[ 410 ] [OcT». 



How many pangs that rend the heart, are centred, sometimes, in one 

 little word ! How sad a preparation for sorrow and disappointment lies, 

 too often, in that which is here selected ! 



The forlorn widow, with her orphan children, breathes her necessitous 

 prayer for aid in the ear of some rich relative, who listens as patiently 

 as if he only desired to know the full extent of her Avants ; and her eye 

 beams with the kindling ray of hope. 



" I am, indeed, grieved to find that j^ou are so distressed. I had not 

 the least idea my brother had left you and your children so destitute. 

 You must find it a hard struggle, 1 am sure, to provide for so many 

 mouths, to say nothing of clothes, and other unavoidable expences. (A 

 heavy sigh, and a gathering tear, acknowledges the sad truth). I 

 wonder you are able to manage at all, when every necessary of life is so 

 dreadfully dear ; and it would be a great satisfaction to me if I could do 

 any thing to assist you ; hut " 



He need not have said another Avord. The blow was given. The 

 kindling beam of hope was quenched by the tears that followed this 

 chilling harbinger of disappointment. What did it avail her to know 

 that the stream of bounty might have flowed, " hut, — he had a large 

 family himself, who were becoming very expensive — the times were bad 

 — money was scarce — he had experienced heavy losses" — and all those 

 other selfish reasons, which a cold heart nourishes, as the safeguards of a 

 close pocket. 



Look at the thin grey hairs, whose struggling locks curl round the 

 scar upon that veteran brow, where the yet full blooded veins and arte- 

 -ries show their meandering course in dark blue lines ! He holds in his 

 hand a letter, which he has read only half through. He has worn a 

 sword for half a century ; and in every clime he has drawn it witli 

 honoiu- to himself, and Avith advantage to his country. He might almost 

 number the years he has lived, by the battles he has fought ; but there 

 needs no arithmetic to count the rewards he has received. He was a 

 lieutenant, when, in his first campaign, he was cut down by a blow from 

 an enemy's sabre, and left for dead on the field : he is a lieutenant now, 

 and reduced to half-pay, while many minions of fortune, who slept in 

 their cradles when he was watching at an alarm post, or mingling in the 

 sliock of arms, have purchased, by money, or by ducking, that advance- 

 ment, for Avhich he could pay only with his blood. But though there 

 was value given, he could never write value received. 



And that half finished lettei* — what is it .-' An answer to a memorial 

 which he had sent in to the commander-in-chief's office, setting forth his 

 claims to promotion upon the ground of length of service and severe 

 wounds. He had waited long and anxious for it, believing that his case 

 was one which entitled him to the favourable consideration of the 

 Horse-Guards. Hope deferred makes the heart sick ; but what medi- 

 cine is there for the disease of hope destroyed ! — This was his answer : — i 



" Sir, your memorial has been laid before the commander-in-chief, 

 and I have it in command to inform you, that tlie prayer of it has 

 received every attention. The length of service which you mention, as 

 well as the arduous nature of that service, together with the many 



