from its vantage ground on the crest of the hill, threw down to us the sound of mirth, and music, and dancing; a revelry common in Scotland, on taking possession of a new house. As we lay quietly looking on the swelling sea, and observing the water-fowl swimming and ducking in the encreasing waters, the sound of the merriment became more audible. My father listened to the mirth -looked to the sea-looked to the deserted cottage, and then to the new mansion, and said, My son, I have a counsel to give thee, treasure it in thy heart, and practise it in thy life-the daughters of him of Gyrape-ha' are fair, and have an eye that would wile away the wits of the wisest their father has wealth-I say nought of the way he came by it-they will have golden portions doubtless. But, I would rather Jay thy head aneath the gowans in Caerlaverock kirk-yard, and son have I none beside thee, than see thee lay it on the bridal pillow with the begotten of that man, though she had Nithsdale for her dowry. Let not my words be as seed sown on the ocean. I may not now tell thee why this warning is given. Before that fatal shipwreck, I would have said Prudence Gyrape, in her kirtle, was a better bride than some who have golden dowers. I have long thought some one would see a sight; and often, while holding my halve-net in the midnight tide, have I looked for something to appear-for where blood is shed there doth the spirit haunt for a time, and give warning to man. May I be strengthened to endure the sight!' I answered not, being accustomed to regard my father's counsel as a matter not to be debated as a solemn command; we heard something like the rustling of wings on the water-accompanied by a slight curling motion of the tide. God haud his right hand about us!' said my father, breathing thick with emotion and awe, and looking on the sea with a gaze so intense that his eyes seemed to dilate, and the hair of his forehead to project forward, and bristle into life. I looked, but observed nothing, save a long line of thin and quivering light, dancing along the surface of the sea: it ascended the bank, on which it seemed to linger for a moment, and then entering the fisherman's cottage, made roof and rafter gleam with a sudden illumination. I'll tell thee what, Gibbie Gyrape,' said my father, I wouldna be the owner of thy heart, and the proprietor of thy right hand, for all the treasures in earth and ocean.' A loud and piercing scream from the cottage made us thrill with fear, and in a moment the figures of three human beings rushed into the open air, and run towards us with a swiftness which supernatural dread alone could inspire. We instantly knew them to be three noted smugglers, who infested the country; and rallying when they found my father maintain his ground they thus mingled their fears and the secrets of their trade-for terror fairly overpowered their habitual caution. I vow by the night tide, and the crooked timber,' said Willie Weethause, I never beheld sic a light as yon since our distillation pipe took fire, and made a burnt, instead of a drink-offering of our spirits. I'll uphold it comes for nae good-a warning may be sae ye may gang on, Wattie Bouseaway, wi' yere wickedness-as for me, I'se gae hame and repent.' Saulless bodie !' said his companion, whose natural hardihood was considerably supported by his communion with the brandy cup. "Saulless bodie, for a staff o' fire and a maiden's shadow would ye forswear the gallant trade. Saul to gude! but auld Miller Morison shall turn yere thraffle into a drain-pipe to wyse the waste water from his mill, if ye turn back now, and help us nae through with as strong an importation as ever cheered the throat and cheeped on the crapin. Confound the fizzenless bodie! he glowers as if this fine starlight were something frae the warst side of the world, and thae staring e'en o' his are busy shaping heaven's sweetest and balmiest air into 6 the figures of wraiths and goblins.' 'Robin Telfer,' said my father, addressing the third smuggler, tell me nought of the secrets of your perilous craft, but tell me what you have seen, and why ye uttered that fearful scream, that made the wood-doves start from Caerlaverock pines.' I'll tell ye what, goodman,' said the mariner, I have seen the fires o' heaven running as thick along the sky, and on the surface of the ocean, as ye ever saw the blaze on a bowl o' punch at a merrymaking, and neither quaked nor screamed; but ye'll mind the light that came to that cottage to-night was one for some fearful purport, which let the wise expound; sae it lessened nae one's courage to quail for sic an apparition. Od! if I thought living soul would ever make the start I gied an upcast to me, I'd drill his breast bane wi' my dirk like a turnip lanthorn.' My father mollified the wrath of this maritime desperado, by assuring him, he beheld the light go from the sea to the cottage, and that he shook with terror, for it seemed no common light. Ou, God! then,' said hopeful Robin, ⚫ since it was one o' our ain cannie seaapparitions I care less about it; I took if for some landward sprite! and now I think on't, where were my een? did it no stand amang its ain light, with its long hanks of hair dripping, and drenched with a casket of gold in ae hand, and the other guarding its throat. I'll be bound it's the ghost o' some sonsie lass that has had her neck nipped for her gold; and had she stayed till I emptied the bicker o' brandy, I would have ask'd a cannie question or twae.' Willie Weethause had now fairly overcome his consternation, and began to feel all his love for the gallant trade, as his comrade called it, return. The tide serves, lads! the tide serves; let us slip our drap o' brandy into the bit bonnie boat, and tottle away amang the sweet starlight as far as the Kingholm or town quarry; ye ken we have to meet