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cords this base suit with your princely character. The man that but conterfeits your coin is put to death, and yet you would commit treason to the oaths and allegiance that you owe to God, and stamp his image in forbidden metal. I am Lord Salisbury's wife,-surely this trial is but to test me."

In saying this the tears rose into her eyes, and for the space of a minute she was silent, during which the King took hold of her hand, and pressed it to his lips; at which she said "Well then, I do consent to your desires, but on condition-" "Name it," cried the King, transported to hear she was at last consenting.

"The death of my husband and the Queen,-till they are removed neither of us is free to love."

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This was said very solemnly, and the King was somewhat daunted; still, however, he replied as it were jovially-"Your opposition is beyond all law." desire is beyond all law." "Well! well!" exclaimed the King, eagerly seizing her in his arms, "your beauty makes them guilty, and they shall die." "I would cry for help," replied the lady; but in the King's presence the meanest subject is safe from outrage."

Noble

The King dropped his rude hold, and retired abashed to some distance, saying-"Lady you are safe. woman! the rash fool that was betrayed by his nature's frailty to insult you with an unrighteous passion was not the King. The King will exact from him such atonement as may well appease the wrong he did you. Edward will make the fond and enchanted Plantagenet richly indemnify his offence,-name the penalty.'

The lady was moved by these words; but still without any abatement of the steru serenity with which she had invested her magnanimous fortitude, she replied "The world, my lord, stands in great expectations that you will achieve in these wars some singular and imperishable renown for England. Your claim to the French crown is a call from the God of Battles to accomplish the hope of the age. Obey that call, and fulfil the expectations that all men have in your destiny."

The King, roused into the natural elevation of his ambition by this chivalrous incitement, exclaimed—“ And it shall be so; I will perform the penance that you require, and hereafter the remembrances of my vow shall become so famous as the badge of heroic worth, that the mightiest kings would be proud to obtain it for the emblem and guerdon of the greatest triumphs."

In so saying, being filled with a new sentiment of reverence and admiration, he again knelt and respectfully kissed the hand of the Countess. In doing so, he chanced to observe that she had dropped her garter, which he took up with the intention of presenting it to her; but the Lords Mowbray and Warwick, with certain other barons, then chancing to come forward, and seeing the King in that position, halted. Noticing the garter in his hand, they looked at one another, and began to smile. His majesty having risen, and guessing what was passing in their minds, discordant to the higher key to which his own feelings were at the moment pitched, said

"Oh, shame, my lords!" Honi soit qui mal y pense!” Blush not, lady, at this accident. This shall be my remembrancer.-I will make this cause of their slanderous thoughts as richly honoured as the relics of St. George.' With these words he led the lady back to the castle; and from this incident, according to our author, the Most Noble Order of St. George of England took its rise.

BEAUTY.

WHEN I meet a fine woman in the street, the beauty of her person, the elegance of her dress, or the politeness of her air naturally attracts my notice, admiration and regard. I behold her, it may be, for some time with a secret veneration: whilst most who pass by her, struck with the symmetry of her features, or the gentility of her appearance, make a sort of pause, as if considering how nearly she resembles the perfection of human nature, in the view of every discerning and attentive spectator.

Would to God every such lovely fair one was as much to be esteemed for the charms of her MIND as the beauty of her FACE! But is this the case? No; far from it.

We find, too often, where there are most personal attractions to catch the eye, there are least mental accomplishments to enamour the heart. Permit me to say, in my humble opinion, a pretty woman in person only, is a mere idol for fools and sensualists to bow down to, but a woman with a beautiful mind, as well as face, is an object angels may admire, and heaven itself approve.

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POETRY AND WISDOM.

BY MR. D. W. JERROLD.

