and their lamps burn all the night, too, as well as all day, so rich and lavish is that nature, which can afford this superfluity of light.

The morning twilight began as soon as the moon had set, and we arose and kindled our fire, whose blaze might have been seen for thirty miles around. As the day-light increased, it was remarkable how rapidly the wind went down. There was no dew on the summit, but coldness supplied its place. When the dawn had reached its prime, we enjoyed the view of a distinct horizon line, and could fancy ourselves at sea, and the distant hills the waves in the horizon, as seen from the deck of a vessel. The cherry-birds flitted around us, the nesthatch and flicker were heard among the bushes, the titmouse perched within a few feet, and the song of the woodthrush again rung along the ridge. At length we saw the sun rise up out of the sea, and shine on Massachusetts, and from this moment the atmosphere grew more and more transparent till the time of our departure, and we began to realize the extent of the view, and how the earth, in some degree, answered to the heavens in breadth, the white villages to the constellations in the sky. There was little of the sublimity and grandeur which belong to mountain scenery, but an immense landscape to ponder on a summer's day. We could see how ample and roomy is nature. As far as the eye could reach, there was little life in the landscape; the few birds that flitted past did not crowd. The travellers on the remote highways, which intersect the country on every side, had no fellow-travellers for miles, before or behind. On every side, the eye ranged over successive circles of towns, rising one above another, like the terraces of a vineyard, till they were lost in the horizon. Wachusett is, in fact, the observatory of the state. There lay Massachusetts, spread out before us in its length and breadth, like a map. There was the level horizon, which told of the sea on the east and south, the well-known hills of New Hampshire on the north, and the misty summit of the Hoosac and Green Mountains, first made visible to us the evening before, blue and unsubstantial, like some bank of clouds which the morning wind would dissipate, on the northwest and west. These last distant ranges, on which the eye rests unwearied, commence with an abrupt boulder in the north, beyond the Connecticut, and travel southward, with three or four peaks dimly seen. But Monadnock, rearing its masculine front in the north-west, is the grandest feature. As we beheld it we knew that it was the height of land between the two rivers, on this side the valley of the Merrimack, or that of the Connecticut, fluctuating with their blue seas of air. These rival vales, gradually extending

So is

We could, at length, realize the place mountains occupy on the land, and how they come into the general scheme of the universe. When first we climb their summits, and observe their lesser irregularities, we do not give credit to the comprehensive intelligence which shaped them; but when afterward we behold their outlines in the horizon, we confess that the hand which moulded their opposite slopes, making one to balance the other, worked round a deep centre, and was privy to the plan of the universe. the least part of nature in its bearings, referred to all space. These lesser mountain ranges, as well as the Alleghanies, run from north-east to south-west, and parallel with these mountain streams are the more fluent rivers, answering to the general direction of the coast, the bank of the great ocean stream itself. Even the clouds, with their thin bars, fall into the same direction by preference, and such is the course of the prevailing winds, and the migration of men and birds. A mountain chain determines many things for the statesman and philosopher. The improvements of civilization rather creep along its sides than cross its summit. How often is it a barrier to prejudice and fanaticism? In passing over these heights of land, through their thin atmosphere, the follies of the plain are refined and purified. As many species of plants do not scale their summits, so many species of folly do not cross the Alleghanies; it is only the hardy mountain plant that creeps quite over the ridge, and descends into the valley beyond.

It adds not a little grandeur to our conception of the flight of birds, especially of the duck tribe, and such as fly high in the air, to have ascended a mountain. We can now see what landmarks they are to their migrations; how the Catskills and Highlands have hardly sunk to them, when Wachusett and Monadnock open a passage to the north-east - how they are guided, too, in their course by the rivers and valleys, and who knows but by the stars, as well as the mountain ranges, and not by the petty landmarks which we use? The bird whose eye takes in the Green Mountains on the one side, and the ocean on the other, need not be at a loss to find its way.

