teous question, but I will answer it. The most
cunning craftsman cannot work without his tools, and some of mine are
broken, which I seek to repair: another crown will be enough."

The lady put the required sum into his hand, and at the same time
intimated a desire to have a specimen of his art.

"Oh! to what purpose should that be? why, why seek to know the course
of futurity? destiny runs on in a sweeping and resistless tide. Enquire
not what rocks await your bark: the knowledge cannot avail you, for
caution is useless against stern necessity."--"Truly, you are not likely
to get rich by your trade, if you thus deter customers."--"It is not for
wealth I labour: I am alone on the earth, and have none to love. I will
not mix with the world lest I should learn to hate. This present is
nothing to me. It is in communion with the spirits who have lived in the
times that are past, and with the stars--those historians of the times
to come--that I feel aught of joy. Fools sometimes demand the exertions
of my powers, and sometimes I gratify their childish curiosity."
--"Notwithstanding I lie under the imputation of folly, I
will beg that you predict unto me the fate of the child which I shall
bear."--"Well, you have obliged me, and I will comply. Note the precious
moment at which it enters the world, and soon after you shall see me
again."

Within a week the birth of an heir awoke the clamorous joy of the
vassals, and summoned the strange gipsey to ascertain the necessary
points. These learned, he returned home; and the next day presented Sir
Maurice with a scroll, containing the following lines:

"Twenty times shall Avon's tide
In chains of glistening ice be tied--
Twenty times the woods of Leigh
Shall wave their brunches merril
In spring burst forth in mantle gay,
And dance in summer's scorching ray:
Twenty times shall autumn's frown,
Wither all their green to brown--
And still the child of yesterday
Shall laugh the happy hour away.
That period past, another sun
Shall not his annual journey run,
Before a secret silent foe,
Shall strike that boy a deadly blow.
Such, and sure his fate shall be:
Seek not to change his destiny."

The knight read it; and in that age, when astrology was considered a
science as unerring as holy prophecies, it would have been little less
than infidelity to have doubted the truth of the prediction. Sir
Maurice, however, was wise enough to withhold the paper fr