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a few" from the ruby lips of the blushing belles of the dale. To close the day, a tremendous supper smoked on the board, and with different amusements, assisted with potent draughts of liquor, we kept up the feast until what was deemed an extraordinary late hour-it was twelve o'clock. I was then conducted to the antique chamber appropriated for strangers, and left alone. I laid me down to sleep, but it was in vain; my fevered head, and distempered brain felt the effects of the debauch too strongly for some time I tossed and tumbled about on the bed, till, finding the hope of repose fruitless, I determined to rise and enjoy the sweet refreshing dawn. Forthwith I dressed and went to the window, which opened on a beautiful prospect. The whole valley was before me; and the gray clouds, even while I gazed, began to assume the lovely tinge reflected from the first ray of the rising sun; gradually the light became more distinct and perceptible, till at length the mighty monarch of the East burst forth in all his effulgent beauty," rejoicing as a giant to run his course.” The mist which till this instant had covered the mountain's brow, now slowly wreathed in columns, and dispersed before the glorious luminary, who drew aside, as it were, the grand curtain of nature, and presented to my admiring eyes a clear and perfect view of the surrounding scenery. The tops of the trees, and the heights of the loftiest eminences, were gilded by the earliest beams of the "God of day," whilst the spray arising from the headlong dashing of a rude cascade glittered in his rays. I heard the barking of the watchdog, and soon afterwards beheld the shepherds unpenning their flocks, and driving them slowly to their respective districts: this sight strangely affected me; to them it was the commonest incidents of life, while it transported me to the distant and fabled plains of Arcadia, and brought on a train of feelings and sensations always so dear and seducing to the youthful heart, that I was afraid to dismiss it. I still continued to gaze, it is true, and even more intently than before, on the delightful variety and unequalled magnificence of the scene; but the eyes of my mind were on other objects, and far different thoughts engaged my attention than those which had recently occupied it. Long and tedious years of disappointment and vexation have dissipated the golden visions which then floated in my entranced imagination, and have stripped the heavenly enchant

The

ments of all their dazzling and transcendant loveliness. picture still exists, but it has lost all its charms; its brilliancy is obscured, and its soft and shadowy beauty vanished, without leaving one cheering beam to enlighten its dull reality.

I was prevented from dwelling longer on my romantic fancies by a loud knocking at my door, and, on opening it, found the farmer with his dog and gun, ready prepared for an excursion on the moors, where he invited me to accompany him; we went, and had some excellent sport. The only inconvenience I sustained was from the intolerable weight of my gun, which I verily believe to have been made in the early part of the last century, and most certainly before the time when the genteel light fowling-pieces at present in use were invented. On complaining a little of the burthen on my shoulder, I could perceive mine host's estimation of me to be somewhat lessened, and unfortunately I had nearly ruined myself entirely in his regard, by intimating, after six hours' good exercise among the hills, several times up to the knees in heather, and not unfrequently the same depth in water, that I should have no particular objection to return the nearest way home. He asked me quickly if I was tired; and, by his contemptuous tone and air, I perceived that my reputation wholly depended on my saying "no," which I instantly replied, with all the fierceness of which I was capable; and by way of removing the unfavorable impression of my former request, I forthwith strenuously urged our proceeding for a couple of hours longer; this was the time stipulated for the good man's return, and he therefore readily assented. We resumed our sport. I shall never forget the fatigue I endured, and can only attribute my capability of supporting it from the circumstance of my constantly inhaling the re-invigorating air of the mountains. At last, loaded with game, we turned again to the dale, and arrived just as the anxious dame was waiting our approach to serve up dinner: I could not help remarking, that the farmer was as fresh as if he had only taken a short morning's walk, while I dragged my limbs after me in a complete state of exhaustion. It would be tiresome to enter into a further detail of the occurrences of the day, which would only be a repetition of the preceding. Three days I remained with this hospitable people; and on the fourth, when I quitted them, I turned my horse's head with sadness from the vale, believing that I had

left behind me the only relics of true old English independence, hospitality, and virtue, undebased by association, and uncontaminated by the world.

M.

THE TAX-GATHERER.

We have somewhere heard or read of a laudable custom existing in some foreign states, by which all the public executioners are gathered into one family compact, and from which stock government always looks for and meets with a due supply of rope-men, and wheel-men, making of the younger branches, turnkeys and assistants. It is a most wise ordination-a splendid invention to blunt the naughty prejudices of the world-to make the otherwise sufferers smirk and whistle in the sour, hard-lined face of public opinion. Thus, hangmen are great and invulnerable in their connexions; each may trace a long line of ancestry." Moreover, he has a living world of his own, ample enough to supply all the wants of mutual recognizance, sympathy and praise, which poor human nature, whether breaking stones in the highway, or cracking filberts in a regal hall, desires and pines for. With what delicate, yet peculiar care, must the education of the future hangmen be directed; what parental lessons on tender-heartedness and the locality of the jugular, must be needful, in order to sustain the renown of the house, and to make, as Dryden has it, a gentleman "die sweetly." How ideas of self-importance must grow up with the young rogues! how they must leer at and speculate on the unhanged part of the community! perhaps some little Caligula in corduroy wishing, in all the yearnings of early genius, that the whole township had but one neck. How complacently these puny varlets must play at marbles in the path-way of a field of hempseed! what significant looks they may send after the passengers! Can any one doubt the benefit, both political and social, of such constant intermarryings of the families of these humble branches of the executive? We think not.

It is now, perhaps, high time that we speak of our taxgatherer; we have, indeed, from the first, been making an indirect, crab-like advance to him: some men are not to be run at full butt; and, we think, no man less so-here we put it