silver and glass cups; pouches, purses, curling-irons, -in fine, everything a royal lady could need or wish. Now, though the morgen-gift was not due till the day after the wedding, many of these valuables arrived | beforehand, in large corded chests, to the great delectation of the "spinning-side;" and I, among the rest, had the oversight and the handling of them, which, to a girl of such tender years, was no small privilege. When the prince came a courting, the Earl of Berks was ofttimes in attendance on him; but, still oftener, he came by himself, when least expected, (save that we were always expecting him in our own hearts,) and sometimes he would find Ethelswitha and me walking together in the chase, and would come springing towards us as fleetly as any hart in the forest. But, though he would come up to us as blythe as blythe lark, it almost always befel that before we had been long together, he would become as serious as an apostle, and talk of graver matters than one would have expected from so young a man. But whatever fell from his lips was pleasant to Ethelswitha, and to me Ethelfled. The wedding-day now drew nigh; and people were drawing together from various parts, to be present at the festivity; and there was great mustering of men, both servile and freed, to beat the woods for boars and wild deer; and snares were laid for smaller game and fowls; and pits were dug to bake the meats that were not broiled nor sodden; and hampers of pears and apples were brought from the orchards, and eels from the dike, besides haddocks, skates, lampreys, lobsters, and oysters, from the seas and rivers; and sacks of fine flour, and systers of honey; for there was much people to be filled. In due course came the royal purveyors, to see if there were enow for all; and the head purveyor said unto my mother, "You have enough and to spare of everything, if so be that your mead run not short." But my mother said, "We have enough of mead, morat, and metheglin." Now, by reason of the report of the wedding spreading far and wide, joculators of all sorts, or as we say, glee-men, began to assemble; some with bears, some with dancing dogs, and other-some with jugglers' balls and instruments of music. These began, beforehand, to set up their booths and stages round the green, under the skirts of the forest; by reason of whom, our chase, that was of late so retired, became rather unsafe walking. My mother would not have me go forth, unless under the care of Eadwulf the freedman, who was brave, faithful, and good-natured. I remember, one day taking the air with him in the woods, we came upon a ceorl cruelly maltreating a cniht of our household, who by reason of his burthen could not requite him as he deserved. Eadwulf, without more ado, took and bound the ccorl hand and foot with his girdle, and laid him at length on the ground. Having thus made him feel his masterdom, he stood over him leisurely, and, with a stern look which he knew very well how to put on, said "There thou lies now then, what shall be my will of thee? If I blind thy thief's eyes, I must fine forty shillings; if I lame thy clumsy feet, I must fine thirty; if 1 deafen thee, twenty-five; if I break thy thumb, twenty; if I crop thine cars, twelve; if I take thy little finger, eleven; if thy great toe, ten; if a slice of thy Dane's nose, nine; if thy fore-finger, eight; if I break thy jaw-bone, six; if one of thy ribs, three; if I knock out one of thy teeth, shilling. Go to! thou's not worth shilling unto me, the whole bundle of thee!-the cnilit's beyond thy reach now, so go thy ways, and ne'er deal the like with a poor harmless fellow again." So saying, he undid the girdle, and let him go free; when the ceorl, bounding out of ar:ns' length, shook his fist at him, and grinning horribly, cried, “Thou's bound a ceorl unsinning; and, by the law of the land, shouldst fine not one shilling, but ten, an' I could catch an' keep thee!" And so went off, reviling; leaving Eadwulf laughing at his impotent anger. Alfred the prince was amused at the transaction when I told him of it, and, the next time he saw Eadwulf, gave him a mancus. To proceed, however, to the wedding, which, if I were to spin out this chapter to the length of Gildas's epistle, I must come to at last. LOVE IN THE NORTH. THE grouse shooting had commenced a few days. The steamers on the Caledonian Canal were crowded with sportsmen and tourists. The inns at Fort William and Benevie were nightly besieged by wild troops of hungry Sassenachs. Eley's cartridges and Black's hand-books rose to a premium in the provincial markets; and the Highlands resounded with the joy of the stranger. The Gael gladly reaped, in expectation, the anticipated harvest, while the breast of every mother palpitated