At noon we descended the mountain, and having returned to the abodes of men, turned our faces to the east again; measuring our progress, from time to time, by the more ethe

real hues, which the mountain assumed. Passing swiftly through Stillwater and Sterling, as with a downward impetus, (the reader will excuse the abruptness of the descent,) we found ourselves almost at home again in the green meadows of Lancaster, so like our own Concord, for both are watered by two streams which unite near their centres, and have many other features in common. There is an unexpected refinement about this scenery; level prairies of great extent, interspersed with elms, and hopfields, and groves of trees, give it almost a classic appearance. This, it will be remembered, was the scene of Mrs. Rowlandson's capture, and of other events in the Indian wars, but from this July afternoon, and under that mild exterior, those times secmed as remote as the irruption of the Goths. They were the dark age of New England. On beholding a picture of a New England village as it then appeared, with a fair open prospect, and a light on trees and rivers, as if it were broad noon, we find we had not thought the sun shone in those days, or that men lived in broad daylight then. We do not imagine the sun shining on hill and valley during Philip's war, nor on the war-path of Paugus, or Standish, or Church, or Lovell, with serene summer weather, but a dim twilight or night did those events transpire in. They must have fought in the shade of their own dusky deeds.

At length, as we plodded along the dusty roads, our thoughts became as dusty as they; all thought indeed stopped, thinking broke down, or proceeded only passively in a sort of rhythmical cadence of the confused material of thought, and we found ourselves mechanically repeating some familiar measure which timed with our tread; some verse of the Robin Hood ballads, for instance, which one can recommend to travel by.

"Swearers are swift, sayd lyttle John,

As the wind blows over the hill; For if it be never so loud this night, may be still."

To-morrow it

And so it went up hill and down till a stone interrupted the line, when a new verse was chosen.

"His shoote it was but loosely shot, Yet flewe not the arrowe in vaine, For it met one of the sheriffe's men, And William-a-Trent was slaine."

There is, however, this consolation to the

most way-worn traveller, upon the dustiest road, that the path his feet describe is so perfectly symbolical of human life - now climbing the hills, now descending into the vales. From the summits he beholds the heavens and the horizon, from the vales he looks up to the heights again. He is treading his old lessons still, and though he may be very weary and travel-worn, it is yet sincere experience.

Leaving the Nashua, we changed our route a little, and arrived at Stillriver village, in the western part of Harvard, just as the sun was setting. From this place, which lies to the northward, upon the western slope of the same range of hills, on which we had spent the noon before, in the adjacent town, the prospect is beautiful, and the grandeur of the mountain outlines unsurpassed. There was such a repose and quiet here at this hour, as if the very hill-sides were enjoying the scene, and as we passed slowly along, looking back over the country we had traversed, and listening to the evening song of the robin, we could not help contrasting the equanimity of nature with the bustle and impatience of man. His words and actions presume always a crisis near at hand, but she is forever silent and unpretending.

We rested that night at Harvard, and the next morning, while one bent his steps to the nearer village of Groton, the other took his separate and solitary way to the peaceful meadows of Concord; but let him not forget to record the brave hospitality of a farmer and his wife, who generously entertained him at their board, though the poor wayfarer could only congratulate the one on the continuance of hayweather, and silently accept the kindness of the other. Refreshed by this instance of generosity, no less than by the substantial viands set before him, he pushed forward with new vigor, and reached the banks of the Concord before the sun had climbed many degrees into the heavens.

it.

And now that we have returned to the desert life of the plain, let us endeavor to impart a little of that mountain grandeur into We will remember within what walls we lie, and understand that this level life too has its summit, and why from the mountain top the deepest valleys have a tinge of blue; that there is elevation in every hour, as no part of the earth is so low that the heavens may not be seen from, and we have only to stand on the summit of our hour to command an uninterrupted horizon.

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THE fourth day of their journey, as the sun was declining below the Sierra Moeda, leaving a golden effulgence suffusing all the sky, the company of cavaliers approached a stately castle, the abode of a famous knight, Don Alonzo de Aguilar, now stricken in years. He was seated in his hall, before an open casement, looking forth upon the highway, as they slowly wound up the valley. His grand-daughter was reading to him an ancient ballad called "The Lady of the Tree" for though no longer able to engage in knightly achievements, and do chivalrous deeds for love and lealty, he delighted to sit in his oaken chair and listen to the sweet voice of Donna Violante; and certes, never were ballads given in sweeter melody than discoursed in her low musical tones. This is the ballad the maiden was reading to the old knight:

"He was a false knight, child," said the old noble, when Donna Violante had ended; "he should have forthwith delivered the charmed maiden from her thralment! For such emprises is chivalry maintained!

"She rightly treated him, sire, by not speaking to him, for all his kneeling on the sword," said Donna Violante ; 66 no doubt this shameful knight killed himself in the wood, as he promised."

"He should ha' done it, daughter! But what company journeyeth hitherward? Look!

-thy eyes are young. I see the glancing of steel and the flutter of bonnets."

