began to regard some of them with feelings of admiration and friendship.

It was not long, however, before these feelings were concentrated upon one individual. That man, while profusely scattering his money, maintained a degree of reserve and personal respect that stimulated my curiosity. The indifference with which he at first met my advances was conquered by repeated civilities, and a submissive attention to his opinions. I succeeded slowly in gaining his esteem, and ultimately his confidence.

He had forsaken the trade of an engineer for the more lucrative one. - which he pursued of a burglar. His ability as a mechanic gave him peculiar advantages in his career, and had enabled him to follow it successfully for about three years. He described himself as a redresser of the wrongs of the poor, by taking from the rich their surperfluous wealth; thus leading me to look upon him as a champion of the oppressed. In this view, theft-no longer a crime-is converted into an act of justice.

By these and similar sophisms my conscience was deadened, and I began to believe-oh fatal error !— that there was little or no difference between virtue and vice, between moral purity and impurity. This besotted folly was also partly the result of the habits I had acquired. The curse of intemperance had crippled my physical ability; my mind was blunted and depraved by listening to the recitals of crime; and at last every barrier was broken down, by permitting the desire to be fully formed of committing an act which my judgment pronounced wrong, although my necessities pointed the other way.

In this frame of mind I became the ready accomplice of the tempter, who plunged me into an abyss, from which I have only emerged stained with crime, and after suffer

L

ing the most excruciating mental anguish. That man, who had become my beau ideal of a hero, proposed that I should assist him in perpetrating a burglary he meditated. No feeling of guilt, no sentiment of remorse, influenced for a moment his character, hardened by crime -his conscience dead or benumbed by vicious gratifications. His callousness made itself contagious; my scruples were overcome by his reasoning; my vacillation was changed into a settled purpose, and I acceded to his request.

The object contemplated was the robbery of a house in Bedford Square. We gained admission while the family were at dinner, by means of a key previously made for the purpose. In felt shoes we succeeded in creeping softly up stairs to the bedrooms, without attracting attention. My duty was to remain on the stair and give notice of danger, while my more practised companion, with a dark lantern, sought for plunder. Our object was accomplished without interruption, and we had descended for the purpose of effecting our egress, when we found an unexpected barrier. Some one in the interim had placed a chain on the door, which was secured by a patent lock we had not the means of opening. The delay this occasioned led to our discovery, when, to avoid capture, we ran up stairs and gained the roof of the house, intending to descend through one of those adjoining. The police having been promptly called in, pursued us before we could succeed in doing so. In the hurry and darkness my foot slipped, and I tumbled into a water-cistern, which saved me from being dashed on the pavement below. While in this situation I was made prisoner, and at once conveyed to the police office, where I had scarcely arrived when my companion was also brought in.

I could not help admiring the unflinching obstinacy of that man during the personal search which was immediately instituted. On me nothing was found, but from his pockets some money and articles of jewellery were removed. To this he offered no opposition, but he steadily refused to open one of his hands, which he kept firmly clenched in spite of every attempt that was made to relax it. It was struck with a baton, trodden on the ground by an iron heel until the blood was streaming, yet not for a moment did he loosen his gripe. With a determination of tone there was no mistaking, he declared they might cut his hand off, but that nothing would force him to open it, as he had already sworn that he concealed nothing an atrocious lie, for at that moment he held a ring which he then believed was a valuable diamond one, and which the family subsequently valued at more than L.100. He succeeded in keeping it, but his disappointment was extreme when he discovered afterwards, from his knowledge of stones, that his firmness had been exerted in preserving a paltry counterfeit.

How bitterly I cursed fortune, how madly I condemned my wicked folly, when I found myself in the grasp of justice, are remembrances which haunt me still. But after having been restored to the right use of my reason by probationary discipline to the just guidance of an awakened conscience by solitude and reflection, I beheld with thankfulness the merciful hand of God visibly stretched forth to pluck me out of the gulf into which I had recklessly leaped. The sins of my past life felt like burning cinders heaped upon my heart; but now, in the consciousness of being actuated by just and virtuous motives, I feel a new and comparatively happy man. With a resolution to act with integrity and according to

the laws of my merciful God, I shall, trusting in him, begin a new life in the land of my exile, hoping to acquire, by diligence and industry, contentment and repose.

THE FALLS OF CLYDE—A RETROSPECT.

THE river Clyde, some thirty miles above Glasgow, although it ceases to be navigable, is still a noble stream, as many a gentle follower of Isaac Walton, who frequent its banks, can testify. It abounds in trout, and salmon are numerous below the cascades, which form a barrier to their farther progress, that they in vain, by incredible leaps, endeavour to overcome. In the neighbourhood of New Lanark the river runs through a fruitful and romantie country, finely interspersed with hill and dale. Its banks on both sides for many miles are covered with orchards, which, in this part of Clydesdale, form the chief support of the husbandmen.

The Falls are three in number, Bonnington, Corra Lynn, and Stonebyres, named successively according to their position, beginning with the uppermost. The two former are situated within a few hundred yards of each other, while the latter is about five miles lower down, opposite the village of Kirkfield, and is the smallest of the three. The river at the Falls is about the same size as the "hallowed Dee" a little above the city of Chester, to which it also bears, in its adjacent scenery, a striking resemblance.

The Bonnington Fall is truly a magnificent cataract; the whole body of the Clyde leaping in one unbroken sheet over a ledge of rock, sixty or seventy feet in per

pendicular height. The deafening noise of the roaring waters, and the cloud of vapour which continually ascends from the boiling foam below, create in the mind of the beholder a feeling of awe. In the face of the rock is a natural cave, which tradition asserts to have been the hiding place of Wallace, when pursued by the troops of Edward I. Visitors with strong nerves may explore it, by walking under the falling water, and keeping close to the face of the rock. The immortal name of Wallace recals to my memory the fact that Lammington, to the estate of which his lady was heiress, is on the banks of the Clyde, a few miles above. An insult offered to her did that which patriotism could not effect, in awakening in his heart a chivalric ardour, which kindled a fire in the breasts of his countrymen that burned through many a field of slaughter, and was not extinguished until the soil, rendered sacred by the blood of its defenders, was saved from the tread of the invader.

The Corra Lynn Fall is about the same height as the Bonnington, and, although not so grand, is perhaps a finer picture. The rock, which extends across the river, is broken and irregular, thus allowing the water to rush through several channels, and form three successive cascades, before it reaches the yawning chasm beneath.

To the taste and generosity of the neighbouring proprietor is due the erection of an elegant summer-house, open at all times to visitors, from which the Bonnington Fall may be observed from one of the most imposing points of view. The effect is also heightened by the employment of mirrors, so arranged as to reflect the surrounding scenery, and convey the impression that one sees the thundering torrents overhead. The feelings of