt's speech rather embarrassed me. Much as I loved my aunt, I confess I felt no desire to ride a pillion horse on this occasion. But she was only jesting; so that I had no reason to fear either vexation or detention from this source.

In a few days I finished with my uncle, and then made arrangements for paying the intended visit to my friends. I set out on horseback, with feelings of a very sober kind; and being alone, had much time for meditation as I rode on slowly. I looked back on the happy days of my boyhood; played with my fellows, in memory, on the green before the school-house; and called to mind some of the old people, and, among others, my honoured father, sitting beneath the venerable elm there, in its full maturity of three hundred years. I believed then that the world could not boast such a man, nor such a tree. I thought also, with pleasure, on my revered pastor and schoolmaster, who was meek and kindhearted to all, and who managed to make his boys scholars without using either the birch or the ferula. He was, indeed, more anxious to teach us our duty than our Latin; but he contrived to teach us both. The kindness of his nature seemed to kindle a kindred feeling throughout the school, so that we felt disposed to help each other, and did so, and lost nothing, but gained much, in the brotherly task: he loved my father; and his family and ours were like one. The nearer I approached the village, the more impatient I became to arrive; I thought on my sisters, and their friends his daughters, every moment with increasing emotion; I gave Dobbin the spur, and gradually quickening my pace, came up

to our gate at a brisk canter. My sisters received me most affectionately, and quickly sent for my brother, who happened to be out. He came, and the meeting was affecting; we saw ourselves all together, but our parents were no more with their children; we looked on the place where they were wont to sit, and wept.

By degrees my brother entered on family affairs; and I soon mentioned to him my uncle's intention of settling me at Honduras as a merchant, and I expressed a hope that fortune would favour me so that I might be able to provide for my sisters. This kind sentiment towards them was as kindly received by them; but the youngest said, she would not wait the event of fortune-making, but would go with me. "I will send for you, dear Maria,” said I," when I am fairly settled, if you then should like to come.""I will go with you, Edward," she replied, "unless you can prevail on Eliza Goldsmith to be your guardian angel." Though she said this playfully, and perhaps a little apprehensively, I felt as if electrified by the unexpected appeal': : certainly I had always been sensible to a sentiment of a peculiar character for Eliza Goldsmith; I felt that it was not exactly like that which I bore to my sister Maria, though it seemed to connect their images in my thoughts. I had seen several beautiful and amiable women abroad, but they could not bear comparison with Eliza Goldsmith; Eliza's sweet smile was, in truth, always playing around me, and doubtless it was the memory of what that sweet smile so faithfully expressed, which had unconsciously fixed my affection.