the same tender sentiments revive in my mind, as if I had actually walked with that beautiful creature under these shades. "I have been fool enough to carve her name on the bark of several of these trees; so unhappy is the condition of men in love, to attempt the removing of their passion by the methods which serve only to imprint it deeper. She has certainly the finest hand of any woman in the world." We walked on in silence until we drew near the church. Then turning to me, he said that Archbishop Tillotson was to preach that evening; and when he saw my look of amazement, he laughed and explained to me what he meant. er At my chaplain's first settling with me," said Sir Roger, "I made him a present of all the good sermons which have been printed in English, and only begged of him that every Sunday he would deliver one of them from the pulpit. Accordingly, he has arranged them in such a series that they follow one another naturally, and make a continued system of practical divinity. So now, I am always sure of hearing a good sermon every Sunday." We entered the church; and as I took my seat and looked around, I saw many a token of Sir Roger's kind liberality. He whispered to me that when he first came to his estate, he found his parishioners very irregular in their attendance, and not inclined to take part in the services when they did come. So he gave every one of them a hassock to kneel upon and a common prayer-book out of which to make the responses ; and, at the same time, employed a singing-master to teach them the tunes of the Psalms. The Squire could certainly find no fault with them that evening, for they knelt and joined in the responses with great fervor. It was here at church that I noticed many of Sir Roger's little peculiarities about which I had heard so much. If he happened to be pleased with a certain verse of the hymn, he would linger on it half a minute after the rest had finished. Now and then, he would take a little nap; but if, on awaking, he saw anybody else nodding, he would send his servant to wake up the poor fellow; from which I judged that the Squire would allow no one but himself the privilege of sleeping in church. Sometimes, when he particularly liked the prayer, he would say "Amen" three or four times; and once, when everybody else was kneeling, I saw him - stand up to count the congregation, or to see if any of his tenants were missing. When the sermon was finished, nobody dared to stir until Sir Roger had left the church. As he walked out between a double row of his tenants, who stood bowing to him on each side, he took the opportunity to ask after the health of such a one's father, or wife, or sister, which was always understood to be a secret reprimand to the absent one. This odd behavior did not seem to lessen the old Squire's influence over his people, for their faces beamed with reverence and affection as he passed by. They loved him so well that everything he did seemed perfectly right in their eyes. As we walked homewards, Sir Roger asked me how I liked his chaplain; and when I told him how delighted I was with the sermon, and how charmed with the chaplain's graceful figure and fine delivery, he said: "I thought you would be pleased with him, and now I must tell you how I happened to obtain such a treasure. "I did not want to be insulted with Latin and Greek at my own table, and so I desired a particular friend of mine at the University to find me out a clergyman rather of plain sense than much learning, of a good aspect, a clear voice, a sociable temper, and, if possible, a man that understood a little of backgammon. My friend found me out this gentleman, who, besides the endowments required of him, is, they tell me, a good scholar. "I have given him the parsonage of the parish; and because I know his value, have settled upon him a good annuity for life. If he outlives me, he shall find that he was higher in my esteem than perhaps he thinks he is. He has now been with me thirty years; and though he does not know I have taken notice of it, he has never in all that time asked anything of me for himself, though he is every day soliciting me for something in behalf of one or another of my tenants, who are his parishioners.” So the worthy Squire rambled on in his delightful way until Coverley Hall was reached. We entered its hospitable door, and sat down beside the big roaring fire. I had just turned to Sir Roger with a question about the gallant Will Honeycomb, when |