able gloom in the whole procession. There was none of that
gorgeous courtesy, that look of pleasure, so associated with the
trace of a royal birthday; on the contrary, there was an appearance of
depression--almost of shame--in the faces of the principal persons, many
seeming to shrink from the public gaze and to feel abashed at the chance
mention of their names by the people in the street, as they passed.

Among those who watched the proceedings with a more than common interest
was a large burly man, in the brown robe of a Carthusian, whose bald,
bare head overtopped the surrounders. Closely stationed near the gate,
he had formed an acquaintance with a stranger who seemed familiar with
almost every face that came by. The friar was our friend Fra Luke; and
truly his bluff, honest features, his clear blue eye, and frank brow,
were no unpleasing contrast to the treacherous expressions and gaunt,
sallow cheeks on either side of him. Few of the names were familiar to
the honest Carthusian; and it is but truth to say that he heard of the
great Spanish diplomatist, Guadalaraxa, the wily Cardinal Acquavesia,
and the intriguing envoy, Count Boyer, without a particle of interest in
them; but when his informant whispered, 'There goes the Earl of Dunbar,
that sallow-faced man in deep mourning; that yonder is the Irish
chieftain, O'Sullivan,' then the friar's eyes brightened, and his
whole countenance gleamed with animation and excitement. This faithful
adherent to the Stuart cause was now in his eighty-seventh year, but
still carried himself erect, and walked with the measured step of an
old soldier; his three-cornered hat, trimmed with ostrich feathers, and
wide-skirted blue coat, turned up with red, recalling the time of Louis
xiv., of whose court he had once been a distinguished ornament. Soon
after him came MacNiel of Barra, a tall, hard-visaged man, but whose
muscular figure and well-knit limbs were seen to great advantage in the
full dress of a Highland chieftain. He was preceded by the piper of his
clan, and a henchman, with a pistol on full cock in his hand, walked
after him. A few of lesser note, many of whom exhibited unmistakable
signs of narrow fortune, came after these. It was a group which had gone
on diminishing each year, and now, by the casualties of death, sickness,
and exile, had dwindled down at last to scarcely a dozen; and even of
these few, it was plain to see, some were offering the last homage they
were ever