However many crimes, as it was said, the queen might have been guilty of, she was surely innocent of the death of the young Marcella, or she would never have wept such bitter tears when she knew that Merantius, too, was dead.

The last request of the young Roman to the servant of Gondulph had been, that he might be laid in the consecrated ground at Envermeu, side by side, with Marcella, near the graves of their Roman ances

tors.

And the old man faithfully and affectionately performed the task allotted to him. The poor remains of the beautiful young bride were laid gently in a tomb consecrated by the good Gregory of Tours, who had heard with deep grief of the fate of young Merantius, whom he loved for his Roman learning. And, by the care of the old servant, the amulet prized by Marcella was placed upon her breast; and at the girdle of her grave-clothes was suspended the richly enamelled purse, the love-token of her betrothed; and her little pets, the three white mice, were placed in their ampulla, nearly filled with grain, beside her, according to the Frankish fashion,-just as the favourite war-horse was often buried with the dead warrior. The remains of Merantius were laid close to those of his bride; and the old servant of the priest Gondulph placed the sword of honour, which he had received from the king, by his side. And the grave was closed; and the good bishop's benediction finally

upon

bestowed it; and then-the very names of Marcella and Merantius, in those wild days of rapine and revolution, were soon forgotten; except by the old servant of the priest, who chronicled their story, along with other recollections of the domination of Chilperic and Fredegonda.

Shortly after these events, when Chilperic's family was re-established in all its grandeur, at his favourite rustic palace of Braine, two prelates, Salvius, Bishop of Alby, and Gregory of Tours, were one day walking round the palace; when Salvius, suddenly stopping, said to his companion, "Dost thou see nothing above this building?”

"I see,” replied the Bishop of Tours, "the new balcony, which the king has built there."

"And dost thou see nothing else?"

"Nothing: if thou see'st anything else, tell me; for my sight is getting dim."

"I see," said the Bishop Salvius, sighing deeply; "I see the sword of God's anger suspended over this house."

Those who would know how that anger was manifested, may read the remaining history of Chilperic and his race, said the narrator, as he closed his miniature romance, remarking at the same time to his

listeners, that it was not necessary to call to their minds the curious connexion which appeared to exist between the recent discoveries at Envermeu and the old Latin chronicle of the servant of the priest Gondulph.

F the many pleasant meetings held by the
Associated Archæologists, at Naples, the

one celebrated in the apartments of the young Spanish poet, is the only one to which no minutes of proceedings are attached. The records of the association only contain the date of that meeting, accompanied by a brief statement, to the effect that, after the examination of the usual contributions of the evening, among which were a very fine selection of Roman denarii of the republican period, the "Spanish Poet," as he was familiarly termed, volunteered the following story, or rather anecdote, as he himself styled it; which is duly entered in the volume of transactions.

In my editorial capacity, I may, however, add, by way of note, that the Roman coins of the consular or republican period, and especially the silver, are rendered unusually interesting by the privilege conceded to each mint-master, or monetary triumvir as

he was entitled, (who was always a person of rank and influence,) to record the names and deeds of his ancestors upon the coins issued during his curatorship. In this way a host of most curious and interesting facts and legends have been preserved, of which, in many cases, there is no other record. From one of these curious monuments of the Roman Republic the

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Spanish Poet" derived the subject of his anecdote. The coin which commemorates it is in his own possession, and he prizes it beyond any other in his very valuable and extensive collection, in one of the cabinets of which it has a special and detached home, in the form of a small morocco casket shutting with a secret spring, in the velvet-lined interior of which reposes the cherished Denarius.

THE AULETES,

(A NUMISMATIC ANECDOTE.)

THERE is a charm in music, even in its most simple forms, that possesses a peculiar power over the human mind. Either amid the din of public assemblies, or the silence of solitude, its influence is equally great. Mingling with the din of battle, or blending with the soft echo of lowing herds, music equally works its spell upon the human mind; though the effects produced are of distinct, even opposite characters.