us quarters of the place. At
one time the housekeeper brought him intelligence of a chimney blown
down, and a desperate leak sprung in the roof over the picture
gallery, which threatened to obliterate a whole generation of his
ancestors. Then the steward came in with a doleful story of the
mischief done in the woodlands; while the gamekeeper bemoaned the loss
of one of his finest bucks, whose bloated carcass was seen floating
along the swoln current of the river.

When the Squire issued forth, he was accosted, before the door, by the
old, paralytic gardener, with a face full of trouble, reporting, as I
supposed, the devastation of his flower-beds, and the destruction of
his wall-fruit. I remarked, however, that his intelligence caused a
peculiar expression of concern, not only with the Squire and Master
Simon, but with the fair Julia and Lady Lillycraft, who happened to be
present. From a few words which reached my ear, I found there was some
tale of domestic calamity in the case, and that some unfortunate
family had been rendered houseless by the storm. Many ejaculations of
pity broke from the ladies; I heard the expressions of "poor, helpless
beings," and "unfortunate little creatures," several times repeated;
to which the old gardener replied by very melancholy shakes of the
head.

I felt so interested, that I could not help calling to the gardener,
as he was retiring, and asking what unfortunate family it was that had
suffered so severely? The old man touched his hat, and gazed at me for
an instant, as if hardly comprehending my question. "Family!" replied
he, "there be no family in the case, your honour; but here have been
sad mischief done in the rookery!"

I had noticed, the day before, that the high and gusty winds which
prevailed had occasioned great disquiet among these airy householders;
their nests being all filled with young, who were in danger of being
tilted out of their tree-rocked cradles. Indeed, the old birds
themselves seemed to have hard work to maintain a foothold; some kept
hovering and cawing in the air; or, if they ventured to alight, they
had to hold fast, flap their wings, and spread their tails, and thus
remain see-sawing on the topmost twigs.

In the course of the night, however, an awful calamity had taken place
in this most sage and politic community. There was a great tree, the
tallest in the grove, which seemed to have been a kind of court-end of
the metropolis, and crowded with the