on, and conflicting thoughts, unless to those of our
readers who have had the advantage of having seen our inimitable
Siddons in such a character as this.

* * * * *

As Margaret spoke, she tore from her hair the sable feather and rose,
which the tempest had detached from the circlet in which they were
placed, and tossed them from the battlement with a gesture of wild
energy. They were instantly whirled off in a bickering eddy of the
agitated clouds, which swept the feather far distant into empty space,
through which the eye could not pursue it. But while that of Arthur
involuntarily strove to follow its course, a contrary gust of wind
caught the red rose, and drove it back against his breast, so that it
was easy for him to catch hold of and retain it.

"Joy, joy, and good fortune, royal mistress!" he said, returning to
her the emblematic flower; "the tempest brings back the badge of
Lancaster to its proper owner."

"I accept the omen," said Margaret; "but it concerns yourself,
noble youth and not me. The feather, which is borne away to waste
and desolation, is Margaret's emblem. My eyes will never see the
restoration of the line of Lancaster. But you will live to behold it,
and to aid to achieve it, and to dye our red rose deeper yet in the
blood of tyrants and traitors. My thoughts are so strangely poised,
that a feather or a flower may turn the scale. But my head is still
giddy, and my heart sick--To-morrow you shall see another Margaret,
and till then adieu."

[Oxford attempts to win over Charles the Bold to the Lancastrian
cause, and proposes an invasion of England, while Edward, with his
army, is in France. Charles acquiesces; but capriciously breaks off
the treaty, and rashly commences an attack on the Swiss Cantons. In
his first attempt at Granson, his vanguard is cut off, and he is
compelled to retreat into Burgundy. He, however, resolves to wipe out
the disgrace of his defeat, raises a powerful army, and fights the
memorable battle of Morat. His army is utterly ruined by the stern
valour of the Swiss; he is compelled to fight for Lorraine, before
Nancy; the treachery of an Italian leader of Condittierri, gives the
enemy access to his camp; and his army is surprised, and routed:]

It was ere daybreak of the first of January, 1477, a period long
memorable for the events which marked it, that the Earl of Oxford,
Colvin, and the young Englishman, followed only by Thiebault and