drawn in a strange close cap, ermine collar, and long and thickly-linked gold chain.

Thomas Sackville, the Treasurer of England; a single glance at his peaked hat and high ruff said that he was of the Elizabethan dynasty; high and low he searched to prove by poetry the history of conquerors and warriors; and there, in his often renovated gilt frame, he graced now the Cunnington picture gallery.

The author of the Faery Queene' was not forgotten, his face smiling benevolently from amidst his stiff ruff, looking uncommonly like an owl in a bush; (no offence, I hope.)

"Drink to me only with thine eyes.' The words seemed ready to escape from Ben Jonson's parted lips.

George Buchanan's rather stern face, but remarkably high forehead, was beautifully drawn; no wonder his countenance wore a

shade of care, for he had tasted the tender mercies of the Spanish Inquisition. I need not say our favorite comedian was not forgotten; his house, bust, and portrait, were there who would forget Shakspeare ?

It is useless to make a list of portraits; suffice it that every author and poet of celebrity had a place on the ancient walls; nor were gay chevaliers, and long-haired courtiers of Charles the Second's reign, forgotten. The picture gallery was next to a spacious library, and there Lady Cunnington had spent many hours of intense study, feeling more pleasure amidst the delightful companionship of books, than in listening to the sparkling conversation of the day.

Oh, there is a companionship in books! what treasured mines of thought spring as we pore over those old library volumes which teem so abundantly with tales of days of yore; then we think of our own days, we

admire the graduated steps of man, which have at length made such bold strides and brought the world to its present enlightened condition of science; and reading makes us more humane, more charitable towards others. No doubt the first inventor of every known science suffered much anxiety of mind, perhaps much scoffing; doubtless he was exposed to the remarks or remonstrances of friends; doubtless he suffered from the illnature of foes-he dies, and we enjoy the fruit of his ill-requited labour.

Alas! disappointment has been the fate of more than one patriotic man, of more than one lofty-minded statesman, of many noble bards; and as Lady Cunnington's thoughts wandered to this subject she determined ever to patronize talent or industry. Warlike volumes there were; these made her love the brave sons of Britain. Political researches these were Lady Cunnington's

treasured volumes; she studied them by day, and thought well on each subject her grasping mind soared to acquire; patiently and diligently she studied, until her mind habitually dwelt on a subject which many women would consider irksome and unfeminine.

All talents are good or bad according to the use we make of them, and there was more intrinsic good wrought by the beautiful political wife than might at first be imagined.

First she studied a point which she knew was engrossing the ears of the public, and as her husband had many friends willing to listen with due attention to his opinions, Lady Cunnington's words falling gently, forcibly, on her husband's mind, were, in fact, pondered over by more than one able

statesman.

Woman! when petty feelings of pique or jealousy sway thy breast; woman! when

temper gets the mastery of thy understanding, how thou blightest a fair parterre, around whose inclosure flowerets of ineffable sweetness love to twine: no! surely it is not unfeminine to use the powers of the female mind in grasping at higher things than the evanescent baubles of a day; and yet, daughters of genius, know that every career has its attendant arduous duties know that the woman who has the courage to soar above puerile fears, and employs all the energies of her mind to follow a path of usefulness-know that such a woman must stoop low, very low, must find thorns deeply set in every bouquet she culls, must read through hollow flattery, must walk firmly, almost proudly, amidst a labyrinth of differing opinions, sometimes brave the calumny of ungenerous foes, sometimes lose the friendship of cherished objects of affection.

Daughters of genius! I do not exaggerate,