:
Why should sadness longer last?
Grief is but a wound to wo:
Gentlest fair! mourn, mourn no mo.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

It was with feelings of considerable anxiety that the Protector waited
the return of Colonel Jones from the second task assigned him in the
Isle of Shepey.

The routing out of a band of lawless smugglers, although commanded by so
daring a skipper as Hugh Dalton, was to him a matter of little
consideration, compared to the restoration of Zillah Ben Israel, and the
positive saving of Constantia Cecil from worse than death: these two
motives weighed deeply upon Cromwell's mind, and he would have made any
sacrifice to have been assured that his purpose, with regard to both,
might be effected before the morning's dawn. When the explosion of the
Fire-fly disturbed his solitude in the purple chamber at Cecil Place, he
directed immediate inquiry to be instituted as to its origin, and
quickly ascertained that it was caused by the destruction of some ship
at sea; his suspicions were at once directed to the vessel of the
Buccaneer.

There was no time to lose; Colonel Jones, whose courage and coolness
were proverbial amongst soldiers more celebrated for these qualities
than even British soldiers have ever been before or since, was instantly
dispatched to the Gull's Nest. At first the command of the Protector was
to "mount silently;" but his pledge to Robin Hays was remembered, and,
at the very moment when the glare of the burning ship was illumining the
island, he could not bring himself to determine that the little deformed
being, with whom he had held commune, had betrayed the confidence
reposed in him.

"Let him know who are coming and prepare for it," thought Cromwell,
whose caution was really subservient to his enthusiasm, powerful as was
at all times this latter quality; and then he gave, in a low, but
earnest and energetic tone, the order, "Sound a brief 'to horse!' trust
in the Lord, and see that your swords be loose in their scabbards."

The troop, on its return, was met by Cromwell himself at the gate to
which we have so frequently alluded. His anxiety had not been often
greater than on that occasion, and it was manifested by an impatience of
manner that almost terrified the attendants who waited in his presence.
He was accompanied by only two officers, and his first question was if
"Colonel Jones had secured Dalton and the Jewess?" A reply in the
affirmative evidently affo