hard and humble bed; and happy to be with good and kind people, found sweet and tranquil repose, which had often fled from her when surrounded with every elegance and comfort.

Early the next morning she arose, awakened by unusual sounds; the matin song of the feathered inhabitants of the adjacent embowering trees, the lowing of the cattle, and combined noise of the poultry, all conspiring to banish slumber. Opening the casement which looked into the farmyard, as there were two in her chamber, one which looked forwards, and the other to the back of the cottage, the fragrant coolness of the morning air felt quite reviving, from having been so long confined in the smoky atmosphere of the metropolis. A sturdy apprentice girl was milking the cows, and judging that the new milk and the smell of the cows would be beneficial to her health, she went down into the farmyard, and drinking some, amused herself afterwards

afterwards in feeding the poultry and walking with Mrs. Heartwell over her little domain, who was proud to exhibit it to her.

Breakfast was prepared for Amelrosa in the parlour, with walls white-washed like her chamber, and decorated with paltry prints and sea-weed framed. In the style of former times, was a seat under the casement, and on this seat and a ledge outside the casement, were placed myrtles, geraniums, and other exotics, that filled the air with a refreshing perfume. Cockle and limpet shells were ranged round the plants to cover the earth by way of decoration; these shells being picked by some of the family from the sea shore. As she passed the kitchen she saw the apprentice and two labourers sitting at a large wooden table, and Mr. and Mrs. Heartwell breakfasting at a smaller one.

Amelrosa was quite pleased with the rural

rural life she led, and had not been above three weeks at Stoke Morton, when the rose of health, notwithstanding her melancholy, began once more to blush on her beauteous cheek. Her blue eyes again shone with their native lustre, beneath the dark fringed curtains that shaded them, and her exquisitely turned form to recover its roundness.

Simply attired, with a large straw hat to screen her from the fervid beams of the sun, tied down with lilach ribbon, she would ramble into the surrounding country, with no other companion than Tray, a little terrier dog, given by Mr. Heartwell, that she became very fond of, as it attached itself to her. Frequently would she climb the steep hills and admire the extensive and pleasing prospect, or wander through the varied recesses of some woodland retirement, or unfrequented romantic dell; and when tired, seated on a mossy bank with wild flowers growing round, or at the foot

of

of a majestic oak, listen pensively to the singing of the birds in the leafy groves and mazy copse; or to the murmuring of a rivulet that gently flowed and diffused itself through an enamelled mead.

The faithful dog lay crouched at her feet, and warned her of the approach of any stranger, that rarely, however, visited these solitary haunts, and were no other than clowns or country girls. Less frequently she would wander to the sea side, which was only a mile distant, and strolling over the sand, gather shells and sea weed. Often did she climb the proud heights of the projecting cliffs that frowned upon the sea-green waves below, and contemplate the grand expanse of water that made the head giddy to look at for a length of time.

Sometimes seated on the margin of the ocean, where the tide came dashing in, she would reflect with pity, on the frequent unfortunate fate of the industrious mariner,

who,

who after toiling many years on the vast bosom of the deep, finds oftimes in its turbulent domain, a watery grave. Reclining on the craggy point of a rock that conveniently jutted out, with pleasure she beheld the laborious fishermen drawing the Seine, while their wives and the neighbouring rustics anxiously waited on the beach to witness the produce of the net. The setting sun shone on the water, and glittered on the silver skins of the fish as they tumbled on the sand; which added to the motley group of men and women, the distant prospect of several vessels, with fishing smacks nearer the shore, formed altogether, a pleasing and interesting picture. Returning home, she frequently met the country people going down to the strand with baskets, to purchase fish, and always replied with the greatest affability to them, when they asked her ignorantly, what success the fishermen had that evening.

In one of her rambles, endeavouring to discover