the first charter, which was accorded to them by Edward the First.

The tailor and draper anciently went hand in hand, not merely as members of the same fraternity, but as equally contributing to furnish the necessary articles of clothing. The cissor, or tailor, made, as we have remarked before, both men's and women's apparel. In the time of Edward the First, the king, queen, prince, and the king's daughter, the countess of Holland, had each their separate cissor.

The original gild of this company is called in the ancient licences and confirmations granted to it, "Gilda Armararij;" afterwards "Cissoribus et Armurijs linearum armurata Civat. Lond;" "Fraternitate Cissorum;" "Scissoribus et Armurarij linearum Armurata, Mercatores, Scissores," &c.; names all arising from their being anciently both tailors and cutters; and also making the padding and interior lining of armour, as well as manufacturing garments. Their first licence is stated by Stowe to have been granted 28 Edward I., when they were confirmed by the name of "Taylors and Linen Armourers of the fraternity of St. John the Baptist."

courteous withdrawal from the social civilities tendered to him, Percy was allowed to enjoy his solitude and indulge his dreams unmolested. Mr. Becket had at first questioned the wisdom of the scheme in some particulars, but it was not difficult to remove his objections.

"It is not," said Percy, 66 as though my Ida were to live here all her life, or even any considerable portion of it. A limit is fixed; at eighteen she is to be introduced into the world. I cannot help this if I would, and I am by no means sure that I would if I could. But till that time she is my own. I am not going to impose upon her anything like loneliness; with our poor neighbours I mean at once to establish as familiar and affectionate an intercourse as I can, and it will be hard if we cannot find some one among them near her own age, and sufficiently capable of refinement to be in some measure a companion. But her mind, her soul, her spirit-these shall be mine-and yours-and-" he looked reverently upward, and did not finish the sentence. After an instant's pause he resumed" And, please God, we will make her literally as happy as the day is long; in childhood, at least, this may rightly be attempted, and may even succeed."

noble army of martyrs," "the goodly fellowship of prophets," "the glorious company of apostles," and of Him in and for Whom these all lived and died. If she needed punishment, which was very seldom, none was found so effectual as to exclude her for a season from this chamber; the severe penalty of prohibition to attend the church service was named as a warning, but never inflicted. In all her rewards and pleasures she was taught as far as possible to associate the poor around her; on feast days there was always an assembly of the village children at Croye-house, where it was Ida's delight to preside at the banquet, to distribute presents to the best conducted among her youthful guests, and to join in their games afterwards, which generally were concluded by a dance upon the lawn.

Percy's only difficulty was one which did not at first make itself felt, and which afterwards presented itself rather in the shape of a natural fear that some good might be missed, than as an observation that some evil had been incurred. He needed the help of a woman for the due training of a woman, and this he had not. An old servant, who had been housekeeper at Evelyn Manor in the days of his early childhood, who had refused to leave the family in And they did succeed. Save by sympathy with their adversity, and had received with joyful gratitude the distressed around her, by penitence for childish her "darling Master Percy's" summons to come and errors, few and far between, by self-denials gently preside over his present establishment, supplied this imposed and cheerfully accepted, the child Ida knew want during the first few years. She taught the little not a sorrow. As one soft note may swell gradually Ida needlework, superintended her toilette, helped into the fulness of a perfect harmony, so did her her to learn her lessons, and initiated her into sundry infancy grow into girlhood, losing no grace, but deve- august formalities, which were esteemed inviolable, loping all. Her manner of life was very simple and which were certainly harmless, and which were perhaps regular. Morning and evening were hallowed by (we speak with diffidence) unnecessary. The good worship in the village church; the intervening hours lady either possessed naturally, or acquired in an were occupied by study, by sports, by long rambles atmosphere where it would have been difficult not to upon the sea-shore, and kindly visits among the poor acquire it, a refinement above her station; and she was inhabitants of Croye. Almost every moment of a life never obnoxious to her master, except when she exlike this might be said, in one sense, to be a part of postulated with him concerning the rents and fissures religious training; the more direct instructions which produced in Ida's garments by certain racings and she received, were simply and briefly imparted by rompings which she deemed superfluous, or mildly Mr. Becket, to whom also her tearful acknowledg-withstood the awful suddenness with which he somements of faults committed, or duties forgotten, were times proposed an impossible pic-nic, basing her made weekly, as a preparation for the Sunday services. arguments upon the state of the larder, or the chroShe was most sedulously trained in a habit of rever-nology of market days, whereby she rose into a region ence; at the name of God her young voice would beyond his reach, and was therefore secure from refufalter, and her little hands involuntarily clasp upon tation. She was honest, industrious, and warmly each other, as if in momentary prayer. One room in affectionate, and it was therefore not difficult to bear the house was set apart, and never entered except for with her little faults of temper, especially as her love prayer, or religious reading and instruction; the walls of management generally rather showed itself in the of it were hung with a few copics from the finest old form of suggestion than of opposition. However, if paintings, which, in imitation of the remembered Mr. Becket ever wanted to tease his friend and pupil, habit of her innocent and lovely mother, she was it was only necessary to allude to Mrs. Vickars's taught on festive occasions to decorate with garlands government of him as an established fact, and the thing of flowers. Here, sitting at the feet of her father was done. There was just enough truth in the accuand her venerable teacher, with her whole soul glis-sation to make it unpalatable; it was, moreover, so tening in her upturned eyes, she received humbly such things as she was required to know and to believe, repeated with timid earnestness the lessons she had been taught, or listened, with glowing cheeks and beating heart, to records of holy men of old, "the

