Applauded, courted in his sphere, esteemed, beloved by all, Yet, yet a mother's fond regard her sole joy must recall. And he must leave the golden stores which open to his view, The diamond mines, the pearls and gems, of India and Peru; Leave luxuries, the palanquin, the hunt, the Nabob's feast, The Bramins, Gentoos, pagodas, and pageant of the east ; Leave all those friends of sterling worth, the powerful and great,

Who prize his qualities, and take an interest in his fate; Leave youths whom he has taught to know bright learning's lofty grace,

Which makes a prince supreme among his own imperial

race.

Selbey House, Ham, near Richmond.

METRICAL SKETCHES,

BY M. L. B.

REMEMBERED MUSIC.

The breath of orient rose--the violet,

Were ne'er so exquisite as that rich strain Whose phantom-voice enchains my senses yet. Whose real sighs shall thrill them ne'er again.

Athwart my heart, on sylphine wings it swept,
Each quiv'ring fibre touching as it flew ;
Waking therein all cradled griefs that slept,
But scatt'ring for their healing Eden dew.

And now 'tis less than nothing-than the shade
Of summer clouds upon a shining way,

For music, mem'ry-echoed, doth but fade

With those dream-thoughts which would prolong its stay.

Yet are its hauntings very exquisite,

Coming, like spirits of the lov'd, to bless, Freighting the soul with fearful, strange delight, And mingling sadness with deep tenderness.

THE EMPTY GRAVE.

(Concluded from page 17.)

"Gracious God!" and "the Lord be merciful unto us!" simultaneously ejaculated Mr. and Mrs. White, both as fully grieved and shocked by this lamentable intelligence, as if Harry had been in very deed their son.-" Come, come, don't 'e cry now," said the neighbourly farmer, when he heard and saw the burst of anguish which followed these exclamations; at the same time, with the back of his welltanned hand brushing away the tears that would rise in his own eyes" for crying won't do no good, but acting will." -" Well, well," said White, "that's true-that's true; and I'll go and see besides, whether the hanged man ban't somebody else, and not my poor gal's husband."—" And I'll go," cried the weeping mother, "to my dear, dear child! I may comfort her, and comfort I'm sure she wants now!"-"Ay, that she do!" said Master Grimstone," for she's desperate bad in sorrow; and as for the misfortunate follow who's swinging still on the tree, it is her own Harry, and I much fear he did the deed himself!"-" Impossible !" and "Oh! don't say so!" exclaimed the afflicted couple."

I've

Why," replied Grimstone, "we'll hear what the crowner says about it; he shall hold his quest on the body where it hangs, and then it can be buried out of the way; for Harry, poor fellow, is no sight now to look at. sent to summon his family, with Mr. Mervyn and Mr. Clanchley, to the inquest, and expect to see 'em all at my house when I get there, except the lawyer, 'case he has a longer way to come.'

Arrived at his home, the worthy farmer found there Gus. tavus Mervyn and Mr. Goodrich, senior. Mrs. G. was too much afflicted to attend on this dismal business, and Robert could nowhere be found. Leaving Mrs. White to the kind care of his wife, Grimstone, with her husband, Goodrich, Mervyn, the coroner, with his brother officials, proceeded to the forest, and there found hanging, as described, the body of the supposed suicide, whose countenance was so altered, as to render him scarcely recognizable. Full of hope and gladness, prosperous and amiable, what could have led him

to the act of self-destruction? was the universal inquiry, and the sorrow of Gustavus Mervyn, for the rash deed and untimely fate of his best friend's dear brother, was so loudly and eloquently expressed, that the mourning assembly were quite edified. The arrival of Mr. Clanchley, with some of poor Henry's Henley friends, threw no light on this mysterious affair; the lawyer solemnly deposed, that he and his clerk had parted the day preceding at about half-past five, P. M., on the best terms; and that the youth left him with the intention of proceeding immediately to the house of farmer White, in Rasselas woods, To this statement, the young gentlemen accompanying Mr. Clenchley, added their conviction, that Henry Goodrich had not hung himself, but had come unfairly to his end. But the coroner pointed out, that to convictions merely suggested by the mind, and unsupported by proofs, his duty forbade him to attend; and, that whilst appearances favoured the supposition that this unfortunate young man had laid violent hands upon himself, no evidence cast the shadow of suspicion on another as actor in this tragedy,-nothing had proved that insanity had led him to commit the deed; and he left it to the jurors to consider now their verdict. This, of course, was Felo-de-se." The wretched father groaned aloud, and Mervyn echoing him, exclaimed: Poor! unfortunate! misguided young man!" The body was then cut down, and borne slowly to the house of Mr. Grimstone, to which the mourning party returned.