Baillie Gardevine, and laird Soukaway o' Ladlemouth.' They returned, 6 not without hesitation and fear, to the old cottage; carried their brandy to the boat; and as my father and I went home, we heard the dipping of their oars in the Nith, along the banks of which they sold their liquor, and told their tale of fear, magnifying its horror at every step, and introducing abundance of variations. There; "The story of the Ghost with the. Golden Casket, flew over the country side with all its variations, and with many comments: some said they saw her, and some thought they saw her appear again; and those who had the hardihood to keep watch on the beach at midnight, had their tales to tell of terrible lights and strange visions. With one who delighted in the marvellous, the spectre was decked in attributes that made the circle of auditors tighten round the hearth; while others, who allowed to a ghost only a certain quantity of thin air to clothe itself in, reduced it in their description to a very unpoetic shadow, or a kind of better sort of will-o'-the wisp, that could for its own amusement counterfeit the human shape. were many who, like my father, beheld the singular illumination appear at midnight on the coast; saw also something sailing along with it in the form of a lady in bright garments, her hair long and wet, and shining in diamonds-and heard a struggle, and the shriek as of a creature drowning. The belief of the peasantry did not long confine the apparition to the sea coast; it was seen sometimes late at night far inland, and following Gilbert, the fisherman, like a human shadow-like a pure light-like a white garment-and often in the shape, and with the attributes, in which it disturbed the carousal of the smugglers. I heard douce Thomas Haining, a God-fearing man, and an elder of the Burgher congregation, and on whose word I could well lippen, when drink was kept from his head, I heard him say that as he rode home late from the Roodfair of Dumfries-the night was dark, there lay a dusting of snow on the ground, and no one appeared on the righteousness. See how he waves his road but himself, he was lilting and hand, as if he welcomed some one from singing the cannie end of the auld sang, sea-he raises his voice too, as if some"There's a cuttie stool in our kirk," thing in the water required his counsel; which was made on some foolish quean's and see how he dashes up to the middle, misfortune, when he heard the sound and grapples with the water as if he of horses' feet behind him at full gallop, clutched a human being." I looked on and ere he could look round, who the old man, and heard him call in a should flee past, urging his horse with hollow and broken voice; "O hoy! whip and spur, but Gilbert the fisher- the ship, O hoy; turn your boat's head man! Little wonder that he galloped,' ashore: and my bonnie lady, keep haud said the elder, for a fearful form ho- o' yere casket. Hech bet! that wave vered around him, making many a clutch would have sunk a three decker, let be, at him, and with every clutch uttering a slender boat; see, see, an' she binna a shriek most piercing to hear.' But sailing aboon the water like a wild swan;" why should I make a long story of a and, wading deeper in the tide as he common tale? The curse of spilt spoke, he seemed to clutch at someblood fell on him, and on his children, thing with both hands, and struggle and on all he possessed; his sons and with it in the water. "Na! na! dinna daughters died his flocks perished-haud your white hands to me; ye wear his grain grew, but never filled the ear; and fire came from heaven, or rose from hell, and consumed his house, and all that was therein. He is now a man of ninety years—a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth-without a house to put his white head in-with the unexpiated curse still clinging to him.” While my companion was making this summary of human wretchedness, I observed the figure of a man, stooping to the earth with extreme age, gliding through among the bushes of the ruined cottage, and approaching the advancing tide. He wore a loose great coat, patched to the ground, and fastened round his waist by a belt and buckle, the remains of stockings and shoes were on his feet; a kind of fisherman's cap surmounted some remaining white hairs, while a long peeled stick supported him as he went. My companion gave an involuntary shudder when he saw him, "Lo, and behold, now, here comes Gilbert, the Fisherman; once every twenty-four hours doth he come, let the wind and the rain be as they will, to the nightly tide, to work o'er again, in imagination, his auld tragedy of un owre mickle gowd in your hair, and SECRETS OF CABALISM; OR, RAVENSTONE AND ALICE OF HUNTINGDON. 66 On the evening of the 29th of June | 1555, in one of the narrow streets near the Poultry Compter, in London, a dark square-built ruffian, in a thrum cap and leathern jerkin, suddenly sprung forth from his hiding-place, and struck his dagger with all his force against the breast of a man passing by. By my holidam," said the man, that would have craved no thanks if my coat-hardy had been thinner-but thou shalt have a jape (a fool's mark) for thy leman to know thee by," and flourishing a short gisarme, or double-pointed weapon, in his left hand, with his right, on which he seemed to wear an iron glove, he stamped a sufficient mark on the assassin's face, and vanished in a mo ment. 66 Why, thou Lozel!" said another ruffian, starting from beneath a penthouse," wast playing at barley-break with a wooden knife? Thou wilt hardly earn twenty pounds this bout." Bishop Gardiner's secretary, and admitted him without hesitation, hoping that he brought terms of grace to the pious man, whose meek demeanour in the prison had won love from all about him. The secretary found him on his knees, as his custom was, eating his spare meal in that humble posture, and meditating with his hat drawn over his face. He rose to receive his visitors and his tall slender person, held gracefully erect, aided a countenance which derived from a faint bloom and a beard of rich brown, an expression of youthful beauty such as a painter would not have deemed unworthy the great giver of the creed for which he suffered. Gardiner's secretary uncovered his head, and, bending it humbly, kissed his hand with tears. "Be of good comfort, brother," said Bradford," I have done nothing in this realm except in godly quietness, unless at Paul's Cross, where I bestirred myself to save him who is now Bishop of Bath, when his rash sermon provoked the multi "A plague on his cloak, Coniers!