with pleasurable excitement as she fixed one eye on the list of arrivals in the Grouseshire Courier, and the other on her red-haired daughters. Meanwhile, the said nymphs were deciding on their dresses for the northern meeting, and thumbing The Red Book for the genealogy of every new-comer. In fact, gaiety reigned in the North, except in the case of a few unfortunate tourists who found themselves at Inverness, and, having visited Macbeth's castle and the Field of Culloden, were at a loss how to employ themselves. In one of the many country-houses famed for Celtic hospitality, a very merry party was met. There were grouse-shooters and Highland belles. The host and three other chieftains, who rejoiced in the names of The Mc Dum, Kill-devil, Devil hit, and Kill-bogle-there is a run on satanic nomenclature in the North, such as would drive a Yezidi to distraction-two or three English visitors made up the party of gentlemen. Of ladies, there were the daughters of the houses of McDum and Kill-devil, with many other of the neighbouring damsels, all, of course, closely related to each other. 'Oh, yes! I know he only wants an opportunity. The dear creature-how pale and interesting he is Listen, ladies all," said Miss McDum. "This evening, after dinner, we will slip out of the room and leave them alone-then he is sure to speak." Of all the young ladies assembled beneath the roof of Mc Dum, the one most renowned for desperate flir-looking!" tation was Miss Clementina Kill-Loon. She was a young lady of great animal spirits. She was handsome, had a tolerable figure, and her ancles were not much larger than an Englishman's. She could ride, So it was settled. The gentlemen entered readily shoot, fish, dance a reel against any number of con- into the plan, each one delighted to find the fair Clesecutive Sassenachs, and was altogether a great acces- mentina was not after him. Meanwhile the unconsion to a country-house. Yet she remained unmarried, scious Spooner was deliberately preparing for dinner, and her twenty-seventh year was drawing on. But quite unaware of their kind intentions towards him. the reason was, the gentlemen said, she was so very Of course, he handed Clementina down from the affectionate. Every one was frightened at her readi- drawing-room, and the tender speeches and affecness to catch at an offer; besides, she so soon changed tionate glances she bestowed upon him during dinnerfrom one to another. There were Smith and Jones-time recalled many of his last year's feelings towards they came one Wednesday. On Thursday Smith nearly capitulated, when she got hold of his hand in the conservatory, and would keep it; but on Friday, coming unexpectedly into the dining-room, he found her on her knees before Jones, rubbing his left arm, which was rheumatically given-Jones looking rather sheepish. Smith fled from the spot, and refused to return. This season she had determined to make a victim of some unconscious Southerner. The natives, she knew, were too shrewd to be caught; besides, they none of them had anything to live upon but the proceeds of their shootings and fishings. So she laid her plans accordingly. At the last northern meeting she had met a Lieutenant Spooner, then on recruiting service in the vicinity. He saw-admired-danced as often with her as propriety would permit,—(and they do not think much of propriety beyond the Highland line, as long as a lady has a "lang pedigree,")and was encouraged by her kind behaviour to say more than he had ever dared to utter before; for he was a timid youth and inexperienced in the ways of the world. Therefore, when he had replied to the question, of "How do you like the North, Mr. Spooner ?" by answering, "I wish I could always remain where I am now," she was lovingly squeezing him up into a corner of the sofa-he blushed violently and almost repented his audacity. However, her glances and squeezes of the hand restored his courage, and before he left the ball-room he was desperately in love. He told his passion in confidence to a friend, who, of course, told his friends, and so the tale came, not undiminished, to the ears of Miss Clementina. A year's absence had almost effaced her image from his mind, for he had been suddenly called on duty; but the lady could not divine this, and, therefore, when she heard he was coming to pay The Mc Dum a visit, she naturally concluded he was irresistibly drawn thither by her charms; of course, he came to seek her consent to make him the happiest man on earth. Full of this idea, on the morning of his arrival, she her. Indeed, he would have been still more subdued had not his timidity led him into a mistake, the confusion arising from which banished all thoughts of love from his breast. Not thinking himself