"It is a brave company of knights and men-at-arms, sire," exclaimed Donna Violante, clapping her hands and looking delighted as she gazed forth." One, two, five, seven brave knights are riding in advance, on prancing steeds, and their esquires and retinue come up behind!"

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They doubtless come from the tournament, and journey homeward. It is evening, and they should soon encamp. Let us go forth to the castle gate, and as they ride past I will offer them hospitality."

When the knights got opposite the great gate of the castle, not knowing its lord, they were riding by, when suddenly they beheld it thrown open, and the old noble appear, his locks white as wool, leaning on his sweet grand-daughter's arm.

"God save you all, gentle knights," he said, waving his hand for them to stop; "the day is past, and it is many a mile to hamlet or hostel; and I should bring shame upon my head to let so brave a company take lodging in the forest, when my castle hath roof and room. So alight, fair cavaliers, and share the hospitality of Alonzo de Aguilar."

When the knights heard this name, and so knew who the fine old knight was, they one and all lifted their travelling bonnets and did him reverence, for chivalry acknowledged no better or nobler name than his. Donna Violante modestly seconded the hospitable invitation of her grandsire, and the knights, thanking them for their courtesy, which would not be said nay, rode into the court of the castle, and became their guests for the night.

After the hospitable meal, which Donna Violante and her maids had quickly provided for them, was over, the whole party remained seated in pleasant talk around the board. Sir Henry Percie, whose heart was deeply smitten by the gentle beauty of the fair hostess, being seated near her, was entertaining her with accounts of the tournament, and of his journey, and how they had beguiled the hour of their encampment, by tales of each other's lands. On hearing this, Donna Violante signified her desire that the Venetian knight, whose lot Sir Henry Percie had told her it was, should relate his story for the evening's pastime. The old knight of Aguilar, also pressing him to tell it, he thus began:

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"It was in the year 1204," began the handsome and gallant signor Pier Farnese, looking respectfutly towards the maiden, "when the combined chivalry of France and Venice lay before Constantinople. The bosom of the Golden Horn was covered with the war galleys of the Venetians, and its shores were white with the warlike tents of their allies, the Franks. The siege had

lasted long, and yet the infidel Turks held their city untouched by a Christian foot, though a hundred thousand soldiers of the cross were encamped around her gates within bolt shot. One brilliant morning the rising sun shimmered the rippling Bosphorus with liquid gold, flashed back from a hundred minarets of silver, and blazed from myriads of lances, helms and banners. The fleet of numerous war galleys looked like burnished barks in the radiant splendor of its beams, and the satin tents of the princes and chief knights lining the green shores of the Bosphorus, shone like palaces of pearl. Never such morning beamed on such gallant show: while from the minarets was heard the loud cry of the muezzin of Allah il allah,' calling the infidel to prayer, mingling with trumpets of the Christian hosts assembling to battle outside the walls. It was the fortieth day of the siege, and the Turks had kept themselves so close within their city that no warlike deed had yet been done. There was many a brave knight who, riding up to the city gates, threw defiance at the Saracen, and challenged a combatant, but none up to this time had appeared to answer any of these numerous invitations to fair and open battle.

"In the midst of this brilliant and stirring scene on the morning I have described, the attention of Turk, Gascon and Venetian was drawn to a superb galley that suddenly shot round a point of the Golden Horn, and gallantly and swiftly approached the Doge's galley of state. It was a fair and stately vessel, with three banks of plashing oars, and it skimmed the waters as if its feathery sweeps were living wings. On all sides, as it advanced into the port, were heard exclamations of delight and surprise at its great velocity, as well as at its splendor; for many a morn one would look seaward and not such a bark behold! It had three tall masts of cedar, polished like ivory; broad sails of blue satin; a burnished poop of beaten gold, and on her lofty prow was perched the bronzed eagle of St. Marc. Her decks were bristling with casques, cuisses and shields, and ever and anon a shout would be borne therefrom over the water, which was answered back from galley and camp.

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"By the good rood, messieurs," said Charles of Anjou, who from his tent beheld the approach of the galley; "this is a fair show! Hath Cleopatra risen from the sea to visit us? "Tis a Venetian bark by her sign of the lion of San Marco ! Who knoweth her?"

"It must be the nephew of the Doge, my liege, the young knight Medici de Contavini, who is daily looked for to join us," answered one.

"He must be a rare youth to come in such guise! By my beard, I would have sworn a maiden sailed in yon pretty toy! Yet, 'fore