_ $2.00 per Annum VOL. 2, No. 12.] i "All extremes are error, the opposite of error is nu truth but error; truth lies between the extremes." STRATFORD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 1864. in advance. [WHOLE No. 39 Select Portry. Gentle Words. A young rose in the summer-time Ts beautiful to me, And glorious are the many stars That glimmer o'er the sea ; But gentle words and loving hearts. And hands to clasp my own, Are better than the fairest flower, Or stares that ever shone The sun may warm the grass to life, The dew the drooping flower, And eyes grow bright and watch the light Of atumn's opening hour; But words that*breathe of tenderness, And smiles we know are true, Are warmer than the summer-time And brighter than the dew. It is not much this world can give, With all its subtile art, And gold and gems are not the things - To satisfy the heart; But, oh. if those who cluster zourd The alter and the hearth, 'Have gentle words and loving smiles, How beautiful is earth! From Chamber's Journal. LOST SIR MASSINGBERD. CHAPTER L--GIANT DESPAIR. In a midland county, not as yet scarred by factories, there stands a Vilage called Fairbarn, which at the time I knew it first T7many, many years ago--had.for_ its squire, its lord, its despot, one Sir Mas: ing- "berd Heth. Its rector, at that date, was the Rev. Matthew Long; and at the Ree- tory, when my story commences, there was 'In pupilage to the said rector a youth, one Peter Meredith, who has since grown up to be the present writer. When we are small, all things seem vast to our young minds > good men are saints, and evil ones are de. mons. I loved Mr. Long, therefore, ulthough hei was my tutor; and oh, how I feared and hated Sir Massingberd! It was not, how- ever, my boyhood alone that caused me to hold this man as a monster of iniquity ; it was the opinion which the whoie county entertained of him, more or less. The people of Fuirburn trembled before him, as a ship's company before some eruei captain of fiiteen years back--I mean some fifteen ears before the period of Avhich I write. _eaebenner had not very long ceaséd to do their cruel mission; there were old men in our village who had served their time in His Majesty's ships, very. much against their will; there were gaps in poor families still, which might or might not be filled up; empty chairs, that had so -- stood for a score of years perhaps, wait- ing for still expected ceupiers ; fathers of families, or the props of families. -in sons and brothers, had been spirited away from Fairburn, even a little while ago, aud had not come back again yet. They had been poachers, or radicals, or sectaries (as dissenters were then called), or something else distasteful to Sir Massingberd's father ; and they had been curried off to sea at his command, Let not my young readers imagine that I am eXazgerating matters; J write ofa state of things of which they have not tlie reniotest. ¢ mception, but which 1 remember perfectly well. They have reason to thaak Heaven that they did not live in those times, if they happen to belong to those unprosperzus classes which were then termed collectively, 'the mob ;' there were no such things as 'skilled workmen,' or 'respectuble artisans,' in those diys. The 'people' were 'the Great Unwast:ed.'. 'Lo build a Crystal Palace for such us they were held to be, would have seemed to be the height of tully; they would have taken no other pleasure in it than to smash every pane with brick-bats--for were they not 'the duingerous classes.' Such opinions were begiuuing to die out, indeed, but they were held still by many great people, and Sir M-ssiugberd Heath was one of these. Reared ina clergyman's family, and a cle:- man myself, have been a conservative in polities all my life, und in that belief I shall die; but rank and power are no excus: with me for evil deeds. In the chamber of my nephew John, who ' takes in everything,' as. the phrase goes, I once discovered a democratic magazine, edited by a gentleman whose surname I forget, but who had a great multitude of initials. A'!] the poor people aescribed in this work were pious and moral, and all the rich people were infidel and profligate ; but for the noblemen--and there Were a good many persons of hish rank 'in the various stories--were reserved ali the choicest invectives and most superlative abuse. Nothing, of course, can "be more "unfair than this treatment of a class of: per- "sons who. considering their temptations, are _Teally more than respectable. As a general Tule, the portraits were extravagantly mali- cious, but they had this attraction for me--_ they were all exceedingly like Sir Massing- berd Heath. He was the very type of that bloated aristocracy that is held up, in seare- crow fashion, by republican writers. There were pot many living