it had been his soul's passion to feed and to support, had met a blow, from which it might never rise again to its former dignity and honours: the Queen might believe that he had been faulty and rash, in marching towards the quarters of the enemy, and might withdraw her countenance from him, as a man without sufficient skill to guard the frontiers of her kingdom. From himself, his thoughts wandered to his daughter; what pain would she not experience at his not returning to his castle; for he believed she still loved him, notwithstanding the rigour with which he had enforced over her his parental authority: His own unfortunate circumstances softened his heart; and now he supposed her to be regretting his absence, he thought he loved her more tenderly than he had ever done, and wished, more ardently than he had ever done before, to clasp her to his breast.

The loud voices of the freebooters, who appeared in dispute, probably, he thought, about the division of the spoil, or else under the influence of intoxication, or perhaps both, sounded, at intervals, from the lower parts of the building, and broke the silence of the night. At length, about an hour after midnight, universal silence prevailed, and the victorious crew beneath him appeared to have retired to rest.

He longed to know how his soldiers, and his leader, Irwin, were treated; but the wish was vain; and relying but little on the promise made to him by the leader who had conducted him to his prison, he felt for them a degree of anxiety which heightened his own unpleasant sensations; for, as we have before said, Lord William's heart always inclined to the side of feeling, where it did not interfere with his darling passion, to exercise his benevolence and humanity.

His

His match had been a long and weary one, and the cravings of nature impelled him to examine the contents of the basket which had been placed upon his table; he found in it a loaf of brown bread and some broiled fish; and by their side stood a stone jug of malt liquor and a flask of spirits.

It was at this moment some small relief to him to find a supply for his appetite, and having eaten what necessity required, and drunk a draught of the spirits, in the hope of inducing sleep, he threw himself upon his mattress, having first trimmed his lamp, and laid an additional log of wood on his fire.

Painful reflection for a long time combated fatigue, and drove off the approach of sleep; at last it stole upon him, but his slumbers were short and disturbed: he fancied that he heard various noises, sometimes of persons running up the stairs of his prison; then, as if the door of his apartment was unlocking. Several times

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times he sprang from his mattress, and paced the room, to examine if any danger was lurking near him, and severely lamenting that he was unarmed: nothing, however, was to be seen or heard, when he rose up; and believing that his fears might have been the suggestions of his hurried imagination, he again stretched himself on his hard bed. The dawn was now beginning to peep through the narrow casement that alone gave light to his prison, and feeling more secure, as the darkness of night died away, he soon fell into a profound sleep.

When he again awoke, the strength of the light which entered his apartment proved to him that the morning was far advanced, as did his lamp and fire, which were both exhausted.

He instantly began to use the light of day, for, more closely investigating his prison than he had yet been able to do, he examined the door; the bolts were all too firm to admit of the hope of an escape

escape that way he placed his table under the window, and upon it he put his chair, upon which he mounted; but the casement was still beyond his reach, nor could he, by all his endeavours, catch through it a glimpse of any object but the passing clouds. He descended, and

his next step was to endeavour to lift up the lid of the chest, but it bid defiance to all his efforts: he kicked against it, and the hollow sound which followed his knock seemed to bespeak it empty.

He continued to walk round and round his prison, hoping to find some chink, some outlet which might flatter him with the hope of an escape; but all in vain; the walls appeared strong in every part, and fully capable of resisting the efforts of an unarmed individual to force a passage through them. He observed that they were not in every part bare, but that here and there fragments of tattered tapestry were still adhering to them; many of these which were within hist reach

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