At that period we are to suppose roads were in this country few and distant, and cross-roads difficult to find very near; so that the survivors of a deliberate suicide, though bound to make an example of him, were obliged to consider circumstances, and Harry Goodrich was ordered to be interred immediately in the wood, at the foot of the very tree on which he had hung himself. A heavy day's work it was to a couple of labourers, the digging a pit for him who had been so well known and fondly loved; but as he was to be buried at midnight, it must be done, and it was done.

At about eleven o'clock, a few minutes ere the small and secret funeral procession was to set out, a violent rapping at the door of the farm-house alarmed the mourners. Grimstone himself, with White and Mervyn, answered this sum

mons; several men stood at the entrance, and scarcely had the light of their lanterns flashed on the peering, and now pallid face of Gustavus Mervyn, than a voice,-the wellknown voice of Robert Goodrich, exclaimed-" Here's our man! for your lives don't let him go!" Mervyn was instantly collared and thrown down: he struggled violently, and the party to which he belonged endeavouring to assist him, Robert almost shrieked, "Hold him! hold him he's the murderer of my brother!" After these words, little availed the formidable muscular strength of this villain; overpowered by numbers, he was secured, and taken off to jail in the cart of the constables who had come to apprehend him; and Henry Goodrich was not buried that night in the grave prepared for him under the tree, the arrest of Mervyn giving a new colouring to the affair, and involving a fresh investigation.

Upon this villain's trial shortly after, it appeared, that under various aliases he was known in and for many miles round about London, as a most desperate character; that it became at length convenient to him to change his quarters for a while, and that having received accurate information respecting Marian White and her prospects, he resolved to simulate the character of an honest man, and obtain her at all hazards. Harry Goodrich was to this desperate man, but a trifling obstacle to the completion of his designs; from the first he had resolved to put him out of the way, and then came the recital of his black villainy.

Robert Goodrich deposed, that having been invited to pass the evening at the house of farmer White, in Rasselas woods, he and Gustavus Mervyn, who had also been asked, quitted Marlow together, he (Robert) fully expecting to meet his brother at the farm; when arrived at a spot in the forest, which he described, Henry Goodrich appeared, talking to some strange men: he and Mervyn came up to them, when Mervyn catching hold of deceased, cried," Look to that fellow," meaning witness-"I'll soon manage this chap!" Witness was knocked down by the four men, beaten severely, gagged, and finally dragged away,-but saw Mervyn pulling his brother through a large patch of nettles and briars by his neckcloth, and heard him swear, he'd do for him!-Witness could not call out, and he

thought as Henry did not, he might then be dead; but could not say positively, whether the neckcloth went tightly about his throat, or whether it had slipped up under his chin. He (witness) was thrown by the men into a cart, wherein he laid for some time, nearly senseless from terror, bruises, and suffocation. They drove to a lonely spot by the river side a boat was waiting, into which he was put, and followed by three men, who pushed from the bank, but the fourth went away with the cart. The gag was then taken from his mouth, his arms, round which a leathern strap had been passed, were unbound, and a biscuit and glass of spirits were given him. The men observed that no harm was intended him, and that it was well he was the friend of William Watson. Witness did not understand of whom they spoke; had never heard Mervyn so called since he came to Marlow; remembered however, once seeing a songbook which certainly belonged to prisoner, with that name in it, but had never inquired why; fancied the book a gift from some one of that name. The men rowed for some hours up and down the river; witness supposed them to be waiting for Mervyn or the other man; thought they were smugglers from the spirit casks and bottles in the boat, which had a light covering of turf; the men drank hard, and late at night fell asleep; it being moonlight, witness pushed the boat to the shore, and landed without waking the men: he was then about three miles he thought from Marlow, to which town he walked, and gave to a magistrate that information which caused the apprehension of the prisoner.

Now, though there were no living witnesses to corroborate the statement of Robert Goodrich, the wood on being searched in the places he described, amply confirmed it: there were traces of more than one almost mortal scuffle ; and amongst bushes and nettles which seemed to have suffered great violence, the pocket-book, purse, pencil, and other little articles identified as the property of the unfortunate Henry, were found. What was lacking in this chain of evidence Mervyn himself supplied in a confession written previously to his execution. He acknowledged his design on Marian White, and his long-projected plan of murdering her accepted suitor; having made Robert Goodrich his friend, he could not, he said, be guilty of the baseness of