es in every form
common to our literature. We have enjoyed every inch of the stream
and its banks, coloured after nature, in a panorama on paper, to
put into your pocket or portmanteau; and just now Views on the
Rhine are publishing in sixpenny portions, and becoming as little
rare as Views on the Thames; till we may as well say thick as
leaves on the Rhine, as in Vallainbrosa.

Mr. Grattan's Legends are stated to be freely adapted from the
literature of the countries where the scenes are laid. They
consist of some ten or dozen stories of untiring length but too
much for entire extract. For the sake of some delightfully
graphic writing we are induced to quote a portion of one of the
tales--_The Curse of the Black Lady_, a legend of the twelfth
century. The scene lies in the Low Countries, and introduces an
admirably-drawn portrait of a knight of the period.]

The Castle of the Countess of Hainault at Mons was a complete specimen
of the splendid architecture of the twelfth century, or that which
is now called Gothic; pointed windows abounding in coloured glass,
unpolished marble, heavy wooden doors, thickly studded with iron
nails, leading into immense corridors, interminable passages, and
branching staircases.

It was early in a morning of the month of February, that the horn of a
knight was heard beyond the castle wall, and immediately replied to
by the warder; and when the draw-bridge was slowly replaced and the
portcullis heavily withdrawn, a knight followed by a squire, whose
surcoat bore the Flander's lion, entered. The cap of the knight was
of black velvet, and slight bars of steel, bent into the form of a
semicircle, crossed each other at the top of his head and served at
once for defence and for ornament. His boots of thick leather reaching
almost to the knees bespoke him an inhabitant of a maritime country,
having spurs formed of a single point of iron, long and obtuse, and
these being gilt would have announced the wearer's rank in chivalry,
even if his whole equipment and bearing had not proclaimed his right
to the deference with which he was received. As he dismounted from his
horse, he threw off the large mantle, not unlike the military cloaks
of our days, and discovered the knightly armour, which showed to
peculiar advantage his powerful limbs. A straight black tunic without
sleeves descended to his knees. It was fastened by a silver girdle,
from w