Then thus outspake the elderly gentleman, his mouth being raised like a portcullis, and descending upon the neck of every sentence, like a guillotine.

"Important affairs are of two qualities or descriptions, real or imaginary. Now, if your business be of the latter, that is to say, of an imaginary description of importance, I can have no hesitation in declining to do what you request; if, on the other hand, it be of a real weight, consequence, or necessity; then, may I hope it is no imprudence of youth; no getting into debt; no arrest, or other inconvenient let, hindrance, or molestation." "Lord bless my soul! no, sir,” cried Transit overjoyed, for he saw his deliverance at hand, "how could you suspect such a thing? The fact is, but I don't like to mention these matters-a friend-a poor curate-eight children-starvation-meek-eyed charity-pleasures of benevolence-virtue its own reward-divide last farthing;" and as the speaker dropped these fragmentary sentences, two tears of genuine emotion rolled half way down his cheeks, which the joy of obtaining the money instantly drew up again into his eyes.

“Well, boy, well," whimpered the uncle, quelling a rebellious rising of sympathy in his throat, “these sentiments do you much honour; but beware, impostors are by far too common. Well, we must let you have the money;" and he began to write out a cheque for the amount.

Transit fixed a gaze upon each successive word that was written, as though he would draw the very ink out of the paper, but at that moment, a servant entered the room.

"A gentleman in the back parlour wishes to speak to you, sir.

"Let him wait," cried Transit, in an agony of impatience.

"This is indecent haste," said the uncle in a tone of rebuke, "and I could fain chide you, and read to you a lesson of good breeding, or manners. What kind of gentleman, girl?"

"A person in top boots, sir."

Transit started; "but no, it could not be. Strange coincidence!" and he smiled faintly. "What is the gentleman's name, child?" added the uncle.

"Mr. Fan-"

"Mr. Fang!" shrieked the nephew, as, seized with panic, he darted from the premises.

“Mr. Fancourt, sir, come about the assessed taxes, he says." But Transit was gone. Ensconced in the Bedford coffee house, he was brooding over his perplexities.

"Let me see, this is what I'll do," said he, at length, drinking off the last glass of a pint of Madeira, "I've fairly escaped the rascal for to-day; I'll go to my lodgings, pack up a few things, start out of town till term ends, and

"Come with me, if you please," said a short man in top boots, belcher handkerchief, and with a knotted stick in his hand. It was Fang, the inevitable Fang!

"I am yours!" groaned the debtor, as they entered a hackney coach and drove off over one of the bridges! OMEGA.

THE etymology of the name of Arundel is involved in obscurity, and has, consequently, given rise to much conjecture. In default of any probable or satisfactory explanation, fable has been resorted to, and romance conveniently steps in just when philology had begun to despair.

The giant Ascapart, it seems, the hero of many ancient romances, is supposed to have been the keeper of a castle at this place, and was slain by the celebrated Bevis of Hampton, who, having a favourite horse, remarkable for its swiftness, called it "Ilirondelle,"aswallow, since corrupted into Arundel, and bestowed the same name upon the demesne. The arms of the town are, to this day, a swallow, although the origin of the bearing is not known. The first time the name is met with, is in king Alfred's will, in which he bestows it upon Athelin, his brother's son.

Arundel Castle has been famed for its strength from the earliest periods. Under the Saxon government, it belonged to the crown, and was at that time an important fortress. Shortly after the Norman conquest it was repaired by Roger de Montgomery, upon whom it had been bestowed by the conqueror, who created him at the same time, Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury. From the former, however, he took his title, though his real title was that of Earl of Sussex and Chichester.

The manor is inseparably annexed to the castle, as also is the honour of earl, so that whoever possesses the castle thereby becomes an earl without any other creation.

The third and last Earl of Arundel of the Montgomery family having being outlawed by Henry I., the castle was besieged and captured by the king in person, who transferred it to Adelyn, daughter of Godfrey, surnamed Longbeard, Duke of Lorraine and Brabant, his second wife, for a dower.

rendezvous of the Earls of Arundel, Derby, Marshal, and Warwick, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Abbot of St. Alban's, and the Prior of Westminster, who, with the Duke of Gloucester, met, to conspire against Richard III., whom, with the Dukes of Lancaster and York, they purposed to seize and commit to prison. The Earl Marshal, Deputy of Calais, however, son-in-law to the Earl of Arundel, discovered the plot to the king.

This castle was twice besieged during the civil wars in the time of Charles I. The Lord Hopton having seized it with the king's forces, it was speedily re-taken by Sir William Waller, a general of the parliamentary army. At this siege, the learned Chillingworth was taken prisoner, who, by his skill as an engineer, had rendered himself of much service during the period of the investment.

Since that epoch, the Castle of Arundel has not been looked upon as a fortress. During the civil wars, it was committed to all the barbarities of military execution-its furniture ransacked-its walls demolished, and its south-front, comprehending the magnificent state-room of the Fitzalans, entirely destroyed. From that period, till the repairs by the late Duke of Norfolk, nothing remained of this noble structure, but a few lofty apartments, a gallery, and a spacious kitchen.

