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THE SIXTH Volume of the "OLIO " is now beforê our friends, and an opportunity is again afforded us of speaking of those improvements which we pledged ourselves to make, in the Preface to the preceding one. The beauty of our type will scarcely need mention, while the vast quantity of additional matter, given in consequence of printing on the once blank spaces at the back of the illustrations, must of course be obvious to every one it affords us great pleasure to find that this arrangement has given general satisfaction to our subscribers.

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The present volume will be found rich in ORIGINAL communications, comprising a large store of ROMANCES, HISTORIETTES, POETRY, ESSAYS, MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS, HISTORICAL SCRAPS, ANECDOTES, &c.

IN the CHRONOLOGY are registered upwards of One Thousand interesting events connected with the history of every country.

Of the beauty of our ENGRAVINGS it will be scarcely necessary to speak, but it may not be amiss to mention that the illustrations to the present Volume have cost the proprietors more than those of any that have preceded

it.

OUR best thanks are due to our writing friends, who have so kindly and so liberally afforded us their assistance. To three or four we are greatly indebted. To those whose favours have not obtained insertion, we again repeat that our decisions are dictated by the most strict impartiality, and that while we would check the rude and impertinent, we would stretch forth our arm to assist and encourage modest merit.

WE have only to add that the greatly increased sale of our miscellany during the last half year has added to our zeal, and that, with the assistance of our friends, we hope to render the "OLIO" still more deserving the support and patronage of the public.

JAN. 1, 1831.

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slowly returning from a visit to a sick person in the neighbourhood. As he passed by the large mill, which had not long been erected by Sir William de Hansacre, in the southern meadows of the Trent, he could not help pausing, less to recruit his wearied limbs, than to gaze on the exquisite scene of repose before him.

A broad and yellow moonlight swayed supreme over the dewy landscape. The vast and ancient oak woods of Malvesyn stood breathless in the gentle light, alternately capped with silver and enfolded in sable shadow; the ample meadows, partly pastures of rich turf, and partly waving with mowing grass, displayed large masses of lustre broken here and there by the trunk of some old sylvan; the royal Trent poured his abounding flood in silent sparkles, and the buildings of the Manor Hall in the distance, lifted in'o the cloudless sky their vast and picturesque outline;large white swans were floating like dreams on the moonlight river; the great mill-wheel reposed its black disk,

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still shining with moisture, against a gable white with moonshine, while the only sound that lulled the slumbers of the tranquil scene, were the gurgling of the sluice from the dam, the harsh, restless cry of the corncraik in the long grass, and the wild whoops of the owls from the adjacent woods.

"Ah!" said the poor Monk, "who would not deem that to be lord of all this fair domain were to be the patriarch of peace and benevolence,-rich and happy in himself, and diffusing plenty and happiness on all beneath his sway. And yet who that knows what these unhappy times have brought forth, would not rather be the poor Benedictine, who if he hath nought to command hath as little to fear,-who, confined to the elevating duties of prayer and praise, enlivened only by the illumination of books, the decorations of his convent, the felling of timber in the woods, for many a rich and quaint carving, or the care of fruits, flowers, and herbs-hath reason to be thankful for that blessed peace which the world cannot give, though the world so often takes it away!" So saying, the Benedictine moved on, but had scarcely proceeded a quarter of a mile westward, through that long and rich vale, when a loud tumult and fearful strife of voices swelled from behind him down the clear, cool air of night. He turned and paused, but saw nothing save the massive walls of Malvesyn, now close at hand, and the more distant chimnies of De Hansacre's Mill peering in the moonlight over the clustering foliage.

He continued, however, to gaze in that direction, arrested by the increasing tumult, when suddenly a cloud appeared to mantle over the distant building, at first white and fleecy, then darkening becoming swarthy-reddening and, finally flinging aloft the broad flag of conflagration, which wavered fiercely over the landscape, making the moon dim and ghastly. Without a moment's hesitation, the monk hastily retraced his steps-when, on his reaching the broad greens ward in front of the mill, a scene presented itself which made him repent his precipitation.

Violent feuds between the North and South Trentsmen had more or less agitated most of the Staffordshire families at that period, (the early part of Henry the Fourth's reign) but no where had they been carried on with such animosity as betweent he rich and rival Normans, Malvesyn and Hansacre; the former dwelling in the fertile valley north of the Trent, and the latter build

ing his knightly eyrie on a fair hill in its southern district.

The recent destruction of a magnificent game of swans, bearing on their beaks the notch and crescent of Malvesyn, which was attributed of course to the malice of the rival house, had tended greatly to inflame the old quarrel; and the last drop had been poured into the cup of wrath by the outrecin dance, as it was termed, of De Hansacre in presuming to build a large mill on his own bank of the Trent, whose outwards were supposed to trespass on that portion of the noble stream claimed by De Malvesyn. The importance of a mill and fishery at that period, as constituting a leading feature in the manor or royalty, is well known; as also the high estimation attached to a game of swans, and the jealous care with which they were guarded by their owners. The outcries and tumult which thus broke out in the dead waste and middle of the night, were occasioned by a number of North Trentsmen, retainers of De Malvesyn, who had beset and fired the mill-that obnoxious token of the insolence of De Hansacre.

As the monk approached, the hurried roar of the tocsin, or storm bell, was heard from the hill edifices of the South Trentsmen, and a trampling of numerous armed men, on the surcoat of whose leader the arms of Hansacre, ermine, three chessrooks gules, gleamed in the mingled glare of fire and moonlight, came galloping from the east. The Malvesyns, on this unwished for apparition, ceased from the assault and prepared for their defence. A gallant looking youth about sixteen, whose tall form and well-turned limbs already promised the thewes and prowess of manhood, habited in the white and scarlet blazon of Malvesyn, was immediately recognised by the monk as Florent de Fradley, the orphan heir of a Staffordshire knight, who, according to the fashion of the chivalric ages, was brought up at Malvesyn Hall as Damoiseau to the brave Sir Robert, in order to his regular advancement to knighthood. This young man seemed foremost in the business.

"St. Giles for the Malvesyn!" he cried; "brave North Trentsmen, here come the insolent rooks that have dared to build in our eyrie-grammercy, if we do not quickly give their master checkmate? Here be the fowls, brave Malvesyns, that would fain hatch swans'eggs;-give the marauders a volley, and let the grey shaft remind them that they are but geese!"

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