light) of the garden work, finding easy tasks for Moss; and Allan worked like a man at the drains. They had been called good drains before; but now, there was an outfall for deeper ones; and deeper they must be made. Moreover, a strong rivalry arose among the neighbours about their respective portions of the combined drainage; and under the stimulus of ambition, Woodruffe recovered his spirits and the use of his limbs wonderfully. He suffered cruelly from his rheumatism; and in the evenings felt as if he could never more lift a spade; yet, not the less was he at work again in the morning, and so sanguine as to the improvement of his ground, that it was necessary to remind him, when calculating his gains, that it would take two years, at least, to prove the effects of his present labours. LINES TO A DEAD LINNET. BY A SOLITARY STUDENT. Sweet little friend in hours of lonely thought, And studious toil thro’ the unresting day, Why hast thou left me to the sullen hours, So dull and changeless now? Thy light-heart song, And fluttering plume of joy, beguile no more My weary mind, happy when so estranged, From books, which are the bane of all repose. The secret bustle of thy frequent meal, Like elfin working mischief, all unseen At bottom of thy cage; thy dipping bill, Oft splashing sportive o’er the learned tome, And rousing my ’rapt soul to homelier themes; The tuning twitter, snatch’d and interrupt— The timorous essay, low and querulous— The strain symphonious—and the full burst of song, That made my study-walls re-echo sweet, The harmonious peal, while all its tatter’d maps And prints unframed, responsive tremblings gave;— All these are past, and joy takes wing with thee. Nor less, when in the dreary night, far spent, Still was I pondering o’er the murky page, Hast thou attracted notice by thy bill Battling along the wires; and in the twinkle— The clos’d—and then, bright little eye, half-oped. Well have I read thy meaning, and full soon, Thus warned of needful slumber, borne away The wasted lamp, and sought my lonely couch.