employment; but like many men of good understanding whom I have met with in a life now not a very short one, he fell into the mistake of supposing that commercial business is so simple and inartificial as to allow any man of common sense and common prudence, to embark in it with certain profit. He inquired for and soon found "a highly respectable man that wanted a partner with a few thousand, who might take an active part, or not, in* the concern, as he might feel inclined." We all know in our profession, that such "opportunities" are to be found daily by the score; but my poor friend was not an attorney, and had no attorney at his elbow. He took the precaution, however, of employing an accountant to examine the "opportunity" books; and the accountant overhauled waste-book, and billbook, and pass-book, and ledger, and all the double entry and other Sybilline leaves of trading mystery, till his brains were addled, if he ever had any. Of course he reported all right; and in an evil hour, Harris invested his little capital in "the concern." He was not long in discovering that his partner was a "very clever fellow," and that he himself knew nothing:

hence, with the natural modesty of a welleducated man, and with the natural confidence of an inexperienced one, he left all to the management of his "very clever" partner, and shrunk back into the station of a mere counting-house clerk: the transition to a sleeping, and eventually to an absentee partner, was a matter of course. From this slumber he was abruptly awakened about two years from its commencement, by finding that his " very clever" and very active partner had taken shipping one fine morning for America! No sooner was it known, than claims came pouring in from all directions: goods supplied on commission, goods consigned from abroad, all abruptly found owners; but neither the owners nor Harris could discover the goods: bills accepted and bills dishonored fell from the skies like leaves in October; but the consideration for them, or the funds to meet them, were alike evanescent. Harris found himself in a labyrinth of liability, a perfect wilderness of paper and arithmetic, from which extrication appeared hopeless-ruin certain and irretrievable. This was his position when he first applied to me. Amazed, bewildered, and lost, the very excite

That

ment of extreme misfortune, and hourly perplexity, at first kept him active and alive. I called his creditors together, explained to them Lis situation, begged their indulgence for time to look about us, and subject to certain angry curses, and still more provoking costs incurred by carrion attorneys on the principle of first come first served, I succeeded in getting hostile proceedings suspended for a month. month enabled me to sift many of the most clamorous demands, and as is usual in such cases, I found the most clamorous, the most equivocal. I silenced half-a-dozen by gentle intimations of partnership liability arising out of their dealings, others I disposed of on the ground of fraud, and I began to see my way clearly to a decent dividend, provided affairs were wound up under a trust deed. This was all satisfactory; but poor IIarris, after the first storm had subsided, became nervous, agitated, and helpless, as he was ignorant, as a child. He was with me daily; but it was only to bemoan himself, and ask unmeaning questions, or tender unavailing service. Advice, consolation, encouragement, were all thrown away; "he cared little for his money-he despised his

creditors - he had no doubt of success in some other calling; but what would become of his character and fair fame?" and to that extent did he carry this morbid sensibility, that when at length I prevailed on all the bona fide creditors to come into the proposed arrangement, he defeated it entirely by peremptorily refusing to execute any deed that might empower the trustees to litigate the doubtful claims! There was a mystery about this pusillanimity that I could not penetrate, but it was soon explained; he had a very sufficient reason for deprecating publicity! Bona fide creditors, however, are not men to be trifled with; when Harris per-` emptorily refused to ratify the arrangement which I had promised on his behalf, a commission was soon sued out; the appearance of his name in the gazette brought to light, at the same time that it for ever terminated an engagement which he had made with the daughter of an eminent merchant-a worthless, though amiable woman (for, alas! I have not lived forty years in the world, without learning that amiability may consist with utter baseness), and Harris became bankrupt and brokenhearted the same day. Had he possessed more

firmness, I still could have brought him through for a time he was quite docile, from mere despondency. As the truth became known, hostility gave place to commiseration, and his certificate would have been signed with alacrity; but a circumstance happened which threatened yet deeper disgrace. His villainous partner was the trustee of funds that he had appropriated; it became necessary, for the protection of the estate, to try the question at law, whether these funds had been applied to the use of the partnership; the bare suspicion of such a fraud was too much for my poor friend, and he died before the trial took place. The lady to whom he was betrothed, soon found a wealthier husband, and not long after her marriage, found also a more agrecable lover! but whether she too has buried her more merited sorrow in the grave, I know not. I saw her years afterwards, caressing with fondness a child that did not bear its mother's name; she looked at me with an expression of eager, yet retreating anxiety, and tears were in her eyes; but I dreaded retrospect not less than she could do, and we passed in silence. I have never seen or heard of her since.