Beatrice.

BEATRICE .

BY THE AUTHOR OF THE " OLD OLD STORY , " ADVENTURES OF DON PASQUALE , " ETC . CHAPTER I . "YX 7 TIEN I AA'as looking OA * er my " Sketch Book , '' like " Geoffrey Crayon , Gentleman , "

' ' of olden time , to see hoiv I could best help the Masonic Magazine , I came upon the " jottings , " if somewhat crossed out and blurred , Avhich make up the following truthful little narrative . I tell it , as I find it told , in much simplicity of diction , and in all the reality of veritable pathos , as one of those little chapters in the history of the human heart which always haA'e abiding interest , come what may , for the thoughtful and the sympathetic .

I fear me , that those Avho take up with the high-spiced tales of the hour will , however , hardly be pleased or improved by it : " Heaven save the mark ! " I have no tale of villany to unfold , to startle the gentle and the innocent . No monsters in disguise stalk over my humble scene , sombre and sanguinary , in slouched hats , or Avith scoAvling faces . I haA'e no she-devil in petticoats to fri ghten us all with her pranks ; and I do not pretend to record the feats , the conversation , or the

elegant manners of fascinating ticket-ol ' -leave heroes , dissipated roues , or heartless SAA'ells , who ruin you , their Avrves , their parents , their children , their friends , Avith consummate grace and fashionable savoir fttire . No , mine is a very humble little story , " ower true ; " in that it represents faithfully alike what is going on amongst us all day by day , iu the society in which Ave ourselves live contented and flourishing . As a story , the pages which follow this

Avill appear , no doubt , humdrum to many , far too matter-of-fact to more ; and if that be the case , if they neither serve to amuse , to instruct , to please , to edify , why then , in the name of all that ' s prosaic and uninteresting , let the readers of our Masonic Magazine turn over the Avell printed contribution alike Avith a yawn of relief and a sigh of satisfaction .

It beauty AVIII " have none of them , if wit looks doAvn upon them , if intelligence finds in them " nothing worth reading , " they must be relegated to that obscurity which is perhaps their proper position , to that forgetfulness which is so often the lot of all things and persons human ! I once sojourned , for a space of time , in a comfortable toAvn of this good land of ours Avhich was noted for three things , —an old church , a UBAV corporation , and A * ery pretty young Avomen . Where that charming- locale isI cannot and dare not tell my

, readers ; for I know enough of some of my Brethren to be aware that , Avere they to be able to find out the way to it in faithful BradshaAV , I might innocently be the cause of much suffering to susceptible bosoms and gentle hearts . Well , in that same town I sojourned for a space , as I said before , and made the acquaintance of man }* of its inhabitants . It AA'as one of those fcnvns , common still in EnglandAA'here the people for the most part are AA ell-to-doindependentand quite

, , , contented Avith their lot . Their forefathers had lived in the old place , or the same home for generations : and , as they' had all the enjoyments of civilized life , little to them did it matter AA'hat people said or did elseAidiere . A large portion of them had never loft , and never intended to leaA r e , their native county ; and London AA'as still to them a place of distance and awe , a place to hear sad tales about—a place to moralize upon , as the old clergyman always did , when ho called it the " great and sinful Babel , "