jesty's kindness to some of the scorched and wounded survivors that were brought in.”

"It was not a thing to escape any man's memory," resumed the Monarch, "nor shall I ever forget the beautiful appearance of our troops as they marched down one dark stormy night to attack the lines before Arras. As soon as they had formed for battle, they suddenly discovered their lighted matches, which kindling and blazing by reason of the wind, and throwing out sparkles of fire as the musqueteers happened to shog against each other, made a glorious show of our advancing army, while all around them was a pitchy darkness. I have often too laughed with your merry father-but that must have been afterwards, towards fiftyseven, when we served together before Cambray, at the Spanish mode of warfare. Seeing we could easily have captured a large convoy of the enemy, I galloped up to the Prince de Ligne to apprise him of it, but he durst not attack without orders from Don John or the Marquis of Caracena, both of whom were enjoying their

afternoon's siesta, and he was afraid to wake them, so that we were fain to let a most valuable prize slip through our fingers, in order that our drowsy commanders might finish their nap."

His Majesty, who in early life had much distinguished himself as a soldier, and loved to "fight all his battles o'er again," might have finished the campaign, but that Father Petre intimated he had a communication to make respecting a letter just put into his hands, when he bowed graciously to Walter, and immediately withdrew with the Jesuit.

"Well, my young friend!" said Sunderland as he retired, "are you satisfied with your reception? It has indeed been a most distinguished one, and you may hold yourself highly honoured. Our royal master is slow to promise favour, but not to bestow it where his regard has once been obtained. In almost every respect he is the reverse of the late King, as indeed is sufficiently manifest from the totally altered appearance of the court, where all is now propriety

and decorum, and no royal mistresses, covered with diamonds, are allowed to offend public decency. His present Majesty, profoundly imbued with a sense of religion, is strict in all its observances; he is moreover extremely temperate, never guilty of profane swearing or loose discourse, although, as you have seen, sufficiently courteous and familiar; and so condescending, that when saluted by the humblest individual in the streets, he never fails to take off his hat. Such is his economy, that there are at this moment, without any additional taxes, six hundred thousand pounds in the exchequer, which in the late reign was once bankrupt, and always in debt; no unimportant circumstance if there be any truth in the received maxim that Thesaurus regis est vinculum pacis et bellorum nervi. And so extraordinary are the King's exactness and diligence, that although he superintends all the affairs of the state, both civil and military, I have reason to know that he has for many years kept a voluminous diary, in which he regularly enters with his own hand every transac

tion of the times. He is thought to have been occasionally unsparing towards his enemies, but he was never known to desert a friend; and if we survey him in private life, we shall find him sincere and open in himself, abhorring duplicity in others, firm in all his attachments, an affectionate and obedient brother, a fond husband, and an indulgent father."

Though this portrait, as far as it went, was impartial, its omissions rendered it strikingly imperfect. To complete the picture, the minister should have added that his royal master was arbitrary, choleric, and obstinate; at once weak and severe, uxorious and inconstant; infatuated with a vain notion of the divine right of kings, and the duty of passive obedience in subjects; and that his religion, so far from its being an ennobling and purifying principle, emasculated instead of invigorating his understanding, and hardened instead of mollifying his heart, until it degenerated into a blind and reckless bigotry, which, utterly obscuring all his better qualities, plunged him at length into irretrievable ruin.

It was not, however, Walter's business to contravene any portion of Sunderland's encomium, which had not been uttered in any sincerity of heart, but for the purpose of its being overheard by some of the busy listeners, who always dogged the minister's footsteps. Our young soldier, indeed, felt infinitely too much flattered by his reception to think of arraying his Majesty's failings against his virtues, and therefore rendered a willing acquiescence to the panegyric that had just been pronounced.

Sunderland then alluded slightly to the message he had sent by Seagrave respecting the bravoes, and reverting immediately to Mrs. Audley, declared that from a recent interview he had had with that lady, he was convinced Walter had made a decided impression upon her heart, urging him to press his suit without a moment's delay; but, above all, to be silent upon the subject, lest he should be supplanted, and lose the prize. In vain did his auditor disclaim, much more distinctly than he had hitherto done, all intention of seeking the lady's hand. His Lordship either refused to listen to him,