to the beasts' mouths, it being a hot night, we heard a trumpet sound Bishop's Merton way; so then, he gave the order to trot, and taking the cart road, we came upon the edge of the meadows, where we could see the road up to the house, and yet have shelter of the alders; and there we sat quite still till we saw the Roundhead rascals coming up at a walk, with a sort of animal at their head, more like a chandler than a soldier, and beside him, Dry of Longsoaken, on his grey mare. When they got out clear upon the meadow, old Dry pointed along towards the bottom, and said something-we could not hear what he said, but it was like as if he told him-if you keep down that way, you'll get up to the house without being seen from the windows. The major spoke never a word. Indeed he spoke very little all the time, but let them go on till

"Was Dry still with them ?" asked his master, interrupting his discourse.

"Lord bless your lordship, no;" answered the servant; "he left them as soon as he had pointed out the way, and trotted back. But when they were half across the meadows, about half a gun-shot from the alders, a trumpeter's horse of ours smelt them out, and like an undrilled beast, thinking his master was somewhat long in sounding the charge, he began and neighed as loud as he could.

There

upon, they halted, and began to look about, as if a horse neighing was somewhat wonderful; and then the major gave the word, and we were out from the alders in a minute, and down upon them. Your lordship has seen a plump of teal rise up from a pond, and whirl away all in a sweep. Well, four fifths of them were round in a minute, and longest legs won the day. About twenty old fellows, with copper noses and steel caps, stood their ground, however, and fired their pistols at us, keeping altogether, and showing broad sword. But we took to steel too, and they could not bide it, but broke; and though they fought better than I ever thought to see such crop-eared hounds fight, they were forced to follow their fellows, though not before some seven had tasted green turf, and had as much of it as will serve them till the world's end. Then we wheeled and followed the rest, cutting them off from the town; and

though they rode hard, yet more than nine or ten had cause to wish their spurs were better, till, at length, after having chased them back to Rushford, the major sent our Captain Barecolt, with thirty men, to keep them going, while he halted, and gave me ten to bring here, saying, your lordship might need them."

"Then did Dry of Longsoaken fly with them?" demanded his lord, "or did he run back to the town?"

"I doubt that he knew of the affair at all, my lord," replied the man; "he was far down the lane before we charged. No trumpet was blown for fear of bringing the militia men from Bishop's Merton upon us, and the banks would prevent him from seeing or hearing either."

"Then we will strike a blow at him," said Lord Walton.

The servant rubbed his hands and laughed." That will rejoice the cocles of many a poor man's heart in Bishop's Merton," he cried. "The old sanctified sinner is only hated as much as he is feared. Why he was the cause of poor old Sergeant Neil being dragged away, and killed with bad usage; and I do believe the boys would stone him on the green if they knew it, for he—the old man-used to gather the lads about him on the green, and tell them stories of the old wars, when Tyrone was a rebel in Ireland, and he fought under Blount, Earl of Devon, till their little eyes almost came out of their heads."

"Dry was the cause, did you say?" asked the young nobleman. "I thought the only cause was the words he spoke -that the king, if he were well counselled, would raise his standard at once, march to London, proclaim martial law, and hang the two ringleaders of the parliament before the door of the house."

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Ay, my lord, that was the pretence," replied the servant," though he never said all that; and they pretended too, that he knew more of what was going on in the north if he chose to speak. But the real reason was, that the old man, one day last year, when he was stronger than he was afterwards, heard the sneaking villain saying things to poor little Arrah that were not comely, and broke his head with his staff. Dry stomached the affront till the time came for his revenge, and then brought the men over

from Devizes to take old Neil away; so I am right glad your lordship is going to punish him on that account.'

"Tis not on that account, Roger Hartup," replied his master gravely, "for of that I know nothing; but first, the man is a rank traitor, as there is proof enough, and secondly, I am convinced that this fire last night was not kindled without help. There were men seen about the place just after dark. Dry was up here upon a false pretence in the morning; no one was near the west tower with a light. Bring me the paper and ink, and call the lance prisade of the troop who came with the men."

