the land which is peculiarly dear to her. No sounds of
widows weeping for their slain husbands and sons--no fierce
battle-cries--no terrible wailings over slaughtered families and ruined
homes--startle the still air. But, instead, the children sing the
national anthem, as if they knew all that it means; and wherever, on
this or the other side of the Tweed, the dear familiar face, with its
crown of silvering hair, is seen, the people cry, with leaping hearts
and happy tears, "God save the Queen!"

It is impossible not to contrast the new with the old; but as we do so,
we shall be forced to acknowledge that the new is, after all, the child
of the old, born amid throes of anguish to live a free glad after-life
of liberty and honour. It is because our fathers fought that we
possess so many privileges. It is because they struggled and died that
we have risen and prospered. And while we render them the thanks that
are due to them, it behoves us sacredly to guard all rights, and
diligently to carry on all good works which they commenced.

It would not be right to give even a short history of Northumberland,
without making some special reference to Alnwick, and the Percy family.

Alnwick, the county-town of Northumberland, is delightfully situated on
the south of the River Aln. It is about half-way between Newcastle and
Berwick. It is not now an important town, having only about eight
thousand inhabitants, but it has a history which few towns surpass in
interest. Old customs linger long here. The curfew-bell is still
tolled; and, until the year 1854, the custom of "leaping the well" was
observed. This absurd, though amusing ceremony, was performed by all
young freemen previous to their being admitted to the corporate
privileges of the town. They used to ride on horseback, carrying
swords in their hands. They went in procession through the town until
they came to a field called the Handkerchief, where each one dismounted
and turned a stone. The Freemen's Well is four miles from Alnwick, and
is fed by a spring, but to stop the freeman from succeeding well in his
plunge, dykes were made, and ropes stretched across, while the mud at
the bottom was industriously stirred up. There was a race to see which
young freeman should be first at the well, and the foremost was most
heartily cheered. Arrived there, each freeman took off his ordinary
dress and clothed himself in white, putting on a white cap ornamented
with ribb