66 was erring. And in faith I have so often struck my frail pitcher against sounder clay and weightier ware, that I have suffered severely from the collision, and am, I fear after all, but a cracked vessel, to say the best of me." "Nay, in truth," said I, "these little rubs have done you no harm; at most, they have but smoothed your sides and rung the true tone of your metal, and so you are come home again never the worse of the encounter." Aye," he retorted, "to have my head broken by a syllogism at the long-run. Look," proceeded he, as he held between his forefinger and thumb his spoon by the handle, and waved it up and down over his egg at the greatest possible mechanical advantage, "how many casualties this egg has escaped; the dame's fingers filched it from her good man's jaws that she might buy a bonnet at Easter; it survived the jostles and buffets of its techy neighbours in the carrier's crete to town; it has passed through many a hand and many a hazard since, through fire and flood, and is at last settled down comfortably here, just to be knocked on the head thus." "It is a melancholy picture," said I, laughing at the ludicrously solemn manner in which he suited the action to the con 66 66 cluding word and shews that life but little resembles an ovation. Spirit of Homer," said he, lifting up his hands and eyes, "what a sorrowful pun." "Well then, you had better turn your thoughts to astronomy, and investigate the milky way." "Egad I believe so," said he, "and I have good hopes of finding it in this azure vault." "It is but a blue look-out," said I," so let us say no more about it." These sallies of College wit succeeded in restoring his good humour, and our meal passed without any further interruption to its harmony. At length Ned, in his excursions through my chamber, poked out a volume of Euripides, which was lying on my book-shelf. It was the tragedy of Orestes, and he opened it at that scene where the poet represents the noble-minded princess, with the unwearied solicitude of a sister-the wondrous and enduring affection of which the soul of woman is so eminently susceptible, watching over the couch of the miserable Orestes, now vainly endeavouring to soothe his distracted mind; now struggling to restrain him in the horrible workings of phrenzy, as she exclaims in words of the liveliest anguish “ Ουτοι μεθήσω· χειρα δ' εμπλέξασ ἐμὴν Σχήσω σε πηδῶν δυστυχη πηδήματα.” I will not free thee; but with this frail hand His eyerested for a moment on the page, then he closed the book and sighed heavily. "It is a sad story enough," said he," and yet with all his misfortunes Orestes was in one respect a happy dog. He was never without the consolations of female sympathy; he never sighed in vain for those tender attentions which only woman's heart can suggest and woman's hand minister in the hour of trouble. I wish to God, Jack, I had such a—a sister.” “ I wish with all my heart you had, Ned, you would then, no doubt, bestow the hand of Electra on me, your unworthy Pylades; I know you respect the ancient precedent." Aye, precedent, precedent," interrupted he, with an impatience and acrimony that surprised me, "I never knew one wanting to support either side of the question. What if I should slay her? I think I 66 66 could find a precedent for so laudable an action." Well, well," said I, willing to soothe his evident irritation, "if you are the first to question the honour of an ancient hero, I shall hold you discharged from the rule of conduct." He seemed sensible of my intention, and after a moment's pause resumed. "No more and you love me, Hal; I am ill to bear a banter at present, and you know I was always techy about my old world notions." He was silent for a short time, as if debating something in his mind, then taking my hand affectionately he continued, “ Jack, my best friend, I will not trust you by halves; you remember M- whom you have seen in my company." I did indeed remember that shortly after our first meeting in town he introduced me to a Mr. Mas a friend with whom he had been passing a few days in the 66 country, and I could not readily dismiss from my mind the unfavourable opinion with which that person had impressed me. There was something of calculating coldness in his keen grey eye-of cautious and studied reserve about him that ill contrasted with the frank and open bearing of my friend, and a compression and working of the muscles around the mouth, that spoke of dark and evil passions, the more dangerous to others from the wariness of habitual controul: I contented myself, however, with answering merely in the affirmative. And I think you are already aware that our intimacy commenced when we were fellow-students at the Temple." I nodded assent. Some slight accommodation it was in my power to afford him there, and since my first return from London I have occasionally visited him and his sister, Miss M- in the country "What!" said I, "is there a woman then at the bottom of it all?” 46 66 66 'Hei vereor ne quid Andria oportet mali' My mind misgives me or she will lead us into some trouble." Well, well, you are right for once; but my dear Jack, if you had seen Lucy M-, you would not wonder". Oh, certainly not." You are a coldblooded infidel, Jack; however I will ere long convince you of your error. M and she come to town shortly, and you shall then judge for yourslf." Meantime," continued he, seating himself opposite to me, with the most pensive air imaginable, "since I am at the confessional, you had better permit me to proceed. I first became acquainted with Lucy a few years after the death of her father, who left little else behind him than a broken-hearted widow and two children. They were then living in the same cottage of which M is now about to dispose, as his profession will oblige him to live in town. Mrs. M- was slowly but perceptibly dying, and I had frequent opportunities of observing the untiring strength of filial love with which a fond daughter ministered to the wants of a languishing mother. As our intimacy