o'clock precisely, the fashionable hour for supper. Jack, in
better spirits than he had been in the afternoon, joined the family
party. Songs were sung, and numerous stories told by Dr Nathaniel, Mr
Pinkstone, and other acknowledged wits of the party. Ere ten o'clock
had struck, the whole party retired to their chambers, our forefathers
being of opinion that early to bed and early rising was far more
conducive to health than the late hours adopted by the present
generation.

CHAPTER THREE.

A POACHING EXPEDITION TO COLWICK PARK--JACK FORMS AN ACQUAINTANCE WHO
LEADS HIM INTO DIFFICULTIES.

As soon as the party broke up, Jack hurried to his room, and very
contrary to his usual custom threw himself into a chair, and
unconsciously pressing his hand on his brow, rested his elbow on the
little oak table which stood by his bedside. The way in which the walls
were adorned showed the tastes of the occupant of the chamber. The most
honoured ornament was a fowling-piece with a curious lock lately
invented, the gift of Cousin Nat, and which had superseded the stout
cross-bow hanging beneath it. One wall was devoted to fishing-rods,
tackle, and nets. Among them was a rod of which Izaak Walton, that
great professor of the gentle art, had himself spoken approvingly when
once, while fishing in the silvery Trent, he had seen it flourished in
Cousin Nat's hands. There were two sets of foils with masks and gloves,
and several cudgels with strange knots and devices, cut from ancient
trees in Sherwood Forest, beneath whose once wide-spreading boughs
certain feats of the renowned Robin Hood were said to have been
performed. In one and all the tales relating to the exploits of the
bold outlaw, it is scarcely necessary to say that Jack put the most
implicit faith, and would have been highly indignant had any one
ventured to doubt their authenticity or correctness. In one corner of
the room stood a book-case, a very unpretending piece of furniture in
itself, but it contained every ballad Jack believed to have been
written, or at all events on which he could lay hold, connected with
Robin Hood. It contained however other tomes: besides several
schoolbooks, their dark covers sadly battered, and their leaves inked,
dog's-eared, and torn, there were kind Izaak Walton's "Complete Angler,"
highly prized by Jack; Foxe's "Book of Martyrs," presented to him by
Aunt Bethia; and a work he valued more than all the others--Purchas's
"Trav