MARGARET CAPEL.
VOL. II.
MARGARET CAPEL.
A NOVEL.
BY THE AUTHOR OF
"THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE."
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1846.
LONDON:
Printed by Schulze and Co. 13 Poland Street
MARGARET CAPEL.
CHAPTER I.
Where'er we gaze, above, around, below,
What rainbow tints, what magic charms are found!
Rock, river, forest, mountain, all abound;
And bluest skies that harmonise the whole.
Beneath, the distant torrent's rushing sound,
Tells where the volumed cataract doth roll,
Between those hanging rocks that shock yet please the soul.
BYRON.
There is a portion of the coast in one of the southern counties ofEngland, which, without aspiring to the sublimity of foreign scenery,possesses a certain grandeur from the abruptness and variety of itsoutline. High cliffs stand boldly forward into the sea,[Pg 2] while theintermediate shore rises and falls in gentle and uncertain undulations.For many miles inland, this irregular character of the surfacecontinues. The ground rises and falls so suddenly, that in many placesthe trees which clothe the tops of the hills, almost shut out the skyfrom the spectator in the valley; while many coloured rocks, vary bytheir wild forms and rich tints, the even line of verdure which extendsover the precipitous sides of these ravines.
This part of the country is rich in scenes of peculiar beauty. Brookstrickle from the shade of deep thickets, or sparkle in stony cellsovergrown with creepers at the foot of a confused heap of broken rocks.
Hill and dale crowd upon each other in quick succession—every turn inthe way leads to fresh aspects of the prospect. Now the traveller's viewis bounded by high banks, overgrown with trees and tangled brushwood;now the ground breaks away in such a gradual slope, that the sea may bediscerned in the distance, trembling in the sunshine, or breaking in [Pg 3]rough foam upon the long brown line of the beach.
Half way between one of these bold headlands and the shore, there stooda beautiful cottage, with a thickly wooded hill at the back, and ahighly cultivated plot of garden ground in the front: while the side ofthe house stood so near the edge of a sudden descent in the cliff, thatnothing but a broad terrace-walk intervened between the garden-windows,and the abrupt declivity which was washed by the waves when the tide washigher than usual.
It was a brilliant evening. The sun had almost descended to the horizon,and a long pathway of golden light fell upon the calm sea, and the wetsand from which the waves had just receded.
A dim radiance seemed to fill the air, and to blend hills, trees, andsky together in one soft and many tinted confusion of colours; while thelengthened rays threaded their brilliant way among the slender stems ofthe trees, and dropped like diamonds upon the dark rivulets that lay in ...