m, in some
instances, that the speed at which he rode soon carried him out of
harm's reach. The knave was not ill-favoured; being young, supple of
limb, olive-complexioned, black-eyed, saucy, roguish-looking, with a
turned-up nose, and extremely white teeth. He wore no livery, and indeed
his attire was rather that of a citizen's apprentice than such as
beseemed a gentleman's lacquey. He was well mounted on a stout sorrel
horse; but though the animal was tractable enough, and easy in its
paces, he experienced considerable difficulty in maintaining his seat on
its back.

In this way, Jocelyn Mounchensey and Dick Taverner (for the reader will
have had no difficulty in recognising the pair) arrived at Stamford
Hill; and the former, drawing in the rein, proceeded slowly up the
gentle ascent.

* * * * *

It was one of those delicious spring mornings, when all nature seems to
rejoice; when the newly-opened leaves are greenest and freshest; when
the lark springs blithest from the verdant mead, and soars nearest
heaven; when a thousand other feathered choristers warble forth their
notes in copse and hedge; when the rooks caw mellowly near their nests
in the lofty trees; when gentle showers, having fallen overnight, have
kindly prepared the earth for the morrow's genial warmth and sunshine;
when that sunshine, each moment, calls some new object into life and
beauty; when all you look upon is pleasant to the eye, all you listen to
is delightful to the ear;--in short, it was one of those exquisite
mornings, only to be met with in the merry month of May, and only to be
experienced in full perfection in Merry England.

* * * * *

Arrived at the summit of the hill, commanding such extensively charming
views, Jocelyn halted and looked back with wonder at the vast and
populous city he had just quitted, now spread out before him in all its
splendour and beauty. In his eyes it seemed already over-grown, though
it had not attained a tithe of its present proportions; but he could
only judge according to his opportunity, and was unable to foresee its
future magnitude. But if London has waxed in size, wealth, and
population during the last two centuries and a-half, it has lost nearly
all the peculiar features of beauty which distinguished it up to that
time, and made it so attractive to Jocelyn's eyes. The diversified and
picturesque architecture of its ancient habitations, a