Tales of the peerage and the peasantry

The sound of the organ pealed through the chapel of the English Augustine convent at Bruges: a bright gleam of sunshine, streaming through the painted window to the south of the...

Hail, Childhood! lovely age, in thy short race Too oft we know our only happy hours. With what fond yearnings later we retrace Each several step in thy sweet path of flowers. Th...

Dear as her sister had ever been to the Lady Winifred, never had she seemed so dear as at the moment of parting from her for ever: never had she so loved the convent garden, whi...

Peace, brother, peace! Speak not irreverently Of maiden bashfulness; it were to slander The breath of morn--the dew-drop on the bud-- The thousand, thousand evanescent sweets Th...

His soul is tost sweet hopes and doubts between, And you might almost 'mid these flutterings trace A dear assurance to be lov'd by her; For silence is Love's best interpreter.

His affection was of a very extraordinary alloy,--a composition of conscience, and love, and generosity, and gratitude, and all those noble affections that raise the passion to...

In the mutual affection which subsisted between herself and her lord, the Countess of Nithsdale would now have enjoyed happiness, as perfect and as unalloyed as mortals may look...

Although they differed widely in politics, the Duke of Montrose was one of the persons whom Lord Nithsdale looked upon as a true patriot, and a young man of great promise. He wa...

His impartial judgment acknowledged that, under the rule of Anne, England enjoyed a more than common measure of prosperity; and though she was not the rightful heir, still it wa...

Let us think how our ancestors rose. Let us think how our ancestors fell; The rights they defended, and those They bought with their blood, we'll ne'er sell. Let the love of our...

The Duke of Argyle had not yet been reinforced by the Irish or the Dutch troops. This would indeed have been the moment for the insurgents to have made themselves masters of all...

When the day is gane, an' night is come, An' a' folk bound to sleep, I think on him that's far awa, The lee-lang night, an' weep, my dear, The lee-lang night, an' weep.

Nor can any men's malice be gratified further by my letters, than to see my constancy to my wife, the laws, and religion. Bees will gather honey where spiders suck poison.--_Eik...

----Since I parted hence, I have beheld misfortune face to face; Have mark'd the ills of desolating war In all the sad details kings never see. The sun that rises on the peasant...

Nay, heed them not, fair Margaret; true, they are Untutor'd, and in 'haviour surly, rough; But they have hearts, nor unacquainted are With sturdy charities and strong affections...

The drowsy night grows on the world, and now The busy craftsman and o'erlabour'd hind Forget the travail of the day in sleep: Care only wakes, and moping pensiveness.--Rowe.

The less I may be blest with her company, the more I will retire to God, and my owne heart, whence no malice can banish her. My enemies may envy, but they can never deprive me o...

The greater part of the night which succeeded the Earl of Nithsdale's interview with his wife, was spent by him in restlessly measuring with hasty strides the mean apartment to...

When Lady Nithsdale arrived at her lodgings, she there found Mrs. Morgan, who from the moment she first, through Amy Evans's means, became acquainted with her, had proved hersel...

Mrs. Morgan and Amy Evans expected that the control which the unfortunate Countess of Nithsdale had as yet exercised over her feelings would have completely given way when no lo...

Thy bosom hath been sear'd by pride of state, Hard, cold, and dead to nature's sympathies; Nor know'st thou virtue's awe--nor gentleness, How sovereign 'tis! Nor hast thou felt...

His dark eye flashed, he bit his compressed lip till the blood almost started; he paced the apartment with hasty strides, as he pictured to himself his graceful, his delicate, h...

The Countess of Nithsdale had quitted her husband. She wound her solitary way through the dreary purlieus which had become only too familiar to her. She had gained the long-wish...

When Lady Nithsdale arrived at her lodgings, she found poor Mr. M'Kenzie in waiting to accompany her to present her last hopeless petition, had the attempt, in the success of wh...

But I, that knew what harbour'd in that head, What virtues rare were temper'd in that breast, Honour the place that such a jewel bred, And kiss the ground whereas the corpse dot...

The Countess of Nithsdale lost no time in quitting her present retreat, and she took up her abode at the house of a quiet honest man in Drury Lane, where, in the utmost privacy,...

But I wad rather see him roam An outcast on a foreign strand, And wi' his master beg his bread, Nae mair to see his native land, Than bow a hair o' his brave head To base usurpe...

And still it was her nightly prayer To live to close his sightless eyes; For this her torturing pains to bear, Then sink in death ere morning rise. Who, were she gone, the staff...

Dame Jones's infallible remedy rather increased than diminished the evil; and Susan's spirits began to fail her at the continued suffering, the enforced idleness, and also in so...

