friend with extended arms in order to welcome her return, she was suddenly overpowered by her emotions, her head sunk upon Agatha's bosom, and she burst into an hysterical passion of tears. In order that the other females might uninterruptedly minister towards her recovery, the gentlemen withdrew into an adjoining chamber, where the Squire and Mr. Shelton soon became engaged in discussing the recent political occurrences in London; while Mapletoft, who, from the effects of dust and heat, and his retaining the stalks of his huge bouquet, though the flowers had all been shaken off, presented a most ludicrous appearance, pounced eagerly upon Father Bartholomew the old priest, and drawing him aside, instantly plunged into an animated tête-à-tête. At first it might be judged that he was narrating his own recent endurances, for his companions might catch at intervals the phrases-"Philip, who, as his name indeed imports, was a lover of horses-Bucephalus-Hippona-Hippomanes-saltu superare viam," and similar snatches; but the scholars soon became

deeply immersed in a learned disquisition upon classics and Delphin editions, with an occasional digression upon some of the scientific discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton. So much were they absorbed in these subjects, that neither of them observed the entrance of a servant with glasses and refreshments, until the Squire, slapping his kinsman on the shoulder, exclaimed,—

"Odsheart, Paul! sure you must be thirsty after such hard riding and long talking. Here are bright beakers, man, with sparkling wine and foaming ale; so a fico for Latin and Greek.

Let us drink and be merry, dance, joke and rejoice,
With claret and sherry, theorbo and voice.

Here's to you in a bumper, and to you, mine
honest neighbour Shelton, and to you, Father
Bartholomew, who I know will pledge me if I
talk Latin to you, and so you shall have it in
the words of the song:-how runs it?
thing about Orlando, then comes-

He is an ass,

That from hence doth pass,

Nisi bibit ad ostia stando.

some

There! if that's not honest Latin, you must blame Frank Beaumont, and recollect that I don't wear a shaven crown."

The old man willingly pledged him in the challenged bumper, observing, with a good-natured smile, that as they did not often get such cheerful visitants at Hales Court, he hoped its present enlivener would soon return to taste another bottle of their claret, which his kinsman had imported direct from France.

"That will I do, or I am no true toper," cried the Squire; "but you must all come over shortly to Orchard Place, to try whether I cannot match it; and in the mean time, as a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, we must not leave the present bottle unfinished."

Just as they had completed their repast, they were rejoined by Mrs. Colyton, Hetty, and Agatha Shelton, bringing intelligence that Edith was better, though still a good deal discomposed, and all uniting in a petition to the Squire that she might be allowed to remain a few days at Hales Court, where the change of

air, scene, and society, might have the most beneficial effects upon her health. To this proposal her father easily yielded his assent; when the Colytons and Hetty shortly after took their departure, Mapletoft, in spite of his sister's entreaties, persisting in remounting Dumpling, who, as if anxious to make atonement for his former misconduct, carried him back safely and quietly to Orchard Place.

CHAPTER II.

I saw the bouncing Bellibone,
Hey, ho, Bonnybell!
Tripping over the dale alone;

She can trip it very well.
As the bonny lass pass'd by,
Hey, ho, bonny lasse!

She roved at me with glauncing eye,

As clear as the christall glasse.

The Shepheard's Calender.

MRS. COLYTON, who did not easily renounce her prejudices, had taken Edith apart before she consented to her remaining at Hales Court, and had strictly charged her, in a pious and prosing homily, to absent herself from the religious ceremonies of the family; above all, to return instantly to Orchard Place, should any attempts be made to convert her to popery.