a side. We crossed fine old bridge, mounted the steep path, and found ourselves at the gate. The monastery consists of an enclosure, on one side of which is the church, with a chapel a little to the right, and next to the church on the left a quaint arched building which serves for visitors. On the other side of the court are six houses touching each other. In one of them lives the Iguman and two servants. There are no monks now, as the Montenegrins do not take kindly to that vocation, and so the other houses are emp ty. I shall never forget the impression our arrival made upon me. The sun had quite disappeared. The Iguman was standing at the door of the church, which had been lighted for us to see. There is first a square hall, which opens into the nave of the church by doors richly encrusted with mother-of-pearl. Be hind the altar is the bishop's throne, which is cut out of a solid block of granite. There is not an inch of the walls which is not covered with curious frescoes, most wonderfully executed and THE MOSQUE AT KOLASHIN. AT KOLASHIN. preserved. The body of Prince Steven Nemania lies on the right in a stone sarcophagus. There is a tremendously high dome, covered by the head of a gigantic and mild-eyed Christ, which is most impressive. We were only allowed to stop a few moments before we were hurried off to our rooms to prepare for dinner. We had a most sumptuous meal. escorts from Kolashin were at table with us, as well as the Iguman. Among other things, we had three courses of mutton, and honey in the comb as a sweet. Of Our Course many toasts were drunk to Tzernagora (Montenegro) and to France. Our party were given very decent wine, but the natives were refected on "hydromel," a mixture of honey and water, which goes very quickly to the head. At the end of dinner our Montenegrin friends proceeded to sing. Two of them had very powerful voices. One, the assistant capitano, was a giant, tall and stout like Rabelais's Gargantua, and he had a voice in proportion. The reverberation was so great that, although the room was large, we were obliged to open all the windows. Our rooms were most comfortable, and we slept the sleep of the just, although in the wilderness. After another copithere was a violent thunderstorm during the night. Anto was much worried, as our road the next day was such a bad one that he announced that it would be perfectly impossible for us to leave if the rain continued. However, towards morning it cleared. We were anxious to be off early, but this the Iguman would not hear of. He insisted upon our lunching at eleven, and then starting afterwards. So we had a long morning, which we spent in the wonderful old church, studying all its details, which we could not see in the dim light of the preceding evening. The frescoes. which of course are of the Byzantine school, reminded me of Cimabue. little chapel, which is about twenty yards away from the church, is also covered with paintings, within and without. It must be of a slightly later date than the church, although the Iguman assures us that it is a hundred years older, as there is a fresco of a saint holding in his arms an exact model of the church itself. The The monastery was commenced in the beginning of the thirteenth century, by Prince Vukan Nemania, and finished by his son Steven in 1252. The paint ings are of a later date, as the church was much injured by the Turks, and they had to be restored. It is a very curious thing to find this artistic gem ous meal, more speeches, and more songs, we started. Our friends from Kolashin continued with us for an hour or so, and then, amid much firing off of revolv ers, and much kissing of D- and the de S- -s, who submitted meekly, they took their departure, and we continued on our weary way. The path was very narrow, and the chasm below very deep. The scenery was very, very grand. We climbed higher and higher, until it seemed to me that we should never stop. The clouds were beneath us on all sides. We stopped for a moment to breathe, when a most ferocious-looking band of a dozen half-naked men, armed with rifles and revolvers, suddenly came upon us. They looked so wild that had we not known the gentle character of our dear Montenegrins we should have been startled. They explained that they were after a bear that had been devastating their flocks, and which they had wounded; but it had managed to escape them, and all day they had been looking for it. Towards evening it began to rain again, and the place where we were to stop for the night seemed to vanish farther and farther away. We were wet and cold, to say nothing of being ravenously hungry and tired. I was also haunted by cheerful ideas as to what we should do if one of us should happen to break an arm or a leg, or fall ill, in this wilderness. At last we arrived at the place where we had been told it would be best to spend the night. It consisted of a church and a deserted school-house, and it was in the latter that we decided to camp. It was about the dreariest arrival anywhere I have ever had. We built a fire in the kitchen, and in our desire for warmth very nearly burned the house down. In half an hour's time the capitano of the district arrived. He had been notified of our coming, but lived so far away on the other side of the mountain that he had only just arrived. He brought us bread and the usual mutton. Anto and Alexandre had soon arranged some hay in a small room for D- and myself, and the de S-s were installed in the large school-room, where there were numerous windows without any glass. We manufactured candles out of mutton grease, but they were sadly dim. There is nothing more melancholy than being cold and having no light. We expected to reach Nickshish the following evening, and consequently decided to finish what was left of the provisions we had brought with us. The next morning we were off at dawn, escorted by the capitano and several others. We left the trees for most of the day, and passed over a rolling country covered with grass. From time to time we saw shepherds' huts. Entire families move up into the mountains during the summer to watch the flocks, and then go down again when the rains begin. We met several families moving down, with their children, animals, and household goods. We stopped at the little hut where the capitano's wife and children were looking after the sheep, and were very glad of the refreshments which they gave us. Towards noon the capitano and his men left us, and we continued on our way, still under the fond delusion that we should reach Nickshish that evening. We stopped to rest at a little hut, where a very nice pope and his family were living for the summer. His wife was a kind, motherly person, and was very much interested in me. There they told us that twelve hours' steady riding would not bring us to Nickshish, and we were all very cross and disappointed, as we had set our hearts upon spending the night under a real roof and in real beds. However, there was nothing to be done but