youthful arm. May the possessor of it never disgrace it, but may it rest with him, as sacredly and unsullied, as it did with me till torn from my possession in the hour of battle.*

For many days we remained within the walls, Lord Berkeley constantly occupied with affairs which rendered necessary an occasional visit from my father. Whenever he came, I lost no opportunity of endeavouring to obtain some news from Aust; but in vain: he either knew nothing, or chose to appear ignorant of every thing that was

* "In a garden adjoining to the churchyard (Nibley), was found a gold ring, with an oval device representing a female walking figure, one foot upon a globe, the head surrounded with a veil thrown back, and inscribed-Omen at a Deo. The veil represents darkness; when it is raised over the head, that the night is gone: the motto has a personal allusion: the figure, I think, an Aurora, and the ring, either a Roman one worn by some person at the battle, (our ancestors, as appears by M. Paris, Vit. Abbot 995, much valuing the classical antique), or of more modern date, formed upon the principle of the classical symbols and mottoes, derived from the chiefs of the Neapolitan wars, and common in England in the 15th century."-Fosbroke's History of Gloucestershire.

going on there; and as I watched him in and out of the castle, dipping at, and twitting him, as you may have seen a small bird do to a hawk, while she flies from tree to tree, the only information which could be gleaned was-that my mother and Isabel were safe and well; but Master Rufus had met with a severe accident in that neighbourhood; and was shortly after removed, at Lord Lisle's request, to Wotton House.

My worthy parent was one of those plain-spoken men (although a lawyer) who loathed the least variation from matter of fact, and it was highly amusing to observe, how bad a hand he made at parrying direct questions, a reply to which he did not feel himself at liberty to give. That he had pledged himself in some way to keep matters as quiet as possible, was evident; and a conviction of the truth of this conjecture only made me the more pertinacious in my inquiries.

When, with a shake of his head, he said, that Master Rufus had met with an accident; on my

repeating with some archness, "an accident," the

pettish reply was

"Is the lad deaf? Ay-an accident-he tumbled over a butterfly and broke his nose, like other noodles of my acquaintance," alluding obviously to the patch I wore over the cut upon my forehead.

Then, though I pestered him with questions from arch to arch, and even to the steps leading to my Lord's chamber, to whom he was invariably ushered on the moment of his arrival, nothing could induce him to be more loquacious. Accordingly, I was obliged to content Sir Maurice with the assurance that one great point was gained, for a time at least, that of placing Master Rufus hors de combat.

The only thing which enlivened us occasionally, was a grand hunting match, or an official attendance on my Lord to Gloucester, Cirencester, or more frequently to Worcester, with the Lord Bishop of which place he was intimately acquainted. On the hunting occasions, either in the chases or

VOL. I.

parks, belonging to the castle, as well as in the Forest of Dean, where we pursued the wildcat, fox, and badger, it was the order now to go forth, in immense strength, more like a little army than a party formed for recreation. This course was adopted with a view, I believe, to awe the enemy; and to deter them from any minor attempts that might provoke an effusion of blood.

On many of these occasions, I had frequent opportunities of observing the skill of the Dean Forest archer, over those of other places; and among themselves there were none who could excel Black Will, or Merret. One alone and he was of a rank above them, could occasionally hit a more difficult and distant mark, and that was the same George Wyrrall of whom I had occasion to speak before, respecting his violence to the Abbot of Flaxley.

There was something very remarkable about this person that always attracted notice; indeed, any one who had been in his company five

minutes, never failed to have his curiosity excited respecting him. His stature was rather under than over the middle size; his countenance remarkably handsome, while every limb, formed in the most graceful mould, teemed with muscular elasticity.

This George Wyrrall was of a strange admixture: it seemed as if the component parts of his mind and frame had been gathered from the most violent as well as the most soft and beautiful materials of creation; leaving out all intervening gradations, and suffering the two extremes of his character to remain with a deep gulf between them. Though he would not hesitate to plunder the Abbey lands, to slay the King's deer, to lay his Majesty's subjects under lawless contribution, and even to strike to the death any one whom he conceived to have given him mortal offence, still in filial affection, charity to the poor, love and tenderness for women, and fidelity to his friend, he was unsurpassed. And thus his figure might be said to be the same; though elegant and graceful in all its proportions,