He wrote a few hasty lines while the servant was gone; and on his return with a stout, broad-set soldier, the young nobleman said-" Now, sir, do you think that Major Langan will object to your executing a warrant, under my hand, for the arrest of a rank traitor in this neighbourhood ?" "I was ordered to receive your commands, my lord, and obey them," replied the soldier. "But the major told me to beg your lordship to let him know early what you intended to do, for that he did not hold it safe to remain here much after noon, for fear of being cut off."

"I will send to him directly," replied Lord Walton; "but you, in the meantime, take this warrant, and go round by the back of the town to a place called Longsoaken, where you will apprehend one Ezekiel Dry. Bring him hither without giving him time to speak with any one in private."

"But if he resists ?" asked the man. "Use force," answered Lord Walton; and then added, "but there will be no resistance. Take all your men with you but those who are guarding the committee-men, and five of my people beside. You, Roger, go with him, with Hugh, and three others. Leave Langan, for I shall want him; and now," he continued, as soon as they had retired, "to examine into the business of this fire."

Thus saying, he rose, took his hat which lay by him, and, passing through the neighbouring hall, went out upon the terrace. Then circling round the ruins of the tower which had fallen, he made his way to the end, where, black and still reeking, stood the part of the building in which the fire had commenced. No one was near, and

Lord Walton stood and gazed at it for several minutes with sad and solemn feelings. It looked to him like the corpse of one untimely slain: all was grey and desolate, where lately had been life and cheerfulness. The room in which he used to sit was gone, and all that marked the spot where he had passed many an hour of calm and pleasant contemplation was the charred ends of the rafters and one stout beam which, not quite destroyed, hung black and crumbling from side to side, bending down half broken in the midst. Part of the wall had fallen in, and part still stood, rugged and ruined; while in the chamber below some tattered fragments of rich damask furniture and old tapestry hung fluttering in the wind. The smoke still rose up from the pile of rubbish beneath; but on one of the chimneys a bird had already ventured to perch, as if claiming it thenceforth for the inheritance of the wild things of the earth. After a few minutes' sad contemplation, the young lord turned and looked around over the fair scene he was about to leave, perhaps for ever, as it lay in the sunshine of the early morning, calm and smiling, notwithstanding all the destruction of the preceding night, and the gloomy prospects of the future, with the same peaceful indifference wherewith some have supposed the disembodied spirit to look upon the wild passions and contentions of the world.

As he gazed, however, he saw the figure of a woman seated upon the trunk of a felled beech-tree which lay close beneath the terrace, and instantly perceiving that it was that of Arrah Neil, he beckoned to her to come up to him. The girl did so without hesitation; and, as she climbed the stone steps which led from the park, he watched her countenance, to see if the moody and abstracted fit to which she was frequently subject was still upon her or had passed away. There was no trace of it left. Her beautiful eyes were clear and bright, and full of intelligence, though her brow was grave and even sad; and her look was raised towards him with a gentle, imploring, deprecating expression, as if she had in some way offended and sought forgiveness.

"Well, my poor Arrah," said the young nobleman, in a kind tone, "I fear you were much frightened last night."

"I was frightened, my lord," she

answered, "but not much; I knew it was for the best, and hoped that it would be soon extinguished."

"All things are for the best," replied Lord Walton. "God forbid that I should doubt it, Arrah. Yet this has been a severe loss and a great grief to me; for I cannot see the house of my fathers so injured without regret. It is not that many invaluable and rare things have been destroyed, but that mementos of the past are gone with them. Things, the sight of which recalled the days of boyhood, places stored with a thousand memories, ay, and a thousand associations with times before my own. I can no longer sit in that room, Arrah, and think of those who tenanted it in former years, or of all the many scenes that have there taken place."

"I am very sorry for it indeed," replied Arrah Neil; "but yet" and she paused, leaving her sentence unconcluded.

"Tell me, Arrah," continued Lord Walton, not heeding her broken reply, "when you had retired to rest last night, which they tell me was about nine, did you hear any noise in the tower, or any one going up the stairs which pass close behind the room where you slept?"

She gazed at him for a moment in silence, with her large bright eyes fixed, somewhat sadly, upon his countenance, then shook her head, and answered, "no one."

