together. Very often, while the English troops were upon the march to oppose one of these bands, they were forced to change their route, and march where the danger seemed most pressing!

Such was the state of this country in the reign of the second Ethelred. At that period there stood on the lofty shore, near Shanklin, in the Isle of Wight, a convent, founded by one of the Saxon kings in the time of the heptarchy. This did not escape the eagle eye of Olaus, as one sunny morning his vessel ploughed the waters of the English Channel.

The rover held a council of his daring crew, who urged him to make for the coast at once, and attack the convent before their approach could be discovered by the islanders. The advice was taken; but as he neared the shore, an armed host appeared in sight; and the rocks being almost perpendicular, Olaus prudently deferred his attack, and feigning a retreat, stood out to sea, and was soon lost to the sight of the alarmed islanders, who, delighted at his departure, returned to their several occupations.

But the wary pirate had not relinquished his intention. As the night advanced, he again altered his course, and under cover of the darkness returned to the island. The tide was down: Olaus landed, and drew up his followers on the sands then leaving a guard with the boats, proceeded to discover a pathway among the rocks which he had observed in the day-time. This occupied them for some time; but the pathway, or rather steps, which were cut in the rock, having at length been found, the pirates ascended, and were soon under the walls of the convent.

The monks were performing the midnight service of the church, little dream-, ing of the danger that awaited them, when a loud thundering at the doors caused the sonorous chanting of the brothers to subside into a tremulous quaver. The superior looked aghast; but unwilling to set a bad example, he endeavoured to conceal his trepidation, and commanded them to proceed.

Again the noise was renewed with redoubled violence, and the chanting sunk into low whispers of suspicion and alarm. The doors of the convent now shook with repeated shocks, as though given by a battering ram, and the inmates tremblingly awaited the result.

One of the monks, more courageous than the rest, ventured to demand of the assailants, from a loop hole, the object of their unseasonable visit, though it re

quired no skill to divine it. He was answered by a volley of oaths in Danish; but one loud and clear voice cried out in the Saxon language,—

"Open your doors, monk, or we will force them, and deal with ye as we are wont to deal with those who brave our power."

"They shall be opened;" returned the monk; "but first swear on the cross that we shall suffer no harm, and that the altar shall be spared and respected."

A loud Ha, ha! was the only reply, but it caused the monk to shudder; nevertheless, he wished to hold out to the last, in the vain hope that the islanders might be alarmed, and rise to rescue them.

Alas for the brethren! those who lived in the neighbourhood of the convent, hearing the noise of the attack, and unable in the darkness to discover the number of the invaders, had fled inland, in confusion and terror, which of course magnified the danger tẹnfold.

The violent thumping was renewed with great vigour, and accompanied by loud execrations. Suddenly the doors were dashed open, and a band of savage looking men, variously armed, rushed into the convent.

The superior, casting a look of contempt on his quaking brethren, advanced to meet the pirates.

"Impious man,' said he, in a firm tone, addressing their leader, "forbear your violence! Risk not the church's curse, but depart with your lawless followers

The tall herculean figure who was thus addressed, shook himself violently, until the rings of his hauberk rung with the motion, and grasping his huge axe, interrupted the prior with a wrathful exclamation.

"What!" he exclaimed, with flashing eyes and corrugated brow, "would you parley with us, Sir Prior! Bring forth your treasure at once, or by my father's soul we'll find a way to reach it."

"Vile robber," replied the prior, drawing up his fine figure to its full height, and calmly folding his arms on his breast, we fear thee not-do thy worst."

Olaus raised his axe in a threatening manner, but the superior did not flinch, and he dropped the point to the ground with an inarticulate exclamation, resembling the growl of some wild animal.

The prior, thinking his words had produced some effect upon his visitor, continued to address him in a milder strain; when Olaus, stamping with im

patience, again grasped his weapon, and fiercely exclaimed-"Peace, monk, and hear me-time flies-your countrymen may be gathering to attack us; haste, therefore, and produce your useless treasure!" Then turning to his followers, and pointing to the altar, he cried "Comrades! yonder is your reward!"

:

The pirates rushed forward, and the superior threw himself in their way, making incredible efforts-for he was a man of powerful frame-to prevent their reaching the altar. All was now confusion and uproar: the prior fell, mortally wounded in the struggle, and several of the brethren were stretched, bleeding and groaning, on the stone floor. The slaughter was horrible without arms the miserable monks could offer no effectual resistance. While the convent echoed with their dying groans, the pirates were busily employed in collecting the plunder, which they were bearing off in triumph, when one of them espied a small door near the principal entrance, and, supposing it to be a receptacle for some of the valuable property of the convent, immediately dashed it open with his axe. Within was a steep flight of stairs which led to the roof, overlooking the country. The pirates ascended in eager haste, but, when they reached the top, they discovered, instead of a heap of treasure, one solitary and trembling monk, the same who had addressed them from the loop-hole, and who now piteously entreated them to spare his life.

