So the knights and servants went, and found not the lady, for her lover had stolen her away while the kings dined.

"Even so, as I expected," said the emperor; "brother, the knight's folly has taught thee wisdom."

"Yea, brother," rejoined the king sorrowfully, "truly said the knight, every deed is judged by its end."

So the king returned to Hungary ashamed; and when the knight and the maiden returned to her father, his heart yearned towards her, and he wept over her, and received them with joy.

"This last tale," said Lathom, as soon as he had concluded his manuscripts, "comes not from the old Latin books, but from what is called the English Gesta."

"An imitation of the original, I suppose," said Thompson.

So thought that antiquarian, Mr. Douce," replied Lathom.

"Is it not natural, that a work so remarkable as this old Latin Gesta seems to have been, should have stimulated some person to compose a similar work for this country?" suggested Herbert.

"If the English version was not intended for the same work as the original, it is difficult to account for the striking identity between the stories in each of the Gesta; whilst the differences between the two works is in no respect greater than is consistent with that great latitude which the old transcribers and translators gave themselves."

"It is, therefore, Lathom, in your opinion, as much an original work as Donne's Satires modernized by Pope, or Horace's Art of Poetry translated by Roscommon," said Thompson.

Yes, or as Dr. Johnson's version of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal." "We must be thinking of adjourning," said Herbert, "as the college clock began to strike eight."

"Or we may find ourselves inscribed among St. Peter's madmen," said Lathom.

"St. Peter's madmen-who were they?" exclaimed Herbert and Thompson together.

'Five men St. Peter deemed to be madmen," rejoined their host. "One ate the sand of the sea so greedily that it ran out of his mout!

:

verily he was the covetous man of this world. The next m stood over a pit filled with sulphur and pitch, and strove to the noxious vapour that rose from the burning mass he wa glutton and the debauchee. A third lay on a burning furnac endeavoured to catch the sparks that rose from it, that he feast on them for he was rich, and would have fed on gold, t it would have been his death. The next lunatic sat on the pi of the temple, with his mouth open to catch the wind, for he hypocrite; whilst the last madman devoured every finger an of his own he could get into his mouth, and laughed at others he was a calumniator of the good, and devoured his own kind.' And the sixth stayed up to read in a Christmas vacation,' gested Thompson.

CHAPTER IV.

MODERN CONVERSIONS OF THE OLD TALES-THE THREE BLACK CROWS -KING LEAR-THE MERCHANT OF VENICE-EASTERN ORIGIN OF THE INCIDENT OF THE THREE CASKETS.

"WHAT a mine must these tales of the old monks have been to writers of every age," said Herbert, as the friends returned to their old book for the fourth evening.

"The purloiners of gems from their writings have been innumerable, and of all ages. Gower, Lydgate, Chaucer, Shakspeare, of olden days; and in our own times, Parnell, Schiller, Scott, and Southey have been indebted to the didactic fictions of the old monks for many a good plot, and many an effective incident."

"As the old monks themselves were indebted to the earlier legends of other lands, the traditions of their own convent, or the meagre pages of an old chronicle."

'Even the veteran joker, Mr. Joe Miller, has been indebted to the Gesta for one of his standard tales," said Lathom; "The Three Black Crows dates back to the middle ages."

The moral, however, was hardly so polite as that now attached to the story; for the monk boldly headed his tale with this inscription,

'Of women who not only betray secrets and lie fearfully.'"

"Pray let us hear the original Joe Miller," said Thompson.
"Here then you have," replied Lathom, "the original-

Tale that will raise the question, I suppose,
What can the meaning be of three black crows ?"

THE THREE BLACK CROWS.

ONCE upon a time, there lived two brothers, the one a the other a layman. The former was always saying t woman could keep a secret, and as his brother was m he bade him test the truth of this assertion on his ow The layman agreed; and one night, when they were al said, with a sorrowful face, to his spouse:

"My dear wife, a most dreadful secret hangs over n that I could divulge it to you; but no, I dare not; you could keep it, and, if once divulged, my reputation is g Fear not, love," rejoined the wife; are we not on and one mind; is not your advantage my benefit, an injury my loss?"

"Well, then," said the husband," when I left my roo morning a deadly sickness came upon me, and after r pang, a huge black crow flew out of my mouth, and, w its way from the room, left me in fear and trembling."

"Is it possible?" asked the wife; "yet why shoul fear, my life? be thankful rather that you have been free so noxious and troublesome an occupant."

Here the conversation ended. As soon as it was d got the wife, with her thoughts full of the black crov hastened to a neighbour's house.

"Dearest friend," said she,

"" can I trust you with a se "As with your life," rejoined the confidant.

Oh, such a marvellous accident happened to my husba "What? what?" asked the anxious friend.

"Only last night, he felt deadly sick, and, after a grea of pain, two black crows flew out of his mouth, and took from the room."

Away went the wife home, with her mind disburthen the awful secret; whilst her friend hastened to her neighbour, and retailed the story, only with the additi one more crow. The next edition of the legend rose to and at last, when the story had gone round the gossips o

village, a flock of forty crows were reported to have flown from the poor man's mouth; and there were not a few who remembered seeing the black legion on the wing from the man's window. The consequence of all this was, that the poor husband found himself saddled with the very questionable reputation of a wizard, and was obliged to call together the village, and explain to them the true origin of the fable. On this his wife and her confidants were overwhelmed with ridicule and shame, and the men of the village were the more impressed with the truth of the cleric's maxim.

"Did the old monk attempt a further interpretation of his ungallant fable?" asked Herbert.

"Undoubtedly," replied Lathom. "The unfortunate husband typified the worldly man, who thinking to do one foolish act without offence, falls into a thousand errors, and has, at last, to purge his conscience by a public confession."

"Let us now pass on to Shakspeare's plagiarisms," said Herbert. "Improvements-new settings of old jewels, which only heighten their lustre not plagiarisms;” replied Lathom. 'King Lear dates back to the Gesta. Theodosius of Rome occupies the place of the British king, his child Theodosia is Shakspeare's Cordelia.”

THE EMPEROR OF ROME AND HIS THREE
DAUGHTERS.

THEODOSIUS was emperor of Rome, mighty in power, and wise in counsel. He had no son, but three daughters, whom he loved exceedingly. Now when they were come of full age, the emperor called unto him the eldest and said, "How much lovest thou me?"

"More than mine ownself," replied the eldest.

"It is good," rejoined her father, "thou shalt be rewarded for thy love."

So he married her unto a neighbouring king of great power and wealth. Then he sent for his second daughter, and asked

her the same question.