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As morning dawned, I lay waking, and listening to sounds that seemed near my ear, and even upon my pillow. They were like water forcing its way among obstructions, or sometimes as if it were poured hissing At length I spoke to the friend upon heated stones. who shared my state-room, of a suppressed voice of eddies and whirlpools, like what is often heard in passing Hell Gate, when the tide is low. She thought me imaginative; but on hearing that I had long been reasoning with myself, and yet the sounds remained, she threw on her dressing-gown, and ascended to the deck. The fog was still heavy, and all things appeared as usual. Soon the carpenter, being sent aloft to make some repairs, shouted, in a terrible voice, "Breakers! breakers!" The mist lifted its curtain a little, and there was a rock, sixty feet in height, against which the sea was breaking with tremendous violence, and towards which we were propelled by wind and tide! At the first appalling glance, it would seem that we were scarcely a ship's length from it. In the agony of the moment the Captain, clasping his hands, exclaimed that all was lost. Still. under this weight of anguish, more for others than himself, he was enabled to give the most minute orders with entire presence of mind. They were promptly obeyed; the ship, as if instinct with intelligence, obeyed her helm, and sweeping rapidly around, escaped the jaws of destruction. Still we were long in troubled waters, and it was not for many hours, and until we had entirely passed Holyhead, that the Captain took his eye from the glass, or quitted his post of observation. It would seem that, after he had retired to rest the previous night, the ship must have been imperfectly steered, and aided by the strong drifting of the tides in that region, was led out of her course towards Cardigan Bay; thus encountering the reef which is laid down on the charts as Bardsey's Isle.

The passengers, during this period of peril, were generally quiet, and offered no obstruction, through their own alarms, to the necessary evolutions on deck. One from the steerage, an Irishman, who had been thought, but a few days before, in the last stages of pulmonary disease, was seen in the excitement of the moment labouring among the ropes and blocks, as if in full health and vigour. It was fearful to see him, with a face of such mortal paleness, springing away from death in one form, to meet and resist him in another. Every circumstance and personage, connected with that scene of danger, seem to adhere indelibly to recollection. A young girl came and sat down on the cabin floor, and said in a low, tremulous tone, "I have loved my Saviour, but have not been faithful to Him as I ought;" and, in that posture of humility, awaited his will. A mother, who since coming on board had taken the entire charge of an infant, not a year old, retired with it in her arms to a sofa, when the expectation of death was the strongest upon us all. Masses of rich black hair fell over her brow and shoulders, as her eyes were rivetted upon the nursling, with whom she might so soon go down beneath the deep waters. He returned that gaze with an almost equal intensity, and then they sat uttering no sound, scarcely breathing, and pale as a His large, dark eyes group of sculptured marble. seemed to cast

"Not those baby looks, that go
All unmeaning to and fro;

But an earnest gazing deep,
Such as soul gives soul at length,
When through work and wail of years
It hath won a solemn strength."

In that strange communion, was the mother imparting to her nursling her own speechless weight of agony, at parting with other beloved objects in their distant home?

Or did the tender soul take upon itself a burden, which pressed from it a sudden ripeness of sympathy?

Or was the intensity of prayer drawing the spirit of the
child into that of the mother, until they were as one
before God?

Strong lessons were learned at an hour like this.
Ages of thought were compressed into a moment. The
reach of an unbodied spirit, or some glimpse of the
power by which the deeds and motives of a whole life
Methought the
may be brought into view, at the scrutiny of the last
judgment, seemed to reveal itself.
affections, that so imperatively bind to earth, loosened
their links in that very extremity of peril; and a
strange courage sprang up, and the lonely soul, driven
to one sole trust, took hold of the pierced hand of the
Redeemer, and found it strong to save.-From Mrs.
Sigourney's "Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands."

THE TRUE HEIR.

MANY centuries have passed since Theophilus was Emperor of Rome, whose Empress was Pulcheria, the beautiful daughter of the King of Hungary. Beautiful indeed in form, and engaging in converse and manner, Pulcheria was far from true and faithful to her lord the Emperor, and great and constant doubts were always entertained of the legitimacy of the four sons, the princes of the empire.

During the lifetime of Theophilus constant dissensions arose between the three elder princes, who seemed to recognise but one bond of union, hatred and opposition to their father and their younger brother Charis. He alone was dutiful and obedient to his parents. Many a war was begun between the brothers, many a hollow truce made, and many an act of treachery practised against one another, as well as against the aged Emperor. Charis alone sided with his father, and was his defender in the battle-field, his comforter in distress, his counsellor in difficulty.

At last the old Emperor died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers, and no one knew who should succeed him. Hardly had the funeral procession ceased from crowding the streets of the imperial city, or the echoes of the solemn hymns died away in the sanctuary where his corpse was laid, ere the trumpets sounded to arms, and the three elder sons of the Emperor were in open warfare for his vacant throne.