specimens to be met with even at the date of my tale, and the old baronet, perhaps himself' perceiving that he was one of the last of them, determined that he should not be the least in infamy. like the Unjust Judge, he neither feared God nor regarded Man, and, worse than he, he would not perform a good action on ac- count of the importunity of any person. She uiust have been a brave woman who im- portuned Sir Massingberd Heath, and could searcely have been brought up. in Fairburn. Whether George IV. was king or not, at the period at which I write, it matters not, for his connection with our squire had ter- minated ycars before ; but at one time they had been fast, very fast friends. .Whena king and a baronet run a race of extraya- gance, the king generally wins, and so it had been in this case; his Majesty, or rather his Royal Highness the Regeat, had dis- tunced Sir Mussingberd, and they were not now upon even speaking-terms. Frieud- ships of this sort do not last when one of the parties has spent all his money. What as the use of a poor man at White's who could only look on while his old friends pluyed whist for one hundred pound points, and five hundred pounds upon the rubber ? What busiuess--let alone pleasure--could one have in London, when Howard and Gibbs would not lene one fifty pounds even at fifty per cent ? Sir Massingb rd had left that gay, wicked world for good, that is to say, for ever, and was obliged to live at his beautiful country-seat' in spite of himself. He was irretrievably ruined, so far. as his court prospects were concerned, for he had no ready money. He owned all Fairburn, and many hundreds of rich acres about it, besides the Park and the River; he had the great tithes of the place, and manorial rights (which he exercised, too) innumer- able. Nobody quite knew--he did not know himself--what privileges Le had or had not, what pathways ke could close at pleasure, what heriots_ he could demand, or 3 fis ror Pes ht EEN EE tu Farwar Bee nacre but ff all cases he gave himself the benefit of the doubt. [t was a very foolish thing to leave any disputed point to the sense of justice, or the good-feéling of our squire, and yet this was generally « one. Where it was not done, where some honest fellow had ventured to oppose his high prerogative, even though he gained his end, he was always, as the village-people said, 'paid out' for it. I don't mean to say Sir Massingberd murdered him--although he would have done that, I am confi .ent, without the slightest scruple, if it could have been effected with safety to himself-- but he took his revenge for him, sonner or later, ina very simple way. He cauyht his children trespassing --having caused them to be enticed upon his land--and commit- ted to prison; or he b oke down his fences, and spoiled his corn in the night; for he had dependents devoted to his wicked will, and apon whose false-witness he could al- ways ie y. ' And yet with all this power, the baronet, as I have said, was a poor man; he had borrowed all the money he could, and was evea said to hive overrexche! the London Jews in these transaetions; and it was all gone--absolutely all. It was seldom that this great lord of acres had a. ten-pound note in his pocket, for his house and land were all entailed upon his nephew Marma dake, and he had only a Hfe interest in any- thing. Poverty perhaps made him bitterer and more savage than he would otherwise have been; but, for my part, I cannot imagine him to have been agreeable under any circumstances. I have heard however, that at Carlton House he was once the first avorite--af er Brun m:ll--and that, ol course, made him sought after by many people. He had a wicked wit, which was doubtless acceptable in some circles, and his tonzue, it may be, was not so coarse fn those days of prosperity. He took a delight in his old age in retailicg his infamous expe- riences, before womeu, if possible, and if not, before clerzymen or boys. I remember to have heard of Mr. Long once venturing to reprove his squire, upon an occasion of this very kind. 'Phe r2ctor had been dining at the Hall--an exceptional occurrence, and under excep'ional cireumstances--when, after dinner, the host began one of his dis- graceful reminiscenses, whereupon wy tutor rose and said: 'Sir Massingberd, you should be ashamed to talk of such matters to me; but before this boy, it isinfamous. I think you for your hospitality; but I shall go home.' 