while publicans, wine-merchants, waiters, tailors, labourers, and shoemakers, live to the age of from 49.9 to 50-3. Cabmen and ostlers and draymen live only to 494, and soldiers, sailors, and policemen reach only to 48 years. A like difference exists in the longevity of women, for while the wife of a shopkeeper will live to be about 57 years of age, and the domestic servant to 51.5, the wife of a publican and beer-shop keeper, and the wife of the cabman and ostler will only reach to 44-2 and 48 years of age; and, worse still, the poor needlewoman sinks into the grave at 42.6 years of age. In conclusion, Dr. Letheby makes an earnest appeal in behalf of better drainage for the metropolis. The Temperate and the Intemperate.-An intemperate person of age 20 has an equal chance of living 15-6 years; while a person of the general population of the country at the same age has an equal chance of living 44-2 years longer. Again, at age 30, the intemperate person has an equal chance of 13.8 years, and the other 36.5 years. Also at age 40, the chance of the one is 116 years, and the other 28.8 years. The duration of life after the commencement of intemperate A man much addicted to snoring remarked to his bedfellow in the morning, "That he slept like a top." "I know you did," replied the other, tartly; "like a humming-top." An individual of our acquaintance is so scrupulously exact in all his business transactions, that he cannot even pay a compliment without asking for a receipt in full. A maiden lady aged 70 years, was on one occasion asked the age at which the feeling of love became extinct. To the questioner's surprise, however, she replied, "Well, I am sure! you must ask some one who is older than I am." 64 The celebrated Dr. Smith, lying on his death-bed, called his coachman, who had been an old servant, and said, Ah, Tom, I am going a long and rugged journey, worse than ever you drove me." "Ah, dear sir," said the unconscious Thomas, "don't let that disturb you, for it's all down hill." A lady walking, a few days since, on one of the wharves in New York, asked a sailor whom she met why a ship was called "she?" The son of Neptune replied that it was "because the rigging cost more than the hall." A witness in court being interrogated as to his knowledge of the defendant in the case, said he knew him intimately well" He had supped with him, sailed with him, and horsewhipped him." "Well, Sambo, what's yer up to now-a-days ?" "Oh, I'se a carp'nter and jiner." "He, I guess yer is. What department do you perform, Sambo?" "What department? I does the circular work." "What's dat?' "Why, I turns de grindstone." "G'way, dar, ye silly nigger." In the village of Lexington, a young gentleman, having devoted himself to the special entertainment of a company of pretty girls for a whole evening, demanded payment in kisses, when one of them instantly replied, "Certainly, sir, present your bill!" AN ALBUM. An album, prythee, what is it? A book, when all is done, "Wonderful things are done now-a-days," said Mr. Timmins, "the doctor has given Flack's boy a new lip taken First Juvenile politician: "Well, say now the demmycrats is in, what do you suppose they'll do?" Second Judee, take the Givano Islands, 'nex Hingland, and bring Halbert venile, (scornfully): "Do, you fool? Why 'nex Cuby and Canaand Wictory over and show'em at Barnum's-that's what they'll do." First Juvenile Politician: "They will? Hooray! Demmycrats for ever!"-American Paper. There is an old story told of Madame Catalini that, when a lady by the banks of the lake Como was drawing an invidious contrast between the English and Italian climates, the pride of the opera put her hand in her pocket, drew forth an English sovereign, and said, "Ah! my dear, behold the true golden sun of England; it will shine under any sky." After an accident, the other day, on one of the American railways, an Irishman was found among the rubbish of a broken car knocked into insensibility. He was taken to a neighbouring house, where he soon after returned to consciousness. The first words he uttered were-" By the powers! an' wasn't it a Know-Nothing I was for a few moments, gentlemen?" The ludicrous remark dissipated for the time being the gloom occasioned by the disaster. A person walking down a hilly part of the road in Cumberworth, was surprised to see a man drawing a small cart of coals, at the back of which walked a donkey. As he got up to the man, another person came up and cried, " Why, Ned, what art doing; why art ta drawing the coil?" "Why," replied Ned, "this beggar at th' back (the donkey) turned restrictive, so I've