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tion to our house, and the commencement of troubles, and I shall never forget the afternoon of that day on which he first mentioned his passion to my cousin.

I had remained with them that morning, as immoveable as the furniture in the apartment; when my mother, on purpose, called me away, and they were left for some time alone. When we returned to the room, Isabel met us at the door, and as she hurried past towards her own chamber, I observed that she was in tears. Leaving my mother to entertain the accursed suitor, I hurried into the garden, with a chaos of passion raging in breast which it is utterly impossible to describe.

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It was in the early part of August, and the young moon blended her mellow rays with the soft twilight of evening, while the air, like gentle sighs, breathed a refreshing coolness on my heated brow; needful indeed, as the fever that seemed raging within every vein, might have driven me to some act of madness. The soul-sickening idea of my cousin's hand being sought not only by another, but

by the man I most abhorred, and that too with her father's sanction, was in itself bad enough; but when I reflected on the additional circumstance of my having quitted the room after her express injunctions never to do so, though the fault lay in my mother more than in me, giving him an opportunity to prefer his detestable suit, and to say that which should cause her to weep, the recollection made me seem in my own mind an accessory to every tear that fell from her lovely eyes, and drove me to a state of distraction.

It was now that I felt, for the first time in my life, how far beyond the sensations of a mere boy were those that harrowed my soul. I even cursed myself for never having declared that I loved her beyond every living thing on earth, and for neglecting to beseech her to regard me more as an affianced husband than a brother. In this state I was leaning over the garden fence, when I found something touch my arm, and on looking round, Isabel was at my side.

Her eyes still bore the traces of grief, but her tears

were gone; and taking my arm, we walked forth into the fields for some way in silence. Whither had flown the resolutions I had made, of opening

my whole heart before her? and what became of the frenzy of my passion ?-all-all had subsided. Like oil upon the waves, the purity of her presence lulled every stormy emotion, and left me only the deepseated calm consciousness, that I now possessed the balmy spirit of unsullied affection.

Isabel broke the silence by saying, "Herbert, for the first time in my life I am unhappy; he-that person-you know whom I mean-has confessed a love for me, under my father's approval. What-what shall I do? I have no one to counsel me, no one to guide me, for your mother only weeps when I seek her advice, and tells me she cannot interfere.”

I gasped for breath as she spoke-and saw that the large bright tears chased each other down her beautiful cheeks, or hung like drops of dew on her long eye-lashes, glittering in the moonlight as she looked upwards like the rose after an evening shower. "Isabel, dearest Isabel, do you dislike

him?" were the words which escaped me; and I trembled for her reply, as, gazing again on heaven, she uttered, "Yes, from the bottom of my soul."

Had I dared, I could have kissed every vestige of a tear away, so much pleasure did her reply communicate. I attempted to console her, but could not speak, for my heart was too full; and having reached the ruins of the chapel, on the sum mit of the Aust cliff, I led her to a seat, and placing myself beside her, looked forth on the expanse of the noble estuary now glittering in a million directions, as the restless waves danced beneath the beams of the summer moon.

Having thus collected my scattered thoughts, "tell me," I whispered, "tell me, sweet Isabel, what course you mean to pursue; you will not-cannot see him again; he will only repeat his solicitations, and you, must be rendered every hour more miserable, as his freedom advances."

"Herbert, alas! I must endure him: you know my father's disposition, and that he regards the implicit acquiescence of his daughter as much due to any

request of his, as he would the obedience of a ship to the hand of her helmsman, and were I openly to thwart him, the consequences might affect the after disposition of my life. Long, long have I endeavoured by my manner to show Master Mull that his attentions were far from acceptable; and to-day, when he confessed his love, I did not in any way conceal the pain which his declaration gave me. But what can I do? My father is again gone into Somersetshire for some time, and even were he here, I should gain no redress. Dear, dear Herbert, I am very, very miserable."

I could bear it no longer, and throwing myself at her feet: Isabel," I cried, "sweetest Isabel, I love you more, by a thousand times, than the paltry soul of this loathsome suitor can do. You shall fly with me, and wed none other; the sons of the nobility are contracted in marriage at a much earlier age than mine,* and the bonds are held sacred. Then fly, and shun the detestable danger,

* The son of William Lord Berkeley was some years after affianced to a daughter of Lady Pembroke's when he was five years old.-ED.; MS. apud Castro. de Berkeley.