sufficiently intimate with the chief to call him simply "Me Dum," he actually addressed him as Mr. Mc Dum! The head of the clan looked like an insulted lion, and an embarrassing silence rebuked the trembling offender. He had scarcely recovered by the time when the gentlemen resought the drawing-room, and he was glad enough to seek for consolation from the charming Clementina, who allowed him to nestle close by her in a curtained rccess. Engrossed by her conversation, he scarcely remarked the departure of most of the company from the room; but, at last aroused by the silence, he looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of the last couple as they disappeared through the doorway, and he and Clementina were the only occupants of the room. He felt the awkwardness of the position, and suggested to her that they should follow the others. 'Why should we, Mr. Spooner? Do you wish to go away ?" "Oh dear, no!-only I thought-they are all gone somewhere," gasped Mr. Spooner. "Dear me! so they are; but I dare say they will soon be back; but pray go if you wish; don't let me detain you." What could Mr. Spooner do? He balanced himself on the right foot, then on the left, and then sat down again, but at the other end of the sofa. A pause ensued; he felt very like a schoolboy for whom the master has sent-something was evidently coming. There was music on the chair close by. Clementina took up a song, "Oh! had I but one loving friend." "Can you love me as a friend, Mr. Spooner ?" she said, with a sweet glance. "Oh yes, I dare say I can, if you wish it, Miss Kill-Loon," replied the unhappy man, clasping his moist hands together, and feeling as if he would have given the world for a thunderbolt to fall in the room. "What is she going to say next?" he thought. He looked at the door; if it had been open, he would have fled. It was shut-she would catch him before he could get it open. An involuntary sigh escaped from his lips. 'Why that sigh ?" she whispered. grief upon your mind ?” me He determined to make an effort. FEMALE TRIALS IN THE BUSH. BY MRS. TRAILL, Author of "The Backwoods of Canada." IT has often been remarked how much more prone to discontent the wives of the emigrants are than their husbands; and it generally is the fact, but why is "Is there any it so? A little reflection will show us the cause. It is generally allowed that woman is by nature and habit more strongly attached to home and all those "Really, my dear Miss Kill-Loon, if you will excuse domestic ties and associations that form her sources "Hear me one moment, Miss Kill-Loon!" He would have given the world to cry for help. "On purpose to see me to tell me all; but papa will never hear of it--but, oh! my heart," sobbing, "my heart has long been yours." "What will become of me?" thought the unfortunate Spooner. It must be a dream. It was too horrible to be true. No--she held him firmly by the hand -there was no mistake about it. "Take this," at last she said, placing a ring on his limp, passive finger, and abstracting his, the most valuable of his gems, in exchange, "these shall be the tokens of our mutual affection." She paused awhile; and then, as he seemed in capable of doing or saying anything, she left him standing alone, and disappeared. of happiness, than man. She is accustomed to limit her enjoyments within a narrow circle; she scarcely receives the same pleasure that man does, from travelling and change of place; her little world is home-it is, or should be, her sphere of action, her centre of enjoyment; the severing her at once and for ever from all that made it dear in her eyes causes her the severest pangs. It is long before she forms a home of comfort to herself like that she has left behind her, in a country that is rough, hard, and strange; and though a sense of duty will and does operate upon the few to arm them with patience to bear and power to act, the larger proportion of emigrants' wives sink into a state of hopeless apathy or pining discontent, at least for a season, till time, that softener of all human woes, has smoothed in some measure the roughness of the colonist's path, and the spirit of conformity begins to dispose faithful wives to the endeavour of creating a new home of comfort within the forest solitudes. There is another excuse for the unhappy despondency too frequently noticed among the females of the higher class of emigrants; and as, according to an old saying, "prevention is better than cure," I shall not hesitate to plead the cause of my sex, and point out the origin of the domestic misery to which I allude. . The company returned. Mr. Spooner pleaded indisposition, and retired to his bedroom. In that There is nothing more common than for a young night his whiskers became prematurely