Page images
PDF
EPUB

Edward, and, above all, the licentious persecution of Buckingham had powerfully contributed.

They followed, therefore, their friends and benefactors for several miles on their road, and when they were, at length, compelled to part, to turn and bid them farewel, perhaps for ever, their grief was such as completely to show how much their hearts had been won. To most of them, along with much good advice, little remembrances and commissions had been given; and, among the rest, Adeline had engaged a beautiful girl about twelve years of age, to visit monthly the tomb of Lluellyn, to see that its turf was kept neat and untouched, and to cherish and renew the flowers and plants which covered and surrounded it; promising that, when she returned, the little pension she had now conferred should be increased, in proportion to the care and attention which had been shown.

It was the wish of Mr. Walsingham, on entering the Isle of Anglesea, to visit the tomb of his parents at Pentrathmon, thence to pass on to Llanvechell, and to close his pilgrimage near the once princely halls of Aberfraw.

He had, as he had fully expected, found at the two former of these places, no relative surviving, and he, therefore, after a few days mournfully, though not ungratefully occupied, in retracing the scenes of his infancy and youth, proceeded to Aberfraw.

Here, no sooner had it been made known that the daughter of Lluellyn was amongst them, than the relations and few remaining friends of the deceased bard assembled to receive her. The former, though long fallen from their high estate, from wealth, and power, and fame, were yet respectable, though in confined circumstances; they felt that they were the descendants of the Lords of Mona, and they had aspired to think and act accordingly. To both had the Minstrel of Aberfraw, in times long past, been dear, and they united to welcome his only remaining child with every manifestation of kindness and cordiality.

They were delighted, indeed, with her person and her manners; they listened to her, as she sung to the harp of Lluellyn, with tears of joy; for they were the tones, the very strains to which their hearts had responded in the days of their

youth, and the memory of the friend and former companion came rushing on their minds with all the endearing recollections of the morning of life.

Nor had they forgotten the favourite pupil of their poet, young Walsingham of Llanvechell, though it was with some difficulty that they could recognize, in the dignified deportment of the aged clergyman, the once enthusiastic aspirant to the honours of the Bardic Circle.

It was amidst these friends, surrounded by the fallen and impoverished, but still honoured reliques of the house of Lluellyn, that Adeline became the wife of her beloved Edward; an union which fulfilled the promise it had given, and which, alike blest and blessing, saw all within its field of influence enjoying as much peace and comfort as the tenure of humanity will allow.

If a tear would sometimes trickle down the cheek of Adeline, or a sigh escape from Edward, it was when they thought on the once pleasant fields of Rosedale, and the deep-wooded valley of the Rye.

No. XXII.

I love the altar of my Sires,

Old as my country's rocks of steel;
And as I join its sacred fires,

The present Deity I feel.

Mine is no solitary choice,

See here the seal of saints impress'd;
The prayer of millions swells my voice,
The mind of ages fills my breast.

CUNNINGHAM.

THERE cannot be a spectacle more productive of delight to the heart of a good man, than to witness his fellow-creatures assembled in the act of social worship; to see them, from a conscious sense of their mutual wants and infirmities, and of their joint dependance on Him who made them all, confessing their many transgressions, deprecating the just indignation of their God, imploring his assistance, and returning their

grateful thanks for the numerous blessings which have already been vouchsafed them.

He who best knows how to appreciate the value of solitary supplication, who has felt how soothing and consolatory it is, how essential to his happiness and well-being, both here and hereafter, that he should, under the privacy of his own roof, frequently seek the presence of that Almighty Being who has promised to relieve the wants, and succour the distress of those who draw near to him through the mediation of his blessed Son, is, at the same time, best prepared, from the knowledge of his own relation to the Deity, to enter with ardour into all those feelings which, when mingling with his brethren in the temple of their mutual Father, should bind us not only to our Creator, but to each other, uniting with ties never to be separated the love of God and man.

It would seem scarcely possible, indeed, for any human being, when forming part of a public congregation, to commence the prayer which has been left us for a model by our Saviour, without feeling from its opening words, from the emphatic and endearing expression " Our

« PreviousContinue »