"The state of society, and the neighbourhood of the Indians, I suppose, made these severe restrictions necessary; and we are not, while sitting quietly at our fire-sides, out of their reach, to set ourselves in judgment upon our ancestors, who planted the seeds of this empire in the midst of dangers. In the little

sketch of New Amsterdam, to which I have before referred, and which is well worth reading, it is stated that the gate was shut in the evening before dark, and opened at day-light. At nine o'clock the tattoo was beat, as the signal for the honest folk to go to sleep as quick as possible, and it is recorded they all obeyed the summons in the most exemplary manner. The sentinels were placed at different points considered the most accessible, and changed every half hour, that being the limit of a quiet, orderly Dutchman's capacity for keeping awake after nine o'clock.

(To be continued.)

Varieties.

DON JUAN.

We cannot exactly vouch for the truth of the following incident, but merely give it, as it was told "for for truth" to us: Some years since upon the representation of "Don Juan," at one of the principal Parisian Theatres, in the last scene, where the infernal regions open for, and fiends rush in to sieze, the unhappy libertine, the actors, to the supreme astonishment of the audience, all rushed off the stage. Upon inquiry, they asserted that many more demons having appearing in this scene, than there were players engaged to represent, and a single glance having sufficed to satisfy them that the intruders were not fictitious, they had immediately taken the alarm and fled. The affair was inquired into, and the legislature not being able to disprove the asser

FIRE AND SNOW.

When the two African princes were in England, Lord Halifax, under whose care they were, introduced them to most of the nobility. One day, when they were going to dine at Lady Beauclerk's, it snowed very hard. Being the first time they had seen snow, they were very much surprised at so remarkable a thing, at it appeared to them; they therefore gathered some, and put it into their pockets, in order to carry home to Africa. When they came to her ladyship's, and approached the fire, the snow thawed, and the water began to run about the floor; her ladyship saw it, but knew not the cause, and therefore sat silent until they told their story of having put some snow into their pockets, in order to shew it when they got home. Her ladyship then pointed to the wet that fell from their clothes; and the princes were made acquainted with their error, in supposing they could carry it to their torrid clime.

PRICE OF AN IRISH MILK-MAID.

A young gentleman of Kilkenny, meeting a handsome milk-maid, accosted her with "What will you take my pretty maid for yourself and milk-pails?-to which she replied, "Yourself and a gold ring, sir."

LADY MILBANK."

Lady Dorothy Milbank was the favourite of Mary, Queen of Scots, but got into disgrace, on the affair of the murder of David Rizzio, in which her husband was concerned. She soon afterwards fled, and sold gingerbread upon the bridge of Berwick-upon-Tweed; by which, and the additional bounty of her

customers, she actually saved eight hundred pounds; with which she purchased the Halnaby estate, in Yorkshire, now in the Milbank family, and with the proceeds of the rent (for she lived long and sparingly, dying at the age of eighty-three) she purchased the estates in Durham and Northumberland, and of which, all together, the rental is now twelve thousand pounds per annum.

Poet's Corner.

TO JANE.

When thou the weary traveller seest
O'er Afric's burning sand,
In sight of that blest streamlet, which
Flows seldom in that barren land,
In sight of what would ease his woe,
Then bid him the lov'd draught forego;
When he obeys then think I may give o'er,
Commanded by you, what I so adore,

Seest thou the exile from his own dear home Returning, blest! with those he loves to die,

Unto his home, his friends, and those he prized,

Who watch'd his youth and boyhood tenderly;

Then bid him stop, nor seek his much-lov'd home,

Nor think once more to his dear friends to

"But oh! what pain to meet with scorn "From one whom you adore; "To wish morn night, then wish night morn, "And pray to be no more. "My shepherdess obliges me

"To love and then to die; "She makes me drop the briny tear, "And heave the bitter sigh. "We doat upon her blooming lip, "We gaze upon her eye; "She show us all her beauty-then "She bids us (cruel!) die,— "For oh! what pain to meet with scorn From her whom I adore;

"I wish morn night, then wish night morn, "And pray to be no more."

E. P.

IN

*

It was a bright morning in April, though rather cold, especially upon the mountain tops, when Alfred, the warder of Peak Castle, stood in thoughtful guise, gazing towards the hamlet of Castleton, which lies at the foot of the Peak. Were we to say, that he was in the best of humours at this time, we must forfeit

HOOLE'S ARIOSTO.

the character of veracious historians, for the truth is,-that not having been blessed by nature with the sweetest temper in the world, his moroseness was a little increased by the following circumstances; in the first place, he was very cold, and had neither fire nor exercise to warm him; in the next, he was ex

:

tremely hungry, for though past six o'clock, nobody had brought him his breakfast and lastly, there were next day to be "grand doings" at the castle, but at its gate he stood, and might stand everlastingly ere he should behold any of them; which circumstance, considering his curiosity to be inordinate, and his propensity to tattling extraordinary, was confessedly the most vexatious of any. But the approach of a stranger who, although tall, athletic, and young in appearance, was by no means prepossessing in form and countenance, and who was clad in the Scottish garb, aroused Alfred from a host of unpleasant cogitations;-"Warder!" cried he, "is this Paine Peveril's place in the Peak?"" Whose should it be?" quoth Alfred; "Well man, I did but ask, since thereto am I bound: and tell me the lady's name for whom the Tournay is held?”

