reeling from side to side in ecstasies of delight.

"Tis well, my merry men!" cried he. "Shout and dance; 'tis Christmas-eve! Ha, ha, ha! We'll drink till cock-crow."

Under his directions and guidance we now commenced a series of ribald mummeries, the details of which I shall not offend ye by entering into. Sufficient for my purpose to state, that to give the particulars of any one of the obscene and blasphemous mockeries, would curdle your blood with horror.

"Look ye," called the Stranger, rolling his head, which glowed and steamed like a furnace. "You all have heard of relics of the good old saints and others, and how they used to be valued and worshipped not long ago. This was one," continued he, holding up the tube of his pipe, "and I took it with my own hands from a religious house, now razed to the ground. A sleek, oily Abbot— and one who set but little store by the strict regulations of his vows-ruled the order. His hood was fastened with a chased gold clasp, wrought in a true-lovers' knot, and—

save at matins, mass, and vespers, when he looked holy as the holiest-his air and bearing was anything but of the priestly kind. With his falsities and flattery, he made tools of both priesthood and people, and turned each and all to his own self-gratification. Among the riches of the house," continued the Stranger, almost convulsed with laughter -"and which were far more valuable than gold-crooked crosier, jewelled crucifix, and studded mitre-were a few pigbones in a glassa seal, said to have been Saint Peter's when he walked upon the sea-and a pillow-covering pronounced to be the Virgin Mary's veil. But not content with the money and offerings which the poor and needy made upon the exhibition of these relics, the princely and worldly-minded abbot resolved upon a new device and attraction, in aid of the filling of his coffers. From an old and sound block of wood he hewed this," said he, whirling and flourishing the tube of his pipe above his head, "declaring it to be a piece of the cross on which the Saviour of mankind was crucified. The impious falsehood

brought thousands of adoring pilgrims to the shrine, and among them was myself. Yes, I was there. They couldn't shut me out. Burnt incense curled in fragrant clouds before the altar; but they couldn't shut me out. Countless voices rose and swelled in chaunts of praise; but they couldn't shut me out. Candles were lighted, rosaries counted, holy water sprinkled; but they couldn't shut me out. No," he continued, exultingly, "of God they had lied before God and man, and they couldn't shut me out! In spite of all, I seized the relic. Yes, I snatched it from the shrine. Ha, ha, ha! My fingers clutched it from the shaven monks. Ha, ha, ha! "Tis Christmas-eve. We'll drink lads, drink till cock-crow."

Wild and wilder yet the orgies grew. The bowl was filled, and no sooner filled than drained. Shrieks of laughter made the welkin ring; and the voice of the Stranger, now grown hoarse from shouting, pealed above the rest. Tearing the miseltoe from the beam in the ceiling, and binding with it holly and ivy, he dipped them in the liquor,

and firing it, held the flaming bunch above his head.

"One more," cried he, "and only one. Drink-Hark!"

The church clock struck.

"Quick, quick!" he hallooed. "Another pledge, and then —' '

I heard no more. The dazzling light faded, and the uproar gradually died away, sinking in the distance like expiring echoes. When my senses were recovered, I found myself lying close to a haystack, with my limbs stiffened with the hoar frost, now glistening on the greensward in the early rays of a cold and cheerful Christmas morning. My temples throbbed, and my heart fluttered like a leaf. Was it all a dream? Not quite.

CHAPTER III.

"By the roses of the spring,

By maidhood, honour, truth, and everything,
I love thee."

FEVERISH and depressed, and incapable of separating the events which really happened on the night preceding, and those that existed merely in my brain heated by drink and riot, I rose from the cold ground with a shiver not unlike an ague fit. On my way homewards, I saw Mary hastening across a mead, and, in shame of the wretched looks and feelings that I had, endeavoured to avoid her. She, however, espied me, and, aware of the proceedings of the night,-as, indeed, the whole village were-began at once to reproach me with them.

D