was consulted on all his plans, did not greatly relish this; he, at length, half promised to leave me with her, till he should return from this expedition.

Returning for a short time to town in spring, I found Aunt's house much enlivened by a very agreeable visitor; this was Miss W., daughter to the Honorable Mr. W. of the council. Her elder sister was afterwards countess of Cassilis, and she herself was not long afterwards married to the only native of the continent, I believe, who ever succeeded to the title of baronet. She possessed much beauty, understanding, and vivacity. Her playful humor exhilarated the whole household. I regarded her with admiration and delight; and her fanciful excursions afforded great amusement to Aunt, and were like a gleam of sunshine amidst the gloom occasioned by the spirit of contention which was let loose among all manner of people.

The repeal of the stamp act having excited new hopes, my father found all his expectations of comfort and prosperity renewed by this temporary calm, and the proposed return to Britain was deferred for another year. Aunt, to our great joy, as we scarce hoped she would again make so distant a visit, came out to the Flats with her fair visitor, who was about to return to New York. This lady, after going through many of the hardships to which persecuted loyalists were afterwards exposed, with her husband, who lost an immense property in the service of government, is now with her family settled in Upper Canada, where Sir J. Jn has obtained a large grant of lands as a partial retribution for his great losses and faithful service.

Aunt again requested and again obtained permission for me to pass some time with her; and golden dreams of felicity at Clarendon again began to possess my imagination. I returned, however, soon to the Flats, where my presence became more important, as my father became less eager in pursuit of field sports.

22*

CHAPTER LVIII.

Mode of conveying Timber in rafts down the River.

I BROUGHT out some volumes of Shakspeare with me, and, remembering the prohibition of reading plays promulgated the former winter, was much at a loss how to proceed. I thought rightly that it was owing to a temporary fit of spleen. But then I knew my father was, like all military men, tenacious of his authority, and would possibly continue it, merely because he had once said so. I recollected that he said he would have no plays brought to the house; and that I read them unchecked at Madame's, who was my model in all things. It so happened that the river had been higher than usual that spring, and in consequence, exhibited a succession of very amusing scenes. The settlers, whose increase above towards Stillwater had been for three years past incredibly great, set up sawmills on every stream, for the purpose of turning to account the fine timber, which they cleared in great quantities off the new lands. The planks they drew in sledges to the side of the great river; and when the season arrived that swelled the stream to its greatest height, a whole neighborhood assembled, and made their joint stock into a large raft, which was floated down the river with a man or two on it, who, with long poles, were always ready to steer it clear of those islands or shallows which might impede its course. There is something serenely majestic in the early progress of those large bodies on the full stream of this copious river. Sometimes one sees a whole family transported on this simple conveyance; the mother calmly spinning, the children sporting about her, and the father fishing on one end, and watching its safety at the same time. These rafts were taken down to Albany, and put on board vessels there for conveyance to New York; sometimes, however, it happened that, as they proceeded very slowly, dry weather came on by the time they reached the Flats, and it became impossible to carry them further; in that case, they were deposited in great triangular piles opposite our

door.

One of these, which was larger than ordinary, I se

lected for a reading closet. There I safely lodged my Shakspeare; and there, in my play-hours, I went to read it undisturbed, with the advantage of fresh air, a cool shade, and a full view of the road on one side, and the beautiful river on the other. While I enjoyed undisturbed privacy, I had the prohibition full in my mind, but thought I should keep to the spirit of it by only reading the historical plays, comforting myself that they were true. These I read over and over with pleasure ever anew; it was quite in my way, for I was familiarly acquainted with the English history: now, indeed, I began to relish Shakspeare, and to be astonished at my former blindness to his beauties. The contention of the rival roses occupied all my thoughts, and broke my rest. "Windchanging Warwick" did not change oftener than I, but at length my compassion for holy Henry, and hatred to Richard, fixed me a Lancastrian. I began to wonder how anybody could exist without reading Shakspeare, and at length resolved, at all risks, to make my father a sharer in my newfound felicity. Of the nature of taste I had not the least idea; so far otherwise, that I was continually revolving benevolent plans to distribute some of the poetry I most delighted in, among the Bezaleels and Habakkuks of the twenty-mile line. I thought this would make them happy as myself, and that, when they once felt the charm of "musical delight," the harsh language of contention would cease, and legal quibbling give way before the spirit of harmony. How often did I repeat Thomson's description of the golden age, concluding

"For music held the whole in perfect peace."

