"I know I fear-his conduct may be very hardly construed; but you must bear in mind his gentle and peaceloving disposition; indeed, Cuthbert, he can scarcely support the sight of blood.”

"And indeed, Basil, you are a bad story-teller. What has the sight of blood to do with a private password? Nay, man, nay, never blush to take your father's part; but that is not the reason; believe me, I feel the difficulty, and feel it with you. That he has an interest in this man is certain; but what of that? were it not for the accursed sergeant— could you not bribe him?" "No,

"Curse him! no!" exclaimed Basil, fiercely. Cuthbert. For my father, I think no harm can be done by trusting to the issue. The whole tenour of his life, his guileless and perfect simplicity, the asylum he afforded to Father Frank in the turbulent times, when persecution raged the other way; his attachment to the Stuarts-"

"To the Protestant Stuarts, you mean."

"No, I do not; I mean to the royal race: the unflinching Catholic principles of my mother would, I am convinced, all operate in his favour, even if it was believed he had a personal regard for the unfortunate Outlaw; and remember also, Cuthbert, that Judge Jeffreys has seen his best days; his influence, thank God, is not what it was.'

"I say 'amen' to that thank God' with all my heart," responded Cuthbert; "but suppose we let matters with respect to your father take their course, what is to be done with that unfortunate fellow Ralph? They will put him to the torture! My dear Basil, I wish that you were major, and I captain; unfortunately the ordering of the business devolves upon me."

"Well, then, Cuthbert, the wound he has received, if you will undertake the case, can be made of sufficient importance to plead a reason for his not being moved at present; and I will answer for his appearing hereafter. I will answer for it with my life!"

"I think it can be done," said the generous Cuthbert; and forthwith revolved in his own mind the propriety of presenting a gratuity to the sergeant, and offering an increased reward for the apprehension of the Outlaw: this notion he commu

nicated to Basil.

"Suppose, captain, we were to induce your father to add

his name to yours and mine in a forest proclamation for the capture of this fellow ?"

"My father would not; he would as soon eat the moon as appear to do that which his heart scorns."

66 Suppose we did it for him?"

66

"Then would he cause a counter edict to be sent forth through all the forest towns and villages. You know not the perfect truthfulness and simplicity of that man's nature." Well, Basil, you can tell best. Suppose, after disposing of the sergeant, we wend our way to the good town of Beaulieu by the hour of noon? Something tells me we shall ere long resume our duties; sooner, perhaps, than we expect: and, independently of the necessity of seeing the abbess, I must visit my sister. Alas! when I look out upon a scene like this, I could almost turn my sword into a ploughshare." He threw open the window of the apartment, and the full gush of morning air and morning sunshine burst upon them. The squirrel, no longer in doubt, sprang from branch to branch; and though the nightingale had ceased her song, there was no silence in the grove: the blackbird's shrill and joyous whistle echoed above the forest-trees; the voice of the thrush discoursed a softer melody; the early lark commenced its song and flight together, still keeping its eye fixed upon the speck where its gentle mate sat in patient brooding o'er their young; the chaffinch crept out from its silver nest in the old apple-tree; the bright goldfinch, proud of his embroidered vest, shook off the dewy spangles from his wing upon the topmost bough of the wild pear; the laugh of the merry woodpecker danced with the passing zephyrs. The forest was alive with beauty! The daisy unclasped her modest coronet, and smiled good-morrow to the more bashful violet; the wild swans clamoured among the rustling reeds of the sweet silent rivers; "the red-bird of the sun" unreefed his ruddy plumes, and hailed the god of day with that wild cheery shout which calls the lagging milkmaid from her pallet. The crafty fox crept through the tangled furze, or purple heather; and the proud stag, lifting his antlers to the morning, sniffed at the breeze and passed on to his lair.

The sun above the wooded hills sent his diverging rays athwart the beautiful but evil vapours that, like the wicked

of this our earthly world, would fain obscure whatever is most good: their darkness perisheth in that great light; and virtue, in the end, will triumph over sin! "Tis a grand allegory, written by the God of nature with an immortal pen. Behold the ruddy light catches the spires of the tallest trees, and then steals downward, bathing the spreading and eternal forest in a huge sea of glory.

"I thank thee, God, for such a sight!" said Cuthbert, turning with aching eyes from the window, and pressing his fingers on his eyeballs, as if they had surfeited of beauty. "I have seen many sunrises, but never one like this. Come, cheer up, Basil! it is enough for a poor devil like me, who has no home, no house-no-come, come, look not like a youth with a broken pate: by St. Patrick!"

"You always swear by St. Patrick when you are in a good-humour."

"Good-humour!-how could I be in any other sort of humour after looking on such a sunrise?"

"Do you know sunsets and sunrises, or rather sunrises and sunsets, always make me sad? One is the birth, the other the death of hope."

