will be a faithful friend in future. I have been indiscreet - I own it--but nothing more. I have mentioned no names. And Lord Mounteagle, as you well know, is as zealous a Catholic as any now present."

"Your letter has been sent to the Earl of Salisbury," pursued Catesby, coldly. "It was from him I obtained it."

"Then Lord Mounteagle has betrayed me," returned Tresham, becoming pale as death.

"Have you nothing further to allege?" demanded Catesby. As Tresham made no answer, he turned to the others, and said, "Is it your judgment he should die?"

All, except Viviana, answered in the affirmative.

"Tresham," continued Catesby, solemnly, "prepare to meet your fate like a man. And do you, father," he added to Garnet," proceed to shrive him."

"Hold!" cried Viviana, stepping into the midst of them, -"hold!" she exclaimed, in a voice so authoritative, and with a look so commanding, that the whole assemblage were awestricken. "If you think to commit this crime with impunity you are mistaken. I swear by everything sacred, if you take this man's life, I will go forth instantly, and denounce you all to the Council. You may stare, sirs, and threaten me, but you shall find I will keep my word."

"We must put her to death too," observed Catesby, in an under tone to Fawkes, "or we shall have a worse enemy left than Tresham."

"I cannot consent to it," replied Fawkes.

"If you mistrust this person, why not place him in restraint?" pursued Viviana. "You will not mend matters by killing

him."

"She says well," observed Garnet; "let us put him in some place of security."

"I am agreed," replied Fawkes.

"And I," added Keyes.

"My judgment, then, is overruled," rejoined Catesby. "But I will not oppose you. We will imprison him in the vault beneath this chamber."

"He must be without light," said Garnet.

"And without arms," added Keyes.

"And without food," muttered Catesby. "He has only exchanged one death for another."

The flag was then raised, and Tresham thrust into the vault, after which it was restored to its former position.

"I have saved you from the lesser crime," cried Viviana to Guy Fawkes; "and, with Heaven's grace, I trust to preserve you from the greater!"

337

HARKAWAY SKETCHES.

BY JOHN MILLS.

A DAY'S FISHING IN THE THAMES.-COCKNEY SPORTSMEN. WHO has not heard of a Cockney sportsman?-that persevering proselyte of Sir Humphrey, who is ever willing to toil for the pleasures of the "gentle art," through rain and sunshine, for any distance within the smoked atmosphere of London. He talks of the past glorious amusement; boasts of his superior knowledge and skill; anticipates a future landing of a splendid trout, which has fanned the waters of old father Thames for years; flirts his wellvarnished rod; casts the silver line, hooks a tittlebat possessing the specific gravity of the alluring worm upon the hook, and exclaims, in the fulness of his heartfelt joy, "'Evens! 'ere's a vopper!"

Augustus Brown was a copying clerk in the office of one Mr. Williams, a pettifogging attorney, who for "sharp practice" was distinguished, and notorious from a piece of matchless policy,-expedient perhaps, but open to conscientious scruples in the minds of those persons who question the correctness of instigating perjury.

Augustus Brown, like most attorneys' clerks, was very fond of ginand-water, private theatricals, and fishing. Having obtained the consent of Mr. Williams for one day's respite from his monotonous occupation of filling up writs and putting letters in the post-office, he, with three others in a similar state of unalloyed freedom and happiness, determined to have "a regular day's angling off Eel-pie Island, Twickenham. Augustus, with his three friends, Snuffles, Whifphles, and Smith, all equally desirous for the sport of hooking unsuspecting fish, placed themselves, rods, lines, nets, and a hamper of eatables and drinkables, upon the deck of the Richmond steamer "Firefly," on their way to the island.

The day was fine, and old father Thames looked bright and cheerful, as the cutters and wherries, full of merry folks, were skimming upon his bosom, on their various routes for fun and glee. The song and chorus sounded clearly and merrily from a party'in a swift-oared boat, as they shot past the less ambitious for the fame of speed. The notes of a bugle rang far into the woodlands, charming the ears of the appreciating Whifphles, as he exclaimed,

"By 'evens, it 's-it 's-it's 'evenly!"

"It is!—it is!" acquiesced Smith, in a tragedy voice.

"Shall we broach the porter?" asked the less romantic Snuffles, anxious for the commencement of a demolition of the contents of the basket.

"Certainly, if you please," replied Augustus. sandwich, the thing would be agreeable."

