quit my chilling company, and the dear dreary scenes I am about to visit, and wait till those 'dark visions shall have passed away.' I am mortal, therefore, I shall again be joyous, but at present my thoughts are with the dead, and for the dead."

"You know well, dearest Clara, that all my feelings are yours, and that you can as easily touch the chords of my heart for woe, as for joy. So be your errand what it may, let me accompany you.”

"Well, as you will: but I fear your gallantry will be more taxed than you apprehend; but here comes the phaeton, I told John to follow us, as I had many things to carry with me."

When getting into the carriage, Miss Fortescue cautioned me not to tread on the flower roots, and I then perceived that a large quantity of roses, forget me nots, and other flowers were packed in the vehicle.

As we drove along, Miss Fortescue explained the meaning of what she had said, by pointing to the ivy-covered belfry of an ancient church, which had become delapidated by time.

"Thither lies our road" said she, "to visit the grave of a very dear cousin of mine, a beautiful girl of my own age, daughter of the eccentric uncle, I have so often mentioned to you. Sweet girl! I loved her dearer than a sister, I should not regret that she has left this world of sin and sorrow, to find a sure and lasting rest, where all is peace and joy, calm, deep, heart-filling, and everlasting; but my sad heart would wish her back again through pure selfishness.

I have been greatly blessed with those worldly things, which man most prizes, and yet I am often guilty of most unwarrantable repining, and have a superstitious pleasure in applying to myself those beautiful lines of the bard

"I never nursed a dear gazelle,

To glad me with its soft black eye,
But when it came to know me well,
And love me-it was sure to die!
Thou too"-

"But no, no! that misery will surely be spared me."

I never shall forget the look that lovely girl turned on me at that moment, whilst her large blue eyes filled with tears so full of affectionate solicitude, at the thought which the next verse suddenly brought to her mind; quickly overcoming this little womanly weakness, she again reverted to her cousin.

"Poor thing! she has often, in by gone times frisked amongst these very tombs, and come hither, ghost-hunting with me on winter evenings. There was one spot for which she had a particular fancy in that little rustic enclosure, there where you see those two old yews bending towards one another: she named those trees Philemon and Baucis, and used to say that she would like to lie between those loverlike mourners, when her soul was emancipated from its earthly bonds. That pure soul has fled to the heavenly regions, its fitting habitation, and that once beautiful form is mouldering, dust to dust, ashes to

ashes, in the spot she herself so playfully selected. Her father who is a strange character, took her away from this, suddenly, when she was very ill, telling us that she would soon be restored to health, but he did not tell us the means he was about to employ. Whatever they were, you know the result. He was very

ill at the time of her death, and is still: in fact, his whole happiness was involved in that girl. As he is unable, personally, to superintend the erection of a fitting monument, the only care he can bestow on his lost child, he has entrusted this matter to me, and I have appointed a sculptor of known taste to meet me this evening, to select some design suited to the person, and the place. We expect my uncle here, as soon as he is sufficiently recovered, and I am anxious that all should be finished before his arrival.

The sexton, as remarkable a piece of antiquity as any thing about the place, was waiting the approach of Miss Fortescue, and uncovering his white head, welcomed her with a blessing.

"I am glad to see you, Groves: how is old Nanny? Do the caps fit her? Be good enough to help John to carry in those roots which I wish to have planted this evening. Is Mr. Simmonds come ?"

"Yes, Madam, I mean Miss Clara, yes, and he has brought a whole waggon load of such beautiful little toy monuments, as no man ever saw: it is for all the world, as if he had robbed a fairy grave-yard, and carried off all the tomb stones: he has been laying them out behind the old yews yonder, this hour back, and has not finished with them yet."

Following Miss Fortescue, I arrived at that part of the ground where the sculptor, with the aid of a delicate looking lad, was arranging his mimic cemetery. The boy seemed full of glee as he changed the position of one, and then of another, of these curious toys, making quaint remarks as he handled each: unseen behind the thick trees, we listened for a moment, and watched the proceedings of these purveyors for the renown of the dead.

"Do you know, Papa, I am always delighted when you get one of these country orders, it is pleasant to find one's-self in these old places, with their curious inscriptions, wooden crosses, ivied towers, and funny tomb-stones: why, I declare there are some bits of slate here, pretending to be tomb-stones, which a child of four years old could pull up, and yet they are dated fifty or sixty years back, and no one has touched them. Then see what beautiful flowers are growing on some of these graves, where there is no monument at all; I declare, there is an entire name written in flowers, and lined with sods." He pointed to a grave, where an idiot girl had been interred, and where the young peasants who had often mocked her fatuity, had thus simply, but beautifully honored her remains.

"Ha! here are some lines written on a bit of stone, and set into the stem of the tree at the end of the grave:

"Misery with blighting showers,
Could not blast thy sunny hours;
Ever spent midst nature's bowers.

6.

We who mocked thee in our sport,
Call'd thee Queen, ourselves thy court,

Bring thee still thy loved flowers."

Well, Father, these are queer people here, writing enigmas on their tombs, and making such beautiful gardens of some of them, whilst others are neglected, and grown over with hemlock, docken, and great long grass. There's a fine monument over there, of some of those Fortescues, almost buried in the briars; it is a pity there is not some one to take care of the whole place, and prevent the weeds growing as in London."

"No, my boy, this is better: it teaches a more wholesome lesson; it shows that men are not remembered for their greatness, or their riches, or their wisdom, in the hearts of their fellows. Young as you are, you have discovered that yon flowery grave of a poor pitiful idiot, draws more remembrances, and more kindly sympathy, than the costly marbles of the proud owners of the soil. Thus, God wills it, to take

Forty years have I been

down the pride of man. living on the vanity and feelings of man, and it remains still for me to discover which is the most enduring; I believe the former, for whenever I have received an order to put family monuments in repair, I have always remarked, that the greatest anxiety was displayed about the most ancient, which covered the bones of those whom the heir could not have known, and carelessness was evinced towards those who immediately preceded him, and who, it were natural to suppose, should be regarded with affection, as being personally known.”

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