Every feeling heart will excuse a weakness, which we shall presently find carried with it its own severe punishment.

Cadenus, indeed, believe him who will, has assured us, that, in such a perilous intercourse, he himself preserved the limits which were unhappily transgressed by the unfortunate Vanessa, his more impassioned pupil:-- "The innocent delight he took To see the virgin mind her book, Was but the master's secret joy, In school to hear the finest boy." But Josiah Cargill was less fortunate, or less cautious.

He suffered his fair pupil to become inexpressibly dear to him, before he discovered the precipice towards which he was moving under the direction of a blind and misplaced passion.

He was indeed utterly incapable of availing himself of the opportunities afforded by his situation, to involve his pupil in the toils of a mutual passion.

Honour and gratitude alike forbade such a line of conduct, even had it been consistent with the natural bashfulness, simplicity, and innocence of his disposition.