While she is nigh. It seemed as if every thing Look but at her glorious eye, Who can paint the indescribable? There is, there is beauty in earth and sea, There is not a floweret, or plant, or tree, And beautiful to the minstrel's eye; That concentration of things bright, The haughty knights veiled cap and plume The stubborn knee in lowliness; "It was thy doom, good King," she said, For the holy faith; and now on high Sir Lionel stood as in a trance, Pale was his cheek, and wild his glance; And now his ladye-love had hurled When she parted thus without word or As the wild billow, Whose thundering shock, Who, 'scaped from one wave, In another his grave. He wildly glanced from side to side, It served him once in his hour of need, In the leafy solitude Of a long resounding wood He saw the flutter of garments white- Mournfully by her side rode on. Oh! that her heart might yet be won! Broad and deep did its waters seem, And furiously fast Did each wave, with its tawny foam, She paused not to think The knight the spur to his courser gave, Fearlessly through the ravenous tide Alas! to save him 'tis too late, And with lightning speed through the She has ta'en her flight. She seized his bright and flowing hair, Love once more in her heart has power! And breasted the stream like no steed of She strives to bring him back to life. earth. Sir Lionel's steed is weary and spent, They are howling for their prey. He can draw no more his labouring Above him flap the wings of death, Long and doubtful was the strife, Life with victor death contending. There is light in his eye and colour on his brow He lives he lives-she is happy now! And love joins their hearts with a rosy The knight never more on earth was seen; MY COUSIN NICHOLAS. CHAP. V. LITTLE of moment occurred either to myself or my friends during the next two years. My mother was still an inmate of Underdown Hall, where her attentions were now become absolutely indispensable to the comfort of her brother. A settled, but calm melancholy, had succeeded to those severer transports of grief which had engrossed every faculty of her mind during the first burst of her affliction at the loss of my father, and now, if not happy, she was at least resigned. My cousin Nicholas had entered himself a gentleman commoner of Brazenose College, but so widely different were our pursuits and habits, that, although such near neighbours, we saw but little of each other; nevertheless, a tolerably good understanding was kept up between us, and though rarely visiting, we always remained upon terms of civility. One morning, at a rather earlier hour than was customary with him, Nicholas made his appearance at my rooms in Peckwater, and invited himself to breakfast with me. I soon found that his object in paying me this friendly visit was to borrow a little money, a circumstance which had occurred once or twice before, at times when his exchequer had been at a low ebb. My own finances happened on this occasion to be by no means in a flourishing condition, and I was on the point of confessing my inability to accommodate him at present, when a letter was delivered to me by the "Scout," which, from its size and weight, appeared to contain an enclosure. It was from my mother, requesting to see me immediately, "upon urgent business," which, as she informed me, was of a nature calculated to influence, and that very ma terially, my future prospects in life. She declined entering into particulars till we should meet, conjured me to lose no time in setting out to join her, and expressed her hopes of seeing me on the third day, at latest, from that on which I should receive her epistle. The enclosure was a remittance of sufficient magnitude to obviate any difficulties of a pecuniary nature which might tend to retard my progress. This supply came very seasonably for my cousin Nicholas, with whom I immediately shared it, as the moiety would, I found, amply provide for my own wants on the journey I was about to undertake; a journey, the necessity for which I did not hesitate to acquaint him of, and heard in reply, that the reason which had induced him to apply to me for assistance, was the impossibility of his otherwise carrying into execution a scheme he had entertained of proceeding incog. to London, for some particular purpose he had in view. As he did not explain what this purpose was, I thought it unnecessary to enquire into it, but acceded at once to the proposal which he made, that we should travel to the metropolis to gether. Little preparation was necessary for either of us; I hastily threw a few articles of dress into a portmanteau, and, through the interposition of my tutor, found no difficulty in obtaining leave for my immediate departure, more especially as I had already resided the number of days requisite for keeping the term, and the Easter vacation was at hand. Not so Nicholas-his irregularities had of late been too notorious for him to hope to obtain permission to secede one hour before the appointed time. This unlucky circumstance, however, he found means to obviate, by placing his name on the sicklist, when, having directed his servant to draw his commons regularly from the buttery till his returnfeeling, moreover, a moral certainty that his injunction would be faithfully observed, as the said commons would of course be applied to the sole use and benefit of the receiver during the interval-he walked with the greatest possible