ommanding aspect, tall, slender, and majestic;
quick in step, fluent in speech, with large light blue eyes, and light
hair, approaching a little to the yellow. That was Mr. More. There was a
neatness and uniformity in his appearance and dress. He might have been
known by his blue suit, white vest, and cambric handkerchief. He was
polite and agreeable, and by his associates, he was much esteemed as an
acquaintance. His judgment was mature in regard to his business. He
managed his affairs with prudence and economy, and still stood firm amid
the shock of failures around him.

Though his means were ample, his expenditures were not extravagant;
every thing about him partook of the convenient and useful. Suitably
free from the fashion mania which sometimes attack young people like an
epidemic, he preferred rational pleasures, and the company of a few
young men of liberal views and sentiments, to the empty display and
unsubstantial show, which wins the smile of moneyed plebians.

His general deportment, his countenance and manner, discovered a mind
and disposition, that had always been accustomed to unremitting
indulgence. He was ardent in friendship; possessing a heart of the
keenest sensibility, with a scrupulous regard for the feelings of
others. He had been much in female society--in company with the amiable
and intelligent. Still he had never seen any one that he thought was
possessed of congenial feelings, or whose mind would assimilate with his
own.

When he became acquainted with Alida, his sensations were awakened to a
new influence;--that he did not attempt to banish from his mind. He
never before had seen any one he thought so worthy of esteem, or so
calculated to inspire him with lasting friendship. "The kindness, and
sincerity of her heart, speaks in her artless manner," said he, (as he
was one evening returning home from her father's.) "She delights the old
and captivates the young. Yet her beauty is not so dazzling at first
glance, but every day that she is seen, the more her features charm, the
more her manners please. Innocence dwells in the silvery curls of her
light auburn hair, that waves over her shoulders in simple elegance. She
has been reared with proper care and attention, and educated not to
shine in a ball-room, but with a soft soothing friendship, to dissipate
ennui and gloom, and make the happiness of the domestic circle."

CHAPTER XV.

Come, Contemplation, with thy boundless gaze.