'Very wcll; go, and be hanged!' repl'ed the ltarcnet; and }.armaduke and I will make a jolly night of it.' Marmaduk~ Heath was Mr, Long's pupi' as well as my:elf, and he resided with his uncle at the Ual!l. He would very much sccner Lave retired with his tutor ou thst oceasi.n, and indeed hav-- resized at the Rectory, for he dreaded his r_latiye beyond measure, All the pretended f ankuess with which the old man sometim s treated the boy was unable to hice the hae with which Sir Mas-iugi crd reaily regarded hi ; but fcr this heir-;resumptive to the enta |, this milk-and-water lad of seveutcen, tue baronet might raise money to any exteut, nay, sell all Fairb rn if te chose, and so mi. ht once more tak2 his rigntful station 10 the world, wnd rejoin the Four-in-haud Uiub, and demard his 'revenge' irom Lord Thanet at ecarte, He could still drink, fur the cellars of Fairburn Hal were wetl-uizh inexhaustible; but if that chit of a Jad was but carried off, he might have the best in the lana to drink with him. It is true that arvine! man in Sir Messingberd's position ean still afford a good table; game is plentiful with him, and fish, and he grows his own mutton and venison, 80 that neither himself nor his iriends need starve; bui servants mus: be matutained to wait upun these, and a great country-house without its carriage is usa lobster witaout a claw. Conscquent y, except in the shcoting-season, there were no guests at Fairburn Hull; the folks that did come were men ofa certain class, current, indeed, in goud society, but onl, in that of mules; areal lady had not set foot in the I ari, far less the House, fur the last twe!ve years; the manner in which Sir Massingberd lived forbade such a thing. A few bac elors of tae County Hunt, and half-a-dozen roues from town, were all the company that could be enticed to Fairburn in Seytember and October; all the rest ot the year, the grass grew in the avenue un- touched by whee: or hoof, and even sprang up amo:g the stone steps that led to tne fron: door. Somehow or other, I never saw it thus \.ithout thinking of the parable o1 the Sower and the Sced, with some distant and uncharitable reference to our squire ! I wondered whether it was possible tuat in any far-back time any good seed of any sort had found its way iaty the crannies of his stony heart, and if so, what had become of it. I used totry and pieture that viclent, Wickeu Man as @ us fue me rye St A le his prayers at his mother's knee. I believe she had died soon afier her marriage, and that, short as her wedded life had been, it was a very unhappy one. F.irbarn Hali bad never been a house for tender honest women ; the Heaths, who are celebrated, like anvther noble race ot the same sort, for their hard hearts and cx- cellent digesti.ns, had never been guod husbands. Fortun.tely, daughters were rare in the family. How Sir Muassingberd would have brought up a daughter, L snud- der to think. | One son had becn the sole offspring youchsated to the baronets of this line for many gene. ations, except the lit; and in the present case, there vas no such direct heir, Some said Sir Massingberd had married secretely, but was separated frow his wife, and sowe said he. iad not; but it seeued somehow certain that with him the immedia'e succession fiom father to son would cease. His brother Gilbert hau um. ried young in Italy, and had died in that courtry within the sume year, His widow had brought his posthumous child, waen a few months oid, to the Hail, at the in- vitation of Sir Massing! erd, and had re- uained there for some time. The villagers still spoke ot the dark foreign lady as betmy the must beautiful creature they had eve beheld; the Park keepers u-ed to come upon her in solitary glades, singing swietly, bat ah ! so serrowfuily, to ber child in a congue that they did not unverstand. 'I'he buonet himself was absent, not yet cast out of the court whirlpool, and the lonely vast- ness of the place was not disple. sing to the young widow, wishing, perhaps to be left undisturbed with her grief, but after Sir Massingbe.d ¢.me down, she remained but a very few days. 1t was raid that she fled with ber babe ina winter's night,and thit her little footprints were traced in the snow to the cross-rouds where the mail went by, by which she had arrived. She was not 1ich, and had come down in a manner quite different from that of her brother-in-liw, who, broken and ruined though he was. had posted with four horses. That was how all geutlefolks of the country travelled in those days; even the very barristers on circuit indulged, and were obliged to do so, in a chaise and a pair. The mother of Marmaduke Heath, however, who was heir- presuiptive to the largest landed property in Midshire, was very poor. Whether the latz baronet had omitted to make a_ proper provision for nis younger son, or whether Gi'bert had made away with it after the. usual manner of che Heaths, I do not know; but his widow and child betook themselves into Deyonshire--selected, perhaps, from its climate approaching nearer than any other part of England to that of her native land-- and there lived in a very humble fashion. How Marmaduke ever got into his uncle's ~lrAn railing, "a Certain sort. hands, I never could cieariy unde stand ; hi: mother hid died suddenly, wh: reupou the family lawyer, Mr. Cunt, of Russell Square, who had entire management of the Heath property, had in the tirst instance taken posression of the lad; but Sir Massingberd had ¢ aiined his right to be the guardian of his nephew, and it could not be disallowed. Suca were mainly the cireumstauces, I believe; bat all sorts of stories were in circulation -concerniny 'Giant Despair,' as the s:vage old baronet was Called, and his nephew; the gencral opinion agreeing only upon one point--that no sane person would change places wish Master Marmaduke Heath at Doubting Castle, nothwithstunding the greatness of his expectatsons, CH: PTER IIl.--MY FIRST INTERVIZW My own history has little or nothing to do with the present narrative, and therefor: I will net allude to it, except where it is absolutey necessary. Suffice it to say, that wy parents were in India, and that for many years Fairburn Rectory was my home. I had no vacations, in the sense that the word is generally understood to mean; I had nowhere else to go to, nor did I wish to go anywhere. No father could huve been kinder, or have done his duty better by me, than did Mr. Long. How poor Marmaduke used to envy me my wardship to that good man! I weli remember the first day I came to Fairburn. It was early sammer;_ its great woods were in all their glory; and to me, fresh from. shipboard and the vast waste of sea, the place seemed a bower of bliss. First, the gray old Churehtower upon the hill; and then the turrets of' the Hall, half-hidden in oak ; and last, the low- roofed, blossom-entangled Cottage where I found so bright a-welcome--that was the order in which Fairburn was introduced to visitors from town. The Church, and the Hall, and the Rectory all -- lay together. the church yard, dark with yews, encroached upon the Rectory garden; and that bright spot, so trimly kept, that one was moved to pick up a fallen leaf, if such were on its lawn, sloped sewn into the heart of the Park. A light With wires to nrevent the hares and rabbits trom entering in and and nib- bling tle flowers, alone divided the great m.n's land from Mr Long's trim demesne. Lhe deer came up and pushed tieir velvet horns against it. In copse and fern, twinkled the innumerable ear and tail. Thad never seen such animals before, and they delighted me hugely. . After dinner, on the very day that [ arrived, I fed them threugh the rails, and they ate the bread from my open hand. "They take you for Marmaduke,' said Mr. Long smiling; 'for otherwise, they would be shy of a stranger,' * And who is Marmaduke, sir ?' 'He is your fellow-pvpil, and T make no doubt will be your friend. TI wish that he was resident with me, like yourself; but his uncle, whe lives at the Hall yonder, will not part with him. He reads with me morning and afternoon, however.' 'Does he like reading, sir?' inquired I with hesitation, for I for my part did not. My edueation, such as it was, had been fit- ful, incomplete, and in a word, Indian; and [ had come back muc: older than most European boys have to come home, a sad dunce. ' Yes, Marmaduke is very fond of read- ing, pursued my tutor; 'that is, reading of He always does his work well with me, so I must not be hard on him ; but he is certainly too fond, of novels. And yonder he comes, see, with a book in his hand, even as he walks.' My wntor pointed to. the Park; ard there, coming slowly down a long, broad 'ride,' with his eyes fixed upon a volume he held in his hand, was a youth of seventeen years old or so, which was about my one age. As he came nearer, [ began to see why the deer had mistaken ire for him; not, indeed, be- cause he was very handsome (which was not at all the case with me), but inasmuch as his complexion was as olive as my own. 'Why, he has been to India too!' whis- pered I to my tutor, rather cisappointed than otherwise, for I had had encugh of Indian playmates, and to spare. ' No,' returned he in she same low voice ; 'his mother was an Italian.' Then he introduced us; and I began to hang thy head, and play with the buttens of my Waistcoat, as is the graceful manner of hobbie-de-hoys upon such a ceremony; but Marmaduke, complctely selfpossessed, asked about my journey, and particularly what I hud seen at sea. He knew so much about sharks and porpoises, that I thought he must hav2 made some long voyage himself; but he told me that such was not the case. {{ But I should like to go, to-$ea of all things,' said he; 'and I would cruise zbout that cape--what's its name ?