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seemed intent on watching for the stranger, who, to every one's surprise, never appeared. Various were the conjectures about her, and strange and wild enough; but none approached the truth, and Maud could hardly help smiling, as she heard herself supposed a fairy-a witch-an Eastern princess, who had loved the knight in Palestine, and a hundred other impossible stories imagined.

But it was gratifying to hear all unanimous in praise of her beauty, and grace, and modest demeanour, and declaring that it was no wonder the count was so captivated. How little the speakers guessed that the shabby, crooked kitchen-maid, who stood in the corner unnoticed by any, was the lovely and splendidly-dressed lady they were so curious about! Poor Maud's tears were less bitter this night than after the last ball, for, besides all these unintended encomiums, she felt she had done right in conquering her impatience, and obeying the cross old housekeeper so implicitly.

Many days had not passed before the young count was said to be ill. His search for the unknown lady had been unceasing, and his disappointment preyed on his spirits, till at last it threw him into a fever, and soon his life was pronounced in danger. The household was in despair, for he was much loved, and the old housekeeper, who had seen him born, sat over the fire weep ing in agony. Maud was half tempted to give her third wish to his recovery; but, while she hesitated, she resolved first to try if a little hope would be of any use to him; so she went to Dame Gottfried, and said that the godmother who had taught her everything else she knew, had given her some knowledge of medicine, as she had already proved; and that, if the housekeeper would allow her, she thought she could prepare a draught that would do their lord good. Dame Gottfried crossquestioned her a good deal, but Maud would not tell precisely what she would make it of, and she insisted so much on the benefit she expected from it, that the old woman, who had more than once experienced Maud's skill in simples, agreed to let her try it. Maud, therefore, went into the garden, gathered various herbs, and made a drink of their mingled juice; but at the bottom of the cup she put a ring, which she had worn on the night of the second ball, and which the count had particularly admired. It was part of the splendid dress her godmother's gift had produced. Dame Gottfried took the dose to her master, and with some difficulty prevailed on him to drink it. To please her, he took the greater part, and was just setting the cup down, when the sparkling ring caught his eye. He took it out with some curiosity, but instantly recognising it, he started up, demanding who had put it into his draught. Dame Gottfried protested her total ignorance of it, expressing her wonder with such volubility that the count at last, half angry, insisted on knowing the history of the medicine. She told him it was made by one of the kitchen-maids, who had lived with her before his return home, and that she was sure the poor girl could know nothing of such a splendid jewel-it must have got into the cup by magic.

"Send her up to me," said the count.

Dame Gottfried hesitated, saying she was a mere kitchen wench, though a very tidy good girl, but not at all fit to come up stairs to his lordship's apartments; besides, she was an ugly crooked thing, whom he could

not care to see.

All was of no use. The count peremptorily ordered the girl to be brought in. So down went Dame Gottfried, muttering that Mand's draught must have turned his brain; she was sure he was delirious.

Maud had expected this order, and had laid her Sunday clothes in readiness; so she was quickly dressed as the housekeeper wished, and ushered into the count's presence. He questioned her about the ring. She said it was a secret she could tell to him alone; so he ordered Dame Gottfried to leave the room, to her great vexation, and desired Maud to speak without fear. She

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at once told him the ring was hers, and related her whole story. With bitter pain she saw a shade pass over his countenance when she mentioned her father's name, but it cleared off a good deal when he heard she was the daughter of the first wife, and disappeared gradually as she narrated, in a few words, her subsequent history: but she saw that he was still doubtful, that he could hardly believe she was the beautiful lady who had so fascinated him in the ball-room; so she asked if he wished to see her dressed as she had then been-in half an hour she could convince him of the truth of at least so much of her story. He called in the housekeeper, and desired her to see Maud to her room, and to remain outside the door, without leaving it for a moment, till she should come out again, and then bring her down to him.

Dame Gottfried wondered at this order, but could not avoid obeying, though it convinced her that she had been right in thinking the young count delirious. Maud fastened the door, after giving the poor old dame a chair to rest on, and began her toilette. She felt that her fate now approached its crisis; for, unless the count should at once seek her in marriage, she must immediately fly from the castle, and again earn her livelihood in a strange place, without the freedom of heart which had hitherto enlightened her lot. An asylum in a convent would be her best hope, and her jewels prevented her being entirely penniless, so that she might have presented herself under her real name, if she kept at a sufficient distance from her native place to avoid the ill consequences of her father's crimes.

