All eyes were turned on Sir Everard, as being governor of the city. "I perceive," said he, with an apathy of manner ill-suited to the occasion, "that I am called upon to give my opinion on this lamentable business; the duty which I have to perform is painful, but is also imperative-the case is beyond hope or remedy." "God of mercy!" exclaimed the Marchioness, "do I hear aright ?—and is it you, then, who would crush the efforts to save our devoted house-you, whom it has nurtured, to inflict a deadly sting-you, the bosom friend-the elected son of its unfortunate representative!" "I have said, that a painful duty is imposed on me-the vital trust," said Sir Everard, "of maintaining this city perhaps the last hold of the king, a single soldier therefore cannot be spared from its defence." "Colonel Webb's force is at our disposal," said the Marquess of Hertford, "but we have not a single horseman." "Nor, pardon me, shall you, my Lord," replied the knight; "I will do my duty, let what will be thought of it." De Lacy, who had not yet spoken, addressing himself to the Marquess of Hertford, said, "Your Lordship mentioned, that Colonel Webb's force is at your disposal. I know him well-have served with him, and a better soldier does not exist. If we could muster some volunteer horse, and that the queen permits, I will join, either in command, or as a volunteer, and, with the aid of heaven, will bring a rescue or lose my life." The Marchioness arose, threw herself on De Lacy's shoulder and wept aloud. Aye," said Ashley, with a sneer that marked the malignity of his heart, "aye, Colonel De Lacy, no doubt, will storm the garden of the Hesperides; but the days of enchantment and romance are at an end, and Lady Eleanor Paulet's doughty Orlando will find no winged horse to assist him; and as to the four-legged ones under my command, once and for all, not one of them shall stir." De Lacy looked with cool contempt on the wretch, while the indignant Marchioness, aroused beyond all self-controul, lifted her hand and struck the false loon on the face; he started up, his countenance distorted with passion, and quitted the room. "Out upon him, poltroon!" said the Lady to the astonished conclave. The law of VOL. I.

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courtly manners and the gentle character of her sex were violated, but the Marchioness found her vindication in the law of nature; and the noble hearts that witnessed her provocation confessed, that the offence of the woman was justified by the feelings of the mother.

The result of the deliberation was that the noble friends of the Marchioness, then present, should arm and mount their retainers as well as they could, and these, together with a number of gallant and loyal young spirits of the University, who volunteered their services even at the hazard of incurring the penalties of College discipline, formed a band of two hundred horsemen, well mounted, and by no means indifferently armed. Colonel Webb's force amounted to one hundred foot. To these the Queen added her Dutch guard, consisting of ten men, brave and steady soldiers.

Among the University volunteers Henry Lester, the lover of his cousin Matilda, of Morton-house, and two young and gallant spirits, Courtnay and Trevannion, were foremost. When the force was paraded, scarfs of white linen, to be worn on the left arm, were distributed to all, officers and privates, to distinguish them to their friends at Basing, as well as to each other, the attack on the enemy for the relief of the Marquess of Winchester being intended to take place in the night. The Marchioness confided to De Lacy's ingenuity and discretion how to convey to Basing-house the following brief note, communicating the movement about to take place, that the beleaguered garrison might be prepared to give its cooperation.

Your friends have hastily collected what succour they could, which will leave this at midnight; as, from the smallness of the force, a night attack has been resolved on, each man is distinguished by a white scarf on his left arm: adopt the like precaution. The pass-word is "Love and Loyalty!" That Heaven may work your deliverance, prays your

"Oxford, Sept. 12th, 5 o'clock, P.M.1643."

"AUGUSTA.

