INDEX.

THE

CHRISTIAN WORLD MAGAZINE.

JANUARY, 1883.

MIDWAY ON LIFE'S JOURNEY.

BY BEATRICE BRISTOWE,

Author of "Clarissa's Tangled Web,"" Unforgotten," &c.

CHAPTER I.-"YE DAYS OF CLOUDLESS BEAUTY."
A DAY of cloudless beauty it was, in the full height of a summer,
brighter and more genial than often comes to our cloudy clime.

The joyous sunshine was falling far and wide, over hill and
dale and fertile plain; on broad river, tiny stream, and the shining
sea; on fields of grain ripening to the harvest, and quiet pasture
lands; on farm-houses and stately homes, and little cottages stand-
ing all alone; on villages and sleepy country towns, and on great
cities teeming with busy life.

But what now concerns us is, that with this wealth of sunlight,
in its noontide fulness, was dowered, on this July day, the grand
old city of Oxford.

Up into the clear radiance rose the beautiful spire of St. Mary's
and the great dome of the Radcliffe, and down on the broad white-
pavement fell their shadow, where clustered round in bewildering
magnificence, schools, colleges, museum, and theatre.

great quadrangle of royal Christ Church lay the unhindered
brightness; it flooded the High Street from Carfax to Magdalen
Bridge, rested lovingly on the serene beauty of Magdalen-its
lofty tower, cloistered quadrangle, fair gardens, grove, and water
walks; and touched with a softer grace the stateliness of Wyke-
ham's old foundation, still called New. It glowed over Merton
fields and Christ Church meadows, and piercing the thick branches
of the noble elms, made a changeful tracery all along the Broad

Walk, as a light breeze passed through the tree-tops, and down and along the Isis and the Cherwell, rippling the shining water into dazzling sparkles. Away in the grounds of Worcester the white swans glided over the clear lake, or glimmered from halfconcealment of over-reaching leafage; and in the sweet security of Merton's secluded garden little birds hopped hither and thither over the soft turf, and flattered high up in the goodly trees ; butterflies flitted daintily here and there, and burnished dragonflies darted in fiery haste across the terrace-walk and down and away over the meadows.

Into silent chapels, through stained windows glowing gem-like, came the glory, subdued, changed; falling in soft splendour on arch and pillar, on dark carved woodwork and lonely monumental tomb. Scarcely less subdued, as if there its very self had been mellowed by age or it had read upon the doors the request for perfect quietness, it entered the venerable reading-room of the Bodleian Library, and gave to view with reverent soberness the long rows of ponderous tomes, reaching from floor to richly carved ceiling. But in the Picture Gallery it made itself amends and was young again; sweeping rejoicingly down the long vistas, re-colouring the pictures, giving clear outline to statue, bust, and model, and, through each window whereat it entered, displaying as in triumph new sights of wonder and beauty.

A glorious day truly it was on which to obtain a first sight of the beautiful city. And so thought Matthew Morland, as he sat beside an open window of a pleasant drawing-room, gnide-book in hand, looking now on that, and then down into the High Street, while within the room, over one end of the table, a youth was spreading a white cloth, and laying the simple meal with which Matthew purposed to refresh himself after a five hours' journey.

Morland was a not very young man, of quiet manners, and quite unremarkable appearance. He was neither very tall nor very short, very handsome nor very plain, nor did his face suggest exceptional powers of mind, though an observant thoughtfulness was betokened by his pleasant grey eyes. He was not come to Oxford as a student. He did not by any means belong to the titled or wealthy classes, who send their young men to study or to idle, as the case may be, in one or other of our University cities; nor, born in less favoured position, had he achieved for himself a university training by winning a scholarship. He was simply the Master of a Government-aided elementary school, planted in a populous neighbourhood of a provincial town, come to enjoy his hardlyearned summer holiday in a leisurely viewing cf all sights of interest and beauty accessible to a stranger, and in a yielding up of the mind to the fascinating associations of the city-historic, literary, and religious.