66

What, are you come to fight for her?"" To take my chance," replied the stranger, "with the lave: but her name friend ?"." Ho! ho! ho! ho!" quoth Alfred, laughing violently, "a pretty fellow indeed are you, to come suitoring here, and don't know your leman's name :Mell- to be sure!"-"Oh fair Mell."-"Call her fair an you like, but, in my eyes, brown is she as a berry."" Could I see Paine Peveril, good man, just now, on his daughter's account?"-" Ho! ho! ho! ho! ho!" again roared Alfred, "better and better; why, she's his niece! braver man never broke a lance, than William of Whittington her father, and of a rare spirit too is Mistress Mell, I'll assure ye! Well, an ye're come a gallivanting to her, I s'pose I must e'en let you in: your name, Sir, if you please?" "Malcolm; a son of the king of Scots."-"What a barefaced lie!" quoth Alfred, "then you'd be a prince you know; and who ever saw a prince tramping it up a moun

tain alone, withouten scores of arms and horses, and merry men to bear and to ride 'em?"—" My retinue is in the village," replied Malcolm, tossing a piece of gold to the civil warder, when, as if by enchantment, the gates of the castle flew open immediately. "In with thee, then!" cried Alfred, and much luck may it bring to your brawny shoulders and monkey phiz. Thanks for the gold, but still say I, a fig for the prince who leaves his revenue behind him!" He closed the gates, and peered around to see if chance would bring him another such a windfall, but nothing save his breakfast troubled him for some time; at last came forth, from the castle, a little pale-faced, fantastic, foreign-dressed fellow, with a dancing gait,suudry smiles when he did not speak, and sundry twitches when he did: "Vell Alfred, a fine day to you:avez vous-No! no! ce n'est pasave you see-Mademoiselle-dat is Miladi Melette ce matin? Is she valk out?" "Yes, yes," said Alfred, "Ah! bien! vhare go she to, Alfred, mon ami?"—" Why, Mossher," answered Alfred, with a grin, "to the Devil's Hole here, just below, and you may follow her!" "A la bonne heure," retorted the Frenchman with a shrug, "but my good friend, shew you me de vay firstHah! hah! hah!" and chuckling at his joke, he ambled as usual down the hill. 66 Eh, Master Walter," cried the honest warder, as he grasped roughly the hand of one to whom he could be civil, an elegant and handsome youth arrayed in hunting costume, and holding a couple of hounds in a leash—“ Well Sir, and whence come you?”—“As usual, from Haddon Hall" replied he, and shortly my Lord of Arden will follow me to behold Master Peveril's Tournament, and the fairest of ladies." The young man paused, hesitated, and the conscious blood mounted to his cheeks.

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-

"Have you had any sport Sir," asked the warder. "No," replied Walter," my lord keeps us so hard at our exercises, that holidays are rare now at Haddon; but, per favor, I am here to day to seek it.”"May you find more, Master, than I do," returned Alfred, "though, though, to be sure, I've had some, with a great rawboned Scotchman, a prince he calls himself; and that dog of a Frenchman."-"Stop, stop, friend, there is in Lord Arden's family a tradition that I am a Frenchman borne." "You, Master Walter, you a Frenchman? Lord bless your beautiful face, 'tis unpossible! you a frogfryer? a toadeater ?"-"I am indeed Alfred by birth, for,”- "bless your heart and soul, don't talk so, Master Walter! Why, you are no more like that Mossher the Baron.""Well, Alfred, 1 am French though and for my sake I beg that you will treat the Baron Burgoyne with respect." "O certainly Sir, if you wish it;" replied the prattling gate-keeper, with a bow of ludicrous solemnity; "so go your ways, and be a Frenchman an you you will, but, think first of what the fairest of ladies' may say to it; that's all!" Now Walter was conscious that he admired the spirited Mellette but too well; yet, since his birth was involved in obscurity, he could not be one of those knights who might contend for the hand and estates of the heiress of Whittington; and, on the morrow, she would be the affianced bride of the bravest warrior in Christendom, for none other would she wed, as she had long declared. "Alas!" thought the orphan Walter, "what then avails my skill in arms, for which so often my Lord of Arden eulogises me! The fair Mellette must become the guerdon of another, and I shall then retire to a convent for ever!" His melancholy reflections were, however, abbreviated by an express from Lord Arden, requir

ing his presence at Haddon immediately.

Early next morning on a level plain at the foot of the Peak, pre... parations commenced for the Tournament: lists were erected, and the pavilions set up, intended for spectators, judges of the field, &c. which enclosed the arena for the combat: the influx of company to Castleton, and places in the vicinity, was, and had been, great; and at the dawn of day nothing was to be seen but masses of people of all descriptions and grades, moving towards, or about the scene of action: nobles and gentles-peasants, traders, and artisans; whilst the senses were stunned by an uproar arising from bands practising military music,shouts, cries, and laughter,-the trampling and neighing of steeds, the rolling of all kinds of conveyances for persons, and building materials, -the strokes of smiths' and carpenters' hammers, the clash and clanking of armour, &c. &c. After the preparations had been completed, and the spectators taken their places a herald came forth and proclaimed that: "Mellette, eldest daughter and heiress of Wil liam, Lord of Whittington, in the county of Salop, having declared her firm purpose of disposing of herself in marriage, only to one of gentle birth, and undoubted skill in arms, the said William Whittington, together with Paine Peveril of the Peak, his half-brother, now invited all good knights and true, to a friendly competition in military games, at the aforesaid Paine Peveril's place in the Peak; he, who came off victor, to receive for his guerdon the lady Mellette in marriage, and William of Whittington's Castle, of Whittington, in the County of Salop." Then the herald, shouting "God save the King," retired amidst a flourish of trumpets and the acclamations of the multitude. Immediately from the opposite side