MISCELLANEA.

Feasting Extravagance &c.-Lionel of Clarenti gave an entertainment at his marriage, at which there were thirty-six courses, from the fragments of which one thousand persons were fed. The matrimonial feast of Edward the Third cost 40,000/-an enormous sum in those days. Ralph, Abbot of St. Augustine, exceeded that sum by 3,000l. at his installation feast. In those days the clergy were the richest princes in Europe, The cardinals and bishops had frequently in their retinue a hundred and fifty or two hundred servants. We read of barons having thirty thousand dishes at the wedding-tables; of monks complaining against their abbots for depriving them of three out of the thirteen dishes they were accustomed to have at each meal; of other monks enjoying seventeen dishes constantly, all of which were dressed with spices and rich sauces yet these monks had taken the vow of poverty and self-mortification! of 4007. being paid for almond-milk for the use of these self-mortifying friars on the fish-days; and of an archbishop (Neville) who had, among other dainties, one thousand of those beautiful birds of the heron kind, called egrettes, served at his table at once; since which time they have become so scarce in the country, that he may be said to have devoured the species at one meal. One of the Roman Emperors, fond of rarities of an expensive nature, is said to have devoured two shundred ostrich-brains to his supper. Heliogabalus used always to feed at the most expensive rate-he ate fish when he was at a distance from the coast; and when he was on the coast he must have game brought from the farthest inland. Authony and Cleopatra, trying to out-do each other in extravagance, she reduced to powder one of the richest jewels in the world, and swallowed it at once. This reminds us of a celebrated old eccentric gentleman of great wealth in Glasgow, whose naine is still familiar to the ears of the inhabitants. He went by the name of Bob Dragon, and his house where he shot himself was said by the credulous to be haunted for many years after. Bob and another betted one hundred guineas that each would eat the most expensive meal; Bob's rival however, had not wit enough; he had not read the story of Anthony and Cleopatra -he dealt fairly with Bob, and loaded his stomach with the rarest dainties. Bob merely took a slice of bread and butter, and laid a fifty-pound note upon it, which he devoured in a twinkling, with an air of triumph.

Habits of Spiders.-M. Walcknaër related before the Entomological Society of France, the following curious fact, which is given on the authority of Mr. Spence. Having placed a large full-grown spider, of the species Epeïra diadema, on a cane planted upright in the midst of a stream of water, he saw it descend the cane several times, and remount when it had arrived at the surface of the water. Suddenly he altogether lost sight of it, but a few moments afterwards, to his great astonishments, perceived it quietly pursuing his way on the other side of the stream. The Epeira having spun two threads along the cane, had cut one of them, which, carried by the wind, had become attached to some object on the bank, and so served the spider as a bridge across the water. Mr. Spence believes tha spiders, when adult, always use similar means to cross watet M. le Pelletier de Saint-Fargeau supported the opinion.L'institut.

"AFTER looking through green spectacles for some time, white paper appears red; and after looking through red spectacles, white paper appears green."-There are only three original colours in nature; blue, red, and yellow. All the rest are compounds: white is a mixture of all. Now, in looking long at the red, the eye becomes tired; so that when the white, which contains all the three, is presented to it, it abstracts or overlooks the red; and the blue and yellow alone being left, the paper appears green; for blue and yellow make green. So, after looking through green, it abstracts the blue and yellow (or green) and red is left. On the same principle, if you look through yellow spectacles, the white will afterwards appear purple; for blue and red, the complement of the yellow, make purple. After looking through blue spectacles, the white appears orange, or red and yellow; and so on. This is a law of nature, which leads to a knowledge of harmony in colours; blue makes the finest contrast to orange, and red to green.

Fear." The thing in the world," says Montaigne, "I am most afraid of is fear." We should take a prudent care for the future, but so as to enjoy the present. "Tis no part of wisdom to be miserable to-day, because we may happen to be

so to-morrow.