At home, however, I was in some degree successful. My father did begin to take some interest in the Roses, and I was happy, yet kept both my secret and my closet, and made more and more advances in the study of these "wood notes wild." "As you like it," and "The Midsummer Night's Dream," enchanted me; and I thought the comfort of my closet so great, that I dreaded nothing so much as a flood, that should occasion its being once more set in motion. I was one day deeply engaged in compassionating Othello, sitting on a plank, added on the outside of the pile, for strengthening it, when, happening to lift my eyes, I saw a long ser

pent on the same board, at my elbow, in a threatening attitude, with its head lifted up. Othello and I ran off together with all imaginable speed; and as that particular kind of snake seldom approaches any person, unless the abode of its young is invaded, I began to fear I had been studying Shakspeare in a nest of serpents. Our faithful servant examined the place at my request. Under the very board on which I sat, when terrified by this unwished associate, was found a nest with seven eggs. After being most thankful for my escape, the next thing was to admire the patience and good humor of the mother of this family, who permitted such a being as myself so long to share her haunt with impunity. Indeed, the rural pleasures of this country were always liable to those drawbacks; and this place was peculiarly infested with the familiar garter-snake, because the ruins of the burnt house afforded shelter and safety to these reptiles.

CHAPTER LIX.

The Swamp.-A Discovery.

THIS adventure made me cautious of sitting out of doors, yet I daily braved a danger of the same nature, in the woods behind the house, which were my favorite haunts, and where I frequently saw snakes, yet was never pursued or annoyed by them. In this wood, half a mile from the house, was a swamp, which afforded a scene so totally unlike any thing else, that a description of it may amuse those who have never seen nature in that primitive state.

This swamp, then, was in the midst of a pine wood, and was surrounded on two sides by little hills, some of which were covered with cedar, and others with the silver fir, very picturesque, and finely varied with shrubs, in every gradation of green. The swamp sunk into a hollow, like a large basin, exactly circular; round half of it was a border of maple, the other half was edged with poplar. No creature ever entered this place in summer; its extreme softness kept it sacred from every human foot, for no one could go, without the

risk of being swallowed up; different aquatic plants grew with great luxuriance in this quagmire, particularly bulrushes, and several beautiful species of the iris, and the alder and willow; much of it, however, was open, and in different places the water seemed to form stagnant pools; in many places large trees had fallen of old, which were now covered with moss, and afforded a home to numberless wild animals. In the midst of this aquatic fetreat, were two small islands of inconceivable beauty, that rose high above the rest, like the oasis of the deserts, and were dry and safe, though unapproachable. On one of these, I remember, grew three apple-trees, an occurrence not rare here; for a squirrel, for instance, happens to drop the seeds of an apple in a spot at once sheltered and fertile; at a lucky season, they grow and bear, though with less vigor and beauty than those which are cultivated. That beautiful fruit, the wild plum, was also abundant on these little sanctuaries, as they might be called; for, conscious of impunity, every creature that flies the pursuit of man, gambolled in safety here, and would allow one to gaze at them from the brink of this natural fortress. One would think a congress of birds and animals had assembled here; never was a spot more animated and cheerful. There was nothing like it in the great forests; creatures here, aware of their general enemy, man, had chosen it as their last retreat. The black, the large silver-gray, the little striped, and nimble flying-squirrel, were all at home here, and all visible in a thousand fantastic attitudes. Pheasants and woodpeckers in countless numbers, displayed their glowing plumage, and the songsters of the forest, equally conscious of their immunity, made the marsh resound with their blended music, while the fox, here a small auburn-colored creature, the martin, and raccoons, occasionally appeared and vanished through the foliage. Often, on pretence of bringing home the cows in the morning, (when in their own leisurely way they were coming themselves,) I used to go, accompanied by my faithful Marian, to admire this swamp, at once a menagerie and aviary, and might truly say with Burns

Not content, however, with the contemplation of animated