CHAPTER II.

I spoke of most disastrous chances,

Of moving accidents, by flood and field;

Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach;
Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,

And portance in my travels' history:

These things to hear,

Would Desdemona seriously incline:

She loved me for the dangers I had passed;
And I loved her that she did pity them.

OTHELLO, ACT 1, sc. 3.

THE Conviviality of the royal table was not so harmless in its effects upon Pudens, as his comparative moderation might have justified him in expecting; for the wound in his shoulder which he, as well as his historian, had almost forgotten, was found on the morrow to be very much inflamed. His pale and fevered countenance attracted the attention of Arviragus, who, on being informed of the cause, told him that he must submit to two or three

days' uninterrupted repose; and added, that he would not act unwisely in placing himself under the medical care of Roscrana, who was wellacquainted with the nature of almost every plant, from the trefoil to the mistletoe. * His household surgeon he said could abscize, amputate, or cauterize; but as his remuneration was the garment soiled with blood, he was thought to excel in those cases in which the blood flowed rather freely.

young

Pudens very resignedly submitted himself to the care of his and beautiful nurse; who, attended by her herbwoman, the archetype of the functionary who at the present day scatters herbs before the King at a coronation, proceeded to examine the wound, and to prepare the necessary medicaments.

Whether it was that the wound was of a

*To the reader familiar with works of romance, it will not appear at all extraordinary that Roscrana was a proficient in the healing art; for in the tales of chivalry we read, that the most desperate wounds were healed, as well as inflicted, by the ladies. But this accomplishment was acquired long before the age of chivalry, as may be inferred from the proficiency of one of Ossian's contemporaries, which is thus described:" She can close the wound of the valiant; she knows the hiding-place of every herb of the mountain; and she knows where they waive their heads by the banks of the secret streams."

more serious nature than was at first apprehended, or from some other cause, I will not take upon me to determine; but certain it is, that it required frequent dressing, and that the dressing was a very lengthy operation: although to judge by the patience with which it was submitted to, by no means painful. Another singular symptom remains to be mentioned, namely, that the nearer Pudens approached convalescence, the more dilatory the process became : this, however, I presume, arose from the wise caution of Roscrana, knowing that patients require more care, inasmuch as they are more venturesome, the nearer they approximate to a perfect recovery!

As violent exercise was interdicted, Pudens could not accompany Arviragus or his son on their hunting excursions, which formed their principal amusements; and as the Arch Druid was much occupied with his arrangements in providing an asylum for his religion, his principal companions were Roscrana and old Morgan. He could only repay the kindness and assiduities of the former, by beguiling the time spent in her society with the description of the different countries in which he had spent his roving life, and the adventures

which had befallen him:-but will it appear surprizing that Roscrana seemed herself in this manner well requited for all her labours? He who would think so, must have formed a very different opinion of woman's heart from that of Shakspeare. Besides the romantic adventures of Pudens, and besides the fine figure of the narrator, there was so much refinement and delicacy in his manners, so much information in his eloquent conversation, and such an elevation and comprehensiveness in his principles and views-more especially when compared with those of the persons with whom Roscrana had been in the daily habit of conversing -that she listened to him as to a being of a higher order. The gods do not regard man's offerings with indifference; nor did Pudens receive with apathy that incense of all others the most flattering-the homage paid to intellectual superiority by a woman capable of appreciating it!

Pudens regarded Roscrana with an interest which it would be difficult to describe. He viewed her as an innocent, generous, beautiful girl, whose charming simplicity seemed the only thing which identified her as a member of the unpolished society in which she moved; but whose superior gentle

ness, and occasional display of extraordinary mental endowments, threw a line of visible distinction between her and her associates. She resembled, indeed, one of the satellites of the planet Saturn, connected in appearance and local proximity with the parent sphere; but separated from it by a wide and radiant barrier, and seeming rather to belong to another, and a loftier system, than to be circumscribed by the same atmosphere.

The novelty of the circumstances in which Pudens found himself, and the uncertainty of the future, which seemed to be tinged with the mysteriousness of the past, did not allow him to obtain a distinct view of his situation, or to form a settled plan of action. His destinies seemed involved in too much obscurity for him to wish to connect them with those of any one he loved; and yet he could not forbear hoping that they would not be distantly severed from those of Roscrana.

The case was somewhat of a less negative character with Roscrana. She was a child, indeed, in years, but she had reached the age at which females were considered marriageable in Britain, and her moral and intellectual character evinced singular precocity; so that