wonted journey." I thanked this northern cavalier for his charitable civility, and observed, with a smile, "I had the protection of a young person who would feel pleased in sharing the responsibility of such a task." "And, fair lady," continued he, "if Walter Selby be thy protector, my labour will be the less." My cousin, who during this conversation had rode silent at my side, seemed to awaken from a reverie, and glancing his eye on the cavalier, and extending his hand, said, "Sir, in a strange dress, uttering strange words, and busied in a pursuit sordid and vulgar, I knew you not, and repelled your frank courtesy with rude words. I hear you now in no disguised voice, and see you with the sword of honour at your side instead of a pedlar's staff: accept, therefore, my hand, and be assured that a Selby-as hot and as proud as the lordliest of his ancestors, feels honoured in thus touching in friendship the hand of a gallant gentleman." I felt much pleased with this adventure, and looked on the person of the stalwart borderer, as he received and returned the friendly grasp of Walter Selby; he had a long brow serene and high, an eye of sedate resolution, and something of an ironic wit lurking amid the wrinkles which age and thought had engraven on his face. I never saw so complete a transformation; and could hardly credit, that the bold, martial-looking, and courteous cavalier at my side had but an hour or two before sung rustic songs, and chaffered with the peasants of Cumberland, about the price of ends of ribbon and two-penny toys and trinkets. He seemed to understand my thoughts, and thus resolved the riddle in a whisper;- Fair lady, these be not days when a knight of loyal mind may ride with sound of horn, and banner displayed, summoning soldiers to fight for the good cause; of a surety, his journey would be brief. In the disguise of a calling, low, it is true, but honourable of its kind, I have obtained more useful intelligence, and enlisted more good soldiers than some who ride aneath an earl's pennon. Our party, during this nocturnal march, had been insensibly augmented; and when the gray day came, I could count about three hundred horsemen young, well-mounted, and well-armed some giving vent to their spirit or their feelings in martial songs; others examining and proving the merit of their swords and pistols, and many marching on in grave silence, forecasting the hazards of war and the glory of success. Leaving the brown moorlands, we descended into an open cultivated country, and soon found ourselves upon the great military road which connects all the north country with the capital. It was still the cold and misty twilight of the morning, when I happened to observe an old man close beside me, mounted on a horse seemingly coeval with himself, wrapped, or rather shrouded, in a gray mantle or plaid, and all the while looking steadfastly at me from under the remains of a broad slouched hat. I had something like a dreamer's recollection of his looks; but he soon added his voice, to assist my recollection,-and I shall never forget the verses the old man chanted with a broken and melancholy, and, I think I may add, prophetic voice: Oh, Preston, proud Preston. Oh! Preston, proud Preston, come hearken the cry What deed have I done-that thou lift'st thus thy cry, And my sons bow their heads, and are on their knees kneeling, song? What harm hast thou wrought! list and hearken-the hour So sure is the time of destruction to thee. What harm hast thou wrought!-haughty Preston, now hear- And thy steeds through our ranks rush, all foaming and hot, Oh! Selby, brave Selby, no more thy sword's braving 66 The Gordon shall guide and shall rule in the land; I dropt the bridle from my hand, and all the green expanse of dale or hill grew dim before me. The voice of the old man had for some time ceased, before I had courage to look about; and I immediately recognized in the person of the minstrel an old and faithful soldier of my father's, whose gift at song, rude and untutored as it was, had obtained him some estimation on the border-where the strong, lively imagery, and familiar diction of the old ballads still maintain their ground against the classic elegance and melody of modern verse. I drew back a little ; and shaking the old man by the hand, said, Many years have passed, Harpur Harberson, since I listened to thy minstrel skill at Lanercost; and I thought thou hadst gone, and I should never see thee again. Thy song has lost some of its ancient grace and military glee since thou leftest my father's hall." "Deed, my bonnie lady," said the borderer, with a voice suppressed and melancholy, while something of his ancient smile brightened his face for a moment, 66 sangs of sorrow and dule have been rifer with me than ballads of merriment and mirth. It's long now since I rode and fought by my gallant master's side, when the battle waxed fierce and desperate; and my foot is not so firm in the stirrup now, nor my hand so steeve at the steel, as it was in those blessed and heroic days. It's altered days with Harpur Harberson, since he harped afore the nobles of the north, in the home of the gallant Selbys, and won the cup of gold. I heard that my bonnie lady and her gallant cousin were on horseback; so I e'en put my old frail body on a frail horse, to follow where I cannot lead. It's pleasant to mount at the sound of the trumpet again; and it's better for an auld man to fall with the sound of battle in his ear, and be buried in the trench with the brave, and the young, and the noble,-than beg his bread from door to door, enduring the scoff and scorn of the vulgar and sordid, and be found, some winter morning, streeked stiff and dead, on a hassoc of straw in some churl's barn. So I shall è'en ride on, and see the last of a noble and a hopeless cause." He drew his hat over his brow; while I endeavoured to cheer him by describing the numbers, resources, and strength of the party. And I expressed rather my hope, than firm belief, when I assured him, "that there was little doubt that the house of Selby would lift its head again and flourish, and that the grey hairs of its ancient and faithful minstrel would go down in gladness and glory to the grave." He shook his head, yet seemed almost willing to believe, for a moment against his own presentiment, in the picture of future glory I had drawn-it was but for a moment."'Deed no-'deed no, my bonnie, bonnie lady, it canna-canna be; glad would I be could I credit the tale, that our house would hold up its head again, high and lordly. But I have too strong faith in minstrel prediction, and in the dreams and visions of the night, to give credence to such a pleasing thought. It was not for naught that horsemen rode in ranks on Soutra side last night, where living horsemen could never urge a steed, and that the forms and semblances of living men were visible to me in