were succeeded by the monarch and a second skeleton.  These, in their turn, gave way to the cardinal and his companion, and so on till the whole of the masquers had exhibited themselves, when at a signal from the earl the party re-appeared, and formed a ring round him.  The dance was executed with great spirit, and elicited tumultuous applause from all the beholders.  The earl now retired, and Chowles took his place.  He was clothed in an elastic dress painted of a leaden and cadaverous colour, which fitted closely to his fleshless figure, and defined all his angularities.  He carried an hour-glass in one hand and a dart in the other, and in the course of the dance kept continually pointing the latter at those who moved around him.  His feats of the previous evening were nothing to his present achievements.  His joints creaked, and his eyes flamed like burning coals.  As he continued, his excitement increased.  He bounded higher, and his countenance assumed so hideous an expression, that those near him recoiled in terror, crying, “Death himself had broke loose among them.”  The consternation soon became general.  The masquers fled in dismay, and scampered along the aisles scarcely knowing whither they were going.  Delighted with the alarm he occasioned, Chowles chased a large party along the northern aisle, and was pursuing them across the transept upon which it opened, when he was arrested in his turn by another equally formidable figure, who suddenly placed himself in his path.

“Hold!” exclaimed Solomon Eagle—­for it was the enthusiast—­in a voice of thunder, “it is time this scandalous exhibition should cease.  Know all ye who make a mockery of death, that his power will be speedily and fearfully approved upon you.  Thine not to escape the vengeance of the Great Being whose temple you have profaned.  And you, O king! who have sanctioned these evil doings by your presence, and who by your own dissolute life set a pernicious example to all your subjects, know that your city shall be utterly laid waste, first by plague and then by fire.  Tremble! my warning is as terrible and true as the handwriting on the wall.”

“Who art thou who holdest this language towards me?” demanded Charles.

“I am called Solomon Eagle,” replied the enthusiast, “and am charged with a mission from on high to warn your doomed people of their fate.  Be warned yourself, sire!  Your end will be sudden.  You will be snatched away in the midst of your guilty pleasure, and with little time for repentance.  Be warned, I say again.”

With this he turned to depart.

“Secure the knave,” cried Charles, angrily.  “He shall be soundly scourged for his insolence.”

But bursting through the guard, Solomon Eagle ran swiftly up the choir and disappeared, nor could his pursuers discover any traces of him.

“Strange!” exclaimed the king, when he was told of the enthusiast’s escape.  “Let us go to supper.  This masque has given me the vapours.”