She put on the white dress, the first of her godmother's gifts, and the one in which she had first publicly appeared in the rank she was born to. When she was ready, she opened the door. Dame Gottfried screamed with surprise, and almost fainted, and poor Maud had much trouble in recovering and composing her, before she was able to accompany her to the count's apartment. They found he had also dressed; and Maud augured well from seeing that his toilette had been at least as carefully made as her own. One glance was enough to satisfy him that he had indeed found the unknown lady. He received her with the utmost joy and respect, and at once entreated she would honour him with her hand- glad, he said, that he was able to replace her in the rank she deserved and would adorn; adding that, whatever he had heard of her father, her mother's virtues had not been forgotten, and he had even heard that the peasants regretted the death of their good young lady, whom more than one of them had intended to save. Maud now gave the count more minute details of her family and of her early life, so as to preclude all possibility of her being other than she represented herself; and she showed him a locket containing her mother's hair, and having her name engraved on it, the only trinket she possessed of her childish days, for her stepmother had not thought it worth taking. She did not refuse his offer of marriage, and he led her to the Countess Hildegard, and announced his intentions. The old lady was excessively angry, first, because she had planned another match for him, and, still more, because he had chosen a girl totally without fortune; for the possessions of Maud's father had lapsed to the crown, as no heir appeared to claim them, and had been granted immediately to another family; but, worst of all, Maud was of a race with whom the countess's family had long been at enmity, and she violently opposed the marriage. However, Count Henry was not to be moved. As his stepmother refused to remain in the castle, or in any way to sanetion his choice by her presence, Maud removed to a neighbouring convent, where she remained preparing herself, by prayer and meditation, for her new state of life, till the count's arrangements were complete. The marriage then took place with great pomp, for he invited all his neighbours, that he might introduce his bride; and, while he thus proved that he was not

ashamed of his choice, might enjoy the admiration she excited. At his special request she was married in the white dress he had first seen her in; and at the conclusion of the ceremony, she dedicated it to the use of the altar, resolving that one of her earliest occupations should be to make it into a magnificent vestment. (To be continued.)

EXTRACTS FROM NEW WORKS.

THE INTERIOR OF A HAREM.

"THE women made me sit down; and when I placed myself in the usual European manner, they begged me in a deprecating tone not to remain in that constrained position, but to put myself quite at my ease, as if I were in my own house. How far I was at my ease, installed à la Turque, on an immense pile of cushions, I leave to be imagined by any one who ever tried to remain five minutes in that posture.

"I was determined to omit nothing that should give them a high idea of my 'savoir vivre,' according to their own notions, and began by once more gravely accepting a pipe. At the pacha's I had managed merely to hold it in my hand, occasionally touching it with my lips, without really using it; but I soon saw that, with some twenty pairs of eyes fixed jealously upon me, I must smoke here-positively and actually smoke or be considered a violator of all the laws of good breeding. The tobacco was so mild and fragrant that the penance was not so great as might have been expected; but I could scarcely help laughing at the ludicrous position I was placed in, seated in state on a large square cushion, smoking a long pipe, the other end of which was supported by a kneeling slave, and bowing solemnly to the sultana between almost every whiff. Coffee, sweetmeats, and sherbet (the most delightful of all pleasant draughts), were brought to me in constant succession by the two little negroes, and a pretty young girl, whose duty it was to present me the richly embroidered napkin, the corner of which I was expected to make use of as it lay on her shoulder, as she knelt before me. These refreshments were offered to me in beautiful crystal vases, little gold cups, and silver trays, of which, for my misfortune, they seemed to possess a large supply, as I was obliged to go through a never-ending course of dainties, in order that they might have an opportunity of displaying them all.