THE innkeepers, tradespeople, and others, at the wateringplaces in England, complain very much of the practice now so prevalent, among those classes of society who used to frequent such places, of going over to France, or some other part of the Continent, in the season, and laying out their money with foreigners, in preference to spending it in their native land. It is said that Brighton and several other towns-were fashion used to take its summer flight, and wealth extend its enlivening patronage now feel severely the impoverishing effects of this unpatriotic practice, and are rapidly on the decline. We like patriotism as much as those who make more noise about it, and we do not admire either the taste or principles of the Englishman who can prefer the manners, the political institutions, or the moral habits of the Continent, to those of his own country: but we cannot conceal the fact that the persons who complain most loudly of this periodical migration of our countrymen to foreign shores, are themselves the main cause of the practice which they condemn. If they would have people patriotic enough to stay at home, and spend their money in the land from which it is derived, they ought not to discourage them by extortion; and yet, what Englishman is there who takes up his abode or obtains any sort of entertainment at what are called respectable inns and hotels at watering places, and in any other parts of the kingdom, that does not find his intention to be pleasant, and to think every thing about him agreeable, so broken in upon by the system of fleecing, almost invariably pursued, that his temper, like his purse, becomes very much the worse for wear. It is no wonder, that as rapacity exercises its fangs on the cash of such a one, his admiration of native hospitality declines, until at last he resolves to exchange patriotism and extortion for migration and economy. It is true, that the high rate of taxation in this country, on all the necessaries and conveniences of life, cannot allow the charges at our places of public entertainment to be as low as they are among our continental neighbours; but certainly the taxation does not justify the prices which are in general demanded at English inns. In the article of wine alone the innkeeper is not satisfied without making an enormous profit, usually cent. per cent. which drives thousands who do not like to dine without this luxury, to drink it in the cheap neighbourhood of its own vintage. But extortion, like other vices, produces its own punishment, This truth is now exemplified.

Origin af Madness aud Moral Evil.-The use of ardent spirits has long been the bane both of savage and civilized life and it is extraordinary, and no small reproach to the latter, that it is among the former that the first firm and decided step is taken to put an end to an evil of such wide-spreading and alarming magnitude. At "a talk" of North American Indians, it seems, these people determined to abolish the use of spirituous liquors, alleging, with equal truth and simplicity, that they drove them crazy." That it should be left to savage life to discover and correct this important fact, reflects but little credit upon those civilized states in which the practice prevails and maddens thousands, and where not only no such resolution as this is come to, but where the very government connives at he madness and ruin of its subjects, and even condescends to raise a large revenue by such means. Could the inmates of Bedlam, and of every Lunatic Asylum in this kingdom, be examined for the purpose of tracing the origin of their awful calamity, none so general as this would be found. Pride, disease, and mental affliction, are, we have no doubt large producers of insanity; but those, and all other causes put together would not, we are convinced, furnish any thing like proportion in the fearful catalogue, which would be found to have had their origin in this intellectual incendiarism. Those who mark the signs of the times cannot be ignorant or indifferent to the truth of this; nor can we reconcile to any of our ideas of consistency the recollection that we have had a government so straightlaced and horror-struck at depravity as to abolish the state lottery, but which can go on encouraging, rather than taking any means to repress, this all-perverting contagion. Whether the satire thus passed by these wild Indians upon civilized encouragers of this maddening habit will have any effect in repressing its prevalence, we are not sanguine enough to conjecture; but if we were asked on the one hand, what it is, that is more than any thing else destroying the manly open character of the common people of these islands, we should say it is the use of ardent spirits; and were we to prescribe, on the other, what it is that would bring them back to the habits and the character of former times, we should say that it would be by returning to the wholesome, the refreshing, and invigorating beverage of their hardy ancestors, ill-exchanged, indeed, for liquid fire.

No. 56.]

CHARLES MAITLAND, OR THE MESS-CHEST.

BY WILLIAM LEGGETT.