One of the Danes, seizing the father by his few remaining hairs, dashed him down, and was about to inflict the deathblow, when another, more ferocious than the rest, proposed that they should hurl him over the battlement.

The wretched monk struggled desperately, but he struggled in vain ! He was forced over, but clung with desperate tenacity, with both hands to the edge of the parapet, while his butchers prevented him from rising again, and laughed at his agony, well knowing that his hands would soon fail him, and that he must then fall.

The monk renewed his entreaties for mercy, but received taunts and buffets in reply; at length one of the Danes lifted his weapon as if to strike, and the ecclesiastic flinching under the anticipated blow, lost his hold and fell, amidst the shouts of his savage enemies, who descended to join their fellows below.

As the pirates quitted the convent laden with plunder, one of them stumbled over a heap of something in the court

yard. It was the yet breathing body of the poor monk whom they had pitched from the summit of the battlements.

"Bloodhounds!" said the dying man, in a faint voice, "the vengeance of heaven will yet overtake ye! hark! your guard is routed!"

This speech was intelligible to only one of the band. Olaus started as he heard it, and commanding silence, listened for a moment to the noise which proceeded from the shore.

:

The monk had spoken truly a party of the islanders had attacked the guard left in charge of the boats, while another band had boarded the vessel in the offing. Olaus and his men abandoning the spoil, rushed to the shore, where they were encountered by the islanders, who had assembled in considerable numbers. Long and fearful was the conflict: the Danes fought with the fury of desperation; but they had to contend against a superior force;-and the broad red disk of the moon which rose an hour afterwards, lit up the blood-sprinkled sands covered with the dead and dying pirates, mingled with the bodies of their bravest opponents; while the Danish raven on the mast of the pirate vessel, flapped heavily in the night breeze beneath the flag of the victors. The corpse of Olaus was found under a heap of dead, and his armour and weapons were long preserved in the castle of a neighbouring Thane. B.

FRAGMENT.

(For the Parterre).

THE MARCH WIND.

Hark! what sad and solemn gushes Shake the high old window pane; Toss the firs and elder bushes,

Then flee wailing to the plain!

'Tis the March wind, fitful starting From the gray halls of the sky, Like the rustling cloaks departing From a funeral, mournfully!

H. G.

NOTICE OF NEW WORKS.

GUY RIVERS.

A TALE OF GEORGIA.

THE following spirited description is extracted from Guy Rivers, a new American novel, by the author of Martin Faber. The subject of the narrative is the contention between two parties of wild gold-hunters in Georgia, one of which, during the absence of the other,

had taken possession of the "diggings' occupied by the latter; the strife described was for the recovery of the usurped location.

"The scene of operations, in view of which they had now come, had to the eye all the appearance of a moderate encampment. They had made a final and full transfer, from their old to their new quarters, of bag and baggage; and had possessed themselves of all the loghouses in or about the disputed region. Their fires were in full heat, to use the frontier phrase, and the water was hissing in their kettles, and the dry thorns crackling under the pot. Never had usurpers made themselves more perfectly at home; and the rage of the old incumbents was, of course, duly heightened at a prospect of so much ease and felicity enjoyed at their expense. The enemy were about equal in point of number with those whom they had so rudely dispossessed. They had, however, in addition to their disposable force, their entire assemblage of wives, children, slaves, and dependents, cattle and horses, enough, as Forrester bitterly remarked, to breed a famine in the land.' They had evidently settled themselves for life, and the ousted party, conscious of the fact, prepared for the dernier resort. Every thing on the part of the usurpers indicated a full and perfect state of preparedness, for an issue which they never doubted would be made; and all the useless baggage, insterspersed freely with rocks and fallen trees, had been well employed in increasing the strength of a position, for which, such an object considered, nature had already done much. The defences, as they now stood, precluded all chance of success from an attack by mounted men, unless the force so employed was overwhelming. The defenders stood ready at their posts, partly under cover, and so arrayed as easily to put themselves so, and were armed in very nearly the same manner with the assailing party. In this guise of formidable defence, they waited patiently the onset.

