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chaplets, which was so beautifully executed that Lucullus gave Dionysius of Athens two talents for a copy of it.

The Indians are accustomed to throw flowers and fruits into the sea, to ensure a prosperous voyage, and the Hindoos strew blossoms on the river when about to bathe. The love of flowers as ornaments has ever been as unbounded as universal, from the highest titled lady of the most refined land, to the wild savage of the Sandwich Islands. It has been said that about the year 1780, nosegays were in such vogue in England that servants were allowed a certain sum annually, to supply their mistresses with them.

The gardens of the Durham pitmen, who reside in cottages near the entrance of the coal-mines, are most carefully attended to, and the flowers produced from them have often been known to obtain prizes at Horticultural exhibitions. Of the Rose there are many species, some were introduced iuto England from Persia, some from China, some from the Levant, and others from Italy and the Alps; the Tube Rose came from Ceylon, and Japan; the Rosa semper florens was brought from the East Indies. The belladonna lily is a native of South America, and the chequered lily of Hungary, from whence it was brought in the sixteenth century. The Guernsey lily derives its name, not from being a native of that Island, but from the circumstance of a ship from Japan having been wrecked off the shore. Some lilies which were in the vessel floated ashore and took root, these were soon noticed, preserved, and henceforth were known by the name which they now bear.

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TRUST thee-yea, thou know'st that I did trust thee,
Thou dark, and treacherous, and stormy sea.
Thy billows were as ripples of bright light,
That gemmed and sparkled far beneath the height
Of noon-day brilliance--and thy varying green,
Through many tinctures, and in beauty's sheen,
To deep cerulean hue did softly shade,

As if thou hadst for peace alone been made.
But treacherous thou art, thou mighty main,
As pleasure's smile, that woos us, and again
Doth darkly change, soon as the youthful view
Hath grown to manhood's prime; and now thy hue
Is black as midnight, and thy foamy crest
Breaks upon the spirit with death opprest,
Or fears as dark as death-or, darker still,
When yawning wide before the wayward will,
Judgment shall awake, and dread eternity
Its prospect ope of endless misery.

But blow ye winds, and loud ye tempests roar,
Your fiercest rage I tremble at no more;
For He it is who guards me in this hour,
That with a word can still thy wildest power:
E'en He, who when thy battling surges rose,
And strove in vain to break his sound repose,
Did o'er the sea his softening love spell cast,
And "Peace-be still," o'erwhelmed the raging blast.
In him through all my life I'll fondly trust
In him repose, till down I sink to dust.
Away, then, fear! e'en mid the ocean strife,

For safe with Him I am, and e'en in death have life.

ROSSLYN CASTLE.

CHAPTER II.

THE expedition on which Lord Aylmer was commissioned, had for its object too delicate a task, and one too nearly affecting his own happiness, to suffer his eyelids to find the sleep they sought, however much his wearied frame might need repose. The dripping boughs of the lower branches of the trees had been hastily lopped away, round a little glade or open space which lay not far from the edge of the high forest, for the more comfortable abiding of the officers of the troop. High through the topmost twigs, the thin turrets of the keep gleamed faintly in the moonlight, glistening slightly with the moisture which had fallen so plentifully during the day. A sort of tent or marquee had been hastily spread over them, strung by cords to the clefts of the branches, and his companions relying on the vigilance of their leader, were each in his riding cloak fast wrapped in the arms of sleep, and lay in the flickering obscure motionless as the logs around them. Lord Aylmer lay for a while after the breathing of his companions told him of their oblivion, resting on his elbow, regarding first with earnest gaze the little windows of the turret, which as if in the midst of the air, shone more and more strongly in the mild light beneath which they gleamed, then looking through the darkness he could barely perceive the recumbent persons of the soldiers, who, stretched at their length, had happily followed the example of their superiors, and lay silent as the darkness. One stalwart form alone was leaning against a tree, his spear stuck in the ground beside him, at intervals gleaming brightly in the gloom like the light of a glow-worm, when the moonshine fell occasionally on its point between the branches as they swayed heavily in the night wind. To his left nearer the outskirts of the wood were the two troopers, whom he had appointed for a watch.

Between these an earnest conversation seemed to be proceeding, and Aylmer occasionally observed the least

of the two using violent gesticulations of anger to his comrade, who apparently stoical as the wood against which he leaned, made little effort either to retort his companion's anger or to appease it. At the period of which we write, the conquest of the principality of Wales had been completely established, and numbers of the natives of that portion of the country had entered the royal service, but jealousy was still prevalent between the two people, and the differences it excited not unfrequently led to awkward broils, and though in actual warfare, the two worked well together, and even were generally on fair terms, yet, at the least excitation, their natural tempers rose into ebullition. For this reason their commander had selected one of each country for the advanced watch, hoping that the circumstance of their being of different countries would keep them more upon the alert than others in the troop, after the fatigue of their long march; and trusting to his own discipline and their prudence for preventing any disturbance arising that would militate against the general safety. For a moment he lay looking upon them, till, his eyes growing more and more dim, he also was added to the number of the sleepers.

The two men, Grayson and Evans, the former a tall, robust, and powerful fellow, from Yorkshire, and the latter a fiery, little, yet active man from Wales, appeared to understand the reason of their appointment, and tacitly entered into an agreement to be neutral in all points of mutual disagreement. For some time the neighbourhood of their commander, and the importance of their post, served as sufficient preventives from their breaking out into any noisy brawl. The Englishman, indeed, kept in close silence, and appeared to be indulging his natural stolidity at the expense of his companion's patience, and Evans, after a few ineffectual coughs to break the ice, at last firmly commenced proceedings in a regular manner, and having attempted in vain to be interested in every thing around him, said, in a low, husky voice, as if mistrusting his own good will towards an amnesty, "Ver well, Masther

Grayson, her doth opine that she ith no thort of companion for any gentleman of good family."

"And why, Master Evans," returned the Yorkshireman, doth she opine anything of the sort."

"Because," answered the Welshman, "every gentleman strives to make himself agreeable to other gentlemen." "And pray, my short-legged mountaineer," rejoined his companion, "what could I be talking to your worship about."

"Don't be after short-legging me, Masther Grayson," said the Welshman, endeavouring to suppress his rising anger, and looking unutterable things.

"for

"No need for that, I dare say," said Grayson, they are short enough already," and immediately added, that he dared to say that, notwithstanding, they were still long enough for the last deer he stalked."

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Less than this would have been sufficient to bring the little man's ire into flame, and bursting with anger, he strode up with a menacing aspect to Grayson, who was at that moment adjusting his spear in the ground, and glaring in his countenance with a face of fury, demanded an instant apology for the insult.

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Keep off, you beast of a hog driver," cried Grayson, coolly putting him aside with the butt end of the weapon he held.

"Hillths and thunder," cried the Welshman with a suppressed scream of absolute frenzy, and leaping past his guard fastened himself upon Grayson's breast with the snarle of a tiger. The dirk glittered above his head, and in another moment would have been buried in his throat, before Grayson from surprise at the suddenness of the assault would have had time to defend himself; but in the act of its descent Evans felt his arm seized by a grasp too powerful to be resisted. In another moment it was shattered against the trunk of a neighbouring tree, and he himself lay prostrate and almost senseless from the force with which he had been thrown down.

"Wretch," exclaimed Aylmer, for it was he, who,

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