ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by D. APPLETON & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. GIFT JOHN MILTON AND HIS TIMES. CHAPTER I. LOST IN HAYWOOD FOREST. BOOK I. Two young noblemen, accompanied by their sister, rode in the most beautiful month of spring through Haywood Forest, one of those splendid woods which formerly adorned Old England so charmingly, and which are fast disappearing from the surface of the country. They had paid a visit to their relatives at Harefield, the noble house of Derby, and were now returning to Ludlow Castle, the residence of their father, who was no other than the Earl of Bridgewater, at that time Lord President of Wales. The earl was the son of Thomas Egerton, the celebrated jurist, who, under the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and her successor, had held the responsible and commanding positions of Lord Keeper of the Seal and Chancellor of England with the greatest distinction to an advanced period of his life. The descendants of this eminent man were not unworthy of him. His grandsons, mere youths at the time at which our story opens, had not become degenerate; and charming Lady Alice Egerton was considered everywhere one of the most beautiful and amiable young ladies in Merry Old England. She and her brothers were in the full bloom of youth, beauty, and vivacity. They were tenderly attached to each other, and no calamitous event had hitherto disturbed the clear and even current of their lives. Joy and hilarity beamed from their sparkling eyes and blooming cheeks. Thus they rode, chatting gayly and carelessly, through the verdant, fragrant forest. Merry jests, such as only the young know and like, caused them from time to time to burst into ringing laughter, in which the birds of the forest joined now and then harmoniously with their sweet warbling and chirping. Haywood forest, like the larger portion of the county of Hereford, in which it is situated, consists of a series of undulating knolls and heights, densely covered with tall, gigantic oaks and beeches. The highway, on which the travellers were riding at the time, led them first past a deep gorge, and then along the base of a precipitous hill, from which a small rivulet rushed noisily into the depth below. Many a by-path intersected the road and penetrated deeper and deeper into the thicket. There were still remote parts of the forest which human feet had rarely or never trodden, and into which no murderous axe had yet penetrated-virginal sanctuaries, clad with all the weird charms of lonely and undefiled nature. The three travellers had entered one of these by-paths, in the eagerness of their conversa tain authority over his younger brother and sister. However, far from availing himself of his authority now, John yielded to their wishes, although their straying from the highway rendered him more uneasy than he admitted to them. tion, without noticing that they had left the highway. The wonderful charms of this beautiful wilderness fascinated them. Oh, how glorious was this verdant solitude of the forest! There stood those primeval oaks, the patriarchs of creation, spreading their knotty arms, as if to bless the forest, over the younger "Very well," he said, with seeming caregenerations of slender birch, maple, and chest-lessness, "if you are tired, we may rest here nut trees. Flexible ivy encircled their gigantic for an hour or so. The sun is yet high in the trunks with tender gracefulness; and on their heavens, and I hope we shall reach the highbark grew long-haired, silver-colored mosses, way again. Let us, in the mean time, take our resembling gray beards, light-brown mush- dinner here in the forest, like Robin Hood, rooms, and the mysterious mistletoe, parasitic and encamp in the shade of these trees." plants deriving life and nourishment from this curious soil. On the ends of the branches gleamed reddish shoots like quivering flames, symptoms of the still undiminished vigor of the trees. "Those are splendid fellows," remarked Thomas Egerton, the younger brother, pointing gayly to the giants of the forest. "I do not remember ever having seen here such beautiful oaks, although I have passed through Haywood Forest more than fifty times." "I believe we have strayed from the highway and penetrated too far into the forest," replied John, the elder brother, who, during his father's lifetime, bore the name and title of Lord Brackley. "This part of the forest is entirely unknown to me." "But it is gloriously beautiful," exclaimed fair Alice, who was riding on her white palfrey between her two brothers, with radiant eyes. "I should like to stay here all day." "Like Celia in the play," said Thomas, jestingly. "That remark is characteristic of my dear sister, who always thinks of her Shakespeare. Very well, I am at your service; let us stop here. I shall be your Orlando, if our melancholy Jaques does not object to it." The merry youth applied this name from Shakespeare's "As You Like It " to his graver brother, who, as the first-born son, according to the custom of the country, exercised a cer I say, "You speak as though you were Solomon himself," exclaimed Thomas, merrily.“ like Orlando: 'If this uncouth forest yield any thing savage, I will either be food for it, or bring it for food to thee."" With this classical quotation from the wellknown old poet, the vivacious youth jumped from his horse and hastened to offer his services as equerry to his beloved sister, while he left to his more sedate brother John the care of fastening the reins of the horses to a tree, and unpacking the provisions which they had brought with them. The young travellers were not accompanied by their servants, as the two youths were sufficient for the protection of their sister, and would not tolerate any vexatious companions near them. The merry company sat down on the soft green turf, in the shade of one of the primeval oaks, to partake of the frugal repast. The brothers had converted their cloaks into a pleasant seat for Alice, whom they treated in every respect with the kindest attention and solicitude. In their conduct toward her, they combined the tone of fraternal love with the then customary delicate gallantry which dated from the times of Queen Elizabeth, when all England lay admiringly at the feet of the Maiden Queen. The homage rendered to the foremost lady of the world was soon transferred to the whole female sex, and became a |