clearly ascertained, but it was supposed his evil genius had found in him too good a subject to be abandoned to the whining winds of the forest. To this a young gentleman replied that he had good reason to believe that Felix was not so much a fool. He at least gave evidence of possessing more fortitude, judging from the manner in which he had resisted the repeated and troublesome inquiries of the villagers. It may be, suggested the young man, that he had come to the village from mere love of a retired life; or, perhaps, being of studious habits, he sought its quietude to prosecute his researches. Another one remarked, that he had once known a very worthy and pious minister, who had been so exclusively given to religious meditations, that he had often wished for the most solemn privacy and quietude; and had it not been for the sweet temper of his lovely wife and her happy efforts to interest and cheer him, he would inevitably have shut himself up in some dungeon. An interesting young Miss, who had spent much of her time in reading novels, now thought it her turn to venture an opinion, which she did by drawing upon the extensive and valuable stock of stories hoarded in her memory. She had often read of men, who, though they could not transform themselves like Mœris, the magical shepherd, or become altogether lycanthropic, yet abandoned human society to mingle with wild beasts in forests and deserts, or in the darker recesses of cliffs and caves. Having fixed their affections upon some object, their souls became wrapped up in its pursuit and attainment, and when disappointed, they could not withstand the revulsion of feeling that necessarily followed, and therefore flew to solitude. Some of these, interrupted the sharp-visaged elderly lady before alluded to, were no doubt driven to such extremities through the excessive indulgence of evil passions, through bitter regrets and remorse, through a deep sense of their infamy, or to hide their shame whilst planning new villanies to be practiced after the old ones had been forgotten.