gotten in the shaft o' purpose to shame him." Will Millar and twa o' his men were making some repairs about a kintra house. They were to be fed while at the job. The first mornin' they had plenty o' whey porridge, an' whey to them. Will invited his lads to tak' a drink o' the whey, and did so himsel'. The guidwife, thinkin' that they were fond o't, said "Noo, lads, ye'll get plenty mair whey.""Na, na,' quo' Will," ye needna rob the swine to oblcege us. Just bring a soup o' milk.' A man of property, who had for years been abusing his stomach, at last found his health on a rapid decline. Nature could endure no longer. He went to consult the celebrated Dr. Spring, of Watertown, Mass. He stated the symptoms of his case so clearly, that the learned physician could not mistake the nature of the disease. "I can cure you, sir," said he, "if you will follow my advice." The patient promised most implicitly to do it. "Now," says the doctor, you must steal a horse." "What! steal a horse?" "You must steal a horse. You will then be arrested, convicted, and placed in a situation where your diet and regimen will be such that your health will be perfectly restored. William Hogg, a brother of the Ettrick Shepherd, was a very homely but intelligent man. One day a young student friend from Peebles paid him a visit, and picking up a copy of the "Queen's Wake," was counselled by the gudewife "no to mind the book; for it was just some o' Jamie's nonsense." This led to a conversation between Mr. Hogg and his young visitor on the merits of the poet. "I can understand well enough how our Jamie could write the blethers," said William, but I canna conceive how he got them grammar'd!" TO YOUNG LADIES ON CHOOSING A HUSBAND! "If he sends you on rose-scented paper TO CORRESPONDENTS. J. T. (Brighton) Our, counsel to you is to remember that he who cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself will one day want to pass. B. W.-There are only two ways of getting out of a scrape-write out and back out, but the best way is to keep out, and this we advise you to do. S. O.-It is not true that wealth makes a man witty, it only blinds others to his stupidity. T. R.-Do not repress an innocent disposition to humour, for no really bad man has it; yet people of very ordinary minds have it, in common with all great men, and everybody enjoys it: so that it is one of the original ties of the human race, increasing our kindness, relieving our cares, and sweetening our whole social existence. A CORRESPONDENT sends the following: An old gentleman, of the name of Gould, having married a very young wife, wrote a poetical epistle to a friend to inform him of it, and concluded thus: "So you see, my dear sir, though I'm eighty years old, A girl of eighteen is in love with old Gould." To which his friend replied:-- "A girl of eighteen years may love gold, it is But believe me, dear sir, it is Gold without A. M.-Walking is the best possible exercise; habituate yourself to walk very far. The Europeans value themselves on having subdued the horse to the uses of man, but I doubt whether we have not lost more than we have gained by the use of this animal. No one has occasioned so much the degeneracy of the human body. An Indian goes on foot nearly as far in a day, for a long journey, as an enfeebled White does on his horse, and he will tire the best horses. A little walk of half an hour in the morning, when you first rise, is advisable. It shakes off sleep, and produces other good effects in the animal economy. LADIES DRESSES.-Sir, do you know how many yards enter into a Parisian robe with flounces? Twenty-three yards-no more than that. Some one has taken the pains to calculate how much in totality enter into a lady's toilet. Add to the twenty-three yards of silk aboye, five skirts (which is the least they carry in the beau monde ; in the demi monde they reach seven), at five breadths each, which would make an average of six yards to the skirt, and you arrive at the formidable figure of fifty-three yards, or a hundred and fifty-nine feet! fifteen feet higher than the column of the Place Vendome, the statue of Napoleon included.-Put this in the correspon-" dence of The Mirror, and oblige A. D. S. T.-Mapping the bed of the Atlantic is not the first instance on record; As far back as the year 1852 the celebrated orientalist, Professor Forchhammer, of the University of Kiel, suggested in a speech to the assembled savans of Germany, the possibility of constructing sub. marine charts on the same principle as the common geographical maps, with a shading of greater or lesser strength to denote the mountains and other inequalities of the bed of the sea. That gentleman has just now had a map on this principle engraved. It is intended to illustrate a work of his now in the press on the Ruins of Troy, and represents the sea between the Island of Tenedos and the opposite coast of Asia Minor. CURIOUS CUSTOM.