UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 265 



they were, by that means, more completely sepa- 

 rated. Besides, during their long residence of above 

 400 years in Egypt, the Israelites, who were but 

 simple shepherds when they went there, had the 

 advantage of acquiring a knowledge of the va- 

 rious arts in which the Egyptians excelled. 



tf The Bible here, as in many other cases, only 

 records the facts : we cannot now penetrate, my 

 dear boy, into the causes or motives which led to 

 them ; but we may be sure that what was dic- 

 tated by Infinite Wisdom was just and proper ; 

 and in venturing to assign such reasons as we 

 can infer from other circumstances in history, we 

 should do so with great modesty and distrust of 

 ourselves." 



7th. My uncle has been obliged to go to 

 London about business ; he left us this morning, 

 but his stay will not be very long, I hope, for we 

 shall miss him excessively, and the more so, as 

 winter is completely begun. We have now dark 

 days, with frequent rain and storms ; few trees 

 have even a withered leaf remaining, and every 

 thing out of doors has a forlorn and desolate 

 appearance. 



But though the leaves are all gone, we have 

 still a few flowers ; the China rose is still in 

 bloom, and in the sheltered warm borders, we 

 find a few wall-flowers, some lilac primroses, 



2 A 



