their lack of sympathy with our abundance, may alike teach us generosity and simplicity. The cares inseparable from limited means, and the responsibility attached to large ones; the exercise of punctilious honesty and forethought; one prized production of genius; one book; one journey; one event in life, may alike impart deep enjoyment; true taste, or energy, or knowledge; for these things may be acquired and enjoyed equally by the rich and the poor. It may seem at first sight not a little remarkable, that few great public benefits, comparatively speaking, have originated with the wealthy position of the community. At first sight only; for we should remember, that the claims of their position occupy them; while its ease tends to conceal from them the wants of others. In our own land, however, the rich, whether of head, heart, or hand, have ever proved munificent contributors towards the promoting, if not the originating, of the many noble institutions, which, in England, are the monuments at once of the power and of the impotence of wealth; and in which "rich and poor meet together;" and give proof, by the happy consequences of their union, that "the Lord is the Maker of them all." AN OBSERVER. SONNET. BY CALDER CAMPBELL. My "quick imagination" when men praise, Up into undiscerning faces, that disown That fortify with hope the soul's faint tone, As deepen e'en the darkness of death's doom!- "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."-REV. vii. 14. HE assailants of the fortress of Villaro met with stern resistance, and their courage and determination, opposed to the strength and vigilance of their foes, promised a protracted contest. Some days had passed since the commencement of the siege, and a bright Sabbath morning towards the close of January, saw Raymond's faithful, but sadly diminished flock, wending its way, from the quiet hamlet, through the silent glen, and along the rugged mountain-paths, towards the house of worship, whose closed door and silent walls had for many weeks borne mournful witness to the absence of the beloved and devoted pastor. Earliest amongst the assembling worshippers, and treading softly, as if she feared that a rougher movement would be unsuited to the sweet sanctity of the hour, was Rachel Rossi. The subdued air of an everpresent sorrow was visible in her whole deportment, though on this occasion a feeling of mingled gratitude and joy, to which she had long been a stranger, shed its quiet light over her pensive features. She had been so long inured to the presence of suffering, and to the sense of peril, that even the passing thought of a brighter state of things below, seemed to her more like a vision than a hope. The long trial of her faith had produced a rich harvest of patience, of experience, and of that hope which maketh not ashamed; but the removal of her beloved pastor-her father, counsellor, and friend-had put the climax to her earthly suffering; and his unexpected return had produced such a sudden revolution of feeling, that for the time she became forgetful of past sorrow, and regardless of the increased danger that surrounded her. Even Walter's departure on this Sabbath morning, to join, as was his wont, the popish worship at La Torre had not been sufficient altogether to dispel, though it did for a moment dim, the light that shone in her tranquil countenance. No circumstance is barren of hope when the heart is glad; all outward objects wear the colouring of the light within; and as Rachel moved toward the house of God, the long forgotten voices of a thousand dark and silent things seemed to break the chains of winter, and to echo back her exulting song, "The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my heart; of whom shall I be afraid?" How soon should she learn to sing that song, out of the furnace seven times heated! But we must not anticipate. On the morning, and at the hour we have just referred to, in an upper chamber in the little town of La Torre, seated alone, in thoughtful, but not gloomy silence, was an individual who is no stranger to our readers. He had walked several times to the window that looked out upon the narrow street, and at length observing that the crowds had dispersed to their respective places of worship, he took his staff, descended from his solitary apartment, and was soon upon the road leading to the wellremembered hamlet, where he had learned his first lesson in the truth as it is in Jesus." Lorenzo Saveli-in the heart of a court whose policy he had learned to detest, and the external member of a church to whose creed he no longer responded Amen-had for some time been observing, with the keenest solicitude, the progress of public events in Savoy, and the workings of individual feeling which moved the great machines of church and state. To a passionate and impetuous nature such as his, it was no easy task to conceal from the penetrating observation of a crafty priesthood the change that had been wrought in his mind and feelings; and to the watchful care and constant warnings of Emanuel and the Duchess, united to his own natural dread of the horrible consequences of discovery, was humanly owing his freedom from suspicion. He was not yet prepared to be a martyr to the truth; and if at any time a confession of his altered faith could, in his position, have allowed him hope of escape, the present was not that crisis. He was restrained, however, by other motives than those inspired by fear; even by an earnest longing to