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My bonnet sadly puzzled them; and when, to please them, I took it off, they were most dreadfully scandalized, to see me with my hair uncovered, and could scarcely believe that I was not ashamed to sit all day without a veil or handkerchief; they could not conceive, either, why I should wear gloves, unless it were to hide the want of henna, with which they offered to supply me. They then proceeded to ask me the most extraordinary questions-many of which I really found it hard to answer. My whole existence was as incomprehensible to this poor princess, vegetating from day to day within her four walls, as that of a bird in the air must be to a mole burrowing in the earth. Her life consisted, as she told me, of sleeping, eating, dressing, and bathing. She never walked further than from one room to another; and I can answer for her not having an idea beyond the narrow limits of her prison. It is a strange and most unnatural state to which these poor women are brought; nor do I wonder that the Turks, whose own detestable egotism alone causes it, should declare that they have no souls."Wayfaring Sketches among the Greeks and Turks, by a Seven Years' Resident in Greece.

THE ESCAPED NEGRO.

"He and his family, together with some of his ancestors, were slaves in Peru, all born in the city of

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Lima; after the death of his first owners he was sold from one party to another, sometimes having kind masters, more frequently severe. At last he was purchased by a merchant residing in the town of Payta, in the same province; he had a female slave, for whom the subject of the present biography formed an attachment. owners are generally glad to discover affairs of this kind amongst their slaves, and often accelerate the matter, knowing well that an increase, of what they brutally term 'stock,' may be the result. They were married, and the ceremony consisted in the master telling them to go and live together.'

"Matters went on smoothly and lovingly for some time; at last the severity of the owner displayed itself in repeatedly flogging the man; this was borne with fortitude for a long time.' (At this part of the history our host exhibited a portion of his body which was scarred, and in welts from the lash. The poor woman sighed deeply, and I confess I felt much for them.) On an oppressively hot day his wife was ordered into a store with him to perform some laborious work; she was too weak and unable for the required exertion; the inhuman master tied her up to a post and beat her severely with a lash composed of twisted thongs of bullock hide' (she had also her marks of punishment to show).

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"She writhed under the punishment; her son, then a child, screaming at her feet; there was no mercy or cessation, until the arm of the master was fairly tired. The husband of this poor creature was looking on with, as he described it, grinding teeth.' What must have been his feelings? He then uttered an inward vow, both for revenge and an attempt at escape, if it cost him his life. This man and wife now laid their plans together; they lulled the suspicions of their owner by abject submission to all his orders for months, and perhaps he lauded the use of the lash for its apparent success in completely breaking the spirit of his slaves.

"Their plans were now matured: there were some English and American ships in the harbour; this merchant was in the habit of trading with some of them, and furnishing others with the stores they required. One evening after dark the negro told his master that Captain So-and-so wanted to speak with him particularly, and that he was at the hotel situated on the beach.' (I may also add, from my own experience, this hotel at Payta is the chief one in the place, commands an extensive view of the bay and anchorage, has a wharf for its special accommodation, and was conducted in excellent style by an Englishman at the time of my sojourn in it.)

"He never hesitated, or for a moment doubted the veracity of his injured slave. He left his house, and as he was walking along the beach towards the hotel was stabbed to the heart, dragged down, and thrown into the water. The slave had previously provided a boat near at hand, which he had stolen off the beach about an hour before; his wife and child were in readiness; all being quickly embarked, he paddled silently out of the harbour, making a turn round nearly opposite the burial-ground, to avoid the shipping. Having in this manner rounded the northern head of the bay, he laid down his paddles, his wife and he taking an oar each, and pulled hard for their lives and liberty. The child and a bag of bread in the bottom of the boat.

"They had only a small jar of water with them, and consequently suffered much. However, after patient exertion, day and night, they succeeded in passing the precincts of Peru and arriving at Tacames, where they were 'free,' and kindly received. They 'squatted' on the bank of the river, cleared the ground, and erected the hut, where they seemed to enjoy each other's affection, and the freedom that human beings can feel who escape from tyrannous slavery.'

"I inquired, through my interpreter, whether he

felt any regret at assassinating his late master? With gleaming eyes, and his whole frame presenting a true picture of demon-like ferocity and revenge, he answered rapidly, 'No.' Without acting so he would surely be retaken, as his owner, if he lived, would miss him in less than an hour; as it was, he had several hours' start, and cleared the precincts of Peru before his absence could be detected; and ended by saying that another slave of the same owner attempted to escape some time before him, that he was brought back, and 80 severely cowhided that he died the next day.' Coulter's Adventures on the Western Coast of South America.