grey. Before settler of the better class, when he has been a year or breakfast time he was on the mail with his face two in the colony and made some little progress in towards the South. At Carlisle he was laid up with clearing land and building, to go to England for a a nervous attack, arising, as the doctor said, from wife. He is not quite satisfied with the paucity some excessive mental agitation. On his recovery he of accomplishments and intellectual acquirements returned the ring in a letter, the concocting of which among the daughters of the Canadians, he is amcost him four days' incessant labour and a quarter's bitious of bringing out a young lady fit to be the pay expended in stationery. Even then he did not companion of a man of sense and taste, and thoughtthink himself safe, and he seriously entertained a pro-lessly and selfishly induces some young person of ject of emigrating to some very distant settlement, when one morning in looking over the Times for vessels bound to California direct, his eye was caught by a paragraph "On December 3, at Loonty, Augustus Reginald Fitz-Stephen, only son of Timothy Stephen, Esq. of Camberwell, to Clementina Alexandrina, eldest daughter of Hector Kill-Loon, Esq. of Strathbogle, and niece of The Mc Dum." Mr. Spooner immediately gave up all intention of emigrating, and became calm; but always, to this day, shudders at the very name of Grouseshire. delicate and refined habits to unite her fate to his. Misled by his sanguine description of his forest home, and his hopes of future independence, she listens with infinite satisfaction to his account of a large number of acres, which may be valuable or nearly worthless according to the local advantages they possess; of this she, of course, knows nothing, excepting from the impressions she receives from her lover. He may in a general way tell her that as a Bush settler's wife she must expect to put up with some privations at first, and the absence of a few of those elegant refinements of life which she has been accustomed to enjoy ; but these evils are often represented as temporary, for he has rarely the candour to tell her the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Deceived by her lover, and deceiving herself into the fond belief that her love for him will smooth every difficulty, she marries, and is launched upon a life for which she is totally unfitted by habits, education, and inclination, without due warning of the actual trials she is destined to encounter. There is not only cruelty, but even want of worldly wisdom in such marriages. The wife finds she has been deceived, and becomes fretful, listless, and discontented; and the husband, when too late, discovers that he has transplanted a tender exotic to perish beneath the withering influence of an ungenial atmosphere without benefiting by its sweetness or beauty. I need hardly dwell upon the domestic evils arising from this state of things, but I would hold such marriages up as a warning to both parties. Some will say, But are these things so? and is the change really so striking between a life in England and one in the Colonies ? I speak that which I have seen, and testify that which I do know. Even under the fairest and most favourable circumstances the difference must necessarily be great between a rich fertile country, full of resources and the refinements of civilization, and one where all has to be created or supplied at the expense of time and money. But I speak more especially of those, who, living in the less cultivated and populous portions of the Colony, are, of course, exposed to greater privations and disadvantages, as settlers in the Bush must be. In towns and populous districts these hardships are less remarkable. I remember, among many instances that have fallen under my notice, one somewhat remarkable for the energetic traits of female fortitude that were called forth by a train of circumstances most adverse, and unexpected. A young man residing in our neighbourhood, of sanguine disposition and slender property, had contrived by means of credit and a little money to start a large concern, a saw-mill, a store tavern, and other buildings, which were to form the germs of a large village. Full of hopes of the most extravagant kind, if he deceived others I believe he also deceived himself into the vain belief, that all his various castles were destined to make his individual fortune, and confer a lasting benefit on the country where they were situated. Under this delusion, and finding, moreover, that it was absolutely necessary to raise resources for carrying on his schemes, he went home, and was not long in forming an acquaintance with an accomplished young lady of some fortune. She was an orphan, and, charmed with the