THERE cannot be a greater contrariety of character where a union would be imagined inevitable, than in that of the Poet and the wise.-The Poet best rides the clouds, the wise man looks up at them; the Poet's heart is in the last rays of the setting sun, the wise man sees another day is about to depart, and smiles at the fleetness of days and years: the stars awaken throbs in the Poet's brain, living with ecstacy; to the wise man they are the lovely. lights in which be beholds his God's benignity and his own great hope. Life in itself may be likened to a clod of clay moved by different actions until it fall over morality's cliff into the abyss of the future: some kick at it blindfold, some weep, some laugh at the labour requisite to give it easy progress. The Poet scarcely looks down upon it; his thoughts are in sunbeams though he treads upon mire: he moves his allotted burden by leaping upon it, sometimes in phrenzy, sometimes in adoration; but the wise man toils steadily and soberly; and bending quietly to the work discovers with greater truth of what the clod is compounded, than he who only treads it 'neath his foot, and sends his spirit to the clouds. The Poet has enthusiasm and its concomitant disappointment; the wise man unalloyed composure; the one approximates to a madmau, the other to a divinity; the first raves, the last is silent.

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IMPROMPTU.

BY M. C. S.

LET us look on this life as a cloud that is past;
Let us fancy we glide towards another more fair;
Come cast off your cares, be a man to the last,

And swear all reverses with patience you'll bear. What! sighing for fortune? let fortune go whistle; Come touch up your harp with a frolicsome glee;, In your heart plant the rose, where she'd fain plant her thistle,

And like a true Briton be merry and free.

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LINLITHGOW PALACE, SCOTLAND.

"How reverend is the face of this tall pile;
Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads,
To bear aloft its arch'd and ponderous roofs,
By its own weight made stedfast and immoveable;
Looking tranquillity."

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INLITHGOW, is a large well-built Shire, with a noble town-house; but most famous for the old Palace of the Kings of Scotland, which is the least decayed of all the rest, that of Holyrood excepted. King James VI. repaired or rather rebuilt it; and his two sons, Prince Henry, and Prince Charles (afterwards King of England,) had apartments in it. There are still the remains of kingly grandeur visible on the ancient walls. In that part termed the Prince's lodgings may be seen the arms of its former inhabitants in a tolerably perfect state.

The Palace stands on a rising ground, which runs into a lake: its shape is that of an amphitheatre; and has a descent resembling terrace walks. There are two towers at each corner of the court, each of which has several apartments. In the middle is a curious fountain, adorned with numerous fine statues, from whence the water rises to an immense height.

The church of St. Michael makes a part of the building, and is a wing on the right hand of the first court, as the proper offices make the left. The inuer court is very

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spacious and elegant, if we consider the taste of the times. In the middle of this is the large fountain before mentioned, which also shews the remians of some good carving and other ornaments.

It was in this Palace that king James V. restored the order of the Knight of St. Andrew, and erected a throne and stalls for them in St. Michael's Church, making it the chapel of the Order. He it was who desired the Thistle to be added to the badge of the Order, and gave the motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit," which is worn about it in the royal arms.

In this town the Earl of Murray, lord Regent, was murdered by one Hamilton. The Earl was a natural son of James V. and aspiring to the crown, joined with the reformers, having first got the revenues of the convents of St. Andrew, and Pittenweem, whereof he was abbot or prior, secured to him and his heirs. His ambition and intrigues were the chief causes of almost all the troubles of Queen Mary's reign.

The water of the Lake of Linlithgow is esteemed so extraordinary for bleaching or whitening of linen cloth, that a vast quantity of it is brought here from all parts of Scotland for that purpose. The lake is situated on the north side of the town, and between it and the palace are a variety of the most delightful walks imagination can picture.

In the year 1722, an Act passed for laying two-pence on every Scotch pint of ale or beer sold in Linlithgow and its liberties, in order to repair the public buildings, which were run to decay; to supply with fresh water such parts of the town that should be in need of it; to pave and mend the streets and also the avenues within a mile round the town; and other purposes. At the expiration of the Act, these duties were continued for twenty-one years more, by an act which passed in the year 1733.

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