disposition and self-love had so long withheld from him. For her he refused the hand of the richest heiress of Anjou; for her he performed a pilgrimage on foot, when she was seized by a fever; for her, as he recounted in his address, he forded a rapid river at midnight; for her he passed many a stormy night under her lattice, celebrating her in song-for he was a minstrel, as well as a chief of high renown; and, lastly, for her he dared to single fight the most expert Hospadar of the adverse army, and, having put him hors de combat, he met horse to horse a brother of the Sultan Saladine, and having brought him to the ground, vaulted from his barb, and fought him on foot, lest it should be thought that he took him at vantage: here he again prevailed, crying at every pass of his de

stroying weapon, "Geraldine the Fair, smile upon me!" After a long contest he slew his man, and plucking the jewel from his turban, and the signet ring from his finger, he sent them as trophies to his mistress, who in return presented him with an amulet. His hopes were now increased, and, as he observed in concluding his narration, he hoped to win her at last, for whom alone he lived. Thus saying, he replaced his helmet on his brow, surmounted by an eagle plume; his crest the same; his colours, royal purple and scarlet.

The black punache, waving in sepulchral sadness over the vizier, crested by a sphynx, and bearing a yellow favour, announced the valiant knight of St. Sepulchre; one whose feats in Palestine had raised him to the highest pitch (with his brethren in arms. This was a cavalier of Provence-Sir Maurice Muranville. He had had but one ladye; faithfully had he served her; and when he was returning from the wars to obtain her hand, death wrested the prize from him. His mail was black, and he had made a vow to marry no other. His constancy and courage admitted of no doubt or dispute; and as he sat down, after telling his short story, the cup was

The yellow is the forsaken colour;-also, in some countries, is worn for mourning, from typifying the dust.

offered him to drink to her pious memory, and he was treated with great distinction.

"to

A pause ensued, when Sir Algernon de Falconberg stepped modestly, and reluctantly, into the circle. His face was of great manly beauty, and he was the youngest cavalier present. He had, nevertheless, won many prizes in single combat, on horseback, and on foot, and performed prodigies of valour in the last severe action with the Moorish host. Many a ladye bright had looked on him with a favourable eye: the Ladye Agnes Douglas was, however, the avowed ladye of his love. It becomes not me, brave cavaliers," said he, compete with you-it is not what I have done, but what I may do, in the field of honour, and in faithful service for my ladye, that must recommend me to your notice." Then kissing the rose-coloured favour which the Ladye Agnes had interwoven with the falcon on his white plumed helmet's crest." To the Ladye Agnes," continued he, "I have sworn eternal truth; for her, and for the banner of St. George, am I ready to live and to die; for each, what man dare do, that will I do!" Then, bowing respectfully, he drew back, and raised the goblet to his lips. His interesting appearance, added to his modesty, produced a strong sensation, and it was pretty generally anticipated that the prize would be awarded to him.

sex.

There was now only one knight to compete-Sir Felix St. Maur, a cavalier of Aquitaine : he was celebrated for his zeal in the cause of the crusaders, and for his devotion to the softer Faithful to his oaths, he had avenged the wrongs of the widow and the orphan repeatedly, having rescued a Ladye de Crequy from a strong fortress, where her jealous lord had confined her, and slain his kinsman, who pursued him in the orphan's right he slew a Norman knight of immense prowess, who had seized on and unjustly detained the lands of his ward. He was at once the favoured of the fair ones, and the terror of the Saracens; and now he was clad in the mail of one of their most powerful leaders, and had the cymitar of a

desperate Pacha by his side, yet sat he mute, and unwilling to rise, his bosom heaving with a hidden flame, and with evident agitation in his looks. He had for seven years been attached to the Ladye Isabel, but she might not be his many were the proofs of his passion, and many the dangers and trials which he had braved for her. Faithful in love, and undaunted in his duty, his every thought was bestowed on them. Great and mighty were his struggles to conceal his flame, for his ladye's honour was dearer to him than his life; and well was he aware that she cherished a mutual feeling for him. His eyes, when she was present, were fixed on her; his cheek glowed with the deepest crimson when she was named; in his casque a light-blue favour, emblem of her soft bewitching eye, stood unchallenged, for she was the pride of his heart, and none dared name her but with respect. The knights looked up to him to rise, and he did so; they knew his high deserts, and he felt it; they knew, and pitied, the state of his heart. He rose, and was about to speak, but he struggled with the intensity of feeling for utterance; he sighed, and, as the big tear trembled in his eyelid, he drew down his vizier over his face, and left the ring.