"With a snack of

The refreshments were scarcely finished when Richmond came in view. Upon the shore leaped the friends. Ten shillings were paid into the extensive hand of a waterman for the use of his punt, and his labour to pull the fishermen to the island, some short distance off. Cigars were lighted, more porter demolished, and, since truth must be told, as Whifphles stepped upon Eel-pie Island, his gait was not perfectly steady, and his eyes appeared strangely glassy and

VOL. VIII.

2 A

contracted. Augustus Brown proposed " a glass of gin-and-water round, before they commenced the sport ;" and directing the waterman, an amphibious animal, to moor the punt "in a good spot," they proceeded to the bar-room of the public house adjacent.

Behind the bar was one of those enchanting creatures who, by smiling and screwing up their lips into various shapes, have peculiar attractions for gentlemen in the habit of sipping gin-and-water. Her diminutive cap, ornamented with pink and many-coloured ribands, was placed coquettishly on one side of her head, and, to the imagination of Augustus Brown, as he stirred up the sugar in his glass, never was one of the fair sex so sweetly fair. He wanted to address the divinity; but the attempted words died upon his lips, and, like many others in a similar position, Augustus Brown discovered a difficulty in approaching the magnet, although irresistibly

attracted towards it.

"The day is going fast," observed Whifphles; "let us begin the sport."

True, true," rejoined Smith.

"I'aven't done my grog," said Snuffles.

Augustus Brown replied, "that he was ready;" and, after giving a fond melting look to the bar-maid, who was flirting with a pair of sugar-tongs, he with his friends left, to commence the diversion.

The selected spot where the punt was moored could not be exceeded in quiet beauty. The sloping banks were covered thickly with wild flowers; large willows drooped their long graceful branches into the clear stream, causing a gentle and musical ripple; a long line of tall antiquated elms upon the opposite side sent their deep and varied shade upon the surface of the water; and the bright perspective, dotted with handsome villas, ivy-clad cots, wood, field, and flood, formed as gay a scene as the eye could rest upon.

In due course of time, the anglers, with baited hooks, were attempting to catch-anything in the shape of a fish. The particular species was unthought of, and uncared for; the bait was not selected for a doomed piscatory tribe; all that was required was any description of the finny animal. Now this sweeping measure in fishing, as in other matters, is often found defective. It proved to be so in this case; for, notwithstanding great exertions on the part of the Messrs. Brown. Whifphles, Snuffles, and Smith, no large or small fish could be induced even to nibble. Tired with their poor fortune in piscation, the fishermen commenced a more successful amusement of a second attack upon the bottled porter and sandwiches. These concluded, somnolency began to dim the lustre of the eyes of the friends of Mr. Augustus Brown, leaving him in a few minutes the only one conscious of existence in the punt.

The quill-floats were bobbing unheeded in the ruffled water, when Augustus Brown, with a look of sudden determination, mingled with something of mischief in it, put his hand into his waistcoatpocket, and extracted half-a-crown. The attending waterman was sitting, or more properly lounging, in the stern of his wherry, fastened to a pole that assisted in mooring the punt, drinking the extreme remains from a bottle, when his attention became rivetted from a beckon of the fingers holding the silver piece. Obeying the inviting signal, the waterman hastened from his boat to the side of Augustus Brown.

"Take out the poles, and let the punt adrift," whispered he, putting the half-crown into the hand ever ready to receive a bribe.

"And what will you do, sir?" grinned the waterman, enjoying the anticipated fun of seeing the three sleepers sent upon their voyage.

"I'll be put on shore in your wherry," replied Augustus, undecided which pleased him most, the idea of the joke he was about committing, or that of seeing the bar-maid unobserved by his friends.

A few decided pulls and pushes soon disengaged the poles, which served the purpose of anchors, and the punt glided down the stream with the slumbering Snuffles, Whifphles, and Smith, quietly, but quickly. The laughing Augustus Brown was rowed to the island by his equally amused associate, and both sat upon the grass to watch the result with mutual satisfaction.

An eddy in the current gave the punt a sudden twist; round it went, revolving like a tub, but without causing a disturbance of the sleepers' repose. Now it approached one side of the river, then whirling away, it neared the other. A slight jar against a patch of green rushes sent it straight into the middle of the stream, and on went the vessel again at a rapid rate. The rods and lines dragged in the water, the hooks occasionally snatching a luckless weed; and the punt in a short period became invisible to the two watchers round a point of the island, on its course towards Richmond bridge. "What will become of your punt, I wonder?" said Augustus, laughing, to the boatman, as it vanished from their sight.

