umed to
have erected the above nunnery. Of this system of pious plunder we have
many proud architectural memorials; though to rob with one hand, and
found religious houses with the other, reminds one of the trade of a
waterman--to look one way and row the other.

[1] Sir James Mackintosh.

The nunnery was richly endowed with several of the neighbouring manors;
the remains are now used as the out-offices of an adjoining farm. Little
can be traced of the "studious cloister," the "storied window," or the
"high embowed roof;" but the ivy climbs with parasitic fondness over its
gable, or thrusts its rootlets as holdfasts into its crumbling wall. The
dates of these ruins claim the attention of the speculative antiquary.
The chimney, though of great age, did not of course belong to the
original building; the earliest introduction of chimneys into this
country being stated, (but without proof,) to be in the year 1300. The
upper window, and the arched doorway are in the early English style
prevalent at the date of the foundation; the former has the elegant
lancet-shape of the earliest specimens.

* * * * *

A DREAM OF THE BEAUTIFUL.

"Another scene where happiness is sought!
A festive chamber with its golden hues,
Its dream-like sounds, and languishing delights."

R. MONTGOMERY.

I stood in the light of the festive hall,
Gorgeously wrought was its pictured wall;
And the strings of the lute replied in song,
To the heart-breathed lays of the vocal throng.

Oh! rich were the odours that floated there,
O'er the swan-like neck and the bosom fair;
And roses were mingled with sparkling pearls,
On the marble brow, and the cluster'd curls.

I stood in that hall, and my lips were mute,
And my spirit entranced with the elfin lute;
And the eyes that look'd on me seem'd fraught with love,
As the stars that make Night more divine above.

A sorrowful thought o'er my spirit came,
Like thunder-clouds kindling with gloom and flame;
For I knew that those forms in the dust would lie,
And no passionate lips to their songs reply.

But the music recalled me, the hall glow'd with light,
And burst like a vision of heaven on my sight;
"Oh! thus," I exclaimed, "will dark feelings depart,
When the sunshine of beauty descends on the heart!"

G.R. CARTER.

* * * * *

TRAGEDY AND COM