be mine, I should not be sorry to have much less, and
therefore less responsibility."

"Indeed, my dear Campbell, imperfect as we all are, I do not believe
that many could have made a better use of it than you did."

"I thought so at the time, my dear," replied Mr Campbell, "but since it
has been lost to me, I have often thought that I might have done more
good with it. But the fact is, my dear children, there is nothing so
dangerous to our eternal welfare as great wealth; it tends to harden the
heart by affording the means of constant self-indulgence:--under such
circumstances, man is apt to become selfish, easily satisfied with his
own works, and too proud to see his errors. Did you observe in the
Litany, which I read at this morning's service, how very appropriately
is inserted the prayer for deliverance under the perils of wealth?

"`In all time of our tribulation, in all time of our _wealth_, in the
hour of death, and in the day of judgment, good Lord deliver us.'

"Examine this, my dear children: in all time of our tribulation,--that
is in poverty and distress, and perhaps famishing from want (and in few
positions are people so incited to crime), _then_ in all time of our
wealth, evidently and distinctly placing wealth as more dangerous to the
soul's welfare than the extremest poverty and its accompanying
temptations; and observe, only exceeded by the most critical of all
dangerous positions, when all has been done and nothing can be undone,--
the hour of death, followed by the day of judgment." Mr Campbell
ceased speaking, and there was a pause for a minute or two in the
conversation, when Mary Percival said, "What, then, my dear uncle, do
you consider as the most enviable position in life?"

"I consider a moderate independence as the most enviable; not occupied
in trade, as the spirit of barter is too apt to make us bend to that
which is actually fraud. I should say, a country gentleman living on
his own property and among his own tenants, employing the poor around
him, holds a position in which he has the least temptation to do wrong,
and the most opportunities of doing good."

"I agree with you, my dear Campbell," said his wife; "and yet how few
are satisfied even with that lot."

"Because the craving after wealth is so strong, that everyone would have
more than he hath, and few men will be content. This desire of
aggrandisement overcomes and masters us; and yet, what can be more
absurd than to wi