--until I met with the Flying Dutchman : that's the yes- sel which I wish to see.' "IT have never heard of : er,' said I, proud of that nautical use of the fiminine, 'Is she one of the Company's ships ? At this, my tutor began to rub his hands -- and chuckle inwardly, as was bis wont when vastly umused ; but percviving that the color came into my cheeks, he laid his haad upon my shoulder kindly, and said he was glad to find my head, at least, was not stuck full of foolish stories as some people's heads were : while Marmaduke, without triamphing in the least over my ignorance, explain.d to me all about the 1 hantom Ship, which glides full sail upon the astonished voyager, and passes through his vessel without shock or noise. _ Ie told the tale exactly as if he had heard it straight from the lips of an eye- witness, and believed it himself; he never laughed, and if he smiled, he seemed to be sorry that he had done 'so directly after- wards, Some melancholy thought appeared to occupy his mind at all times; and if a bright fancy crossed it, it was but for an stant, like lightening through the cloud, I am not describing an 'interesting' youth, after the manner of romatce writers; no 'secret sorrow' ob cured th: young existence of Maamaduke Heath, but simply, as I sub- sequently discovered, vulgar, abject terror, His whole being was oppressed by one man. The shadow of Sir Massingberd cast itself over him alike when he went out fiom hig hated preseneewnd when he was about to ré- turn to it. e was never free from its nightmare influence--never. His passion for reading was not so wueh a love of books, as a desire to escape in them fronf the cir- cumstances of h's actual life. . Lf he ever fr rgot him in earnest talk--and he was the mest earnest talker, asa boy, I ever knew-- the mention of his uncle's name was a Medusa's Head to turn him into stony silence on the instant. If Marmaduke could only have got away from Fairburn Hall when I first knew him, his mind might have regained its natural vigor and elasticity ; but as it was, it g ew more sombre and mor- bid every day. His hungry intellect was nourished upon what associations happend to be at hend, and they were very unhealthy food. The wickedness of Sir Massing berd was, of, course, sufficiently present to him, like some hateful picture hung ata bed's foot, which the eyes of a sleepless man cannot avoid ; while every tongue about the Hall was ready to tell him of the evil deedg of his forefathers. At fist, I thought my young fri nd's constant allusion to hig family was the result of aristocratie pride, although, indeed, there was nothing to be proud ot in what he told me, but very much the reverse; but I soon found that this wag not the case. The history of the Heath'g was what interested him most of all histories, and he favored me with extracts from it solely ujion tht account. As for the fact f their noble 'blood running in his own veins, he would, I am confident, have tar- rather been the son of Mrs. Myrtle, the kind old housekeeper at the Reetory. To be Continued. Dinya yenrar rae Stocan?--When the last' lingering ray of light seems gone, and some al- most impossible, though long wished. for event, transpires that brings back both Hope and life, itis a circumstance not easily forgotten. Not. more joyful was the sound of the slogan to the" ears of the Scotch girl, Jessie at Lucknow than' the assurance to a sick and dying man that you have a medicine that will eure him, Down's Elixir has caused many a heart to feel glad restoring the sick to health when all. other medicines had proved worthless. John F, Henry & Co, Proprietors, 303 St. Paul St. Mon- treal OC. £. Goon ror Horses.--Mr. Morrison, agent of the Philadelphia Lightening Rod Go. having oc- casion to employ a great n mber of horses, found Henry's Vermont Liniment superior to any gargling oil he had ever used. It was not originally intended to be used in this way, but was designed for the pains and aches to which' human flesh is heir. It cures tooth-ache, head- ache, neuralgia, and the pains and diseases of * the bowels. It is a purely vegetable medicine, and no harm can result from the use of. ite Jobn F. Heny & Co., Proprietors, 303 St. Paul. St. Montreal C. EB. siicibd A A Goop Time Comine --PFor dyspeptic3 and those who have been suffering fur years with a disordered liver, or weakness of the digestive organs. You will believe this after giving Hooflands German Bitlers a trinl. This re medy will cause a permanent cure, and enable you to e_joy life, a8 hy wg ghd oO} eat A Heactuy Famny.--There is a- family at Medway, Mass.,consisti of seven members, into' whieh death has never entered. The father js 92 years old, the mother '89, one child 65, another 43 and their united ages Is O36. years, © aaa A clergyman at en afiernoon.. ser- vice was asked to read a notice fora woman's rights lecture, which he did in this wise: At balf past six o'clock, at the school-house in the first GF district, a hen will attempt to crow. ROOST. BOs 9° 80i PURSES,