ever preyed upon the vitals of an unfortunate client. Numberless were his exactions from the needy and desperate. The tears of the widow and the orphan were grateful to the sight of this mercenary wretch. Justice and mercy he knew not, he lived but to prey upon the poor and the unfortunate. At length in his eagerness to grasp, he overreached himself, and fell into the hands of justice. He was tried and found guilty of altering certain legal instruments, and condemned to the galleys for life, after having been branded and whipped. I then passed successively into the hands of a wealthy Jew, a flaunting courtezan, a bully and a sharper, and lastly, a dabbler in occult philosophy, who was obliged to quit Paris suddenly in consequence of an intimation that he was suspected of practising the black art, to the very great horror of divers ghostly fathers in whose neighbourhood he dwelt. The fugitive hastened to Utrecht, where he was more at liberty to practise his art while surrounded by protestants, the monks never countenancing any jugglery but their own. He arrived in that city just after Nicholas Berke and Cornelius Vander Pol were chosen governors by Prince Maurice, and taking a comfortable lodging, arranged his books and divining instruments. I was placed on a shelf with a number of others, and daily beheld some of the first men of the place come to consult the crafty old man, who quietly pouched their money and laughed in his sleeve at their credulity. Among those who visited the astrologer was a young captain of foot, who had fallen desperately in love with one of the daughters of the governor, Vander Pol. After practising a series of stratagems, for the young gallant was forbidden to advance his suit, the lovers met at the lodging of the old man, and they agreed to elope without loss of time. To have effected this would have been a task of great difficulty and danger, had not the young soldier bribed the sentinels at the city gates, who suffered him to pass out one dark night with his fair charge, and a couple of servants whom he had bought over to his interest. Unhappy youth! he little wot of the fate which awaited him. The fugitives had got several miles from the city, when their ill-fortune brought them upon the Spanish outposts. They were instantly summoned by the sentinels, but the young man, not answering their challenge readily, was shot through the head with a harquebuze bullet, and fell from his horse a convulsed and disfigured corpse; while the partner of his flight was seized by the enemy and borne to their head-quarters. She was ransomed with a very large sum by her father, and the astrologer being suspected, was seized and put to the rack, when he confessed that he had lent them his aid to escape. He lost his ears for this offence, and was expelled the city, his goods being confiscated. I soon became an inmate of the governor's house, and was placed in his library. Here I had an opportunity of witnessing many strange scenes, and hearing still stranger discourses. How many dark intrigues did I become acquainted with? How many plots and counterplots did I see hatched in the course of a few years? The war of religion which teaches peace, still raged with unabated fury. The name of God had become a byeword for knaves and hypocrites.Hordes of needy and desperate ruffians, the scum of all nations, swarmed in the Netherlands. Unhappy country! thou wert doomed to be the seat of discord and bloodshed, and long and dreadful were the convulsions that racked thy bowels. In the course of time, I was presented to an English officer, who shortly after fell in a skirmish with the Spaniards. I then became the property of an English soldier, who had lost his leg in battle, and was preparing to quit the low countries for his native land. In a short time after, I was conveyed to England by my possessor, who lived in a village in Lancashire; and here my perils became great indeed. This hardy veteran was a lover of book learning. He had acquired a tolerable knowledge of the French and Dutch languages, and was indeed a man of some learning for one in so humble a rank of life. fortunately for him and for me, the notorious Hopkins the witch-finder, paid a visit to the neighbourhood in which he dwelt, and the hue and cry sounded throughout Lancashire. Many unfortunate old women, who were celebrated for their ugliness or their illtempers, met with a horrible fate; and, unluckily, my master was suspected to be acquainted with the forbidden art, for a prying neighbour had observed my appearance and the strange language in which I was written. Fearing that he might lose me, the old veteran Un hid me under the floor, where I was found many years after his death, somewhat worm-eaten to be sure, but not much the worse for my confinement. During the period that I had lain concealed, the civil wars had raged in England, and Charles the First had been put to death by his subjects. It was in the third year of the protectorate that I was discovered and brought to light by some workmen who were repairing the cottage. These honest fellows happening to shew me to the curate of the parish, his reverence became my purchaser, and I was placed in his library in the company of Beza's Bible, Fox's Martyrs, Thomas a Kempis, and other black letter theology. Here I remained until the death of the good curate, whose library, he having no children, fell to the lot of his nephew, a young student