— he must have had a gambason under it. Thou mayest earn the coin thy-tude." self;-thou hast gotten a gold ring and twenty shillings in part payment. "Get thee gone to thy needle and baudekin again, like a woman's tailor as thou art! Thou hast struck a wrong man, and he has taken away thy nose that he may swear to the right one.That last quart of huff-cap made froth of thy brains." "My basilard is sharp enough for thee, I warrant," muttered his disappointed companion, as he drew his tough hyke or cloak over his bruises, and slunk into a darker alley. Meanwhile, the subject of their discourse and of their villany strode with increased haste towards the Compter-prison, and inquired for the condemned prisoner, John Bradford. The keeper knew "Ah, Bradford! Bradford!" replied his visitor," thou didst save him who will now burn thee. Had it not been for thee, I had run him through with my sword that day!" Bradford started back, and looked earnestly,"I know thy voice now, and I remember that voice said those same words in my ear when the turmoil was at Paul's Cross. For what comest thou now? a man of blood is no fit company for a sinner going to die." "Not while I live, my most dear tutor; I am Rufford of Edlesburgh." The old man threw his arms about his neck, and hung on it for an instant. "It is twelve years since I saw thee, and my heart grieved when I heard a voice like thine in the fierce riot at Paul's Cross. Art thou here bodily, or, tlo I only dream? There is a rumour broad, that thy old enemy, Coniers, lew thee at Huntingdon last year." "He meant well, John Bradford, but I had a thick hilted pourpoint and a tough leathern cap; I have met his minions more than once, and they know what print my hand leaves. Enough of this-I am not in England now as Giles Rufford; I shall do thee better service as what I seem." "Seeming never was good service," aid the divine: "what hast thou to sco with me, who am in God's hands?" "He makes medicines of asps and vipers," answered his pupil; "I shall serve him if I save his minister, though it be by subtlety. I have crept into Gardiner's favour by my skill in strange tongues and Hebrew secrets, therefore I am now his secretary: and I have an lly in the very chamber of our queen mistress." ❝ in "That woman is not unwise or unmerciful," replied Bradford, things that touch not her faith; but I will be helped by no unfair practice on her. Mercy with God's mercy will be welcome, but I am readier to die than to be his forsworn servant." "Master, there can be no evil in gathering the fruit Providence has ripenened for us. Gardiner was Wolsey's disciple once, and hath more heathen learning in him than Catholic zeal. There is a leaven left of his old studies which will work us good. He believes in the cabalism of the Jews, and reads strange books from Padua and Antwerp, which tell him of lucky and lucky days. He shall be made to think to-morrow full of evil omens, and his superstition shall shake his cruelty." "Thou art but a green youth still," rejoined Bradford, "if thou knowest not that cruelty is superstition's child. Take heed that his heathenish witchcraft doth not shake both thy wit and thy safety. For though I sleep but little, and have few dreams of earthly things, there came, as I think, a vision raised by no holy art, into my prison last night. And it had such a touch of heaven's beauty in its face, and such rare music in its voice, that it well nigh tempted me to believe its promise. But I remembered my frailty, and was safe." The secretary's eyes shone brightly, and half a smile opened his lips. But he lowered both his eyes and his voice as he replied, "What did this fair vision promise ?" "Safety and release, if I would trust her, and be pledged to obey her."There was a long pause before the young man spoke again." Do you not remember, my foster-father, the wild laurel that grew near my birthplace? An astrologer at Pisa told me it should not wither till the day of my death. And it seems to me, when I walked under its shade, that the leaves made strange music, as if a spirit had touched them. It is greener and richer than its neighbours, and the fountain that flows near its root has, as men believe, a rare power of healing-the dreams that visit me when I sleep near it are always the visitings of a courteous and lovely spirit. What if the legends of Greece and Syria speak truth? May we not both have guardian spirits that choose earthly shapes?" "My son," replied Bradford, "those thoughts are the diamond-drops that lie on the young roses of life; but the Sun of Truth and Reason should disperse them. Man has one guardian, and he needs no more unless he forgets that One. Thou wast called in thy youth the silken pleader, because thy words were like fine threads spun into a rich tissue. Be wary lest they entangle thee, and become a snare instead of a banner fit to guide Christians. I am a blighted tree marked for the fire, and thou canst not save me by searing the freshness of thy young laurel for my sake." "I will shame the astrologer to-morrow," said the pupil ; " and therefore |