Were marshalled on the fatal plain;
Made captive by the rebel host,
His crown, his life, his kingdom lost.—
Who would have deemed, that this fair
land

Would bow beneath a stranger band,
Whose state was in its infancy,
When this was towering proudly free?
Then this fair city well might claim,
Of Pride and Victory, the name;
Then turban'd crowds were wand'ring
here,

Where now amid the ruins drear,
A stranger looks with pitying gaze,
On these remains of former days.

IN our last we had the pleasure of presenting our readers with two extracts from Mr. Kelly's interesting work: after the specimens we have given, any further comment on our part is needless; except that we heartily wish the author of "Myrtle Leaves" every success these beautiful poems deserve. In bidding adieu to Mr. Kelly, we cannot do better than subjoin

ROSEDALE AND ITS TENANTS.

To the Editor of the Portfolio,

(From the New Monthly Magazine.) ABOUT ten years ago the sober monotony of the quiet country neighbourhood in which I have passed the greater part of my life, was enlivened by the erection of one of the prettiest cottages that ever sprang into existence in brick or on paper. All strangers go to see Rosedale, and few "cots of spruce gentility" are so well worth seeing. Fancy a low irregular white rough-cast building thatched with reeds, covered with roses, clematis, and passion-flowers, standing on a knoll of fine turf amids flower-beds and shrubberies and magnificent elms, backed by an abrupt hill, and looking over lawny fields to a green common: which is intersected by a gay high road, dappled with ponds of water, and terminated by a pretty village edging off into rich woodlands: imagine this picture of a place tricked out with ornaments of all sorts, conservatories, roseries, rustic seats, American borders, Gothic dairies, Spanish hermitages, and flowers stuck as close as pins upon a pincushion, with every thing, in short, that might best become the walls of an exhibition-room, or the back scene of a play: conceive the interior adorned in a style of elegance still more fanciful, and it will hardly appear surprising that this "unique bijou," as the advertisements call it, should seldom want a tenant. The rapid succession of these occupiers is the more extraordinary matter. Every body is willing to come to Rosedale, but nobody stays.

In the first place it has the original sin of most ornamented cottages, that of being built on the foundation and within the walls of a real labourer's dwelling; by which notable piece of economy the owner

217

saved some thirty pounds, at the expense
of making half his rooms mere nutshells,
and the whole house incurably damp-
to say nothing of the inconvenience of
the many apartments which were erected
as after-thoughts, the addenda of the work,
and are only to be come at by outside
passages and French window-doors. Se-
condly, that necessary part of a two-story
mansion, the staircase, was utterly for-
gotten by architect, proprietor, and build-
er, and never missed by any person, till,
the ladder being one day taken away at
the dinner-hour, an Irish labourer acci-
dentally left behind was discovered by the
workmen on their return perched like a
bird on the top of the roof, he having
taken the method of going up the chim-
ney as the quickest way of getting down.
This adventure occasioned a call for the
staircase, which was at length inserted
by the by, and is as much like a step-
ladder in a dark corner as any thing well
can be.* Thirdly and lastly, this beautiful
abode is most thoroughly inconvenient
and uncomfortable. In the winter one
may have as much protection in the hol-
low of a tree,-cold, gusty, sleety, wet,
-snow threatening from above like an
avalanche, -water gushing from below
like a fountain,-a house of card paper
would be the solider refuge; in the sum-
mer it is proportionably close and hot,
giving little shade and no shelter; and
all the year round it is over-done with
frippery and finery, a toy-shop in action,
a Brobdignagian babyhouse. Every room
is in masquerade: the saloon Chinese,
full of jars, and mandarins and pagodas;
the library Egyptian, all covered with
hieroglyphics, and swarming with furni-
ture, crocodiles, and sphynxes. Only
think of a crocodile couch and a sphynx
sofa! They sleep in Turkish tents, and
Now English
dine in a Gothic chapel.
ladies and gentlemen in their everyday
apparel look exceedingly out of place
The costume
among such mummery.
won't do-it is not in keeping. Besides,
the proprietors themselves are apt to get
shifted from one scene to another, and all
manner of anomalies are the consequence.
The mitered chairs and screens of the
chapel, so very upright and tall, and
carved and priestly, were mixed up odd-
ly enough with the squat Chinese bonzes;
whilst by some strange transposition, a
pair of nodding mandarins figured
amongst the Egyptian monsters, and by
the aid of their supernatural ugliness,