-To the Editor of the Family Mirror.-Sir, There is a custom, which has been upheld from time immemorial by the Dean and Chapter of Durham on three days in the year30th of January, 29th of May, and 5th of November, the anniversary of "King Charles' Martyrdom," "Royal Oak Day," and "Gunpowder Plot," which is pretty generally known among the lads of Durham as "push penny." On these days the Chapter cause 20 shillings in copper to be scrambled for in the college yard by the juvenile citizens, who never fail to be present on these occasions. Whence the custom has its origin we are unable to say. Probably some of our readers can inform us. P. O. FAMILY BASTIME [As we intend devoting a portion of onr space to this kind of innocent and intellectual entertainment, contributions from our numerous subscribers towards it are solicited. Ed. F. M.] 6. An animal, headless, a joint admired; A law-term (curtailed); that which some are when tired; An article useful; a fruit very common; answer To this queer Enigma, and if you but note it, The finals as plainly the party who wrote it. G. M. F. G. 7. My first is a snare very common; my next 8. If they had not my first, Messrs. Barclay and Perkins Could ne'er fill their barrels, whether hogsheads or firkins. My second, I trust you'll be able to say, If I ask, "can you come and dine with me today." My whole is a Palace, much noted abroad, Where dwells neither king, prince, duke, marquis nor lord. 9. How dull and gloomy is the day! To cheer the gathering crowd, And now all with suspended breath, As they see that form so graceful, The keen axe in his hands. In tones most soft and sweet; And soon the fatal blow X. Y. Z.-It was the French Emperor who put it in practice. Observing the inconvenient bulk of flour in sacks, he ordered experiments to be made, with a view of ascertaining whether compression would not render it more portable. The experiment was immediately made with an hydraulic press of 300 tons, effecting a compression in volume of upwards of 24 per cent. The flour was then packed in zinc cases, and put by. A large quantity of non-compressed flour was similarly packed, and both samples opened and examined some time afterwards, when the compressed flour was found to possess manifest advantages over the other. CURIOUS TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR. To the Editor of the Family Mirror.-Sir, Professor Trench in his latest work on the English language, points out a curious typographical error in the 20th verse of the 23rd chapter of St. Matthew. The words, "which strain at a guat and swallow a camel," the Professor thinks contain a misprint, which having been passed over in the edition of 1611, has held its ground ever since. The translators intended to say, "which strain out a gnat and swallow a camel," that being the correct rendering of the original, as appears in Tyndale's and Cranmer's translations both of which have "strained out." It was the custom of the stricter Jews to strain their wine, vinegar, and other potables, through linen or gauze, lest unawares they should drink some little, unclean insect, as a gnat, and thus transgress the Levitical law. It was to this custom the Saviour alluded, intending to say, that the Scribes and Pharisees, while they strain out a gnat from their drink, would yet swallow a camel at a gulp. If this is worthy insertion in your excellent paper it will obligo. I. K. TO DETECT BASE SILVER COIN. To the Editor of the Family Mirror. Sir, As there is a great deal of base coin at present in circulation, I send the following way to detect it. A shopkeeper, residing in Deptford, appeared before the magistrate at the Greenwich l'olice-court, as prosecutor in a case of "smashing," and in his evidence stated that, having taken a vast quantity of bad money, he had at length discovered a certain test for silver coin. It was his invariable custom on receiving a doubtful piece, to rub it with blue vitriol stone, and then slightly wet it. The effect is immediately seen; for, if the coin be spurious metal, it at once turns black, but if genuine, there is no alteration in appearance. F.G. P. S.