IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. "Wolves shall succeed for teachers, grievous wolves, "To their own vile advantages shall turn "Of lucre and ambition, and the truth "With superstitions and traditions taint."-Milton. LONDON: PRINTED FOR BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, PATERNOSTER-ROW. THE PRIEST. CHAPTER XIII. "O, in what tempests do men's fortunes sail! Ben Jonson. IT was the close of the day when a messenger, in a plain dark grey cloak, stood before the gates of the castle of Arding, and craved audience of its Lord, on matters of moment, which must be revealed only to his private ear. Whilst this message was being conveyed to the Earl, the courier was con ducted to the apartment of the Seneschal. The going down of the sun was the signal for the commencement of Shirley's solitary conviviality, and he stood at the opening casement, watching the lingering light in the west, and impatiently longing for its disappearance; for he was too methodical to be guilty of such an innovation on his prescribed rule of conduct, as to antedate his hour of enjoyment, how much soever he might thirst after it. The entrance of the cloaked messenger diverted the current of his thoughts, and he welcomed him courteously, because, said he, "conversation is a timekiller, and peradventure the stranger cometh laden with news of the times, and I may prevail on him to leave some part of his cargo with me. A fresh supply prevents the stream of a man's thoughts from stagnating, and a wise |