ey two
In frequent skirmishes of fierce debate
Would bicker, tho' their mutual love was great."--p. 35.

Mohun, however, sides with St. Oun, and agrees to escort him in his
rambles after the first few shots. He accordingly soon resigns his
gun to the keeper Oswald, whose position as one who

"came into possession
Of the head-keepership by due succession
Thro' sire and grandsire, who, when one was dead,
Left his right heir-male keeper in his stead,"

Mr. Cayley evidently regards with some complacence. The friends enter
a boat: here, while sailing along a rivulet that winds through the
estate, St. Oun falls to talking of wealth, its value and
insufficiency, of death, and life, and fame; and coming at length to
ask after the history of Sir Reginald's past life, he suggests "this
true epic opening for relation:"

"'The sun, from his meridian heights declining
Mirrored his richest tints upon the shining
Bosom of a lake. In a light shallop, two
_Young men, whose dress,_ etcaetera, _proclaims,_
Etcaetera,--so would write G.P.R. James--
Glided in silence o'er the waters blue,
Skirting the wooded slopes. Upward they gazed
On Nornyth's ancient pile, whose windows blazed

"'In sunset rays, whose crimson fulgence streamed
Across the flood: wrapped in deep thought they seemed.
'You are pensive, Reginald,' at length thus spake
The helmsman: 'ha! it is the mystic power
Fraught by the sacred stillness of the hour:
Forgive me if your reverie I break,
Craving, with friendship's sympathy, to share
_Your spirit's burden, be it joy or care.'"_--pp. 48, 49.

Sir Reginald Mohun's story is soon told.--Born in Italy, and losing
his mother at the moment of his birth, and his father and only sister
dying also soon after, he is left alone in the world.

"'My father was a melancholy man,
Having a touch of genius, and a heart,
But not much of that worldly better part
Called force of character, which finds some plan
For getting over anguish that will crush
Weak hearts of stronger feeling. He began
To pine; was pale; and had a hectic flush
At times; and from his eyelids tears would gush.

"'Some law of hearts afflicted seems to bind
A spell by which the scenes of grief grew dear;
He never could leave Italy, tho' here
And there he wandered with unquiet mind,--
Rome, Florence, Mantua, Milan; once as far
As Venice; but still Naples had