A man named Piercy has written to me for permission to go over the house; he is, it appears, writing a book on the antiquities of the county.

Mr. Piercy, the antiquarian, proved to be by no means as dry as his pursuit suggested.

"Now this is the part which will no doubt interest you most, Mr. Piercy," Morriston said; "this fourteenth century tower, which is to-day in a really wonderful state of preservation.

"I presume there is no way out of the room but this door," Piercy asked.

"A prohibitive mode of exit," Piercy observed with a smile.

" Accordingly the whole party went down into the hall and so out to the garden, where they strolled round the house, Piercy meanwhile taking notes of its architectural features.

Piercy, with his archaeological knowledge, was able to tell the owner and Gifford a good deal about the ancient structure of which they had previously been ignorant.

Piercy rose to take his leave.

Tea over, Piercy took his leave.

"You must come again, Mr. Piercy, while you are in this part of the county," Miss Morriston said graciously, "when you shall have no episodes of lost keys to hinder your researches.

The fury of his massacres and ravages enraged the northern nobility, who might otherwise have been inclined to join him; and William, Earl of Albemarle, Robert de Ferrers, William Piercy, Robert de Brus, Roger Moubray, Ilbert Lacey, Walter l'Espec, powerful barons in those parts, assembled an army with which they encamped at North-Allerton, and awaited the arrival of the enemy.

The king and prince finding a civil war inevitable, prepared themselves for defence; and summoning the military vassals from all quarters, and being reinforced by Baliol, Lord of Galloway, Brus, Lord of Annandale, Henry Piercy,

His speech, like Sir Piercy Shafton's Euphuistic eloquence, bewrayed him under every disguise.

Sir Philip Sidney in his 'Discourse of Poetry' speaks of it in the following Words; I never heard the old Song of Piercy and Douglas, that I found not my Heart more moved than with a Trumpet; and yet it is sung by some blind Crowder with no rougher Voice than rude Stile; which being so evil apparelled in the Dust and Cobweb of that uncivil Age, what would it work trimmed in the gorgeous Eloquence of Pindar?

Like Tydings to King Henry came Within as short a Space, That Piercy of Northumberland Was slain in Chevy-Chase.

Yet shall not Scot nor Scotland say But I will Vengeance take, And be revenged on them all For brave Lord Piercy's Sake.

[in single Fight. ] Ere thus I will out-braved be, One of us two shall dye; I know thee well, an Earl thou art, Lord Piercy, so am I. But trust me, Piercy, Pity it were, And great Offence, to kill Any of these our harmless Men, For they have done no Ill. Let thou and I the Battle try, And set our Men aside; Accurst be he, Lord Piercy said, By whom this is deny'd.

[in single Fight. ] Ere thus I will out-braved be, One of us two shall dye; I know thee well, an Earl thou art, Lord Piercy, so am I. But trust me, Piercy, Pity it were, And great Offence, to kill Any of these our harmless Men, For they have done no Ill. Let thou and I the Battle try, And set our Men aside; Accurst be he, Lord Piercy said, By whom this is deny'd.

[in single Fight. ] Ere thus I will out-braved be, One of us two shall dye; I know thee well, an Earl thou art, Lord Piercy, so am I. But trust me, Piercy, Pity it were, And great Offence, to kill Any of these our harmless Men, For they have done no Ill. Let thou and I the Battle try, And set our Men aside; Accurst be he, Lord Piercy said, By whom this is deny'd.

Who never spoke more Words than these, Fight on, my merry Men all, For why, my Life is at an End, Lord Piercy sees my Fall.

Turnus did not die in so heroic a Manner; tho' our Poet seems to have had his Eye upon Turnus's Speech in the last Verse, Lord Piercy sees my Fall. ...

Earl Piercy's Lamentation over his Enemy is generous, beautiful, and passionate; I must only caution the Reader not to let the Simplicity of the Stile, which one may well pardon in so old a Poet, prejudice him against the Greatness of the Thought. Then leaving Life, Earl Piercy took The dead Man by the Hand, And said, Earl Douglas, for thy Life Would I had lost my Land.

Earl Piercy's Lamentation over his Enemy is generous, beautiful, and passionate; I must only caution the Reader not to let the Simplicity of the Stile, which one may well pardon in so old a Poet, prejudice him against the Greatness of the Thought. Then leaving Life, Earl Piercy took The dead Man by the Hand, And said, Earl Douglas, for thy Life Would I had lost my Land.

What can be greater than either the Thought or the Expression in that Stanza, To drive the Deer with Hound and Horn Earl Piercy took his Way; The Child may rue that was unborn The Hunting of that Day!

[Illustration: PIERCY ISLANDS] Mr. George Bennett, whose "Journals" and "Researches" denote him to be a shrewd and ingenious observer, has favoured us with the original sketches of the above cuts.