-Neither in Scotland nor in England has the sport of hawking ever quite died out. The Flemings of Barochán Tower in Renfrewshire are still falconers:-their ancestor, Peter Fleming was a falconer when he won from James the Fourth, a hawk's hood set with jewels, for beating the King's falcon with his tiercel. In England, Colonel Thornton hawked over the Yorkshire wolds in 1805, before they were broken up for corn crops. Till 1819 there were subscription hawks kept in Scotland; and in 1836 the Duke of St. Alban's hawks were frequently flown at Brighton. In 1845, Sir John Maxwell dying, his private falconer exhibited his hawks at several English race-grounds. In Norfolk and the south-west of Scotland, where the chalk runs near the surface, hawking is still practised. Only forty years since a new system of cultivation in Dorset drove away the landrails, which used to be taken with the sparrow-hawk. Where chalk abounds, hedges are weak and timber is scarce; and those great downs, and open tracts appear which are so favourable to hawking. On the Continent, hawking is only known to be practised in two places:-at the Loo in Holland, where there is a hawking-club; and in Wallachia, by a tribe of gipsies, who, being compelled to pay tribute of quails to the Porte, train hawks as their tax-collectors. We cannot engage to return rejected manuscripts. All our literary arrangements are complete. Published at the Office of the "FAMILY MIRROR," No. 9, Johnson's Court, Fleet Street, where all communications for the Editor are to be addressed. Dec. 26th, 1856. THE ADELA INTRODUCING DORRINGTON TO HER FATHER. DORRINGTON AINSLIE. BY JOHN SHERER. СНАР. ХІ. HE enthusiasm of the Naturalist was apt to make him at the most untoward times, and under any circumstances, interrupt the discourse by such remarks as the sight of any object might suddenly suggest; accordingly, the closing observation of the last chapter was in allusion to one of a favourite stock of pigeons flying over their heads, and known by that name, and which he kept in a huge dovecoat, erected at the top of a stout pole in the yard of Marigold Cottage. "Where can it be going to? no matter; let me see,what was I speaking about? O! yes; Mr. Ilbert,-he's a strange man, Mr. Ilbert. Do you know him, Mr. Ainslie?" VOL. I. "I have not that pleasure," returned Dorrington. "Pleasure, do you call it? Well, every man to his taste; but, allow me to tell you that he is one of that sort of men that has no pleasure within himself, and therefore has none to communicate to others. But I like him on the whole. Indeed, he's the only man of the gentleman kind, I may say, that I have any acquaintance with in the neighbourhood; his daughter's a delightful creature." It must be confessed that this home-thrust had an effect upon Dorrington, but not to such a degree as to make him lose his self-possession, notwithstanding that the artful Naturalist fixed his eyes upon him at the same moment that he uttered it, and in the full hope of getting at the real secrets of his breast; but he was disappointed, and forthwith renewed the subject. "Ay! if Mr. Ilbert had only a tithe part of the nature of Adela in his composition, it would be a sufficient set off to the other imperfections of his character. But, they say he's not very right in his mind sometimes." "Indeed!" said Dorrington, "if that be the case, his malady assumes a serious aspect. Yet it cannot be true, or he would not hold the responsible situation of a magis trate. 66 'No, no, no!" cried Otterwell, "I don't believe it is true myself. He knows, at all events, how many beans make five." "Yes, and a hawk from a handsaw,' I dare say," interrupted Dorrington. 66 Truly, sir, and holds the scales of justice between man and man with an equable hand." "Then there's method in his madness," again interposed Dorrington. "Yes, and that there is, for all the country gives him a just character, whilst there is no end to the trouble that he'll take in investigating any obscure case, in order that he may arrive at a true and correct decision. Indeed, I may say, that he is the only magistrate we have here, for he has more work and knowledge in him than all the others put together!" "There's little sign of madness there, then, Mr. Otterwell," observed Dorrington. suckers. These birds have a kind of sagacity or prudence about them, that instructs them to doubt the appearance of every thing human in the dress of a gentleman, and accordingly put no trust in his garb, but fly off whenever they behold him. On the other hand they'll allow an ill-clad countryman to get pretty near them, and have no fear whatever at the approach of ladies or old ragged women. My observations and sketches in natural history had taught me this, and you will now learn the advantage that