Hugh, but without effect; but one day, some pensants brought in a blackened and mutilated corpse, which they had found in a field, at some distance from the manor-house. It was recognised by the apparel, for the features were not to be distinguished. At the earnest entreaties of Stephen, backed by Colonel Lambert, the body was allowed to be interred in the Abbey at Malmsbury.

Stephen repaired that part of the building which had been thrown down, and Edith, when their term of mourning had expired, was united to Edmund. The fate of the conspirators is well-known. Babington and several others perished on the scaffold; and she for whom they had conspired, met the same fate by the command of her merciless cousin.

Stephen Frampton died at an advanced age, leaving his son in undisturbed possession of the estate, and surrounded by a smiling family.

Gentle reader! If after viewing the venerable remains of the abbey church at Malmsbury, enough of which still exists to attract the notice of the curious traveller and the antiquary; thou shouldst desire to view the scene of this our tale, it will be denied thee. Frampton mauor-house continued in the possession of that family, till the civil wars in the reign of Charles the

First, when it was plundered and razed to the ground by a party of the parliamentarians; not a stone now remains to mark the place. The harebell blossoms, and the cattle graze, on the spot where it once stood !

THE STORM.

Of shapes that walk

At dead of night, and clank their chains, and wave
The torch of hell around the murderer's bed.

Pleasures of Imagination.

On the evening of the 12th of June, 17-, a joyous party was assembled at Monsieur de Montbrun's château to celebrate the marriage of his nephew, who had, in the morn of that day, led to the altar, the long-sought object of his fond attachment. The mansion, which was on this occasion the scene of merriment, was situate in the province of Gascony, at no very great distance from the town of

It was a venerable building, erected during the war of the League, and consequently exhibited in its exterior, some traces of that species of architecture which endeavoured to unite strength and massiveness with domestic comfort. Situate in a romantic, but thinlypeopled district, the family of Monsieur de Montbrun was compelled principally to rely on itself for amuse

ment and society. It consisted of the chevalier, an old soldier of blunt but hospitable manners; his nephew the bridegroom, whom (having no male children), he had adopted as his son, and Mademoiselle Emily, his only daughter the latter was amiable, frank and generous; warm in her attachments, but rather romantic in forming them: employed in rural sports and occupations, and particularly attached to botany, for which the country around afforded an inexhaustible field. The chevalier and his inmates had not much cultivated the intimacy of the few families which disgust to the world, or other motives, had planted in this retired spot. Occasional visits exchanged with the nearest of their neighbours, sometimes enlivened their small circle; with the greater part of those who lived at a distance, they were scarcely acquainted even by name.

The approaching nuptials, however, of Theodore (which was the name of Monsieur de Montbrun's adopted son), excited considerable conversation in the adjacent district: and the wedding of her cousin, it was determined by Emily, should not pass off without every festivity which the nature of their situation and the joyfulness of the event required. On this occasion, therefore, inquiries were made as to all the neighbouring gentry within a considerable distance around; and there were none of the least note neglected in the invitations, which were scattered in all directions. Many individuals were consequently present, with whose persons

and characters, the host and his family were unacquainted; some also accepted the summons, who were strangers to them even in name.

Emily was attentive and courteous to all; but to one lady in particular, she attached herself during the entertainment with most sedulous regard. Madame de Nunez, the immediate object of Emily's care, had lately settled in the neighbourhood, and had hitherto studied to shun society. It was supposed that she was the widow of a Spanish officer of the Walloon guards, to whom she had been fondly attached; indeed, so much so, that notwithstanding he had been dead several years, the lady never appeared but in the garb of mourning. She had only lately settled in Gascony; but her motives for retiring from Spain and fixing on the French side of the Pyrenees were not known, and but slightly conjectured. Isabella de Nunez was about twenty-eight years of age, tall and well-formed; her countenance was striking, nay even handsome; but a nice physiognomist would have traced in her features, evidence of the stronger passions of human nature. He would have seen pride, only softened by distress; and would have fancied at times, that the effects of some concealed crime were still evident in her knit brow and retiring eye, when she became the object of marked scrutiny.

She had never before entered the château de Montbrun, and her person had hitherto been unnoticed by Emily; but who, having now seen her, devoted herself with