stupendous
region, and he was awe-stricken--as who shall not be?--by what he there
beheld. He worshipped the unseen power, so does this man; he believed in
Revelation, so does he; but with him--it is the revelation which is made
in that wondrous firmament above, and in the earth beneath, and in the
glories that surround us. What knowledge had Newton of geology? what of
chemistry? what of the facts which they have brought to light?"

"Little perhaps--yet"----

"My good friend," continued the surgeon, interrupting me. "In the days
of your grand _philosophe_--would that he were alive now!--there were no
physical phenomena to reduce an ancient system of cosmogony to a mere
absurdity--no palpable evidences of the existence of this earth
thousands of years prior to its formation--you perceive?"

"I hear you, sir," I answered, gaining courage; "but I should, indeed,
be sorry to adopt your views."

"Of course you would!" said the baron, curling his inauspicious lip,
and giving expression to a feeling that looked very like one of contempt
or ridicule. "You come from the land of melancholy and bile--where your
holidays are fasts, and your day of rest is one of unmitigated toil. You
would be sorry to forego, no doubt, the prospect of everlasting torture
and eternal condemnation. Mr Z---- is too far advanced for you, I am
afraid."

At this moment there was a knock at the door leading into the
bed-chamber. The servant-man of the baron presented himself, and
announced a patient.

"Admit him," said the surgeon, and at the same time I rose to depart.

"Adieu!" said the baron with another unpleasant smile; "we shall be very
good friends notwithstanding your piety. I shall look after you.
Remember six o'clock to-morrow morning at the Hotel Dieu. Be punctual,
and do you hear, Mr Walpole, think of me in your prayers."

This last expression, accompanied as it was by a very significant look,
amounted to a positive insult, and I quitted the library and house of
the baron, fully resolved never to set foot in either of them again.
What an extraordinary delusion did poor H----labour under, in respect of
the character of his friend! Here was a Mentor to form the opinions and
regulate the conduct of a young gentleman stepping into life! Great as
were his talents and acquirements, and much as I might lose by
neglecting to cultivate his friendship, I resigned gladly every
advantage rather than purchase the greatest, with the sacrifice of th