The phantom cast a fearful glance at his master, as he entered into the crypt and produced a wooden flagon of ale, and as speedily returned with another large leathern bottle, filled with the choicest wine. Each knight quaffed a horn of humming old ale, and having poured out another for Galenius, filled their larger cups from the wine-flask.

"Bethink thee," said the physician to his attendant, who had already emptied the drinking-horn," bethink thee of the penance thy body must undergo, Galenius, before it again reaches that spirituality to which I had before brought it."

'Ay, marry, master," replied the menial, "methinks that had it been pure, it would not have become so suddenly restless and ravenous, at the smell of these savoury morsels; which, in sooth, it hath never yet done, when you have been distilling the pearls of Paradise, or the manna of Heaven."

"I could be sworn on the holy rood," said the leech, "that thou didst not take the golden spirit of life at sunset, or thy appetite would not have grown so outrageous."

"I did but smell of it, worthy master," said

the attendant, "and that alone caused me to shake my head, fah! Methinks, after the smack of these rashers, I would fain become fat and unspiritual as I was before."

"Poor impure mortal,” replied the physician, with a look more of pity than anger; " and is this all that my labour and care with thee have produced? After having put roasted capon before thee, and, for a reward, when thou hast not eaten of it, taught thee how to mix the ostrich's stomach from rare herbs. Have shown thee mighty secrets, when thou hast left untouched the coarse viands, from the making of the tincture of gold, the red lion, to the poison ous foam of dragons, the blood of the salamander, the immaculate wolf's jelly, invaluable serpent's brain, the spirit of the spread eagle, even on to the juice of Janus; and would, hadst thou been firm, have unfolded to thee the grand arcana of the elixir of life."

"I confess my frailty, worthy master," replied the skeleton, " and have long waged war both with my stomach and memory; and, in spite of all your valued advice, I can better remember how to stuff a wild-goose, or make pasties of a fat buck, than recollect the name

of one ingredient, in these immortal mixtures. And after the rich flavour which hath clung to my palate this night, I have sworn never to pollute these pure medicines again, by bringing them in contact with my impure body. I will fetch your wood, and carry out your physic to the furthest ends of Sherwood; but, by the smack of the pasty which Eleanor-of-the-Valley gave me yesternight, I henceforth renounce all draughts and doses, boluses and purgatives."

"Alas! and all my hopes are dispersed," said the leech, with a sigh; "like the refuse of nature from the pure hermetical salt. I had thought to have left my secrets in your keeping, which hope only detained me in the wilds of these forests. Alas! I shall never more consult with the Leeches of Alexandria, nor ponder over the mummies of Egypt, from which I had hoped to distil the secret, and make the living last longer than the dead. But see, my patient moveth, he hath at least need of the physician." And he again bent his shaggy brows over the wounded man.

CHAPTER V.

But whither she went, north or south,

Or east or west went she,

Was never spoke by living mouth,
Till Hal rose up, and he,

Vowed that she passed him in the gloom,

But whither went he never knew ;

So dark the night began to loom,

So fast the horsemen flew.

St. Christopher's Chase.

THE silence that reigned in the apartment for a few moments, while the physician counted the pulsations of his patient, was suddenly broken by Hugh de Lacy, who, springing up, impatiently, seized a rich mantle which had hitherto lain unobserved on the wounded man's pallet, and exclaimed, "In the name of a thousand fiends! how didst thou obtain this mantle and

hood? Speak! or by my hope hereafter, I will tear open thy throat, and see if all thy elixirs and mysterious medicines will be of any avail to make thee whole again. Speak!" vociferated the earl, in a voice of thunder, holding up the mantle, "how came this in thy possession ?"

"Even along with the wounded man," replied the physician, as he sat unmoved beside the couch of his patient. "It was found upon him, and was the cause, if I understood the yeomen aright who brought him hither, of his receiving the deep sword-gash, which may prove one of the gates of death, of which there are many at which the spirit escapes. Even in the elements there is much malignant mercury flying up and down, which whenever it exceedeth the purer particles, bringeth an infinite number of epidemical, pestilential, and contagious diseases, which, uniting with the individual venom already lodged in the body, by eating the impure

"The mantle, the mantle !" said the knight impatiently, "how came it into his possession? Tell me, or, by the holy saints! I shall be tempted to lodge my dagger in your own body. Speak! how did he obtain it? This very man