THERE are not many names on the list of those who have sacrificed their lives for freedom, which deserve more honorable mention than that of Riego. I was in the Mediterranean at the the time of the brave attempt which terminated so fatally for him; and I well remember how eagerly we sought every disjointed scrap of evidence which could be gathered concerning the romantic adventures of Mina with his little army in Catalonia, and the firm and prudent efforts of his noble compatriot Riego. Old Port Mahon, according to custom, had been chosen for the winter-quarters of our squadron; and though the Mahonese were by no means well affected to the cause of Ferdinand, yet the habitual reserve of these islanders, prevented their disclosing a very full account of what little they knew concerning the progress of events on the continent. Such drops of news as dribbled from them, therefore, rather increased than quenched the flame of curiosity. This had arisen to a great height, when it was at last suddenly and sadly extinguished by the arrival of a little polacca vessel from Barcelona, which brought the melancholy tidings of the defeat and flight of Mina, and of the capture and execution of his brother in arms. This vessel had been despatched to Mahon with an official account of the triumphal entry of Ferdinand into Madrid, just six days after the inhabitants of that city had witnessed the public termination of Riego's eventful career.

There were bonfires and illuminations in Mahon on the receipt of this intelligence; but the outward demonstrations of rejoicings were rendered by fear not gladness; and were as false as the hollow-hearted monarch whose success they were kindled to celebrate. Had the despatches communicated news of his death, and of the triumph of the constitution, the revelry would have been another sort of affair; the faces of the people, as well as their casements, would have been lighted up for joy; and hearts as well as feet, would have joined in the bolero and fandango, and bounded to the music of the merry castinets.

One evening, during the mock rejoicings, I went on shore with Charles Maitland, one of our lieutenants, and as fine a fellow as ever trod a frigate's quarter-deck. He was young in commission, having been but recently promoted, after a tedious service of two whole lustres in the subordinate capacity of midshipman, during which period he had been the object of a full share of the 66 fantastic tricks,' which naval commanders sometimes choose to play off upon those beneath them. When I say beneath them, I mean the phrase, so far as Charles Maitland is concerned, to apply to the scale of military gradation; for in any other respect he was beneath no

VOL 5

man in the service. It had been his lot, as well as mine, to sail with a commander who allowed no opportunity to pass of proving his title to the nautical distinction he enjoyed, of being "the hardest horse in the navy." But those days were over now; and the more elevated rank, and more definite duties of a lieutenant, secured him, in a good measure, from a renewal of the annoyances he had so long endured.

Almost immediately on reaching the dignity of an epaulette, Charles had married a sweet girl, to whom he had long been attached, and whom his narrow and uncertain resources had alone prevented from espousing before. I stood groomsman on the occasion; and I remember well how handsome the fellow looked, as he led his blushing bride to the altar. A forty-four convoying a trig, snug, clean-rigged little baltimore clipper, could not appear more stately than he alongside that modest and well-modelled girl. The truth is, Charley was one of the finest-looking men in the service-tall, well-built, round-chested, with an eye like an eagle's, and a mouth the habitual smile of which, or rather the slight pleasant curve approaching to a smile, denote an excellent disposition. And never did dog vane show the course of the wind better than that smile expressed his temper. But I am wandering from my story.

The honey-moon-that briefest moon that ever sheds its light on the matrimonial state--had hardly yet be gun to wane, when Charles was ordered to sea in old Ironsides. The old craft was lying in the harbour, her top sails loose, her anchor short-stay apeak, and all ready to trip, sheet home, and be off. His name had been pitched upon at the last moment, to supply the vacancy left by somebody who begged off; and as there was no time for remonstrance, he had nothing to do but obey. I am no hand for painting scenes of the tender sort; so I leave Charley's parting with his young wife, and all that, "to sympathetic imaginations," as the girl in the play has it.

What am I doing

But, avast a bit and belay there! all this while? A pretty piece of leeway I have made of it! Here were we, a moment since, snugly moored in the harbor of Mahon, for winter quarters; and now, in the turning of a glass, have I put the Atlantic between us and the scene of my story. Well, stations for stays!-helm's a-lee, and about she goes! And we must now crack on all sail, and make a short cruise of it, till we get back to our starting point. There is no time now for buckling knee-buckles, as the boatswain's mate says, when he calls all hands in a squall at night; so, to make a short story of it, let it suffice to say, that Charles bade adieu to his wife, old Ironsides sailed, reached the Mediterranean in due time, went the usual rounds over that cruising ground, (delightful cruising ground it is, by the way,) and was now in daily expectation of the relief-ship, with orders for her return to the United States.

