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Well then, young amorist, whom love
Hath brought unto this pass,
I am willing to perform the word
Of my servant Abibas.

Thy master's daughter shall be thine,
And with her sire's consent;
And not more to thy heart's desiro
Than to her own content.

Yea, more,-I give thee with the girl,
Thine after-days to bless,

Health, wealth, long life, and whatsoe'er
The world calls happiness.

But, mark me!-on conditions, youth!
No paltering here we know!
Dost thou here solemnly, this hour

Thy hope of heaven forego?

Dost thou renounce thy baptism,
And bind thyself to me,
My woful portion to partake
Through all eternity?

No lurking purpose shall avail,
When youth may fail and courage quail,
To cheat me by contrition!
I will have thee written down among
The children of perdition." "

Poor Eleëmon executes the deed accordingly; and this, we think, will satisfy our readers that the hand which wrote Queen Oracca has lost nothing of its cunning. Eleemon's marriage and consequent happiness is fully described, and with many peculiar touches both of quaint satire and poetry. Witness the following:

"In present joy he wrapt his heart,
And resolutely cast

All other thoughts beside him,
Of the future or the past."

At length comes the hour of retribution.

"Alone was Eleemon left

For mercy on Heaven to call;
Deep and unceasing were his prayers,
But not a tear would fall.

His lips were parch'd, his head was hot,
His eyeballs throbb'd with heat;
And in that utter silence
He could hear his temples beat.
But cold his feet, and cold his hands;
And at his heart there lay
An icy coldness unrelieved,
While he prayed the livelong day."

Satan, in spite of his repentance, claims our hero; and there is a grand trial of strength in the cathedral before the bishop (who is indeed the chief combatant) and the assembled people. Here the author indulges in some whim and pleasantries, which contrast with the pathetic traits of his 24 ATHENEUM, VOL. 2, 3d series.

preceding description. We say nothing of what opinion may be entertained of their taste; but they are very amusing, and we quote a few passages of the legal argument touching the soul of the penitent. It is exceedingly like special pleading in our modern law courts. Satan says

"Mine is he by a bond

Which holds him fast in law;

I drew it myself for certainty,
And sharper than me must the lawyer be
Who in it can find a flaw!

Before the congregation,
And in the face of day,

Whoever may pray, and whoever gainsay,
I will challenge him for my bondsman,
And carry him quick away!'

Ha, Satan! dost thou in thy pride,'
With righteous anger, Basil cried,

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Defy the force of prayer?

In the face of the church wilt thou brave it? Why then we will meet thee there!" "

"There" they do meet, and the black gentleman enforces his claim as if he were a chancery barrister, and is answered by the bishop as if he were another.

"The writing is confessed;—
No plea against it shown ;-
The forfeiture is mine,
And now I take my own!'

Hold there!' cried Basil, with a voice
That arrested him on his way,

When from the screen he would have swoopt.
To pounce upon his prey :

A

Hold there, I say! Thou canst not sue Upon this bond by law!

A sorry legalist were he

Who could not in thy boasted plea
Detect its fatal flaw.

The deed is null, for it was framed
With fraudulent intent;
A thing unlawful in itself;
A wicked instrument,―
Not to be pleaded in the courts-
Sir Fiend, thy cause is shent !

This were enough; but more than this,
A maxim, as thou knowest, it is
Whereof all laws partake,
That no one may of his own wrong
His own advantage make.

The man, thou sayest, thy bondsman is :
Mark now, how stands the fact !

Thou hast allowed,-nay, aided him

As a freedman to contract

marriage with this Christian woman here, And by a public act.

That act being publicly perform'd
With thy full cognizance,
Claim to him as thy bondsman thou
Canst never more advance.

For when they solemnly were then
United, in sight of angels and men,
The matrimonial band
Gave to the wife a right in him;

And we on this might stand.

Thy claim upon the man was by
Thy silence then forsaken;
A marriage thus by thee procured
May not by thee be shaken;
And thou, O Satan, as thou seest,
In thine own snare art taken!'

So Basil said, and paused awhile;
The arch-fiend answered not;
But he heaved in vexation

A sulphurous sigh for the bishop's vocation,
And thus to himself he thought :-
The law thy calling ought to have been,
With thy wit so ready, and tongue so free!
To prove by reason in reason's despite,
That right is wrong, and wrong is right,
And white is black, and black is white,-
What a loss have I had in thee !" "

The Pilgrim to Compostella is a humorous production,-a very John Gilpin-ish piece of drollery. The notes to both ballads are full of curiosities "rich and rare."*

THE GRAVE OF THE BROKEN HEART.

