he heard the bells on every side merrily ringing, he heard the
enthusiastic people shouting, "Long live the Prince of Wales!" All
London was wild with delight. Their wandering prince had been lost and
was found again.

The day was turned into a holiday. Tables loaded with food and wine were
placed in the streets by wealthy citizens, that all who wished might
partake. Prisoners for debt were set at liberty, their debts being paid
by persons unknown to them. A cart-load of felons on its way to the
gallows at Tyburn was turned back, it happening to cross the prince's
path, and its inmates gained an unlooked-for respite. When night fell
the town blazed out in illumination, candles being set in every window,
while bonfires blazed in the streets. In the short distance between St.
Paul's and London Bridge flamed more than a hundred piles. Carts laden
with wood were seized by the populace, the horses taken out and the
torch applied, cart and load together adding their tribute of flame.
Never had so sudden and spontaneous an ebullition of joy broken out in
London streets. The return of the prince was a strikingly different
affair from that mad ride in disguise a few months before, which spread
suspicion at every step, and filled England with rage when the story
became known.

We have told the story of the prince's adventure; a few words will tell
the end of his love-affair. As for Buckingham, he had left England as a
marquis, he came back with the title of duke. King James had thus
rewarded him for abetting the folly of his son. The Spanish marriage
never took place. Charles's love had been lost in his journey home. He
brought scarce a shred of it back to London. The temper of the English
people in regard to the concessions to the Catholics was too outspokenly
hostile to be trifled with. Obstacles arose in the way of the marriage.
It was postponed. Difficulties appeared on both sides of the water.
Before the year ended all hopes of it were over, and the negotiations at
an end. Prince Charles finally took for wife that Princess Henrietta
Maria of France whom he and Buckingham had first seen dancing in a royal
masque, during their holiday visit in disguise to Paris. The romance of
his life was over. The reality was soon to begin.

_THE TAKING OF PONTEFRACT CASTLE._

On the top of a lofty hill, with a broad outlook over the counties of
Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire, stood Pontefract Castle, a
strong work