to push on as quickly as possible. The horses were very tired; mine was really ill; but they are brave little beasts, with untold energy, and as sure-footed as goats. Our men, too, were worn out, and when we reached Gvosd, where there are exactly four houses, announced that neither they nor their horses could go any farther, so we dismounted and sat under a tree. The hân here was decidedly the most primitive which we had as yet seen. There were only two rooms, one where the fire is lighted, and which is of course full of smoke, as chimneys are an unknown quantity. The floor is of earth. An amiable merchant from Nickshish, who was there looking after his sheep, insisted upon presenting us with one. It was duly cut up, and boiled in melted snow, as water is unattainable at Gvosd, and we sat ourselves down on the queer little low stools around the fire. We had finished all our provisions the night before, and we were weary of mutton. Being thoroughly tired out, at eight o'clock we separated for the night. Anto suggested that the de S- -s and ourselves should all sleep in the same room, but we explained to him that we had rather not, and so a place was found for the two young men in another hut, which they shared with a good-sized but very well behaved pig. We were given the only other room of the hân. Of course there was no glass in the one window; and D-, happening to look out while he was making his preparations for the night, found all the women of the place eagerly watching his every movement. The servants were sent to disperse them, but without success! What a night we had! In the first place, the hay which we had to sleep on was wet. The floor was filthy. Never have I been so devoured by insects as there. We had no water to drink, and no lights. Poor Max groaned most of the time. He had cut one paw and run a thorn into another. His tail was not yet well, and he was worn out with fatigue. During the day he had been nearly killed by three large shepherd dogs that had thrown themselves upon him. Upon several occasions I had been obliged to take him with me on my saddle for a little rest, and the poor big patient doggie lay there quietly and contentedly. By three in the morning we could not endure the state of things any longer, and we arose, collected our party, and by four o'clock, while it was still dark, were off for Nickshish. The road is very steep, and is so covered with rocks that we had to walk a good part of the way. At last, at ten o'clock in the morning, we reached Nickshish - Nickshish, which, when we first visited it, two years before, had seemed to us the extreme limit of civilization, and which now appeared to us in the light of a great metropolis. Clean rooms and clean beds, tubs, and decent food were all more than delightful. In the afternoon we went for a walk to show the de S-s the town, which we knew so well. The old Turkish fortress on the hill above it is most picturesque. There is only one mosque left, but there are still numerous Turkish houses, with their latticed windows, and among the population there are many Moslems. The next morning, to our great regret, we separated from the de S-s, the latter continuing, in a ter rible storm, over the Donga into Herzegovina and Bosnia. Our men and horses returned to Podgoritza, and we were detained, for want of any sort of a carriage to take us away, until the following after noon. After a drive of five hours and a half over a perfect road, through lovely valleys, past the old ruined Roman town of Dioclea, which lies half buried, like another Pompeii, we reached Podgoritza. To me Podgoritza is quite the most interesting town in Montenegro. It has the largest commercial interests. It is built near three rivers, and still has an entire Turkish quarter, with its numerous mosques, from which the muezzins still call the faithful to prayer, its veiled and richly dressed ladies (for the Moslem merchants here are some of them very rich), its men in long pleated skirts like opera dancers, and its pretty little children with their henna-dyed hair. The late storms had broken the bridge on the road to Cettinje, and the river had risen to such a height that for several hours the following morning it was very doubtful whether we could leave. At last, however, the carriage managed to cross, and boards were placed from one stone to another for us, so that we reached the other side without being wet. We stopped to rest at pretty little Rieka, at the foot of the mountains below Cettinje, and at noon were comfortably breakfasting in own house, after thirteen days' absence from Cettinje. CROMWELL AND HIS COURT. INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES GATHERED FROM CROMWELLIAN NEWSPAPERS AND TRACTS. ily and personal gossip relating to great men and great epochs. Yet such gossip is by no means to be despised, for it gives us a key to character that state documents and historical facts do not furnish. The public life of Cromwell-his military prowess, his statesmanship, and his religious enthusiasm-has been written so variously and so thoroughly that neither by royalist nor republican can anything more be added. This paper will concern itself neither with fields of battle nor council-chambers; it will only reproduce from antiquated and forgotten sources the gossip relating to the private life of the Great Protector, or of those lives whose destinies touched his own. Cromwell's boyhood was not destitute of those premonitions of greatness which, however trivial in themselves, may have exercised a forming power far beyond our estimation. Distantly connected with the royal family of Stuart, and the nephew of a baronet who entertained with splendid hospitality Queen Elizabeth, James the First, and Charles the First, Cromwell was by no means the boor he has been represented. In Sir Oliver Cromwell's house he studied music and dan what overlooked in the summing up of his more splendid qualities. At Sir Oliver's residence - Hinchinbrooke House-Cromwell first met the King whom he was to depose. This old hall was a favorite resting place for the royal family going to or returning from Scotland or the north of England, and in 1604, when both Charles and Oliver were under six years of age, they met here, and they quarrelled so heartily that a good honest fisticuff fight was the result. Probably republicanism was the original sin of Oliver's nature, for the royal perwas very severely handled by the young commoner. son Another story, having less probability than the above, has been far more universally and positively affirmed. It is said that one day, when a lad, as he was lying on his bed in a melancholy mood, a gigantic spectre appeared to him and said, "Thou shalt be the greatest man in England!" Heath says it was a dream ; Lord Clarendon and Sir Philip Warwick speak of it as a vision. But whether dream or vision it made a profound impression on the youth, so much so that his father requested Dr. Beard-Oliver's schoolmaster-to flog him severely for |