The two former blessings of the carnal life are not incompatible with canonisation; but St.Anthony has shown that women, however angelic, are not precisely that order of angels that saints may safely commune with.
If, therefore, he ever yielded to temptations of a sexual nature, it was with profound secrecy and caution; nor did his right hand know what his left hand did.
This gentleman had married a woman much older than himself, but her fortune had been one of the necessary stepping-stones in his career.

His exemplary conduct towards this lady, ugly as well as old, had done much towards increasing the odour of his sanctity.

She died of an ague, and the widower did not shock probabilities by affecting too severe a grief.
"The Lord's will be done!" said he; "she was a good woman, but we should not set our affections too much upon His perishable creatures!" This was all he was ever heard to say on the matter.

He took an elderly gentlewoman, distantly related to him, to manage his house, and sit at the head of the table; and it was thought not impossible, though the widower was past fifty, that he might marry again.
Such was the gentleman called in by Mrs.Leslie, who, of the same religious opinions, had long known and revered him, to decide the affairs of Alice and of Conscience.
As this man exercised no slight or fugitive influence over Alice Darvil's destinies, his counsels on the point in discussion ought to be fairly related.
"And now," said Mrs.Leslie, concluding the history, "you will perceive, my dear sir, that this poor young creature has been less culpable than she appears.

From the extraordinary proficiency she has made in music, in a time that, by her own account, seems incredibly short; I should suspect her unprincipled betrayer must have been an artist--a professional man.