140 THE LAURISTINUS. 



long after my habits and tastes had become fixed, 

 with a most inveterate determination not to like it 

 — in plain terms, to hate the country, and to de- 

 spise the people. This resolution, by no means a 

 singular one I fear, I was enabled by hard strug- 

 gling to maintain, for nearly a whole day ; but 

 every particle of frost-work melted at last beneath 

 the fervent beams of that warm and smiling wel 

 come, which will win its way to the heart of every 

 one who has a heart to be reached. Subsequently, 

 the glorious and far brighter beams of divine truth 

 burst upon my view, beneath the sky of that belov- 

 ed island ; and there my spiritual infancy was 

 cradled, there the hand of Christian brotherhood 

 was stretched forth, to uphold and to guide my 

 tottering steps in the new and narrow path ; there 

 1 was built up on this most holy faith, and taught 

 to wield, however feebly, the weapons that are not 

 carnal. I left the country, as an exile leaves his 

 home ; T pined and drooped, and still does my 

 heart yearn towards its beloved shores. But I am 

 no otherwise Irish ; and I have said so much, be- 

 cause the frequent recurrence to scenes and sub- 

 jects connected with that country, in these periodi- 

 cal pages, might appear to be the natural effect of 

 patriotic feeling, in one born on its green carpet. 

 In me, it is the offspring, not only of deep and 

 grateful love, but of a most solemn conviction that 

 we are verily guilty, in a henious degree, concern 



