These lift his soul beyond her clime,
To daring flights of thought sublime,
Where, warm'd by Fancy's brightest fire,
He boldly sweeps the sounding lyre:
Come then, with wild flow'rs, come array'd,
O Superstition, magic maid!

And welcome then, suggesting pow'r !
At evening close, or midnight hour.*

* The two species of gothic superstition, the gloomy and the sportive, are, in this Ode, represented as the offspring of different parents; the former being produced by Fear and Midnight, the latter by Hesper and the Moon. The idea is founded on a commonly received opinion, among the ancient mythologists, that there were two Cupids, one amiable and tender, the son of Jupiter and Venus, the other debauched and revengeful, the son of Nox and Erebus. Eros and Anteros, notwithstanding the derivation of the latter name, avri Epws were both gods of mutual love.

NUMBER IX.

But when he reach'd his castle gate,
His gate was hung with black.
Percy's Reliques, Vol. iii.

In the north of England, towards the commencement of the reign of Edward the Fourth, lived Henry Fitzowen. He had lost his parents early in life, and had been educated with an only sister under the care of his guardian. Henry was the heir of considerable property which had been under his sole management for near four years, having arrived at that period of life when the character of the man fully unfolds itself, when at five and twenty he had gratified the wishes, and fulfilled the predictions of his friends. Possessed of an active and liberal mind, of a tender and grateful heart, he was equally an object of love and esteem to his companions and his tenants; and combined, likewise, the energies of youth, its vigour and

vivacity with, what were rare attainments in that age of anarchy and ignorance, the elegant accomplishments of the scholar and the poet. In his person he was rather athletic, yet was it gracefully formed, and had much of that chivalric air so highly prized at that time when warfare and civil discord still raged throughout the island. When rushing to the field, no hero in the army of the youthful Edward burnt with superior ardour, or managed his horse and arms with equal ease and spirit; when seated mid the circle of his peaceful friends, none could rival his powers of intellect and sweetness of manner, the courtesy of his demeanour to the men, the gallantry of his attentions to the fair.

With his sister, who superintended the economy of his household, and a few friends, he spent the major part of the year at his paternal castle in Yorkshire, a piece of fine old gothic architecture, and seated in the bosom of a romantic glen. Here, in his great hall, hung round with the arms and trophies of his ancestors, and presiding at his ancient, oaken, and hospitable table, he delighted to accumulate his neighbours, and view the smile of satisfaction and pleasure play mid the charms of inno

cence and beauty, or gladden the features of industrious dependence. Here, also, on a visit to his sister, and usually accompanied by her mother, would frequently appear Adeline De Montfort. Adeline was the only daughter of an officer of great worth and bravery, and who fell contending for the Yorkists at the dreadful battle of Towton. Dying, however, in embarrassed circumstances, his widow was unable to support the establishment they had hitherto maintained, and therefore took a small but elegant house on the skirts of the forest. adjoining to the 'Fitzowen estate. A short time sufficed to produce an intimacy between 'the two families, and from similarity of disposition and pursuits, Adeline and Clara Fitzowen soon became almost inseparable companions. The daughter of Montfort was in her twentieth year, and had been gifted by nature with more than common charms, her person was elegantly formed, her eyes blue as the sky of summer, her hair of a nut brown, and her cheeks

The roses white and red resembled well

Whereon the hoary May-dew sprinkled lies, When the fair Morn first blusheth from her cell, And breatheth balm from opened Paradise.*

*Fairfax's Tasso.

The most unaffected modesty, too, and a disposition peculiarly sweet, united to the graces of a mind polished by unusual taste, rendered her personal beauties doubly interesting; and there were few of the opposite sex who, having once witnessed her attractions, did not sigh to appropriate them. That Henry, therefore, who had such frequent opportunities of conversing with this amiable girl, should admire and love her, was an event to be expected; indeed, such was his affection for her, that, deprived of his beloved Adeline, existence would have lost all its allurement.

To love thus ardent and sincere, and professed by a youth of the most winning manners and superior accomplishments, no woman could long be insensible, and in the bosom of Adeline glowed the sweet emotions of reciprocal passion. Amid the wild and picturesque beauties of Ruydvellin, where the vast solitude and repose of nature, or the luxuriant and softened features of the secluded landscape, awoke the mind to awful or to tender feelings, the sensations of mutual attachment were for some time cherished undisturbed, and an union that would, probably, fix for life the felicity of