leman with his man contentedly tilling his farm, and his mother
cheerfully attending to household affairs, as their narrow circumstances
would not admit her to keep a maid without embarrassment. Alonzo's soul
sickened on comparing the present state of his family with its former
affluence; but it was an unspeakable consolation to see his aged parents
contented and happy in their humble situation; and though the idea could
not pluck the thorn from his own bosom, yet it tended temporarily to
assuage the anguish of the wound.

"You have been long gone, my son, said his father; I scarcely knew what
had become of you. Since I have become a farmer I know little of what is
going forward in the world; and indeed we were never happier in our
lives. After stocking and paying for my farm, and purchasing the
requisites for my business, I have got considerable money at command:
we live frugally, and realize the blessings of health, comfort, and
contentment. Our only disquietude is on your account, Alonzo. Your
affair with Melissa, I suppose, is not so favourable as you could wish.
But despair not, my son; hope is the harbinger of fairer prospects: rely
on Providence, which never deserts those who submissively bow to the
justice of its dispensations."

Unwilling to disturb the serenity of his parents, Alonzo did not tell
them his troubles. He answered, that perhaps all might yet come right;
but that, as in the present state of his mind he thought a change of
situation might be of advantage, he asked liberty of his father to
travel for some little time. To this his father consented, and offered
him a part of the money he had on hand, which Alonzo refused, saying he
did not expect to be long gone, and his resources had not failed him.

He then sold off his books, his horses, his carriages, &c. the
_insignia_ of his better days, but now useless appendages, from which he
raised no inconsiderable sum.--He then took a tender and affectionate
leave of his parents, and set out for New London.

Alonzo journeyed along with a heavy heart and in an enfeebled frame of
spirits. Through disappointment, vexation, and the fatigues he had
undergone in wandering about, for a long time, in search of Melissa,
despondency had seized upon his mind, and indisposition upon his body.
He put up the first night within a few miles of New Haven, and as he
passed through that town the next morning, the scenes of early life in
which he had there been an actor, mo