Susan was a good-hearted girl, but she had a high spirit. She had a generous temper, but it was not always under control. Of all qualities a sweet temper is perhaps the one leas...

But not to understand a treasure's worth Till time has stolen away the slighted good, Is cause of half the poverty we feel, And makes the world the wilderness it is.

These orbs, that Heaven's gay light no longer know, Nor meet with kindred beam affection's eye, (Long, long denied each grateful ministry!) Still own the tear that flows for oth...

George Wells still took his Sunday walk with Susan; and Susan, having once told him distinctly that she should never marry, and that she gave him back his troth, having even all...

Behold the herbage rich, in pride of June, Pranked with gay flowrets dancing merrily Beneath the sunbeams of the sultry noon, While slumbering in their cells their perfumes lie....

Susan was somewhat agitated and perplexed the next Sunday morning, debating in her own mind whether George and Jane were likely to be asked that very day, and whether she could...

George Wells and Jane Dixon had been asked for the last time, and the wedding was fixed for the Wednesday following. George Wells had not again visited the family of the Fosters...

----And now, their wanderings o'er, They, 'mid embowering trees, descry their home once more. Home, thrilling sound! To the time-sobered breast, Thronged with remembrances, not...

Wise Nature is less partial in her love Than ye do judge withal. When lavishly She pours her gifts profuse, satiety Doth blunt the sense: when sparingly dispensed, A keener reli...

Bairns, and their bairns, make sure a firmer tie Than aught in love the like of us can spy. See yon twa elms that grow up side by side: Suppose them, some years syne, bridegroom...

Susan Foster's unexpected prosperity was not regarded without envy by some of her neighbours; and old Nelly, her former mistress in the art of knitting, whose temper had not gro...

At the period when our story commences, Lord and Lady Westhope had been married sixteen years. Theirs had been a love-match. The love had lasted on the part of the lady at least...

Whom call we gay? That honour has been long The boast of mere pretenders to the name. The innocent are gay. The lark is gay, That dries his feathers saturate with dew Beneath th...

During the four months which intervened between Captain De Molton's leaving Paris and his joining the party at Cransley, how had he passed his time? He was a person of much dete...

Now have I shewed you bothe, these whyche ye lyst, Stately fortune, or humble povertee: That is to say, now lyeth it in your fyst To take here bondage, or free libertee.

Upon leaving Cransley, Captain De Molton had hastened to town. He there found his father, who having left the rest of the family at Brighton, had also repaired to London for the...

The visit of the Falkinghams at Cransley had now lasted more than ten days. Blanche ardently wished to be at home again. She felt wretched, hypocritical, and guilty. She found h...

The smile that on thy lips erewhile So kindly wont to play-- That could each idle care beguile Of Love's first golden day,-- Now, when lone Fancy rules the hour, At evening's li...

The soote season that bud and bloom forth brings With greene hath cladde the hyll, and eke the dale; The nightingall with feathers new she sings, The turtle to her mate hath tol...

Lady Westhope's praises of Mr. Wroxholme, and her intimation of his early intimacy with Captain De Molton, led Lady Blanche to talk to him with more satisfaction than to any one...

And words of small import, but tinged with gall, Jar on the sense by their unkindly tone. The morning greeting may sound harsh withal, The evening benison a curse may own; While...

So, bounding o'er the billows, ride our fleets, To reach the land that owns the sacred name Of _home_; and high among the shrouds brave hearts Beat towards that home with strong...

De Molton had the happiness of finding no chasm in the dear and well-known family circle. He could look round and meet the beaming, tearful, tender glance of his doting mother,...

Blanche's life had not of late been a happy one, and in addition to the natural wish of being united to the object of her love, she experienced considerable anxiety to change he...

The honeymoon was spent at Sir Frederick Vyneton's villa; whose man-cook and whole establishment were devoted to the new-married couple, while the good-natured proprietor was ma...

As De Molton expected, the quarters of his regiment were changed; and soon after Blanche's confinement, he left her to superintend the removal of their goods and chattels, and t...

Some difference of this dangerous kind, By which, though light, the links that bind, The fondest hearts may soon be riven; Some shadow in Love's summer heav'n. Which, though a f...

And ruder words will soon rush in To spread the breach that words begin, And eyes forget the gentle ray They wore in courtship's smiling day, And voices lose the tone that shed...

The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown; No traveller ever reach'd that blest abode, Who found not thorns and briers in his road.

The children caught the measles, a complaint which had at that period proved peculiarly fatal. The eldest girl, who was at that most engaging of all ages, when, without losing t...

Some manne hath good, but chyldren hath he none; Some manne hath both, but he can get none healthe. Some hath all three, but up to honour's throne Can he not crepe by no manner...