"There was a brief pause after their arrival at the spot, on the part of the invading force, which was employed principally in a consultation as to the proper mode of procedure, and in an examination of the ground. Their plan of attack, depending altogether upon the nature of circumstances which were yet to be seen, had not all been deliberated upon before. The consultation lasted not over-long, and no man's patience was too severely

tried. Having deputed the command to the landlord, they left the matter pretty much to that person; nor was their choice unhappy. Munro had been a partisan well-taught in Indian warfare; and it was said of him that he knew quite as well how to practise all their subtleties as themselves. The first object with him, therefore, in accordance with his reputation, was to fix upon some snare, to devise some plot, by which not only to destroy the inequality of chances between the party assailing and that defending a post now almost inpregnable, but to draw the latter entirely out of their defences. Still it was deemed but courteous, or prudent at least, to see what could be done in the way of negotiation; and their leader, with a white handkerchief attached to a young sapling, hewn down for the purpose, by way of apology for a flag, approached the besieged, and in front of his men demanded a conference with the usurping chief.

The demand was readily and at once answered by the appearance of the already named George Dexter; a man, who, with little sagacity and but moderate cunning, had yet acquired a lead and notoriety among his fellows, even in that wild region, simply from the reckless boldness and fierce impetuosity of his character. It is useless to describe such a person. He was a ruffian-in look and manner, ruffianly-huge of frame, strong and agile of muscle, and steeled against all fear, simply from a brute unconsciousness of all danger. There was little of preliminary in the conference. Each knew his man, and the business in hand. All was direct, therefore, and to the point. Words were not to be wasted without corresponding fruits, though the colloquy began, on the part of Munro, in terms of the most accredited courtesy."

[A parley ensues, which is described with great vigour, but fails in producing an amicable result, and forcible means are then resorted to.]

"The invading force soon commenced the affair. They came to the attack in the manner of the Indians. The nature of forest life and its necessities, of itself teaches this mode of warfare. Each man took his tree, his bush, or stump, approaching from cover to cover until within rifle reach, then patiently awaiting until an exposed head, a side or shoulder, leg or arm, gave an opportunity for the exercise of his skill in marksmanship. To the keen-sighted and quick, rather than to the strong, is the victory; and it

will not be wondered at, if, educated thus in daily adventure, the hunter is enabled to detect the slightest and most transient exhibition, and by a shot, which in most cases is fatal, to avail himself of the indiscretion of his enemy. If, however, this habit of life begets skill in attack and destruction, it has not the less beneficial effect in creating a like skill and ingenuity in the matter of defence. In this way we shall account for the limited amount of injury done in the Indian wars, in proportion to the noise and excitement which they make, and the many terrors they occasion. The fight had now begun in this manner, and both parties being at the outset well sheltered and secured, with little or no injury-the shot doing no more harm to the enemy on either side than barking the branch of the tree, or splintering the rock behind which they happened individually to be sheltered. In this fruitless manner the affray had for a little time been carried on, without satisfaction to any concerned, when Munro was beheld advancing, with the apology for a flag which he had used before, towards the beleaguered fortress. The parley he called for was acceded to, and his ancient comrade, Dexter, again made his appearance.

، ، What, tired already, Wat? The game is, to be sure, a shy one; but have patience, old fellow-we shall be at close quarters directly."

“ It was now the time for Munro to practise the subtlety which he had designed, and a reasonable prospect of success he promised himself from the bull-headed stupidity of his opponent. He had planned a stratagem, upon which, parties, as we have seen, were despatched; and he now calculated his own movement in concert with theirs. It was his object to protract the parley which he had begun, by making propositions for an arrangement which, from a perfect knowledge of the men he had to deal with, he felt assured would not be acceded to. In the meantime, pending the negotiation, each party left its cover, and, while they severally preserved their original relationships, and were so situated as, at a given signal, to regain their positions, they drew nearer to one another, and in some instances began a conversation. Munro was cautious yet quick in the discussion; and while his opponent, with rough sarcasms, taunted him upon the strength of his own position, and the utter inadequacy of his strength to force it, he con

