emergency, deposited it in the hands of a faithful agent, who was sworn to secresy, and directed by chance took up his habitation in a lonely hut on the sea-shore, determined to pursue the employment of a fisherman, and confine his views and his luxuries to the precarious gains of that calling. He was beginning however to feel the irksomeness of his situation, debarred from literature and polished society, when he met with Zulema, and was the means of rescuing her from death and peril. Her romantic character and adventures so well accorded with his tastes, and he was soon so completely absorbed in a new passion, that he no longer felt lonely or unexcited. We have already seen the progress of his attachment and its success. He wished still to keep her in ignorance of his real situation, seeking to be loved for his own sake independently of birth or fortune-availing himself of his wealth as the means of procuring her every comfort. On the day he left Zulema accompanied by her child, he met at his agent's with an old domestic of the family, who by diligent efforts had traced him hither, and came to inform him that his father lay at the point of death, and wished much to embrace him before he died. He further learnt, that, by the death of his elder brothers, he became heir to the title and estates. Not a minute was to be lost; and Alvarez, charging the agent to acquaint Zulema with the urgency of the case, and to conduct her himself to his father's castle, set out with the domestic, carrying the Ichild with him. Great was the consternation of the F agent when he arrived at the cottage (which he did soon after Velasquez and his company had carried off Zulema) to find it deserted and no trace of her he sought. After every possible search for miles around, he set out alone to acquaint Alvarez with the ill news. He found him under the immediate shock of his father's death; a father who to him had been ever kind and indulgent, and whose affection seemed redoubled since the loss of his other sons. He could not possibly leave the castle till after his father's funeral had taken place; but in the mean while he dispatched both friends and servants to search for intelligence in every quarter. Unfortunately suspecting that the misfortune originated from the malice of Velasquez, he had directed them to search the southern coast of Spain, thinking it likely that he lay concealed some where thereabouts. This mistake was of the less consequence however, since the proceedings of the Inquisition are always conducted with such privacy that no one beyond the walls knows what is passing with, in. The public notice which precedes an Auto da Fé first gave the clue that Zulema was incarcerated in a dungeon's walls. However remote at first might be the supposition that she could possibly be charged with irreligion, sorcery, and profligacy (all of which crimes were laid to the charge of the Moorish crimi, nal) Alvarez determined to be satisfied, well knowing that falsehood and treachery must have been resorted to by her accusers in any case. He took with him the holy man who had united them and baptized Zulema; he collected a band of his friends and relations to accompany him and vouch for his identity; and, armed with a mandate from the king to enforce the suspension of proceedings should the Monks refuse to yield their prey, set out for Madrid, carrying with him her son to comfort the afflicted mother, The result we have seen; and those very Monks who would have witnessed her death, when a lone, defenceless woman, were the first to congratulate and call down blessings upon the exalted Duchess of Alva. She who had appreciated the fine qualities and adhered to the humble fortunes of Alvarez, felt no increase of affection arising from title or splendour. They seldom visited the capital, enjoying the retirement and beauty of their country estates. The greatest part of their wealth was employed in acts of charity or kindness. Their youthful judgments had been corrected without extinguishing their enthusiasm, since each in each other realized their standard of excellence. Their refined and superior tastes assembled a society around them, at once select, learned, and ever delightful. When Graziana finished speaking, her auditors seemed to regret that the gentle tones of her voice should cease even more than the tale which had interested them so much should be ended. Each one felt that the tender Zulema was not ideal; that her representative was embodied before them, and some sighed to have been Alvarez, while others cursed and marvelled at Velasquez: the conversation turned from these to the horrors of the Inquisition and the power of the church of Rome. There were not wanting some however who maintained that a belief in its dogmas engendered a higher spirit of devotedness and enthusiasm than the colder doctrines of Luther and Calvin, not only in religious feelings, but in numerous instances of love, friendship, and loyalty, displayed in former times. I ventured to hint, that the spirit of feudal law might have caused this effect more than the mode of worship employed towards the Supreme Being; that the appointments of society being then so different, called forth a more frequent display of great actions; whereas at present the rights of men being more justly and equally classed, diminished the recurrence of splendid virtues, and I hoped also of flagrant injustice. The ladies seemed inclined to favour the gallantry of other times, from whatever source it might proceed; and indeed I have always observed, that women, whose imaginations tend towards the romantic and sentimental (in their best signification) associate the tender and gallant with those ages which perhaps least deserve the character; nay, I verily believe (but let this be a secret) that they are for the most part as credibly possessed with the identity of Amadis, Palmerin, &c. as ever Don Quixote was; and have they not Ariosto and Petrarch, Chaucer and Spenser, to confirm them in their belief! The queen being called upon for her story, said |