last look. My child-my expiring child-my little one-my Hester!" He paused, for the strong man was overcome, and his breast heaved with choking sobs. "Have compassion on the sorrows of a father! Give me leave to depart-deny me not-an hour, I say, one short hour-you shall have money-you shall have all I possess-it is in your powerthey will not blame you for being thus merciful-let me fly to my daughter-let me go! let me go!"

As the Hebrew patriarch, when bereaved of his favourite child, forgot his manhood and wept, so did that old man. What were worldly trials, caused by the loss of station and wealth, compared with the woes now of that stricken heart? He only saw death and the grave. Fortunes, however desperate or ruined, may be repaired; but never, never more shall come from the realms of silence, and dark, unwaking sleep, the beloved ones of our soul, with their soothing voices and their happy smiles.

Old Reuben, as he witnessed the father's emotion, was deeply affected; but he had no power to act; he sighed and drew his rough sleeve across his eyes, for the gathering drops obscured his sight. The officer, whose heart was callous by nature, as well as indurated by habit, spoke in a decisive tone:

"Now, all this is very well, but 'tis of no use. We must attend to our duty here. Why, to let you out, Mr. Somerset, at this hour of the night, might even be a hazarding of my situation;-yes, my situation, sir,” added the man, than the loss of which he could conceive no stroke or affliction more terrible. "In a word, you can't, and you shan't leave the prison. Return to your room, or I shall order the turnkeys to drag you there by force."

The wretched father, perceiving that all was over, yielded to his fate. He addressed not another word to the inhuman man who thus controlled his destiny, but slowly walked back to the prison-yard, where his own apartment was situated. There he passed the remainder of the night in anxiety and sorrow only to be imagined. Yet he was not alone, for Reuben insisted on sitting up with him, the poor turnkey, in his rude and honest way, endeavouring to render him consolation.

The morning the prayed-for morning—at length dawned. The usual liberty-ticket was procured, and the moment the rules allowed, eight o'clock, the impatient father hurried through the opened gate of the prison. With feverish haste he passed up Ludgate-hill, and a few minutes brought him to Doctors' Commons. As he drew near to Wardrobe-place, his anxiety and suspense were intolerable. Did his child live? or was she no more? Dread and hope alternately filled his heart. He reached the covered passage, and entered the little square; there his agitation became so excessive, that his palpitating heart seemed as though it would burst his bosom, while his knees smote each other.

He saw the house-the shutters were not closed-thank Heaven for that! Death, at least, was not there. He knocked softly, and the door was opened by a servant girl. He was too much excited to ask a question, but at that instant the surgeon was descending the stairs. The good gentleman had been sitting up all the night, and was now going home to obtain some rest. As he saw Mr. Somerset, he hurried forward to meet him. There was no shaking of the head-no gloom now in that benevolent face. Oh! what a light his smile cast on the darkness of the father's soul!

"Good morning," said the doctor, taking Mr. Somerset cheerfully by the hand; "I am the bearer of happy tidings, sir. We shan't lose the dear young lady this time, thank Heaven!-no no. The crisis has passed, and we are better, much better; our fever is abated, and our pulse is good. We shall get on now very well-charming-believe me."

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"But may I not see her?" stammered out Mr. Somerset, in his delight. Certainly only promise to be calm, for we must be careful not to agitate her nerves. I will return to the room with you."

Quietly Hester lay in the embracing arms of her father. felt, and grateful as happy.

for

Happy she

"I thank God," she whispered, "for this. He has heard my prayer your sake; a little longer shall I be spared to love you, father, to be near you, and to hope-hope that your present misfortunes will away."

pass

CHAPTER XIV.

THE COTTAGE AT BROMPTON.

THEY removed the invalid, whose health was daily improving, to Brompton-a locality generally esteemed for the mildness of the air. She would not consent to reside at a greater distance from her father; and an hour's drive would take her from that place to the Fleet Prison.

Brompton was not then, as now, to accommodate a plethoric and overgrown population, covered with bricks and mortar. Green fields refreshed the eye of the exploring and adventurous citizen. For Bow-bells, and the crush of waggons in Thames-street, he heard here the low of cattle and the bleat of sheep; the thrush sang in the thickets, and the winds that, sweeping over eastward-spreading London, whirled about only dust and smoke, were here surprised and gratified at being able to load their pinions with rich fragrance, breathed upwards from countless gardens.

