favourite on whom a double portion has been lavished. The glorious sky, the fertile soil, the harvest ready above, the mine rich beneath, and, more than all, a brave, free, and intelligent race, who but must feel that the world's great destinies are yet unaccomplished, when the mind dwells on the glorious promise which kindles the far shores of the broad Atlantic? The most creative imagination avails not to picture the noon of that mighty hemisphere now in its infancy. Other nations have sprung up amid darkness and disorder; but America commenced its onward career when our world was in its prime, and has the experience of all civilisation for its beacon. Commerce, science, and freedom are its fates; and the web over which they preside is but begun.
But one dearest interest mingled with the future in Evelyn's meditation. Alas! it was a hard choice that he had to offer Francesca. How often during that night did he re-trim the lamp that burnt beside his lowly pallet, to read his brother's letter! "Good God!" thought he, "is it possible that one human being can so trifle with the happiness of another, in the mere reckless pursuit of excitement and amusement? Had he really loved her, I at least must have pardoned him—I, who know how very, very dear she is.