of the Temple, and I soon became an inmate of his chambers in London. While here I encountered another danger. A fellow, whom he had employed, happening to espy me one day, and observing my curious initial letters and type, conceived a notion that I was a popish missal. Thinking that the information might be acceptable to the government, for the cry was up against the catholics at that time, he repaired to the rendezvous of the infamous Doctor Oates in Shire Lane, near Temple Bar. This crafty and sanguinary villain listened to the tale with great attention, and agreed to surprise the young Templar by a sudden visit, and subject his chambers to a rigid search. To be continued. THE LASS O' CARLISLE. I'll sing you a wee bit sang, A sang in the aulden style; Wha lived in merry Carlisle. An' O, but the lass was braw; An' that was the best of a'. Hickerty, dickerty, dear, As beauty an' wealth should hae: An' then she could get nae mae. That keepit her han's astir, Tales of the Tapestry. BY HORACE GUILFORD. ARMS AND AMOURS. On the day of this embassy, the young William of Hansacre had appeared for the first time in his life at the table of dais in his enemy's hall. He was still suffering from his wounds, but had been treated with great courtesy by the North Trent cavalier, who, violent as his family feelings were, would not for a moment suffer his sense of justice to be overpowered. The mid-day meal ing of a sudden shooting in his wounds was concluded, and William complainwas given in charge by Sir Robert to his daughters. The ladies of that period had always free access to the chamber of the wounded or sick knight, and the knowledge of vulnerary herbs which they shared with the monks, together with no small skill in the practice of chirurgery, added considerably to the high respect in which maidens were held in the days of chivalry. It was not till that day, however, that Margaret had ventured to accompany her elder sister to William's chamber. Sir Robert's own leech was gone to Blythburgh, and Margaret, with a thousand emotions, saw her lover placed on a settee, and holding with a trembling hand the various medicaments, followed with her eye the light and snowy fingers of her sister, who gently removing William's doublet, and extricating his side and one arm from his shirt, began composedly to remove the plaisters. Margaret screamed with anguish at the ghastly sight; young Hansacre, with many a wry face at the smart he was undergoing, strove by laughing to conceal the deeper emotion of his heart, while Elizabeth rated her sister roundly for her cowardice. "How now, Margaret! what spell hath come o'er thee? I have known thee tend with steady eye and hand ghastlier hurts than these; nay, thou hast even challenged me, thine elder sister, in the number of thy cures. Yet here in a matter importing the honour of our house-thou dost long withhold thy needful tendance, and then comest only to disturb our patient by thy strange clamour. See if his cheek and brow be not burning with fever; and trust me," (laying her soft hand on his arm,) -"his pulse is more irregular than ever!" Margaret answered not, but the rich "clusters of her black hair drooping down her cheek as she bent over the wounded young man, could not conceal her burning blushes, any more than the sudden readiness with which she applied the bandages could hide the trembling of her small white hands. "Woe is me," said young William, "who am not only a burden to the kindness of mine enemies, but also a source of terror and pain to my fair leeches!" "Peace, good youth," said Elizabeth, completing the bandages, and gently replacing his dress over the wounds; "thou art no burthen, and if thou art a pain, 'tis but for thine own sake. But pass we into the Garden-the soft air will refresh thee, and there be high alleys, and soft turf, and thick arbours, where we may shun this flaming light. Lead to the sycamores, Margaret, while I prepare a posset with mine own hands for Master William; and take order that the new table, for nine men's morris, be set in the yew arbour, or if you prefer the Paume-carie, I will send down the dice. I will be with ye soon, and bring the tapestry I am embroidering for the oratory." With these words the future lady of Ingestre quitted the chamber. Margaret immediately following, paused at the door, and with downcast eyes and confused accents, invited William to accompany her; he rose, and neither trusted themselves with a syllable, till having passed through the coloured and fragrant flower-beds, a thick alley of sycamores shed a cool and sparkling greenness on the turf walk, and terminated in an arbour, which, formed by four gigantic yews, afforded a delicious retreat from the afternoon sun, that was blazing in the rich and breathless garden. Art, striving to compare With nature, did an arbour green dispread, colours threw. FAIRY QUEEN, b. 2, c. 5, s. 29. Here they found the merelles table, and the turretted dice-box already set; and here, after glancing hastily around, young Hansacre seized the lily hand of Margaret, and pressed it to his bosom and lips: he spoke not, but his trembling hand and beating breast were all eloquent for him. Margaret suffered him to retain her little hand in his large and manly grasp, and turning away her face, "Oh, William!" she murmured, in low sweet accents, "what are we to do? If thou tarriest here, all must be discovered!