began by such petty pilferings and small outrages as were scarcely perceived, or speedily overlooked. But it was not in his nature to stop at these; and not a twelvemonth had elapsed, when, after one particular occasion for which, in consequence of his misdoings, his host had ventured to call him to a severe account, he quitted the house, abstracting at the same time such articles as were most easy of removal. The good folks were too glad to be rid of such an inmate at any price, to make any serious stir about his departure; besides that, for their own sakes, remembering what they had done in the face of the law, they judged it more prudent as well as humane, to be silent. Fate, however, had willed that they should suffer still more for their misplaced compassion; and thus Black Tom, having speedily associated himself with others of a like spirit, recommenced his quondam trade of daily plunder and nightly marauding; and, in the fulness of his gratitude, soon marked out his late protectors for his present prey.

"Being so well aware, as he naturally was, of their habits and movements, he was of course enabled to shape his plan of attack to the best advantage; and there is no doubt that their property, and if necessary their lives, would have fallen the sacrifice, but for an act of his own, arising out of his revengeful nature. Accident just then brought him in contact with his old enemy, the Witch of the Wood, and, suspicion having fallen on her of being by her spells the cause of a foul disease amongst the cattle, then prevalent in the neighbourhood, Black Tom, in order to ensure her punishment, having first disguised himself as a wayfaring traveller, came voluntarily forward, and deposed to the midnight spells and sorceries on her part, to which, as he swore, he had by chance been witness. His statement was so clear, and his interference seemed so completely the result only of a kindly feeling for the sufferers, that it was readily believed, and the reported witch was sentenced by the purblind old magistrate who had heard the case in his own parlour, to be severely whipped at Donnington Cross. The beadle was about to remove her for that purpose, when thrown off his guard by his extreme joy, her accuser stepped up to her, and whispered in her ear, in his own natural voiceSo, mother! they've ordered you your whipping at Donnington

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Cross.'

"Ha!' exclaimed the prisoner at once recognising her inveterate foe, 'tis Black Tom; I know him now, in spite of his sandy wig.' "Black Tom!' cried the feeble old magistrate.

"Black Tom!' echoed the burly beadle.

"Then,' continued his worship, the devil has not yet got his own: seize on the villain and hold him fast.'

In

"I will,' replied the functionary; but before he could put his ponderous weight in movement, Tom had burst through the glazed door, that opened on the lawn, and throwing off as soon as he could the heavy driving-coat which formed his chief disguise, he darted with lightning speed over hedge and ditch, and had soon distanced all pursuit. tent upon the one desire of securing the flying criminal, no one heeded her who had so lately been the object of universal attention, and she had just the sense to profit by the turn things had taken, and to withdraw herself altogether from that by which she had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Not to throw a chance away, she, however, very quietly took up the coat which Black Tom had abandoned, never dis

daining to accept of what might be useful even from an enemy. She found on a cursory inspection that its appearance without was not of a very promising nature, but, like Hamlet, it had that within which passeth show; for, on a more careful examination of the pockets, to which indeed, her usual habits naturally led her, she found among some other papers of inferior import, one by which her attention was in a moment riveted. This was the plan entered into between Tom and two confederates, with whose names she was unacquainted, to rob that very night the house of his former protectors, situated some miles from the spot where she then was, and the plunder of which it was agreed should be shared equally among them. This intention, however, having by these extraordinary means become known to the Witch of the Wood, she, with all speed, repaired to the dwelling of the devoted father and son, and in all haste, warned them that in a few hours it would be attacked by thieves. They were instantly for seeking aid from the civil power, or at least from their friends; but this their informant would not hear of. "They are but three,' said she.

"But three!' was the reply. How know you that?'

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No matter,' she rejoined. What I know, and not how I know it, is all that you need mind; I tell you they are but 'three;' and then drawing herself up to her full height, she added indignantly, are not we the like number?'

"Those she was addressing seemed somewhat astonished to find that the old woman thus included herself in the number of defenders; but their wonder was much greater when she thus proceeded―

"Talk of calling constables and neighbours, indeed! What for, unless it may be, to listen to Black Tom's story of who came between him and the just sentence of the law, last Lammas-tide?'

