ve forth oracles
which would have been more impressive had they been less querulous. But
with all these foibles, Sir James was a man of undoubted piety, and it
may well excuse a little communicativeness when we remember that of the
generation he had served so well, few survived to speak his praise. At
all events, there was one benefactor whom he never forgot; and the
chirrup of the old Cicada softened into something very soft and tender
every time he mentioned the name of Doddridge.

COLONEL GARDINER.

Amongst the visitors at their father's house, at first to the children
more formidable than the doctor, and by and by the most revered all, was
a Scotch cavalry officer. With his Hessian boots, and their tremendous
spurs, sustaining the grandeur of his scarlet coat and powdered queue,
there was something to youthful imaginations very awful in the tall and
stately hussar; and that awe was nowise abated when they got courage to
look on his high forehead which overhung gray eyes and weather-beaten
cheeks, and when they marked his firm and dauntless air. And then it was
terrible to think how many battles he had fought, and how in one of them
a bullet had gone quite through his neck, and he had lain a whole night
among the slain. But there was a deeper mystery still. He had been a
very bad man once, it would appear, and now he was very good; and he had
seen a vision; and altogether, with his strong Scotch voice, and his
sword, and his wonderful story, the most solemn visitant was this grave
and lofty soldier. But they saw how their father loved him, and they saw
how he loved their father. As he sat so erect in the square corner-seat
of the chapel, they could notice how his stern look would soften, and
how his firm lip would quiver, and how a happy tear would roll down his
deep-lined face; and they heard him as he sang so joyfully the closing
hymn, and they came to feel that the colonel must indeed be very good.
At last, after a long absence, he came to see their father, and staid
three days, and he was looking very sick and very old. And the last
night, before he went away their father preached a sermon in the house,
and his text was, "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and
honour him." And the colonel went away, and their father went with him,
and gave him a long convoy; and many letters went and came. But at last
there was war in Scotland. There was a rebellion, and there were
battles; and then the gloomy n