The Peasant Countess.

' A ' ery much indeed , if we were rich enough to live in it . ' ' I am glad that you like it ; the place is yours . I am the Earl of Exeter , and you are not plain Mrs . Cecil , hut my Countess . ' According to the accounts usually given , the Countess was a ruddy-faced and rather robust . woman , but in the portrait of the noble pair , by Lawrence , kept in Burleih-housethe lady appears possessed of an oval countenanceof what may be

g , , called of very considerable beauty , ancl the reverse of rustic in style . On good authority it is recorded that the happiness of the Earl and his Countess was unalloyed ; she did ample justice to his choice , and became the partner of his joys and of his sorrows . But them married life was brief . Besides their firstborn they had a daughter and two sons . The younger son , Lord Thomas Cecil ( after having given birth to whom , she died in childbed ) , lived till 1873 ; the elder son inherited his father ' s earldom , and

also the marqttisate conferred on him in 1801 ; the daughter married the late Right Hon . Henry Manvers Pierrepont , by whom she was the mother of Lady Charles Wellesley , who again was mother of the hen - to the honours of the house of "Wellesley . Thus ( as Mr . Walford observes ) strangely enough the future Duke of Wellington is the great grandson of the peasant girl who , in 1791 , milked cows and churned cream in the village of Bolas Magna . The Earl married for his third wife the Dowager Duchess of Hamilton , and died in 1804 . "

New Music.*

NEW MUSIC . *

Cinmcu TUNES which possess merit are at all times a welcome addition to the repertoire of the organist or the lovers of devotional music , and we have here Six Tunes which will whi then- way to favour wherever they are heard . There is about them a refinement of style ancl true devotional feeling which fits them for the service for which they are designed . The composer has set them to hymns which are fortunately not so trite as many to be found in the Collection of " Hymns Ancient ancl Modern" ancl on this account

, will be doubly appreciated . The first hymn in the set is adapted to " Thy Kingdom Come , " and is set in three sharps . The second , " Oh ! Day of Rest , " is in the key of C , and is rich in harmony . The third , " Take up thy Cross" is in A flat , and is most aptly setto the words . The fourth , "Art thou Weary , " in G , is a nice , plain , simple theme , well carried out . No ., 5 , "Glad sight , "hi three sharps , is much to our taste ; and J N O . 6 , " Gracious Saviour , " A hi four flatswill hold its own against any other adaptation to the

, same words , as words and music flow so charmingly together . We cordially recommend this little sheet to the notice of our musical friends , and we trust that ere long these Times will be generally adopted at all Chinches where the words of the hymns are sung . J . H . J .