BETROTHAL.

I

THE LONG PATH.

FELT very weak, indeed, (though of a tolerably robust habit,) as we came opposite the head of this path on that morning. I think I tried to speak twice without making myself distinctly audible. At last I got out the question: "Will you take the long path with me?" "Certainly," said the school-mistress, "with much pleasure." "Think," I said, "before you answer; if you take the long path with me now, I shall interpret it that we are to part no more!" The school-mistress stepped back with a sudden movement, as if an arrow had struck her.

One of the long granite blocks, used as seats, was hard by. "Pray, sit down," I said. "No-no," she answered, softly; "I will walk the long path with you!"

The old gentleman who sits opposite, met us walking, arm in arm, about the middle of the long path, and said, very charmingly, "Good morning, my dears!"

O. W. Holmes.

ADRIANA.

Extract from "ARTEVELDE."

Nay, said I not—

And if I said it not, I say it now;

I'll follow thee through sunshine, and through storm;
I will be with thee in thy weal and woe,

In thy afflictions, should they fall upon thee;

In thy temptations, when bad men beset thee;
In all the perils which must now press round thee,
And should they crush thee, in the hour of death.
Let but thy love be with me to the last.

ARTEVELDE.

My love is with thee ever; that thou knowest.

Henry Taylor.

A KING'S WOOING.

ANST thou love me, Kate? A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn white; a curled pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow; but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and moon, or rather the sun and not the moon; for it shines bright and never changes, but keeps its course truly. If thou wouldst have such an one, have me. If thou canst love me for this, take me; if not, to say to thee, that I shall die, is true; but, for thy love, by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too.

KING HENRY V.-Act V., Scene II.