The Major was struck dumb at such an address; but I, to whom the brutal, violent character of Farmer Byrne was well known, knew better how to deal with him. In a few words I made him understand that this sort of thing would not answer. He subsided into a surly civility, and gave us grudging thanks, that seemed to choke him in the utterance. On our road home I told Major Rutherford what I knew about the farmer-he was a savage brute, who had broken the heart of his wife by ill-usage, and was bidding fair to do as much for his daughter-a good, gentle, well-conducted girl; a good daughter to an ill father. I spoke warm

of the windows to see what had happened. I gentlemen be ?" said he, turning upon us. One or two, more curious than the rest, "How do I know that you have not made came into the street, to learn the rights of up a story amongst you, to get me to rethe case. As soon as the poor girl was ceive the girl back when she may deserve sufficiently recovered to be able to speak, no better than to be thrown out of the she told us that she had come from Sut- window ?" ton-Cosely that day, with a party of friends, for a day's shopping, and to see the monuments in the cathedral. While she was looking at one of the tombs, her party passed on; and, when she turned round, she saw them leaving the building. She called, but no one heard. In her haste her foot slipped, and she fell down against a pillar, and cut her brow; before she could rise, she heard the ponderous doors clang together, and the key turn in the lock. At first, she thought they would miss her and return; but time passed on, and they did not come. She beat against the door, but could make no one hear. Evening closed in; she grew desperate at the prospect of remaining there all night.ly in her praise; for I felt very sorry for The last thing she recollected was climbing to a window and breaking the glass to attract attention. Poor thing, it was no wonder she was frightened at the prospect of remaining in that great, dark, lonely place, full of graves! I should not have liked it myself.

The Major decided that we would drive her home, late as it was, to save her friends further anxiety. She was well wrapped up, and we took her between us in the gig.

She lived about five miles across the country, in an old moated farm-house that had been once a manor-house. It was now a dim, ghostly-looking place, built of gray stone, and half unoccupied. As we drove down the lane that led to the house, we saw a number of persons moving about in great excitement. The sound of our vehicle called some persons to the door. Foremost among them was the farmer, holding a candle above his head, and his other hand shading his eyes; behind him were the maid-servants. I could feel the poor girl shrink closer to us when he appeared.

"We have brought back your daughter, Mr. Byrne," said the Major, speaking first. "We have been so fortunate as to rescue her from a very unpleasant situation."

"Where hast thou been to, wench ?" asked the father, sternly. "Go to bed with you, huzzy—a pretty disgrace you are to your family! And who may you

the poor thing when I thought of the beating she would be sure to get as soon as our backs were turned; but I was not prepared for the effect my words were to take. Before a month was over the Major came to me one day, and told me that he was going to be married to Farmer Byrne's daughter. Without saying a word to me, he had made inquiries about her; had seen her frequently, and partly from compassion, and partly from love, he had gone the length of proposing to her, and had been accepted.

I was surprised, and not altogether pleased. He was so mixed up in my mind with George, that I could not separate the two, and I could not bear to have any change in our relationship. He saw I was not pleased, and took some trouble to reconcile me to it. Of course, nothing that I could say would alter the matter; so I held my tongue, and they were married very quietly at the parish church by the obnoxious rector. One good result followed this marriage; she persuaded her husband to begin to go to church again, and be friends with the rector. I was very glad of this; for their feud had been one cause that the neighborhood held aloof from the Major, and I wanted to see him take his rightful position. His wife's influence, too, had a happy effect upon his temper and disposi tion. She softened his bitter, contradictory spirit, and showed so much good sense in her new position, that I ended by

other people before now. However, I hope to establish my identity; I have a few marks to help me."

He spoke in a hard, dry, distinct voice, as though every word were uttered with effort. I could not speak.

"I expect to return to-morrow," continued he; but if I am detained, I will write to you. Keep Mrs. Rutherford from feeling uneasy, and use your own judgment in all things."

His wife entered, looking tearful and agitated. She had a presentiment of evil. His lip quivered as he bade her farewell; he grasped my hand, and sprang hastily into the post-chaise which was waiting.