"The father and son stared at each other in utter amazement, for this was the first time they had ever heard a suspicion breathed that they were suspected of having had any hand in the removal of the body from the gallows.

At length, 'Black Tom,' said the father, 'is he not dead?' "Not dead!' exclaimed the visitor, with a tone and emphasis which it seemed to them they had heard before.

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And if he was cut down on the night he was hanged, what had we to do with that?' asked the son, and then, with an attempt at a searching glance as if to discover how much the reputed witch really knew, and how much she only pretended to know, he added—' we did not save him.'

"Save him!' ejaculated the hag; and in an instant, both father and son recognised the peculiar voice and the self-same words which they had heard with such terror on the night of the execution. Their looks fell to the ground, while the hag, regarding the pair for a few moments with the most contemptuous composure as she leaned on her long staff, thus spoke :

"I tell you no list'ner need be at a loss,

For an echo there lives around Donnington Cross;

And though what was done there to no one were known
Yet Donnington gibbet would soon have its own.'

"What mean you, mother?' asked the young man anxiously.
"You shall know time enough,' answered she quickly. At present

there is business to be done; put out your lights, bar your doors and windows, look to your firelocks, and above all, call up a mnaly courage in your hearts. Come, my warning's worth a dram at least, and we weak women need something to support us when we are to do the work of men. With brandy you brought the dead culprit to life, and now 'tis brandy shall help the live culprit to death;-there!' continued she, drinking off the full measure they gave her, and now, I say once more-to business.'

"This female commander now disposed her small forces to the greatest advantage, and then all was silent, until the hour arrived at which she well knew the attempt was to be made. It was a bright moonlight, and, as the first footsteps were heard treading the narrow footway that separated the dwelling from the high road, the besieged, from the concealed corner in which they had stationed themselves, took deliberate aim, and fired on their assailants. A loud cry was heard, and one fell, the other two, without the delay of an instant, betaking themselves to flight. The party within, immediately descending, approached the prostrate man, and quickly discovered it to be Black Tom himself. The wound had taken effect about the knee, but being only from duck-shot, was clearly not of a dangerous nature; and, lifting him up with too little caution, the father very nearly fell a sacrifice to his heedless haste, for the villain, who was armed with a knife of formidable dimensions, seized a favourable moment and struck at him with all his vengeance. A loud cry, however, from the witch who had followed them closely down, gave notice to the son, who, with a heavy blow, felled the miscreant to the earth. Then, wresting the knife from him, he would in his rage have put an end at once to his crimes and his life, but his arm was at that moment stayed by the tone that had before urged it on.

"Hold! hold!' said she, the Fates must be fulfilled. He is not to die by lead nor steel, but by oaken board and twisted cord. Out at once with your cart, harness your fastest horse, and bring your strongest rope; give me the knife in this hand, and let me get the other well about the caitiff's throat: nay, never writhe and wriggle, man!' continued she, as her victim vainly endeavoured to release himself from her savage grasp. Your neck must be grappled tighter than this before your breath is quite squeezed out.'

"She now seemed so completely the master-spirit of the whole scene, that the other parties appeared only as subordinate agents, to do her bidding.

"Accordingly, the vehicle was quickly brought out, the prisoner fast bound and placed in it; then, all three mounting, they drove over hill and through vale as she directed them, until, by a bye-way known to few but herself, they suddenly came upon Donnington Cross. Here they stopped; and in the shortest time in which it could be accomplished, the culprit was, in spite of his cries and struggles, once more fastened to the very beam from which, not a twelvemonth before he had been cut down; and the very same hands that then had rescued him, now themselves did the work of death upon him!"

LOVE'S GIFTS.

BY MRS. C. B. WILSON.

WE'VE learn'd to live without each other,
Tho' once we thought the lesson vain ;
The pangs of wounded pride I'll smother,
And send thee back Love's gifts again!
First, take the chain, whose links are broken
(Like our affection's sever'd cord);
Once 'twas of firmest love the token,

But proved as frail as-woman's word!
Take next the ring, that bound me to thee
(It ne'er shall clasp my finger more);
Light were Love's bonds when first I knew thee,
But now that silken slav'ry's o'er!

