Mr Cruikshank represents the encounter between the citizen and the soldier. The citizen took his ground in the midst of the bowling alley, brandishing his blade, as if he were to measure cambric with it; while the captain stood at the distance of twelve paces, having looked over his shoulder to secure a retreat. Perceiving that the man of war did not advance, the citizen rushed at him, beat down his guard, and thrust, as it seemed, his sword clean through his body, when he, with a deep groan, fell lengthwise on the ground. A score of voices exclaimed to the conqueror, as he stood utterly overcome by his own feat, "Away with you! Fly to Whitefriars', while we keep off the constables." While the hero was flying with all speed, they raised the fallen swordsman, and opening his vest to search for a wound which did not exist, he suddenly recovered his senses; and concluding "that the ordinary was no longer a place or stage on which to display his valour, took to his heels, pursued by the laughter and shouts of the assemblage." PEVERIL OF THE PEAK. SCENES and events in old English life again employed the pen of the great novelist. The reign of Charles II. was the period of his present narrative. It was composed hastily, and in the opinion of many was not equal to his powers. "Peveril of the Peak," writes Mr Lockhart, "appeared in January 1823. Its reception was somewhat colder than that of its three immediate predecessors.... Fenella was an unfortunate conception. What is good in it is not original, and the rest extravagantly absurd and incredible. Yet did any dramatist ever produce, in spite of all the surrounding bewilderment, characters more powerfully conceived, or on the whole more happily portrayed, than those of Christian, Bridge-north, Buckingham, and Chiffinch?-sketches more vivid than those of young Derby, Colonel Blood, and the keeper of Newgate?" Our artist depicts the departure of the Countess of Derby from Peveril's Castle. The sounds "boot and saddle" rang through the halls of the castle, and in a few minutes the deep dell which separated the rugged rocks of that wild district was occupied with Peveril's followers proceeding cautiously to escort the Countess to the Cheshire border. A party of troopers in advance was followed by the main body which accompanied the Countess, mounted on Peveril's palfrey, along with a groom of approved fidelity, and attended by the Knight of the Peak with three files of horsemen. Dreading pursuit, they rode "with the beard on the shoulder," looking round from time to time at the sound of any unusual noise. *****