him with admiration and awe when first brought in from the Isles of
Arran by his foster mother, to pay his duty to his aunts, and ask their
blessing, eighteen years before. The Miss Mac Taafs, in their
sixty-first year, (for they were twins,) might have sunk with safety ten
or twelve years of their age. Their minds and persons were composed of
that fibre which constitutes nature's veriest huckaback. Impressions
fell lightly on both; and years and feelings alike left them unworn and
uninjured.--_The O'Briens, and the O'Flahertys, by Lady Morgan_.

* * * * *


AUTUMN.

BY JOHN CLARE.


Me it delights, in mellow Autumn tide,
To mark the pleasaunce that mine eye surrounds:
The forest-trees like coloured posies pied:
The upland's mealy grey, and russet grounds;
Seeking for joy, where joyaunce most abounds;
Not found, I ween, in courts and halls of pride,
Where folly feeds, or flattery's sighs and sounds,
And with sick heart, but seemeth to be merry:
True pleasaunce is with humble food supplied;
Like shepherd swain, who plucks the brambleberry.
With savoury appetite, from hedge-row briars,
Then drops content on molehills' sunny side;
Proving, thereby, low joys and small desires