Well, as I said before, Mahon was all in a bustle on

account of the news from the continent. Bells were ringing, music playing, bonfires shone in one place, and illuminations glittered in auother. Groups of people, of all ages and conditions, were in every square and open place; and the expression of many a pretty face that peeped out from the folds of the red mantilla, or the scowl of many a dark eye that glared beneath the shadow of the sombrero, denoted any thing but pleasure at the intelligence that had been received. Of all the difficult tasks in the world, there is none harder than to put on the semblance of joy at that which stirs our indignation; and he who can best dissemble in such cases-no matter how strong the motive-is not the man I should choose for my friend.

Well, Charles and I went ashore one evening, as I said, during the rejoicings. We had no other object in view than to take a long stroll together, along the romantic shores of one of the prettiest and quietest bays in the world, and to converse without restraint (that, at least, I supposed was his motive) on the topic which was ever uppermost in his mind. We were yet in the midst of the town, and were threading our way through the crowd in one of the principal squares, when a woman-and a pretty old one too. as well as one might judge by the withered and sallow face which her threadbare mantle was so disposed as only half to betraysuddenly presen ed herself before us, and whispered a single word, in a low, guttural voice, to my companion. One who has sat as many cold watches as I have, on the look-out, on the foretopsail-yard, naturally acquires a quick eye; and it therefore did not escape me that the old woman as she spoke to Charles, slipped a sealed note into his hand. She then passed on, mixed with the throng, and in an instant disappeared from my fol lowing glance. In Spain, the country of intrigue and romantic adventure, there was nothing so very singular in this as to justify great surprise; and perhaps the circumstance would soon have passed from my mind altogether, had not subsequent events, which I could not but consider in some way connected with it, kept it continually in my thoughts.

On reaching the first convenient place, Charles paused to peruse the billet. Its contents, whatever they were, seemed to engage him deeply, He stood pondering over the paper for several moments, with the air of one in earnest and perplexed meditation; aud then, suddenly crumpling it in his hand, and thrusting it into his pocket, cast round him a quick and apprehensive glance, as if fearful that some one might have overlooked him. There was more confusion in his manner, and more hesitancy in his speech, than I had ever before seen him exhibit, when he approached me, a moment or two after this, and said that an unexpected engagement would oblige him to forego the intended walk, and leave me to pursue my way alone.

I had known Charles Maitland from a boy. We had studied our lessons on the same form; had shot our marbles into the same ring; had entered the navy within a few weeks of each other; had been shipmates and messmates through two long and eventful cruises, and a good part of the time watchmates. I knew that he had a soul of honor; that his principles were well established, his head clear, his morality nice, and that he loved his young wife with the most ardent attachment. Yet for all this' I could not help feeling a certain indefinite fear that there was something wrong connected

with that note. It could not be a challenge; for he was beloved by all the officers of the squadron, and I was very sure he had not been embroiled in any quarrel on shore. Besides, if it were so, he would have applied to me as his friend;-and then, again, women are not chosen as bearers of such messages. Yet that the subject whatever it might be, was of no ordinary kind, was evident from the impression which the perusal occasioned, and not less evident from his witholding the matter from me. Our communion had always been of the most frank and unreserved description; we had been sharers of each other's thoughts, sentiments, and wishes, from boyhood up; I had been in his confidence through his whole course of wooing; and indeed, until the present moment, he had never shown a desire to keep any thing from my knowledge. Reflections of this kind caused me, perhaps, to give undue importance to the circumstance which had just occured. I began to fear that Charles was in some way concerned in an unworthy adventure; and a vague suspicion, which I did not like to entertain and could not altogether reject, took possession of my mind, that woman was at the bottom of it. I turned with a slow step towards the quay, and hummed, as I descended the long lateral road that is excavated from the perpendicular cliff which overlooks the bay

were

66

Though love is warm a while,
Soon it grows cold;

Absence soon blights the smile,
Ere love grows old"