This forgetfulness is not unexampled. A Similar accident is said to have happened to Madame d'Arblay in the erection of a cottage built from the profits of her admirable Camilla.

really looked human. Then the room taken up by the various knicknackery, the unnamed and unnameable generation of gewgaws! It always seemed to me to require more housemaids than the house would hold. And the same with the garden. You are so begirt with garlands and festoons, flowers above and flowers below, that you walk about under a perpetual sense of trespass, of taking care, of doing mischief, now bobbing against a sweetbriar, in which rencontre you have the worst; now flapped against by a woodbine, to the discomfiture of both parties; now revenging all your wrongs by tripping up unfortunate balsam; -bonnets, coats-kirts, and flounces in equal peril! The very gardeners step gingerly, and tuck their aprons tightly round them, before they venture into that fair demesne of theirs, which is, so to say, overpeopled. In short, Rosedale is a place to look at rather than to live in a fact which will be received without dispute by some scores of tenants, by the proprietor of the County Chronicle, who keeps the advertisement of this "matchless villa" constantly set, to his no small emolument, and by the neighbourhood at large, to whom the succession of new faces, new liveries, and new equipages driving about our rustic lanes, and sometimes occupying a very tasty pew in our village-church, has long supplied a source of conversation as constant and as various as the weather.

The first person who ascertained, by painful experiment, that Rosedale was uninhabitable, was the proprietor, a simple young man from the next town, who unluckily took it into his head that he had a taste for architecture and landscapegardening, and so forth; and falling into the hands of a London upholsterer and a country nurseryman, assisted by a scene painter from one of the theatres, produced the effort of genius that I have endeavoured to describe. At the end of a month he found that nobody could live there; and with the advice of the nurseryman, the upholsterer, and the scenepainter, began to talk of improving and rebuilding, and new modelling; nay he actually went so far as to send for the bricklayer-but, fortunately for our man of taste, he had a wife, and she and the bills stopped the complaints and the improvements, sent her spouse back to his roomy comfortable red-brick house in the market place at B, drew up a flaming advertisement, and turned the grumbling occupant into a thriving landlord. Lucky for him was the day on which William Tasty, Esq. married Miss Bridget Smith, second daughter of Mr.

And

Samuel Smith, attorney at law!
lucky for Mr. Samuel Smith was the
hour in which he acquired a son-in-law,
more profitable in the article of leases
than the two lords to whom he acted as
steward, both put together!

First on the list was a bride and bride-
groom, come to spend the first six months
of their nuptials in this sweet retirement.
They arrived towards the latter end of
August, with a great retinue of servants,
horses, dogs, and carriages, well bedecked
with bridal favours. The very pointers
had white ribbons round their necks, so
splendid was their rejoicing; and had
each, as we were credibly informed, eaten
a huge slice of wedding cake when the
happy couple returned from church. The
bride, whom every body except myself
called plain, and whom I thought pretty,
had been a great heiress, and married for
love the day she came of age. She was
slight of form, and pale of complexion,
with a profusion of brown hair, mild
hazel eyes, a sweet smile, a soft voice,
and an air of modesty that clung about
her like a veil. I never saw a more
loveable creature. He was dark and
tall, and stout and bold, with an assured
yet gentlemanly air, a loud voice, a con-
fident manner, and a real passion for
shooting. They stayed just a fortnight,
during which time he contrived to get
warned off half the manors in the neigh-
bourhood, and cut down the finest elm on
the lawn, one wet morning, to open a
view of the high road. I hope the mar-
riage has turned out happy, for she was a
sweet gentle creature. I used to see ber
leaning over the gate, watching his re-
turn from shooting, with such a fond pa-
tience! And her bound to meet him when
he did appear! And the pretty coaxing
playfulness with which she patted and
chided her rivals, the dogs! Ob, I hope she
is happy! but I fear, I fear.

Next succeeded a couple from India, before whom floated reports, golden and gorgeous as the clouds at sunset. Inexhaustible riches-profuse expenditure; tremendous ostentation; unheard-of luxury; ortolans; becaficos; French beans at Christmas; green peas at Easter; strawberries all the year round; a chariot and six; twelve black footmen; and parrots and monkeys beyond all count:

these were amongst the most moderate of the rumours that preceded them; and every idle person in the village was preparing to be a hanger-on, and every shopkeeper in B. on the look-out for a customer, when up drove a quiet-looking old gentleman in a poney-cart, with a quiet-looking old lady at his side, and took possession, their retinue fol

LUTHER'S RING.

