companion, ejaculating, "This is the spot! here must the secret be divulged: if you agree to the conditions, listen! If I perform what I have said with respect to Julia, will you swear, even should she become your wife, and prove to be a descendant of the family by whom this house was built, even should she wish to appropriate her own fortune to the purpose-will you swear that the walls and the roof of this accursed mansion shall never be restored, nor any other founded upon its site ?"

"I swear it," said Walton-" what more ?” "Will you confirm the sincerity of your vow, and assist me in the destruction of what yet remains of this heaven-abandoned pile, by setting fire with your own hand, to yonder heap that I have prepared for the purpose of consuming it. When the Earl of Derby was executed at Bolton Cross, after escaping from the castle of Chester, it was considered a judgment upon him that his scaffold should be built with the timber of his own house at Latham. How much

more righteous is the judgment which condemns Brambletye to be burnt, even with the wood which I have gathered from its own sacrilegious chambers!" She pointed to a collection of faggots and timber piled up as if for a great bonfire; and Walton, who considered that little damage could ensue to the bare dismantled walls, beyond that of discolouring them with smoke, readily consented to the proposition. "Sit down," said his companion, " and attend to me without interruption; for my own short history is so interwoven with that of Julia, and the doom of Brambletye House, that you must listen to its recital. If you have ever been at Ashurst, in this neighbourhood, or have perused its records, you must doubtless have heard of the blessed and holy Rood, or image of the Mother of God, which it possessed in the days of the true religion, and which was endowed with such miraculous powers, that the nails of its hands, and the hair of its head grew every year, as many thousand pilgrims who then annually came to

visit it, could attest. When that misbelieving arch-apostate, King Henry the Eighth, issued an order for destroying all these sacred images, my ancestors, to prevent the sacrilege with which it was threatened, removed the Rood from its shrine in the dead of night, and set it up in a secret subterranean crypt of the ancient mansion of the Lawrences at Ashurst. There it remained for many years, deprived indeed of its supernatural powers, but still hallowed in the eyes of our pious family, who steadily maintained the true Roman faith through all the fire of persecution. In honour of the blessed Queen of Heaven, I was christened by the name of Mary, and solemnly dedicated to the service and preservation of her holy image, before which that ceremony was performed. It was my duty to renew the lights that were kept perpetually burning at her shrine, to supply flowers and decorations on the festivals, to superintend the robes with which she was invested, and to keep the key of the vaulted passage that led to

the secret crypt, which I was bound by a solemn oath never to discover. These duties did I unremittingly perform for a long succession of years, until, one by one, relations and kindred died away, and I was left alone in our timeworn mansion, the last and sole survivor of the ancient Catholic family of the Lawrences. Alone did I say? No-I was dwelling with the Mother of God, whose image was my solace, my companion, my comforter. Whole days have I passed with it under-ground, exchanging the glorious sunshine for the light of tapers, and all the bustle and society of the world for subterranean silence and my beloved image-and these days have been the happiest of my life.

"At length the Civil War broke out, and there went forth a fresh fire of persecution against the unhappy Papists, as we were called. All the emblems and symbols of our faith were ordered to be destroyed; and as we ourselves were vexed with sore oppressions, I shut up my house, and dwelt almost entirely in the

Crypt. A female servant, who was employed to bring me victuals, accidentally discovered my secret, which the traitress immediately divulged. The story flew from mouth to mouth, and in a few hours an infuriate mob, with Sir John Compton at their head, hallooing them on to the work of sacrilege, were heard approaching my dwelling. By their loud cries I quickly learnt their object, and prostrating myself before the figure of the Virgin, I solemnly swore to avenge any indignity that might be offered to her, if she would testify, by some sign, that she accepted me as her minister of retribution. No sooner had I pronounced the oath, than the nosegay, which I had placed in her hand, fell from her grasp, and rolled to my feet, in acceptation of my pledge! My very soul thrilled within me at the miracle-I trembled all over with reverence and awe—and yet I felt proud at being deemed worthy of such a gracious manifestation.

"With the yells and clamour of demons did