it had obviously diminished the vivacity of his eye, which, as they entered, first followed Master Mumblazen slowly to a large oaken desk, on which a ponderous volume lay open, and then rested, as if in uncertainty, on the stranger who had entered along with him. The Curate, a grey-headed clergyman, who had been a confessor in the days of Queen Mary, sat with a book in his hand in another recess in the apartment. He, too, signed a mournful greeting to Tressilian, and laid his book aside, to watch the effect his appearance should produce on the afflicted old man.

'As Tressilian, his own eyes filling fast with tears, approached more and more nearly to the father of his betrothed bride, Sir Hugh's intelligence seemed to revive. He sighed heavily, as one who awaked from a state of stupor, a slight convulsion passed over his features, he opened his arms without speaking a word, and as Tressilian threw himself into them, he folded him to his bosom.

'There is something left to live for yet,' were the first words he uttered: and while he spoke, he gave vent to his feelings in a paroxysm of weeping, the tears chasing each other down his sun-burnt cheeks and a long white beard.

'I ne'er thought to have thanked God to see my master weep,' said Will Badger; but now I do, though I am like to weep for company.'

'I will ask thee no questions,' said the old Knight; no questions— none, Edmund-thou hast not found her, or so found her, that she were better lost.'

Tressilian was unable to reply, otherwise than by putting his hands be fore his face.

'It is enough—it is enough. But do not thou weep for her, Edmund. I have cause to weep, for she was my daughter,-thou hast cause to rejoice that she did not become thy wife.-Great God ! thou knowest best what is for good for us-It was my nightly prayer that I should see Amy and Edmund wedded, had it been granted, it had now been gall added to bitterness.'

'Be comforted, my friend,' said the Curate, addressing Sir Hugh, it cannot be that the daughter of all our hopes and affections is the vile creature you would bespeak her.'

'O, no,' replied Sir Hugh, impatiently, 'I were wrong to name broadly the base thing she is become-there is some new court name for it, I warrant me. It is honour enough for the daughter of an old De'nshire clown to be the lemman of a gay courtier,-of Varney too,-of Varney, whose grandsire was relieved by my father, when his fortune was broken, at the battle of the battle of-where Richard was slain-out on my memoryand I warrant none of you will help me.'

'The battle of Bosworth,' said Master Mumblazen, stricken between Richard Crookback and Henry Tudor, grandsire of the Queen that now is, Primo Henrici Septimi; and in the year one thousand four hundred and eighty-five, post Christum, natum.'

6

Ay, even so,' said the good Knight, every child knows it-But my poor head forgets all it should remember, and remembers only what it would most willingly forget. My brain has been at fault, Tressilian, almost ever since thou hast been away, and even yet it hunts counter.'

"Your worship,' said the good clergyman,had better retire to your apartment, and try to sleep for a little space,-the physician left a composing draught, and our Great Physician has commanded us to use earthly means, that we may be strengthened to sustain the trials he sends us.'

"True, true, old friend,' said Sir Hugh, and we will bear our trials manfully-We have lost but a woman.-See, Tressilian,'-he drew from his bosom a long ringlet of fair hair, see this lock !--I tell thee, Edmund, the very night she disappeared, when she bid me good even, as she was wont, she hung about my neck, and fondled me more than usual; and I, like an old fool, held her by this lock, until she took her scissors, severed it, and left it in my hand,-as all I was ever to see more of her!'

Tressilian was unable to reply, well judging what a complication of feeling must have crossed the bosom of the unhappy fugitive at that cruel moment. The clergyman was about to speak, but Sir Hugh interrupted him. 'I know what you would say, Master Curate,-after all, it is but a lock of woman's tresses, and by woman, shame, and sin, and death, came into an innocent world-And learned Master Mumblazen, too, can say schollarly things of their inferiority.'

"C'est l'homme,' said Master Mumblazen, 'qui se bast et qui conseille.' 'True,' said Sir Hugh, and we will bear us, therefore, like men who have both mettle and wisdom in us.--Tressilian, thou art as welcome as if thou hadst brought better news. But we have spoken too long dry-lipped.-Amy, fill a cup of wine to Edmund, and another to me.' Then instantly recollecting that he called upon her who could not hear, he shook his head, and said to the clergyman, This grief is to my bewildered mind what the Church of Lidcote is to our park; we may lose ourselves among the briars and thickets, for a little space, but from the end of each avenue we see the old grey steeple and the grave of my forefathers. I would I were to travel that road to-morrow."

Tressilian and the curate joined in urging the exhausted old man to lay himself to rest, and at length prevailed. Tressilian remained by his pillow till he saw that slumber at length sunk down on him, and then returned to consult with the Curate what steps should be adopted in these unhappy circumstances.