From this day forward, Charles's visits to the shore more frequent than before, but always in the evening, and now he invariably went alone, If other officers happened to go in the same boat, he was sure to separate himself from them on reaching the quay, and pursue a direction different from the rest. This soon came to be noticed and to be talked of, and it was whispered about in the mess that, on two or three occasions, he had been seen, late in the evening, walking with a female closely muffled, in an unfrequented and lonely part of the shore, at some distance from the town. Different officers professed to have seen this female with him, and their description of her person tallied with each other. In the minds of the mess generally, who did not know Charles so thoroughly as 1, and whose morality was not of so scrupulous a kind as his—or as I had always thought his to be— this matter created no surprise, and was was only laid hold of as furnishing an opportunity for sundry nautical jokes and witticisms. These jests however, met with such a reception as by no means encouraged those who offered them to a repetition.

It chanced one day that Charles and I were sent on shore on a piece of duty together, and that our business lay in that part of the town to which it had been noticed that he always directed his steps. As we passed through the streets, we discovered that there was a considerable hubbub among the inhabitants, and we soon ascertained that it was occasioned by a party of soldiers who had lately arrived from the Maine, commissioned to search the island for certain proscribed constitutionalists, who were supposed to have taken refuge in Minorca. A good many of these wretched fugitives had been discovered and executed; but the individual, against whom the proclamation of Ferdinand was chiefly directed, had hitherto eluded the vigilance of the blood-hounds.

2

This person was a brave young chief, who had filled a confidential and important post under Riego, and who, by his intrepidity, activity, and ceaseless vigilance, had been greatly instrumental in the success of that partisan warfare in Catalonia, which cost the royalists so much blood and treasure, and so long upheld the sinking hopes of his compatriots. To seize and slay Don Castro de Valero, the name of the youthful and interesting chief, was deemed so important an object by the monarch, that immense rewards had been offered for his apprehension, and numerous parties had been sent in every direction in which rumor alleged that he had fled. The troop of mercenaries who had been despatched to Mahon were stimulated by the hope of reward, to much greater activity than usually characterizes Spanish soldiers, who are at once a by-word for indolence and rapacity. They had closely searched the house of every person suspected of the slightest disaffection, and had followed every imaginary clue with the keenest zeal of avarice. They had even visited the foreign national ships in the port, and had procured strict orders to he issued, forbidding the officers from harbouring or rendering any assistance to those who were held as traitors by the government within whose waters we lay.

On the after noon in question, in consequence of certain hints which had been communicated to this party, they had renewed their search, and at the time we came up were about entering an humble dwelling, which, as I learned from the crowd, was occupied by a poor old widow woman and her niece. We were yet at some distance when we noticed the house at which the soldiers paused, and we could perceive the withered old duenna standing on her threshold, throwing her arms about with great vehemence, and sputtering with amazing volubility every variety of guttural execration, of which the Spanish language has so large a store. The blood mounted to Charles's forehead, and the fire to his eye as this sight drew his attention; and springing forward with great eagerness, he rushed by the crowd of mendicants and idle spectators whom the circumstance had collected, broke through the ranks of the soldiers, and stood in the midst of the dwelling, before the foremost of their number had gained admittance. I did not pause to consider whether this impetuosity of my friend arose from a generous but imprudent feeling of indignation at the object of their search, or from some less selfish motive; but made all haste to follow him. My progress, however, met with more obstruction than his unlooked-for movement, and I was not able to rejoin him for more than a minute. when I at length forced my way into the building, I found him defending a door which led to an inner apartment, and surrounded by the mercenaries, all jabbering together their vehement and incoherent menaces. yet, no blow had been struck; but it was evident, from the violence of their gestures, that hostilities would not much longer be delayed. As I entered, they huddled closer round my companion; and pushing against him with one sudden and united impulse, the door broke from its fastenings, and the whole party fell violently to the floor. I have before said that Charles was strong and agile, but I was not prepared for such a display of muscular energy and activity as he now exhibited in releasing himself from the superincumbent crowd of prostrate and grappling soldiers. In an instant he was on his feet, and beside a bed, which I now

