fashioned, and to what different purposes the same materials may be
applied. Perhaps the rudiments of their intellectual character, as well
as of their form, w^ere the same; but the powers that in one case were
exerted in the cause of virtue were, in the other, misapplied to sordid
and flagitious purposes.

Arthur Wiatte (that was his name) had ever been the object of his
sister's affection. As long as he existed, she never ceased to labour in
the promotion of his happiness. All her kindness was repaid by a stern
and inexorable hatred. This man was an exception to all the rules which
govern us in our judgments of human nature. He exceeded in depravity all
that has been imputed to the arch-foe of mankind. His wickedness was
without any of those remorseful intermissions from which it has been
supposed that the deepest guilt is not entirely exempt. He seemed to
relish no food but pure unadulterated evil. He rejoiced in proportion to
the depth of that distress of which he was the author.

His sister, by being placed most within the reach of his enmity,
experienced its worst effects. She was the subject on which, by being
acquainted with the means of influencing her happiness, he could try his
malignant experiments with most hope of success. Her parents being high
in rank and wealth, the marriage of their daughter was, of course, an
object of anxious attention. There is no event on which our felicity and
usefulness more materially depends, and with regard to which, therefore,
the freedom of choice and the exercise of our own understanding ought to
be less infringed; but this maxim is commonly disregarded in proportion
to the elevation of our rank and extent of our property.

The lady made her own election; but she wras one of those who acted on a
comprehensive plan, and would not admit her private inclination to