Oh! ye destroyers! Civilisation and advancing Prosperity! ye arch enemies to Nature and Nature's delights! that scene now is blotted out. The tuneful blackbird has winged away to regions that still offer a covert; the lowing cattle have been driven to Smithfield, and converted into food! and where trees waved, where hawthorn hedges divided the velvet meadows, and the odorous gardens laughed in the awakening eye of day, little now is seen but long, long rows of red-brick domiciles-a wilderness of chimney-pots, which discharge their black or yellow clouds, generated by inferior" Inland" or Wallsend coals; while omnibuses rattle along, and legions of shops-draper, grocer, and costermonger-stare at the sorrowful muser from every corner. Alas! for that once rural suburb— for pleasant, pleasant Brompton !

The cottage in which Hester lodged belonged to a gardener. It was not surrounded by trees, for medical men have an aversion to trees, shutting out the free air, and breathing at night pernicious gases into windows; but it stood embosomed among flowers and aromatic shrubs. The place was near to London, and yet so retired, so still, so rural, that it well might seem a hundred miles away.

The afternoon is warm, the air soft and sweet, as if breathing over Shakspeare's "bank of violets." Hester is resting on a rustic seat near the porch of the cottage. Her faithful attendant, Julie, is also there,

for the turnkey's daughter now seldom quits her side. Each has a book in her hand, but they seem wrapped in their own thoughts, heeding not the page over which they bend. The eyes of Julie now wander across the garden, then along the meadows beyond, and, lastly, are fixed on the crimson clouds which are beginning in the west to roll themselves around the sinking sun. There is an expression of simple wonder, and intense adoration, in the young girl's look, as if she sees in those masses of gorgeousness and glory the sky-throne of Nature's God; or fancies she looks through their long vistas of branching gold into paradise. Hester watches her, and as the rays grow deeper and richer, their reflection is cast on each girl's countenance, on their long, wavy hair, and on their garments, until they appear surrounded by an atmosphere of soft and living purple.

Heliotropes turning to the sun seemed those fair motionless beingsworshippers of the Persian Mithra, praying in silence, and mourning that the God of Day should number now so few disciples on earth. Hester at length spoke to her companion:

"You admire the scene, Julie; it does not much resemble the prospect which, for twenty years, spread before you within the walls of the Fleet Prison ?"

"No, Miss Somerset ; but I told you I was once at Hampstead, and father said the scene there is the finest in the world."

"Then Reuben has been a traveller?"

"He says so, for he has been at Barnet, at Norwood, at Gravesend, and even at Margate. I once thought the last place was almost at the end of the world, but, thanks to your teaching, I know better now."

"Yes, by reading and by patient study, Julie, you are advancing wonderfully. That mind of yours is a bright star which has long been obscured by the mists and clouds of ignorance; these fogs are fast passing away."

"Would that they were! but I am still a poor ignorant, uncultivated, and blind being. I feel I was born to serve, and to look up to another for direction. I do not understand the feeling that prompts some to elevate themselves above their fellow-creatures. Ambition seems to me a curse rather than a noble passion of the mind. My happiness has been, and I trust long will be, to wait on and serve you."

"Now, Julie, you are most obstinate; I tell you again, you are not my servant, but my companion and friend. For your care of me, and your unwearied attention during my late illness, I owe you a debt I shall never be able to discharge. Listen to me. Shall we henceforth live entirely together, toil on together, and assist each other in buffeting the assaults of fortune-sworn friends in good and evil?"

"That is too much to hope, far too much for me to expect. Your proposal overwhelms me with happiness, and yet fills me with sorrowsorrow, because I am so unworthy of your regard."

"Dear Julie," said Hester, " you are all I ask, all I desire in a friend. Would that a nearer tie than friendship's existed between us!" "A nearer tie?-you must mean, then, that of a cousin or a sister; such a thing to me would be strange, yet inexpressibly delightful, for I have no relation in the world but my father and mother."

The turnkey's daughter looked with a loving smile into Hester's face.

1

Was there an electric chain of sympathy binding together the two gentle spirits? Did that mysterious affinity exist between them, known sometimes to those proceeding from the same stock? However this might be, they gazed and gazed in silence, and, drawing nearer, clung at last into a close embrace.

The round glowing orb of the sun rested on the horizon, and, through the softening golden haze, the eye could follow its course. The farewell rays rested on the summit of the old church tower across the meadows; they played around the tall graceful poplars, whose leaves glistened and trembled as with delight; and they lingered lovingly among the autumnal roses, and kissed each smaller flower into sleep, the odours of which were breathing, like the sweet voluptuous sighs of gathering fairies, around those two lovely forms.

The golden globe dipped down; its upper rim flashed and shot coruscations, like arrows of fire, in its intense departing glory-lower and lower yet-one burning point-it disappeared at last.

