range that the Neutral Nation should have revered the cataract as a
demon; and another subtle spell (not to be broken even by the
business-like composure of the man who shows off the hell-broth) is added
to those successive sorceries by which Niagara gradually changes from a
thing of beauty to a thing of terror. By all odds, too, the most
tremendous view of the Falls is afforded by the point on the drive whence
you look down upon the Horse-Shoe, and behold its three massive walls of
sea rounding and sweeping into the gulf together, the color gone, and the
smooth brink showing black and ridgy.

Would they not go to the battle-field of Lundy's Lane? asked the driver
at a certain point on their return; but Isabel did not care for
battle-fields, and Basil preferred to keep intact the reminiscence of his
former visit. "They have a sort of tower of observation built on the
battle-ground," he said, as they drove on down by the river, "and it was
in charge of an old Canadian militia-man, who had helped his countrymen
to be beaten in the fight. This hero gave me a simple and unintelligible
account of the battle, asking me first if I had ever heard of General
Scott, and adding without flinching that here he got his earliest
laurels. He seemed to go just so long to every listener, and nothing
could stop him short, so I fell into a revery until he came to an end. It
was hard to remember, that sweet summer morning, when the sun shone, and
the birds sang, and the music of a piano and a girl's voice rose from a
bowery cottage near, that all the pure air had once been tainted with
battle-smoke, that the peaceful fields had been planted with cannon,
instead of potatoes and corn, and that where the cows came down the
farmer's lane, with tinkling bells, the shock of armed men had befallen.
The blue and tranquil Ontario gleamed far away, and far away rolled the
beautiful land, with farm-houses, fields, and woods, and at the foot of
the tower lay the pretty village. The battle of the past seemed only a
vagary of mine; yet how could I doubt the warrior at my elbow?--grieved
though I was to find that a habit of strong drink had the better of his
utterance that morning. My driver explained afterwards, that persons
visiting the field were commonly so much pleased with the captain's
eloquence, that they kept the noble old soldier in a brandy and-water
rapture throughout the season, thereby greatly refreshing his memory, and
making the battle bloo