PELICANS FLYING AND FISHING.

"It is a pleasant sight to see a flock of pelicans fishing. A dozen or more are flying, on heavy, flagging wing, over the sea, the long neck doubled on the back, so that the beak seems to protrude from the breast. Suddenly, a little ruffling of the water arrests their attention; and, with wings half-closed, down each plunges with a resounding plash, and in an instant emerges to the surface with a fish. The beak is held aloft, a snap or two is made, the huge pouch is seen for a moment distended, then collapses as before; and heavily the bird rises to wing, and again beats over the surface with its fellows. It is worthy of observation that the pelican invariably performs a somerset under the surface; for descending, as he always does, diagonally, not perpendicularly, the head emerges looking in the opposite direction to that in which it was looking before. When the morning appetite is sated, they sit calmly on the heaving surface, looking much like a miniature fleet.

"In the evening, as I have stated, we see them pursuing their laborious course to repose. Standing at the door of Bluefields, which from a slight elevation, commands a wide prospect of the beautiful báy, I have often watched in the evening, while the sun, sinking among his gilded piles and peaks of cloud on the horizon-sea, leaves the air refreshingly cool and balmy, while the dying sea-breeze scarcely avails to break the glassy reflection of the surface, the straggling flocks of pelicans, from a dozen to forty or fitty, passing slowly along over the shore. On such occasions, they manifest a decided tendency to form long continuous strings, like ducks. When the flocks are beating for fish, or sailing round and round on the watch, there is no such arrangement, but all circle in a confusion equal to that of the Planets of the Ptolemaic system. Yet at any time of the day, in taking a lengthened flight, whether shifting their locality, or slowly sweeping over the sea, they usually take a lineal order.

"In flying thus in lines, I have been struck with the unity which they manifest in their motions: the flight is performed by alternate intervals of heavy flappings, and sailing on outstretched motionless wing; and the resumption or suspension of the one or the other state is regulated by the leading bird of the line. For example, the first begins to flap; in an instant the second begins, then the third, then the fourth, and so on, with perfect regularity of succession; and neither ceases till the first does, and then only each in his own turn. That this does not depend on the period of each motion being constant, is shown by the fact, that the duration of either state is very varying and arbitrary. If a bird be following the same course, near at hand, but not within the line, he does not regard the succession at all, but governs his own motion.

"The pelican, on alighting on the water to swim, brings his feet, which before had been stretched out behind, into a standing position, and, as it were, slides along the surface for several yards before he swims."The Birds of Jamaica.

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London Magazine:

A JOURNAL OF ENTERTAINMENT AND INSTRUCTION
FOR GENERAL READING.

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YOL. TV.

The Comforter.

FROM A PAINTING IN THE NEW WATER COLOUR EXHIBITION, BY J. H. MOLE, ESQ.

ENGRAVED BY G. DALZIEL, ESQ.

THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

"A thousand sixe and sixtie yeere, it was, as we doe read, When that a comet did appeare, and Englishmen lay dead; Of Normandie, Duke William then, to England ward did sayle, Who conquered Harold with his men, and brought his land [to baile."

It was on the 28th of September, 1066, that William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, landed on the English coast at Pevensey, a few miles from Hastings. As he stepped from his boat his foot slipped, and he fell down on the ground.

"An evil omen!" groaned out those near him, and the croaking note was quickly caught up and re-echoed by numbers around.

"By the splendour of God! seigneurs," said he, "you are mistaken;" and grasping, even as he instantly rose, as much soil as he could clasp in both his hands, he exclaimed in a joyous voice, "I have seized England with my two hands!"

This ready wit reassured his people, perhaps saved his cause; and one of his followers, quickly seconding him, ran to a hut, snatched a handful of the thatch, and turned to the duke, saying heartily,—

"Sire, come forward, and receive seizin; of this land I give you seizin-without doubt the country is yours." "I accept it," said the duke; "may God be with us.' At this moment the noble and gallant King Harold -for by the consent of the people he had been crowned -was in the north of England, whither he had sped to subdue a revolt, excited by his brother Tosti, and, aided by the king of Norway: Harold was successful, and was feasting and rejoicing after the victory, when lo! a knight arrived from Hastings.