CHAPTER III.

and elsewhere, the honorable Rector addressed his curate with a formal congratulation on his approaching marriage. Vernon's face crimsoned all over, as he bowed and stammered out a few words of awkward acknowledgment, stealing impulsively a furtive glance at the Lady Octavia, who, affecting the most natural surprise in the world, artlessly exclaimed-" Married!-Mr. Vernon going to be married, uncle ?-you don't say so? Oh, Mr. Vernon, how secret you have been;

DR. HARTOP's fears were prophetic; preface his discourses in the pulpit the picturesque circuit home delayed the arrival of Lady Octavia and Vernon so long past the dinner hour, that the Doctor's habitually urbane and placid temper would have been seriously discomposed, had he not that morning, in the course of a long visit from Mr. Henderson, the Sea Vale Esculapius, acquired some information respecting the matrimonial engagements of his young curate, and the circumstances thereto relating, which, in the dearth of more interesting gossip, was not only acceptable to the worthy Rector's craving appetite and accommodating taste, but would furnish him, par les suites, with a fair field for indulging his benevolent propensity and peculiar talent for giving gratuitous advice with patronizing condescension. Therefore he looked but tenderly reproachful at Lady Octavia, though the fins of the turbot were boiled to rags, and various other dishes, reduced to consommés, gave touching testimony of her cruel inconsideration; and scarcely had the servants left the dining-room, when, giving three preliminary hems, and an inward chuckle, with which he was wont to

and may we know to whom, uncle?" "To a most unexceptionable and every way respectable and amiable young person, as I have this morning had the pleasure of learning from a friend of yours, my dear Mr. Vernon!

from good Mr. Henderson, who tells me that Miss Aboyne"- -"Miss Aboyne !" interrupted Lady Octavia, with a pretty shriek of sudden dismay; "dear me! who could have thought it? I would not for the world have"-"You know Miss Aboyne, then?" asked the Doctor with some surprise, in his turn interrupting Lady Octavia. "Oh! I saw her to-day at church, and indeed she seems-she

* A work in 2 vols. 8vo. by Southey, has also recently been published. It is called "Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, &c.," and consists of dialogues between Sir T. More and Montesinos (a stranger from "a distant country"), on various interesting and important topics, such as the improvement of the world; Druidical stones; feudal slavery ; growth of pauperism; Owen of Lanark and the manufacturing system; national wealth; war; the prospects of Europe; Methodists; infidelity; the United States; Catholic emancipation; Ireland, &c. &c.

† See page 149.

looks-that is, a-a very superior sort
of person-I dare say very amiable,
and excellent, and-You'll introduce
me to Miss Aboyne, Mr. Vernon -
I assure you I am dying to know her."
Vernon, now compelled to speak,
made some awkward attempts to ex-
plain, that Miss Aboyne, from ill
health and recent affliction, would not
perhaps be able to avail herself of the
honor of an introduction to Lady Oc-
tavia; and then the Doctor, impatient
of colloquial trifling, which delayed
the pouring forth of his luminous and
well-digested ideas, proceeded to favor
Vernon, not only with his entire ap-
probation of the projected union, but
with an elaborate dissertation on do-
mestic economy, by attending to the
several branches whereof, (which he
condescended to dwell on more parti-
cularly,) a country curate might main-
tain a wife and family, and bring up
a score of children, with infinite com-
fort and propriety, on an income short
of a hundred and fifty pounds per an-
num. "Of course, my dear Mr.
Vernon!" the reverend gentleman
went on to observe, "there can be no
expensive luxuries, no idle superflui-
ties, in such a modest and well-order-
ed establishment. But, after all, my
dear sir! how little suffices for our
real wants; and beyond those, what
Christian character or philosophic
mind would-Octavia! do, pray,
desire that the gardener may be writ-
ten to about these pines; it is really
scandalous !—they cost me a guinea
a-piece, and this is the second I have
cut to-day, and both uneatable. Send
me the guava-
-But, as I was pro-
ceeding to observe-as I was going on
to remark to you, Mr. Vernon-be-
yond our real necessities, (mere food
and raiment,) what physical wants and
temporal cares are worthy the consi-
deration of a Christian and a philoso-
pher? It hath been truly said—

Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long.'
And with regard to the article of food
especially, I am persuaded, Mr. Ver-
non, and after long and mature delibe-
ration on the subject, I feel no hesita-

tion in declaring my entire conviction, that in no part of the united Kingdom is the infant population more hale, healthful, and multitudinous, than where oatmeal or potatoes, with milk, or even pure water, forms its unvaried and unsophisticated aliment. Therefore, my dear sir, with regard to your future family, (those numerous olive branches with which it is my sincere prayer that Providence may surround your table,) I have no hesitation in strenuously advising"What the Doctor proceeded to advise must remain forever secret between himself and Vernon, whose feelings, during the preceding harangue, can only be compared to those of a person undergoing the "peine forte et dure," and who experienced proportionable relief when Lady Octavia, tired of continuing a silent tiers, arose to retire. As she passed him at the dining-room door, which he had hastened to hold open for her, she shook her fair head with a look of pretty anger, and archly putting up one taper forefinger to her rosy lip, said softly, "Oh, fie! fie! Mr. Vernon !-how treacherous you have been!" Vernon slowly and reluctantly returned to his mitigated penance; but far be it from us to review in detail the protracted torments of that mortal hour, during which the honorable and reverend gentleman, warmed with his own eloquencecharmed with his own theory-exalted with a sense of his own philanthropy, and with a consciousness of the lights which flowed in the faster as he continued to diffuse them-poured out his oracular suggestions with a condescending suavity that descended to the most minute particulars. At length, however, articulation thickened-sentences lagged at their termination— words came slower-syllables dropped away to indefinite sounds—and at last, in a final bewilderment of-" As I was saying, Mr. Vernon-I repeat, my dear sir!-that-that-I have no hesitation in-in af-af-fir-r-r”—the comfortable double chin of the respectable adviser sank, embedded in its own rolls, on his ample chest, an incipient

snore chimed in with the struggling affirmation, and after an attempt or two of guttural thickness, which sounded like " pease-porridge-cheap and wholesome," and " Mrs. Rundell," broke out into a grand continuous bass. Then, quietly and cautiously, Vernon rose from his seat of torture-quietly and cautiously he stole towards the door-but not so noiselessly did he effect his exit as to be wholly unnoticed by the half-conscious slumberer, whose drowsy attempts at articulation forthwith recommenced, but only to commission his curate, who thanked heaven for his escape, with a message to the Lady Octavia. After the scene of his recent mortification, of which her Ladyship had been a witness, Vernon would gladly, had he been permitted, have avoided an early tête-àtête with her; and his heart told him he was anxiously expected elsewhere; but the Doctor's message must be delivered-it need not delay him three minutes; and with a determination that it should not, and hat in hand, he sprang up stairs, and into the drawingroom, from whence issued the sweet sounds of Lady Octavia's fine-toned harp and fine voice deliciously blending in an aria of "Semiramide." Another voice, less powerful but more touching, accompanied by a humbler instrument, was breathing out at this self-same hour in the orphan's home, such strains as well befitted the Sabbath vesper. Often did that low melodious voice pause in a cadence, or hang suspended on a note, while the singer's head was suddenly upraised in a listening attitude, her long slender fingers suspended over the silent chords, and her eyes glancing anxiously through the little casement toward the garden gate. Again and again recurred that anxious pause; each time the hymn resumed with tones less firm, and a more plaintive modulation; at last a deep and heavy sigh was the involuntary prelude; and as Millicent withdrew her eyes from the window, tears, which had been long collecting within their lids, fell on her listless fingers as she bent over her instru

ment, and endeavored to renew the sacred harmony. It was but an endeavor. Her voice had become weak and tremulous; so, discontinuing her vocal tribute, she wisely resorted to silent communion with that book which contains "words in season" for all the soul's necessities-of peace for the disquieted-of strength to the weakof healing to the sorely stricken-of hope to the broken-hearted. Millicent found there the aid she sought; and when, as was her custom, she had joined with her old servant in their nightly sacrifice of prayer and praise, she was able again, and without effort, to smile cheerfully, and speak cheeringly, to that faithful humble friend, the bursting indignation of whose affectionate zeal she endeavored to repress with a sincere assurance of her own conviction, that the morrow would bring with it a satisfactory explanation.

