“AND these, then,” said I, as I stood gazing on the romantic and beautiful scene before me, "are the Chedder Cliffs! How many fanciful ideas come crowding upon the imagination, amid rocks and chasms like these, where, if you speak, your words are echoed as by a thousand unseen spirits; and if you move across the cavern, your step sounds like the footfalls of a host! surely so wild a scene must have its legend, even in anti-legendary England. -Do tell me one, or suppose one for me," I added, turning to our guide, a blunt, matter-of-fact looking peasant, "I will be as credulous as you could wish, however wild and improbable the tale may be I should not dare to doubt one tittle of it, while I am here looking on these gem-like stalactites; where one may fancy the Genii of Aladdin's lamp have been strewing treasures, or the gnomes building for themselves a fairy palace surely, surely, such a place must have its legend!"

Why, for the matter of that Ma'am, I believe there is a kind of a rigmarole sort of a story told about the rocks," was the reply, "not that I know any thing about it, thof' to be sure I've heard it a time or two."

"Try-try"-said I, impatiently. ""Tis no manner of use trying, as the saying is," answered the inexor able peasant, "I never could make no hand of such things, seeing as I can neither read nor write."

"Is there any one in the neighbourhood who can tell it?" I demanded hastily.

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Oh, aye! that's another guess sort of an affair-yes, Ma'am, yes—there's blind Mary the Knitter, knows it from end to end, like a book; and if you like to wait here till I fetch her, I'll be back before you've walked half a dozen times round the cavern; though it is but a dullish kind of a story to hear after all."

I assented joyfully; and in very little more time than he had stated, the sturdy peasant returned with the blind girl. She was the gentlest looking creature I

ever beheld, with one of the finest profiles imaginable; her jet black hair was braided smoothly under her close cap of simple white; and had it not been for her blank and sightless eyeballs, she would have been the most lovely crea

ture I ever looked on.

"Are you not fearful of treading so dangerous a path ?" I asked gently, as I took her hand to lead her forward.

"No, Madam," was the low and tremulous reply, "I fear nothing but a thunder-storm."

"You are alarmed at thunder and lightning then;" said I, anxious to put her at her ease, ere she commenced her narration.

"Alas! I have had cause!" she answered, as she passed her hands over her darkened eyes, "I never hear a thunder-clap but I remember that a flash has preceded it." Then smiling sadly, she continued in a less mournful tone, "the Lord is very merciful; though blind and an orphan, I can yet earn my bread, and I ought not to repine; I trust I do not-yet there are moments-Oh! Madam, it is sad to remember what a glorious world I am existing in, and to be unable to see the bright sun and the sweet flowers!"She hung her head for an instant; and then appearing to make a violent effort to overcome the train of thought into which my unguarded question had plunged her, she suddenly added, "but you wish to hear the Legend of the Cliffs, ladies; if you will kindly lead me to a seat on a fragment of the rock, I will tell it you."

We did as she requested: and as soon as she had taken her place, and drawn an unfinished mitten from her pocket to continue her knitting, we seated ourselves beside her, and she commenced her tale.

"It is said, ladies, that the old Saxon Kings sometimes resided in this neighbourhood; and that Alfred the Great, on his death-bed bequeathed his hunting-seat somewhere near the Cliffs, to his son; be that as it may, it is certain that it was once a single rock, without

any of the caves and chasms which now form its principal beauty. In those days, the river which you must have remarked in the valley, did not exist; and some say, that where that very river now flows, the hunting-seat of King Alfred actually stood. Many, many years after his death, when the valley was filled with the cottages of the yeomen, and vassals of the great men who had halls and castles round about, a poor widow woman and her daughter came and took possession of one of the humble tenements of the village. At first the cottagers were very anxious to learn who they were, and from whence they came; but gradually that inquisitiveness died away, for the widow was gentle and pious, neither giving nor taking offence; and the daughter was so beautiful, that before she had been many weeks among them, she might have chosen for her husband any young man in the valley. Well, they lived for a time very happily, working hard, and seldom leaving their home; but at length their peace was disturbed. A great lord, who owned a castle hard by, had assembled a number of nobles, as highborn and as haughty as himself, to enjoy the diversion of hunting. One of these, a tall, dark, fearful-looking man, was one day, by accident, parted from his companions, and as evening fell, he was returning slowly through the valley alone, when he chanced to pass the cottage of the widow. The young girl was as her wont when the sun went down, busied in tending the flowers which decked their little garden; and hearing the tramp of a horse, she looked up; for a moment she stood speechless with astonishment and dismay, but in the next she uttered a piercing shriek, which was echoed back by the dark rock, and fled with the velocity of a deer. The Stranger-Noble sprang from his horse, entered the cottage, and closed the door after him; he stayed in that lowly hut till nearly midnight, when he again came forth, and vaulting into his saddle, galloped off. As soon as he disappeared, the girl sprang from among some brushwood, where she had been crouched down, and rushed into the house. Sighs and sobs were heard to issue from it, at daybreak, by the peasants, as they went to their labour in the fields. That day passed away;

neither the widow nor her daughter crossed the threshold of their dwelling, nor did they even unclose their casements. The following morning rose lurid and frowning; the sky seemed big with tempest, and the dense clouds rolled along the face of the heavens like sable palls: short muffled peals of thunder were reverberated by the hollow rock; and faint, flaky flashes of lightning played upon its surface; at intervals wild and sudden gusts of wind swept over the valley, and bent the heads of the tall trees even to the earth, while a few large drops of rain fell from time to time from the overcharged and murky clouds; yet amid this threatening of the elements, the dark Noble was again seen thredding his way to the widow's hut. The dark plumes of his hat were from time to time blown violently across his eyes; and those who saw him remarked that the hand which was raised to put them back, was flashing with gems. When he reached the cottage, the door resisted his touch, but with an impatient gesture he beat it in, and entered. For a time nothing was seen of the inmates of the dwelling, and the howling of the storm which was rapidly becoming more violent, prevented all other sounds from being audible. In about an hour, however, the girl rushed through the open door, her hair dishevelled, and her eyes flashing-in a second she was followed by the fearful Noble: on she flew-onon-with the wild speed of agony; the thunder pealing above her head, and the lightning flashing in her path-on she flew as though unconscious of the fury of the storm. She paused one instant, as if to collect all her energies, when she reached the foot of the Cliff; and then with a strength and speed scarcely human, she sprang up the acclivity. Mortal foot had probably never trod the path before; and even the bold man who pursued her, hesitated a moment ere he followed in the fearful chase

but he did follow-and putting forth all his power, he had gained on her ere she reached the summit. When each had obtained a footing on the dangerous and dizzy height, they paused for an instant as if by mutual consent, and then a shrill scream audible above the voice of the tempest was heard; and they were struggling as if for life, even