redit of so respectable a firm, it is our duty to state it, that
the rumor affecting their solvency has been mistaken for another of an
almost equally painful character connected with domestic life, which,
by the unhappy attachment of ****** to a young gentleman of a different
creed, and proverbially loyal principles, has thrown the whole family
into confusion and distress.'

"These, my dear Spinageberd, are the two paragraphs, literally
transcribed, from the True Blue, and I do not think it necessary to
add any comment to them. On tomorrow I have resolved to attend the
Dissenting Chapel, a place of worship where I have never yet been, and
I am anxious, at all events, to see what the distinctions are between
their mode of worship and that of the Church of Englandism. Besides,
to admit the truth, I am also anxious to see how this Solomon--this
religious attorney, whose person I well know--will deport himself under
circumstances which assuredly would test the firmness of most men,
unless strongly and graciously sustained, as they say themselves."

CHAPTER XVI.--Solomon in Trouble

--Is Publicly Prayed for--His Gracious Deliverance, and Triumph--An
Orangeman's View of Protestantism and of Popery--Phil's Discretion and
Valor.

"Monday, half-past eleven o'clock.

"My Dear Spinageberd:

"In pursuance of my intention, I attended the Castle Cumber
Meeting-house yesterday, and must confess that I very much admire the
earnest and unassuming simplicity of the dissenting ritual. They have
neither the epileptical rant nor goatish impulses of the Methodists,
nor the drowsy uniformity from which not all the solemn beauty of the
service can redeem the Liturgy of the Church of England. In singing, the
whole congregation generally take a part--a circumstance which, however
it may impress their worship with a proof of sincerity, certainly adds
nothing to its melody.

"The paragraph of 'Susanna and the' Elder' having taken wind, little
Solomon, as they call him, attended his usual seat, with a most unusual
manifestation of grace and unction beaming from his countenance. He
was there early; and before the service commenced he sat with his hands
locked in each other, their palms up, as was natural, but his eyes cast
down, in peaceful self-communion, as was evident from the divine and
ecstatic smile with which, from time to time, he cast up his enraptured
eyes to heaven, and sighed--sighed with an excess of happiness which was