Early the next morning-earlier even than Miss Aboyne's primitive breakfast hour, Vernon entered the little parlor just as Nora was removing the tea equipage. She scarcely vouchsafed to notice his entrance even with a look, and the grave severity of her countenance by no means tended to dispel the troubled surprise with which he had remarked her employment. "Nora!" he hurriedly exclaimed, "what are you about ?— where is Miss Aboyne ?-Not ill? not ill, surely?-God forbid !”—“ About as well as some folks wish her to be, I doubt," shortly and bitterly replied the indignant Nora, as she essayed, without farther parley, or even honoring him with a second glance, to pass Vernon with the tea-tray. fears were now too thoroughly awakened to permit her silent egress; and, grasping her wrist more forcibly than he was aware of, he said, Nora ! Nora! tell me, for God's sake, is she really ill ?-is my Millicent"his voice trembled with an excess of agitation that shook even Nora's predetermined inflexibility, and she so far relented as to inform him, (as, indeed, she had been especially enjoined,

But his

and

in case he should call thus early,) that Miss Aboyne was suffering only from headache, but would be well enough to rise and receive him a little later in the day. She could not find in her heart, however, to give the supplement of Millicent's message; namely, that the headache was, she believed, but the effect of a slight cold which she had taken the preceding day. In lieu of that assurance, so affectionately intended to prevent selfreproach on the part of Vernon, the wrathful Nora, who had by no means any tender consideration for his feelings, took upon her to substitute an "amendment," imputing the headache to a sleepless night, and both the effect and its immediate cause to one far deeper, which she also vouched for on her own authority-the heartache; and then, giving way to the impulse of her warm and faithful spirit, the affectionate creature laid her hand on Vernon's shoulder, and, while tears filled her eyes as she fixed them earnestly on his, exclaimed

Oh, Mr. Vernon! Mr. Vernon! did I ever think it would have come to this! that my child! my jewel! the flower of the world! Colonel Aboyne's daughter! should be slighted for that proud lady, who only came here to break my darling's heart, and help you to dig her grave, Mr. Vernon? Ay, there she'll be soon, sir; and then you may go your ways and be happy;" with which comfortable and comforting assurance, Nora pushed by with her breakfast-tray, followed, however, by Vernon, who, though his worst fears were relieved by the first part of her communication, still went on to ask a hundred anxious questions, and commission the half-relenting nurse with as many tender messages, though the latter was too discerning and honest to feel or affect great reliance on his assurance, that he should satisfactorily account to Miss Aboyne for his apparent neglect of the preceding day.

The incredulous messenger conscientiously "told the tale as 'twas told to her," nevertheless, virtuously re

fraining from comment on "how the truth might be ;" and Millicent's heart was prompt to accept beforehand the promised explanation. During the watches of a sleepless night, it was impossible but that troubled thoughts and vague surmises had crept into her mind, involuntarily and unencouraged, nay, quickly and perseveringly repressed, with the generous confidence of a nature not prone to think evil; but still they returned like the phantoms of a feverish imagination, and Millicent was indeed sick in spirit, as well as physically indisposed, when Nora first drew her curtains that morning. But very soon the fresh air and the bright sunshine, entering at the unclosed lattice, brought with them sweet influences redolent of happier and more hopeful feelings; and when Nora soon after returned with her report of Vernon's early visit and affectionate messages, Millicent smiled with perfectly restored cheerfulness, inwardly rebuking the weakness which had subjected her to such causeless uneasiness. Neither was she disappointed that morning of the promised speedy return. Neither, on the part of Vernon, was anything left unsaid to make his peace (had that been necessary) with one whose gentle bosom harbored no accusing spirit ; and when he left her late and unwillingly-in truth, it was always unwillingly that he did leave her-it was with a pledge to steal away to her again in time for one sweet hour of evening-walk, and more than one after hour of social happiness in the dear little parlor, where so many a past evening had stolen away with the swift-unsounding pace of unworldly innocent enjoyment. And punctual, as in former days, was Horace Vernon to the hour of tryst; and never, perhaps, even in former days, had his voice and looks, when addressing Millicent, expressed feelings so deep and tender. Those feelings were not excited by reviving attachment, for his true affection had never been alienated from their first object; but if his heart had not strayed from its allegi

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