ntire approbation of
my friend Harrison.

"Wait patiently, Geoffrey, and fortune will pay up the arrears of the
long debt she owes you. It is an old and hackneyed saying, 'That riches
alone, cannot confer happiness upon the possessor.'"

"My uncle and cousin are living demonstrations of the truth of the
proverb. Mr. Moncton is affluent, and might enjoy all the luxuries that
wealth can procure; yet he toils with as much assiduity to increase his
riches, as the poorest labourer does to earn bread for his family. He
can acquire, but has not the heart to enjoy--while the bad disposition
of Theophilus would render him, under any circumstances, a miserable
man. Yet, after all, George, in this bad world, money is power."

"Only, to a certain extent: to be happy, a man must be good;
religiously, morally, physically. He must bear upon his heart the image
of the Prince of Peace, before he can truly value the glorious boon of
life."

"I wish I could see these things in the same calm unprejudiced light,"
said I; "but I find it a bitter mortification, after so many years of
hard labour, to be without a penny to pay for seeing a raree-show."

Harrison laughed heartily, "You will perhaps say, that it is easy for
me to preach against riches; but like the Fox in the fable, the grapes
are sour. I speak, however, with indifference of the good that
Providence has placed beyond my reach. Geoffrey, I was once the envied
possessor of wealth, which in my case was productive of much evil."

"How did you lose such an advantage?" I eagerly exclaimed, "do tell me
something of your past life?"

This was the first allusion he had made to his former circumstances;
and I was determined not to let the opportunity pass unnoticed.

He seemed to guess my thoughts. "Are you anxious for a humiliating
confession, of vanity, folly and prodigality? Well, Geoffrey, you shall
have it; but mark me--it will only be in general terms--I cannot enter
into particulars. I was born poor, and unexpectedly became rich, and
like many persons in like circumstances, I was ashamed of my mean
origin; and thought, by making a dashing appearance and squandering
lavishly my wealth, to induce men to forget my humble birth. The world
applauds such madness as long as the money lasts, and for a short
period, I had friends and flatterers at will.

"My brief career terminated in ruin and disgrace: wealth which is not
acquired by industry, is seldom retained by prudence; and t