greatly list doing of alms, we would not be over hard with you."

"Look upon me," answered the Stranger, in the same calm and gentle voice, "look upon me, thou scoffing mariner, and say which of these poor weeds I shall resign to satisfy thine avarice. Oh, blessed Saints! what hard hearts have men unto their brethren, erasing the law of charity which the finger of God first writ upon them, and setting at nought his holy 'hest, Sin autem pauper est, non pernoctabit apud te pignus! And if the man be poor, his pledge shall not be with thee through the night!"

"Come, fellow, we'll none of your popish preaching in Latin; so stand back, see'st thou not that the gentleman would fain go ashore, and thou, a losel Friar, art standing right in the gangway?-As for taking your garments, I see not what thou dost with that hood, and so I seize upon thy cover-knave here for my fare."

The Waterman had already stretched out his hand to grasp the Stranger's cap, when the younger person advancing behind him, caught his arm, and said, "Hold! at least leave him

his garments, an' ye will do no more. I will satisfy you for both of us;-there is your fare."

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Why, my Master," said the Bargeman unwillingly releasing his prey, and counting the "that's all another thing, you see, and money, the old knave may go to the Fiend for me :-but we shall meet again, I trow," he added, in a ferocious whisper; "for I know that of him which would sink an argosy :"-and then he went on aloud, "as I take it, he's a pestilent rogue, that will never sail rightly till it's high water at Tyburn. Pray, your honour, keep clear of him," continued the Sailor, as his arithmetic discovered that he had received something more than his fare; "I wot that he'll never pay you; but God give ye good even !"

"He will pay me when I ask him,” returned the young Stranger; "and so, fellows, let us pass to the shore. You seem faint and wearied, old man," he added to his companion, "where shall I bestow you for your home? for without coin I deem that you will scarcely seek an Inn; and you require some speedy cheer, otherwise you can travel but little farther."

"Courteous and charitable Sir," answered the elder person, "I have neither home nor coin:

but it is of little import, weak nature will bear up till I reach Westminster, and there, peradventure I may find both food and rest: Deo gratias omnibus !”

"You shall find them nearer," said the younger Traveller, pointing to the drinkingroom of the Old Galley, "if you will enter this Vintner's with me; 'tis a rude riotous place in scoth, but 'twill serve for a brief shelter in default of a better. Pray you come in; I must be at Westminster myself by nightfall, and I will at least see you on your road."

"I thank you heartily," replied the elder Stranger; "I take your alms in the hope that even yet I may have it in my power to requite them; and in the confidence that if I do not, they are then in the hands of one who will do it far more richly. And touching the vileness of this Inn, it is all too good for one who hath forsaken the world, and is vowed to poverty: but alas! to find him whom I came from afar to seek, I must search the lowest and basest haunts of the worst of mankind!"

"You know this city then ?" inquired the young man.

"Peradventure I knew it better," answered the other, "some thirty years back, when King

Henry was on the throne; but since that time I have dwelt in the solitary cells of Canobine in Palestine, and all things appear as strange to me as they would to one who should come back again from the dead to the living."

"I doubt it not," returned his young companion," but let me counsel you, if you be of the Roman Faith, to hide it as you may, for there be of late days divers laws enacted against such; by which those out of the realm are commanded suddenly to return, on pain of forfeiting their lands and livings: and 'tis HighTreason for any to reconcile the fugitives of that Church. In brief, they are held to be no good subjects to the Queen; and even now, one Master Story lies condemned for compassing her death by devilish arts."

"Then God have mercy upon his soul!" responded the old man; "I once knew him well, and a proper, bold, forward man he was, and one that would ever be doing; but yet a fair and well-read scholar: howbeit, of his treasons I know nothing, but may Heaven arm us all to resist, or to endure!" And with these words he followed our first Traveller into the Old Galley.

It was not without reason that the younger

personage had remarked the wild confusion which was heard from this Ale-house; for in addition to the ordinary uproar, it was now increased by the discords of two or three itinerant musicians. They consisted of one old man, "high-gravel blind," as Launcelot says, who was sawing away on a fiddle; another carried that genuine instrument of old London harmony called a Rote, or Hurdy-gurdy; and a third, with a habit "more guarded than his fellows," held a book of the most popular songs of the time, which, if they were all to be found, would doubtless drive many of our Antiquaries mad for all the rest of their lives, in writing notes and illustrations upon them. Such, then, constituted what was anciently, and not unaptly, called "a noise of minstrels ;" their official habits being long coats of coarse tawny cloth or frieze, made like a livery, with gatherings at the shoulders; pewter buttons, and leathern girdles; their heads being surmounted by flat yarn caps, with scarlet bands and tassels.

It was high festival time when our travellers entered the Old Galley, every bench and table of which was occupied; but so diversified were the guests, that although the vulgar tongue was probably spoken as purely in this place as