it gave me over all other competitors for a shot at this provoking magpie. Well, I had often seen him, and knew both his person and his haunts; so one day, says I to my sister, I want your old cloak and bonnet." "What are you going to do with them?' says she. "I'm going a magpie-shooting,' quoth I. "And what good will my cloak and bonnet do you?' says she. "I'm going to put them on when I see them,' says I. "What for?' says she, for the inquisitiveness of my sister is awful. "To make them believe that I am one of those garrulous old women that chatter like themselves, and for whom they have such a fellow-feeling, that they'll not fly away, however near them they may pass by the side of the highway. Ah, "No, and I dare say the rumour has arisen from the ah, ah! didn't my sister turn up her eyes when I said this, occasional violence of his temper, which, by the way, has as she walked off, and without another question, brought me been sorely tried by Mr. Ambrose, an only son, whose mis- an old cloak and bonnet.* Well, I set out, carrying my gun doings have dealt him many a sore blow, and subjected the close by my side and looking in every direction for a sight dignified pride of his nature- I once shot a rare chattering of my friend. After much patience and many disappointmagpie down on that little tree rising out of the hedge yonments, I at length heard him, talking to himself and following der. I have had it stuffed, and will be able to show it you his voice, beheld him perched on that stump. By this time when you pay my humble cottage a visit, as I hope you'll soon I was duly enrobed and crowned with my sister's apparel. | do." To this invitation, Dorrington bowed an assent, when I'm sure I must have looked, for all the world, like a verithe Naturalist began to finish the passage which the recol- table old woman, for the magpie kept chattering all the time lection of the spot where he had accomplished the exploit of I was approaching him, as if he were actually giving me a killing the magpie, interrupted-"let me see; where was I? welcome to the domains upon which he himself feasted and O, yes; as I was saying,-subjected the dignified pride of his fattened. I was soon close enough, and suddenly raising nature to many a humiliating trial." my gun, fired, and he fell without so much as a flutter, at the root of the tree. But here we are at the ruins of Treadunder." "Is this son still living under his roof?" asked Dorrington. "No, no!" exclaimed Otterwell, "he has been banished long ago." For a few moments they stood at the bottom of the ascent which led up to the ancient fortress, then climbing the steep, in a few minutes more they were standing within its walls. Yes, banished, and by his own father too," said Otter- They had scarcely, however, recovered their breath, when a Banished!" repeated Dorrington. 66 well. "Oh, no where; his father just told him in one of his rages, to go about his business, and as Ambrose had high blood in him, he went, and the old gentleman has denied him his house ever since, and they say, disowned him, cut him off from his inheritance, and it is said, although I scarcely think that he would allow himself to be carried so far by his temper, invoked a curse, instead of a blessing, upon the poor young man's head. But here we'll get a glimpse of Treadunder ruins, and yonder they are rising old and grey among the coppice with which they are surrounded!" They had been walking for a considerable time on their way to the dilapidated fortress, unnoting either the moments or the miles over which they had passed since they left the knoll at Willowbranch; and now, through an opening in the landscape which lay before them, they caught a sight of the object towards which their curiosity was urging them. "We're not very far from the Castle now," said Otterwell, "for yonder's Treadunder Stream, that sweeps along the base of the hill upon which it stands. Do you see that old oak stump?" cried he, pointing to an aged oak totally denuded of its branches. tall, elderly gentleman, slightly leaning on the arm of a beautiful young lady, also entered the court. Dorrington suddenly turned to see who they were, and as they were passing his side, he involuntarily exclaimed, "Miss Ülbert!" "Mr. Ainslie!" returned Adela. The surprise with which both Adela and Dorrington were seized, on meeting so unexpectedly, and after a lapse of some years, amongst the ruins of Treadunder, mantled their cheeks with a crimson which neither could repress. In that brief moment it would be impossible to recount the varied tumult of emotions which shot through the