*less she was a gay, sprightly lass, with the

true Secederian articles of faith and practice. If she was long unmarried, it was not for want of good will; often did she make the attempt, and often did she fail; but at last she succeeded. Having for many years set her cap at man after man, she, in her forty-seventh spring, became the spouse of Mr. Nicknack. From that time she has taken to religion in its Calvinistic forms, doctrines, and adjuncts; is a zealous votary of free grace; and, both in theory and practice, testifies her conviction of the efficacy of faith, without the trouble of works. Besides studying the gospel, her favourite pastime is reading novels^[1]. These oc-*

1. ↑ To elderly matrons, who in their youth had given way to sentimental sensibility, stories of love and gallantry are sadly fascinating: they are, to use the language of Ossian, the memory of joys that are past, pleasing, yet melancholy to the soul.