nted his admiration in exclamations and epithets in one, will, in
the end, want language to express all the secret longings, the fond
recollections, the deep repinings, that he retains for the other."

"Fairly reasoned, friend Melchior, and like an able umpire, leaving to
each his share of consolation and vanity. Herr Mueller, dost thou agree in
a decision that gives thy much vaunted Switzerland so formidable a rival?"

"Signore," answered the meek traveller, "I see enough to admire and love
in both, as is always the fact with that which God hath formed. This is a
glorious world for the happy, and most might be so, could they summon
courage to be innocent."

"The good Augustine will tell thee that this bears hard on certain points
of theology, in which our common nature is treated with but indifferent
respect. He that would continue innocent must struggle hard with his
propensities."

The stranger was thoughtful, and Sigismund; whose eye had been earnestly
riveted on his face, thought that it denoted more of peace then usual.

"Signore," rejoined the Herr Mueller, when time had been given for
reflection, "I believe it is good for us to know unhappiness. He that is
permitted too much of his own will gets to be headstrong, and, like the
overfed bullock, difficult to be managed; whereas, he who lives under the
displeasure of his fellow-creatures is driven to look closely into
himself, and comes, at last, to chasten his spirit by detecting its
faults."

"Art thou a follower of Calvin?" demanded the Augustine suddenly,
surprised to hear opinions so healthful in the mouth of a dissenter from
the true church.

"Father, I belong neither to Rome nor to the religion of Geneva. I am a
humble worshipper of God, and a believer in the blessed mediation of his
holy Son."

"How!--Where dost thou find such sentiments out of the pale of the
church?"

"In mine own heart. This is my temple, holy Augustine, and I never enter
it without adoration for its Almighty founder. A cloud was over the roof
of my father at my birth, and I have not been permitted to mingle much
with men; but the solitude of my life has driven me to study my own
nature, which I hope has become none the worse for the examination. I know
I am an unworthy and sinful man, and I hope others are as much better than
I as their opinions of themselves would give reason to think."

The words of the Herr Mueller, which lost none of their weight by his
unaffected and qu