66 always shew equal judgment, I dare promise myself you will get through well." The delight which I received from his decided approbation, though the circumstance was in itself so trivial, made an indelible impression on my mind : "I will always endeavour," I silently resolved, "to act in such a manner, that my papa, if he knew it, would say that. I had done well and acted wisely." This salutary resolution was strikingly put to the test that very summer, and although it failed in part on the first trial, yet it gained such additional strength on further reflection, as to be my security for the future. I went to make a visit to the two young people, in a neighbouring market-town, with whose aunt I had been boarded in York, the preceding year. Their mother died when they were very young, and their father, although well enough respected among his acquaintance, was extremely arbitrary in his family, and severe with his children, beating them not unfrequently, if he was out of humour, for little or no cause. Their favourite companion was the granddaughter of the clergyman of the place, who was the rector of an opulent parish. She was an orphan, and her grandmother also being dead, she presided at the head of her grandfather's table, at the early age of fourteen, which gave her considerable ascendancy; and being a lively girl, of uncommon talent and high spirit, she did what she pleased among her young companions, with whom her will was law. My young friends were seldom allowed to visit her, except by stealth, which they often effected in the following manner. The rectory house stood close to the church-yard, and there was a back-door, which opened into the stable-yard, without any communication with the street. Prayers were read at the church every morning and evening, and my companions availing themselves of this circumstance, under the pretence of going to church, often visited their friend, going into the churchyard through the great gates by the street, and then, instead of entering the church itself, watched their opportunity, when they could do it unperceived, of running through the back-gate to the rectory, carefully returning by the same road, at the very moment when the service ended. If they happened to meet their father in the street, or if he enquired for them, in their absence, the answer was prompt and ready;— they had been at church." I was soon entrusted with the grand secret, and invited to make one of the party: But if your father should find out that you have deceived him, will he not correct you severely, and will he ever trust you again?"-"Oh, it does not signify, he will not now trust us, and it is just as likely, that when he is next in an ill-humour, he will beat us without a cause, as that he should do it, when we may have really deserved it." Wishing to visit their friend as much as they did, this logic of theirs silenced my scruples for the moment, and I one day went along with them; but when we were there, it forcibly struck my mind, that by being their associate, I was a par 66 :-- taker in their guilt; and the agonizing question occurred; "If my papa knew this, would he praise me now ?" The answer which my heart returned, was most distressing; I watched eagerly for the moment when the service should be over, determining, that if I escaped this once undiscovered, I never would be of the party, under a false pretence any more, and I steadily kept my resolution. So important are the effects on the minds of children, on the one hand, of kind and judicious, or on the other of capricious and tyrannical treatment! On my return home, I did not reveal this circumstance even to my friend Mrs. Maurice, being partly restrained by my own share in the adventure, and partly from the desire of not exposing my companions with whose sorrows and ill usage, I sincerely sympathized. CHAPTER 6. The Author again at school....Her reception....False estimates and maxims....Little fraudulent practices.... The importance of their correction....The Author's revered preceptress leaves Catterick....Difficulties encountered in learning French. In my thirteenth year, I was placed at a boarding school, in York, of which I shall relate a few anecdotes, both in the hope of their supplying some useful hints to parents, who send their children to such seminaries, and also to the persons themselves, to whose care the children are committed. On my first arrival, before it was quite settled how I should be received among them, I was interrogated by many of the young ladies, as to the station of my father, or rather, respecting the figure he made in the world. Does your papa keep a coach?"—"No."—" How many servants have you?"-" Four."-" Dear, only think, miss's papa does not keep a coach, and they have only four servants!" My wardrobe was next examined, and fortunately passed muster pretty well, until it was discovered that I had not a gauze suit of linen.-"How ill-natured must be her mamma!" was the universal exclamation, "not to buy her a gauze suit of linen!" On the subject of personal beauty, nothing was directly said, and I believe that the want of this would have been atoned for, had my father lived in splendour, and kept a coach; but as there was nothing magnificent to throw into the opposite scale, even this was hinted at, and I soon found that the current set very strong against me. It was immediately discovered however, that I had brought along with me, a small stock of money, also of thread, tape, needles, &c. I was instantly beset by a crowd of little borrowers, one wanted this article, and another that, all promising to pay me again in a day or two. At first I lent them whatever they desired, but soon found that the promise of payment was a mere matter of form: that it was the constant practice to pillage in this way every new comer; and I determined to put a stop to it before my little stores were wholly exhausted. On refusing to lend any more, the clamour was prodigious and the exclamation general, "How stingy must miss be!" I felt very indignant at this, for I never had been thought covetous. It was in vain, however, to remonstrate, and I determined to wait patiently for an opportunity of convincing them how much they were mistaken. Fortunately, this opportunity soon occurred. My mother sent me a present of a large plumb cake, which I unpacked in public, and after reserving for myself one small wedge, divided the rest completely among them, adding, "you will not again call me covetous, for you see what I consider as really my own, is freely at your service." A buzz of general approbation announced my triumph, and I was treated ever afterwards with the greatest respect. It is obvious to remark how exceedingly pernicious to the future character, were the ideas that prevailed in this school, respecting the things that are most to be desired and coveted. Far from correcting, it is not unfrequent for the governess herself to foster these misleading prejudices. "This madam,” said a schoolmistress, of considerable celebrity, to me many years after, "is the elegant pink bonnet and cloak of miss B.," holding it in her hand, and her eyes sparkling with apparent exultation, that the fortunate little girl should be her scholar. "Her papa has an estate," she continued, "of twenty thousand pounds per annum, and he never grudges miss any thing. You see with what very fine lace her bonnet and cloak are trimmed." It was true that her papa did possess this fortune, and that he was very lavish in the expenditure, but he was a man of |