for the egression of the smoke, and the roofs furnish good evidence of the taste and skill of the constructors. The strength of this part was augmented so as to prevent too great a thickness of the buttresses, while the supporters were framed of strong wood, giving an increased lightness of appearance. The timbers of the roof were frequently framed with pendants, richly carved, and, emblazoned with heraldic insignia, formed the most striking features of these chambers. "The top beam of the hall" was a symbolic manner of drinking the health of the master of the house-a very common toast, particularly in Wales. In the vicinity of the dais, a bay-window was constructed, called an oriel, which was glazed, and frequently contained the arms of the family, and its alliances. Bay windows were never used in outer walls, except of very contracted dimensions. Each one consisted simply of a projecting window between two buttresses; whence its name, as occupying a bay of the building. It was invented about a century before the Tudor age, in which it usually consisted, on a plain of right angles, intersected by circles, as in the buildings at Windsor, by Henry VIII., and at Thornbury Castle. When placed at the end of the great hall, it extended from the floor to the ceiling, and was very simple and regular in its form. In a manuscript relating to an entertainment given by Henry VII., at Richmond, a passage, which refers to the use of the bay window, informs us, that "against his grace had supped, the hall was dressed and goodly to be seen, and a rich cupboard set thereup in a bay window of nine or ten stages and haunces of height, furnished and fulfilled with plate of gold, silver, and re-gilt." In modern times, this purpose is answered by sideboards, The carved wainscotting, generally in oak panels, lined the lower part of the halls with greater unity of design and clearness of execution than had been previously displayed; and it now was adopted in parlours and presence-chambers with every variety of "cyphers, chimeras, and mottoes.' Of these some curious specimens may be seen in the hall and chambers of the dilapidated mansion of the lords Delaware, at Halnare, in Sussex. Till the time of the Tudors, the floor of the hall was strewed with rushes or straw. Chaucer, referring to this, says: "Whan the chamber a fire is, or an hall, Wel more nede is, it sodainly rescowe, Than to disputen and ask among us all How the candle in the straw is falle ;" and Fitz-Stephens, the historian and secretary of Thomas - à - Becket, mentions, among other particulars, that his apartments were every day in winter covered with clean straw or hay, and in summer with green rushes or boughs; lest the gentlemen who paid court to him, and who could not, by reason of their great number, find a place at table, should soil their fine clothes by sitting on the floor. We are also informed that John Baldwin held a manor in Aylesbury on condition namely, grass or herb in summer, and of finding litter for the king's bed; straw in winter, three times in the year, if the king should go to Aylesbury: "All herbes and flowres, fragruant, fayre, and swete, Were strawed in balles, and layd under theyr fete." Dr. Bulleyne says, that "rushes that grow upon dry ground be good to strew in halls, chambers, and galleries, to walk upon, defending apparel, as trains of gowns and kertles, from the dust;" and Lemnius, a physician and divine of Zealand, who visited London, after remarking, with great admiration, the cleanliness of the English, says: "Their chambers and parlours, strawed over with sweet herbs, refreshed me; their nosegays, finely intermingled with sundry sorts of fragrant flowers in their bedchambers and private rooms, with comfortable smell, cheered one up, and entirely delighted all my senses. Carpets, however, were now substituted, and they were also laid upon the tables as cloths, adding greatly to the comfort and cleanliness of the apartment. At Easter it was the custom to discontinue the hall fire. Easter-day was called "Godde's Sondaye." "Ye know well," it was said, "that it is the manner at this day to do the fyre out of the hall, and the black winter brondes, and all things that is foul with fume and smoke shall be done away; and there [where] the fire was shall be gaily arrayed with fair flowers, and strewed with green rushes all about." As, however, peace spread its influence over the country, and the encouragement given to foreigners to settle here, increased, the arts flourished, the taste of the people was excited for the comforts of civilization, and the native population were stimulated to compete with those of other lands. "To the wheels and gibbets of the Duke d'Alva," says Andrews, "England is indebted for the improve ment of her manufactures: scared by his inhumanity, the Flemish artisans fled hither in shoals, and were received by Elizabeth with humanity and hospitality." The gallery was an apartment appropriated to the reception of visitors, to amusements, and conversation. The walls were chiefly indebted for their embellishment to a number of royal and family portraits. Gray says, in reference to some of these, that there were "In peaked hoods and mantles tarnished, High dames of honour, once, that graced " These were painted on boards, in carved frames, of walnut or cherry-tree; to which were added, maps, and tables "of the owner's arms, and a genealogical tree. Where a long train of ancestors could be delineated, they were emblazoned on a large roll of vellum, suspended to a standing frame or hearse, placed in a conspicuous position. The seats