years, been the only residents of it; and he, possessing more of understanding than his venerable companion, only allowed to sometimes hearing strange noises about the building, but never seeing any thing that could alarm him, or certify the truth of these reports; while she averred having both seen and heard, though to the former assertion she never could adduce any positive proof, notwithstanding she was decided in her belief of it. Whether the mind of Margarette, weakened by encreasing years, had conjured up ideal forms to her view, or an habitual superstition had acquired force from concurring circumstances, and an accusing conscience gave strength to it, or whether, in short, she had any real ground for her declaration,. it was not for those poor uneducated children of labour round her to fathom; but convinced that the castle and the wood were haunted by grim ghosts and stalking spectres, the former place they never entered,

tered, and the latter never passed after day-light.

The Lord Fitzwalter, its present owner, to whose family the castle had belonged for many generations, heard these superstitious tales, and, like old Margarette, was either weak enough to credit them, and would not venture himself in a company of such grave inhabitants, or some more probable cause made him avoid the place; but certain it was, he had not for many years visited it, but suffered it to decay, without any attempt to preserve its walls, or even making enquiry into the state of it, though carefully receiving the rents arising from the estate, through the hands of Robert, the old man already mentioned.

The father of the present Lord Fitzwalter was a man of the most liberal disposition, which he had the power, equally with the will, of indulging, by being

master

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master of an immense fortune. He loved to preserve all the good old English customs; gave his tenants, every Christmas, roast beef and plumb-pudding, plenty of good old ale, and joined in the evening the happy group assembled in the great hall of Eure Castle, to the sound of the ancient harp, footing it away with some rosy-cheeked damsel, and not considering himself the haughty lord of the domain, but the happy master of a grateful people. On a Twelfth Night he had collected all the young men and maidens round about the place, in the banqueting-room, where he himself divided a large cake, with a ring in it, and whoever's lot it fell to, was to select a partner for life from the company, when his Lordship named the wedding-day, attended it as the bride's father, and made her a present suitable to both their circumstances.

Every festival throughout the year was preserved in its general forms, and Lord Fitzwalter was never truly happy but when

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surrounded by his friends at Eure Castle; visiting his rustic neighbours, partaking of their rural amusements, promoting the comforts of his tenantry; sometimes, after a long walk, entering one of their neat clean cottages, and partaking of their humble wholesome fare, for the opportunity of returning their attention with the present of a sheep or a side of beef, or perhaps a sack of flour; and if a daughter of the family happened to be in the house, he was sure to make some trifling request of her, possibly to bring him a draught of milk, or some fruit from the garden, and if he was in a gay humour, insist on having a kiss, when he would slip a guinea into her hand, to buy finery the next market-day, that she might look as nice as her companions at the dance on the green, or in the eyes of her sweetheart. His Lordship made no distinction in these little endearing attentions to his cottage friends -he was equally kind and considerate to them all. His servants shared alike his

goodness

goodness-he never changed them, unless for some very unpardonable misdemeanor, or at their own request, which so seldom happened, that most of them were growing grey in his service; and such of them as had outlived their labour he would not suffer to quit the Castle, but appointed a part of it, distant from the general household, for their residence, where a few of the under servants were to see they were properly attended to, and where his Lordship would often call, to enquire whether they were comfortably situated, and indulge the garrulity of old age, by talking of past transactions and past days.

Such were the outlines of Lord Fitzwalter's character. No wonder then, if a man who studied the happiness of all his fellow creatures, even to the minutest trifle, should be adored by them. - He lived in the hearts of his vassals, and never did he give them a moment's pang, till his last illness planted the arrow of grief in their bosoms,

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