or not, and be submissive to virtue, whether in rags or in robes,-I cannot, shall not, crouch "I see, I see," interrupted the young lady, “you believe in the omnipotence of genius and in its dispensing power. A dream of ambition has come upon you; and, while you rule in imagination the subject sea, and strike the Bourbon lilies pale, you think that to practise the common civilities of life would lessen you in the world's esteem, and that to be a hero must cease to be a man. you God send you more temperate dreams. Will you fight out your quarrel here, or rather, like two gladiators, enter the presence, and keep time with your swords to the music?-the old dames will shout at each blow, like the republican matrons of old, and crown him with flowers whose sword smites the surer. It will be quite in character, I assure you." - "My sweet Phemie, you wrong us both," said Lord Dalveen; "we have no bloody animosity of nature about us, we scarcely know the cause of our quarrel, we fought because the Mermaidbay is a tempting place,—here we have pleasanter temptation, let us go, Paul, and dance half the dames of the parish down,—and make the fiddlers carry their arms to-morrow in slings.""You have said enough," said Phemie, "so smooth your looks,-let anger fly, and discontent fall,-I cannot help you out of an absurd quarrel here. Look peaceable as doves and gentle as babes, else how shall you face the collateral loftiness of the Lady Emeline Dalzell and Mrs Prudence Paul? The one rustling in all the dignity of damask silk, and conscious of an unsummable pedigree; while the other has more pride than the mother of all the Douglases, for she has produced a man child capable of navigating a ship by compass and quadrant." "Between Arbigland bay and Saint Bees head," said Lord Dalveen;-" but spare us, spare us, Phemie,—we shall humble ourselves before these district'dignitaries. I would rather make my way out of a burning house, and find my worst enemy with a drawn sword at the door, than abide the rebuke of Lady Emeline. But you know her, Paul, you have tasted of her good counsel, and the fruits thereof are moderation, mildness, obedience, peace, and good-will towards man and woman." 66 My lord," said Paul, " Lady Emeline has a dignity which overawes me,-her counsel, of which she is ever too frugal, lies treasured in my heart, I see in her a grave and lofty simplicity, which I look for in vain in the skipping and frivolous madams who give law to fashion and cumber our ball-rooms." "Upon my soul," said Lord Dalveen, "Paul, you have some of the right stuff about you. I must, I am afraid, give up all thoughts of tam VOL I. ing down your democratic blood with a bit of aristocratic steel, and set myself to love you in earnest." 66 My lord," was his answer, "I make you welcome to abandon your own evil thoughts; and I shall feel relieved from the pain of hearing your ironical and insulting language. For your friendship, I hope, I have done nothing to deserve such a visitation." In this mood and with these words they entered the castle of Dalveen. CHAPTER II. He has as many mistresses as faiths, THE site of the castle of Dalveen was chosen, as an eagle would choose a place for its nest, in a situation to which nothing that wanted wings could well find access. Between the sea of Solway and the brown pasture mountains are scattered a multitude of rocky knolls, covered to the summits with the juniper, the bramble, the thorn, and the wild plum: through among them a deep and noisy brook seeks its way to the sea; while in the midst, by way of pre-eminence, rises a high rock, large and grey, down whose sunward sides honeysuckles descend in long blooming streamers, and, in their season of blossom, scent the whole course of the rivulet as far as the Mermaid-bay. On the summit of this rock stands the castle of Dalveen, a huge square building, with projecting towers at each corner, and a low-browed and narrow gateway, bearing upon it the tokens of many a siege. To assist nature in casting impediments in the way of the spoiler, the narrow and winding valley, all around the foot of the castle-rock, had been dug deeply out, and the waters of the rivulet enticed into the trench. An immensely long and broad landing of solid granite had been moved from the neighbouring mountain of Criffel, and thrown across the ditch; and the skill and the strength which one of the ancient lords of the tower had shown in transporting this immense mass, had fixed the imputation of sorcery upon him, which became an inheritance in the family for several generations. But there is mutability in all things,-sorcery faded and became unfashionable, -superstition caught its hue from religion,-and direct intercourse with the great enemy of mankind supplanted a less wicked power in the lords of Dalveen, according to the belief of the devout peasantry. The castle, placed on a hard and solid rock, where the miner's skill was baffled, and carried to a height too dizzy for escalade without the art of magic or the aid of wings, seemed to be proof against the ingenuity and the arms of man. Yet it had often felt the sorrows of a siege, and tasted of the calamities of war. The powerful family of Maxwell stormed it during the minority of one of its lords, and kept it for seven months. The Maxwells, in their turn, were dispossessed by young Halliday of the Corehead, who took it by storm, and restored it to its owner in the first year of the reign of Queen Mary. Its gates were closed by |