board, discussion; now he seeks by wiles and stratagem to circumvent us." The countenance of Hughes assumed a dark and lowering expression; his habitual hostility manifested itself afresh, and the cause of tolerance and charity was again wounded in his person.

Power was sincerity itself, even to his heart's inmost core. He might be mistaken-nay, in many respects, he was mistaken; his head might go astray, but his heart never. A man more single-minded or unostentatiously benevolent, never went through the daily ritual of a church, that has been adorned by many wise and good men. He deplored its follies, its frailties, its iniquities; but he held fast to that which was just and sublime and true. And the more so that it was in many respects, weak and erring, and defective, would he adhere to support it, would he demonstrate to the world that even a humble member of its hierarchy might be patient, charitable, mild, and devoted to the duties of his calling.

CHAPTER XVIII.

PERKINS' GRAVE.

There, in the twilight cold and gray,

Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,

And from the sky serene and far,

A voice fell, like a falling star ;" Excelsior.

PERKINS' span was fast drawing to its close: it was clear he soon must die;—yes, die, and leave his love, his friends, the living world, and all the glories of nature far, far behind. "And was it so, and must he die," again and again, I mentally reiterated; while my wrung heart refused to abide by the decisions of my under

standing. "He must in truth die, and as regarded the life of earthly man, be no more. No more should we hear his joyous laughing voice no more derive instruction from his pregnant remarks, or be melted by the expression of his tender commiseration for every form of human suffering and distress. Perkins' sympathies -note it well, were displayed towards others, not lavished on himself. He did not cultivate thought or feeling, literature, science, or art, as they might affect his own exclusive interests. He was not the idol of his own idolatry. No-a higher and a nobler aim actuated him he thought, and lived, and felt, precisely as in his conception, it might subserve the welfare of others."

At times, he rallied to a surprising extent, when the cheerfulness of his remarks, and the dear sweet expression of his countenance, could not but serve in part to dissipate the mortal disquietude which we experienced on his behalf. Indeed, I feel assured that he exerted

himself the more on this account; and though he would never own it, the efforts which he made, and the light-heartedness which he displayed, were mainly intended to lessen our regrets and diminish our uneasiness. Tender and compassionate, he was by habit and constitution, of a buoyant temperament. Nevertheless, what from difficulty of breathing, what from almost total extinction of voice, he was sometimes so sadly weakened and exhausted, that I was oftener than once, obliged to intreat him to pause.

He never however, wholly intermitted his remarks, a few hours' rest, and he resumed them as before. Always original, often profound, there was a tone of sentiment running through the matter as well as displayed in the manner, that rendered them truly delightful. touched now on this, now on that; but they were always characterized by a sweet serenity and clearness of conception which contrasted with Perkins' decreasing strength, strongly bespoke

They

the perpetuation and permanency of the mental and moral powers, amid the progressive exhaustion and decay of the physical.

"How beautiful," he said, "are flowershow sweet-how heavenly their odour? Nothing short of Omnipotence could have consummated such perfection - such fragrance. Consider," he continued, "the excessive richness and variety of the latter in the rose, the vervain, the tuberose, the carnation, the violet, the wall-flower, the geranium, mignonette, lavender, sweet-briar, cowslip, sweet pea, and very many others. I cannot think the charming sensations which they impart, the exclusive prerogative of earth. I cannot help thinking when life is gone, that they will accompany us hereafter; and that our favourite flowers shall flourish in paradise with a bloom that never fades and a perfume that never experiences decay. The flowers of earth are but prototypes of sweeter and fairer flowers in Heaven. Surely, what has been conceived in spirit, may be per