my sword, repassed it through again, through another place; when he cried 'Oh! I am slain!' seconding his speech with all the force he had to cast me. But being too weak, after I had defended his assault, I easily became master of him, laying him on his back; when being upon him, I redemanded if he would request his life, but it seems he prized it not at so dear a rate to be beholding for it, bravely replying, he scorned it; which answer of his was so noble and worthy, that I protest I could not find in my heart to offer him any more violence, only keeping him down, till at length his surgeon, afar off, cried out, he would immediately die if his wounds were not stopped. Whereupon I asked if he desired his surgeon should come, which he accepted of; and so being drawn away, I never offered to take his sword, accounting it inhuman to rob a dead man, for so I held him to be. This thus ended, I retired to my surgeon, in whose arms, after I had remained awhile, for want of blood, I lost my sight, and withal, as I then thought, my life also. But strong water and his diligence quickly recovered me, when I escaped a great danger; for my lord's surgeon, when nobody dreamt of it, came full at me with his lord's sword, and had not mine, with my sword, interposed himself, I had been slain by those base hands; although my Lord Bruce, weltering in his blood, and past all expectation of life, conformable to all his former carriage, which was undoubtedly noble, cried out, Rascal! hold thy hand.' So may I prosper as I have dealt sincerely by you in this relation, which I pray you, with the inclosed letter, deliver to my Lord Chamberlain. And so, &c.

"Yours,

"Louvain, the 8th of Sept. 1618."

"EDWARD SACKVILLE.

MARY, COUNTESS OF ORKNEY.

THE following curious anecdote is related of the Countess of Orkney, who died in 1790, aged 76:

"Her ladyship was deaf and dumb, and married in 1753, by signs; she lived with her husband, Murrough, first Marquis of Thomond, who was also her first cousin, at his seat, Rostellan, on the harbour of Cork. Shortly after the birth of her first child, the nurse, with considerable astonishment, saw the mother cautiously ap proach the cradle in which the infant was sleeping, evidently full of some deep design. The Countess, having perfectly assured herself that the child really slept, took out a large stone, which she had concealed under her shawl, and to the horror of the nurse, who, like all persons of the lowest order in her country, indeed in most countries, was fully impressed with an idea of the peculiar cunning and malignity of dumbies,' seized it with an intent to fling it down vehemently. Before the nurse could interpose, the Countess had flung the stone-not, however, as the servant had apprehended, at the child, but on the floor, where, of course, it made a great noise. The child immediately awoke, and cried. The Countess, who had looked with maternal eagerness to the result of her experiment, fell on her knees in a transport of joy. She had discovered that her child possessed the sense which was wanting in herself."

She exhibited on many other occasions similar proofs of intelligence, but none so interesting.

A CURIOUS STORY OF THE STUARTS.

THE Viscount D'Arlincourt, who not very long since visited Scotland, gives us the following strange and romantic history of the Brothers Stuart, regarded by the descendants of those who fought and fell in the cause of "Prince Charlie," as the grandsons of the young Chevalier.

"I quitted Inverness for the mansion of Colonel Hugh Bailie. Red Castle not only possessed for me the interest of a beautiful situation, but also that of historical recollections. It was the last Scotch castle which obstinately resisted Cromwell. Charles Edward was there a short time before his defeat; the chamber occupied by him has been preserved. I begged permission to sleep there, and found myself within the same walls where the heir of the Scottish kings must once have felt his heart beat with the hope and memory of the past; for he was there surrounded by his faithful Highlanders, and until then fortune had appeared to smile upon him. him. Alas! Culloden was at hand.

"On joining the breakfast party next morning, my thoughts were engrossed by recollections of 1745. I spoke of the emotions I had felt in Charles Edward's chamber.

"You are doubtless come hither,' said one of his guests, to visit his grandchildren?'

"His grandchildren!' I repeated, with an exclamation of surprise.

"They live very near here,' he resumed.

Nothing can be more interesting than their mysterious abode; it is called Eilan Aigais.'

"But,' said I, the tomb of Cardinal York, in St. Peter's, at Rome, bears the celebrated inscription, "Here lies the last of the Stuarts.'

"They who commanded the inscription you mention to be placed there had doubtless their own reasons for doing so. But go and see the descendants of Charks Edward; they are the two handsomest men in this part of the country. Nature has loaded them with her favours. Education, wit, talents-they are deficient in none of them; they would have been worthy of a throne.'

My curiosity was excited. I passed the remainder of the day in making inquiries respecting the brothers Stuart, for whom a general interest is manifested in the north of Scotland, and the following details were related

to me:

"Charles Edward, it was said, had a son from his marriage with the Princess of Stolberg, Countess of Albany. This fact, which has not been published in history, is contradicted by official statements, but attested by authentic documents; some of these last I have seen, but I will not venture to speak of them. As to the following details, which have been published in different compilations, I may repeat them without scruple.

"A Scottish doctor, named Cameron, being at Florence, in Italy, a stranger of high rank sent to him, begging him to visit a noble lady, who was dangerously ill. A promise of secrecy as to what he might see was exacted from him, and his eyes were blindfolded before he was admitted to the presence of her who required

his care. On arriving at the place where he was expected, Dr. Cameron beheld a lady lying on a bed. She had just given birth to a son. A nurse, as well as a priest, had been summoned thither; the portrait of Charles Edward, set round with precious stones, lay on a table; and at the end of the room was the Prince himself.

"The doctor wrote and signed a detailed statement of the fact. It is affirmed that this declaration is one of the documents in the possession of the brothers Stuart. There still exists a picture painted at the time (I am not authorized to say where it is), which represents Charles Edward in the act of entrusting his son to Admiral Hay, to be brought up in secret at a distance from him. The Admiral is standing on board ship— his wife is on the shore; with one knee bent to the ground, she is receiving the child from the Prince, and the vessel awaits them.

"But why did Charles Edward and the Countess of Albany so carefully conceal the existence of their son? Why did they confide him to an Admiral of the name of Hay, that he should be brought up away from them? The answer is as follows:-The Prince wished to place his child in safety until he attained his majority; he was convinced that the life of a new heir of the Stuarts would be attempted; moreover, he desired that he should be kept in ignorance of his birth, that his education and early years might not be disturbed by thoughts of the sceptre and the throne; he would not have enlightened him, except favourable circumstances had rendered such a proceeding necessary.

"But after the death of her husband, why did not the Countess of Albany reveal the secret of the existence of another Stuart? In reply to this, it is stated that the Countess of Albany, the mistress of Alfieri, and