STANZAS TO A REDBREAST, WHO FLEW INTO THE WRITER'S WINDOW ONE MORNING DURING A HEAVY FALL OF SNOW. BY ROBERT BURNS. [These lines have never appeared in any other collection of their author's poems; we are, however, confidant of being the production of the Ayrshire bard.-Ed.] Oh, Robin, but you'r sair forlorn, I hae a pickle groats o' corn Let na mishap your spirits daunt, An' let my meal be e'er so scant, An' Robin, I'll provide for thee, Back to the grove, where bonnilie THE LOT OF THOUSANDS. BY P. J. MEAGHER, AUTHOR OF ZEDECHIAS." To live! to love! to hope, and find it vain ; A youth of follies, an old age of pain; This stone, situated in the New Forest, Hampshire, commemorates the spot on which was slain William the Second, son of William the Conqueror, of which event Rapin gives the following account:-"It is said that as the king was going to mount his horse he was told a certain monk had dreamed a dream, which portended some great misfortune to him. As he gave but little heed to such presages, he answered jestingly, he plainly saw the monk wanted money, so ordered him 100 shillings; but, however, sent him word to dream better dreams for the future. Whether this is to be considered as an omen, or the mere effect of chance, it was that very day fulfilled. Towards the evening William having wounded a stag, was pursuing him full speed, when Sir Walter Tyrrell, a French knight, shooting at the same stag, pierced the king through the heart; upon which he fell down dead, without speaking a word. The murderer, though he knew his own innocency, fled for it, however, without any one endeavouring to seize him. Every one was busy about the king, whose body was laid in a cart, which accidentally came by, and carried to Winchester, where it was buried the next day." The following inscriptions are engraven on the stone:"Here stood the oak tree from which the arrow, shot by Sir Walter Tyrrell at a stag, glanced, and struck King William the 2d, surnamed Rufus, in the breast, of which he instantly died, on the 2d day of August, 1100." Another inscription says,~ King William the 2d, surnamed Rufus, being slain as is before stated, was laid in a cart belonging to one Purkiss, and drawn from hence to Winchester, and buried in the cathedral church of that city." The other inscription is as follows: "Anno 1755, That where this event so remarkable had happened might not be hereafter unknown, this stone was set up by John Lord Delawar, who has seen the tree growing in this place. This stone was repaired by John Richard Earl Delawar, 1781." This spot is often resorted to by the curious. On the 27th of June, 1789, it was visited by King George the Third. RETALIATION. AN ANECDOTE OF THE COMMONWEALTH. At the time that Oliver Cromwell was protector of this realm, an English merchant ship was taken in the chops of the channel, carried into St. Maloes, and there confiscated upon some groundless pretence. As soon as the master of the ship, who was a quaker, got home, he presented a petition to the protector, in council, setting forth his case, and praying ter redress. Upon hearing the petition, the protector told his council, he would take this affair upon himself. and ordered the man t attend him the next morning. He examined him strictly as to all the circumstances of his case; and, finding by his answers, that he was a plain honest man, and that he had been concerned in no unlawful trade, he asked him if he could go to Paris with a letter: "Yes," was the reply. "Well, then," said the protector, " prepare for your journey, and come tomorrow morning. This the quaker did, when Cromwell gave him a letter to Cardinal Mazarine, and told him he must stay |