At the period when the Rowley papers had first come to light (as he averred), she informed me as follows:-"My brother, sir, had frequently brought home old parchments, deeds, and other things which were accounted of no value: and one day, having a use for them, I during his absence cut up several of them for thread-papers, and others to cover the school-books of children; and while thus occupied, Thomas Chatterton came home: on perceiving what I had done, he threw himself into the most violent passion, saying that I had destroyed what would have been to the family a fortune for ever; and instantly seizing the books and thread-papers, collected them all together, and took them up stairs into his own chamber: after which they were never seen or heard of."

From the contiguity of their residence to Redcliff church, she also told me, he continually frequented the interior of that Gothic structure, where he would sit for hours, reading, beside the tomb of Canning; but this circumstance was at that time scarcely noticed. He was also frequently employed in ascending the towers of the church, where he would also read continually.

As to his person, his sister said, that he was thin of body, but neatly made; that his features were by no means handsome, and yet, notwithstanding, the tout ensemble was striking; which arose, she conceived, from the wonderful expression of his eyes, and more particularly of the left eye,

which, to use her own words, seemed at times, from its brilliancy, "to flash fire."

She then proceeded to acquaint me, that some malevolent aspersions had been thrown out as to his moral character, and particularly, his being partial to the society of abandoned women, which she positively denied, with tears in her eyes; stating that he was the best and most tender of brothers, never enjoying so much satisfaction as when he could present them some little token of his affection; that he always kept good hours at night, to her certain knowledge; and that by day he was by far too much taken up with books and his occupations to be a loose character. As to his having a predilection for some female, she told me, she believed that to have been the case; but, to the best of her knowledge, and from her soul (she assured me) she spoke it, no stain whatsoever could attach itself to his moral conduct.

Thus much I gleaned concerning the unfortunate and rejected Chatterton, whose talents I revere, and whose fate I commiserate with unfeigned tears of sympathy; who, had he lived, would have undoubtedly ranked with the first men of genius that have graced our isle.

TASTE AND FASHION.

Says FASHION to TASTE," I am strangely perplex'd,
For nothing to please me you bring;

With whims and with changes for ever I'm vex'd,
And still fancy is wild on the wing!

I've invented all things that caprice can devise,
I have mingled all colours---and still
The leaders of FASHION her fancy despise,

And in ridicule, laugh at my skill!

[land,

I have dress'd and undress'd the fair nymphs of our
I've display'd ev'ry charm they possess ;
Like their grandmother Eve, I have led the
Or like VENUS, have taught them to bless."

gay band,

"And 'tis therefore they scorn you," cried TASTE with a smile;

"You have left them no charm to display!

When I led the blythe phalanx, I taught them the To be sparing, and decent, and gay.

I told them that beauty, when seen by all eyes,
Would the proud charm of novelty lose;

[while

And that he is most constant who fearlessly sighs,--She most happy who learns to refuse!"

Let the daughters of Fashion to TRUTH then give ear:
Let them hide the fair charms they possess ;
And tributes of FAME at their feet shall appear,
And mankind shall their triumph confess.

THE BENEVOLENT NOBLEMAN,

A STORY SAID TO BE FOUNDED ON FACTS.

Lady Jane Driffield to Miss Benhurst.

Sevyngton Castle.

"So on he fares, and to the border comes

Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,

Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green,
As with a rural mound, the champain dread

Of a steep wilderness; whose hairy sides,
With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
Access deny 'd."

WHILST I wait for the amusement which I am assured of receiving from your letters, my Elizabeth, I begin to think that, with the assistance of my venerable Cicerone, I may pass a few days here not unpleasingly.

A gentleman, who had in his youth been here with the father of the present earl, had described the castle to me as the most gloomy and disagreeable place imaginable; but Lady Sevyngton told me, her lord had made many alterations, which she thought would be to my taste. She was right, they are indeed very much so: and the history of those alterations, as given me this morning by the chaplain, at breakfast, has rendered them peculiarly interesting.

This castle, erected by an ancestor of the present earl, in a very remote age, had remained neglected

by the family for many generations; a mansion in a central county, and a house in town, becoming their alternate residence; except now and then a few weeks in the autumn, when the abundant game its demesne afforded, tempted the younger gentlemen to an occasional visit; and was the reason why, by some timely repairs, it had suffered less from the dilapidations of time than the abbey, which had been reared under its shelter and protection.

The woods, probably coeval with the castle, with which the country round had been profusely planted, and which had, by the opulence of the family, been preserved from the depredations of the axe, grew and thickened into forests of many miles extent, so that the mansion deeply embosomed in them, to the exclusion of all outward objects, became insulated, and hidden from the world.

The present earl had, in his youth, been several times with sporting parties at the castle, but eagerly intent on the grand object of the visit, all other peculiarities were unheeded by him. It became, however, more interesting when, in the autumn after his father's death, and soon after he came of age, he brought a party down with him for shooting.

Riding over its demesne one morning with his steward, he was astonished at the vast extent, knowing well that the estate had been so entirely unprofitable to his family, as scarcely to defray its own necessary expences; its value being deemed to consist merely in its woods. But besides these, the earl perceived a widely spreading country of barren