They could not exclude from these deliberations Master Michael Mumblazen; and they admitted him the more readily, that besides what hopes they entertained from his sagacity, they knew him to be so great a friend to taciturnity, that there was no doubt of his keeping counsel. He was an old bachelor, of good family, but small fortune, and distantly related to the House of Robsart; in virtue of which connection, Lidcote Hall had been honoured with his residence for the last twenty years. His company was agreeable to Sir Hugh, chiefly on account of his profound learning, which, though it only related to heraldry and genealogy, with such scraps of history as connected themselves with these subjects, was precisely of a kind to captivate the good old knight; besides the convenience which he found in having a friend to appeal to, when his own memory, as frequently happened, proved infirm, and played him false concerning names and dates, which, and all similar deficiencies, Master Michael Mumblazen supplied with due brevity and discretion. And, indeed, in matters concerning the modern world, he often gave, in his inigmatical and heraldric phrase, advice which was well worth attending to, or, in Will Badger's language, started the game while others beat the bush.

6

'We have had an unhappy time of it with the good Knight, Master Edmund,' said the Curate. I have not suffered so much since I was torn away from my beloved flock, and compelled to abandon them to the Romish wolves.'

'That was in Tertio Mariæ,' said Master Mumblazen.

'In the name of heaven,' continued the Curate, tell us, has your time been better spent than ours, or have you any news of that unhappy maiden,

who, being for so many years the principal joy of this broken down house, is now proved our greatest unhappiness? Have you not at least discovered her place of residence ?'

'I have,' replied Tressilian.

Know you Cumnor-Place, near Oxford?

'Surely,' said the clergyman; it was a cell of removal for the monks of Abingdon,'

'Whose arms,' said Master Michael, 'I have seen over a stone chimney in the hall,‚—a cross patonee betwixt four martlets.'

6

There,' said Tressilian, this unhappy maiden resides, in company with the villain Varney. But for a strange mishap, my sword had revenged all our injuries, as well as hers, on his worthless head.'

Thank God, that kept thine hand from blood-guiltiness, rash young man,' answered the Curate. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay it. It were better study to free her from the villain's nets of infamy.'

They are called, in heraldry, laquaeœ amoris, or lacs d'amour,' said Mumblazen.

It is that I require your aid, my friend,' said Tressilian; 'I am resolved to accuse this villian, at the very foot of the throne, of falsehood, seduction, and breach of hospitable laws. The Queen shall hear me, though the Earl of Leicester, the villain's patron, stood at her right hand.'

'Her Grace,' said the Curate, hath set a comely example of continence to her subjects, and will doubtless do justice on this inhospitable robber. But wert thou not better apply to the Earl of Leicester, in the first place, for justice on his servant? If he grants it, thou dost save the risk of making thyself a powerful adversary, which will certainly chance, if, in the first instance, you accuse his master of the horse, and prime favourite, before the Queen.'

My mind revolts from your counsel,' said Tressilian. I cannot brook to plead my noble patron's cause--the unhappy Amy's cause-before any one save my lawful Sovereign. Leicester, thou wilt say, is noble-be it so -he is but a subject like ourselves, and I will not carry my plaint to him, if I can do better. Still, I will think on what thou hast said,—but I must have your assistance to persuade the good Sir Hugh to make me his commissioner any fiduciary in this matter, for it is in his name I must speak, and not in my own. Since she is so far changed as to doat upon this empty profligate courtier, he shall at least do her the justice which is yet in his power.'

Better she died calebs and sine prole,' said Mumblazen, with more animation than he usually expressed, than part, per pale, the noble coat of Robsart with that of such a miscreant.'

If it be your object, as I cannot question,' said the clergyman, 'to save, as much as is yet possible, the credit of this unhappy young woman, I re peat, you should apply, in the first instance, to the Earl of Leicester. He is absolute in his household as the Queen in her kingdom, and if he expres ses to Varney that such is his pleasure, her honour will not stand so publicly committed.'

"You are right, you are right,' said Tressilian eagerly, and I thank you for pointing out what I overlooked in my haste. Í little thought ever to have besought grace of Leicester; but I could kneel to the proud Dudley, if doing so could remove one shade of shame from this unhappy damsel. You will assist me then to procure the necessary powers from Sir Hugh Robsart ?'

The Curate assured him of his assistance, and the herald nodded assent

You must hold yourselves also in readiness to testify, in case you are called upon, the open-hearted hospitality which our good patron exercised towards this deceitful traitor, and the solicitude with which he laboured to seduce his unhappy daughter.'

At first,' said the clergyman,' she did not, as it seemed to me, much affect his company, but latterly I saw them often together.'

Seiant in the parlour,' said Michael Mumblazen, and passant in the garden.'

"I once came on them by chance,' said the priest,' in the South wood, in a spring evening-Varney was muffled in a russet cloak, so that I saw not his face, they separated hastily, as they heard me rustle amongst the leaves, and I observed she turned her head and looked long after him.'

'With neck reguardant,' said the herald-' And on the day of her flight, and that was on Saint Austen's eve, I saw Varney's groom, attired in his liveries, hold his master's horse and Mistress Amy's palfrey, bridled and saddled proper behind the wall of the church-yard.'

And now is she found mewed up in her secret place of retirement,' said Tressilian. The villain is taken in the manner, and I well wish he may deny his crime, that I may thrust conviction down his false throat. But I must prepare for my journey. Do you, gentlemen, dispose my patron to grant me such powers as are needful to act in his name.'

