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"Our court shall be a little Academe."—SHAKESPEARE. In an ancient though not very populous settlement, in a retired corner of one of the New England States, arise the walls of a seminary of learning, which, for the convenience of a name, shall be entitled "Harley College." This institution, though the number of its years is inconsiderable compared with the hoar antiquity of its European sisters, is not without some claims to reverence on the score of age; for an almost countless multitude of riv

  "Why, all delights are vain, but that most vain,   Which, with pain purchased, doth inherit pain:     As painfully to pore upon a book       To seek the light of truth, while truth, the while,     Doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look."        SHAKESPEARE. On one of the afternoons which afforded to the students a relaxation from their usual labors, Ellen was attended by her cavalier in a little excursion over the rough bridle-roads that led from her new residence. She was an experienced

  "And let the aspiring youth beware of love,—   Of the smooth glance beware; for 'tis too late   When on his heart the torrent softness pours;   Then wisdom prostrate lies, and fading fame   Dissolves in air away."      THOMSON. A few months passed over the heads of Ellen Langton and her admirers, unproductive of events, that, separately, were of sufficient importance to be related. The summer was now drawing to a close; and Dr. Melmoth had received information that his friend's arrangements we

  "The seeds by nature planted   Take a deep root in the soil, and though for a time   The trenchant share and tearing harrow may   Sweep all appearance of them from the surface,   Yet with the first warm rains of spring they'll shoot,   And with their rankness smother the good grain.   Heaven grant, it mayn't be so with him."     RICHES. The scene of this tale must now be changed to the little inn, which at that period, as at the present, was situated in the vicinity of Harley College. The site

"A naughty night to swim in."—SHAKESPEARE. The evening of the day succeeding the adventure of the angler was dark and tempestuous. The rain descended almost in a continuous sheet; and occasional powerful gusts of wind drove it hard against the northeastern windows of Hugh Crombie's inn. But at least one apartment of the interior presented a scene of comfort and of apparent enjoyment, the more delightful from its contrast with the elemental fury that raged without. A fire, which the dullness of t

  "About her neck a packet-mail    Fraught with advice, some fresh, some stale,    Of men that walked when they were dead."       HUDIBRAS. Scarcely a word had passed between Dr. Melmoth and Ellen Langton, on their way home; for, though the former was aware that his duty towards his ward would compel him to inquire into the motives of her conduct, the tenderness of his heart prompted him to defer the scrutiny to the latest moment. The same tenderness induced him to connive at Ellen's stealing se

  "There was racing and chasing o'er Cannobie Lee."     WALTER SCOTT. When Edward Walcott awoke the next morning from his deep slumber, his first consciousness was of a heavy weight upon his mind, the cause of which he was unable immediately to recollect. One by one, however, by means of the association of ideas, the events of the preceding night came back to his memory; though those of latest occurrence were dim as dreams. But one circumstance was only too well remembered,—the discovery of Elle

  "Full many a miserable year hath passed:   She knows him as one dead, or worse than dead:   And many a change her varied life hath known;   But her heart none."     MATURIN. Since her interview with the angler, which was interrupted by the appearance of Fanshawe, Ellen Langton's hitherto calm and peaceful mind had been in a state of insufferable doubt and dismay. She was imperatively called upon—at least, she so conceived—to break through the rules which nature and education impose upon her se

  "At length, he cries, behold the fated spring!   Yon rugged cliff conceals the fountain blest,   Dark rocks its crystal source o'ershadowing."     PSYCHE. The tale now returns to Fanshawe, who, as will be recollected, after being overtaken by Edward Walcott, was left with little apparent prospect of aiding in the deliverance of Ellen Langton. It would be difficult to analyze the feelings with which the student pursued the chase, or to decide whether he was influenced and animated by the same h

  "Sitting then in shelter shady,   To observe and mark his mone.   Suddenly I saw a lady   Hasting to him all alone,   Clad in maiden-white and green,   Whom I judged the Forest Queen."     THE WOODMAN'S BEAR. During several weeks succeeding her danger and deliverance, Ellen Langton was confined to her chamber by illness, resulting from the agitation she had endured. Her father embraced the earliest opportunity to express his deep gratitude to Fanshawe for the inestimable service he had rendere