The National Register. — London, England, 1813-01-31 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. irg on a stranger's neck—lets fly his 'shaft, and finds his EDITH 'expiring in her murdered brother's aims. (In the re covery of his lost reason, MORTHA,M learns that his infant son and nurse have been carried off by armed men—at his nrideer i s instigation, as he supposes. He, quits his home, stow a desart : and in fotcign lands, the foremost in every daring enterprise of war, seeks anxiously for death.—This recital closed; it is agreed that REDMOND and MATILDA shall repair home, and that WILFRID, at night, shall attend with an armed force to bear from IloK ED Y to BARNARD the treasures of MORT H AM, and the lady. Night arrived, the rival lovers forget their jealousies, in attempts to Booth MaTlLDa's melancholy on quitting the kat of her fore-fathers. The bickering faggot sparkled bright, And gave the scene of love to sight, itade Wit rat n's cheek more li%ely glow, Play'd ou MATILDA 's neck of ,now. 11cr nut-brown curls and tOrehe hiub, And laughed in 11.F.onovn's azure eye. Two lovers by the mirk!' sale, Without a glance ofjealous hate ; 'I he maid her lovers sate hetweem. With open brow, and equal mien : It is a sight but rarely spied, Thanks to man's wraith and woman's pri(!e. Ing . silence without is lsroken by a minstrel, whose impor tunity and distress obtain fi , r him, in these times of turbu lence and distrust, an unwelcome admittance to the hall. MATILDA'S kindness, however, makes amends for the rough. mess of the warder; and, at her request. %VI IFR t D and the harper enliven the painful evening of parting with their atelodics. Of the harper— Each look and accent framNl to please, Seemed to affect a playful ease ; His face was of that doubtful Whirl) wins the eye, but nit the mind : • Yet harsh it seemed to deem amiss Of brow so young. and smooth HA tliis— l'Tis was the subtle blow, and sly, Tail( spying all, seems nought to T y, ft,,,imd all the group his glance , sole, Unmarked themselves, to mark the wh.r e . The minstrel is EDMOND, one of BERT RAM'; desperate out laws, who, having gained an entrance to the car.tle himself, prepares one for the rest of his party. " Harper ! methinks thy maple tar," AIATiLDc Said, can gold us raise ! Well nigh my fancy can discern, Near the dark porch a visage stern, • E' e n now, in sander Sl r nook-- I see it ! RP omoNo, Wlt Frt tn, look ! A human form, distinct and plcar•— God, for thy mercy !—lt draws near." She saw ton true.-- BERTRANI and his' followers enter. A de s p era t e con flict ensues; whilst WILFRID conveys MATILDA bv a wic ket to the woods ; and urged by her fears for REDNIOND's safety, and her reproaches, he retutns to the fight; all had been lost—but that the soldiers who had been provided to escort MATILDA arrive. The castle takes fire, the fight thickens amidst its flames, the assailing party are killed to i man or taken prisoners, ail except BERTRAM ',v170 escapes. WILFRID is wounded, and is borne fiom the flames by rEDMOND. Three days have succeeded to this night of horrors, when BERTRAM stealing to his lucking place discovers a figure digging the earth of the cavern, and at length drawing forth a casket. It proves to be LDMOND, who when com pelled to disclose his business and the cause of it, informs 13ERTRAM that NVS/CLIFFE having considered Guy DEN pt. 44 4 himself fit iastruniclts to assist is a plot by which JAN. 374, ROK EBY might be convicted of an attempt to escape from his confinement, had engaged them to cooperate with him on a promise of their liberty. By their means he hopes to force a marriage between MATILDA and his son. Whilst conferring with these accomplices, a letter is mysteriously delivered to WYCLIFFE. It declares, that if he will re store Moan' PI'S child, the lands of the latter shall be left to him, and be no more reclaimed; but if not that MoR r- HA shall rise again from the dead to molest him. WY... C LYF FE, in dread and horror of the certainty that his foe still exists, .declares in faultering accents that the fate of the child is unknown to him ; and, if but in his power, that he would restore it to its father, and resign all claims to its inheritance. DENZIL informs him that REDMOND is MORTH A m's son, which he proves from the contents of a casket he had formerly stolen from ROKEBY, and concealed in the cavern. EDIT n, it appeared, was the daughter of old O'NEALE, who fled her country in secrecy to marry MORTHAM. O'NEALE, when his first resentment was over, dispatched his son to England, engaging him to make him self known to EotTli alone. This interview it was, which MORTIIAM'S bow terminated so fatally. O'NEALE, in despair, robbed MoRT HAM of his son, whom he bred in Ireland, until troubles came upon the land, and then sent him to England, with commendation, to MoRTIIAM and ROKE•• ay. DrNzu promises to place in WYCLIFFE'S hands his proofs of this story, on condition of his own liberty, and that of EnstoNn, whom he passes on WYCL/FFE for his son. NVYCLIFFE con v ents that En MONO go for the casket, whilst DENztt. remains his prisoner, and declares, that should the son fail ►n his return, the father must suffer on the gibbet. EDMOND, full of remorse for his crimes, resoles, with BERTRAM'S concurrence, to deliver to REDMOND the credentials of his biah—and to MoR•rHAM, intelligence of the danger with which his life is threatened. The morrow conducts DENzi t. to his fate, for EDMOND returns not. And %V vcr.t F FE and his train convey their prisoners, BOK E nv and REDMOND, to the Chapel of Eglistonc—there, either to sutler on the scaffold, or to assist in enforcing the marriage of MATILDA with WILFRID. Shocked and amazed, WILFRID disclaims all concurrence in the barbarous scheme—in the church, he resigns the hope of ever calling MATILDA Wire—and, worn out by his efforts, his wounds, and his grief, he expires at her feet. WVC t. I FFE, in the barbarity of disappointed rage, orders his victims to the block. The outrost crowd have heard a sound Like horses' hoof on hardened ground ; Nearer it came, and yet mote near, The very deathsmcn paused to hear All eyes urn the gate-way hung, When through the gothic arch there sprung A horseman armed, at headlong speed— Sable his cloak, his plume, his sty ed ; Fire from the, flinty floor was spurned, The vaults unwonted clang returned ! One instant's glance around he threw, From saddle-how 1114 pistol drew .... Full levelled at the Baron's Nead, Rung the report, the bullet sped— • And to his long account, and last, Without a groan, dark OSWALD past. The charger, in wheeling round, is precipitated with its rider to the ground. The crowd closes on BERTRAM as he at temps to rise—he falls again, pierced with a thousand wou [ids. MORTHANIICS' to embrace his son—and the sable vesture of death which obscured the chapel, is changed for happier emblems, when the ttuptials of MATILDA and RED• MOND are solemnized.. [The remainder qf this Review in our weal.] 74 ■ 1 7.1 -