Many adherents flocked to each standard, allured by the prospect of spoil and cruelty, and the empire was threatened on every side with desolation and suicidal war. The apparent equality of the contending forces, and the firm determination shown by the great and good lords of the kingdom, not to admit even the successful combatant to the crown, except under the strongest bonds for his good government, disposed the brothers to defer the question to arbitration.

On an appointed day, the three elder brothers, each accompanied by two armed followers alone, met in the great meadow of the old Campus Then the Martius before the assembled multitudes that stood in masses around on every side.

prefect of the city advanced before the multitude, and asked them why they came.

"We are come," rejoined the brothers, "to defer our claim to the imperial crown to the judgment of the wisest man in Rome-the Senator Senex." "There yet lacketh one among you-your youngest brother Charis."

"Let him come," rejoined the brothers-"he, too, shall abide by the judgment of Senex."

Then Charis stept from the crowd, and joined the circle of the great men that stood with his brothers.

At length the corpse of the Emperor was borne into the midst of the assembly, and tied with cords to the tree, whilst the eldest brother hastened, with a glistening eye and nervous hand, to take his station at the appointed spot. At the given signal his arrow sped from the bow, and stood transfixed in the right hand of his father's corpse. With a shout, the fickle crowd celebrated his success, and hailed him as their new Emperor.

But the second son now hastened to the spot, and carefully assayed himself to the horrible trial. Anon his bow twanged, and the arrow flew towards the tree, and the plaudits of the crowd hailed his success, when its slender reed quivered in the very

"Princes," said the prefect, amid a solemn silence, "are you content to swear by God's holy Gospels, that you will each and every one abide by the judg-breast of his father. ment of the Senator Senex ?"

"We will," replied the princes.

"Will you promise and swear-each for himself -that if you be chosen by him as Emperor, you will faithfully fulfil the imperial duties, and honorably justly, and truly govern your people?" "We will."

The third son moved forward; his look was calm and determined, as with care he scanned the object of his mark, and poised his bow, and glanced along his arrow to the maimed body. At the given signal the arrow flew, and the very heart of his father was cloven by its head. Little doubt could there now be of his success, and again and again the crowd hailed him as Emperor.

"Will you, O princes,-each for yourselves promise and swear, that such of you as shall With his head bowed to his breast, his eyes be rejected by the decision of Senex, will do and drowned with tears, and his bow trembling in his pay due and proper and true allegiance to that one hand, Charis crept towards the appointed spot, of you who shall be chosen as Emperor?" amid the jeers of the people, and the regrets of the "Verily and truly will we," rejoined the bro-wise and good among the senators and nobles. thers, each in his turn reverentially kissing the holy book in token of his calling God to witness his oath.

"Citizens and people," said the prefect, turning to the vast multitudes, "ye have heard the oaths of the princes, are ye content to abide by the decision of the Senator Senex, and to obey as your Emperor the prince whom he chooses?"

We are content-we are well content," cried the people.

"Good and wise father," continued the prefect, turning to Senex where he stood by the princes, "the people and the Emperor's sons are alike content to abide by your decision. Come then, father, tell us who is the legitimate heir of the great king."

"Then,' said Senex, "princes, senators, nobles, and people, hear my words: Long have we all doubted which of the Emperor's sons was his legitimate heir. Go to now-open the grave of our late lord and master, take from thence his body, and bind it to yonder tree."

A cold shudder ran through the assembly, and not a word was spoken; for they feared his words, and yet dreaded to obey them.

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Let the princes prepare each his bow and each his arrow," continued the old man, "and with his single shaft let him shoot from here at the body of his father, and he that striketh nearest to his father's heart's core-let him be king."

With a strange sense of fear, and a solemn and imposing silence, the people bowed assent to the advice of Senex, and hastened to execute his commands. The three elder brothers busied themselves about their bows and arrows, carefully examined and tried their weapons, and measured with anxious steps the distance between the tree and the spot whence they were to shoot at their father's dead body. Charis stood unmoved and rooted to the spot, and, when his servant laid his bow and arrow at his feet, he gave but one look at the weapons, and then burst into a flood of tears, and covered his face with his hands.

For a few moments he stood erect, looked upon his father's mangled body, poised his bow and fitted his arrow to the string. But the effort was but momentary, again his hands dropped helpless by his side, and his head declined on his youthful breast.

"Prince Charis," said the prefect, "the trial awaits you, are you prepared?"

One look Charis turned towards the prefect, one look he turned towards the fatal tree, and then, with a cry of agony, casting away his bow and arrow, he sprang towards it, clasped the corpse in his arms, drew the arrows from the flesh, and bathed the wounds with repeated kisses.

