in the presence of Apollo. The Scottish philosopher hád prudently kept his post by the parlour fire, and I alone was singled out as the victim; Sir Theodore and his father-in-law being considered only as expletives to fill up the audience. Calliope was enthroned in a chair at the pedestal of Apollo, whilst Lady Thimble and I took our seats opposite to the reader. I was now to undergo an explanation of the subject matter of this poem: this was undertaken and performed by Lady Thimble, whilst the young poetess was adjusting her manuscript: the subject was allegorical: the title was The Triumph of Reason, who was the hero of the piece; the inferior characters were the human passions personified; each passion occupied a canto, and the lady had already dispatched a long list; if I rightly remember, we were to hear the fourteenth canto; in thirteen actions, the hero Reason had been victorious, but it was exceedingly doubtful how he would come off in this, for the antagonist he had to deal with was no less a personage than almighty Love himself: the metre was heroic, and many of the thoughts displayed a juvenile fancy and wild originality; the action was not altogether uninteresting, nor illmanaged, and victory for a while was held in suspense by a wound the hero received from an arrow somewhere in the region of the heart; for this wound he could obtain no cure, till an ancient physician, after many experiments for his relief, cut out the part affected with his scythe: upon the whole, the poem was such that, had it not been allegorical, and had not I been cold and hungry, I could have found much to commend and some things to admire, even though the poetess had been twice as old and not half so handsome, for Calliope was extremely pretty, and I could plainly discover that Nature meant her to be most amiable and modest, if flattery and false education FL would have suffered he good designs to have taken place; I therefore looked upon her with pity, as I do on all spoiled children; and, when her reading was concluded, did not bestow all that praise which, if I had consulted my own gratification more than her good, I certainly should have bestowed; the only occasion on which I think it a point of conscience to practise the philosophy of the Dampers. At length dinner was announced, and being a part of Lady Thimble's domestic economy, which she had put out of her own hands, as she informed us, and in which I suspect the athletic philosopher had something to say, it was plentifully served. Sir Theodore and my friend the merchant plied him pretty briskly with the bottle; but as a stately firstrate ship does not condescend to open her ports to the petty cruisers that presume to hail her, in like manner this gigantic genius kept the oracle within him muzzled, nor condescended once to draw the tompion of his lips, till it happened, in the course of many topics, that Lady Thimble, speaking of the talents of Calliope, observed that miracles were not ceased: How should that thing be said to cease, replied the oracle, which never had existence? The spring was now touched that put this vast machine in motion; and, taking infidelity in miracles for his text, he carried us, in the course of a long uninterrupted harangue, through a series of learned deductions, to what appeared his grand desideratum, viz. an absolute refutation of the miracles of Christ, by proof logical and historical. Whilst this discourse was going on, I was curious to observe the different effects it had on the company: Lady Thimble received it with evident marks of triumph, so that I could plainly see all was gospel with her, and the only gospel she had faith in; Sir Theodore wisely fell asleep; the merchant was in his countinghouse; "His mind was tossing on the ocean: But all this while, the young unsettled thoughts of Calliope were visibly wavering, sometimes borne away by the ipse dixit of the philosopher and the echo of Lady Thimble's plaudits; sometimes catching hold of Hope, and hanging to the anchor of her salvation, Faith; at other times, without resistance, carried down the tide of declamation, which rolled rapidly along in provincial dialect, like a torrent from his native Highland crags, rough and noisy. I saw her struggles with infinite concern; the savage saw them also, but with triumph; and, turning his discourse upon the breach he had made in her belief, pressed the advantage he had gained with devilish address; in short, a new antagonist had started up, more formidable to Reason than all the fourteen from whose attack she had brought her hero off with victory; and that champion, which had resisted the arrows of allpowerful Love, was likely now to fall a victim to the pestilential breath of Infidelity. In this dilemma I was doubtful how to act; I did not decline the combat because I dreaded the strength of this Goliath of the Philistines, for I knew the weapons might be confided in which the great Captain of Salvation had put into my hands; but I disdained to plead before a prejudiced tribunal, in which the mistress of the mansion sat as judge; and, as sleep had secured one of the company out of harm's way, and another was upon an excursion from which I did not wish to bring him home, there remained only Calliope, and I determined within myself to take occasion of discoursing with her apart, before I left the house next morning. No. VI. I HAD resolved to have some conversation with Calliope after the athletic philosopher's harangue against the evidences of the Christian religion: I was at the pains of putting my thoughts together in writing before I went to bed, for I judged it best to give them to Calliope in such a form as she might hereafter at any time refer to and examine. I had the satisfaction of an hour's conversation with that young lady next morning, before the family had assembled for breakfast: I could observe that something dwelt upon her mind, and demanding of her if I was not right in my conjecture, she answered me at once to the point without hesitation-" I confess to you," said she, "that the discourse which Dr. Mac-Infidel yesterday held has made me thoroughly unhappy; things which are above reason I can readily suppose are mysteries, which I ought to admit as matter of faith in religion; but things contrary to reason, and facts which history confutes, how am I to believe? What am I to do in this case? Have you any thing to oppose to his argument? If you have, I should be happy to hear it! if you have not, I pray you let us talk no more upon the subject."I then gave the paper into her hand, which I had prepared, and, explaining to her the reasons I had for not taking up the dispute before our company yesterday, desired her to give my paper a serious reading; if there was any thing in it that laid out of the course of her studies, I would gladly do my best to expound it, and would show her the authorities to which it referred: she received my paper with the best grace in the world, and promised me that she would consider it with all the attention she was mistress of. In our further discourse, it chanced that I let drop some expressions in commendation of her understanding and talents, upon which I observed she gave me a very expressive look; and when I would have spoken of her poem, she shook her head, and, hastily interrupting me, desired I would spare her on that subject; she did not wish to be any more flattered in a folly she had too much cause to repent of; she had burned the odious poem I was speaking of, and, bursting suddenly into a flood of tears, protested she would never be guilty of writing another line of poetry while she lived. No words of mine can paint the look and action which accompanied these expressions; much less can I describe the stroke of pity and surprise which her emotion gave me. It was evident she alluded to something that had occurred since the reading of the poem; I recollected she was absent all the latter part of the evening, and I felt an irresistible propensity to inquire into the cause of her affliction, though the shortness of our acquaintance gave me no right to be inquisitive; she saw my difficulty, for her intuition is very great; after a short recollection, which I did not attempt to interrupt-"I know not how it is," said she, "but something tells me I am speaking to a friend."-Here she paused, as doubting whether she ought to proceed or not, and fixing her eyes upon the floor in evident embarrassment: it will readily be supposed I seized the opportunity to induce her to confide in me, if there was any service I could render towards alleviating the distress she was evidently suffering-"I have no right to trouble you," says she," but that fatal argument I heard last night has so weakened the resource to which my mind in all afflictions would else have naturally ap plied, that I really know not how to support myself, nor where to look for comfort, but by throwing my, |