novelty of the life he described, consented to marry him and become the queen of the village of which he gave her so glowing a picture. Perhaps at that period he was not fully aware of the fact that the property of the young lady was under the control of trustees, and that the interest only was at her own command; and fortunate it was for her that the guardians of the property were inflexible in their principles, and resisted every solicitation to | resign any part of the capital. The young bride, accustomed to the domestic beauties and comforts of the mother country, beheld with dismay the long tract of gloomy pinewood through which she journeyed to her forest home, and the still more unseemly fields blackened by charred pine and cedar stumps, in the midst of which rose the village, whose new and half-finished buildings failed to excite any feeling in her breast but bitter disappointment and aversion; and she wept and sighed for all that was fair and beautiful in her own beloved country, rendered now ten times more lovely by the contrast with all she beheld around her; yet, though she was miserable and discontented, she clung with passionate love to her husband, and with womanly fondness made every sort of excuse for him, even to herself, and always to others. It was this love which, as it increased, upheld her when the sad reality of ruin arrived. Misfortune, as an armed man, came fast upon the devoted pair-every fair and flattering prospect vanished. Unable to provide for the satisfaction of his importunate creditors, as he had expected to do from his wife's property, they would no longer be put off, and he became a perfect prisoner in his own house. The land, buildings, all faded as it were from his grasp; even the yearly income arising from her money had been forestalled; and all her costly clothing went by degrees, all her pretty ornaments and little household luxuries were disposed of piccemeal to supply their daily wants. All-all were gone; but with fresh trials, fresh privations, came unwonted courage, and energy to do and to bear. She was now a mother, and the trials of maternity were added to her other arduous duties. She often lamented her want of knowledge and ability in the management of her infant, for she had been totally unaccustomed to the trouble of young children. To add to her sorrows, sickness seized her husband; he who had been used to a life of activity and bustle, scarcely caring to rest within doors, unless at meal-times, now sunk under the effects of confinement, chagrin, and altered diet, and a long and obstinate intermittent ensued. Though to some persons it might seem a trifling evil, there was nothing in all her sad reverse of condition that seemed so much to annoy my poor young friend as the discolouring of her beautiful hands; she would often sigh as she looked down upon them, and say, "I used to be so vain of them, and never thought to employ them in menial offices such as necessity has driven me to." Poor thing! she had not been trained to such servile tasks as I have seen her occupied in, and I pitied her the more because I saw her bearing up so bravely under such overwhelming trials; she who had come out, not two years before, to our woods as a bride, a proud and fastidious woman, unable and unwilling to take part in the least household labour-who would sit on the side of her bed while a servant drew the silk stockings and satin slippers on her tiny white | ward. I then found, to my great distress, that I had feet, and dressed her from head to foot-who lost my faithful Nelson,'" (a great Newfoundland dog despised the best fare that could be set before her by any of her neighbours-who must despatcha messenger almost daily to the distant town for fresh meat and biscuits, and new white bread, was now compelled to clothe herself and her babe, to eat the coarsest fare, black tea unsweetened and only softened with milk instead of rich cream, which she walked twice or thrice a-week to fetch from my house or that of my sister-in-law, bearing her stone pitcher in one hand, with the additional weight of her baby on her arm. So strange a thing is woman's love, that she, whom I had been wont to consider as decidedly selfish, now showed a generous and heroic devotion towards the man whose thoughtlessness had reduced her to this state of poverty and privation, that seemed to make her regardless of herself. What personal sacrifices did she not make, what fatigues undergo! I have met her coming from a small field where oats had been sown, with a sheaf on her back, which she had cut with her own fair hands to feed an old bullock, the only remnant of stock that had escaped the creditors, and which was destined to supply the household with beef for the ensuing fall. Yet