Every bosom glowing with sympathy for the brave, impelled the blood to the manly cheeks of the five contending knights, and, with the loudest acclamations, the prize was awarded to the knight of Aquitaine.

THE MOURNER.

BY F. W. N. BAYLEY, ESQ.

He stood beside a moss-grown grave,
When day flung beauty o'er the wave;
And its far-off dash, like a gasp of fear,
Broke low on the old mourner's ear!
He stood beside a silent tomb,

When the summer day had nought of gloom,
And the flow'rs that blossom'd all around
Flung scents upon the Holy Ground!

The sunny air was full of balm,
The rose was resting in its calm!
But a fairer rose, in a bed more deep,
Was sleeping a calmer and softer sleep!
A fairy thing on the lovely earth,

With a brow of beauty-a heart of mirth;
But the leaves had fallen and faded all-
And that weary mourner had watch'd their fall!

And now he was come with a tearful eye-
And a lonely heart-and a swelling sigh-
And the grieving thoughts of a soul whose night
Was all too dark for hope to light!

And while he was there by the moss-grown grave,
The far-off dash of the summer wave,

The bloom of flow'rs, the balm of air

What were they to him in his wild despair?

DON PEDRO AND IGNEZ DE CASTRO. Contiguous to the transept of the church belonging to the royal monastery of Alcobaca, fifteen leagues north of Lisbon, there is a gothic mausoleum of hewn stone, in the midst of which are two magnificent sepulchres of white marble, containing the remains of Don Pedro the First, King of Portugal, and of Donna Ignez de Castro, his consort.

A recumbent effigy of each, the size of life, is placed on their respective tombs; by which the former is represented with a long beard, a severe countenance, and in the act drawing his sword. The latter is represented with a beautiful innocent countenance, dressed in royal robes, and adorned with a diadem.

There are but few personages recorded in history, who have been oftener celebrated by dramatic writers than this princess. There have been no less than five tragedies formed from her pitiable narrative: viz. two in English, one in

French, one in Spanish, and one in Portuguese. The latter, perhaps, approaches the nearest to the truth of history, and is not inferior in point of poetical merit. The author, Senhor Nicola Luis, had no occasion to resort to fiction to rouse the passions of an audience; as the simple facts are sufficient to fill up all the scenes of pity and terror, and to shew to what lengths love and revenge are capable of transporting the human mind.

Don Pedro, son of Alphonso the Fourth, King of Portugal, and heir apparent to the crown, having fallen in love with a lady of the court, named Donna Ignez de Castro, thought he could not share the crown which awaited him with a more amiable person. She united to all the charms of beauty, the most graceful and accomplished manners. The Prince waving all considerations of birth and fortune, was privately married to her, by the Bishop of Guarda.

Notwithstanding the nuptials were performed with all the secrecy imaginable, yet an account of them reached the king's ear, who had premeditated a consort for Don Pedro, in the King of Castile's daughter. He questioned him as to the truth of the report; but knowing his father's arbitrary disposition, he thought it prudent then to conceal the fact.

The nobility also had intimation of the marriage; and the preference given to Ignez had awakened their jealousy: hence, they took every opportunity of representing her as a woman of the greatest ambition, and pretended that very fatal consequences were to be apprehended from such an alliance :-they also condemned the Prince as a rash and disobedient son.

The king, who was a man of weak understanding, gave ear to their calumny, and they worked upon his passions to that degree, that he resolved to murder the unfortunate princess. Accordingly, he set out to perpetrate the horrid deed, accompanied by three of his courtiers, and a number of armed men.