Take, too, the lute, whose strings have spoken
An echo to love's gentle song;

Now, like thy faith, those strings are broken,
And discord dwells their notes among!

Take back thine image, falsely smiling
With the same look as in the hour,
When first, Love's sunny light beguiling,
My dazzled senses own'd thy power!
Take back the tress of silken braiding,
Its glossy texture charms not now;
Take back each spell Love's falsehood aiding,
The whisper'd word and murmur'd vow!
Yes! take all back! each bauble treasured
Like relics, in some sainted shrine;
By gifts alone, if truth were measured,
I had not mourn'd the loss of thine!
We've learn'd to live without each other,
Tho' once we deem'd the lesson vain;
The pangs of grief Love's pride shall smother,
And smiles shall light my brow again!

SCENES IN THE LIFE OF AN ADVENTURER.

THE outbreak of that Revolution which the French have named " the glorious three days," was just as violent at St. Germain's as in the good city of Paris. A young Englishman, named Henry Falconer, and his friend, the Vicomte Léon de P-, a royalist officer in a regiment of Lancers, were taken prisoners by the mob; their lives, which were in imminent peril from the infuriated canaille, were preserved by the promptitude of the Mayor, and the young men were conveyed to the prison of the town. As the offence of which they were guilty had nothing in it very serious, and was one, moreover, for which they were not likely to attempt to escape, the honest concierge allowed them the whole range of the prison, never shutting them up but at night. This consisted of two wings, five or six large rooms in each, a square court, and a hideous

line of underground dungeons beneath it. There was also another wing appropriated to justice business, designated as "The Audience Chamber," where petty disputes were settled, and the residence of the concierge and his family, these our friends were not allowed to visit.

The room assigned to Léon and his companion was a large, square, stone apartment, with one small door, and two middle-sized grated windows; the walls were weeping damp, and the concierge told them that there had not been a fire in the chamber for more than twenty years; there was a stove, two small beds, a large round table, and three chairs, to which the old concierge politely added a fourth, "in case," as he said," any other friend besides himself should choose at the same time to visit them." On inquiring if the prison contained any other company than themselves, they were informed that there was a young soldier, a captain of infantry, who had lost his rank for disobedience, a Parisian cockney, and a lady, and that it was likely they would remain longer than usual, as the gens-d'armes, the usual escort of the prisoners, were either beaten and skulking about to hide themselves, or all murdered by the people, who thus naturally resented the infamous and brutal manner in which, during their prosperity, they had exercised the authority delegated to them." The troops cannot be spared as yet," said the old man, so that I suppose you will all wait here till the revolution be entirely ended, which, as everything is to be entirely changed, will certainly take some time."

Everything is to be entirely changed ?" repeated Harry Falconer. "No, my good friend, only the persons: they will still have a King, I suppose; only the same brow will not wear the crown; they will only modify, I presume, not change the form of government ?" "O! we intend to rectify everything," said the old man; " and to prove it, we shall begin to reckon from this month-the past is to be annihilated."

"I should think you would find that somewhat difficult," observed the Englishman.

"Not at all, Sir, not at all," and then, with the overweening, but characteristic vanity of the nation, the old man added, " Everything is possible to Frenchmen!"

In the morning Léon rose early to take a turn in the court, but Falconer, who had received several severe bruises at the hands of the patriots, and who had in consequence suffered during the night from fever, kept quietly his bed, and tried to compose himself to sleep. The servant whom they had hired to attend them was busy in her avocations, when Falconer heard himself addressed in a rough soldierly voice by some one who stood in the door-way behind him, and who inquired after his health. He thanked the inquirer, observing that his illness was nothing, merely the consequence of the fatigue of the day before, and would, no doubt, pass away without difficulty.

May be so; and, for your sake, I wish it may," replied the visitor; "but I understand you have got a * trump or two in your play of yesterday, and I know, by experience, that they are not so easily cured, especially in such a hole as this, to which there never is but one doctor, and he has nobody to overlook him, or trouble their heads whether he

*Trump-Atout, military slang for a wound.