Contemporary Letters On The French Revolution

nis jealousy of M . de Montesquieu often lead him , I think , to exaggeration . He pretends that they will never be able to impose or collect their taxes , and that as soon as the rescource of their assignments is no morethat bankruptcy is more

in-, evitable than ever . We so far agree in op inion that this Assembly will never be dissolved but by force , and that Alsace will revolt at the decree that destroys its nobility .

Gerard Montagu;

GERARD MONTAGU ;

A Winter ' s Tale . BY EMU A HOLMES . THE following tale originally appeared in the "South Durham Herald" and ' - 'Ipswich aud Colchester Times , " and has been rewritten specially for the "MASONIC MAGAZINE . "

CHAPTEK I . ALL HALLOW EVE . IT was All Hallow Eve , the Year of Grace 1869 , and a pleasant party were sitting round a table in the drawing-room of one of the new villas just built at the

outskirts of Weston-super-Mare . The evening was cold , and a good fire burned in the grate ; the warm curtains were drawn , aud there was a cosy winter evening aspect about Chantry Villa pleasant to contemplate .

My clear old bachelor friend John Falconbrid ge and his ward had come to spend the evening with us , and we were keeping Lady Muriel ' s birthday . Lady Muriel Mandeville was John Falconbrid ge ' s ward . There was no

relationshi p between them , but we had heard ( indeed he had told me himself ) a sad story about his being engaged to her mother , the young Dowager Countess Eilpatrick , and how she died , and he adopted lier daughter , then a little girl .

John wanted us very much to spend the evening with them , —their house was close to ours , —but Mildred had asked Gerard Montagu to tea with us that evening , and so they all came to spend Halloween with us . Old Mrs . Vaux , Captain Falconbridge ' s

aunt and housekeeper , was unwell , and begged to be excused , but we were a pleasant little party nevertheless . My wife came into the room , saying , " Fred , what do you think those silly people are doing in the kitchen : Margaret and Ellen are burning nuts on the fireplace , and Margaret is almost crying with vexation because she and John won ' t burn

together ?" " What does it all mean , Mrs . Beverley 1 " Lady Muriel asks . " Why , don't you know that on Halloween people burn nuts together on the hob 1 You take two , one is yourself and the other is your lover . Well , if they

burn slowly together , side by side , then you will lie married ; if a nut cracks or jumps , your lover will prove unfaithful . It is an Irish custom , I believe . " " And a Scotch one , too , my dear , " I said , correcting Mildred . " Don ' t you know Burns' poem

Halloween' The auld guiclwife ' s well hoordid nuts Are round and round divided , And mony lad and lassies' fates Are there that night decided : Some kindle couthie side by side And burn togither trimly ; Some start awa' wi' saucy pride

And jump out owre the chiinl y Fu' high that night . ' Jean slips in twa wi' tenths e ' e ; Wha 'twas she wad'na tell ; But this is Jock , and this is me , She says it to hersei ';

She bleezecl owre her , and she owre him , A s they wad never mair part ; Till fuff ' he started up the lum , And Jean had e ' en a sair heart To see't that night . '"

" What fun ! " cried Lady Muriel ; " let us have some nuts and try our fortune . " Well , we burnt my cousin Mary Grey and young Frank Henderson together , but they did'nt like it at all , and Frank bounced off the bar and into the grate ; then we tried her sister Sophy and Paul

Dedham , but it was no use . So we concluded that those two young people must pick up fresh admirers or live and die old maids . Then Muriel , who had been educated abroad and knew but little about old English customs , was initiated into the mysteries of ducking for apples , and eating one before a looking-glass with a view to