As

observed in one corner of the room. The apartment was lighted by a curtained lattice; but though the illumination was not strong, particularly to vision that had just passed the broad glare of day, it was sufficient to show that the bed was occupied by a female, who had partly risen from the couch, whose cheek was flushed, and whose dark eyes glowed like fire probably with indignation at this rude intrusion. Charles threw his arms round the neck of the female, replaced her head upon the pillow, kissed her burning brow, and with a tremulous, but soothing voice, bade her not be alarmed, for that he would defend her with his life. Then, turning sternly to the leader of the Spanish soldiers, he commanded him to pursue his search with all despatch, and leave the apartment. The Spaniards, who by this time had risen to their feet, looked at each other, at Charles, and at the female with blank astonishment; nor was their confusion lessened by the torrent of invective which the old woman, who had now also entered the room, poured out upon their heads. the officer who had charge of the party, after a moment spent in casting scrutinising glances into every corner of the room, directed his men to withdraw; and then mumbling out an apology, in which he intimated, with an impudent leer, that he was now convinced that Charles's visits to this house had a different object from what had been suspected, he also left the apartment. There was no further excuse for me to protract my stay, and I turned and followed his retreating steps.

"She is handsome," thought I, as I walked slowly up the street, pondering on the secret which had thus been accidentally revealed to me, and thinking how I might disentangle my friend from the net of this fair Spanish woman-" yes, she is handsome- just the cast of countenance which I should suppose would have fascination for one of his brave and romantic nature. Her black and piercing eye, the noble profile, the scornful expression of her lip, as she darted her keen glance upon the soldiers-these traits of beauty did not escape me, feebly lighted as her apartment was." And my mind reverted from this Spanish paramour to the contemplation of the delicate and tender beauties of the fair-cheeked and blue-eyed wife, who, far away, was anxiously counting the hours that should restore her husband to her arms, and who, herself incapable of change, had probably never entertained a doubt of his fidelity. I am not much given to the melting mood, but I confess that my meditation on this subject drew from me a heart-felt sigh.

I was still brooding on what had just passed, when Charles rejoined me. The few words that passed between us on our meeting satisfied me that this was not the time for rebuke. He bade me remember that I owed to accident the discovery I had made, and enjoined upon me, by our ancient friendship, neither to question him nor utter a syllable to any other person. I gave the required promise the more readily, as I reflected that in a very few days we should sail, and that distance, in all human probability, would put an end to this unworthy attachment, as it had made him forgetful of the ties of honorable love. We soon executed the duty we were sent upon, and returned to the ship.

The relief-vessel, of which we had been in daily expectation, arrived on the evening after this adventure, and sailing orders were thereupon immediately issued. All further going ashore was forbidden; and the sig

nal, commanding on board all who were ashore, was run up at the fore. Charles was among this number, and by all but him this order was promptly and gladly obeyed. A fine breeze had sprung up at sun-set, and for more than an hour we lay waiting for him with our anchor apeak, and our loose topsails flapping idly against the mast. The capstan-bars were shipped and manned, the crew all at their stations, the accommodation-ladder unrigged, and every thing ready to be off. The commodore walked the quarter-deck with quick, impatient steps, and murmurs were heard from various groups, chiding the delay of the dilatory officer. A midshipman, who had been despatched in one of the cutters for him, had returned some time before after a fruitless search.