"Prince Charis,-Prince Charis," again repeated the prefect," the trial awaits you." But his words were unheeded.

Oh, my father," exclaimed the prince, standing reverentially before the corpse, "My father!-my poor father!-have I then lived to see you the victim of an impious contest? What! can thine offspring lacerate their father's flesh ?-far, oh far be it from me, to raise my hand against thee alive or dead!"

"The right heir!-the true king's son-he is our Emperor," burst on all sides from the people; away with the others-away with them-he is our Emperor."

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"Romans," said Senex, waving with his hand to command silence-"my device has succeededthe right heir is found-he is your Emperor."

There was no one to gainsay the people's choice and the people's judgment. The three elder brothers were seized and hurried to prison, there to atone in solitude and misery for their sins; whilst Prince Charis was hastily borne on an uplifted shield towards the capitol, and enthroned as Emperor, amid the joy and plaudits of his people.

BERWICKSHIRE, as might be expected from its position | (anciently called Ubbanford,) as well as its historical as a border county, has been the scene of much predatory warfare; and many are the tumuli, cairns, military stations, and ruined castles, to be found in its various parishes. It is interesting to wander among such memorials of the past, if it have but the effect of bringing the distractions of war in distant ages, in contrast with the blessings of our own pacific times. Crumbling ruins are, indeed, the keystone, the dry bones, of history, which it requires but the power of association to invest with new life, and to clothe with almost illimitable interest.

Of all these border antiquities, "Norham's castled stcep" is one of the most picturesque, as well as important. This ruinous fortress is situated on the southern bank of the Tweed, about six miles above Berwick, and where that river is still the boundary between England and Scotland. There is not, perhaps, more memorable battle-ground in the kingdom than this spot; and how grateful to the well-regulated mind is it to reflect, that whilst man's strife has swept away thousands of his species, and dyed with his blood the waters of

"Tweed's fair river, broad and deep," the stream has held on its course, mirroring on its surface the ruins which time has spared from the great wreck, and presenting to the student of humanity an emblem of his fleeting life, and the rapidity with which it passes to the sea of eternity.

The extent of the ruins of the Castle of Norham,

VOL. III.

importance, show it to have been a place of magnificence, as well as strength. Edward I. resided there when he was created umpire of the dispute concerning the Scottish succession. It was repeatedly taken and re-taken during the wars between England and Scotland; and, indeed, scarce any happened in which it had not a principal share. It is situated on a steep bank, which overhangs the river. The repeated sieges which it had sustained, rendered frequent repairs necessary. The present castle was commenced by Ranulph, bishop of Durham, in 1121. In 1170-1174, it was strongly fortified by Hugh du Puiset, another bishop of Durham; and some circumstances relating to the work and the architect will be found in Reginald of Durham, capp. xlvii. and liv. This bishop added the huge keep; notwithstanding which, King Henry II. in 1774, took the castle from the bishop, and committed the custody of it to William de Neville. After this period, it seems to have been chiefly garrisoned by the king, and considered as a royal fortress.

In the reign of Edward the Second, was performed before Norham Castle that chivalrous feat which Bishop Percy has woven into his beautiful ballad, "the Hermit of Warkworth." The story is thus told by Leland :

"The Scottes came yn to the marches of England, and destroyed the castles of Werk and Herbotel, and overran much of Northumberland marches:

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"At this tyme, Thomas Gray and his friendes defended Norham from the Scottes.

"It were a wonderful processe to declare what mischiefes came by hungere and asseges by the space of xi yeres in Northumberland; for the Scottes became so proude after they had got Berwicke, that they nothing esteemed the Englishmen.

The scouts had parted on their search,
The castle gates were barr'd;
Above the gloomy portal arch,
Timing his footsteps to a march,
The warrior kept his guard,
Low humming, as he paced along,
Some ancient border-gathering song."

In the first canto of the poem, various other features of the frowning fortress are glanced at, thus:

"About this tyme there was a greate feaste made yn Lincolnshire, to which came many gentlemen and one lady brought a ladies; and amonge them, heaulme for a man of were, with a very riche creste of gold, to William Marmion, knight, with a letter of com-andmendment of her lady, that he should go in to ye daungerest place in England, and ther to let the heaulme to be seene and known as famous. So he went to Norham; whither, within four days of cuming, cam Philip Moubray, guardian of Berwicke, having yn his hand 40 men of armes, the very flour of men of the Scottish marches. "Thomas Gray, captayne of Norham, seynge this, brought his garrison afore the barriers of the castel, behind whom cam William richly arrayed as al glittering in gold, and wearing the heaulme, his lady's present.

"Then said Thomas Gray to Marmion, Sir Knight, ye be come hither to fame your helmet: mount up on your horse, and ryde lyke a valiant man to your focs, even here at hand; and I forsake God if I rescue not thy body deade or alyve, or I myself wyl dye for it.'