composure over Magdalen Bridge, and was taken up by my post-chaise on the top of Hed dington Hill. The day was beautiful, and my cousin, on finding himself clear of the environs of Oxford without detection, proceeded to disencumber himself of sundry large silk handkerchiefs which enveloped the whole of the lower part of his face, and bade adieu to a voluminous surtout which had also assisted materially in disguising his figure during his walk. The silver waves of old Father Thames rolled at our feet in many a shining meander, through a scene of more than Arcadian loveliness, as we entered the town of Henley. Here we partook of a hasty dinner, when, eager to reach London, I resolutely resisted all Nicholas's covert insinuations respecting the excellence of the wine, "the best, by far, he had ever tasted at an inn," as well as his more open proposals for the discussion of one more quiet" bottle. The horses were again put to, and in due time deposited us safely at the Tavistock, in Covent Garden. Having drank a cup of coffee, and got rid of the uncomfortable sensation which usually succeeds a journey, however easily and pleasantly performed, Mr Bullwinkle once more suggested that a bottle of lafitte would prove an excellent succedaneum in the absence of all other amusement; observing at the same time, that the day being a Wednesday in Lent, and all theatrical entertainments of course suspended, he should not otherwise know what to do with himself. My head was so full of conjectures as to the nature of" the business" which had occasioned my being thus suddenly summoned from my studies, and my mind was so exclusively occupied in forming a thousand improbable guesses on the subject, that I should in all likelihood have acceded to the proposal, from mere antipathy to any change of place which might disturb the current of my ideas, had I not plainly perceived that the madeira which we, or rather he, had swallowed at Henley, had already performed its part, and elevated my cousin's spirits quite as high as prudence would sanction. Well knowing that his general propensity to get into scrapes wanted not any excitation of the "Tuscan grape" to call it into play, I once more posi tively declined joining him in his potations; and in order to prevent his sitting down and getting drunk by himself, an alternative which I had little doubt he would adopt, proposed that, as neither play nor opera was exhibiting, we should look in at Covent Garden, and listen to the delightful music of " Acis and Galatea." Nicholas said, indeed swore, that an oratorio was " the greatest of all possible nuisances," and that he would as soon "be crucified;" but finding me absolutely determined not to "make a night of it," he at length, though with undisguised reluctance, agreed to accompany me rather than "snore over the bottle" by himself. We found the house very full, and, being still in our travelling dresses, resolved, in order to avoid encountering any of the more fashionable part of our acquaintance in the present deranged state of our habiliments, to go into the pit; for at the period to which my narrative refers, the "customary suit of solemn black" worn in the boxes by both sexes during Lent, at what were then literally "performances of sacred music," had not yet yielded to the innovating hand of modern illumination. Our intention was carried into effect not without some little difficulty, for every seat was occupied, and we were glad to take up our stations in "very excellent standing room" near one of the benches, at no great distance from the orchestra. The fascinating syren, Stephens, who had then just reached the zenith of her reputation, was never in finer voice; and whatever unwillingness Nicholas might have originally felt to be "bored with their confounded catgut," even he was not entirely proof against such enchanting melody. As to myself, with a mind naturally delighting in the concord of sweet sounds, a taste I had inherited from my mother, whose whole soul was attuned to harmony, I had, for some time, neither ears nor eyes for any thing but the fair songstress on the stage; till at length, during a temporary cessation of her exertions, occasioned by a movement in the accompaniment, a slight, and halfsuppressed exclamation of delight drew my attention to my immediate neighbour, who occupied a corner of the bench close to which I was standing. It was a female, clad, like the major part of the audience, in mourning, over which was thrown a garment of grey cloth, then termed a Bath cloak;" nor did any thing in her dress indicate a superiority over the generality of those who usually occupied that portion of the theatre in which she had placed herself; still the whole appearance, both of herself and her companions, evinced their respectability. These latter consisted of an elderly female, in the modest garb of middle life, having much the appearance of a substantial tradesman's wife, and a lad whom I conjectured to be her son; he was about sixteen years of age, and, by his frequent yawns and sleepy demeanour, seemed to be a fellow-sufferer with my cousin Nicholas, and to have imbibed at least some portion of that ennui which the latter always professed to feel, and probably experienced, whenever he entered a music-room. On these two, however, I bestowed but a very cursory glance, my whole attention being immediately and involuntarily engrossed by the lovely creature to whom the