The young lord remarked the peculiarity of her look, and added" I am sure you would answer truly, Arrah, for your poor grandfather, who gave you an education so much above that which persons far higher in rank bestow upon their children, taught you, I know, always to adhere to truth. Yet hear me, Arrah, I have always tried to be kind to you and yours; I have been fond of you from your childhood. Now, I suspect that this fire was not the work of accident. I cannot find that the door at the foot of the tower was closed last night. That enemies were abroad I have too good reason to know; and you, too, warned me yourself that danger was

at hand

"Oh, but it was not that!-it was not that!" cried Arrah Neil "the danger I feared for you was not of fire, Charles Walton. Ask me not to

tell you, for they made me swear I would not before they would let me go."

"Indeed!" exclaimed the young nobleman, gazing at her thoughtfully. "Well, I will not ask you then."

"Do not! do not!" she cried, "for I could not refuse you any thing; and that would be wrong after I have sworn-I would lay down my life for you, indeed I would; but you would not wish me to break my word."

"No-no!" replied Lord Walton; "but to return. I suspect, as I have said, that this destruction has not been committed by accident."

"Not entirely," said Arrah Neil, looking down.

"Not entirely!" exclaimed the peer. "Then you know how it happenedyou know who did it-Arrah, speak, who was it? That, at least, I may ask."

The poor girl trembled terribly, but then, in a low sad voice, she answered, "It was I!"

"You? You?" cried Lord Walton, gazing at her sternly, while his lip quivered in the attempt to suppress the emotions within him. The girl answered nothing, and after a struggle with himself, he waved his hand, saying "I forgive you, my poor girl— you did it when you were not yourself. Tell no one else, Arrah-the secret is safe with me;" and he turned away, lest one harsh word should mingle with the kinder ones he had spoken. When he had gone some ten or twelve steps, however, Arrah Neil darted after him, caught his hand, and pressed her beautiful lips upon it.

"Do not abandon me, Charles Walton," she said. "Do not cast me off and hate me. Tell me, would you rather see all those ruins, and lose all you have lost, or be to-morrow a prisoner in the dark Tower of London, perhaps, never to ride the green fields again while you live."

Lord Walton paused with a look of bewildered inquiry; but then suddenly a light rose up in his eyes, and laying his hand upon Arrah Neil's shoulder, he said "Thank you, Arrah! thank you. 'Tis a wild way of deliverance, yet thank you, dear child. You meant it well-and it has succeeded-but here are people coming. Go back to Annie, we must not leave you behind

EVER Since the discovery of the New World, the manners of its natives, their physical and social condition, the period and source of its population, have been favourite topics of speculation with the philosophers and scholars of Europe. Unfortunately the conditions requisite for solving some of these problems have not yet been understood, and most authors, instead of following the timid but safe path of induction, have boldly launched into the shoreless sea of speculation, without a definite object or a proper knowledge of the course to be pursued. In this, as in most other antiquarian pursuits, we have to regret the vast expenditure of labour and erudition unguided by sound philosophical principles or even by common sense.That class of writers is unfortunately too numerous who boldly trace the affinities of barbarous dialects while ignorant of the general principles of philology, who pronounce opinions on languages, whether Celtic or American, before they can conjugate a verb or comprehend the laws of the permutation of consonants.

In

the same manner, resemblances are found between the mythologies of remote countries or ages where a closer examination will detect points, not of analogy but of contrast; and often usages the inevitable result of similarity of physical causes, as soil, climate, and animal productions, are thought to prove identity of tribes and community of origin.

It may be worth while to give a brief inventory of some of the strange vagaries into which even eminent men have fallen. To begin with one of the greatest of men, Columbus, whose lofty enthusiasm of character may be compared to that of our own Milton, and whose letters and journals are replete with poetic feeling, we find him on all occasions giving utterance to opinions of the

