st
unconscious of her presence, or
~20~~
what he had said to deserve her approbation. "True happiness," she
continued, "is the offspring of generosity and virtue, and never
inhabits a bosom where worldly interest and selfish principles are
allowed to predominate. There are many who possess all the requisites
for the enjoyment of true happiness, who, from the prejudices of
education, or the mistaken pride of ancestry, have never experienced the
celestial rapture: they have never been amalgamated with society, are
strangers to poverty themselves, and cannot comprehend its operation
upon others; born and moving in a sphere where the chilling blasts of
indigence never penetrate, or the clouds of adversity appal, they have
no conception of the more delightful gratification which springs
from the source of all earthly happiness, the pleasure and ability of
administering to the wants and comforts of our fellow creatures."

"Yours is the true philosophy of nature, aunt," said Horatio, "where
principle and practice may be seen, arm in arm, like the twin sisters,
Charity and Virtue,--a pair of antique curiosities much sought after,
but rarely found amid the assemblage of _virtu_ in the collections of
your modern people of fashion."

"I'll alter my will to-morrow morning," thought my aunt; "this boy
deserves to be as rich in acres as he already is in benevolence: he
shall have the Leicestershire estate added to what I have already
bequeathed him, by way of codicil."

"You would be delighted with my friend Bernard, aunt," said Horatio,
"that is, when he is in good spirits; but you must not judge of him by
the common standard of estimation: if, on the first introduction,
he should happen to be in one of those lively humours when his whole
countenance is lighted up with the brilliancy of genius, you would be
enraptured by the sallies of his wit, and the solidity of his reasoning;
but if, on the contrary, he should unfortunately
~21~~
be in one of those abstracted moods when all terrestrial objects are
equally indifferent, you will, I fear, form no very favourable opinion
of his merit. He is an eccentric in every respect, and must not be
judged of by the acquaintance of an hour. We were boys together at
Eton, and the associations of youth ripened with maturity into the
most sincere friendly attachment, which was materially assisted by the
similarity of our dispositions and pursuits, during our residence at
college. Your kind not