So saying, Tressilian left the room.

'He is too hot,' said the Curate; and I pray to God that he may grant him the patience to deal with Varney as is fitting.'

'Patience and Varney,' said Mumblazen, 'is worse heraldry than metal upon metal. He is more false than a Syren, more rapacious than a griffin, more poisonous than a wyvern, and more cruel than a lion rampant.'

"Yet I doubt much,' said the Curate, whether we can with all right ask from Sir Hugh Robsart, being in his present condition, any deed deputing his paternal right in Mistress Amy to whomsoever'

6

"Your reverence need not doubt that,' said Will Badger, who entered as he spoke, for I will lay my life he is another man when he wakes, than he has been these thirty days past.'

'Ay, Will,' said the Curate, hast thou then so much confidence in Doctor Diddleum's draught?"

'Not a whit,' said Will, because master ne'er tasted a drop on't, seeing it was emptied out by the housemaid. But here's a gentleman, who came attending on Master Tressilian, has given Sir Hugh a draught that is worth twenty of yon un. I have spoken cunningly with him, and a better farrier, or one who hath a more just notion of horse and dog aliment, I have never seen; and such a one would never be unjust to a Christian man.'

A farrier! you saucy groom-And by whose authority, pray?' said the Curate, rising in surprise and indignation; or who will be warrant for this new physician?'

For authority, an it like your reverence, he had mine; and for warrant, I trust, I have not been five-and-twenty years in this house, without having a right to warrant the giving a draught to beast or body—I who can gie a drench, and a ball, and bleed, or blister, if need, to my very self.'

The counsellors of the House of Robsart thought it meet to carry this information instantly to Tressilian, who as speedily summoned before him Wayland Smith, and demanded of him, (in private however,) by what authority he had adventured to administer any medicine to Sir Hugh Robsart?

Why,' replied the artist, your worship cannot but remember that I told you I had made more progress into my master's-I mean the learned

Doctor Doboobie's-mystery than he was willing to own; and indeed halí of his quarrel and malice against me was, that, besides that I got something too deep into his secrets, several discerning persons, and particularly a buxom young widow of Abingdon, preferred my prescription to his.'

None of thy buffoonery, Sir,' said Tressilian, sternly. If thou hast trifled with us much more, if thou hast done aught that may prejudice Sir Hugh Robsart's health, thou shalt find thy grave at the bottom of a tinmine.'

"I know too little of the great arcanum to convert the ore to gold,' said Wayland, firmly. But truce to your apprehensions, Master TressiliauI understood the good Knight's case, from what Master William Badger told me; and I hope I am able enough to administer a poor dose of mandragorn, which, with the sleep that must needs follow, is all that Sir Hugh Robsart requires to settle his distraught brains.'

'I trust thou dealest fairly with me, Wayland?' said Tressilian.

'Most fairly and honestly, as the event shall shew,' replied the artist. What would it avail me to harm the poor old man for whom you are interested? you, to whom I owe it, that Gaffer Pinniewinks is not even now rending my flesh and sinews with his accursed pincers, and probing every mole in my body with his sharpened awl, (a murrian on the hands which forged it!) in order to find out the witch's mark !-I trust to yoke myselfas a humble follower to your worship's train, and I only wish to have my faith judged of by the result of the good Knight's slumbers.'

Wayland Smith was right in his prognostication. The sedative draught which his skill had prepared, and Will Badger's confidence had administered, was attended with the most beneficial effects. The patient's sleep was long and healthful,and the poor old Knight awoke,humbled indeed in thought, and weak in frame, yet a much better judge of whatever was subjected to his intellect than he had been for some time past. He resisted for a while the proposal made by his friends, that Tressilian should undertake a journey to court, to attempt the recovery of his daughter, and the redress of her wrongs, in so far as they might yet be repaired. Let her go,' he said; she is but a hawk that goes down the wind; I would not bestow even a whistle to reclaim her.' But though he for some time maintained this argument, he was at length convinced it was his duty to take the part to which natural affection inclined him, and consent that such efforts as could yet be made should be used by Tressilian in behalf of his daughter. He subscribed, therefore, a warrant of attorney, such as the Curate's skill enabled him to draw up; for in these simple days the clergy were often the advisers of their flock in law, as well as in gospel.

All matters were prepared for Tressilian's second departure, within twenty-four hours after he had returned to Lidcote Hall; but one material circumstance had been forgotten, which was first called to the remembrance of Tressilian by Master Mumblazen. You are going to court, Master Tressilian,' said he; you will please remember, that your blazonry must be argent, and or-no other tinctures will pass current.' The remark was equally just and embarrassing. To prosecute a suit at court, ready money was as indispensable even in the golden days of Elizabeth as at any suc ceeding period; and it was a commodity little at the command of the inhabitants of Lidcote Hall. Tressilian was himself poor; the revenues of good Sir Hugh Robsart were consumed, and even anticipated, in his hospitable mode of living; and it was finally necessary that the herald who started the doubt should himself solve it. Master Michael Mumblazen did so by producing a bag of money, containing nearly three hundred pounds in gold