The troops were then marched off to the quarters assigned to them, the

3 z

officers having received orders to rendezvous their respective commands, outside the Magdalen-bridge Gate at eleven o'clock. De Lacy and Webb proceeded to make their final arrangements when they perceived the advance of three armed horsemen, and on their nearer approach De Lacy recognised Tobias Smallcraft, attended by two dragoons. "An express from Greenland-eh, Smallcraft?" said the Colonel. "No, honoured Sir," replied Smallcraft, My young master finding it impossible to hold the place much longer, has stolen a march, and luckily got clear away. I am come to provide quarters for the men." "Where did you leave Bunckley, and what force has he?" eagerly asked De Lacy. "At Wallingford," replied Tobias, "we are two hundred foot and fifty horse." "Praised be its mercy! I see the hand of Heaven in this," ejaculated our hero. "You must return with all speed to Sir John." He then took out his tablets, and wrote with his pencil the following:

"This is most fortunate," said Colonel Webb; "had Bunckley's force once entered Oxford, Ashley would not have permitted him to join us.""The prospect brightens!" answered the soldier and the lover," Fortune befriend me this once, and I will cry quits with you for life." On reaching his apartments, how great was his surprise to find Father Denis habited in travelling order. "You are full late my son," said the priest, "it is halfpast ten-" I should nevertheless have taken my leave of you," said De Lacy,

affectionately grasping the hand of the old man, and his voice nearly faltered when he added-"It may be the will of heaven that I shall never see you again-if I fall in the service of Love and Loyalty, to maintain which my life is alone of value-you will find all my family deeds, and my will in yonder box-they convey to you the mansion and lands of my fathers, if you shall ever be permitted to return to that once happy seat of innocent enjoyment and ancient hospitality, from which a fierce and bloody bigotry has driven us-I know you will uphold the charity of our house, and forgive, and try to undeceive and reform my deluded tenantry." Here the subduing recollections and feeling which the love of home awakens in every human heart, softened the brave soldier even to tears.

His voice became tremulous and scarcely audible, and he bowed his head on the old man's shoulder, who strained with energy the object of his early cares and latest affection to his own labouring breast. “My son, we shall not part but in death-whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge-be it in the grave of battle or of peace-where thoa diest, I will die, and there will I be buried."-"What!" said De Lacy, "you my dear old friend, go on such a perilous expedition-I will not permit it."-" You must," replied the priest, "a higher impulse than even my love for you leads me to the field of strife— most of those who compose the small band you command are of my persuasion,-I cannot say of your's-are they, in their last moments to want the consolations of religion,-yourself, too, child of my heart! may fall, and in such a moment should I be absent?— might you not have some bequest of this world suddenly thought of, which, if destined, withered tree that I am, to survive your manly bloom, I could execute, and O'Brien De Lacy, altered though I know your religious opinions to be, would you refuse at my hands, the office of the Christian priest?"

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My kind, my parental friend," said De Lacy, taking the reverend old man's hand, "that is not Christian which is not of the gospel-the office of the priest cannot be efficacious, separated from the letter and the spirit of the written word of God." "And how came you to know,” replied Fa

ther Denis, with a little of his constitutional warmth, that my christianity is not that of the Bible ?" "Is it not," almost whispered De Lacy, as if he feared to wound the old man's feelings and therefore wished not to be heard -"Is it not that of the monks of Multifernam?"-" God forbid !" energetically exclaimed Father Denis-"It is that of the early fathers, whom we still refer to as authorities-It is that of my church before its earthly head usurped the power and attributes of God; and before those corruptions which I lament but cannot remove, broke the unity and peace of the christian world; I inwardly reject what has revolted you, and perhaps it is my sin, that I do not openly disavow what I secretly condemn. Fear not, my son, that if the calamitous duty should devolve upon these old hands to close your eyes, and direct your last thoughts to the throne of divine grace -fear not that I would offend your convictions, or rob you of one moment of the time then so precious, by any idle ceremonies-fear not that I would place before your fading eyes any image, the work of man, but direct your flitting contemplations to HIM who sitteth at the right hand of the Father, even the Mediator Christ Jesus."

My father, now more than ever," said De Lacy in a subdued and tender tone, "we are not separated in belief, and shall not in person; we will, since you wish it, go together, to life or death."