heart of Adela, as she beheld before her one whom she knew had a tender regard for her, whilst at the same time the distressing conviction that it was her father's desire that she should marry a lord, passed through her mind with the velocity of an arrow. All the pleasing scenes and circumstances of her first visit to Fairchurch, rushed back to her upon the wings of memory. The goodness of the Rev. Mr. Galton; the motherly kindness of Mrs. Galton; the agreeableness of their daughters, and the attentions of Dorrington, when he was but a handsome youth and not yet out of his teens, burst upon her, fresh as the verdant sward around her was to the eye. And all this within the compass of a few moments; so subtle and vivid in its operations is that indescribable power within us, which is the motive spring of all we feel, think, say, or do. Almost immediately recovering her self-possession, and with that delicacy and tact, which rank among the preroga For the information of some of our readers we may state that this odd stratagem is sometimes adopted by sportsmen, for the purpose of getting within reach of the birds spoken of in the text. tives of woman's nature, Adela at once extended her hand to Dorrington, and introduced him to her father, at the same time observing that he was "the cousin of the Galtons of Fairchurch of whom you have often heard me speak." Isaac Ilbert, for such was the old gentleman, made a somewhat stiff and stately inclination of his person, which Dorrington acknowledged with a grace that spoke him a man of refinement, and tended not a little to impress the Magistrate with a favourable opinion of his breeding. "On a visit to the ruins, I suppose, sir," said Isaac, and observing, for the first time, that it was Mr. Otterwell that accompanied him, he exclaimed with a heartiness of manner that showed he could unbend himself if he pleased, “Mr. Otterwell, how do you do? I have not seen you for some time. You are looking very well.” "Thank you, Mr. Ilbert, I am very well; indeed, as well as ever I was in my life; but I am sorry to see that you are pot quite so strong as I have known you," returned the Naturalist, who had lifted his hat to Adela, and bowed to her father with that air of independence, which if it spoke of little refinement, smacked of the freedom and manliness which are never the characteristics of a mean or grovelling spirit. "O, I'm very well," returned the Magistrate, who hated all public speculation upon the state of his health, "and as a proof have come this length, with my daughter, to have a ramble over the ruins." "Fine ruins," said Otterwell, looking up at the walls over which the ivy had spread a rich mantle of green. "Magnificent!" exclaimed Dorrington. "You have nothing like them in Madeira, Mr. Ainslie," observed Adela. "No, no; when this structure was built, Madeira was, to the old world, an island unknown, although it might even then have been the lovely gem that it is, sleeping amid the purple waves of the ocean," said Dorrington. "That, sir, might be called the island of invalids," observed the Magistrate, "but our own climate here, is equal to any that is to be found anywhere, whilst the pleasure of living, ay, and even of dying, in one's native soil always weighs, more or less, as an ingredient, in the consideration of every reflecting Englishman." “That it does,” cried Mr. Otterwell, "for I would not think that I was going to die out of England, no, not for the lands of Treadunder." "Give me "Patriotically said," exclaimed Mr. Ilbert. your arm, Mr. Otterwell, you are stronger than my daughter, and we will walk among the ruins a little." Mr. Otterwell acknowledged the compliment by doing as he was desired, and Adela was tacitly left to the care of Dorrington, who had some difficulty in concealing the extreme delight which he experienced when he felt the arm of the beautiful girl leaning upon his own. O, what a moment was that! years had winged their silent revolution over their heads since they last parted. Changes, though hardly noted, had marked the destinies of both; yet were they more charming in each other's eyes, and animated by sentiments towards each other far too deep for revelation under the circumstances of their present accidental meeting. As they all moved round the court, the Magistrate dilated upon the magnificence of the ruins, and entered into long and antiquarian explanations of various portions which were still in sufficient preservation to indicate what they had been. "See, sir," said he to Dorrington, standing in the middle of the courtyard, "this part of the wall was terminated