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The Song of Little Mary.

for an hour!' was read in those fiery scenes, the memory of which nothing will ever obliterate from the national mind.

But the end of such things was at hand. What with fevers depopulating the land-tempests that stripped churches of their lead and dashed children to death-overflowing rivers-rotting harvests— anarchy and ill-blood-roads infested by banditti-the sea swarming with pirates-wrangling councils and almost national bankruptcyEngland had no mirth in the evil reign of the selfish, implacable, and impolitic Mary.

Pole, at the summit of his ambition, was a disappointed and unhappy man, for he was not Mary's husband, as he wished to have been. It would have been well for the Queen if Pole's wishes had been thus gratified, for Philip was a grossly immoral man, and Mary would fly at his picture and scratch it with her nails when she heard of Philip's evil deeds. She was, in fact, beside herself the most wretched woman living.

Sad was the broken Cardinal at the sorrows of Mary and the forlorn state of England. His anxieties made him an easy prey to a quartan ague, which grew more and more serious. When he was very ill, Mary died. They tried to hide this from Pole, but one of his Italian servants made it known to him. He behaved like a Christian under this severe blow, and breathed his last twenty-two hours after Mary; having heard, before he passed away, the noise occasioned by Elizabeth's accession to the throne. Though reports of his immense wealth were common, he was found to have died very poor. He was buried at Canterbury, in St. Thomas's Chapel, and was the last of our Archbishops who had any connexion with Rome.

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· A DAY IN OLD CORNWALL.

JAVING just read An Hour in St. Paul's,' in the February number of the Magazine, I think, perhaps, some other readers may like to hear more of the block of Cornish marble' mentioned in that paper. The Commissioners appointed for the purpose had great difficulty in finding a piece of porphyry large enough for the sarcophagus, and after searching all over England and Scotland, one was at last discovered in Cornwall, on a lonely moor in the parish of Luxillian, near Bodmin. Being in the county at the time, I was anxious to see the stone before its removal; and, with a party of friends, I started off one lovely August day, in 1866, for a drive of six or eight miles, and after some time came to a small village inn. Leaving our conveyance there, we started for a walk of two miles over the moor; the heat at noon became intense, and the air was so very still, that we could hear the bursting of the seed-pods of the gorse. After making inquiries of the few persons we met as to the whereabouts of the stone, and, before receiving any answer to our question, being, as usual, asked one in return, viz., 'Where be you a-coming from?' we were directed to a corner of the moor called 'Scabby Field;' and here, in solitary grandeur, we found the huge block of marble which had been selected to hold the earthly remains of the great Duke, lying where it had most probably remained unmoved since the time of the flood. The cutting and polishing had begun, a steam-engine being used for the work. It required very great care in cutting, as the pink or flesh-coloured vein is much softer than the black; therefore it is seldom that any large piece of porphyry can undergo that process, as it generally splits. However, success attended this block, weighing over twenty tons, and after many months of hard labour a tramway was laid down from it to Hayle, where it was shipped for the London Docks, but no one looking at it now in the dark crypt of St. Paul's can imagine the labour and difficulty of removing it.

After resting a short time in an old shed we started for a hot walk back, returning by a different path, and crossing a lovely valley, over which a beautiful viaduct for the Cornish railway had just been erected. By this time we were all very hungry, and on arriving at our inn we were shown into a dark and dingy parlour, in which huge pieces of bacon hung from the ceiling. One gentleman wished to order and arrange everything for the dinner, to which proposal the remainder of the party gladly acceded, knowing him to be rather fond of good things, as well as to have plenty of money to pay the bill, and therefore we hoped soon to have our appetites satisfied; but, alas! after waiting more than an hour we were told we could only have eggs and bacon. Our poor friend's disappointment can easily be imagined. However, this would be better than nothing; but on the maid bringing dinner in there appeared poached eggs, their interiors run away, and bacon the colour of gold, having no doubt been suspended from the ceiling for many months, and with a smell strong rather than savoury. We tried to wash it down with sour cider, but could not manage it, so we ordered our carriage and had a delightful drive home in the cool of the evening, after having spent a most enjoyable day in the wilds of old Cornwall, though minus our dinner.

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE.

No. I.

N all the world's history, throughout the whole range of literature, there is no figure so sublime as that of Elijah the Tishbite. His wild, solitary life, his strange garb, and the mysterious termination of his earthly career, invest him with a romantic interest beyond even that of the greatest of the prophets.' Of his origin we know nothing, except that he was a Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead.' That is, a native of Thisbe, probably of the tribe of Naphthali (to which tribe that city belonged), and that he afterwards resided in the mountainous district of Gilead.

Elijah enters on the scene of Jewish life as suddenly as he leaves it. His very name, which in Hebrew means, My God Jehovah,' was in in itself sufficient to inspire reverence. And the manner in which he is addressed as 'My Lord,' and 'Man of God,' shows the awe that was felt by all who approached the mighty prophet. His whole life was a struggle against the idolatry and evil-doing of the kings of Israel and the key to all his acts is, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenants, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the edge of the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away.

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He appears before us a man of stern character, indomitable courage, and great bodily endurance. Clad only in a sheepskin† mantle, with a girdle made of the skin of some animal round his loins, he was exposed to all the heat and cold of the wilderness and the mountains. From the description given of him by Ahaziah's messengers, he must have worn his hair very long; and his strength and swiftness shown by his running before the chariot of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.§

During his stormy life, in his long contention against kings and false prophets, there is but one incident that brings him within the range of human affection.

In his wanderings to avoid the cruelty of his enemies he comes one day to the gate of the city of Zarephath, and then sees a widowwoman gathering sticks; whom he prays to bring him a little water and a morsel of bread. But she tells him how poor, how very poor, she is. As the Lord thy God liveth I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse. And behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.'||

And Elijah exerts his miraculous power, and there is plenty in the poor woman's little household. But her son falls sick, and his sickness

;

* 1 Kings, xix. 14.

The Hebrew word 'addereth' is rendered in the Septuagint unλwth, a sheepskin. As this translation was made in the third century before the Christian era, by Jews, it is valuable as giving the belief held at that early time of the nature of Elijah's mantle.

2 Kings, i. 8. The literal Hebrew is, § 1 Kings, xviii. 45.

Lord of hair.'

Ibid. xvii. 12.

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"In another moment the child is in her arms, and Elijah says, "See, thy son liveth.'"

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE.

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