she was quite cheerful, and almost laughed at her unusual occupation. There was a poor Irish girl who stayed with her to the last, and never forsook her in her adverse fortune; but she had been kind and considerate to her, when many mistresses would have turned her out of their house, and now she stayed with her and helped her in her time of need. One day I came to visit her, fearing from her unusual absence that something was amiss with the child or herself. I found her lying on a rude sort of sofa which she had very ingeniously made by nailing some boards together, and covering with chintz after she had stuffed it with hay, for she was full of contrivances; they amused her and kept her from thinking of her troubles," she said. She looked very pale, her fair hair was neglected, and there was an air of great languor and fatigue visible in her frame. But when I expressed my apprehension that she too had fallen a prey to the ague or fever, she eagerly replied, "Oh no, I am only dreadfully tired. Do you know, I was wandering in the woods a great part of the night." : "On what errand?" I inquired in some surprise; on which she related her adventures in these words :"I had reason to suppose there were English letters in the post-office of some consequence, and as I had no one to send down for them to whom I dared trust them, I made up my mind yesterday morning to walk down for them myself. I left my little boy to the care of Jane and his father, for carrying him a distance of so many miles and through such roads was quite beyond my strength. Well, I got my letters and a few necessary articles that I wanted, at the store, but what with my long walk and the delay one always meets with in town, it was nearly sunset before I began to turn my steps home that accompanied her wherever she went.) "I lingered a good while in the hope that my brave dog would find me out, but concluding at last that he had been shut up in one of the stores, I hurried on, afraid of the moon setting before I should be out of the dark wood. I thought, too, of my boy, and wondered if his father would waken and attend to him if he cried or wanted feeding. My mind was full of busy and anxious thoughts as I pursued my solitary way through those still lonely woods, where everything was so death-like in its solemn silence that I could hear my own footsteps or the fall of a withered leaf as it parted from the little boughs above my head, and dropped on the path before me. I was so deeply absorbed with my own perplexing thoughts that I did not at first notice that I had reached a spot where two paths branched off in nearly parallel directions, so that I was greatly puzzled which of the two was my road. When I had walked a few yards down one, my mind misgave me that I was wrong, and I retraced my steps without being at all satisfied that the other was the right one. At last I decided upon the wrong, as it afterwards turned out, and I now hurried on, hoping to make up by renewed speed for the time I had lost by my indecision. The increasing gloom of the road thickly shaded with hemlocks and cedars now convinced me I was drawing near swampy ground, which I did not remember to have traversed in my morning walk. My heart thrilled with terror, for I heard the long-drawn yell of wolves, as I imagined, in the distance. My first impulse was to turn and flee for my life, but my strength suddenly failed, and I was compelled to sit down upon a pinelog by the side of the path to recover myself. alas!' said I, half aloud, alone, lost in these lonely woods, perhaps to perish miserably, to be torn by wild beasts or starved with hunger and cold, as many have been in this savage country. O my God, forsake me not, but look upon the poor wanderer with the eyes of thy mercy!' Such was my prayer when I heard the rapid gallop of some animal fast approachingthe sudden crashing of the dry boughs, as the creature forced his way through them, convinced me it was too near for escape to be possible. All I could do was to start to my feet, and I stood straining my eyes in the direction of the sound, while my heart beat so audibly that I seemed to hear nothing else. Alas! "You may judge of the heartfelt relief I experienced when I beheld my dear old dog, my faithful Nelson, rush bounding to my side, almost as breathless as his poor terror-stricken mistress. "You know that I do not often indulge in tears, even when overwhelmed with trouble, but this time I actually cried for joy, and lifted up my heart in fervent thankfulness to Him who had guided my dumb protector through the tangled bush to my side that night. 'Come, Nelson,' I said aloud, 'you have made a man of me,- -"Richard's himself again :" dear fellow, I shall fear neither wolf nor bear while you |