old lady performed the office of chaperon, for that any closer connexion existed between her and the being who was fast becoming the object of my idolatry, my whole soul revolted from believing. Early accustomed to mix in good society, I had enjoyed many opportunities of seeing most of the celebrated belles of the day, but never, in the whole course of my experience, had I met with a form and countenance so well calculated to make an impression on the susceptible heart of a romantic and amorous youth of oneand-twenty. She appeared to be three or four years my junior, her complexion was dazzlingly brilliant, her features were cast in the finest mould of beauty, while the vivacity and intelligence that sparkled in her dark blue eyes, evinced the powers of the mind within, that gave animation to so expressive and charming a countenance. The fixed intensity of my gaze at length attracted her notice, and she blushed deeply as her eye sunk beneath mine; yet there was a something, in the occasionally recurring glance which I encountered, that told me her shrinking from my regard was rather the effect of modesty than displeasure. While I was meditating in what manner to introduce myself to one who had already made a much greater progress in my good graces than even I myself was aware of, "that which not one of the gods could venture to promise me, chance spontaneously offered to my acceptance." One of the light-fingered fraternity, who so generally frequent places of amusement, was, while labouring in his vocation, observed by my cousin Nicholas in the very act of clandestinely subtracting from the coat pocket of the sleepy-looking youth just mentioned, as it stood most invitingly open, a large silk handkerchief, therein deposited till the termination of the performance should restore it to its original use, that of protecting the lower part of his physiognomy from the rawness and inclemency of the night air. As it formed no part of my cousin's system of politics to sanction any mischief that neither amused nor interested him, and as he foresaw, in a moment, that the bustle consequent on the detection of so nefarious a piece of delinquency might probably do both, and be infinitely more agreeable and enlivening than even the music of the spheres, had he been within hearing of their celestial harmony, he hesitated not an instant to proclaim his acquaintance with the deed then in the course of perpetration, and to interrupt the meditated retreat of this dexterous conveyancer. The disturbance which ensued may be imagined. The offender, thus taken in the very act, or, as the Scotch have it," with the red hand," found it useless to deny, and impos. sible to justify, his unauthorized appropriation of another's chattels. A portion of the surrounding spectators prepared immediately to put in force that very summary law, of which the mobility of England might in those days have been considered at once the framers, expounders, and executioners, but which, much to the regret of all good citizens, has of late years sunk into desuetude. No one then dreamed for a moment of " the New Police," or an appeal to "Sir Richard: "to their own salutary decree did they have immediate recourse; which said decree, as it is not to be found in any of the books, belongs, most probably, to the unwritten, or common law, and directs that the guilt of the criminal shall be washed and purged away through the medium of the nearest pump. "Between the acting of a dreadful thing And the conception, all the interim is Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream." And so it was on the present occasion. While that highly respectable part of the community, to which I have just alluded, were, in the exercise of their undoubted prerogative, hurrying off to condign punishment the atrocious depredator "vot had prigged the gemman's wipe," in full accordance with the statute (by them) in that case made and provided, considerable confusion arose in the immediate vicinity of the transaction; certain ladies shrieked, others fainted, while a few ultras both shrieked and fainted. My charmer did neither; but the agitation of her manner, and the lily, now fast usurping the place of the rose upon her cheek, shewed that she was not altogether insensible to alarm. Perhaps there is no moment so favourable for a lover as that in which the object of his affections either is, or fancies herself, in danger, with no other protection to fly to but his own. I failed not to seize the golden opportunity, and improved so well the few minutes of bustle which ensued, as not only to introduce, but to ingratiate myself considerably both with the damsel and the matron. As to the "lubberly boy," his little fracas, in which his handkerchief had borne so distinguished a part, (an article, by the way, which the gentleman who had rescued it from the fangs of the pickpocket when Nicholas seized his collar, forgot, in the excess of his indignation, to return to its owner,) had given a filip to nature, and he was actually wide awake for a full quarter of an hour; but, as his mind was entirely occupied by the magnitude of his loss, his presence gave me not the slightest molestation. I was much more annoyed by Nicholas, who, in spite of my endeavours to keep him in the background, would occasionally interfere; nor could I help heartily wishing that he had carried his love of justice so far as to have gone and assisted at the |