-and then my father—" "Is a just, a prudent, and a good knight,” replied William, "and well may we hope from all this some speedy termination to our long suspense, and to the grievous strife between our houses. Happy was the night when I first paid with my blood the bliss for which I had been so bankrupt a debtor!" Margaret no longer averted her head --an expression of the most intense affection sparkled all over her glowing features, as she gazed on her handsome lover, and gently reclining her cheek on his shoulder. Happy rather is the maiden who hath been so dearly bought! Thou wilt make me cruel, my William, and I shall deem that blood of thine love's most glorious garment, and dwell with triumph over those wounds, as so many rich badges of thy love for Margaret." Hansacre's answer was a pressure of that graceful form to his bosom, forgetful of his hurts, which, however, his sudden paleness, and a few red stains oozing through his linen, evinced to have been disturbed in this action. Margaret hastily started from his arms. "Holy Mary! what omen is this? thy blood hath sprung forth at my touch!" ""Twas but to show that the blood of Malvesyn and Hansacre will soon cease to be aliens," said William, who though smarting with awakened pain, drew comfort from this trivial circumstance. "My poor heart," he added, "is still the bankrupt I told you of, and is paying, where they are due, its dearest drops. Besides, hast thou not heard that the dead corpse will bleed at the touch of its murderer ?" "Hush, William, I hear a step ;Elizabeth is at hand-loose me and compose thyself; thou knowest that Margaret of Malvesyn hath no heart but in thy bosom, nor shall any save William of Hansacre lead her hence a bride, though her departure were eternal exile from the heart and home of her father." "That would grieve thy father sore," said a well-known voice, in sonorous and melancholy tones, as the figure of Sir Robert darkened the entrance of the arbour. Margaret stood transfixed and breathless with astonishment, and William coloured with resentment as De Malvesyn continued-"Be not amazed, Margaret, nor thou, youth, deem me a a discourteous intruder or a base eavesdropper; but know, that your interviews have been long known to me, and had not thy many goodly qualities, young man, been as well known, the hopes which I have entertained of ending through thee these unhappy disturbances, would hardly have preserved thee from durance long ago! But I am a weary of these bloody quarrels, and when that unhappy Damoiseau of mine was enticed by some of my turbulent retainers to the bloody affray of the Briggmuln, I was meditating perpetual union between our families. But the deed is done, and the atrocious murder of my page demanded atonement. My herald hath recently returned from the Hansacredom, and though much of the imputation hath been rebutted by thy sire, the prospect of accommodation seems as distant as ever." Sir Robert then related all which had passed at Hansacre Hall that morning. A pause ensued; Margaret remaining in an agony of maiden shame, and William absorbed in thought, till throwing himself on his knees before the Knight of Malvesyn "Noble knight," he exclaimed, "send me back on my word, to my father's house-thy speech bids me hope that thou darest trust me-and let me essay what my mediation may effect either to soften down thy terms, or induce my father to listen." "That would I willingly, but fearful obstacles have arisen, as if fate had determined that nothing should staunch the bloodshed of our long feuds. Missives have reached me from the court, certifying the tidings which divers pilgrims and travellers have made rife at our priory of Blythburgh, that the quiet of the land is once more about to be disturbed." "Alas, then, my father's friend, the Hotspur, is at length as we have long expected, in open rebellion." "It is even so: the Earl of Northumberland, inflamed by his son, is disgusted at the peremptory command of the King, that they and other barons presume not to ransom any of their prisoners without his particular permission: their near kinsman, the Earl of Worcester, high in favour with Richard of Bordeaux, hath gladly seized this opportunity of avenging the dethronement of his master. Their prisoner, the Earl of Douglas, they have set free on condition of his joining them with his followers, and Sir Edmund Mortimer, whose house, thou knowest, aspires to the crown, is no longer the prisoner, but the friend of Owen, the lord of Glendoudwy, who brings all the bravery of his ancestor Llewellyn, backed with ten thousand men, to meet them on the confines of Wales." William of Hansacre looked aghast, but Margaret then first ventured to speak "My father, it ill becomes me to interfere, but sure, of all others, this is the season when private feuds will be most gladly relinquished, and the common strength against the common enemy most readily shewn." Sir Robert answered not, but looked significantly on young Hansacre. "I see it," said William, "I see it!all the complicated misery of this distracted time! My father, besides his regard for Percy, hath ever clung to the cause of the late King. Private feuds ! At this moment he hath forgotten them, and would rather leave the proud walls and broad acres of the Hansacredom open to the enemy, than not lead every spear, arblast, and gisarme that obeys his banner, to uphold Northumberland." "And as surely," said De Malvesyn, solemnly, "as surely shall every knight, squire, man-at-arms, yea, the very meanest serf that ever followed the bendlets or respected the house of De Malvesyn, be summoned for the defence of King Henry! The traitors!