Love on, dream on, gentle spirits! The stars, as they are slowly distilled from heaven in drops of liquid silver, are not brighter than your bright thoughts; the stainless azure of the deep sky is not purer than your pure natures. Oh! where shall we find a type of holy innocence, of perfect mental beauty unmixed with guile, of all that approaches nearest to the divine nature of the mysterious unseen One, the reflex of whose shadow we are-where, if not in the breast of woman, in that soft spring-time of life when the affections are fresh as new-born flowers, and the wings of passion and earth's more sordid feelings have cast no blight on her path?

FIRE-ARMS.

THE march of practical science, of late years, has not been confined to the stupendous structures of tubular bridges and the power of steam, nor even to making the lightning flights of electricity useful to mankind, but the laws which regulate projectiles have also not only claimed, but obtained, a share of that wonderful progress which distinguishes the present so far beyond every previous period of the world. "An elongated projectile," justly observes Colonel Chesney, "is one of the happier efforts of skill and genius, the application of which to the musket has been accompanied by such improvements in the arm itself, as will, according to some, supersede the use of light artillery altogether; and, under modified circumstances, must produce considerable changes in the formation as well as the tactics of modern armies."

The various kinds of fire-arms now competing for the palm of excellence may be classed under two heads-viz., the breech-loading musket, and another description of weapon receiving the ball at the muzzle. The latter,

Observations on the Past and Present State of Fire-arms, and on the Probable Effects in War of the New Musket: with a Proposition for reorganising the Royal Regiment of Artillery by a Subdivision into Battalions in each special arm of Garrison, Field, and Horse Artillery, with Suggestions for promoting its Efficiency. By Colonel Chesney, D.C.L. and F.R.S., Royal Artillery. Longman and Co.

Feb.-VOL. XCIV. NO. CCCLXXIV.

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as far as it has been brought into use in France, is practically shown to be greatly superior to the old musket of that nation, and the former is expected to have still greater advantages; but whichever principle may ultimately receive the preference, it is certain that the new weapons, in either case, will have greater range and far more accuracy than has been hitherto obtained from the best rifles in the hands of the most experienced marksmen.

Rapidity in firing, and other advantages, has caused a breach-loading musket to have been a desideratum ever since the arm was invented. Ă new musket of this kind was constructed some years back under the direction of the Swedish commissioners, which it was hoped would combine the best qualities of the weapons hitherto in use, and would also be an improvement on the flattened ball invented by Delvigne for his musket, as well as the belted ball introduced in England by Mr. Lovell. Extensive experiments were carried on between 1839 and 1845 to test the relative advantages of this weapon compared with the common smooth-barrelled musket, and also with the Jäger rifle, at different distances and in various ways. We are indebted for the results of these experiments to the consideration given by Lieutenant-Colonel Portlock, R.E., to the important question of how far such improved weapons may be made to take a more effectual part in the defence of fortified places and positions. ("Corps Papers, &c., compiled from the Contributions of the Officers of the Royal Engineers," &c., pp. 39, 362-380.)

The French, whose attempts had preceded those of the Norwegians, did not fail to continue their experiments, and the cylindro-conical projectile, which they used instead of the ordinary ball, possesses, according to Paixhans ("Constitution Militaire de la France," par H. J. Paixhans, Ancien Général de Division d'Artillerie, pp. 225, 226), the advantage of encountering less resistance with an equal mass; consequently, while the direction will be truer, and the distance the projectile will be carried will be greater as the resistance to its propulsion and passage through the air is less, so, also, at the same time, any piece in which it may be used, whether a musket or a great gun, will produce a shock considerably less than one of the same calibre propelling a spherical projectile. Hence, a musket with a cylindro-conical projectile would be more efficient in the hands of a boy than a musket with a common ball in the hands of a fullgrown marksman-there would be little or no recoil, and a better direction derived from several concurrent circumstances, less resistance, and a greater, and consequently more direct range.

This important fact, which, when once practically applied appears so simple, that, like Columbus's egg, we wonder it had never been thought of till the word ball had almost become synonymous with gun and musket projectiles, is said to have been first brought forward by Caron, an officer of artillery, at Charleville, in 1833. A hollow introduced into the larger extremity of the projectile was subsequently proposed by Captain Blois, and which, by carrying the centre of gravity further forward, gave it an increased range, the accuracy of which was at the same time much improved by a very simple contrivance of a Monsieur Tamisier, who cut channels in the after-part of the cylinder, and these, acting like the tail of a rocket, the feathers of an arrow, or the shaft of a javelin, and opposing resistance perpendicularly to the line of flight, not only prevented the de