apart on a large couch of oak, antiquely carved, and ornamented like some of the massive furniture of the days of the olden church, with beads, and crosses, and pastoral crooks. At each end lay a shepherd's dog, past its prime, like its master, and, like him, enjoying a kind of half-ruminating and drowsy leisure peculiar to old age. Three or four busy wheels, guided by as many maidens, manufactured wool into yarn for rugs and mantles. Three other maidens, with bared arms, prepared curds for cheese; and their hands rivalled in whiteness the curdled milk itself. Under the light of a large candlestick several youths pursued the amusement of the popular game of draughts. On this scene of patriarchal happiness looked my old companion Eleanor Selby, contrasting, as she glanced her eye in succession over the tokens of shepherds' wealth in which the house abounded, the present day with the past; the times of the fleece, the shears, and the distaff, with those of broils, and inroad and invasion, when the name of Selby stood high in the chivalry of the north. One might observe in her changing looks the themes of rustic degradation and chivalrous glory on which she brooded; and the present peaceful time suffered by the comparison, as the present always does in the contemplation of old age. The constant attention of young Maude Rode, who ministered to the comfort of her ancient relative, seemed gradually to soothe and charm down the proud feeling of ancestry, which maintained rule in her breast; and after interchanging softer looks of acknowledgment and kindness with her fair young kinswoman, she thus proceeded to relate some of the adventures she had witnessed in the time of her youth.

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THE SPECTRE ARMY.*

In the days of which I speak, there were men of birth and descent who were ready, with trumpet and with brand, to do battle for the exiled branch of the house of Stuart. Rumours of rebellions and invasions were as frequent as the winds on our heaths; and each day brought a darker and more varied tale of risings in the east, and risings in the west; for the king abroad, and for the king at home; and each relater gave a colour and a substance to his tidings, even as his wishes were. The shepherd went armed to the pasturage of his flocks-the lover went armed to the meeting with his mistress -those who loved silver and gold, sought the solitary and silent place, and buried their treasure; the father and mother gazed at their sons and their daughters, and thought on the wrongs of war; and the children, armed with hazel rods for spears, and swords of lath, carried on a mimic and venturous war with one another, under the hostile banners of the lion and the white rose. Those who still loved the ancient church, were dreaded by those who loved the new; and the sectarians hated both, and hoped for the day when the jewelled mitre would be plucked off the prelate's head; and when austerity, that denies itself, yet giveth not to others, and zeal, which openeth the gates of mercy but for a tithe of mankind, should hold rule and dominion in the land. Those who had broad lands and rich heritages, wished for peace; those who had

* This story relates to the last attempt made to replace prince Charles Stuart on the throne of his ancestors. The particulars may, of course, be found in the histories of the period.

little to lose, hoped for acquisitions by a convulsion; and there were many of the fiery and intractable spirits of the land who wished for strife and commotion, for the sake of variety of pursuit, and because they wished to see coronets and crowns staked on the issue of a battle. Thus, hot discussion and sore dispute divided the people of this land.

It happened on a fine summer evening, that I stopped at the dwelling of David Forester, of Wilton hall, along with young Walter Selby of Glamora, to refresh myself after the chase on the banks of Derwent-water. The mountain air was mild and balmy, and the lofty and rugged outline of Soutrafell appeared on a canopied back-ground of sky so pure, so blue, and so still, that the earth and heaven seemed blended together. Eagles were visible, perched among the star-light, on the peaks of the rocks; ravens roosted at a vast distance below; and where the greensward joined the acclivity of rock and stone, the flocks lay in undisturbed repose, with their fleeces shining in dew, and reflected in a broad deep lake at the bottom, so pure and motionless, that it seemed a sea of glass. I had alighted from my horse, and, seated on a little green mound before the house, tasted some of the shepherds' curds and cream, the readiest and the sweetest beverage which rustic hospitality supplies. Walter Selby had seated himself at my feet, and behind me stood the proprietor of Wilton-hall and his wife, awaiting my wishes with that ready and respectful frankness, which those of birth and ancestry always obtain among our mountain peasantry.

"Young lady," said David Forester, "have you heard tidings of note from the north or from the south? The Selbys are an ancient and renowned race, and in days of old held

rule from sunny Carlisle to the vale of Keswick-a day's flight for a hawk. They are now lordless and landless; but the day may soon come, when to thee I shall go hat in hand to beg a boon, and find thee lady of thy lands again, and the noble house of Lanercost risen anew from its desolation." I understood better than I wished to appear, this mysterious address of my entertainer, and was saved the confusion of a reply, either direct or oblique, by the forward tongue of his wife.

The good woman of the house was, however, soon interrupted by the arrival of one of those personages, who, with a horse and pack, distribute the luxuries and the comforts of the city over the mountainous regions of the provinces. His horse, loaded with heavy panniers, came foremost, anxious for a resting-place; and behind came the owner, a middle-aged man, tall and robust, with hair as black as the raven, curled close beneath a very broad bonnet, and in his hand one of those measuring rods of oak, piked with iron at the under end, and mounted with brass at the upper, which seemed alike adapted for defending or measuring his property. He advanced to the spot where we were seated;-like an old acquaintance, asked for, and obtained lodgings for the evening;—and having disposed of his horse, he took out a small box, resembling a casket, which he placed on the grass, and seating himself beside it, assumed one of those looks of mingled gravity and good humour, prepared alike for seriousness or mirth. He was not permitted to remain long in silence. "You come from the north, Simon Packpin," said one of the menials; one can tell that by your speech, and no doubt ye can tell us in your own sly way, if it be true, that the Highland gentlemen are coming to try if they can set with targe and clay

more the crown of both lands on the brow it was made for." I looked at the person of the querist,-a young man of the middle size, with a firm limb, and a frank martial mien, and something in his bearing which bespoke a higher ambition than that of tending flocks; his face, too, I thought I had seen before, and under very different circumstances. "In good sooth, Mr. Graeme," said another of the menials, "ye need not try to extract a plain answer from Simon; I asked him no farther than a month ago, if he thought we should have a change in the land soon,- The moon," said he, "will change in its season, and so must all things human."—" But, do you think," said I, "that the people will continue to prefer the cold blood of the man who keeps the chair, to the warm kindly English blood of him that's far away?"-" Ay, ay,” quoth he, no doubt, when we would drink ditch-water rather than red wine." And so he continued for an hour to reply to every plain question with such dubious replies, that I left him as wise as I found him."

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I could not help glancing my eye on this curious and demure traveller; but the perfect simplicity of his looks baffled all my scrutiny.

Silence ensued for a little while-the pedlar, who for some time had stolen a look at me, seemed all at once to come to some conclusion how to proceed, and putting aside his box, approached me with a look of submission and awe. "Fair lady, the pedlar is but a poor man, who earns an honest penny among the peasantry-but he has a reverence for the noble names which grace our verse and our chivalry-and who has an English heart that knows not and beats not high at the sound of Selby's name-and who bears a Scottish heart that