utterly inconsistent with all Percy's theories that it should be true, that he never could suffer it to pass without elaborately justifying himself, in the course of which justification some admission seldom failed to escape him, which strengthened his adversary's

hands. One fact was certainly remarkable, consider-offered no solution of his other difficulty; the want of ing the lofty independence which he professed. He feminine co-operation and superintendence in the never changed the dinner-hour if he could help it. training of his darling. He was getting seriously When such a change was unavoidable, he generally uneasy. He questioned himself sternly whether his conveyed the intimation of it to Mrs. Vickars through scruples were selfish, and on this point could not be another servant, and went out for a walk immediately quite satisfied. There was the certainty of much disafterwards. comfort to himself, the doubt of good being eventually attained, the risk of harm to Ida, whose young character was bright and delicate as the wing of a butterfly, capable of irreparable injury (so he feared) from one incautious touch. Then he began to fear that the difficulty foreseen by Alexander was really coming to pass; his theory was failing, and proving 'impracti cable. Yet, if so, he must have unconsciously departed from his own principle. He was pacing the terrace in the glorious twilight of a July evening, weighing and re-weighing all these harassing thoughts, and secretly despising himself for the cowardice which he would not confess even to himself, and which prevented him from at once seeking his usual counsellor, and abiding by his decision. The sun had dived beneath the far edge of the broad calm sea, the sky

Ida's capacity for art was perhaps the faculty which received more assiduous cultivation than any other, and which repaid it most abundantly. She was taught music before she began her alphabet. At first, and indeed for some years, she learned solely by ear. When quite an infant, her father would place her on his knee and play to her simple melodies on the organ or piano; after a while he began to accustom her to distinguish notes, and detect intervals by their sound alone. This was a species of game, and in time she became quite expert, her ear being thus trained to a very uncommon accuracy and delicacy. Then first her own little hands were placed on the instrument, and carefully guided for a while lest she should unconsciously grow accustomed to discords of her own producing. At seven years old, when she began the overhead was a vast canopy of pale lustrous blue; on study of music in the ordinary manner, she could already play by ear any easy tune that was sung to her, and even accompany it with some of the simpler harmonies. Art was in Percy's view a great and mysterious instrument in the elevation of the human being; it was man's creation (let this be reverently understood, coupled with the unfailing acknowledgment, that the creative power is from above), wherein he is suffered to repair, half by instinct, half by labour, the disorders which the Fall has wrought in God's visible work, and to symbolize, if he cannot produce, perfection. That this instrument should be abused to the service of Satan, and should then become one of the deadliest weapons in the armoury of evil, seemed to him but one among many illustrations of that great law by which privileges are associated with dangers, and gifts with responsibilities.

