At this period of my history, I received the melancholy summons to attend my mother, whose life was in danger. Too soon were these apprehensions verified! I will pass over a sorrow which your feeling heart has known, and which was the tribute that every child must pay to the loss of a good parent. My mother appeared to have settled her accounts with this world, but as they related to Mary, then nearly fourteen. She spoke of her approaching dissolution with calmness and the hopes of a christian. "I have," said she to me, "only one anxiety to banish from my mind, before I give myself up to my merciful maker. But the mother is yet too busy for my resignation. You Percival, are my hope; you see the partial hand of nature has endowed your sister Mary with a beauty, which all must acknowledge; I dread it, as her misfortune. You know her artless, unsuspecting nature, the cheerful gaiety of her temper, and her soft, compliant disposition. Guard her, as you wish for a mother's blessing! Your father's pursuits in life, his excessive fondness for his dear girl, and, I may say it to you, his want of mental attainments, must disqualify him for the guide of her youthful career. Your brother will soon be so remote from her, that were he capable of protecting her, his situation will render him useless to her. Lucretia loves her not, and from the violence of her temper and the authority she will assume, every thing pernicious is to be feared. Watch over her safety; establish her in those principles to which alone she can trust for her security. Strengthen her in her weakness, encourage her in her duty, and preserve her spotless for that abode, in which, I hope, we shall be reunited. Your education," continued she calmly, "and what is of infinitely more importance, your moral attainments, not only qualify you to supply my loss to this precious girl, but they will, I trust, secure to you that mediocrity of fortune and independence I wish you. You are no stranger to your father's temper, and in his foibles you will find motives of gratitude to that providence which has afforded you the opportunity of correcting and enlarging your own views. I have of late," added she, deeply sighing, "found him more averse than usual to your expenditure at college. That wife who could convince him that his son was moderate and prudent, will be in her grave. Take this pocket-book, it contains my little savings, and it has been destined for your exigencies for some years. The time may come, when, with a mother's blessing, and the Almighty's favour, it will comfort you; preserve it for an hour of difficulty;" continued she, pressing my hand with great emotion, "endeavour to please your father; he has, my dear Percival, many good qualities. Live, if it be possible, in peace with Lucretia; be prepared for her ascendency. She will grieve your father in many points. I have laboured in vain to correct her temper, but God, in his own time, will,