Thus ended a controversial colloquy more in the spirit of christian love than those which, in general, mark the theological discussions of the present times. The point of the priest accompanying the expedition being thus settled, De Lacy told his reverend com

panion that he must relinquish his mule, upon which he commonly rode, and take the Colonel's large pie-bald Hungarian horse, an animal singularly bred "to meet the bristling front of war."- I fear me," said the old man, "I shall not be able to manage him”— "A child may ride him," said De Lacy, and bear in mind, that on an emergency, if ever horse claimed to his kind the concession of rationality, he will do so to save your life."

At the appointed time the troops were at the place of rendezvous, and at midnight, they marched amidst the prayers and good-wishes of all save Sir Everard Ashley, who condemned the expedition as the blustering attempt of of a love-sick coxcomb, which would inevitably end in defeat and shame. It is thus that the base and cowardly are ever sceptical to what may be achieved by the noble and the brave-prudence and courage contemplate danger only to subdue it-difficulties vanish before perseverance, and, whether in the case of an individual or a people, the end that is virtuous and just, should never be considered as unattainable.-O ! may the protestants of Ireland, in the day of proof, too surely advancing, gloriously and loyally, illustrate the truth of our position.

Avoiding the high road, De Lacy and his small force kept by the lanes to Nuncham Courtnay, and crossing the Thames at a ford two miles above Wallingford, held on their route to the left of that place, and at 5 o'clock, reached the wood between Cholsey and Aston-Tirrold, where De Lacy had the satisfaction of effecting his junction with Bunckley, whose spirit was alive to the objects of the expedition, and his purpose fixed to aid their accomplishment at every hazard.

The navy has long been a subject for the pens of authors, many of whom have in their time been clothed in the honorable blue; and strange to say, we hardly ever met a book written by a sailor which was not excellent in its kind. Now in our opinion, the man who from the circumscribed sphere of a ship can draw pleasure and information is entitled to more applause than he who, with the wide stage of the land, its vales and hills, sunshine tints and autumnal glows, merely brings forth one of that style of works called fashionable novels. He is more worthy of praise, in the exact ratio in which he overcomes the natural difficulty and barrenness of his subject. Smollett was one of the first who presented his hero on the deck of a man-of-war: but how widely different from the gentlemanly demeanour of our officers appears the low life, and noisy vulgarity of the days of Carthagena's siege. The track thus marked out has since become a very high-way to literary fame, or rather a turnpike, for those who travel that road have many a toll of one pound eleven shillings and sixpence to pay. N'importe, never was money better laid out than in the present case; and we little care if three such volumes come before us to-morrow, and every day, for we had great delight in studying the anecdotes here given us, rich, racy, and genuine.

Since the days of Smollett we have had many a writer on such subjects, in the shape of novels, under all sorts of names, where the heroes are half sea half land-blue coated, biped amphibious hanimals; then we have Red Rovers, and Water Witches, and Pilots, and all the train of Cooper's sea-dipt pen; then have we Basil Hall, in six volumes, and we hope six more in the press, and men-of-wars-men innumerable. In fine, as a stop to this row of authors comes Captain Chamier, and his " Life of a Sailor," for which every body ought to judge for themselves. It has no long talk, as some have-no

feeling scenes with runaway actresses, or smuggling anecdotes, as others are adorned with: open where you will, you find information, amusement, advice, or devilment of some sort or other, on sea or land; and what the deuce do you want more in a three volume " Life?" Now the fact is, that the author of the work before us could no more write a stupid volume than he could fly; and if he would only allow his name to go forth to the public we would stake a quarterly subscribers' list to a fathom of wet rope that he would double his sale, at least in the "bonny North," where his name is cherished as connected with good humour, fun, and frolic. We have a great mind to unfold a tale or two, by way of appendix, of deeds done in darkness, and such things as would make a delightful second series. Perhaps the hint may not be thrown away on the gallant Author; we hope to see shortly the same announced in our advertising sheet. They are queer people in that same North; they nearly ruined poor Basil Hall, and Chamier was none the clearer for the bright claret and brighter eyes. Well, well, peace be with those days, the Arab and her Tulips are scattered far away. We are most happy now to recognise a friend in such garb as we may salute him in, even with many an hundred of miles 'twixt us and him. But we bethink us that we have become sponsors for our "Sailor's" fame, and we must hasten to let our darling speak for himself. "List ye landsmen all to me,”—first, on a topic all-interesting to shore or seagoing people—the use of the cat on board ship. We own that we are convinced of the necessity of its use, and so we think will all who read this extract, and read without prejudice; it contains cool, clear, and well-written argument, and is by no means an unfair or partial specimen of the sober, argumentative parts of these volumes. Having feelingly described the infliction of two dozen lashes, being the

