Produced by Daniel Fromont [Transcriber's note: Lady Georgiana Fullerton (1812-1885), _Ellen Middleton - a tale_ (1844), 1846 Tauchnitz edition] COLLECTION OF BRITISH AUTHORS. VOL. XCVIII. ELLEN MIDDLETON BY LADY GEORGIANA FULLERTON. IN ONE VOLUME. ELLEN MIDDLETON. A TALE. BY LADY GEORGIANA FULLERTON. _COPYRIGHT EDITION_. LEIPZIG BERNH. TAUCHNITZ JUN. 1846. "I have read of a bird which hath a face like, and yet will prey upon, a man, who, coming to the water to drink, and finding there by reflexion that he had killed one like himself, pineth away by degrees, and never after enjoyeth itself. Such was in some sort the condition of--. This accident that he had killed one put a period to his carnal mirth, and was a covering to his eyes all the days of his life. Death was so sent to him as to allow him time to rise up on his knees and to crie, 'Lord have mercy upon me.'" Fuller's Worthies, vol. II. p. 17. INTRODUCTION. "From each carved nook, and fretted bend, Cornice and gallery, seem to send Tones that with Seraph hymns might blend. "Three solemn parts together twine, In Harmony's mysterious line, Three solemn aisles approach the shrine. "Yet all are one, together all, With thoughts that awe but not appal, Teach the adoring heart to fall." CHRISTIAN YEAR. "But let my due feet never fail To walk the studious cloister's pale, And love the high-embowered roof, With antic pillars massy proof, And storied windows richly dight, Casting a dim religious light; There let the pealing organ blow, To the full voiced quire below, In service high and anthems clear, As may with sweetness through mine ear Dissolve me into extasies, And bring all Heaven before mine eyes." MILTON. "What child of sorrow Art thou, that com'st wrapt up in weeds of sadness, And mov'st as if thy steps were towards a grave?" OTWAY. It was on the 15th of October, 18--, that one of the best and most respected clergymen in the town of--, and a canon of the cathedral, turned his steps towards the western door of that ancient pile. It was a little before the hour of evening service; the rays of the declining sun were shining brightly through the windows of painted glass, and producing that mellow and chastened light that accords so well with the feeling of religious awe, which a gothic edifice, the noblest of the works of man, is calculated to inspire; a work where he has been enabled to stamp on what is material an indelible impress of that spirit of devotion, which unites the utmost simplicity of faith with the highest sublimity of creed.