"That you will have felt for us, my dear and kind friend, in our recent affliction, I do not doubt; few, I believe, of his early friends cherished so warmly as you did the recollection of my beloved and revered father. Time, and a sense of duty, have already, with us all, softened the bitterness of sorrow; but I do not wish to forget what I have lost, I love to dwell upon his memory; and, whenever we meet, I shall feel a consolatory pleasure in talking of him with you; for indeed, my dear W'take him for all in all, we ne'er shall look upon his like again.' He was in good truth the most princely-minded, the most highly gifted, the kindest, noblest, most strictly upright, simple-hearted human being I have ever seen.

"My dearest mother and sister had not only to pass alone through the last scenes of sickness and of death, but spent afterwards three weeks at Marchmont, by themselves, in the country, where every surrounding object was calculated to bring affliction still more home to them; for my mother, deluded by false hopes, and partly from kind though mistaken motives, would not allow me to be written to until a few hours before his death. That letter was a fortnight in reaching me, and not without toil I arrived in Quebec, passing a third time the Portage in eight days more. My mother's forgetfulness of herself and exertions for others were even in her astonishing.

"It has pleased Providence to give my mother many consolations, and though we have lost him to whom we all looked up for counsel and support, and referred alike every pleasure and every pain, still we have all much to be thankful for, and the respect and sorrow shown by the whole population of Quebec from the highest to the lowest, as by those who knew him in general, stand foremost among consoling reflections.

"As for myself, you will, I know, be glad to hear of my promotion; and I consider myself fortunate in these times to have got a full-pay company, though I regret leaving the 52nd.”

He had just obtained a company by purchase in the 76th regiment, then quartered in Jersey, having borrowed from near relations the necessary sum to enable him to make up the price of this step. From the time of the death of the Bishop of Quebec his yearly allowance had ceased, the bishop having spent in his diocese the whole of his income, and the small private fortune he possessed he had bequeathed to his wife and daughters. Armine now lived entirely on his pay as a captain, and scrupulously paid off the debt he had contracted in buying his company.

The regret of the 52nd regiment at losing young Mountain was extreme, and great exertions' were made by the officers to arrange some means by which he could procure a company in their corps, but it could not be accomplished, and he never rejoined that regiment. He always, however, looked upon the time spent with the 52nd as the foundation of his military experience, and when in the course of service he obtained command of a regiment, his aim ever was to introduce the high feeling of honour, the esprit de corps, and gentleman-like conduct, which had been fostered in that distinguished regiment.

Before leaving England, Armine saw his mother

and sister comfortably settled near his eldest brother; and by his devoted affection, judgment, and tenderness, smoothed many little difficulties and softened many trials that were unavoidable in the changed position in which Mrs. Mountain was now placed.

CHAPTER IV.

In the spring of 1826, Armine joined the 76th regiment in Jersey. Sir Colin Halkett was then Governor of the island, and the correct conduct and devotion to military duty of the young soldier soon won his esteem. Captain Mountain was often at Government House, and from the knowledge of his character then obtained, Sir Colin was induced, on becoming commander-in-chief in Bombay, some years later, to offer him the post of military secretary.

The following letter to his mother gives a sufficient insight to his habits and feelings at this time:

"My beloved Mother,

"Jersey, July, 1826.

"It appears to me so long since I have had any conversation with you, that I will not let another post go out without writing to you, although this is a busy day with us. We have had muster and inspection of kits this morning, and are going out ball-firing this afternoon, and I am, moreover, by no means in a brilliant humour. Owing principally to my not being mounted, but partly also to sundry engagements of business or of pleasure, I do not very often go into the country, and have as yet made none of those pedestrian rambles which I projected. The day before yesterday, being invited to join a pic-nic

at St. Ouen, about seven miles from hence, I hired a rattle-trap with the doctor, who being called to the sick, left me to drive out alone. The road lay through the valley of St. Peter's, the most picturesque in the island. The fields of waving corn, ripe for the sickle, struck me with equal surprise and dismay-scarcely conscious of the arrival of summer, I beheld the approach of autumn. I thought myself in a dream, and asked myself, with mingled regret and shame, how the time had been spent ; what good I had done; how I had enjoyed the blessings given me; what intercourse I had held with those I love? The internal answer to these questions was by no means satisfactory; and I have scarcely yet shaken off the feeling of melancholy surprise with which I awoke as it were, and found that day after day had imperceptibly stolen away, until another of the best summers of

my life had flown, without aught to mark the progress of time—without an event for memory to cling to—without a consciousness of some self-improvement - which can alone console us for the rapid departure of life's best days.

"The house of Sir Thomas Le Breton, LieutenantBaillie of the island, is the one I most frequently visit ; it is more of an English house, on y est plus à son aise ; and their parties are pleasanter than any others. We had a pic-nic a few days ago, to which they gave me the means of vectitation; that is, a very nice English tilbury, with the younger son, just returned from South America, as a companion. We breakfasted at Pontac, an isolated inn in a pretty bay on the sea-shore, and then proceeded to Mont Orgueil Castle, where we dined. It is supposed that the Romans had a stronghold upon this rock. The present castle, however, is evidently gothic, though of