possibility of his detection, by any ordinary means. Nor, in distant and by-gone days, was the Old Ford disregarded by an extraordinary class of men, whose calling is now extinct, the remembrance of whose practices has derived an additional charm from the general belief, that Shakspeare himself was, at one time, connected with the occupation in question that of deer-stealing. The deer-stealer of old, indeed, used the Old Ford in the same way as is now done by the modern poacher-for the purpose of preventing detection As to the comparative character of these two worthies, it may be fairly questioned whether the modern poacher, with all his undoubted caution and skill, is equal, so far as the exercise of these qualities goes, to the ancient deerstealer.

'

Seeing the various uses to which the Old Ford has been applied, it may not, perhaps, be out of place to introduce an account of a deer-stealer, given by Gilpin, in his Forest Scenery.' "I once had," said he, "some occasional intercourse with a forest borderer, who had formerly been a notorious deer-stealer. He had often, like the deer-stealer in the play,

"Struck a doe

And borne it cleanly by the keeper's nose."

Indeed, he had been at the head of his profession; and during a reign of five years, assured me he had killed, on an average, not fewer than a hundred bucks a-year. At length, he was obliged to abscond; but compromising his affairs, he abjured the trade, and would speak of his former acts without reserve. He has more than once confessed the sins of his youth to me; from which an idea may be formed of the mystery of deer-stealing in its highest mode of perfection. In his excursions in the forest, he carried with him a gun, which unscrewed into three parts, and which he could easily conceal in the lining of his coat. Thus armed, he would drink with the under-keepers without suspicion; and when he knew them engaged, would securely take his stand in some distant part, and mark his buck; when he had killed him, he would draw him aside into the bushes, and spend the remaining part of the day in a neighbouring tree, that he might be sure no spies were in the way; at night he secreted his plunder. He had boarded off a part of his cottage, (forming a rough door in it, like the rest of the partition, stuck full of false

nail-heads,) with such artifice, that the keepers, on an information, have searched his house again and again, and have gone off satisfied of his innocence; though his secret larder perhaps, at that time, contained a brace of bucks. He had always a quick market for his venison, for the country is as ready to purchase, as these fellows are to procure it. It is a forest adage of ancient date, non est inquirendum unde venit venison." The same adage will apply, at the present day, to the game procured by the exertion of the night poacher, notwithstanding the operation of the act, which legalizes its sale by appointed dealers throughout the kingdom. Well may the "old hands" at poaching, in some localities, have a particular reverence for the facilities afforded by the Old Fords.

Thus if, with the remembrance connected with every ancient and time-honoured object, rolling back the tide of memory, there are associated thoughts and feelings connected especially with old habits, old usages, and old customs, and those many details of bygone days which can never be remembered but with feelings, if not of reverence, at least of interest; the Old Ford, however humble and unostentatious in its appearance, should not be despised. The

ancient public track ways of the country may be changed, as they have been changed, into now old green lanes, as already mentioned. The turnpike trusts, labouring under the weight of their enormous debt, may sink before the enormous power of the iron-rails, and become, as they are becoming, new green lanes, especially, as has been too often the case, through injudicious management forming them in those obscure localities, where they ought never to have been formed, and keeping them in bad repair. But the Old Ford remains the same. It can outstrip the far-off memory of many matters and things which bear the venerable stamp of antiquity. Its existence and use are almost coeval with the river-bed itself, which has been scoured by the tide from age to age, and from generation to generation, and the memory of which is lost in the thick haze of doubt, of ignorance, and of obscurity. And if, through the influence of time and the operation of change, it has, in some particular localities, become lost, its memory is still preserved in connection with some important event, or marvellous or daring deed; and, under these circumstances, the attention of the inquiring stranger is by no means indisposed to dwell upon even the memory of the Old Fords.

THE THRESHER.

In thressynge, in thettchynge, in thwyttynge pinnes.
Tho were faitours ofered and flowen to Pearses bernes,
And flopten on whit flailes, fro morne till evene.

PIERS PLOUHMAN.

THE illumination of the mind, by the adoption of a course of incessant study, laborious research, and deep thought expanding the intellect, improving the judgment, correcting the taste, and polishing the imagination, presents a striking contrast to the ignorance which generally prevails amongst those who are doomed to endure the severest bodily toils. In the one case, we behold the mighty powers of a richly cultivated mind, diffusing, in every direction, the charms of genius, the wonders of science, the beauties of art, the attractions of literature, the sparklings of fancy, the brilliancy of wit, the gush of feeling, the power of truth. In the other, we mark a withering and a desolating influence, creating an atmosphere fatal to the growth, and ungenial to the de