THE

ABBE OF ST. LO.

He who is accustomed to anticipate the occurrence of circumstances in which he may bless his fellows, will seldom have long to wait, ere he obtains an opportunity of communicating of his heaven of sympathy and benevolence.

One morning, in the summer of 1821, I seated myself in that part of a diligence called the cabriolet, partly for the sake of avoiding the crowded and unpleasant interior, and partly for the purpose of enjoying the prospects of the journey. This was at

the ancient and grotesque city of Rouen. I had comfortably placed myself on one side of the seat, and there, for a considerable time, I remained perched above the noisy bustling crowd which surrounded the vehicle, undisturbed by all its clamour, and appreciating, like a true British traveller, the various scenes of turbulence, and the diversified features and gestures of the multitude around.

By and by, however, Monsieur le Conducteur handed up a compagnion du voyage. She was a respectable young woman of thoughtful and interesting mien; and immediately afterwards ascended a man of middle age, but who presented to my mind no impression beyond that conveyed by the voluble naivté of an ordinary Frenchman.

My fellow-travellers, aware, I suppose, of the unsociable and sulky habits of an Englishman towards strangers, had waited for an observation from myself, before they would break in upon what they would imagine my native gloom. How it was, I cannot say, but nothing had occurred to my observation,

The

sufficiently remarkable to induce me to address myself to either of them, until we had passed the commodious promenades overshadowed with luxuriant foliage, denominated the boulevards; at length arriving beyond the ranges of trees which had intercepted the prospect on either hand, which they do for a considerable distance past the suburbs, I turned instinctively to my companions, and expressed my delight, at the interesting landscape which opened before us. river Seine meandred, through a vale which rises from its banks in a gentle ascent, and which exhibited all the beauty which nature combined with art could display. change from the turmoil of a densely populated city, to the tranquil and soul-inspiring prospect which lay before me, was such as at once to expand the more etherial sentiments of the heart. I felt a more than ordinary willingness to be content with my situation, and to communicate of the rising ideas, and of the sympathizing feelings induced in my bosom.

The

Our conversation had not been of long

continuance, before I learned from the simple and unsuspecting communications of the female who sat by my side, from whence she came, and what was the object of her journey.

She had been sent on a commission by her aged uncle, in search of a copy of a book, which neither he, nor herself had ever seen. A book, thank God, common and readily enough to be obtained in Britain, but a book, rare and of seldom occurrence in most parts of the continent. She was in search of a

Bible.

No copy of that sacred volume was to be found in her native town of St Lo; and her uncle anxious, deeply anxious to obtain one, had furnished her with means to travel to Bayeux, to Caen, and if necessary to Rouen, to purchase a copy of the Protestant version of the Holy Scriptures. She had made search in all these places, and wonderful to say, without success. Copies, it is

true, although few, of the Vulgate, or Roman Catholic version, had been offered, but she had been charged to be precise as to the one she would obtain. Had it not been,

that I had myself visited nearly all the booksellers' depositories in each of these cities, I should have marvelled at the fact of her disappointment; but having had occasion, in the exercise of my penchant for all that is curious and rare in bibliography, to examine every book-store which I could discover, I had already learned the doleful truth of the dearth of the word of God. *

As it was my intention to spend several days in Caen, I there bade my interesting fellow-traveller adieu, with the promise of accepting her invitation to call upon her uncle as I passed through St Lo.

* "I have just returned from a tour on the Continent of Europe, during which I chiefly visited Roman Catholic countries. I had often heard, what to me appeared surprising accounts of the scarcity of the Scriptures in several parts of the Continent, and directed my inquiries therefore, so as to enable me to ascertain the truth or falsehood of the report. In fifty towns, I have gone into the book-stores, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Bible could be found in them; and, with only two exceptions, my search was fruitless, ttll 1 arrived in Germany. In one of these two instances in which I met with the Holy Scriptures, one copy was in ten folio volumes. The other copy which I dis. covered, contained only the four Evangelists, and was in Latin, with an Italian translation."-Rev. S. E. Dwight, in a Speech at the London Bible Society Anniversary, 1825.