this fearful procession. Nor was it for nought that my grandfather, old minstrel Harberson, caused himself to be carried in his last hour to the summit of Lanercost-hill, that he might die looking on the broad domains of his master. His harp-for his harp and he were never parted-his harp yielded involuntary sounds, and his tongue ut tered unwilling words-words of sad import, the fulfilment of which is at hand. I shall repeat you the words; they are known but to few, and have been scorned too much by the noble race of Selby. I rede ye, my lady-1 rede ye, my lord, "These are the words of my ancestor-what must be must-I shall meet thee again at the gates of Preston." As he uttered these words he mingled with the ranks of horsemen under the banner of a border knight, and I rode up to the side of my cousin and his companion. It is not my wish to relate all I heard, and describe all I saw on my way southward; but our array was a sight worth seeing, and a sight we shall never see again for war is now become a trade, and men are trained to battle like hounds to the hunting. In those days the noble and the gentle, each with his own banner, with kinsmen and retainers, came forth to battle; and war seemed more a chivalrous effort than it seems now-when the land commits its fame and its existence to men hired by sound of trumpet and by touch of drum. was soon broad day-light; all the adherents of the house of Stuart had moved towards Lancashire, from the south of Scotland and the north of England; and forming a junction where the Cumberland mountains slope down to the vales, now covered the road as far as my eye could reach-not in regular companies, but in clusters and crowds, with colours displayed. There might be, in all, one thousand horsemen and fifteen hundred foot, the form It er armed with sword and pistol and carabine the latter with gun and spear. It was a fair sight to see so many gentlemen dressed in the garb of other days-some with head and bosom pieces of burnished mail: others with slouched hats and feathers, and scarlet vests-and all with short cloaks or mantles, of velvet or woollen, clasped at the bosom with gold, and embroidered each according to their own or their mistress's fancy. A body of three hundred chosen horsemen, pertaining to my Lord Kenmure, marched in front, singing, according to the fashion of the Scotch, rude and homely ballads in honour of their leader. One hundred horse, conducted by Lord Nithsdale, succeeded; those of Lord Derwentwater followed-a band numerous, but divided in opinion-unsteady in resolution, and timid in the time of need and peril, like their unfortunate lord. The foot followed: a band of warriors strange, and even savage in their appearance-brave and unblenching in battle-with plaid and bonnet and broadsword-bare kneed, and marching to a kind of wild music, which, by recalling the airs of their ancestors, and the battles in which they fought and bled, kindles a military fury and resolution which destroys all against which it is directed. These were men from the mountains of Scotland, and they were led by chieftain Mackintosh, who was to them as a divinity-compared to whom, the prince, in whose cause they fought, was a common being -a mere mortal. I admired the rude, natural courtesy of these people, and lamented the coward counsels which delivered them up to the axe and the cord, without striking a single blow. The rear accounted, in this march, with an enemy behind as well as before, a post of some peril, was brought up by about two hundred border cavaliers and their adherents; and with them rode Walter Selby and his new companion. The command seemed divided among many; and without obeying any one chief in particular, all seemed zealous in the cause, and marched on with a rapidity regulated by the foot. No serious attempt was made to impede us : some random shots were fired from the the Scotch maidens say a bonnie Gordon; his sword had stuck half-drawn from the scabbard, but for the white hand of his wife; but he that lives under the influence of bright eyes, Lady Eleanor, lives under a spell as powerful as loyalty. And what would the little book say of my Lord Nithsdale, with whom ride so many of the noble name of Maxwell? Can scorn for the continual cant and sordid hearts of some acres of psalm-singing covenanters, who haunt the hill-tops of Terreagles and Dalswinton, cause the good lord to put the fairest domains on the border in jeopardy? Or does he hope to regain all the sway held by his ancestors of yore over the beautiful vale of Nith-humbling into dust, as he arises, the gifted weaver who preaches, the inspired cordwainer who expounds, and the upstart grocer who holds rule-the two former over men's minds, and the latter over men's bodies? There's my Lord Carnwath " At this moment I heard the sounding of trumpets and the rushing of horses behind us; and ere I could turn round, my cavalier said, in the same equal and pleasant tone in which he was making his curious communication of human character,-"Fair lady, here be strange auditors, some of my friend General Willis's troopers come to try the edges of their new swords. Halbert, lead this fair lady to a place where she may see what passes hedge rows and groves; till at length, after a fatiguing journey, we came within sight of Preston; and there the enemy made his appearance in large masses of cavalry and foot, occupying the distant rising grounds, leaving our entry into the town free and uninterrupted. Something in my face shewed the alarm I felt on seeing the numbers and array of our enemies; this passed not unobserved of the cavalier at my side, who said, with a smile, "Fair lady, you are looking on the mercenary bands which sordid wealth has marched against us; these are men bought and sold, and who hire their best blood for a scarlet garb and a groat. I wish I had wealth enough to tempt the avarice of men who measure all that is good on earth by the money it brings. And yet, fair one, II had not the courage to look backmust needs own, that our little band of warriors is brought strangely together, and bound by ties of a singular kind. It would make a curious little book, were I to write down all the motives and feelings which have put our feet in the stirrup. There's my Lord Kenmurea hot, a brave, and a self-willed, and and now for the onset, Walter Selby." The latter, exchanging a glance with me, turned his horse's head; swords were bared in a moment; and I heard the dash of their horses, as they spurred them to the contest, while a Scottish soldier hurried me towards the town. the clashing of swords, the knelling of carabines, the groans of the wounded, and the battle shout of the living came all blended in one terrible sound-my heart died within me. I soon came up to the Scottish mountaineers, who, with their swords drawn, and their targets shouldered, stood looking back on |