the black-hole, there to be nourished for a fortnight on bread and water, and then dismissed from the county with a gentle stripe or two, bestowed by the hands of the town-drummer. It was in vain that the youth pleaded the marks of chastisement upon his own person as a set-off against the bruised body of the young patrician, and it was also in vain that his mother, with more tears than words, seconded his appeal,-he was despatched to his place of durance at nightfall. But his determined spirit and presence of mind enabled him to elude this humiliation, he upset the boat as the officer rowed him over the river, and swam ashore,-took farewell of his mother and his sister Maud, and was never heard of more till he returned in his twentyfirst year.

He returned with the memory of early injuries grown up with his growth, and with all the feelings for evil or for good which had marked him while a boy, expanded and fixed as colours are by the art of enamelling. He was dressed like a mariner, plain and neat, with nothing about him denoting rank, though the gold in his pocket, and the richness of the presents which he brought to his mother and sister, induced several of his old companions to believe that he had entered the service of some foreign power. This was much strengthened by his conversation, in which he alluded to battles at sea, the storming of forts, and the part which he had taken in these hazardous enterprises.

On his return, he was a visitor at the castle of Dalveen, by the express and written request of Lady Emeline; and the ancient dame was much pleased with his person and his conversation, and presented him, as the representative of her most faithful retainer, with a valuable gold ring, bearing the arms of the family.

To these interviews, young Lady Phemie Dalzell was a constant witness, and was thus enabled to estimate the character of the young adventurer, and to calculate his views in life. His accounts of the spice isles of the East, their sunny valleys and their sunny hills, and of the strange and mingled races who inhabited them, were learned by heart by this young and enthusiastic lady; and his descriptions of the immense shores, and innumerable bays and boundless forests of the Western continent, their birds, and their beasts, and their human tribes, were listened to with eager eyes, parted lips, and ears that allowed no word to escape. It was however, observed, that when he came to allude to the dominion of the English in America, and to the extent of their possessions and their rule, his colour changed, and his language, which before was flowing and poetic, suddenly sobered down into well-weighed and measured words,—and partook of the diplomatic character of a vague cabinet communication.

Lord Dalveen was abroad on his travels when Paul returned, but as his birth-day was at hand,

his coming was eagerly looked for. Paul had taken a stroll along the most unfrequented part of the shore, and was seated on the grass in the Mermaidbay, looking at the rushing of the augmenting tide, when a vessel, bedecked with streamers of silk and garlands of flowers, and with music of all sorts sounding on her decks, stood suddenly in from the centre of the frith to the place where he was resting. He was accustomed to the sight of vessels of all nations, but he never beheld one disguised in such masking-trim,—with such holiday mariners on board, and conducted by a commander whose dress seemed entirely out of keeping with the people whose shores he was now approaching.

While Paul sat wondering what manner of maritime apparition this might be, the ship came close to the shore,-for the bay was deep, and the land sank suddenly down,-and a tall and handsome young man, with a silk cloak thrown carelessly over his shoulders, and a pair of gold-mounted pistols stuck in a studded belt at his side, leaped gayly on the grass, followed by a train of attendants who, like the sparkling train of the peacock, seemed as much an encumbrance as a beauty. The young man looked for a moment steadfastly in Paul's face, his colour mounted to his brow,-his eyes sparkled, and, with a hasty step and outheld hands, he exclaimed, “The living image of my heart's wish, if this be John Paul!" The recognition was mutual, and many were the inquiries and few were the an

swers respecting five years of eventful life. Old injuries were forgotten, and old quarrels remèmbered only as matters fit for mirth. They both stood again on their native shore, looking on each other, and comparing the past appearance with the present.―The patrician spoke first.—“ Paul, I believe you scarcely recognise your old friend, Lord Dalveen, in this mad attire, which I have worn on a wager through three different lands. But comewhere have you been, man, since you upset the boat, and threw yourself into the water to sink or swim? I traced you to a ship which sailed to the Bermudas, and then I could discover no more."—

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My lord," said Paul, “I would have known your voice and look had I met you fighting in the middle of a tornado. The voice and glance of a Dalveen can never be forgotten, nor the weight of their right hand; and yours is weightier since I first felt it on this very spot, when we quarrelled about a point of land and maritime precedence between a shell-fish and a snail."

“Ay, man, and mind'st thou that?" said the young nobleman; "then you will remember when we clomb together to rob the raven's nest on the castle-pine? I see the dusky top of the tree now. We began to fight over the nest about the young, when the old ravens came and threatened to peck out our eyes, and Will Howat ran for his rifle, and by a single ball rescued us from our enemy. Will was a pretty shot, but was killed by black Bauldy

Gunnion the gauger, in a quarrel o'er a stray hogshead of rum, that the tide floated ashore for the express purpose of depriving me of a faithful servant."" Ay, and is wild Will dead ?” said Paul; “I wonder what is become of Hugh Herranbane. Ye may mind how we once stole Andrew Cuming's boat, when he came to woo Widow Watson and her daughter Bess, and pushed it away into the centre of the Solway. Ye would scull and I would scull, and that we refrained from fighting was not our fault, since a whirlwind came in for thirdsman, and made our boat spin round like a wheel,—I hear the water bubbling in my ears yet. Old Hugh picked us up, and tried to sell us to Captain Capstane for two ankers of brandy."

They were continuing this kind of retrospective conversation, and proceeding slowly towards the castle, when they were met by Lady Emeline. She ran up to her grandson-threw herself into his arms-sobbed aloud in his bosom, and exclaimed, after examining him o'er and o'er, and said, “O child of many a wish and prayer, thou art returned at last! I sat looking on the sea ;-for since thy departure I took pleasure in no other prospect. I saw thy ship-thy gaudy ship,-and I saw a form on deck which filled my old heart with old feelings and with other days. I knew it was thee, my son; for thy father's form is so much in my aged sight, that I could know the shape and bearing of a lord of Dalveen from all other men." She then held him