among its branches. This tree stood in the wood adjoining Boscobel House. Lord Clarendon states that he received the following particulars from the lips of Charles the Second. After having been driven out of Worcester, the king remained all night with about 4,000 horse soldiers. In the morning he resolved to leave the troops, and to seek a hiding-place. He ordered his servants to cut off his hair, and disguised himself. He then concealed himself in Boscobel wood, where he lay down and slept. When he awoke, a gentleman, one of his followers, proposed that they should climb up an oak tree, and conceal themselves. During the day they saw and heard persons who were in search of Charles, and who threatened how they would punish him, if he fell into their hands.

For two nights and a day Charles had not tasted any food; therefore, he and his companion were compelled when it was dark, to come down from the tree and to go in search of food. They went to the cottage of a poor man who had pity upon Charles, and gave him some bread and butter-milk, and allowed him to sleep in a hay-barn.

Some accounts represent that it was in Boscobel House that the king was entertained, and that it was then occupied by a farmer. It is also said that the person who found him shelter was a woodman, who had four brothers, and that Charles went into the wood with these men, and was employed in cutting faggots. The men who thus afforded Charles their help, bore the name of Penderell, and although this occurred three hundred years since, we believe a pension is, to the present day, given to one of their descendants.

He

It was soon deemed unsafe for Charles to remain at Boscobel. He was, therefore, advised to go to another part of the country. When he left, he is said to have been attired in the following manner, as a poor labouring man. had on a white steeple-crowned hat, having no lining but grease from long wear; a leather jacket, full of holes; a woodman's old coat, threadbare and patched; a pair of breeches of the same kind; his stockings were much darned, and his shoes were patched, and unfit to keep out

dirt or water. His face was browned with walnut-tree leaves, and he carried a thorn stick in his hand. He reached his place of retreat in safety, and was lodged in a barn, and had straw for his bed.

By the kindness of friends he was conveyed to the house of a Mr. Lane, a Staffordshire magistrate, where he was hospitably entertained for a day and a night; and was then sent away on horseback with Miss Lane. A large reward had been offered for his apprehension; great caution was therefore required, in order that no one might suspect that he was the son of the late king. Miss Lane conveyed him to Bristol. Afterwards, Charles wandered through Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Sussex. He had many narrow escapes of being taken. At Lyme Regis he expected to have embarked in a vessel, which had been hired to convey him to France; but the captain refused to sail. From there he travelled to Brighton, and ultimately got on board a vessel which conveyed him to Normandy.

About nine years and six months after he thus fled from England,―after the death of Oliver Cromwell, and when Richard Cromwell had renounced the Protectorate of England-Charles was recalled to occupy the throne. He then returned with great joy, and lived in all the pomp and luxury of royalty. Many of the great men who had taken a leading part against Charles the First were brought to trial and put to death. Charles the Second was a very wicked man; he had many wicked companions; gross immorality was encouraged in his palace; good men were persecuted during his reign; and the rights of conscience were trampled under foot.

Five years after Charles the Second became king, an awful pestilence broke out in London, and great multitudes died thereby. It is said that by the plague, in London, one hundred and thirty thousand persons died in one year. The following year there was a most dreadful fire in London, which destroyed thirteen thousand dwellinghouses, eighty-five churches, St. Paul's Cathedral, and many other public buildings. The value of the property con

sumed by this fire was computed to be seven millions pounds.

Charles the Second professed to be a Protestant King; but he was a Papist; and if the Protestant feeling had not been strong in the country, he would have re-established Popery. He died of apoplexy, after having reigned twentyfive years, and was in his dying moments attended by a Catholic priest, and by some of his wicked female companions.

"THE MAN THAT KILLED HIS NEIGHBOUR."

THE following very beautiful story is from a tract, of the above title, published by the Tract Society. We only extract the story, and refer our readers to the tract itself for the excellent reflections on the story, which are from the pen of the Rev. A. James.

It is interesting to observe how a man's moral character affects those with whom he is connected, and reaches to the animals under his care, and may be traced even in many of the creatures around him. Reuben Black was a torment in the neighbourhood where he resided. The very sight of him produced effects which may be likened to those said to follow a Hindoo magical tune, called Rang, which is supposed to bring on clouds, storms, and earthquakes. His wife had a sharp and uncomfortable look. His boys seemed to be in perpetual fear. The cows became startled as soon as he opened the barn-yard gates. The dog dropped his tail between his legs, and eyed him askance, as if to see what humour he was in. The cat looked wild, and had been known to rush straight up the chimney when he moved towards her. The description of a certain stage-horse was well suited to Reuben's nag-" His hide resembled an old hair-trunk." Continued whipping and kicking had made him so insensible that no amount of blows could quicken his pace, no cheering could change the dejected drooping of his head. All his natural language said, as plain as a horse could say it, that he was a most unhappy beast. Even the trees on Reuben's pre

mises had a neglected and desolate appearance. His fields were red with sorrel, or overrun with weeds. Every thing about him seemed hard and arid as his own countenance. Every day he cursed the town and the neighbourhood, because the people poisoned his dogs, and stoned his hens, and shot his cats. Continual lawsuits involved him in so much trouble and expense, that he had neither time nor money to spend on the improvement of his farm. Against Joe Smith, a poor labourer in the neighbourhood, he had brought three suits in succession. Joe said he had returned a spade he had borrowed, and Reuben swore he had not. He sued Joe, and recovered damages, for which he ordered the officer to seize his pig. Joe, in his wrath, called him an old swindler, and a curse to the neighbourhood. These remarks were soon repeated to Reuben. He brought an action for slander, and recovered very small damages. Provoked at the laugh this occasioned, he watched for Joe to pass by, and set his dog upon him, crying out furiously, "Call me an old swindler again, will you? An evil spirit is more contagious than the plague. Joe went home and scolded his wife, boxed little Joe's ears, and kicked the cat; and not one of them knew what it was all for. A fortnight after, Reuben's dog was found dead from poison; whereupon he brought another action against Joe Smith, and not being able to prove him guilty of the charge of dog-killing, he took his revenge by poisoning a pet lamb belonging to Mrs. Smith. Thus feelings of ill-will were followed by misery and loss. Joe's temper grew more and more vindictive, and the love of talking over his troubles at the gin-shop increased upon him. Poor Mrs. Smith cried, and said it was all owing to Reuben Black, for a better-hearted man never lived than her Joe when she first married him. Such was the state of things when Simeon Green purchased the farm adjoining Reuben's. This had been much neglected, and had caught thistles and other weeds from the neighbouring fields. But Simeon was a diligent man, and one who commanded well his own temper, for he had learned of Him who is "meck and lowly in heart." He had been taught by the Holy Spirit