Whereupon he toke his cursere and rode among the throng of ennemyes; the which layed sore stripes on him, and pulled him at the last out of his sadel to the grounde.

"Then Thomas Gray, with al the hole garrison, lette prick yn among the Scottes, and so wondid them and their horses, that they were overthrowan; and Marmion, sore betan, was horsid agayn, and with Gray, persewed the Scottes yn chase. There were taken fifty horse of price; and the women of Norham brought them to the foote men to follow the chace."

The Grays of Chillingham castle were frequently the castellans or captains of the garrison. Yet, as Norham was situated in the patrimony of St. Cuthbert, the property was in the See of Durham till the Reformation. After that period, it passed through various hands. At the union of the crowns, it was in the possession of Sir Robert Carey, (afterwards Earl of Monmouth,) After for his own life, and that of two of his sons. King James's accession, Carey sold Norham Castle to George Holme, Earl of Dunbar, for 60007.

"Beneath the sable palisade,

That closed the castle barricade;"

"Then to the castle's lower ward,
Sped forty yeomen tall,
The iron-studded gates unbarr'd,
Raised the portcullis' ponderous guard,
And let the drawbridge fall."

We now return to matter-of-fact record. According
to Mr. Pinkerton, there is, in the British Museum, a
curious memoir of the Dacres on the state of Norham
In
Castle in 1522; not long after the battle of Flodden,
fought on the banks of the Till, near Branxton, where
the Scottish king was encamped before the action.
the above memoir, the inner ward and keep are repre-
sented as impregnable; and we find the following note
of the interior economy: "The provisions are, three
great vats of salt eels, forty-four kine, three hogsheads
of salted salmon, forty quarters of grain, besides many
cows, and four hundred sheep lying under the castle-
wall nightly; but a number of the arrows wanted fea-
thers, and a good Fletcher (i.e. a maker of arrows) was
required."-History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 201, note.

The ruins of the castle are at present considerable as well as picturesque. They consist of a large shattered tower, with many vaults, and fragments of other por tions, enclosed within an outward wall of great circuit.

As Norham castle was built between 1121 and 1174, it must have presented a fine specimen of the AngloNorman fortress; though Bishop Puiset's addition carries us on to the reign of Henry II., one of whose first acts was to prohibit the erection of any castles without a licence. The Norman Conqueror, to secure his newly-acquired dominions, as well against invasions from without as rebellions within, lost no time in erecting strong castles in all the principal towns of his kingdom; and William's followers, to protect themselves against those whom they had despoiled of lands, imitated their master's example, by building castles on We now approach an era in the history of the castle, their estates. The turbulent and unsettled state of the which poetry has invested with interest of no common kingdom during the succeeding reigns, caused the order; we mean, in Sir Walter Scott's vivid romance of rapid multiplication of these strongholds; so that, at Marmion," a tale of Flodden Field, the fate of the hero the latter end of the reign of Stephen, there are said to Lord have been no fewer than 1115 castles completed in "The whole kingdom," says the being connected with that memorable conflict. Marmion, the principal character of the poem, it is true, England alone. is entirely a fictitious character; but nothing can be author of the Saxon Chronicle, "was covered with more strikingly picturesque and life-like than the two them, and the poor people worn out with the forced opening stanzas of the romance, in which the feudal labour of their erection." It was soon found that they were likely to be no less inconvenient to the sovereign, fortress is thus painted: enabling a cabal of barons to beard the power of their liege lord; and hence the prohibitive enactment by Henry II.

Day set on Norham's castle steep,

And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep,
And Cheviot's mountains lone;
The battled towers, the donjon keep,
The loop-hole grates, where captives weep,
The flanking walls that round it sweep,
In yellow lustre shone.
The warriors on the turrets high,
Moving athwart the evening sky,

Seemed forms of giant height;
Their armour, as it caught the rays,
Flashed back again the western blaze,
In lines of dazzling light.

St. George's banner, broad and gay,
Now faded, as the fading ray

Less bright, and less, was flung;
The evening gale had scarce the power
To wave it on the donjon tower,
So heavily it hung.

Many of the castles of this age," says an ably. written paper in the Quarterly Review, (attributed to Sir Walter Scott,) "were of great size, and possessed a certain rude grandeur of design. To the single keeptower of earlier date, several other towers, both round and square, were added, united by flanking walls, so as to enclose a polygonal court yard, the entrance to which was usually between two strong contiguous towers. An outwork, called the barbican, often still further defended the approach, as well as a moat and drawbridge. Plates of iron covered the massive doors, in front of which the grated portcullis was let down through deep grooves in the stone-work; and overhead projected a parapet resting on corbels, between which were the openings called machicolations, from which