lenient punishment awarded by the Captain to the coxswain, through whose negligence the life of one of the crew was lost, our author proceeds in the following just remarks, to uphold the system of punishment now used in the navy:

"The subject of naval punishment has for some years past, occupied a considerable portion of the public press. We have been assailed as cruel and wanton tyrants, men without feeling and without shame. As one of the complimented mass, I shall here place before the public my opinion, and with mine the opinions of a great body of our profession, of the positive necessity of corporal punishment in the navy.

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In the first place, I start by assuming that sailors are, from their habits and modes of life, different in almost every respect of feeling and judgment from their fraternity on shore. They are brought up with the "articles of war" as their code of law, and an idea that there is no sovereign disposer of punishments but the Captain. Their life is one dull monotony; it never varies except when an action interferes to amuse the ship's company, and consequently they are the children of habit of inveterate habit. From their earliest entrance in the navy, the punishment directed to be inflicted is the same. They have been accustomed to the sight; nor is it considered, except amongst the aristocracy, by common sailors any disgrace to be flogged. On the contrary, I have known seamen purposely offend, merely, as they said, to feel the pulse of the new Captain. If the new Captain begins, as Lord Collingwood began, by very severe punishment, in all probability he will not be called on to perform the very unpleasant ceremony again, and then his biographers will have to record, what a very humane man he was, and how little occasion there is for corporal punishment in the navy. We have various modes of punishment in the navy; first and foremost is the "black list." This list is composed of those who having been guilty of some minor offences-some trivial neglect of duty, are not placed in "the report" to be flogged, but are placed in the black list of the First Lieutenant. The ingenuity of officers to punish in this manner, rather than resort to the cat, has been most amply exemplified of

late years. I knew of one Captain who made the black list men, when the duty was done for the day, carry their hammocks on their shoulders, with a musket lashed thereon, up and down the quarter deck, at every six feet placing a rope about three feet from the deck, and making these poor devils, who followed each other like sheep, step over each rope. The exertion required, and consequent fatigue experienced is beyond all calculation. Other more humane men have had the iron pins about a ship polished to a brightness which might excite the envy of a whitesmith. Others water the grog and make the poor devils drink it at the tub, and then remain aft on the quarter deck, to be stared at by the ship's company; and some never let the black-list men rest at all, for they make them work on deck when it may be their watch below. As I said before ingenuity has been expended, and yet the cat is obliged to be used. In any ships where the black-list is much in vogue, rely upon it the cat is more frequently required than in that ship where the smallest breach of orders is promptly and severely punished.

"Now for the punishment itself. Dr. Granville in his work on Russia, unblushingly avers, that the knout is not one jot worse than the cat-o-ninetails! Bravo, Dr. Granville! In the Anecdotes of Russia, published in 1829, in the New Monthly Magazine, I particularly referred to the punishment of the knout, to contradict the very objectionable assertion of Dr. Granville, for how a surgeon in the navy could make such a statement is beyond imagination: but it is unquestionably owing to such misstatements that the public are misled. The Russian executioner will ensure the death of his victim in nine lashes. I have known a man faint before he was seized up; but although I have seen four hundred lashes applied, and at each dozen a fresh boatswain's mate, yet I never knew a man to die of the punishment in my life. I speak of this merely to mention, that naval punishments, although unquestionably severe, and by no means pleasant either to order or to receive, are not of that dreadful, merciless, flagitious order so frequently asserted. The object of Dr. Granville must have been popularity, hinting by his remark, that we are as much bar