in gloom. The bed, and the rest of the furniture, were all covered with green damask, somewhat torn; the walls exhibited the remains of some once valuable tapestry, which now hung down in ragged festoons; with here and there an old picture in oil, so effaced, that even the subject was not distinguishable.

I placed my candle upon the hearth, and removed the shutters from one of the windows, which opened immediately into the church-yard; I drew a chair to it, and sat contemplating the still serenity of the scene. I never beheld so clear, so beautiful, a night :

No

"How deep yon azure dies the sky!
"Where orbs of gold unnumber'd lie;
"While through their ranks, in silver pride,
"The nether crescent seems to glide.
"The slumbering breeze forgets to breathe,
"The lake is smooth, and clear beneath;
"Where once again the spangled show
"Descends to meet our eyes below.
"The grounds which on the right aspire,
"In dimness from the view retire;
"The left presents a place of graves,
"Whose wall the silent water laves."

part of the vast expanse of heaven was obscured by a single cloud, but the same deep azure

every-where prevailed; over which the bright twinkling stars were bespangled in countless multitude; and, ever and anon, the swiftly-winged meteor would sweep its rapid course through the bright regions of air, and sometimes down shot a starry light to the earth, where, all extinguished, it left not a wreck behind; whilst the palef-aced moon rode on the steady wing of time, in slow but solemn majesty through her nocturnal course, yielding her wan light to enliven the gloom that hung on the earth. The fine antique tower of the church formed the principal object in the view; it stood exactly opposite to my window, and was seen through an opening in the old walnut-trees, that nearly surrounded it, amongst whose branches, the gently-whispering breeze played her wild notes, whilst the white tombstones reared their lowly heads amongst the long grass that bent mournfully over them, and quivered in the wind. The awful stilness of the scene, together with the solemnity of the objects. that composed it, conspired to bring on one of my melancholy rhapsodies.

And these are the mansions of the dead,' said I, as I regarded one stone that stood a little higher than the rest: Yes; one small mound of

earth is all thy proud ensign, thou poor mortal! All thy honours are comprised in one small stone, on which, mayhap, is graved thy name, no-where else recorded, or that thou hast fulfilled the several duties of father, son, husband, or brother, with pious care. Thou rejoiced in thy existence, felt the possession of superior faculties, boasted in thy strength, and imagined thyself immortal; but where art thou now? Is all laid with thee in the narrow house? Not even a name left behind? Nothing but a poor perishable monument of earth, raised as a warning for the sexton not to dig there!-Oh! short-lived, vain, presumptuous man, thou flutterest like the butterfly, or the insect of a day, from flower to flower, feeding on trifles light as air, exulting in the name and condition of man, as superior to that of other created beings, without performing his great duties, until a cruel blast sinks thee with all thy chimerical possessions into the oblivious grave.

"Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,
"Now green in youth, now with'ring on the ground;
"Another race the following spring supplies,
"They fall successive, and successive rise;
"So generations in their course decay,

"So flourish these, when those are past away?

And is man created merely to live? to expand his wings, to flutter them for a moment, to die, and be for ever forgotten, because he has rendered no essential service to mankind? Oh! no, no; man was not born for this.

"Was it for this

"THY breath divine kindled within his breast
"The vital flame? For this thy fair image
"Stampt on his soul in god-like lineaments?
"For this dominion given him absolute
"O'er all thy works, only that he might reign
66 Supreme in woe?"

I know not how long I might have continued my soliloquy, had not a rustling noise behind me roused me from my meditations: I hastily turned round, and thought I saw the shadowy form of a female glide into the gloom that obscured the further end of the apartment; but my candle, which was dying away in the socket, left me in the most painful suspense, as without it I could. not ascertain whether it was reality, or the mere effect of a disordered imagination; and it was now too late an hour, and I was too far distant from the timorous old woman, to alarm her. However, in order to admit as much light into the room as was possible, I removed the shutters

from the centre window, by which means a broad but dim glare of light was thrown directly across the middle of the room near the foot of the bed, leaving both ends in darkness. I wished to introduce some light also into the bed, but found it to be impracticable, as the shutters of the window, the nearest to it, were nailed fast. Without being wholly satisfied, I undressed and went into bed; but the idea of the form I had seen, whether real or imaginary, still haunted me, and, for some time, prevented me from meeting with that repose I so much needed. But, at length, wearied nature was insensibly yielding to the balmy influence of sleep, when I felt the bed gently heave under me: being, at that moment, neither asleep nor awake, my drowsy faculties were scarcely sensible of its reality, although the violent flutterings of my heart, and the high beat of my pulse, indicated all the fears attendant on the most painful confirm ation of the fact. I remained in a terrible state of suspense, scarcely daring to breathe, much less move; when, to my dismay, the bed heaved a second time, higher still than the former, and, at the same time, a half-stifled groan issued from under it, that thrilled through my whole frame, depriving me of the power of speech or action;