Is it necessary to understand these things, in order to believe in them? Do we refuse to walk because we know not how the will acts upon the muscles? Life is a climbing upwards by the help of unseen hands; if we reject those invisible assistants, we are scorning the ministry of angels, and we must needs remain upon the earth, from which they wait to raise us.

But here again, as time went on, Percy began to feel a deficiency. He wanted his child to obtain a perfect mastery over the material of her art, and he himself had neither deep science nor manual dexterity. The idea of a governess once or twice passed across his mind, and was very hastily dismissed. He shrank from it inexpressibly, yet the arguments in its favour were so unanswerable, that he did not like to consider them, and was quite afraid of consulting Mr. Becket. Sheldon was the only other resource; Ida was in the habit of going there once a-week under Mrs. Vickars's decorous chaperonage, to receive a lesson in dancing; if he could find any one there whom he thought competent, she might learn music also. But this scheme

the western horizon rose a heavy battlement of dark cloud, all penetrated and transformed by the rosecoloured light, and occasionally sending forth a momentary and harmless flash; in the clear heaven above, the moon stood round and white, like a ball of silver. Percy stood still, and dreamily watched the passage of a sea-gull that was skimming the surface of the water; he saw the edge of its beautiful wing, a pure dead white in the shadow, crystal in the moonbeams, and radiant crimson as it crossed the blaze left by the departed sun.

"Beautiful in itself," said he, half unconsciously, "and so beautiful in all aspects and under all changes. But if the wing itself were broken or stained, neither sun, moon, nor shadow could restore it. Now it makes each circumstance into a new adornment—then -but, God forbid!" The voice of Ida broke his reverie; she came bounding along the terrace like a young greyhound, her golden curls still, as formerly, floating all unconfined about her shoulders, her dress white, her face full of bright innocent eagerness. She was now just eleven years old.

"The post, papa, a letter!" cried she, holding it forth, but catching him by both hands as she presented it, “only don't read it, please, quite yet. I have something to say of such consequence—there is something I wish so very much to do.”

"Well, my darling, don't lose a minute; never mind stopping to take breath-now then, what is it?"

"It is not a joke, dear papa, it is something quite real. There is that lady, that pale young lady in a black dress, who has come to live at Croye; I am sure you know who I mean, because she comes to church every day, and you said how beautifully she sang.'

Yes, I remember,-what of her?"

Every day directly after service she goes away," continued the panting Ida, "I do not know where;

but she always goes past the gate of the garden; I have seen her very often, and she comes back the same way in the evening. And she lodges at Grace Turner's, down close by the sea side; and I think she is very poor. And, you see, she cannot buy flowers for herself, and Mrs. Vickars won't let me give her some." Here Ida's voice faltered, and her eyes became decidedly "more bright than clear."

But, my dear child—”

after her for a minute in smiling silence, proceeded to open his letter, which was from the fair Melissa, and ran as follows:

Evelyn Manor, July 3,

"MY DEAR PERCY,—Ellenor wishes me to write to you to explain her very long silence; she has been in trouble at home, and you know poor dear Ellenor is not one of those who can exert herself under the immediate pressure of sorrow. She is always amiable

"Oh! papa, please don't say 'but' till I have ex--but quite a child where strength is required. Poor plained. I have not explained it yet-may I tell you some more before you say what I am to do ?"

Frederick has a terrible inflammation in the eyes, and the doctors fear it will end in blindness. I do not know how it first began, but I suppose it was a cold, and they did not take alarm soon enough; he is just

"Yes, yes, pray let me have the full explanation," returned her father, putting his arm round her slight waist. "At present I own I am a good deal bewil-entered at Oxford, you know, and I fancy boys are dered. Is it always right to give flowers to poor people when they lodge close by the sea-side? And what has Mrs. Vickars to do with it ?"

Ida laughed.