increased, a thousand occasions presented themselves of assisting her in the performance of her arduous duty, of witnessing the patient and devoted spirit of self-denial with which she hung over the chair of the invalid, and still as the big tears stood in her blue eye, struggled to hide her own sorrows from one on whom the knowledge would have inflicted the bitterest pang. Was it to be wondered, my friend, that a young and amiable girl, in such a situation, could be other than an object of admiration, of respect, of love; or was I wrong in concluding that she who had proved herself an attached and duteous daughter to the last hour of her mother's existence, could not fail to make an affectionate and devoted wife." "The precise meaning of all which in plain humble prose, is this;-you were thrown by chance into the society of an amiable, and I am of course bound to suppose, a pretty girl, placed under circumstances which were naturally enough calculated to invest her every word and action with a strong colouring of interest and romance,—especially in the eyes of such an ill-starred genius as you are,— and accordingly you make it your business to fall in love with her forthwith." 66 Pretty girl,-interesting circumstances," said he, starting up in evident irritation, though almost laughing at the picture I had drawn, 66 Sdeath, you demure, sneaking, icyhearted reptile, you understand nothing at all of such matters. However, translate it as you will, the upshot of the affair was this,-I totally, irrevocably surrendered my heart to Lucy, and the moment that disclosed to her my passion was that in which I received the assurance that it was as fully returned." 66 Oh, then it is all arranged, I see, and I have nothing to do except to wish you joy." "For heaven's sake, do reserve your flippancy for some more suitable occasion," said Ned, in a supplicating and offended tone: "listen to me, and try if you can afford me any assistance." I complied readily, feeling some remorse at having bantered him too severely. "Her brother," continued he, " is not adverse. to my suit ; I have had his sanction to addressing Lucy, though I confess I could not in justice censure his rejecting so fortuneless a suitor." "He may nevertheless feel sensible," said I, "that the nephew and reputed heir to the partner in one of the richest firms in town would be in all probability an eligible protector for an orphan sister." L looked at me with an expression of the most innocent surprise, that showed the truth had never till that moment flashed upon him. "Jack, you always saw farther into such matters than I did. It may be as you say; but that on which I would now consult you is of more moment. I have not yet informed my uncle of my engagement." "Then do so by all means." "You do not know my uncle, Jack. He would never consent to my union with a woman who is guilty of so unpardonable a crime as poverty, and should I take such a step without consulting him, I lose his favour." To advise, much less direct under such circumstances was difficult. I had therefore recourse to all the common-place prudential arguments which are so readily available to those that are fortunately not involved in the predicament. I recommended that he should if possible relinquish Lucy altogether, but on this point he was obstinate, and I could effect nothing. "He was pledged," he said, "pledged in word and in honour; he had sought her affection, and how could he, now that he had gained it, desert her." I pressed upon him the impropriety of a clandestine marriage, and the almost impossibility of supporting a wife on his own paternal pittance. "So what are you to do, Ned, if your uncle refuse to assist you?" During my sermonizing, as he was wont to call it, my poor friend continued rapidly striding, or rather shambling back and forwards along the room, with a half-dogged, half-abstracted air, as if he heard little and heeded less what I was saying. My last query, however, brought him to his senses and to a dead stand; then turning suddenly round upon me, and thrusting his fingers through a mass of tangled black hair, which he was incessantly fretting and cocking in every possible direction during moments of agitation, he glared fiercely into my face. "Dowhy what the d-1 would you have me do but starve?" "That is too terrible an alternative," said I, "so in heaven's name make the attempt to gain your uncle's consent." I was at length so far successful as to extort a reluctant promise from him that he would do so; and ere we parted he had begun to form a thousand plans in the event of overcoming his scruples. From what I had already learned of the character of my friend's uncle, I had no great difficulty in anticipating the issue of the conference. He was a man of a frigid, unexcitable turn of mind, who had, even in his younger days, looked upon matrimony as he wouldupon a mercantile speculation,-subservient to the great business of life, the acquirement of riches-as chiefly valuable for the connexions it procured him, or the wealth that it added to his store: and now that he had arrived at the age when "The hey day of the blood is tame And waits upon the Judgment," and that "good old gentlemanly vice" of amassing money increases as the ability of enjoying it is diminished, he was not likely to entertain more liberal sentiments upon the subject. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that when Edward disclosed to him his situation and feelings, the old man heard him with astonishment. Coldly and calmly--for he never suffered himself to be hurried away even to an expression of anger---coldly and calmly, he pronounced it to be an act of the most unpardonable folly; and when the other in exculpation, passionately appealed to the feelings of his uncle's heart and pleaded his own affectionshis engagement-his happiness at stake the madness was too manifest; the phrensy was of too hopeless a description to be mastered by the language of good sense or common prudenceso at least thought his uncle, he offered not another word in opposition, but in a tone of the deepest contempt, concluded by allowing, that Edward was certainly his own master; but he assured him such a connexion would never have his approval. It is, unfortunately, in love as in most other passions, as the emotions of the heart are in strong action, so the operations of reason are proportionably clogged and weakened, we are too much under the influence of hope or fear, to estimate truly the disadvantages or difficulties that obstruct us in the pursuit of the objects of our desires, we feel too deeply to philosophise in word or action. It was thus, that Edward L., possessing strong passions and accustomed to express them strongly, knew not with what stern fidelity his uncle would persist in adhering to a determination which he had resolved on so calmly; and in addition, his sanguine temper induced him to hope, that however sincere at present might be that relative's inten tion of abiding by his words, he would finally relent, when opposition would cease to be availing. Under such circumstances, my friend still persevered in his former line of conduct; and, accordingly, a few evenings after, we were bending our steps towards the lodgings of M. Despite of the elasticity of spirit which enables the young heart to rebound under the pressure of affliction's touch, I observed that Edward's health and spirits were considerably affected by the violence of the struggle to which he was subjected. He listened with a gloomy and abstracted air of despondency to the few encouraging suggestions which I could venture to make under the circumstances. I ceased at length to urge a conversation which he seemed alike unable and unwilling to sustain ; and when we entered M's. dwelling, I had insensibly fallen into a train of sad contemplation on the probable results of so inauspicious a connection, and was half inclined to coincide with his uncle in considering it the act of inexcusable folly. My reverie was interrupted by Ned's putting his arm within mine as he led me up the room, 66 to where a lovely and interesting looking girl reclined upon a sofa. She rose at our approach. As my friend presented me to her with a smile,Lucy, this is Mr. W, of whom you have so often heard me speak," I shall never forget the sweet confusion, the unaffected maidenly modesty of feature and deportment, with which she acknowledged the meaning his words implied, that I was in possession of their secret. The languid smile that, as she rose to receive us, at first lit up her blue eye and played across her pale features, quickly gave place to the mantling blush that flushed to her brows, and this last, after struggling awhile for mastery, at length faded away before the returning influence of delicate health. I confess, my philosophy and composure were sadly put to the proof, and I discovered in the gentle being before me, a stronger argument in exculpation of poor Ned's folly than I had an hour previously imagined could be adduced. As I gazed on her varying face, I could only compare it to some of those beautiful creations of the soul, which the Poet calls up to illumine the hours of his lone and enraptured study; Rideva insieme ed insieme, ella arrossia- E nel riso il rossor che le copria In sino almento il delicato viso. At once she smiled, she blush'd love's richest hue- All this while, I must, of course, have cut a strange figure, and I know not how long I should have continued to do so, had she not relieved my embarrassment, and I believe her own too, by directing my thoughts to a different channel. "I have been endeavouring," she said, "to persuade Edward to try the country air for a few days; I fancy he is thinking more of his studies and less of his health than is prudent." Her observation brought me quickly to my senses and recalled to my mind the object of it, of whose existence I had that moment, I fear, lost all recollection. There he stood, however, demurely looking at me, his eye kindling with the light of that sly humour which had so long slumbered, while, to use the expression of his happier days, "his internal spirit cut a caper," as it enjoyed the triumph of my involuntary homage. I did at last contrive to reply-something I said about his being shortly to be called to the bar, and added that I was sure he would, after that event, be at liberty to comply with her wishes.— He sighed heavily and the conversation dropped for the moment. I was but poorly read in love-lore at the time I speak of, and as to any knowledge which I may have since acquired on that head, the less that is said about it the better. Nevertheless, the interest which I felt in all that concerned my friend, induced me to apply my Of love, when seated on his loveliest throne- I perceived that she possessed a gentle and affectionate heart, and a confiding spirit which sought not to support itself, but implicity reposed on the love she cherished; timid by nature, she was still more so from the remains of the lingering delicacy of a constitution which long attendance on her mother and the recent shock of her death, had severely injured. At length I took my leave and hurried away to the University. As I traversed hastily the voiceless gloom of her solitary courts, where the far-distant and clouded ray of the antiquated oil-lamp scarcely revealed the spectral pillars of the larger buildings, as they stood out into the dusk and echoed to the footfall, I heard the last toll of the Porter's bell, while from the steps of the dining-hall he proclaimed "the Dean is in the hall," I answered with an 'Adsum' the call of my name from the roll and retired to my lonely chamber to meditate on the events of the evening. DON GOMEZ AND THE CID. The Don Diego Laynez in lonely musing mood Thus, day by day, he wastes away his age in abject woe, 66 Rodrigo Diaz, of Bivar, thou art my only hope; But ah, the day is distant far, e'er thou with man may cope: Ah, would to God thou rodest forth upon a man's resort! "I come from Gormaz Castlemoat, where, since the break of day, |