at her escape, as they calculated, from the animosity she had expressed against him, that she could hardly content herself with any thing less than the demolition of his lordship's wig.

Restless and uneasy, and anxious to avoid the raillery with which he knew he should be still persecuted, he determined to avoid the Court-idlers who were generally lounging about the stone gallery, the matted gallery, or the painted chamber of Whitehall; and he was accordingly going round by the garden of the Palace, when the gate opened, and three figures passed out into the Park, whose apparition almost transfixed him to the spot on which he stood, with utter amazement. It was Julia, gaily and superbly dressed, leaning upon the arm of Lady Castlemaine on one side, and upon that of Mark Walton on the other. She had evidently recognized him, for she blushed deeply, turned aside her head, and walked forward with increased rapidity, leaving Jocelyn in a state of mind that baffles description. Her splendid

attire, the character of the woman upon whose arm she was leaning, the power of passing through the privileged gate, which was understood to be reserved for the King and his mistresses; every thing seemed to attest that she had been secreted about the Palace, as he had always suspected; that she had been unable to resist the attractions of a Court, and the solicitations of a royal lover; that she had followed the infamous example set by so many other women of superior station to herself, and that she was in consequence utterly unworthy of his

love.

Irritated at once by indignation and disappointment, he hurried back to his own apartments, locked himself up, and devoted the remainder of the day to solitude and the indulgence of his own melancholy thoughts. Even the intervention of a night's rest, which generally sufficed to allay the irritation of his mind, had not at all dissipated the splenetic feelings of the day before he no sooner arose than he wan

dered to the water-side, stepped into a boat, and desired to be rowed to the city, intending once more to survey the ruins, a scene which seemed congenial to the desolate state of his own mind. Instead of executing this purpose he made his way, after landing, to Moorfields, which were then covered with a motley encampment of poor -houseless sufferers, huddled together under tents, awnings, and rags of every possible description, and surrounded by such goods and chattles as they had been enabled to snatch from the flames. Amidst the misery and squalor of this

gypsey scene, stood the gaily-decorated booth of Polichinello the Italian puppet, whose exhibition, under the magic influence of fashion, drew crowds of visitants from the Court end of the town, to startle the surrounding wretchedness with the echoes of their obstreperous mirth.

Little solicitous of mingling with these heartless triflers, he wandered away from the scene, so wrapt in his own sad thoughts, that he scarcely knew what direction he was taking

Pleased

until he found himself in the vicinity of the Tower, when he observed, upon a projecting sign, a head of Merlin, over which was written, "Here lives an astrologer-admittance from twelve till four :" and under the painting was a quaint and humorous copy of verses. with the style and talent of this inscription, he resolved, in the hope of dissipating his uneasy reflections, to desire a sample of the wizard's skill; although he had not the smallest confidence in the power of these necromancers. mounting the stairs, he was ushered into an anteroom filled with company, waiting their turn for an audience, as the wise man only received one at a time. In due course, Jocelyn was admitted into the sanctum sanctorum, where the astrologer sate installed, surrounded with globes, astrolabes, mosaical rods, tables for calculating nativities, and all the customary apparatus and trumpery of his calling.

On

"What is your purpose?" said the astrologer, as he entered-"do you wish to learn the art

of framing sigils and lamens, of erecting a scheme, casting nativities, forming horoscopes, or producing vivification by the divining rod?”

"If you know not the purpose with which I came, how can you know aught else concerning me?" said Jocelyn, willing to puzzle the conjuror.

"I can know nothing but by my art," replied the astrologer-" let me consult the stars, and make invocation, and you shall be satisfied of my skill." At these words he performed various fantastical contortions, consulted his books and his instruments, and after exclaiming—“ Per virtutem illorum qui invocant nomen tuum, Hermeli, mitte nobis tres angelos," he pretended to hold conversation with the three angels, whom the spirit Hermelus had sent him. At the conclusion of his conjuration, he said to Jocelyn,

"Your place of nativity is against you: Heaven send, leave not you fleece in the one like a sheep, nor wear the other about your neck like a

your

felon, for both a Bramble and a tye are con