rich ornaments she wore, the chain and miniature with which she was found playing; and it was to deliver these into your own hands, to restore your wife to the fortune and honours of her family, that I have ventured forth from our little Zoar in the forest, braving arrest and danger by wearing this interdicted habit, and exposing myself to the suspicions and harsh conclusions of the man whom I was serving, by visiting him at an hour seldom chosen by those whose purposes are open and honourable." As he concluded his speech, he drew from beneath his robes a small casket, containing the articles to which he had alluded, and placed it in Jocelyn's hands.

"I stand abashed and self-rebuked at my injustice," exclaimed Jocelyn, who had listened with the deepest interest at this recital." You have conferred upon me an obligation inestimable in my eyes, because it secures the happiness of one whom I love better than myself. If I knew how to express my gratitude-how to

;

reciprocate this invaluable favour" I am sufficiently rewarded already," said the monk "I have done my duty :-for myself I demand no other remuneration; but for others of my communion I venture to request that you will henceforth judge more charitably of them, from what you have now seen of me."-He crossed his hands upon his bosom, bowed, and walked out of the room.

Gratified as Julia was at this unexpected accomplishment of the only thing that was wanting to complete her happiness, she rejoiced in it more on the account of others than on her own. Any humiliating considerations that might attach to herself from the obscurity of her birth, she could bear with fortitude, however she might wish to see them removed; but she had the keenest sense of any reproach, any thing derogatory to his dignity, that might be entailed upon her husband, by the choice he had made; and she was doubly delighted to find not only that both were relieved from this stigma, but

that by proving to be the daughter of the late Sir William Compton, she might ultimately restore that friendly intimacy which her abduction many years ago had so unfortunately interrupted. Nor was it a less grateful reflection that this accession of happiness would be fully shared by Constantia, to whom she immediately wrote a circumstantial account of the discovery, declaring that notwithstanding all the generous sacrifices made in her behalf, her joy would have remained incomplete without this developement of the mystery that involved her birth; and promising to send her a full, true, and particular statement of her interview with her grandfather, the Earl of Northampton, to whose seat in Warwickshire she had determined to proceed without delay.

As to Sir John, he had no sooner learned the welcome news, than he snapped his fingers, and hopped round Julia, and kissed her, and congratulated her with an ungovernable glee; declaring, that if he hadn't been as blind as a

buzzard, he might have seen that she was of his own birth and kin, since she had the merry eye of the Comptons, and their fine figure, and in fact the family beauty; adding, however, that the Warwickshire branch, though they called themselves the head of the tree, were never so handsome as the Comptons of Sussex. He approved of the visit to the Earl, whom he irreverently designated as the surly old Hurlothrumbo; authorising Jocelyn to declare, that although he could not admit himself to have been in error when they quarrelled so many years before, he was willing to make any reasonable overtures towards a reconciliation, which he hoped this auspicious marriage would perpetuate. Charged with these pacific instructions, which Jocelyn determined to exceed, if necessary to his purpose, he set off, accompanied by Julia, and arrived in due time in the immediate vicinity of the Earl's seat. A diverging road, at a little distance from the mansion, occasioning the driver to stop and apply for

instructions, which of the two branches he was to select, Jocelyn, who was equally unacquainted with the neighbourhood, alighted for the purpose of making some inquiry at a cottage. Advancing a little way for this purpose, he saw a party approaching him, preceded by a stern, though venerable-looking, personage, whom, from the descriptions he had received, he immediately guessed to be the Earl. This conjecture proved correct, nor was it, indeed, easy to be mistaken as to his identity. Disdaining all modern innovations, his lordship retained the old Cavalier vest and cloak, with slouched hat and drooping feather; his grey hair fell down to his shoulders, he had an ancient baskethilted sword by his side, and his solid black boots had loose hanging tops of russet leather. An unhooded soar falcon, with the Earl's vervailes, was perched upon his right wrist; and as he walked forward in a stately kind of march, his falconer and other servants followed at a respectful distance, one of them leading his