tented himself with sundry exhortations to a peaceable arrangement-to a giving up of the possessions they had usurped, and many other suggestions of a like nature, which Munro well knew would be laughed at and rejected. Still the object was in part attained. The invaders, becoming more confident of their strength from this almost virtual abandonment of their first resort by their opponents, grew momently less and less cautious. The rifle was rested against the rockthe sentinel took out his tobacco, and the two parties were almost intermingled. At length the hour had come. A wild and sudden shriek from that part of the beleaguered district, in which the women and children were congregated together, drew all eyes in that direction, where the whole line of tents and dwellings were in a bright conflagration. The emissaries had done their work ably and well, and the devastation was complete; while the women and children, driven from their various sheltering-places, ran howling and shrieking in every direction. Nor did Munro, at this time, forget his division of the labour: the opportunity was in his grasp, and it was not suffered to escape him. As the glance of Dexter was turned in the direction of the flames, he forgot his precaution, and the moment was not lost. Availing himself of the occasion, Munro dashed his flag of truce into the face of the man with whom he had parleyed, and, in the confusion which followed, seizing him around the body with a strength equal to his own, he dragged him, along with himself, over the low table of rock on which they had both stood, upon the soft earth below. Here they grappled with each other, neither having arms, and relying solely upon skill and muscle. The movement was too sudden, the surprise too complete, not to give an ascendency to the invaders, of which they readily availed themselves, more than equal to all the advantages previously possessed by their opponents. The possession of the fortress was now, in fact, divided between them; and a mutual consciousness of their relative equality determined the two parties, as if by common consent, quietly to behold the result of the affair between their leaders. They had recovered their feet, both of them; but were both of them again down; Munro being still uppermost. Every artifice known to the lusty wrestlers of this region was put in exercise, and the contest was variously contested. At one time the ascendency

was clearly with the one, at another moment it was transferred to his opponent; victory, like some shy arbiter, seeming unwilling to fix the palm, from an equal regard for both the claimants. Munro still had the advantage-but, a momentary pause of action, and a sudden evolution of his antagonist, now materially altered their position, and Dexter, with the sinuous agility of the snake, winding himself completely around his opponent, now whirled him suddenly over, and brought himself upon him. Extricating his arms with admirable skill, he was enabled to regain his knee, which was now closely pressed upon the bosom of the prostrate man, who struggled, but in vain, to free himself from the position. The face of the ruffian, if we may so call the one in contradistinction to the other, was black with fury; and Munro felt that his violation of the flag of truce was not likely to have any good effect upon his destiny. Hitherto, beyond the weapons of nature's furnishing, they had been unarmed; the case was no longer so, for Dexter, having a momentary use of his hand, provided himself with a huge dirk-knife, guarded by a string which hung around his neck, and was usually worn in his bosom-a sudden jerk threw it wide, and fixed the blade with a spring. It was a perilous moment for the fallen man, for the glance of the victor, apart from the action, indicated well the vindictive spirit within him; and the landlord averted his eyes, though he did not speak, and upraised his hands as if to ward off the blow. The friends of Munro had now hurried to his relief, but the stroke was already descending when on a sudden, to the surprise of all, the look of Dexter was turned from the foe beneath him, and fixed upon the hills in the distance-his blow was arrested-his grasp relaxed-he released his enemy, and rose sullenly to his feet, leaving his antagonist unharmed."

[The cause of this sudden change in the aspect of affairs was the unexpected approach of a party of the Georgia guard, commissioned to eject both parties from the contested territory.]

"Among the squatters there was but little time for deliberation, yet never were their leaders more seriously in doubt or more certainly in difficulty than now, as to the course most proper for their adoption in the common danger. They well knew the assigned duties of the guard, and felt the peril in its full. It was necessary for the common safetyor we should say, rather, the common

spoil-that something should be done and determined upon immediately. They were now actually in arms, and could no longer, appearing individually and at privileged occupations, claim to be unobnoxious to the laws; and it need occasion no surprise in the reader, if, among a people of the kind and class we have described, the measures chosen in the present exigency were of a character the most desperate and reckless.

"The military came on in handsome style. They were all fine-looking men; natives generally of a state, the great body of whose population are well-formed, and distinguished by features of clear, open intelligence. They were wellmounted, and each man carried a short rifle, a sword, and pair of pistols. They rode in single file, following their commander: a gentleman-in person of great manliness of frame, possessed of much grace and ease of action. They formed at command, readily, in front of the post which may be now said to have assumed the guise of a regular military station ; and Fullam, the captain, advancing with much seeming surprise in his countenance and manner, addressed the squatters generally, without reference to the two leaders, who, both at that moment, stood forth as representatives of their several divisions."

[A skirmish ensues, in which the outlaws have the advantage; and the commander of the guard is compelled to draw off. He renews the attack, however, making his approach through a defile, in hopes to surprise the goldhunters; but his movements are watched and detected, and a fearful preparation is made to repel the new attack.]

"The Georgian had now almost reached the top of the hill-another turn of the road gave him a glimpse of the table upon which rested the hanging and disjointed cliff of which we have spoken, when a voice was heard-a single voice-in inquiry:

"All ready?" "

"The reply was immediate.

66 6

Ay, ay; now prize away, boys, and let go.'

"The advancing troop looked up, and were permitted a momentary glance of the terrible fate which awaited them before it fell. That moment was enough for horror. A general cry burst from the lips of those in front, the only notice which those in the rear ever received of the terror before it was upon them. An effort, half paralized by the awful emotion which came over them,