in Cumberland on some particular fair-day when the other servants all went off to the gayeties. The family were away in London, and a peddler came by, and asked to leave his large and heavy pack in the kitchen, saying he would call for it again at night; and the girl (a gamekeeper's daughter), roaming about in search of amusement, chanced to hit upon a gun hanging up in the hall, and took it down to look at the chasing; and it went off through the open kitchen door, hit the pack, and a slow dark thread of blood came oozing out. (How Miss Pole enjoyed this part of the story, dwelling on each word as if she loved it!) She rather hurried over the further account of the girl's bravery, and I have but a confused idea that, somehow, she baffled the robbers with Italian irons heated red hot, and then restored to blackness by being dipped in grease.

We parted for the night with an awe-struck wonder as to what we should hear of in the morning-and on my part, with a vehement desire for the night to be over and gone; and I was so afraid lest the robbers should have seen, from some dark lurking-place, that Miss Pole had carried off her plate, and thus have a double motive for attacking our house.

But, until Lady Glenmire came to call next day, we heard of nothing unusual. The kitchen fire irons were in exactly the same position against the back door as when Martha and I had skillfully piled them up like spilikins, ready to fall with an awful clatter if only a cat had touched the outside panels. I had wondered what we should all do if thus awakened and alarmed, and had proposed to Miss Matty that we should cover up our faces under the bedclothes, so that there should be no danger of the robbers thinking we could identify them; but Miss Matty, who was trembling very much, scouted this idea, and said we owed it to society to apprehend them, and that she should certainly do her

best to lay hold of them, and lock them up in the garret until morning.

When Lady Glenmire came, we almost felt jealous of her. Mrs. Jamieson's house had really been attacked; at least there were men's footsteps to be seen on the flower borders underneath the kitchen windows, "where nae men should be;" and Carlo had barked all through the night as if strangers were abroad.

Mrs. Jamieson had been awakened by Lady Glenmire, and they had rung the bell which communicated with Mr. Mulliner's room in the third story, and when his nightcapped head had appeared over the banisters in answer to the summons, they had told him of their alarm, and the reasons for it; whereupon he retreated into his bedroom, and locked the door (for fear of draughts, as he informed them in the morning), and opened the window, and called out valiantly to say if the supposed robbers would come to him, he would fight them; but, as Lady Glenmire observed, that was but poor comfort, since they would have to pass by Mrs. Jamieson's room and her own before they could reach him, and must be of a very pugnacious disposition indeed if they neglected the opportunity of robbery presented by the unguarded lower stories, to go up to the garret, and there force a door in order to get at the champion of the house.

Lady Glenmire, after waiting and listening for some time in the drawing-room, had proposed to Mrs. Jamieson that they should go to bed; but that lady said she should not feel comfortable unless she sat up and watched; and, accordingly, she packed herself up warmly on the sofa, where she was found by the housemaid, when she came into the room at six o'clock, fast asleep; but Lady Glenmire went to bed and kept awake all night.

When Miss Pole heard of this she nodded her head in great satisfaction. She had been sure we should hear of

something happening in Cranford that night; and we had heard. It was clear enough that they had first proposed to attack her house; but when they saw that she and Betty were on their guard, and had carried off the plate, they had changed their tactics and had gone to Mrs. Jamieson's, and no one knew what might have happened if Carlo had not barked, like a good dog as he was!

XI. THE BELLS OF SHANDON.

BY FRANCIS SYLVESTER MAHONY.

(1804-1866.)

WITH and

7ITH deep affection and recollection,

I often think of those Shandon bells,

Whose sounds so wild would, in days of childhood, Fling round my cradle their magic spells.

On this I ponder where'er I wander,

And thus grow fonder, sweet Cork, of thee, —

With thy bells of Shandon,

That sound so grand on

The pleasant waters of the river Lee.

I've heard bells chiming full many a clime in,
Tolling sublime in cathedral shrine,

While at a glib rate brass tongues would vibrate;
But all their music spoke naught like thine.
For memory, dwelling on each proud swelling
Of thy belfry, knelling its bold notes free,
Made the bells of Shandon

Sound far more grand on
The pleasant waters of the river Lee.

I've heard bells tolling old Adrian's mole in,
Their thunder rolling from the Vatican;
And cymbals glorious swinging uproarious
In the gorgeous turrets of Notre Dame;
But thy sounds were sweeter than the dome of Peter
Flings o'er the Tiber, pealing solemnly.
Oh, the bells of Shandon

Sound far more grand on

The pleasant waters of the river Lee!

There's a bell in Moscow; while on tower and kiosk, O! In St. Sophia the Turkman gets,

And loud in air calls men to prayer,

From the tapering summits of tall minarets.
Such empty phantom I freely grant them;
But there's an anthem more dear to me:
'Tis the bells of Shandon,

That sound so grand on

The pleasant waters of the river Lee.

TEBUCHADNEZZAR the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the province, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Then the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the the provinces, were gathered together in the province unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Then an herald cried aloud, "To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages!

"That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:

"And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.

They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, king, live forever.

"Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image:

"And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. “There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."