Hell's first born exhalation sure is pride! Who, with its sister, envy, would divide The various blessings to poor mortals given. By the kind bounty of indulgent heaven. What at the last have kings to make them proud! A gilded coffin and a satin shroud. The lordly worm on these will quickly prey; For worms, like kings, in turn will have their day. What then is man who boasts his form and make? A reptile's meal,--a worm's high-flavour'd steak, The epicure, who caters like a slave, Is but a pamper'd morsel for the grave. Envy's a canker of such subtle power, It steals all pleasure from the gayest hour. It is the deadly nightshade of the mind; With secret poison all its arts refin'd; And, when attended by it vile relation, Would spread a plague destructive to a nation. Then send these hags back to their native hell, With fiends and evil spirits formed to dwell. No more on worth let man look down with scorn, And frown on those not quite so highly born; Nor, as the coaches rattle from his door, Boast, like proud Haman, of not being poor! Earth's doom'd to earth, all folly there must end,-- Then read, and own the satirist a friend. Madeline had been invited, and obtained permission of the abbess to spend the following day at the castle. This gave additional vivacity to the lively spirits of Edwin, who, with his sister, spent as much time with the prisoner as they could steal, without exciting curiosity of suspicion. Roseline gave them with some humour the ghost-story, as imparted to her by Audrey, and cautioned Albert against having any lights seen from the windows, lest it should be productive of such inquiries as might lead to a discovery of the rooms being inhabited; but, notwithstanding all her attempts to fly from herself, and conceal from the observing eye of love her own internal conflicts, she was almost tempted to throw aside the mask, and at once confess all her apprehensions. How were these apprehensions heightened, when, in the afternoon, her father told her in a whisper he wished to see her in his study before the family assembled at breakfast, having some intelligence of the most agreeable nature to impart, which he hoped and believed would make her one of the happiest, as it could not fail to render her one of the most envied of her sex.