The Major did not return home the next day, or the next day after that; for he was committed to the county jail to take his trial at the next assizes. At first, the magistrates were extremely unwilling to entertain the charge; and they would have dismissed it, if, unluckily for the Major, Sir Gervaise Skinner had not been on the bench. He was a staunch old Tory, and had been terribly scandalized by the Major's liberal politics. No crime could, in his opinion, be too dreadful for such a man to commit; and this accusation seemed only the natural explanation of the Major's character. He insisted that the accused should be remanded, to give time to inquire further into the matter. The Major himself did not furnish so prompt an exculpation as might have been expected: he did not seem to have any friends to whose testimony he could appeal. After two remands, he was fully committed to take his trial, and I had to break the matter to his wife, who took it with a composure that surprised me. She thought her husband a persecuted man, but her faith in his innocence did not waver for an instant.

All that followed may be read in the newspapers of the time. It remains on record as one of the most celebrated causes ever tried; and, although it was certainly decided by judge and jury, yet public opinion was much divided, and even I have my doubts still about the matter. You shall judge for yourself.

was proved. He had gone out in the same convict-ship, and had seen George every day during the voyage. George was put in some sort of authority over him, and excited his ill-will. When they landed, he worked in the same gang with George. He gave minute details of George's escape, and of the savage onslaught upon the overseer, which resulted in death. A body was discovered some time after, in a state of decomposition, which was supposed to be that of George Marston, the escaped convict; but he, the tinker, had reasons of his own for not believing it to be George Marston's body. He swore positively that the Major and George Marston were one and the same person. Two other persons, convicts who had served their time, and who had seen and conversed with George Marston before he effected his escape, were positive as to his identity with the Major. Several persons from the village where he was born, and lived before he was transported, recognized him the moment they saw him. The surgeon who had dressed the wounds received in the fatal affray with the keepers, identified him. There were wounds also on the person of the Major corresponding with those recorded in the prison entry, and in the surgeon's own private journal. Mr. Messent, the lawyer who had defended him, now a very old man, but in perfect possession of all his faculties, recognized him as his old client. I was then called upon to give my evidence. I was known to have been George's friend, and a great deal was expected fromme; but I did not feel free to swear either way. I did not deny the strong resemblance; but, living beside him so many years, I had also perceived differences which I could not reconcile; so, after a great deal of browbeating and cross-examination, I was allowed to depart. I had at least thrown a doubt upon the case.

The story the Major told about himself, in his defense, was ingenious and romantic. He produced a certificated extract of birth and baptism from the parish register of a small market-town in a remote part of Wales; and called as evidence an old man and woman, who had The old tinker, rascal as he was, told a kept the only inn in the place. They dedifferent story that, if true, was conclu-clared that in such a year, corresponding sive enough. He had been sentenced to seven years' transportation at the same assizes that saw George Marston sentenced for life. This part of his story

with the date of the extract, a lady and gentleman, unaccompanied by any servants, arrived at the Golden Lion. They were evidently rich, and belonged to what

seen him for many years; the principal witness against him was a returned convict-a man of notoriously bad character -and who owned to having an enmity against the individual for whom he had the misfortune to be mistaken.

The whole defense was eloquent and elaborate-too elaborate and too ingenious. The judge, in summing up, pulled it all to pieces; dwelling particularly on the fact, that the accused could give no accounts of the most important events that had happened in his family. He knew evidently nothing of either France or America. His experiences in India were contradictory and confused up to the year following that in which he was accused of making his escape from transportation. All this, and a great deal more that I cannot now remember, the judge brought out. The defense was not coherent; and the jury, without retiring, returned a verdict of guilty; but strongly recommended the prisoner to mercy.

the old man called real quality. The lady was confined of a son a few days after her arrival; and the child was baptised Andrew, and registered as the child of Thomas and Mary Rutherford. When the lady was sufficiently recovered, they, departed, taking with them a Welsh nurse for the baby. The nurse returned in a few weeks, saying that the lady and gentleman were gone abroad, taking the child with them; but she showed a great reserve and unwillingness to speak of the matter. This young woman died shortly afterwards. There was great difficulty in taking the evidence of these old people, who were very deaf, and spoke only Welsh. The Major then declared that he lived with his parents both in America and also in France, until he entered the East India Company's service at the age of nineteen; but that portion of his narrative was contradictory and confused. The beginning of his career in the Indian army was also obscure. He could call no witnesses who knew any thing about him until many years subsequently-until, indeed, the year after George had made his escape-and then he was not an officer, but a private soldier. That point made against him. The very next year he was in another regiment, as Lieutenant Rutherford, with paper and certificates of service, with the sabre-cut upon his head, the mark of which was visible enough, and also of the The judge passed sentence, and he was other wounds which actually were upon removed from the dock. The interest exhis person. From this point his case was cited by his case was intense; petitions clear; he distinguished himself in various and memorials on his behalf were got up engagements; displayed not only courage, all over the country, and backed by highly but high military talent; and how, asked influential persons. What effect they he, was it possible that an escaped con- might have had it is hard to say; but vict, a man of no education, should sud- they were rendered superfluous by the denly find himself endowed with military fact that the Major effected his own esknowledge sufficient to fill a highly respon-cape in a masterly fashion unparalleled in sible position? Bravery may be innate, but military skill and knowledge must be acquired. This was well put, and evidently had great effect upon the whole court. I confess I was not much struck. I recollected George's military tastes, and had my own notions of his natural tact and cleverness, which I kept to myself. He pointed out that the persons who spoke so confidently to his identity with George Marston, the poacher, had not