At length the patience of our commander was entirely exhausted, and he had given the order to weigh and make sail, when the quartermaster on the lookout hailed a boat, which had just pulled into sight through the gathering dusk of evening. The answer of “ “Ay, ay!" told that it was Charles, and directly after a shoreboat glided alongside. In reply to the sharp rebuke of the commodore for having been so tardy in obeying the signal, he said something about the necessity he had been under of purchasing certain stores for the mess; though it was observed that his explanation had not all the clearness of tone and manner which usually characterized his official communications. The displeasure which the delay occasioned, was not diminished when it was found that the mess-chest, in which he had brought off these stores, was so large and cumbrous that a yard-tackle had to be got on the main-yard in order to hoist it on board. The men themselves, though Charles was a great favorite with them, seemed to be displeased that he had caused so long a detention; and when the tackle was hooked on, they ran away with the fall with a degree of spiteful velocity that made the chest run swiftly up to the yard-block before the boatswain's mate could pipe belay. My eye happened to be fixed on Charles while this manœuvre was performed, and I thought he evinced more anxiety on the subject than a few sea-stores were worth. The chest, however, was lowered more gently than it was hoisted, and by Charles's direction was conveyed into his own state-room. The ship now got under weigh, the canvas swelled out to the breeze, and the Mahonese pilot, for a time the commander of our frigate, took his stand the after-hammock-cloths, and issued his orders in the dictatorial tone which those are wont to use who are dressed" in a little brief authority." In less than an hour we were laying in our course, under a pleasant topgallant breeze, for Gibraltar.

I need not dwell on the incidents of our home-ward passage; for I have no storms or shipwrecks to tell of; no hairbreadth escapes, or moving incidents of any description. A mystery seemed to hang around the messchest in Charles's state-room, and some strange stories got to he whispered through the ship concerning it. For my part, I had my own suspicions, and they were of a kind which troubled me a good deal. One thing we all noticed; that though this chest professedly contained stores for the mess, no stores were ever produced from it. On the contrary, it was affirmed, that various delicacies from our table found their way to the chest. Another voice than Charles's, too, it was said, had been heard there, two or three different times; and one

young officer, more prying than the rest, had whispered to his companions that through a crevice of the door he had once beheld a female figure sitting in the nar row apartment. A fresh, fair wind, and a short passage, allowed less time for gossip of this sort than there would otherwise have been; and the demeanor of Charles, too, was not of a kind to encourage loose jests or prying curiosity.

We at length came to anchor in the noble bay of New-York. I remember the evening well. I remem ber how gloriously the sun, as it sunk behind the romantic promontory of Weehawken, burnished the spires and roofs and windows of the city, till it seemed a city of sapphire and topaz and gold. And when these hues faded away, and night succeeded, I remember how beautiful its thousands of lamps shone through the darkness, while every here and there a long thread of fire ascended into the air, denoting the spots where gay throngs were assembled for evening recreation. At last the full round moon rose over all, shedding its mellow lustre through the air, and "gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy."

I had the first watch that night; and as I paced the deck to and fro, various, tumultuous, and mixed emotions occupied my breast. Charles and his poor wife were prominent subjects of my thoughts; and I need hardly tell the reader that I feared the happiness of the latter was about to receive a cruel shock. And yet I had some strong misgivings on this head. As many officers as could be spared from the ship had already been permitted to leave her, and Charles was among the number. The same big, clumsy, cumbrous chest, which had already been the subject of so many painful reflections in my mind, accompanied him; and I was half disposed to turn away in anger, when he paused at the gangway to say a parting word to me. "You will breakfast with Matilda and me to-morrow morning?" said he, and a faint smile curled his lip as he gave me the invitation. I could not satisfy myself wholly what was the meaning of that smile; and in pondering upon that and other kindred topics, my watch passed away, and my relief was upon deck before I was aware that half the time had expired.

Never was guest more punctual to his appointment than I was with Charles the following morning. As I entered the hall, the first thing I noticed was the messchest, which had given me so much uneasiness. In the breakfast parlour I found my kind friend and his sweet wife. She was all radiant in smiles, and never looked half so charming. Charles looked happy, too -very happy; but there was an expression of mischief mingled with his smile that I could not exactly com prehend. The explanation, however, was at hand. In the recess of one of the windows sat a young man, whom I had not noticed as I entered the room. Charles turned to introduce me to him. It was the young and handsome chief, Don Castro de Valero; and, as he rose and extended his hand to me, I caught a side view of his features, and beheld the same noble profile which had so struck me in the supposed neice of the old duenna in Mahon. I comprehended the whole mystery now in a moment, and only wondered at my stupidity in not conjecturiug the truth before.

"And you see, ," said Charles, "that I was not so great a villain as you were inclined to think me.” "Forgive me, my dear friend. But why this long