disconsolate husband, and afflicted parent. O that her unhappy departure from thee, may be made the providential event in thy wise hands, of bringing them near to thy blessed self, that all of them, being united to thee, may feel the restoration of that endearing union towards each other, which is the happy privilege of all those who have been blessed with thy love, and tasted of thy salvation. Grant this, most merciful Father, alone for thy Son's sake, our most gracious Mediator and compassionate Redeemer. Amen.

[After this prayer, Mrs. Chipman, as a guilty culprit to the place of confinement, departed with Edward to the Golden Lion; Mr. Lovegood retired to his study to write to Mr. Reader, and Mr. Worthy went home to Brookfield Hall.]

DIALOGUE XIX.

MR. WORTHY AND MR. LOVEGOOD.

THE STORY OF MRS. CHIPMAN CONTINUED.

THE day following, Mr. Lovegood waited on Mr. Worthy with the letter designed for Mr. Reader; this, in course, having met with his approbation, was immediately sent by the post to the disconsolate parent of the unhappy Mrs. Chipman. A copy of which I have have next to present before the reader :

SIR,

"Though I truly sympathize with you in the grief you must have sustained, by the unhappy elopement of your daughter from her husband: yet, I can bless our most merciful God, that I have it in my power to relate to you a circumstance, which I trust, will be a considerable alleviation of your distress. Sir Charles Dash, by whom your daughter was most cruelly seduced, thought proper to rest a few days in the pleasant vale, in which our village is situated in his way to Newmarket. During his stay here, I fear no better principle than mere curiosity led him to the Church. In the progress of my duty, being Minister of the Parish, that chapter was providentially read, in which are these words, "Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge ;" and in the course of my sermon, without knowing any thing of the characters who attended, I made some observations,

which have been so impressed upon her mind, as to produce, I humbly trust, that "repentance which will never be repented of."

"After being thus convinced of her evil conduct, she soon became the object of perfect hatred to the man, by whom she had been so treacherously misled ; d; and he has now most unmercifully left her, a stranger, in a strange country, scarcely with a shilling for her subsistence. Such have been the effects of his brutal love, and such the unhappy state to which your daughter has been thereby reduced. One alleviation however, of her sufferings is, that she is in the hands of those, who having obtained mercy from God our Saviour themselves, love to manifest the same to others. A most respectable gentleman, of my Parish, and of an ample fortune, and a liberal mind, has for the present, engaged to supply her wants, and has employed me to enter into this correspondence with you, that we may know how far it will be practicable again to restore her to her family connections. She has already communicated to us, the principal circumstances of her former situation in life; and while justice demands it of ine, I am happy to observe, that it is impossible for any one to discover greater tenderness of mind, or deeper contrition of spirit. She cannot speak of you, dear Sir, but a flood of tears immediately bursts from her eyes, while she execrates her vile ingratitude to the best of parents, and a parent also, whose family afflictions have been so severe. The like character she also gives of her affectionate, and attentive husband; and has not language to express, how she abhors herself, for grieving the heart of one so worthy of her affections, for the sake of another in every point of view, so worthless and vile. Being myself both a husband and a father, I know what I must have felt, had it been my unhappy lot, to have met with such an affictive dispensation in my family. It is therefore, with the greatest tenderness, that I can sympathize But dear Sir, may I hope and trust, that

with you.

it will not be in vain, to request you to bestow forgiveness on your once most obedient, though afterwards ungrateful, yet now truly penitent and afflicted daughter, whose heart is so severely broken, that it truly breaks our hearts to behold her daily and nightly grief and indeed, she is so completely overwhelmed with shame and remorse for her sins, before God and man, that at times it is a question with us, if she can long survive the sorrows of her own mind. For the sake therefore, of that blessed Saviour, whose mercies are so free to the vilest of our poor, penitent race, pass by those unguarded hours of your daughter's life; let the principal blame rest upon the head of the vile seducer, and restore to your recollection what she was in her chaster days, when it was the joy of her heart, to show the most filial obedience, and affectionate attention to a parent she still so dearly loves, and so highly reveres. I confess, I find it is to me a much greater difficulty to decide, how far it becomes me to be her advocate with her husband, as well as with her father. She confesses with extreme concern, the bond of her marriage connexion is dissolved; and she humbly acknowledges, that were she doomed to spend the residue of her days as it were in a state of the most pensive widowhood, it would be the least punishment she deserves; nor can she ever suppose herself again worthy to embrace her dear child, which she unnaturally left, when it still needed the fostering care of a mother's arms.

"Under these considerations I determined, that it might be the most prudent step, not to correspond with her husband, but with her father, on this most unhappy event; and to leave you to converse with your son-in-law, and then to transmit your answer to this address. I have already mentioned, that almost every circumstance, relative to this unhappy affair, has been communicated to us by her; but an event about a public disturbance, which she says, originated in her misconduct, and on account of which, she conceives she will be forever forbidden to

make her appearance any more in your neighbourhood, she has not fully explained. If you think it proper, confidentially to relate the particulars of that event, you may depend upon it, the only advantage I shall take of it will be, to exert myself still farther to assist and console, by every effort in my power, a poor unfortunate young woman, originally dear to you, by the purity and simplicity of her affectionate obedience, and now not less dear to me, as an humble penitent, won to God our Saviour by the ministry of

Lower Brookfield, near Mapleton.

"Your unknown friend,

and servant, for Christ's sake, BENJAMIN LOVEGOOD.

About ten days after the above letter was sent, Mr. Reader returned the following answer:

"I conceive myself unutterably obliged to you, for your very great kindness and attention, manifested towards my unfortunate daughter. No doubt, but you find yourself sufficiently repaid by the approbation of your own mind, for the great goodness you have testified on this occasion; while you have still to look forward to a future day, in which you will receive a full reward at the hands of the Almighty, for that uprightness of heart, you have manifested towards one, that I thought might have been sufficiently guarded from such evils, by the virtuous principles, which from her childhood, I conceived it my duty to impress upon her mind. Amidst the deep grief I have sustained at the revolt of my dear child from the paths of virtue and morality; I am happy she is now convinced of her error; and sincerely pray, that she may abide by the good resolutions she has been able to reassume. I at once submit kind Sir,