"I think that I had better follow them, sir, if they can't swim, to prevent any coroner's inquest," replied the waterman, deliberately. "Goodness, gracious! they can't swim an inch; but you don't mean to say that there's any chance of their being drowned,” rejoined Augustus, much agitated.

"I think it's very probable," coolly added the grim Charon.

"Oh! fly-pull-row after them, for Heaven's sake! They are the worse for porter, and if they should capsize, all would sink like -like cracked bottles," exclaimed Augustus Brown, greatly distressed at the frightful catastrophe which might ensue from the joke upon Whifphles, Snuffles, and Smith.

"Ten to one they'll get foul of the bridge; then over they go, to a certainty, in thirty feet water; but they MAY get run down by a steamer afore they get there," said the waterman, with as much indifference as if the lives of three kittens were in danger, instead of a trio of lawyer's clerks.

"But, my good man! why didn't you say so before you took out the poles?" asked Augustus, in an imploring voice.

"Before I took out the poles!" repeated the boatman. "Come, that's fine-that is. I should like to know whether you didn't take out one yourself, and whether you didn't bribe me to take out the other one."

"Well, but I had no idea there was any danger," replied Augustus, clasping his hands in despair, with the unpleasant prospect of a verdict for "manslaughter" flitting across his sanguine imagina

tion.

"Nor I, either. How should I know the gentlemen couldn't

swim?" observed the boatman, in a tone of convinced rectitude of conduct.

Augustus Brown inserted his finger and thumb again into the pocket from which the halfcrown had but a few minutes since been taken. In a corner was secreted half-a-sovereign, the last, the very last coin in the possession of Augustus Brown. As if reluctant to be taken from its snug quarters, it slipped from the pinch of its rightful owner, and not until the pocket was turned "inside out" could the sly bit of gold be brought from its lurking-place.

However devoid of the love of lucre a man might be, his unequivocal regret upon the separation between him and his only remaining piece of money, would be very natural. Augustus looked at the shining coin with hesitation; its bright surface nearly tempted him to replace it; but the boatman, as if aware of the secret thoughts of the unfortunate possessor, decided his conflicting emotions by giving his opinion that "the gentlemen were not far off the bridge now, if not already drowned." This stroke of policy released the golden prize from the digits of Augustus Brown into those of the boatman, with an entreaty to him "to make all haste, and save from impending danger the unhappy destined Whifphles, Snuffles, and Smith."

The gold acted as a strong impulse to the movements of the boatman, who jumped into his wherry, and was some yards from the shore before Augustus Brown had an opportunity of joining him. "Stop-stop. I'll go with you," he cried.

"No, you'd better not, sir," replied the boatman, pulling lustily "Your weight would hinder me."

away.

"But I much prefer it," bawled Augustus.

"I'll get back before nightfall," replied the boatman, pretending not to hear.

"Come back, now," hallooed Augustus Brown, in a furious voice.

The order was unheeded by the boatman; he rowed as fast as he could until he was out of the sight of his employer, and then, resting upon his oars, he indulged in a loud roar of laughter. "I shall make a good day's work o' this," said he, at its conclusion. wonder where those fellows have run a-ground." Scarcely had he said this when three voices were heard loudly calling for help.

'I

"Ha! ha! ha! there they are, as I expected!" exclaimed the boatman, pulling towards the spot from whence the sounds issued. Upon a mud-bank, covered with tall rushes, in the middle of the river, the punt rested. The concussion woke the sleeping fishermen, and never did eyes express greater wonderment than theirs. Luxuriant water-lilies surrounded them, upon which the dragon-fly buzzed and flitted. A swan with her cygnets glided from the rushes into the water, frightened by the intrusion upon her floody home, and hissed her dissatisfaction at the interlopers. Surprise rendered them silent for some time after waking to a knowledge of their unenviable state; but at length it was decided that all should use the utmost power of their lungs to obtain assistance for an escape from vegetating upon a mud-bank.

"I wonder how the deuce we got here?" said Snuffles, in a nervous voice.

"Never mind that," said Smith, in his deep-toned notes. "What we have now to think of is, to get off."