his insolvency, by his inactive habits, whereas his motto should have been-"Not slothful in business."

My young reader, if you would shun the rock on which Matt Norden foundered all his prospects in life, be active in all your pursuits. If at school, pursue your studies with diligence; and, if acquiring the knowledge of a profession or business, pursue it with all your might. If we read the lives of distinguished men in all ages of the world, and in any department, we find them invariably celebrated for the amount of labour they could perform. Demosthenes, Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Franklin, Cecil, and others too numerous to mention, were all renowned as hard workers, rising early, and late taking rest that they might excel in their pursuits. Sir Jonah Barrington tells this pleasing tale: :"I recollect in Queen's County to have seen a Mr. Clerke, who had been a working carpenter, and when making a bench for the session justices at the court-house, was laughed at for taking particular pains in planing and smoothing the seat of it. He smilingly observed that he did it to make it easy for himself, as he was resolved he would never die till he had a right to sit thereupon; and he kept his word. He was an industrious man- honest, respectable, and kind-hearted. He succeeded in all his efforts to accumulate an independence: he did accumulate it, and uprightly. His character kept pace with the increase of his property, and he lived to sit as a magistrate on the bench that he shaved and

K

planed." I would have all my young friends act in the spirit of this carpenter, and, though they may not have all their hopes realised as he had, they will never fail to receive a high reward. The industrious are always known by their livery: it is always whole and wholesome.

CHAP. VI.

AN EASTERN TALE. THE END OF FRIENDSHIP SHOULD BE CONSIDERED. -JOHN MORPHEW.—SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS PARENTS. A LESSON ON CONTENTMENT. — IZAAK WALTON QUOTED. THE CHARACTER OF JOHN MORPHEW. DESPISED BY MATT NORDEN. HIS CAUSE PLEADED BY MYSELF. MY SUCCESS. THE STORY OF MASTER EVRETT AND CHARLES MURPHY. JOHN MORPHEW'S FRIENDSHIP INCREASED BY MY VINDICATION OF HIS CHARACTER. JOHN MORPHEW GOES TO RESIDE IN LONDON. HIS INDUSTRY REWARDED.SENDS HIS FIRST REWARD TO HIS PARENTS. HIS FILIAL PIETY. BECOMES A PARTNER IN THE FIRM BY WHICH HE WAS EMPLOYED. LIVES IN HONOUR AND AFFLUENCE. THOMAS FULLER'S DESCRIPTION OF A TRUE GENTLEMAN APPLIED TO HIM.

"Brother, for so I call thee, not because
Thou wert my father's or my mother's son ;
Not consanguinity, nor wedlock laws

Could such a kindred 'twixt us have begun :

We are not of one blood, nor yet name neither,
Nor sworn in brotherhood with ale-house quarts:
We never were so much as drunk together.
'Twas no such slight acquaintance join'd our hearts,
But a long knowledge with much trial did it,
(Which are to choose a friend the best directions ;)
And though we lov'd both well at first, both hid it
Till 'twas discover'd by alike affections;

Since which thou hast o'erdone me far in showing
The office of a friend; do so and spare not;

Lo, here's a memorandum for what's owing;

But know, for all thy kind respect I care not,

Unless thou'lt show how I may service do thee,

Then will I swear I am beholding to thee."- WITHERS.

It is related that a certain cham of Tartary, on going a progress with his nobles, was met by a dervise, who cried with a loud voice, “Whoever will give me a hundred pieces of gold, I will give him a piece of advice." The cham, on hearing this, ordered him the sum: upon which the dervise said, "Begin nothing of which thou hast not well considered the end." The cour

tiers, upon hearing this simple sentence, smiled, and said sneeringly, "The dervise is well paid for his maxim." The cham, or king, however, was so well pleased with the answer, that he directed it should be written, in letters of gold, in several parts of his palace, and engraved on all his plate. Not long after, the king's surgeon was bribed to kill him with a poisoned lancet at the time he let him blood. One day, when the king's arm was bound, and the fatal lancet was in the surgeon's hand, he read on the bason, "Begin nothing of which thou hast not well considered the end." He immediately started, and let the lancet fall out of his hand. king observed his confusion, and inquired the reason, whereupon the surgeon fell prostrate before him, and confessed the whole affair. He was pardoned; but the conspirators suffered death. On his confession the king, turning to his courtiers, who had sneered at the advice of the dervise, remarked, "That counsel which has saved a king's life cannot be too highly prized."

The

Analogous to the advice of the dervise is this couplet of an English poet :

:

"Think well ere you resolve; weigh each event,
Lest, when too late, in sorrow you repent."

It would, indeed, be well if mankind in general acted in the spirit of this advice. Youth, especially, would exhibit their wisdom if they began nothing of which they had not well considered the end; or, in other words, if they thought before they resolved, and weighed the

result of that which they undertook to perform. The maxim of the dervise is especially applicable to the important subject of friendship. This should never be commenced without serious consideration: the end of it should be kept in view that is, whether it is likely to be beneficial or hurtful. For my own part, I must confess that I should have escaped much uneasiness in my early years had I acted upon some such maxim. I should not have had to have blushed for the follies of this companion, or mourned over the moral turpitude of others: in a word, I should have been spared the pang of being compelled to give up the company of those to whom I had attached myself, because our thoughts and pursuits were not in unison.

One friend, however, never caused me a moment's uneasiness-that friend was John Morphew.

John Morphew was born of humble yet respectable parents, who were near neighbours of my parents. Old Mr. Morphew had been engaged in trade, and had accumulated, by unceasing industry, a small competency -just enough "to keep the wolf from the door." He would, doubtless, have accumulated a larger income, but illhealth prevented his personal attention to business; and, like a careful parent, he considered it safest to retire with the little he had collected, than intrust his business to others and run the risk of losing it. It is true, from having a large family, he found enough to do to make "both ends meet," notwithstanding Mrs. Morphew was a careful housewife; but then he had what