-she is no longer inclined
to interpret favourably of men and things,--she listens without
believing,--sees without admiring; has suffered persecution without
learning mercy;--and been taught to mistrust the candour of others
by the forfeiture of her own. The freshness of her disposition
has vanished with the freshness of her complexion; hard lines are
perceptible in her very soul, and crowsfeet contract her very fancy.
No longer pure and fair as the statue of alabaster, her beauty, like
that of some painted waxen effigy, is tawdry and meretricious. It is
not alone the rouge upon the cheek and the false tresses adorning
the forehead, which repel the ardour of admiration; it is the
artificiality of mind with which such efforts are connected that
breaks the spell of beauty.

_From the Fair of May Fair._

* * * * *

BAMBOROUGH CASTLE

Is situate on the romantic coast of Northumberland, "over against"
an obscure town of the same name. It stands upon a basalt rock, of a
triangular shape, high, rugged, and abrupt on the land side; flanked
by the German Ocean, and strong natural rampires of sand, matted
together with sea rushes on the east; and only accessible to an enemy
on the south-east, which is guarded by a deep, dry ditch, and a series
of towers in the wall, on each side of the gateway. Nature has mantled
the rock with lichens of various rich tints: its beetling brow is 150
feet above the level of the sea, upon a stratum of mouldering rock,
apparently scorched with violent heat, and having beneath it a close
flinty sandstone. Its crown is girt with walls and towers, which on
the land side have been nearly all repaired. The outer gateway stands
between two fine old towers, with time-worn heads; twelve paces within
it is a second gate, which is machicolated, and has a portcullis; and,
within this, on the left hand, on a lofty point of rock, is a very
ancient round tower of great strength; commanding a pass subject to
every annoyance from the besieged. This fort is believed to be of
Saxon origin. The keep stands on the area of the rock, having an open
space around it. It is square, and of that kind of building which
prevailed from the Conquest till about the time of our second Henry.
It had no chimney; but fires had been made in the middle of a large
room, which was lighted by a window near its top, three feet square.
All the other rooms were lighted by slit or loop holes, six inches