The Major heard the verdict with haughty indifference; and on being asked, in the usual form, why sentence should not be pronounced against him, replied: "Because I am not the man who has incurred the penalty." He uttered these words in a ringing, sonorous voice; and this simple affirmation took more effect than all his defense put together.

the annals of prison-breaking. I was not surprised. I had heard him say, that the prison was not built that could keep him inside if he chose to go out. He got clear off, and reached the continent in safety. He was afterwards joined by his wife. They are both still alive. Government declined to confiscate his property; the son inherited it. I was made trustee and guardian, and have administered the af fairs ever since.

From the Eclectic Review.

THE BASQUES

OF SPAIN.*

jections, and even the characters of the alphabet, are declined like nouns and adjectives, and conjugated like verbs. Every noun has six nominatives and twelve cases. and the adjectives have twenty cases. The noun changes often according to the state of the being, or the thing which it signifies. What would be said in French in a single verb is represented in Basque by thirty-six verbs, each of which expresses a

being or thing which is the object of the action. There are besides four different conjugations, according to whether the person addressed is a child, a woman, an equal, or a superior. The Basque learn French or Spanish easily, but neither the French nor the Spaniards can ever learn the Basque language.

ETHNOLOGISTS Who have studied the | Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives, change characteristics, origin, and distribution of into verbs, and the verbs metamorphose the races of mankind, such as Pritchard themselves into nouns and adjectives. and Humboldt, have been particularly Prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions, interstruck, and much occupied by the Basques. Saint Sebastian is one of the centres of this population, who own no kin with any other European nation, and whose origin is one of the most difficult puzzles in ethnology. They call themselves the Euskaldunac, or the cunning hands. Their ancient fables commence with the destruction of a former world, from which only a few solitary men escaped, like olives on the tree after harvest, or grapes on a vine-modification either of the action, or of the branch after the vintage. Of the number were Aitor and his followers, their ancestors, who lived a year in an inaccessible grotto, whence they saw the water and fire at their feet disputing for the mastery. When they descended into the plains they remained faithful to the worship of one God, the Lord on high, as taught them by their ancestors of the mountains; and their old men offered up sacrifices of fruits, under oak trees, where they made laws and administered justice. Death they regarded as the bed of a long sleep, and they believed in a future state of rewards and punishments. They pretend to have been one of the first of the nations which became Christians. They say their language is as natural to the human race as cooing to the dove, barking to the dog, or roaring to the bull. William von Humboldt thought that it could not be connected with any of the languages of the Indo-Germanic family, and its grammatical structure approaches some of the American languages. Some words of it have been found by the Abbé de Hiarce to be identical with words found in a vocabulary of the language of Van Dieman's Land. Foreigners find it almost impossible to acquire the Basque language.

* Souvenirs d'un Naturaliste. Par A. DE QUATRE

FAGES.

VOL. XXXVII.-NO. III.

Every thing seems to confirm Mr. Pritchard in his opinion that the Basques are an aboriginal race, who formerly occupied extensive territories which they no longer possess. In their language we found the etymologies of a great many names of places, rivers, mountains, provinces, of Italy, France, Spain, and the Mediterranean islands. It was Leibnitz who was the first to show the importance of the names of places, from the difficulty with which they change, in discovering the traces of ancient populations. The Basques were expelled from their territories by the Ligurians and Celts, especially the latter, who drove them for shelter into the wildest passes of the Pyrenees. Protected by the mountain fastnesses they found there, they formed themselves into several little republics, and bravely and successfully maintained their independence. Carthaginians, Romans, Goths, Franks, Saracens, have successively attacked, and temporarily or nominally subdued them, but they have

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