at each end by circular turrets, that commanded a fine view of the extensive country, as well as of the distant sea, when the day was clear; and I, myself, have clambered up to them, before the steps that led to them were broken by the vagabonds, poachers, and smugglers that have long made the secret vaults of Treadunder their haunts. That is a Saxon semi-circular arch that forms that doorway,-and there is where a drawbridge crossed when this moat was twenty or thirty feet deeper than it is at present." Here they emerged from the sombre enclosure, when Dorrington expressed a wish to go round the outward walls, as he had never in his life beheld such a ruin, and as his romantic temperament was fed by the visions which such relics of departed ages conjured up to his imagination. 66 "You must go yourself, then," said the Magistrate, smiling, For if Adela thinks she can accompany you, she may; but Mr. Otterwell and I have seen them too often to repeat a survey which has scarcely paid the cost of the labour." "By all means I shall accompany Mr. Ainslie,” said Adela, "and can lead him a path in which he will find very little difficulty." "Very well; but take care that you do not fall over Crumblie's Rock, or get upon any of the mouldering walls that are daily toppling to the ground." "I'll be guarantee for her safety," said Dorrington. "Take care of thine own," observed the Magistrate; and as the two young lovers were just turning an angle of the wall from his sight, he cried after them-" Mr. Otterwell and I will be walking here or in the court-yard till you return." It will easily be imagined that the ruins occupied the least portion of the thoughts of these young persons, when thus happily left to themselves, to take a ramble of curiosity round a structure which, however interesting to those whose passion for antiquity is paramount to every other consideration, was to Adela and Dorrington, at this moment, the least object in their thoughts. This was particularly the case with Adela, whose solitary mode of life, and whose naturally retiring disposition, fostered by the peculiarities of her father, made the unexpected appearance of Dorrington seem nothing less than miraculous, whilst the flood of remembrances which it recalled, almost transported her feelings beyond the control necessary to preserve the propriety of her usual habit. The consequence was, that they were no sooner entirely to themselves, than her heart gave way to its emotions in a burst of tears, which she could not possibly restrain. "What is the matter, Miss Ilbert?" asked Dorrington. "O!" said she, "I cannot tell. I have not yet recovered your sudden and unexpected appearance; but I shall be better now that these tears have come to my relief." A short time did restore her, as she led the way by a narrow, tortuous, and uneven path round the ancient walls of the fortress, during which she made all those inquiries of Dorrington as to how he had been since she last saw him? Whether he had long returned from Madeira; whether he was going back again, and many more, which we willingly leave to the suggestions of the reader's own mind, as they would help out the interest of our tale in a very slight degree. Whilst thus engaged, she would, every now and then, pause to point out one object of curiosity here, and another there; but it was evident that her thoughts were otherwise occupied than by the attractions she was describing. At length she came to a broken part of the wall, which led into a vaulted apartment, into which they entered, and from which, through a number of low-arched doorways, a series of other vaults were disclosed, but so dark, that hardly a ray of light penetrated their gloomy recesses. 66 "These," said Adela, are called the Smugglers' Chambers, and, it is said, are still occasionally resorted to by some of the contraband traders who are yet to be found upon our coasts." "Such chambers," said Dorrington, taking her hand in his, "are not for your visitation, Miss Ilbert. Therefore," he continued, "let us wander in the open air, to some situation where we may obtain such a view of the ruins, as might be suitable for a picture of our own sketching." He led her to the opening in the wall, where, as they stood half under a shattered arch, she pointed to a beautiful little green spot, completely encompassing a mass of moss-covered rock, and where there was a little fountain, known as the Lovers' Spring. This little oasis was so rich in its verdure, and the name of the fountain which ran in the middle of it, so appropriate to the feelings both of Adela and Dorrington, that |