from thence to a dozen pulls, would have done, when he was guilty of the enormity of rere-suppers,* and of drinking deep after them.” "Had your temperate draught," said Everard, "been but a thought more strongly seasoned, Wildrake, thou hadst slept so sound that the last trump only could have waked thee." "And then," answered Wildrake, "I should have waked with a headache, Mark; for I see my modest sip has not exempted me from that epilogue. But let us go forth, and see how the night, which we have passed so strangely, has been spent by the rest of them. I suspect they are all right willing to evacuate Woodstock, unless they have either rested better than we, or at least been more lucky in lodgings." "In that case, I will dispatch thee down to Joceline's hut, to negotiate the re-entrance of Si Rere-suppers (quasi arriere) belonged to a species of luxury introduced in the jolly days of King James's extravagance, and continued through the subsequent reign. The supper took place at an early hour, six or seven o'clock at latest--the rere-supper was a postliminary banquet, a hors d'œuvre, which made its appearance at ten or eleven, and served as an apology for prolonging the entertainment till midnight. Henry Lee and his family into their old apartments, where, my interest with the General being joined with the indifferent repute of the place itself, I think they have little chance of being disturbed either by the present, or by any new Commissioners." "But how are they to defend themselves against the fiends, my gallant Colonel ?" said Wildrake. 66 Methinks, had I an interest in yonder pretty girl, such as thou dost boast, I should be loath to expose her to the terrors of a residence at Woodstock, where these devils-I beg their pardon, for I suppose they hear every word we say these merry goblins—make such gay work from twilight till morning." "My dear Wildrake," said the Colonel," I, as well as you, believe it possible that our speech may be overheard; but I care not, and will speak my mind plainly. I trust Sir Henry and Alice are not engaged in this silly plot; I cannot reconcile it with the pride of the one, the modesty of the other, or the good sense of both, that any motive could engage them in so strange a conjunction. But the fiends arc all of your own political, persuasion, Wildrake, all true-blue cavaliers; and I am convinced, that Sir Henry and Alice Lee, though they be unconnected with them, have not the slightest cause to be apprehensive of their goblin machinations. Besides, Sir Henry and Joceline must know every corner about the place: it will be far more difficult to play off any ghostly machinery upon him than upon strangers. But let us to our toilette, and when water and brush hath done its work, we will inquire what is next to be done." "Nay, that wretched puritan's garb of mine is hardly worth brushing," said Wildrake; " and but for this hundred weight of rusty iron, with which thou hast bedizened me, I look more like a bankrupt Quaker than anything else. But I'll make you as spruce as ever was a canting rogue of your party." So saying, and humming at the same time the cavalier tune, Though for a time we see Whitehall, When the King shall enjoy his own again. "Thou forgettest who are without," said Colonel Everard. "No-I remember who are within," replied his friend. "I only sing to my merry goblins, who will like me all the better for it. Tush, man, the devils are my bonos socios, and when I see them, I will warrant they prove such roaring boys as I knew when I served under Lumford and Goring, fellows with long nails that nothing escaped, bottomless stomachs that nothing filled,-mad for pillaging, ranting, drinking, and fighting,―sleeping rough on the trenches, and dying stubbornly in their boots. Ah! these merry days are gone. Well, it is the fashion to make a grave face on't among cavaliers, and specially the parsons that have lost their tithe-pigs; but I was fitted for the element of the time, and never did or can desire merrier days than I had during that same barbarous, bloody, and unnatural rebellion." "Thou wert ever a wild sea-bird, Roger, even according to your name; liking the gale better than the calm, the boisterous ocean better than the smooth lake, and your rough, wild struggle against the wind, than daily food, ease, and quiet.” "Pshaw ! a fig for your smooth lake, and your old woman to feed me with brewer's grains, and the poor drake obliged to come swattering whenever she whistles! Everard, I like to feel the wind rustle against my pinions,-now diving, now on the crest of the wave, now in ocean, now in sky-that is the wild drake's joy, my grave one! And in the Civil War so it went with us-down in one county, up in another, beaten to-day, victorious to-morrownow starving in some barren leaguer-now revelling in a presbyterian's pantry-his cellars, his plate-chest, his old judicial thumb-ring, his pretty serving-wench, all at command!" "Hush, friend," said Everard; "remember I hold that persuasion." "More the pity, Mark, more the pity," said Wildrake; "but, as you say, it is needless talking of it. Let us e'en go and see how your Presbyterian pastor, Mr Holdenough, has fared, and whether he has proved more able to foil the foul Fiend than have you his disciple and auditor.” They left the apartment accordingly, and were overwhelmed with the various incoherent accounts of sentinels and others, all of whom had seen or |