Whether

lowing in a hack post-chaise.
the habits of this eastern Croesus corres-
ponded with his modest debut or his mag-
nificent reputation, we had not time to dis-
cover, although from certain indications I
conceive that much might be said on both
sides. They arrived in the middle of a
fine October, while the China roses cover-
ed the walls, and the China asters, and
Dahlias, and fuscias and geraniums in
full blow, gave a summer brilliancy to
the lawn; but scarcely had a pair of su-
perb Common Prayer-books, bound in vel
vet, and a Bible with gold clasps, entered
in possession of the pew at church, before
there "came a frost, a nipping frost,"
which turned theChina asters and the China
roses brown, the Dahlias and geraniums
black, and the nabob and the nabobess
blue. They disappeared the next day,
and have never been seen or heard of

since.

(To be continued.)

LUTHER'S RING,.

AN HISTORICAL TALE FROM

THE GERMAN.

(From the European Magazine.) WHITSUNDAY, in the year 1551, was drawing to a close, as two travellers approached the Saxon village of Köse. The evening rays of the sun shone milder and more delightfully upon the bright green of the woods and meadows, yet the warmth of the weather, and the length of their journey, had pretty well exhausted the strength and spirits of the wanderers.

The younger of the two was Justus Hergott, a son of the bookseller of that name in Leipsic; he had been educated hitherto by his maternal uncle, the famous professor and poet Eoban Hesse, of Erfurt, and was now sent by him, uuder the escort of his famulus, the honest Nicholas Pharetratus, to the new academy at Pforta, in order to pre pare himself there for his future studies. The youth, though scarcely seventeen years of age, was of a noble appearance, and possessed a figure tall and commanding, combining the gracefulness and agility of youth, with the strength and vigour belonging to maturer years. His rich light-brown hair fell in smooth and patural ringlets upon his well-shaped shoulders; a flat sky-blue cap, decorated with a gold tassel, shaded a forehead finely vaulted, and a pair of dark but agreeable eyes; of a similar colour was his short German coat of broad cloth, upon which a fine and snow-white shirt collar fell from his bare and nervous neck; his right hand rested

219

upon a trusty thorn, in which a short sword was concealed.

With light and hasty steps the youthful pedestrian descended the hill, and passed over the long bridge which crosses the Saal, while his companion, oppressed with the weight of a well-filled travelling bag, followed at a slacker pace, and with deep-drawn inspirations.

The first glance at Master Nicholas informed you of his office. The grave sallow countenance of a man of thirty, dry yet free from wrinkles; the meek half-closed eyes, the head somewhat inclined, and attached to a meagre body, all combined with the black thread-bare garb of a student, the low-flapped hat resting upou straight black hair, the dark blue stockings and thick-soled shoes, to announce a spiritual and corporeal servant, admirer and follower of the erudite college potentate.

Both of the wanderers, however, appeared to the poetical beholder like Psyche, who would fain flit away on silken pinions to the brighter regions of hope, were she not restrained and weighed down by the grosser particles of her earthly nature.

"See, Pharetratus, a resting place beckons us," said the youth, stopping an instant to wipe the perspiration from his brow, "and that shall be the limit of your escort; only a few steps farther, and we will drink farewell in a cup of wine, while I pay you my hearty thanks for your kindness and attention, which I hope one day to have it in my power to reward."

"As it pleaseth thee, my dear Justus," answered Nicholas, "though I think I had better bear thee company to this asylum of knowledge, as it is called, and make my reverence to the rector Domino Melhorino, as well as bear him the greetings of my Illustrissimi et Doctissimi. My commission will then be fully and faithfully executed."

"No, no, Mr. Nicholas," returned Justus briskly; "should I not be ashamed, think you, such a hale young fellow as I am, to be delivered safe into my master's hands, like a boy sent to school for the first time?"

"And should I not afford fine scope for the witticisms of the little alumni ?”

"No, indeed; for that matter, I might very well have come the whole distance from Erfurt hither alone, but I respected my uncle's wish, and you willingly shared with me the fatigue and burthen of the journey."

"But may not a casus malignus, an accident perhaps❞

"How can it?" said the other, inter