order to ascertain the truth of his apprehensions, he heard him distinctly pronounce the following broken sentences. "Amiable wife, thou art revenged! Injured sufferer, thou art also revenged! Anonymous friend, thy words are verified! Oh, hopeless state. Oh, deplorable madness.----A few sighs followed, but no more words were uttered by the unhappy sufferer. Sir Charles remained like a statue; a few moments brought him to his recollection, and convinced him it would be better to retire, than to enter the chamber; as the mind more than the body of his friend seemed to suffer. His curiosity now, as well as his sensibility, was excited, and he passed the remainder of the night in conjecturing the meaning of the sentences he had heard.

The following morning he urged Mr. D--- to consult an eminent physician, to which he readily consented; adding with a forced smile, when he comes, my friend, address him in the words of Macbeth, and ask him if he can

Minister to a mind diseased,

Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,

Raze out the written troubles of the brain:

And with some sweet oblivious antidote,

Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?

His reply doubtless will be--"Therein the

patient must minister unto himself," answered Sir Charles," but your sorrows may admit of alleviation by participation. Allow me to participate in them." Mr. D-- thanked him with some emotions, but assured him, they were not of a nature to adinit of participation. Then pausing, as though he were yet half inclined to make the experiment" I do not wish you to be always ignorant of them neither, it may be useful to you, to consider the contents of a letter, I shall leave among my papers." He was proceeding, when a sudden paleness overspread his countenance, and Sir Charles intreated him to drop a subject for the present, which deeply distressed him.

He

The following day the physician came. was one of those, who, when warmly urged by his patients to inform them the true state of their condition, had the integrity to declare it: but on the present occasion, he was not urged. Mr. D--was willing to remain in ignorance. The anxious Sir Charles, however, gained the, to him, distressing information, that Mr. D's life for many weeks was not to be expected.

Sir Charles had so frequently heard his philosophical friend assert the free agency of man, as extending even to the absolute right over his own life, as well as actions, and defending the conduct of the Romans, in ridding themselves of

existence, when disease was pronounced incurable, that he feared hinting the doctor's opinion. Had he possessed the real philanthrophy peculiar to the Christian, and the clear views also necessary for the faithful friend who performs the painful office of announcing such an opinion, he would not have suffered these fears to predominate but as we observed before, he was only a novitiate himself in the school of Christ, and that circumstance must plead his excuse.

CHAP. XVIII.

A short Conference between the Doctor and Mr. D-. The Physician's Opinion of the Cause of his Patient's Dejection of Spirits. Roger Trusty consulted, and pointedly interrogated. His Behaviour on the Occasion. An Event of Importance, and a Letter written some Time since to Mr. D---, concludes the Chapter.

M'

R. D---'s indisposition increased daily. The physician who attended him was a man of learning, consequently disposed sometimes to prolong his visits, in order to discuss some literary subject with his patient. On one of these occasions, Mr. D--- suddenly addressed him with the question---" What is your opinion, Doctor, of the conduct of some of the heroes of antiquity, who, when existence from any cause became a burden, got rid of it?"

"If my memory will serve," replied the doctor, "I cannot express my opinion better than in a few lines of Martial, which I think contain a fine thought on this subject---he says

When fate in angry mood has frown'd,
And gather'd all her storms around,
The sturdy Romans cry;

The great would be released from pain,
Falls on his sword, or ope's a vein,

And bravely dares to die.

But know beneath life's heavy load,
In sharp affliction's thorny road,

Midst thousand ills that grieve,
Where dangers threaten, cares infest,
Where frends forsake, and foes molest,
'Tis braver far to live.

"Ah!" said Mr. D---, " is it so? I am not quite convinced by your poet, though I confess he has placed the argument in a new point of view. But suppose a man cannot live; suppose he labours under an incurable disease; why should he not, in that case, shorten his miserable existence ?"

"The only reason to be assigned why he should not, in that case," replied the physician, "must be drawn from Christianity. Our religion enjoins patience and resignation, as very principal duties: and will not admit of a wilful violation of them, without subsequent repentance, which this crime necessarily precludes."

Christianity," returned Mr. D---, “ enjoins such an extreme of purity, both in heart and conduct, that, for my own part, I see not how its votaries will any of them stand, when judged as they profess to believe they shall be, by its rules and precepts. You, doctor, are a profess