-they would tear from his brow the crown themselves caused to be placed there! But go, young man, this is indeed no time for private feuds-I return thee to thy parent: yet, tell thy father, that from him who survives this earthquake that is to shake a kingdom, the murder of a Damoiseau of Malvesyn will look for atonement! Elizabeth," he added to his elder daughter, who had for some time stood before the arbour in amazement at the conversation; "Elizabeth, thy sister, thou seest, hath chosen her a mate as well as thyself; but Roger de Chetwynd leads his banner with me-" "While William of Hansacre, thou wouldst add, will fight against thee," interrupted the young lover. "Were my father's banner on the field, and the foeman's foot ready to trample it, I might then, but not till then, raise my arm against the father of Margaret de Malvesyn!" The party then repaired to the mansion, and a great part of the evening was spent in anxious debates and arrangements for the approaching convulsion. William professed his determination to consider himself as a prisoner at large, and as such he was to remain at Hansacre with what force he could muster to guard his mother; an adequate garrison was to be left at Malvesyn, and William was not positively forbidden to extend his protecting care thither also. Ere noon the next day, young Hansacre was clasped in the arms of his parents. To be continued. The Note Book. I will make a prief of it in my Note Book. M. W. OF WINDSOR. I'm stuck in the Mud. The celebrated Doctor Graham, alias the "Mud Doctor," shewed forth his feats at Bath with no uncommon lustre. He affected to cure chronic disease in particular, but professed that his infallible, like the specific of an empiric's packet, could apply to gout as well as toothache to a broken limb as well as the dropsy-and conquer the progress of all human afflictions. The doctor's plan was, that the patient be undressed and immured in mud to the chin. He then held a rod, by which he operated on the mind of his patient, and after ten minutes operation he pronounced the effect to be wrought. In proportion to the fee, so the times were repeated. When the invalids in Bath lost their faith, the doctor wisely decamped. Many an operator in the hilarity of an evening's amusement, undertook to practise the Animal Magnetism' part with his friends, who could not relish the luxury which is left to the swinish multitude,' either of 'wallowing in the mire,' or of being stuck in the mud.' Cowper, when journeying with Mrs. Unwin, in one of his rural excursions to Clifton, must have held the Mad Doctor in memory when he said Poor Mary and me through the mud ! Stuck in the mud, O! it is pretty to wade through a flood! The application of this sentence is become metaphorical: when a person is in difficulties, he is said to be stuck in the mud.' A HINDO0 APE. P.X.Z. In a letter from Sir Thomas Roe, dated at the court of the Great Mogul, 30th October, 1616, the following cir cumstance is related: "I cannot leave out an apish miracle which was acted before this king (Jehangueir), which the jesuits will not acknowledge, nor own as their practice, only of the truth de facto there is no doubt. A juggler of Bengala* brought to the king a great ape, that could, as he professed, divine and prophesy. The king took from his finger a ring, and caused it to be hid under the girdle of one among a dozen other boys, and bade the ape divine, who went to the right child and took it out. But his majesty (somewhat more curious) caused in several papers in Persian letters to be re-written the names of twelve lawgivers, as Moses, Christ, Mahomet, Ali, and others; and shuffling them in a bag, bade the beast divine which was the true law, who, putting in his foot, took out the inscrib ed name of Christ. This amazed the king, who, suspecting that the ape's master could read Persian, and might assist him, wrote them anew in court characters (Hindoostani), and presented them the second time. The ape was constant, found the right, and kissed it. Whereat a principal officer grew angry, telling the king it was some imposture, desiring he might have leave to make the lots anew, and offered himself to punishment if the ape could beguile him. He wrote the names, putting only eleven into the bag, and kept the other in his hand. The beast searched, but refused all; the king commanded to bring one; the beast tore them in fury, and made signs the true lawgiver's name was not among them. The king demanded where it was, and he ran to the nobleman, and caught him by the hand, in which was the paper inscribed with the name of Christ Jesus. The king was troubled, and keeps the ape yet. This was acted in public before thousands." Asiatic Jour. Customs of Warious Countries. DERIVATION OF READING THE LESSONS IN THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. (For the Otio) It is a custom throughout Israel, that they finish wholly the reading of the law in one year, beginning with the sabbath, which is after the "Feast of Tabernacles," at the first section of Genesis. In the second chapter at "These are the generations of Noah." ferred to by Jehangueir himself in his Mes * The tricks of the Bengal jugglers are remoirs: he describes no less than twenty-eight. |