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The Normans are come! are come! They have landed at Hastings! Thy land will they wrest from thee if thou canst not well defend thyself! They have enclosed a fort, and strengthened it round about with palisades and a fosse."

"Sorry am I," returned the king, "that I was not there to meet them. It is truly an evil hap. But thus it hath pleased the Heavenly King; and every where at once could I not be."

Thus was Harold taken at every disadvantage. The fleet which had been for some time hovering around the Cinque Ports, in expectation of this invasion, had but lately, partly from the supposition that William had abandoned his design, been dispersed, and Harold was with all the flower of his troops at the farther end of his kingdom. He instantly came southward by forced marches with the least possible delay; but his troops were necessarily in some degree disordered and fatigued. The time indispensably occupied by Harold in his journey, and in his subsequent preparations, proved, perhaps, the salvation of William, by giving him time to survey the country, to prepare defences, to cheer, refresh, and thoroughly arrange his army.

When the opposing forces were approaching each other, Harold sent forward spies to reconnoitre, who were seized and carried to William's tent. The duke ordered them to be well treated, to have abundant refreshment, to be taken through his lines, and shewn all his preparations, and then to be courteously dismissed. When they returned, they spoke in high terms of the duke, but told Harold that William had

more priests with him than knights or other people.

But Harold replied,

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"Those are valiant knights,-bold and brave warriors, though they bear not beards or moustaches as we do."

It is not often that two such leaders meet in battle.

King Harold is described as a "noble Saxon," having all the personal characteristics which distinguished and elevated the magnates of that princely race. His stature was remarkably tall, and his limbs were finely formed. He was an accomplished man; his bravery was proverbial, and his character and conduct were benignant and noble. Earl Godwin's daughter was described as a rose from a thorny stem,-"Sicut spina rosam, genuit Godwynus Editham;" to her brother Harold an equally flattering, though a more masculine eulogy, might with truth have been applied. The only slur ever thrown on his character seems to have been a somewhat avaricious partition of the spoils of the battle of York, and this has hardly been confirmed. He had certainly a rightful claim to the crown, and was eminently qualified to uphold its dignity; he was the legitimate scion of a noble race; he was a son of the soil, and he was offered the crown and was chosen king by the people.

William, being a bastard, could have no hereditary claim; and if it were indeed true, that Edward the Confessor had willed the crown to him, it was at least undeniable that Edward had no right thus to dispose of it.

William is described as of "a good stature, proud of porte, very corsie, and bigge-bodied, with a cruell countenance, and a bald forehead." His strength was prodigious; he used a bow which no other arm could wield, and which he would bend when sitting on horseback, by stretching out the string with his foot.

Many days necessarily intervened between the landing of William and the great battle. The time was disposed of by him in the most politic manner; not by bold advances into the country, but by raising fortifications along the coast as refuge for his troops in the event of his defeat. At length he advanced inland about seven miles, north-west of Hastings, to a heath thereafter and still called Battle.

"So called because in battle here, Quite conquered and o'erthrown the English nation were.”

The Normans "betook themselves all night to their orisons, and were in very serious mood. They made confession of their sins, and accused themselves to the priests, and whoso had no priest near him, confessed himself to his neighbour.

"The day on which the battle was to take place being Saturday, the Normans, by the advice of the priests, vowed that they would never more, while they lived, eat flesh on that day. Giffrei, bishop of Coutance, received confessions, and gave benedictions, and imposed penances on many.

"The priests had watched all night, and besought and called on God, and prayed to him in their chapels which were fitted up throughout the host. They offered and vowed fasts, penances, and orisons; and they said psalms and misereres, litanies, and kyriels; they cried on God, and for his mercy, and said pater-nosters and masses."

After confession and mass this evening, William, kneeling down, vowed solemnly to edify and endow an abbey on the spot where the sounds of victory-if victory were vouchsafed to him-should first salute his ear.

enjoying themselves. "All night they ate and drank,

The Saxons, on the contrary, were very merry and

and never lay down on their beds. They might be seen carousing, gambolling, and dancing and singing; BUBLIE they cried, and WEISSEL, and LATICOME and DRINCHE HRIL, DRINCHINDREWART and DRINTOME, DRINC-HELF, and DRING

TOME."

(1) Horsfield, Sussex.

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