hief done;
And the lady that knoweth the card she plays
Is counting her guineas won!

"He, lady!--What, holla, ye sinless men!
My claim ye can scarce refuse;
For when honest folk live on their neighbours, then
They encroach on the robber's dues!"

The lady changed cheek like a bashful maid,
The lawyer talked wondrous fair,
The parson blasphemed, and the courtier prayed,
And the robber bore off his share.

"Hurrah! for the revel! my steed, hurrah!
Thorough bush, thorough brake, go we!
It is ever a virtue, when others pay,

To ruffle it merrily!"

Oh, there never was life like the robber's,
--so Jolly and bold and free!
And its end-why, a cheer from the crowd below,
And a leap from a leafless tree!

This very moral lay being ended, Mrs. Slopperton declared it was
excellent; though she confessed she thought the sentiments rather loose.
Perhaps the gentleman might be induced to favour them with a song of a
more refined and modern turn,--something sentimental, in short. Glancing
towards Lucy, the stranger answered that he only knew one song of
the kind Mrs. Slopperton specified, and it was so short that he could
scarcely weary her patience by granting her request.

At this moment the river, which was easily descried from the windows of
the room, glimmered in the starlight; and directing his looks towards
the water, as if the scene had suggested to him the verses he sung, he
gave the following stanzas in a very low, sweet tone, and with a far
purer taste, than, perhaps, would have suited the preceding and ruder
song.

THE WISH.

As sleeps the dreaming Eve below,
Its holiest star keeps ward above,
And yonder wave begins to glow,
Like friendship bright'ning into Love!

Ah, would thy bosom were that stream,
Ne'er wooed save by the virgin air!--
Ah, would that I were that star, whose beam
Looks down and finds its image there!

Scarcely was the song ended, before the arrival of Miss Brandon's
servant was announced; and her destined escort, starting up, gallantly
assisted her with her cloak and her hood