consisted of a few cumbrous elbow-chairs, stools of sufficient strength to accommodate several persons, described as conversa. tion-stools," sometimes having ornamented ends and backs, and resembling the couches or sofas of the present day; and besides these there were smaller stools; large and small cushions; and window-pillows; framed tables, covered with Turkey carpets and cloths of embroidery; smaller tables of cypress and other curious woods; andirons on a raised hearth, with a fire-fork, tongs, and fire-pan, besides a few pieces of ar of this wide world, is well supplied with all kinds of steeds ready saddled and bridled for those who choose to mount them. Most men ride a hobby at some period of their lives; as for myself, I have ridden many, and hardly has one among them been less than eighteen hands high. The whimsical caprices of mankind are numberless, and he who had time and inclination to select from them the most singular and striking, might present a paper to the public highly instructive and vastly entertaining. The inclination to ride a hobby is confined to neither age, sex, nor situation. Young and old, men and women, princes and peasants, simpletons and sages, have all had their hobbies. The other day I noticed a child astride on his wooden horse, which he had ridden so desperately that it had remaining neither head nor tail. "Oh," thought I, "my little friend! you are not the only one, by a great many, that I have known, who has ridden off the head and tail of his hobby." If every one who mounted a hobby was expert at horsemanship, we should not see such ridiculous spectacles as we now sometimes do; but the misfortune of it is, that in hobby-riding we are the last persons to suspect our want of address and ability; so that we may positively be the laughing-stock of those around us without imagining for a moment that we have had any hand in provoking their unaccountable mirth. Though he who has a black mark on his brow, or a white mark on his back, cannot see it, yet the rest of the world can, and though the hobbyrider may be blind, his neighbour will have the eye of a lynx on his peculiari ties. Some men ride musical hobbies very varied in their character; and hardly is a musical hobby-rider to be outdone, whether his forte lie in pouring forth in wild notes "The vile shrieking of the wry-necked fife," or in directing the diapason of the thundering organ. In my youthful days I knew a most inveterate violin-player, whose boast was, that he would not play second fiddle to any man in the world. He was a fine performer, certainly, and well he might be, for report said that in his intemperate and sinful fervour he sometimes played twelve hours a day on his violin for a week together, including the day of the Lord! Hobby-riding painters are by no means uncommon, though very many of them sadly over-rate their ability. So long as they confine themselves to talking about the Florentine, Roman, and Venetian schools, and are content with making the great master painters the subject of their conversation, they are secure; but when once they take the brush in hand the case is otherwise. Lamentable productions have I gazed on in my time-productions which have made it very evident that a great love of painting, and a very little ability to paint, may exist together. But neither the musical nor painting hobby-rider ever equalled the vagaries and the caprioles of the poetical one. Many write verses in abundance, and with facility, who seem to have no particle of poetry in their hearts or souls. I have | known men of talent, judgment, and discrimination, fond of rhyming, and fond of appearing in print, who were never able to discern their utter inability to write poetry. While I make this remark, a poem of a very imposing kind, highly dedicated, and beautifully printed, is lying beside me. Its very subject must have excited curiosity among those who were well qualified to discern its demerits at a glance; and yet so unhappy is the production, that its author, though no doubt elated with his performance, has real reason to hide his face with both his hands. Of all hobbies, let him who is unskilful avoid the Pegasus of poetry! I remember passing the residence of a maiden lady of property, whose hobby was said to be that of keeping an extraordinary number of cats; these tabbies are regularly fed and furnished, petted and provided for, in the most costly and careful manner. Every arrangement was made as to bed and board for their comfort, and a regular course pursued of washing and combing, exercise and diversion, so that the health and happiness of this feline family appeared to be by far the most important object that occupied the lady's attention. It was even said that a cat-doctor was in occasional attendance; and I can the more readily believe the report, when I recall to mind the circumstance, that a lady, who once lived near me, in the excess of her sympathy for an invalided tabby, had a chicken boiled for her benefit. I know one whose hobby is his aviary; and there he spends, perhaps, his happiest hours amid the twittering of small birds, the murmuring of doves, the cooing of fantail pigeons, the chattering of jays, the quacking of ducks, the gabbling of geese; and the talking, calling, hooting, screaming, and shrieking of parrots, paroquets, macaws, and cockatoos. Often have I playfully wished him joy of his hobby, telling him that when his favourites join in full chorus, the discord of a butcher sharpening his cleaver on grinding-stone, is to me, in a musical point of view, greatly preferable. a Another whom I know