of the view the appearance of a
flower-garden.
    Looking up the river, the character of the scene was varied considerably for
the worse. A hilly, waste, and uncultivated country approached close to the
banks; the trees were few, and limited to the neighbourhood of the stream, and
the rude moors swelled at a little distance into shapeless and heavy hills,
which were again surmounted in their turn by a range of lofty mountains, dimly
seen on the horizon. Thus the tower commanded two prospects, the one richly
cultivated and highly adorned, the other exhibiting the monotonous and dreary
character of a wild and inhospitable moorland.
    The eyes of the spectators on the present occasion were attracted to the
downward view, not alone by its superior beauty, but because the distant sounds
of military music began to be heard from the public high-road which winded up
the vale, and announced the approach of the expected body of cavalry. Their
glimmering ranks were shortly afterwards seen in the distance, appearing and
disappearing as the trees and the windings of the road permitted them to be
visible, and distinguished chiefly by the flashes of light which their arms
occasionally reflected against the sun. The train was long and imposing, for
there were about two hundred and fifty horse upon the march, and the glancing of
the swords and waving of their banners, joined to the clang of their trumpets
and kettledrums, had at once a lively and awful effect upon the imagination. As
they advanced still nearer and nearer, they could distinctly see the files of
those chosen troops following each other in long succession, completely equipped
and superbly mounted.
    »It's a sight that makes me thirty years younger,« said the old cavalier;
»and yet I do not much like the service that these poor fellows are to be
engaged in. Although I had my share of the civil war, I cannot say I had ever so
much real pleasure in that sort of service as when I was employed on the
Continent, and we were hacking at fellows with foreign faces and outlandish
dialect. It's a hard thing to hear a hamely Scotch tongue cry quarter, and be
obliged to cut him down just the same as if he called out miséricorde. - So,
there they come through the Netherwood haugh; upon my word, fine-looking
fellows, and capitally mounted. - He that is galloping from the rear of the
column must be Claver'se himself; - ay, he gets into the front as they cross the
bridge, and now they will be with us in less than five minutes.«
    At the