The

most mystic and extravagant nature. When towards the end of his splendid but unfortunate career he had discovered the continent of South America, he at once proclaimed that this beautiful region, now the abode of Caribs, was the site of the terrestrial paradise-an opinion similar to that of Dante, who described the region of paradise as situated in the southern hemisphere. The field of speculation thus opened by Columbus was as boundless as the regions of the new continent, to which led the adventurers of Europe. The learned Arius Montanus will have it that Ophir and Parvaim are in the New World, and that Jocktan, a son of Heber, founded a city in Peru. chronicler Oviedo has a hypothesis of his own. He informs us that the Antilles are the islands of the Hesperides; and as these countries belonged to King Hesperus, an ancient Spanish monarch, the Catholic kings only re-claimed what was their own after a lapse of three thousand years. Grotius, unfortunately for his reputation, also speculated on this subject. He thinks all the North Americans, except the people of Yucatan, are descended from Norwegians; and the people of Yucatan are Abyssinians, because they practised circumcision. Unfortunately the practice alluded to was unknown in Yucatan. Among the strange arguments made use of by Grotius to prove the Norwegian parentage of the Mexicans, there is one which he draws from the circumstance that there is a tribe of people called Alavards in California, who are of the same stock as Lombards. It turns out, however, that the word Alavard is merely a misspelling of the common Spanish name Alvarado. Lescarbot, a French writer who visited Canada at an early period, is of opinion that the Indians are Canaanites, on account of their cruelty and the frequency of

But

human sacrifices among them. the most favourite, although not the least absurd opinion is, that the Americans are the descendants of the ten lost tribes.

We confess we know not how such a strange notion could have taken possession of so many otherwise intelligent men, and which has no analogy unless in the similar follies of our Irish antiquarians. We do not know of any American language which has the least affinity with the Hebrew, either in its etymology or grammatical structure; no Hebrew inscriptions have ever been found, and the rite of circumcision is unknown throughout the New Continent. And until these and such evidences be found we must be content to seek for the lost tribes in some other quarter of the world.

If we repudiate all such vain inquiries, we shall find within the legitimate limits of inductive research an abundant scope for profitable investigation. Instead of seeking fanciful analogies we shall attempt to indicate those modes of investigation which are capable of throwing light upon the history and migrations of the American tribes. As the use of alphabetic writing was unknown to the American race, it is obvious that correct traditional information respecting their history is never to be obtained, although in Mexico and the adjacent kingdoms the hieroglyphic paintings, had they come down to us in sufficient numbers, might have afforded much valuable instruction. There are, however, many circumstances which when carefully studied may at least enable us to avoid errors, if not to advance some way in the right path. the physical characters of the American race are so peculiar as to prevent our entertaining the idea that they are the descendants either of Africans or Europeans. They have neither the crisp hair and black skin of the one, nor the light complexion and flowing ringlets of the other. On the other hand, their brown skin, high cheek bones, and straight lank hair, points out resemblances with the Polynesians and the people of northern Asia. When we reflect on the comparatively easy voyage from Norway to Greenland, and thence to Newfoundland and Labrador, and that the coast of Brazil is so near the shores of Africa, we cannot but VOL. XXII.-No. 128.

Thus

wonder that no early emigrations had taken place from either of these points to the American continent. The Oceanic race have spread from Madagascar to Easter Island; that is, over nearly two-thirds of the circumference of the globe, and often in the teeth of an adverse trade wind; and a canoe driven from the shores of Africa must have almost inevitably been carried to the west by the trade winds and great Atlantic current; and yet no negro tribe ever established itself in Brazil. Such a circumstance is a remarkable proof how little adventurous the African is when compared with the enterprising Polynesian. If the physical features of the American race resemble those of the Mongol and Polynesian, it is also deserving of consideration that the seats of semi-civilized kingdoms in the New World were chiefly on the western and north-western parts of the continent, precisely in those situations where an intercourse with the above-mentioned races was most likely to take place. That such intercourse is at the very least possible admits of no doubt. Gomara, who wrote at the time of the conquest of Mexico, informs us that a Japanese vessel was wrecked on the west coast of America. And only a few years ago another junk was driven on shore near the mouth of the Columbia, and part of the crew was saved and sent to England.

Another very important means of investigation is derived from a careful study of the different languages spoken throughout the American continent. But though this investigation may afford important results, we must not confine ourselves to the mere collection and comparison of vocabularies; we must penetrate the inmost structure of the language, ascertain its grammatical organization, especially as compared with that of the languages of the Old World. though it is but a few years since philologists have entered on this inquiry, many important discoveries have rewarded their labours. Availing himself of these researches, Mr. Gallatin has given us an excellent classification of the Indian tribes inhabiting the United States, and has been enabled to furnish a valuable map in which the colours indicate the limits within which a language is spoken, just as

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