"Pshaw! that's the worst of you Englishmen; like Jaques, you suck melancholy as a weasel sucks eggs; you draw gloom from every thing, and you call that extracting a moral.' A murrain upon such morality! say I; give me the sunbeam that extracts the sweets, the bee that gathers the honey. What have I to do with the thorns of white and red roses? 'tis the blossoms I want-the bloom, the nectared flowers."

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Cuthbert, you cannot have the one without the other." "There you go again!—To be sure I can't. But never tell me they do not give a zest to each other; those who are sensitive to the one are alive to all. But a truce to our sermonizing; here comes Father Frank, looking somewhat out of spirits. Save thee, good father! See, Basil, his reverence has got a newspaper!"

"Ay, and a sad one; it is but two days old, and brings news-news-and his most Christian majesty is greatly enraged thereat-and no wonder."

66

According to your opinion," said Basil.

"Ah! ah! Master Basil, you are of the opposite faith;

but listen, here have I got a letter from a trusty brother in the camp, which I will read, premising that he is a stanch supporter of our faith as of our king.

"His majesty,' saith my friend, expressed his surprise and indignation in the strongest terms, at hearing the sudden and joyous outery that was raised in the camp by the soldiers on the acquittal of the mitred heretics !' (I beg your pardon, Basil," said the priest, conscious that the passage deserved an apology. Basil bowed coldly, and even bitterly, and desired the priest to continue.) "He assured the soldiers, when speaking to Lord Feversham, that it should be the worse for them. He was in a most holy rage, and foamed with just indignation. He has struck out two of the judges, Powel and Holloway, who appeared to favour these men; he has issued orders to prosecute all those clergymen who have not read his declaration; he has sent a mandate to the new fellows, whom he wisely ordained to Magdalen College, to elect for president the highly esteemed and most venerable Gifford, who, you very well know, is titular bishop of Madura; at which there is much joy, but to none more than to myself, for his reverence is a good and holy man, and much to be esteemed. I wish you had been here and tasted the delicious nuts and fatted capons he sent me from a ship wherein he had a most successful venture; but it was sorrowful that they arrived upon one of the new fast-days, followed by Friday! so that they were a trifle gone; which, however, our cook remedied by her most excellent and skilful sauce, of which I send you the receipt. His majesty has also signified his intention of nominating the same learned and holy divine to the see of Oxford.'"

"Now, by God's grace! this is too much," interrupted Basil Sydney, springing to his feet; "has that misguided monarchi no true friend to warn him of the peril of his ways? Why is the fact concealed from him that the majority of a Protestant nation will not, cannot be expected to bear such utter infatuation? There are thousands of his people at this moment who believe him, from his bigotry, capable of committing any crime! Oh, what price would be too high for a king to pay for a trusty friend !"

66

Heigh day!" exclaimed Cuthbert, who, stretched upon a long and richly-cushioned settle, watched his comrade's irritation, as if he were half-inclined to jest and more than half

inclined to be very angry; "by Jupiter! you had better say so to his majesty yourself, and then he will have one friend at least who will tell the truth, and lose his head as a wellmerited recompense."

Basil made no reply, but strode out of the apartment, leaving Cuthbert and the priest in deep and unconcealed distress at the freedom of his speech.

"Now the holy Virgin preserve that gallant boy, and turn his mind to the right mode, for of a surety his thoughts are not what they might be! I pray for him late and early; and his most excellent lady-mother hath vowed many a vow for his improvement. It is quite edifying the penances she performs for his sake, and the offerings she gives that his head may be raised above the dark waters that encompass him round about. I must go and make known unto her the pleasant news touching Gifford, and the extraordinary triumph of those prelates, which is a mystery I cannot fathom."

And away went the priest, brimful of news, and caring more for that his budget was full, than for the contents it carried.

Basil wandered through the grounds, anxious to meet, yet desiring to avoid, his father; pondering many things in his mind, and wondering how long the people would support the whims and tyrannies of the infatuated James. He found himself standing beneath his mother's window; and on looking up to her secret and favoured oratory, the profile of a countenance which he had certainly seen before met his eye; there it was, the outline perfect, the high Jewish features, so cut and so distinct-almost touching the glass-it was impossible to note and not remember them. The brow was covered to the deep black eyebrows by a red folded cap, somewhat pointed; and the vest was tied round the throat with a golden cord. Surely he had seen that face before!--and a very unpleasant thought accompanied the recollection :--certainly he had seen it before; those very lips had enlightened him, and a parcel of other youths (who at the time possessed more wit than money), as to their after destinies, he could not be mistaken! The face turned round, and as instantly vanished from the window. He was not mistaken. Another mystery! In the heart of the New Forest--in Sydney Pleasance--in his mother's secret chamber--he had seen the astrologer of Cheapside! As if his