figure of mortal man.' * So impressive, indeed, was the influence of his character on all around him, that it extorted, even from the present Lord of Helmsley, the noblest lines which ever issued from his pen. They form a kind of Pindaric epitaph, and do so much honour to the memory of the man whom they commemorate that I cannot refrain, situated as we now are, on the very spot where he once fought and bled, from repeating to you a few of the most emphatic passages.

Under this stone doth lie

One born for victory,

Fairfax the valiant, and the only He
Whoe'er for that alone a conqueror would be.

Both sex's virtues were in him combin'd,
He had the fierceness of the manliest mind,
And all the meekness too of woman-kind.

He never knew what envy was, nor hate;
His soul was fill'd with worth and honesty,

* From a paper extracted from an original manuscript by Dr. Bryan Fairfax. Vide Chalmer's Biographical Dictionary, vol. xiv. p. 72, note.

And with another thing quite out of date,
Call'd modesty.-

'He neither wealth nor places sought;

For others, not himself, he fought.

He was content to know,

For he had found it so,

That when he pleased to conquer, he was able, And left the spoil and plunder to the rabble.

He might have been a king,

But that he understood

How much it is a meaner thing

To be unjustly great, than honourably good.

"How much is it to be deplored," observed Hoel, "that he who could thus so well panegyrise the virtues of others, should himself be destitute of what he must have known could alone secure him the approbation of his own heart, and the plaudit of posterity. In yonder splen. did suite of apartments, I which range suppose, along the western side of these ruins, resides this unhappy man, the victim of his own ungoverned passions and licentious appetites."

"It is in yonder mansion, indeed, that he

endeavours to forget, in the shouts of forced revelry and mirth, the reproaches of his conscience, and the ridicule of his contemporaries. But turning from this abode of luxury and guilt, and which, as a modern structure of so late an age as the reign of James the First, merits little of our attention, let us now enter the Castle of Robert, or as he was surnamed, Fursan De Roos, to whom, about the commencement of the thirteenth century, it is probable that we are to ascribe, if not the foundation, yet the improvement of the fortress on such a scale as to have rendered it, in fact, a striking proof of the military power and architectural skill of our ancestors."

As Edward said this, they approached the grand entrance to the castle facing the south, and immediately opposite the Rye. The effect on passing beneath this noble arch-way, defended as it is by double gates, and flanked by two towers of massy strength, was necessarily highly solemn and impressive; and such, indeed, was its influence on the susceptible character of Hoel, that he involuntarily shuddered from a mingled emotion of delight and awe. Edward

smiled as he witnessed in another, that which he had so often recognised in himself, and, after pausing for a few moments to enjoy the silent astonishment of his young friend, he directed his attention to the alterations which this part of the building seemed to have undergone from successive generations; to the depth and breadth of the outer ditch by which it was defended, and to the additional protection which it must have received from the circular towers at each angle of the castle, some of which, on the angles nearest to the great gateway, were yet remaining. "How often, my dear Hoel," he exclaimed, with all a poet's enthusiasm," how often has the tide of war rolled with disappointed fury from these walls; and how often has the prisoner wept within their iron bounds! Here, however, no longer may the victor triumph, or the captive mourn; and where the trumpet pealed its praise, and where the minstrel swept his lyre, nought save the whisper of the evening breeze, or the shrill sounding of the midnight storm, can now be heard! And mark, my friend, where yonder central tower rears its embattled head! How does it look like some stupendous

giant, shrunk with, age and hoar with time, frowning, it is true, upon the plain beneath, but impotent for aught beside!"

Hoel now smiled, in his turn, at the unexpected enthusiam, and metaphorical language of his companion; but at the same time, the augmenting energy of his own manner, and the increased animation which beamed from his eyes, pretty plainly showed that he had himself caught a portion of the same infection. It was, indeed, scarcely possible, such was the striking character of these castellated remains, and such the beauty of their situation, to resist that appeal to fancy and to feeling, which so often powerfully, and almost involuntarily flows from the reviviscence of associated imagery; and more especially when beheld as now, on an evening of peculiar loveliness and serenity, and where all was breathing of repose and peace.

It is at this calm hour, indeed, that a ruin such as Helmsley Castle, once the chosen seat of military strength, or feudal splendor, must, from the very force of contrast, make its most effective impression; and as such was it felt both by Edward and Hoel, as they stood at the foot