preach amongst his deluded fellow-worshippers "the unsearchable riches of Christ ;" and to be the honoured instrument in awakening other souls from the fatal slumbers which had lately bound his own. His eyes were directed towards the distant plains of Germany; the great theatre of the mighty Reformation which had shaken Europe to its centre. To join the reformed body there; to share their sympathy; to seek their counsel; and with them to struggle for the liberation of their suffering brethren from the galling yoke of Romish error and Romish intolerance, was now his ambition and his hope. Circumstances, however, held him still, and held him mute; and chief amongst these circumstances was the critical situation of the sufferers in Piedmont. He wished to employ his influence with the Duke, for an end diametrically opposed to that which Jacomel had urged; and he did employ that influence cautiously, respectfully, but earnestly and constantly; and not in vain. His manly voice added weight to the private appeals of Margaret; and in the Duke's heart there was cherished a secret desire, which responded, deeply though silently, to the entreaties of friendship and of love. Saveli saw the bent of his inclinations; the yielding of his purposes; he hoped for much, and was on the point of making a still bolder appeal than any which he had yet ventured on, to the reason and the clemency of his sovereign, when the arrival of the Vaudois deputies, and their unexpected snbmission, gave a new complexion to events, and suddenly dashed to the dust the high hopes of Margaret and Saveli. That the Waldenses could be more easily terrified, more readily subjugated, than had been supposed, was now the impression on every mind; and their subsequent conduct, their repentance, indignation, and renewed rebellion, added fresh and inextinguishable fuel to the already kindled fire that threatened to consume them. The consequences were inevitable. Saveli saw that further efforts would be vain, and, as a last hope of saving the people, and the family whom he had learned to love so well, he hastened to the Valleys, to offer to Raymond and his daughters, refuge in the house of a relative of his own who resided at Geneva; and who, though herself a Roman Catholic, being connected with the reformed church, was friendly to its interests, and had offered to receive as many of the persecuted Christians as her dwelling would accommodate. was on this mission that Lorenzo Saveli once more, and for the last time, directed his steps towards the cottage of Samuel Raymond; nor was he unmindful now, as on a former occasion, that it was the Sabbath morning and the time of prayer. His heart panted to join the assembled worshippers, and again to hear from Raymond's lips the words of truth. He was hurrying forward, impelled by the eagerness of this desire; but he had scarcely reached the opening of the glen, and was not yet within sight of the hamlet, when his steps were arrested by a sound very It unusual in this lonely retreat; the discordant mixture of many voices, raised in anger, grief, and strife, above the murmurs of a multitude. His heart died within him, and that curious instinct which restrains us from our instantaneous search into what we dread to discover, held him still, mute and breathless, while his ear was strained to catch and his brain to distinguish and understand, the meaning of the confused and mingled sounds. Only for one moment he paused; the next he had gained the point from which he could see, only a few paces below him, the sweet cottages and the well-remembered temple; but now he perceived them not; another and an unwelcome sight had blinded his vision for all beside; for bright blades were glittering in the clear, frosty air; and, scattered amongst a goodly company of Piedmontese soldiers, were a few Vaudois peasants, unarmed and defenceless. The dense crowd prevented him from distinguishing the centre of the throng; but he hastened on; and just at the moment when he drew near, the soldiers had divided themselves into two bands; clearing an open space in the centre, and displaying to the eager gaze of the horror-stricken people, the form of their beloved pastor, tightly bound to the naked trunk of a tree, from which the leafless branches had been stripped, to furnish fuel for the intended sacrifice. At the sight, a cry was raised which seemed to reach the foundations of the mountains, as they echoed back the heart-rending sound, and then there was a sudden pause; for Raymond had spoken. "Peace! my beloved children," he said, in a voice whose calmness seemed to thrill even the hardened breasts of the ministers of persecution. "If ever you loved me, restrain your grief, and imbitter not my last moments by the fear, that I have laboured amongst you in vain." "Silence him!" exclaimed a harsh voice, from among the crowd; but no one moved to obey, and Raymond proceeded: "In vain indeed, if you have yet learned nothing of the mind which was in Christ Jesus, who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to Him that judgeth righteously. Look up, my children, look up. Could a hair of head be touched, if it were not the will of OUR FATHER?" my "Silence him! gag him! obey me instantly! exclaimed the same harsh voice that had spoken before. "He shall be silenced, soon enough," answered the leader of the troop; "bring the fagots." "Let the woman bring them!" shouted the harsh voice again; and the soldier proceeded to enforce the command. |