Arundel Castle is delightfully situated amongst a variety of woods and charming hills, and commands a prospect of the sea, and of fertile meadows, pleasantly watered and divided by the windings of a navigable river-the Avon, which, in addition to the other recommendations, is supplied with excellent mullet.

This castle has been in the successive possessions of four families, the Montgomeries, Earls of Arundel, the Dalbinis, Earls of Sussex, Arundel and Chichester, the Fitzalans of Clun, Earls of Arundel, and the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk, Earls of Arundel, &c. These families, but most especially the last, have conferred too much splendour on the page of history, to be passed over altogether in silence.

Roger de Montgomery, the founder of that house, was a bold adventurer whose enterprising genius was best suited to the martial spirit of William the Conqueror. Upon his skill and experience chiefly depended William's hope of obtaining the English throne;

battle of Hastings, and, as he commanded on that day, by the title of Marshal, he is accounted the first Marshal of England.

On the death of William, he joined, with other noblemen, the party of the unfortunate Robert, Duke of Normandy, and destroyed Cambridge with fire and sword, to be revenged of William Rufus, who, however, found means by smooth professions, to captivate and win him over to his side. The possessions of this great earl were vast and extensive, viz: in Wilts, three lordships; in Surrey, four; in Hants, nine; in Middlesex, eight; in Cambridgeshire, eleven; in Herefordshire, one; in Gloucester, one; in Worcestershire, two; in Warwickshire, eleven; in Staffordshire, thirty; in Sussex, seventy-seven; besides the County of Salop, and the City of Shrewsbury, the City of Chichester, and the Castle of Arundel.

Philip, fourth son of Roger, settled in Scotland, and hence the family of Montgomery, Earls of Eglington. Sir Robert Montgomery, a descendant of Philip de Montgomery, took prisoner, with his own hands, at the battle of Otterbourne, the great Harry Percy, named Hotspur, and compelled him, for a ransom, to build the Castle of Panmuir, in the lordship of Eaglesham.

William de Albini, called William with the Strong Hand, was the son of a follower of William the Norman, who bestowed upon him lands in Norfolk and other places. This his son and heir was reported to have been one of the handsomest men in England, or even in Europe. He is said to have been an experienced soldier and a practised politician, devout without ostentation, and a strong protector of the clergy and the church.

The Queen of France being at that time a widow, and possessed of beauty, proclaimed a tournament throughout her dominions, whereupon, it is related, William de Albini, gallantly accoutred, came to Paris, with many brave attendants; he eclipsed all his competitors in this tournament, vanquishing many, and mortally wounding one with his lance. The Queen, admiring his valour, invited him to a gorgeous banquet, and having lavished upon him many pearls of great value, offered him her hand. He declined with honour this great match, on the ground of a previous engagement, having plighted his troth to Adeliza, Queen Dowager of England, a princess who had all the accomplishments of her rival without her faults. Thus, an alliance with this warrior was courted by two Queens, relicts of the most powerful sovereigns in Christendom.

VOL. III-NO. 1.

He was mediator of the peace between King Stephen and Henry Duke of Normandy, afterwards Henry II., under whom he was one of the chief commanders. This Earl of Arundel was a man of very extensive and elevated genius, fruitful in projects upon great emergencies. This last quality is, however, exemplified too strongly when it is gravely related that being shut up in a lion's den by the Queen of France whom he refused to marry, he thrust his hand forcibly into the lion's mouth, and pulled out its tongue by the roots. The uncle of this Earl of Arundel received from Henry I., the forfeited estates of Roger de Mowbray, whose name his son afterwards took, and became the progenitor of that powerful family from whom the Mowbrays, Earls of Nottingham and Dukes of Norfolk, were descended. Hugh de Albini was the last of this great family, which had flourished with unceasing and progressive splendour, since the conquest. Having died without issue, John Fitzalan, his sister's husband, succeeded him in the Earldom of Arundel and the possession of Arundel Castle. The Earldoms of Sussex and Chichester reverted to the Crown.

The family of the Fitzalans of Clun was of great renown at the time of the conquest, possessing considerable manors in Shropshire. Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, was the last heir male of this illustrious family which flourished in this honour more than three hundred and fifty years. There were no less than thirteen Earls of Arundel successively of the Fitzalans, most of them men of great fame and extended renown. Philip Howard, guardian to Earl Henry, by Mary, his daughter, succeeded him about 1579, in which family the title and lordship continue to this day.

The family of the Howards, though there is a strong popular belief to the contrary, founded in error, and confirmed by the wellknown couplet of Pope, is by no means so ancient as some of less note, still existing in this kingdom. There is nothing certainly known of this family before the reign of Edward I., when we find William Howard, a learned judge of the Court of Common Pleas. And yet, to borrow the elegant language of a contemporary writer,-"There is a fascination in a name associated with our early imbibed ideas of the splendour of past ages, in spite of all that has been said to the contrary. In point of mere antiquity, there are several nobles which far exceed the Howards; but what other family pervades all our na

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