cover it thick with our mantles; place this noble youth upon it, and we will bear him northward on our horses' necks. Ere I leave his body here, I will leave mine own aside it; and you, minstrel Harberson, bring some water from the brook for this fair and fainting lady."

All these orders, so promptly given, were as quickly executed; and we recommenced our journey to the north, with sorrowful hearts, and diminished numbers. I rode by the side of the litter, which, alas! became a bier ere we reached the green hills of Cumberland. We halted in a lonely glen; a grave was prepared; and there, without priest, prayer, or requiem, was all that I loved of man consigned to a sylvan grave. "The dust of our young hero," said Sir Thomas, "must lie here till the sun shines again on our cause, and it shall be placed in consecrated earth.”

But, alas! the form of the lovely and the brave was not permitted to sink silently into dust-it was plucked out of its lonely and obscure grave-displayed on a gibbet, and the head, separated from the body, was placed on the gate of Carlisle. All day I sat looking, in sadness and tears, on this sorrowful sight, and all night I wandered wild and distracted about, conjuring all men who passed by to win me but one tress of the long bright hair of Walter Selby. Even the rude sentinels were moved by my grief, but no one dared to do a deed so daring and so perilous.

I remember it well-it was on a wild and stormy night— the rain fell fast-the thunder rocked the walls, and the lightnings flashing far and wide showed the castle's shattered towers, and the river Eden rolling deep in flood. I wrapped my robe about me, and approached the gate. I beheld a

human form-it descended and approached me, motioning me back with its hand. I turned suddenly round and said, "Whether thou comest for evil or for good, farther shall I not go till I know thy errand."-" Fair and unhappy lady," said a familiar voice, "take this tress of thy lover's hair, and mourn over it as thou wilt-men shall in vain look on the morrow for the golden locks of Walter Selby waving on Carlisle gate, and then they shall know that the good and the brave are never without friends. His body has been won, and his dust shall now mingle with the knightly and the far descended, even as I vowed when we laid him in his early grave." With these words Sir Thomas Scott (for it was no other) departed, and I placed the ringlet in my bosom, from which it shall never be separated.-Abridged from Cunningham's Traditions.

233

PRINCE CHERIE.

THERE once lived a king so wise and beneficent in all his actions that he was called by the name of the Good King. One day in hunting, a white rabbit, being closely pursued by the hounds, threw itself into his arms. The king stroked the little creature and said: "As you have placed yourself under my protection, I will take care you are not hurt. He had the rabbit carried to his palace, and a little house made for it, and made his servants give it nice food. One day, while the king was alone in his chamber, suddenly a beautiful lady appeared; her gown was white as snow, and her head was crowned with a wreath of white roses. The king was very much surprised to see this lady, for the door of his room was closed; and he was puzzled to know how she could have found admission, when she said to him: "I am the fairy Candid. Passing through the wood while you were hunting, I was curious to know if you were as good as everybody says that you are. To ascertain this, I assumed the shape of a rabbit, and took refuge in your arms; for I was sure that he who would pity a little rabbit, could not be unmerciful to his fellow-creatures; while, had you refused me your protection, I should have concluded that with all your show of goodness you were wicked in your heart. I am come to thank you for your kind offices to me, and to assure you that I will always be

your friend. You may command me in all things within my power, and I promise to grant you what you desire."

"Madam," said the king, "I have an only son, who is