"The reason is," said she, trying to speak very sedately," that she has a little tiny box along the edge of her room window, with some mignonette in it; and I could see inside when I was down on the sands, and I saw two flowerpots, I did indeed, papa, and one of them had some pinks in it, and the other had a dead rose tree. I am sure she was so sorry when that rose tree died. And when she goes past every day, she always has a pink or a little bit of mignonette in her dress, and when she comes back in the evening it is always quite faded. And I am sure she is very poor, because her dress looks very old, and I saw three darns in it-only you don't know what darns are, papa—but they are very tiresome mendings when anything is torn. And I gathered such a beautiful nosegay-look here, all out of myown garden; roses and pinks, and stocks, and jessamine, and verbena, and a great many more. And I was waiting for her, because it is nearly the time that she always comes, and I was going to run out at the gate and give it to her, and Mrs. Vickars says I must not. She says that you don't visit her, and I mustn't introduce myself; and so, papa, I was thinking if you would just visit her only once, you know, it would not be a great deal of trouble, and then I might always do it afterwards. And I never meant to introduce myself, or say anything about who I am; I wanted her never to know; I meant to run out quick and give her the flowers without saying a word, and come back again just as if I was a fairy. Grace Turner believes in fairies, I know, and perhaps this lady does too; so I thought perhaps she might really think I was a fairy."

grievously neglected at colleges. It often happens
that those who are most anxious in trifles are the
slowest to open their eyes when there is real cause
for fear; and so I suppose poor Ellenor fancied it
would all go well, till it was too late. Now she is
taking him to London for the best advice; but I fear,
from what I hear, the evil has gone too far to be
checked. I only hope, poor dear creature! she will
not reproach herself for not having attended sooner
to his very delicate constitution. I have long been
quite sure that there was some latent disease. The
emotions which this affliction to my beloved sister and
her child awaken in me, may be felt but cannot be
described. I doubt whether he feels more from the
loss of eyesight, than I feel from thinking of his loss.
To one who derives such exquisite delight as I do
from the contemplation of nature in all her varying
moods-the majestic sun, the timid moon, the glowing
stars, it seems scarcely conceivable what life must be
without the organ upon which all these glories depend.
I trust under this grievous trial they will succeed in
inducing Godfrey to conduct himself more amiably
towards his brother. That boy is in himself a great
trial to poor dear Ellenor, though she doats upon
him so much, that I fear her over-indulgence is one
great obstacle to his improvement. He is of a most
violent and haughty temper, poor fellow! He needs a
father to maintain proper discipline with him, and |||
between ourselves (only, of course, you will not repeat
this), it is said there is some probability that he will
not need one long. Dear Ellenor was always the
sort of person with whom emotions were rather
transient, you know; and there is a Mr. Tyrrel, a
former friend of General Aytoun's, now an attaché to
the Portuguese Embassy, and home on leave of
absence, who seems both willing and able to console

Percy did not think such a supposition quite im- her. He is a good deal younger than herself; and it possible.

is said that he has not been very steady, but I dare say that is all ill-nature. He came with an introduction to us, and seemed very anxious to be intimate; but he was not the sort of person to suit me at all, and I am afraid I rather distanced him. You know it is my way to be over-sincere. However, I hope poor dear Ellenor will make up to him for all rebuffs.

"Dear John is quite well. He is entirely engrossed by his country pursuits as magistrate and

carriages, and were not to walk above a mile and a half at the outside, in I came and reminded her of her ten miles walk of the day before, and how well she was after it, and so forth. It vexed her very much, and she has been angry with me ever since; she says it was not so much what I said as the manner in which I said it which hurt her; but it really was nothing in the world but a blunder, for I thought she had forgotten it and would be glad to be reminded. However, she is a good soul, and will soon forgive me, I dare say; I only mention it lest she should have said something a little hasty, and you should fancy that we have quarrelled. Poor Ellenor-I can't trust myself to write of her. She is off for town to-morrow morning. Kiss the little beauty for me, and say everything that is kind and respectful to my dear old tutor. "Your affectionate brother, "JOHN LEE."

The second enclosure was very brief. "My dearest Percy.-Melissa has written to you for me. I really could not. I know how you will feel for us. Pray for me-I am so very weak. This