Shadows.

Nevertheless , as these " airy nothings " of mine have found a "local habitation and a name , " iu the Masonic Magazine , I venture iu all humility and friendliness to commend them to the mercy of the critical , and the sympathy of the cultivated . It has been my lot for many years of

my life to spend my time altogether in the country , and in a secluded and quiet village , where it matters not , but far away from the great and bustling scene of London life , to " daff the world aside , " and let it passsomewhatmay be behindI am not

, , , ashamed to confess it , this advanced and advancing age . There , with no more crosses than my neighbours , though not altogether without some customary cares , in the same one unchanging tenor of existence , in the simple

round of allotted duty , in moments of contemplative calmness , or in moods of prevailing thought , I have seemed but to watch the onward current and passage of time , to stand on the banks of the great river , and gaze on the rippling waters moving peacefully by , in all the

uninterrupted tranquillity , on the whole , of a sedentary calling . All states of life , aud all conditions of being have , we may rest well assured , their relative blessings and respective privileges ; and if to some severely occupied , and to

many laboriously struggling to-day , such a retired state aud such a tranquil condition appear , at first sight , but as the repose of the indolent , or the dream of the sybarite ; yet let them not too heartily condemn what , though strange to themselveshas been of

, designed good and blessing to many a fellow-wayfarer here . And as it was not always so with myself , perhaps , the very contrast of such a sequestered and contemplative life , with the more active and gregarious existence of " auld

laug syne , " may have caused me to he more susceptible than I should otherwise , probably , have been of those influences ivhich have coloured my every-day imaginations , and have led me thus imperfectl y to describe to others what I myself have both fancied and felt in solitary yet meditative hours .

Not far from the spot , where in modest garb my " lares and penates " in cherished attraction had taken up their peaceful abode , rose , in its stately while silent beauty , the old parish church , a clear-seen

beacon far and wide . For full five hundred years it there has stood , as raised by the hands of cunning Craftsmen whose marks are on many a stone , on its owu i . olated plateau wituessingofGodandspeaking to man , surrounded by those lofty trees ,

which in the changing seasons lend their effec' . ive aid to the striking scene , sometimes whispering as it were in tones of gentlest cadence , sometimes murmuring as it were in voices of harshest displeasure . That large square tower so massive and

so compact , that well-adjusted and stately nave , that long and graceful chancel , those windows with their cunning tracery , these gargoyles in their fantastic cleverness , the old porch with its upreared cross , all bespeak an ever-living type of beauty and holy worship , which attracts alike the

admiring homage of each passing traveller , and the reverent love of those who , from generation to generation , are content to live and . die , and go to their long rest , under the slanting shadows of those old grey walls . Nor can that still and peaceful churchyard be left out of sight in the

picture before us , with its turf ever green aud fresh , suggesting calm repose after the sorrows and weariness of life ; nor those crumbling tombstones lying in such familiar groups under the shady branches of those bending trees . And a churchyard always

seems to me a very solemn aud moving spot , deck it out as you will , bedizen it as you may . Still it is , and ever must be to human affection , full of tender , awful associations . Still it is , and ever must be , God ' s acre , in the simple yet earnest utterance of the Saxon vernacular .

Oh ! yes , it is the long last home of all of mortal mould , of those whom we have buried out of si ght , but never , never out of mind . They are lying there , kind readers , so still and silent now , whom we greeted daily in the market place , and

listened to in the forum , and trafficked with , and communed with , and loved so hugely , and hated so intensely . They are now sleeping there one and all , with their follies and their faults , their good and their eviltheir strength and their

, weakness , their smiles and their tears , their grateful hearts aud gracious memories , within the narrow limits of that little measured space . All are , alas 1 but shadows of the past , fleeting , may be , across our lonely path to-