rides a pyrotechnic hobby, and he is quite as hard a rider as he of the aviary. His delight is to be among fireworks and fire-arms. It seems to be quite necessary to his enjoyment that there should be something glittering, sparkling and flashing before his eyes, and something hissing, cracking, and roaring in his ears. Not only has he pleasure in seeing and hearing fireworks, but he is also an adept in making them, being quite at home among gunpowder, touch-paper, fusees, squibs, crackers, wildfire, Bengola-lights, golden rain, tourbillions, stars, katharine-wheels, rockets, and Roman candles. The wonder to me is that he has never been in the army, for in his case one might almost suppose that the danger of attacking or defending a beleaguered city would be counterbalanced by the beauty of a bombardment. What strange hobbies do men ride! I have aforetime mentioned the hobbyhorse of Michael Holmes, but as it falls in suitably with my present subject, once more shall it be referred to. Many men have many minds, and had not Michael's disposition been different to that of most men, he would never have chosen so extraordinary a hobby as he did-Michael's hobby-horse was a big drum. Now, as a man can hardly go a-hunting without treading on his neighbour's produce, neither can a man play much on the big drum without trespassing on his neighbour's peace. Early and late, morning, noon, and night, houses, chimneys, roofs, rafters, walls, and windows were ringing with the loud reverberations of Holmes' big drum. It was a visitation that tried the patience, soured the temper, and called up the bad passions, of all the inhabitants around. I hope that you fully comprehend the annoyance that such a course must occasion in a neighbourhood, and fully sympathize with those who had to endure it; because if you do, you will the more readily agree with me in the remark: we should endeavour always to keep in remembrance the fact, that there really are other people in the world be sides ourselves, and that we should also let our hobby-horses, be whatever they may, take care that they trespass not on the peace of our neighbours. You have come in contact, no doubt, with autograph-hunters, some of whom ride their hobbies with such desperate energy that they will beg, borrow, or steal the autograph of any one remarkable for anything, without the slightest compunction. No name of celebrity for talent, oddity, wit, wisdom, whim, weakness, wilfulness, or wickedness, comes amiss to them; for they would prize as no common treasure, but rather highly estimate as a delightful mélange of precious gems, the signatures of Walter Scott, Grace Darling, and Buonaparte, Mungo Park and Mrs. Fry, king Charles and Oliver Cromwell, Daniel Lambert and the Living Skeleton, Alfred the Great and Tom Thumb the Little, Jack Sheppard the housebreaker and Howard the philanthropist, the man Levy who leaped from the Monument, and the "Boy Jones," who three times won his way into Buckingham Palace. But think not, because I thus humorously speak of the lovers of autographs, that I think evil of them, or censure them for riding their hobby. It is only after such as are reckless that I send a flying arrow of goodtempered satire. I have a somewhat vain, broad-breasted young friend, whose hobby is a showy waistcoat, and with this hobby he goes prancing about in all directions. This is a weakness, but he is not without his good qualities. Time has been when I have regarded a new waistcoat of my own with no small degree of complacency; and if now in my age I am more sober in my attire than formerly, it would scarcely become me to be very hard on my young friends for doing what I have done so long before them. towards any hobby rider in the wide world, who acts kindly to the lowlier creatures, and who neither willingly dishonours God, nor wantonly trespasses on mankind. We must correct one another in love; shoot folly as it flies; reprove error and cruelty, and put a brand on the brow of vice; but in doing even these things, our own defects should ever be before our eyes. Let us, then, showing meekness and kindness to all, "consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works," Heb. x. 24. THE TREMBLING AND PROCRASTINATION OF FELIX. FELIX TREMBLED. The scene is striking :-you see the prisoner in bonds ;you behold Felix seated on the throne, in the presence of the advocate of Christ and his cause. He feels the hand of the preacher searching all the recesses of his soul;-guilt appears in all its enormity and aggravations ;-neither the flattering speeches of Tertullus, nor the more fatal and seductive power of Drusilla, the Jewess, who is unmoved and unaffected amidst all that is passing, nor the pomp and dignity of his office, as the viceroy of imperial Cæsar, can shield Felix from the convictions and agitations of his own spirit;-like the lightning, its flash starts into his mind, and the thunder of vengeance follows, and is heard through all the recesses of his guilty soul, awakening the memory of a thousand crimes, that start from their slumbers, and like spectres stand before him, in fearful attitude and unrelenting accusation ;-like Belshazzar, when he beheld the mysterious handwriting upon the wall, his countenance is changed, and his thoughts trouble him; and the joints of his loins are loosed, and his knees smite one against another-and Felix trembles! But what was the amount and real character of the effect produced, as contrasted with what we might have hoped for from this seemingly compunctious visitation? He trembled he was con The musical, painting, and poetic