TBE MOTHS OF THE BANNERS. 109 



houses and our cabinets, to the clothing of our bodies and the 

 works of our hands, even to the productions of our brains ; 

 and by adopting them as emblems we may bring them closer 

 still. What better than the tribe of domestic Moths can 

 serve for images of those evil principles, which, taking pos- 

 session, we scarce know when or how, fret and defile the robes 

 of innocence ? And who of us, alas ! ever guards so closely 

 the chinks and crevices of the moral wardrobe, as not to give 

 admission to a few or many of this destructive race ? 



THE MOTHS OF THE BANNERS. 



A TALE. 



HE wealth and territories of the noble house of A- 



had for upwards of a century been gradually wasting 

 away. In proportion as these diminished, the Roman- 

 catholic chapel attached to the family castle had declined from 

 its ancient splendour, and on the earldom passing for one gener- 

 ation into a Protestant branch, it was permitted to reach the 

 verge of complete ruin. 



But behold, now, the holy edifice under process of restora- 

 tion. Where the voices of choristers once arose, where the 

 mouldering rubbish lately fell, there hammers are descending. 

 Where the organ once pealed, where the screech-owl lately 

 hooted, there masons are busy with the mallet and the chisel. 

 Where clouds of incense were once rolling, where the night- 

 dews lately fell, there whiffs of tobacco are rising through the 

 dilapidated roof. A new order of things is at hand : monu- 

 mental knights, whose spurs have been cut off by the scythe of 

 time, are being newly invested by the aid of the sculptor's 

 chisel ; whilst dames of chaste cold marble are receiving like 

 embellishment from Carpue-an restorers of stone noses. 



But what is the magic power at whose bidding all these 



