THE PICTURE ROOM.

THE room in which I am now seated is a pleasant parlour, looking towards the rising sun, with a fine view of hills and valleys stretching for miles around; just such a room, and just such a prospect, as would delight the eyes of young folks, fresh from London, or any other large town, where a green field can scarcely be found. Beneath the window, too, is a pretty flower garden, blooming with roses, pinks, and other sweet flowers. In this room the walls are hung with pictures. I have just counted them, and find the number to be twenty. Some of these pictures are old friends: I have known

them nearly forty years. Others are new to me: I look upon them now for nearly the first time. But new or old, they have each a tale of their own; each, if they could speak, would have a history to tell, which might please if it did not instruct, or instruct if it did not please. I have been thinking for the last half hour whether I cannot speak for the pictures, and put down in a little book some of the lessons which they may teach. Let me try. I will begin with those two which hang one on each side of the open window. One is the picture of an old ruined castle, and the other of an old abbey.

Let us look at the castle. It is square, with high towers at each corner, and from within the walls rises a larger tower, higher than the rest. Around the castle we see a broad ditch, filled with water, which reaches quite up to the castle walls, without leaving so much as an inch of ground for even a bird to rest its feet upon, or a mouse to cling to. Look again at the castle. Its walls

are half covered with ivy and wild flowers, which seem to have taken root in the mortar between the stones; the small, narrow windows are open to the weather, and some of them have been made larger by the falling out of stones; and at one part the tops of

the walls have fallen down, and left a great gap, which shows there is no roof within. Now what story can this old castle tell us? I will speak for it.

CASTLE. "I was built a great many hundred years ago. The man who built me was a

great warrior. He fought in many battles, and killed a large number of men with his own hand; and for this reason he was called

Strong-in-the-arm.' And because he fought for the king, and did him much service in the wars, the king made him a baron, and gave him a whole town for his own, and a great many miles of the country round. On a piece of this land, I, the castle, was built.

"My walls were built very thick and strong, to keep out my master's enemies. The windows were made narrow for the same reason. All round the top of the walls withinside was a broad place for soldiers to stand upon, and shoot arrows from, when any enemies appeared; and the towers at the corners were built higher than the walls, that the people in the castle might see a great way off all round the country, so that they might know when any enemies were coming to disturb them. The large square tower in the castle was called a keep. Within side the keep was a deep well, from which the people

in the castle drew the water which they drank. There were also dark dungeons under the ground, which were meant to put prisoners in. High above these dungeons were rooms for the lord of the castle; and the top of the keep was made flat, and covered with lead. There is a fine view from this place all over the country for many miles around. The use of this keep, or square tower, was that the people in the castle might run into it, and shut themselves in, if the enemies with whom they were fighting should get into the other parts of the castle.

"The broad ditch which goes quite round the walls was also meant to keep out my master's enemies. This ditch is called a moat. There was a wooden bridge over it, to the great gate in the outer walls. This bridge was every night drawn close up to the wall by strong chains, so that then there was no

way to get within my walls.

By day-time the bridge was let down; but there was always a soldier near the gate, who would