propensities; the tabby-loving, and aviary hobbies, with the pyrotechnic, autographic, and fine waistcoat inclinations, are but a very small part of the peculiari-scious of a momentary agitation; but the ties existing among us. As I at first intimated, we are quick sighted to the oddities of others, but blind as beetles to our own. Though I have thus rapidly glanced at a few of the many hobby-horses that are favourites with different people, there is not an ill-natured thought in my head, nor an ill-natured feeling in my heart, power of lust, the domination of intemperance, the train of evil and licentious habits, the presence of Drusilla-all had their influence in causing the tide of sensuality again to return, with all its violence, and with all its power on the spirit. There were two principles that governed the heart of Felix-two demons raged within the heart of this unclean man-lust and avarice, the love of sensual enjoyment, and the love of money; and the moment the voice of the preacher ceased to be heard, these tyrants of the soul resumed their sway. He could not deny, he could not resist, the reasonings of the apostle; but under the fearful power of evil principles and evil habits, how did he act?-he dismissed the troublesome reflections, and together with them the faithful monitor, and he said, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a coNVENIENT SEASON I will call for thee." How evident, then, is the danger of procrastination. Felix trembled; he felt the force of argument; he was conscious for a while of the impression of truth; but he delayed to make the just and proper improvement of these visitations, and of these feelings. Had he acted on rational principles-principles which conscience would have approved, which reason would have justified, which revelation had enjoined he would have retired from the presence of the preacher to the solitude of the closet; he would have reflected upon the scenes of the past and the dangers of the future; he would have humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, and have fallen down in abasement of spirit at the foot stool of mercy: like other criminals brought to penitence and reflection, he would have sought mercy; he would have been deeply concerned about his eternal state; he would have given no sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his eyelids, till he had found mercy through the faith of Christ, and that Divine mediation which the preacher of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, had disclosed. But oh! the fatal opiate by which his mind was lulled into lethargy and self-destruction, was the thought that, at some future period, at some more convenient season, he would think of these things. He was not prepared to say, "They are not now worthy of my thoughts;" he was not prepared to say that there was any flaw in the reasonings, any illegitimacy in the conclusions, any error in the statement of principles far from it. If he had felt this, he would have urged his scepticism, he would have stated his objections, for the purpose of relieving his consci ence from its tormenting accusations. But no; he was well aware that no flimsy reasoning, no artful objection like this, would for a moment afford peace to his troubled spirit; and there fore the only resource would be, to defer to another period, and a more convenient season, the consideration of these alarming and appalling topics. O my dear friends, are there not some whose consciences tell them they have acted in the very same way? You have often come to the house of God; you have often heard the preacher respecting the faith in Christ; you have often heard the reasonings respecting righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. There have been periods when impressions were made; there have been times when your hearts have seemed to be softened; when you felt that religion demanded your serious consideration; that whatever might be the importunity of the world, whatever the claims of the family, whatever the necessities of life, whatever the urgency of business, whatever the interests of the present world-there was a reality in the world to come that claimed your first regard; that your souls were immortal, that you were to stand before the tribunal of Omniscience, that your everlasting destiny was, of all other questions, the most momentous. And while you listened, you trembled; and you thought, perhaps, "Oh, now, now I will go to my Father-I will seek the favour of the Most High-I will be concerned respecting the salvation of my soul. I will not suffer these impressions, so salutary and so just, to be banished from my heart." But how have you acted? what has been the treatment you have given to the message of mercy, and the preacher of righteousness, and the voice of the Divine Spirit? You have said, when the world has again presented its impertinent attractions, when the cares and the blandishments of this life have again surrounded you, that at another time you will consider these things; that you have at present too many anxieties, too many cares, too much business;"when I have realized that scheme, accomplished that purpose, secured this measure, seen perhaps this individual of my family settled; after I have been able to command this or the other object when I have retired in peace, then I will read this neglected word, I will study the things that belong to my everlasting peace; I will endeavour a decent preparation for another world.” In this way how many have been fascinated and deluded to their everlasting undoing! How often have you heard of |