I took the poor and much neglected child, and, having performed the necessary and longdisused ablutions, dressed it as well as I could, this being my first attempt at any operation of the kind. Then, having sent one of the footmen for some Naples biscuits and milk, I succeeded in making a little panada, which the poor little fellow eagerly devoured. Wrapt in my shawl, and sleeping nearly all the time on my bosom, I brought the dear infant to London; and, when he opened his eyes, I was repaid, amply repaid, by a smile, and the quiescence with which I was permitted to kiss its pale mouth.

Lord Annandale, although shocked at the scene we had witnessed, appeared to forget his own share in the culpable neglect of his child, in the anger he betrayed against its wicked nurse. He fancied, that, in allowing an unlimited sum for the support of his offspring, he

was doing all that was required; never recollecting, that his profuseness encouraged the cupidity of the designing impostor to whom he confided it; and who, charging for luxuries the child never had, denied it the common comforts necessary for its preservation.

"You are very good to that poor little animal," said Lord Annandale, (how the word grated on my ears!) "but pray don't kiss it until it is purified from the disgusting atmosphere it has so lately left."

"I feel no disgust towards the dear infant," answered I, coldly.

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Ay, that may be, but I do; and I don't wish to fancy your red lips and fair cheeks associated in any way with the impurities from which we suatched him."

I cannot tell you, Mary, how the gross selfishness of this speech shocked me.

I have had the nursery rendered as comfort

able as possible; have secured a steady, respectable woman as nurse, and bought a wardrobe for my little protégé. Already he begins to look quite a different being; and the doctor I have consulted for him says, the delicacy of his health arose only from neglect. How dreadful a subject for reflection! and yet, his father seems unconscious of his most culpable share in what might, and, as the doctor says, would have occasioned his child's death.

The dear little fellow knows me perfectly, evinces his joy when he sees me, by cooing, and holding out his tiny hands; and nestles his head in my bosom when they want to remove him from me. I can now look with less sadness on his dead mother's portrait; and I could almost fancy it also looked less sad. It is soothing to have something to love, some creature that depends on one for its happiness. This helpless innocent almost reconciles me to

a destiny that will henceforth serve to render his less forlorn, and even a reflected happiness is not to be undervalued. I have been spoiled at home-home! dear and sacred name; how many fond associations does it recall! Not only did I form the source whence all the felicity of my dear father and mother flowed, but they, every hour, every moment, made me sensible of this gratifying fact. Here I am lost, confounded with the crowd, hardly sensible of my own identity, now that it seems so little essential to the enjoyment of those around me. Lord Annandale's habits and pursuits have all been so long formed, and without reference to me, that I seem in no degree necessary to the routine of his pleasures. Political and social avocations fill up so much of his time, as to leave little of it for domestic enjoyments, had he a taste for such, which I know is not the The feverish existence, so generally pur

case.

sued here, is destructive to happiness. Married people are rendered so wholly independent of each other for society and companionship, that it is not to be wondered at, if they often forget the ties which bind, without attaching them. A man of fashion, I really believe, marries merely because a well-born and well-bred woman is considered a necessary appendage to his establishment, to do the honours of his house, and assist him in adding to its splendour. But a belief that his happiness depends on her, no more enters into his head, than if she stood in no near and dear relation to him. She is not the confident of his secret thoughts, the soother of his troubles, or the sweetener of his hearth. No! she is an eligible person to share his dignities, and help to sustain them. She wears his family jewels, sits at the head of his table, gives him an heir to his honours, is polite and courteous to him and his friends, and he is