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shilling and sixpence for refreshments at a coffee-house, for the churchwardens and Dr. Wren (Sir Christopher) after a survey of the building, in which they had officially attended him. This is hardly surpassed by an entry in the churchwardens' account of St. Margaret, Westminster, for 1476, (two centuries earlier,) quoted by Hallam, in his "State of Europe during the middle ages:" "Also paid to Roger Fylpot, learned in the law, for his counsel giving, three shillings and eight pence, with four pence for his dinner!"

Canova. We learn from the Italian newspapers, that a most singular distribution has been made of the mortal remains of the celebrated Canova. The new church erected on his plan, and at his expense, at Possagno, his birth-place, is destined to receive his body. His heart had been deposited in the Academy of the Fine Arts at Venice; but it appears that this has given rise to some discussion, and in consequence it has been determined that it should be placed under a cenotaph in the church Dei Frati at Venice. The Academy, resolving to possess a portion of the mortal relics of Canova, addressed M. Canova, the brother of the artist at Rome, requesting to have the right hand, with which the sculptor executed so many chefs d'œuvre. M. Canova has consented, stipulating that in case the Academy of Venice should be suppressed, or removed to another city, it shall restore this deposit to the high priest of the church of Possagno, to be reunited to the rest of the body. The Academy of Fine Arts at Venice have obtained possession of the right hand of Canova, and a notary has drawn up the conditions insisted upon.

The clergyman of a village in Leicestershire desired his clerk to give notice that there would be no service in the afternoon, as he was going to officiate for another clergyman. The clerk, immediately, as the sermon was ended, rising up, called out, "I'm desired to give notice that there will be no sarvice this afternoon, as Mr. L- is going a fishing with another clergyman." Mr. L., of course, corrected the awkward, yet amusing, blunder.

In a funeral sermon preached in Sheffield last week, on occasion of the death of a poor but pious man, who had been a conscientious professor of religion for half a century, it was stated that, at the beginning of that period, such was his anxiety to possess a copy of the holy scriptures (there was then no Bible society to aid him and others similarly circumstanced) that his wife and himself actually lived on water porridge during a considerable time, to enable them to purchase, by weekly instalments, a family Bible!

The Emperor of Austria devotes one day in the week to the giving audience to, and hearing the complaints of, his poor subjects. Some years back the writer of this paragraph was at Vienna, when, early in the morning, he witnessed this scene, and saw the poor people admitted by turns into the presence of their sovereign, in his private apartment in the imperial palace. His example is now followed by the King of the Netherlands and the King of Wurtemberg.

Forests. In warm climates the heat is so favourable to the decomposition of vegetable matter, and the number of mosses, and dwarf woody and fibrous plants, is so small, that moss is not formed, and forests look as if, in as far as nature regards them, they were to be permitted to live till the destruction of the world. The existence of forests, indeed, in tropical climates seem so much a part of the economy of nature, that they could not be destroyed, without involving in the catastrophe half the plants, and almost all the animals, of those regions. In cold climates, where we maintain that there are natural processes for the destruction of forests, there are very few

parasitic plants, or others necessarily depend- | ing on trees for their existence, and as few animals that can live only in the woods. The few bats we possess can hang on the ruins and rocks, which seem more natural to them than the forest. The squirrils would, indeed, be poorly off without wood, and, perhaps, pass into the class of extinct quadrupeds. But the different species of the mouse kind, the hare, the weasel, the fox, the cat, the horse, the goat, the ox, the deer, the hog, the otter, and the other species of quadrupeds in these climates, might exist among the remaining woods and coppices of the uplands, or on the open plains, as well as in a universal forest. If, on the other hand, nature destroyed the tropical forests, the splendid epidendrous, and other plants depending on the existence of trees, would perish; and, as to the animals, what would become of the poor monkeys, especially those with long prehensible tails, formed for twisting round the branches? unless we suppose, as, perhaps, some naturalists, who believe in the transmutation of species, might be disposed to do, that they could eat off their tails, thus at once accommodating themselves to their new circumstances, and supplying with animal, the want of vegetable food. The vampire bats, too, the sloths, and many other tropical quadrupeds, would instantly die out with the destruction of the forests. The birds would be no better off. The parrots, with their toes so curiously arranged for climbing, and a host of other species in those climates, depend for the continuance of their race on a perennial state of wood; and we have now attempted to suggest the law by which nature, always provident of every part and the whole, preserves them.

English Annuals.-The annual cost to the public of these beautiful volumes amounts to 90,000l., which is distributed as follows:-Paid to authors and editors, 6,000l.; printers, 3,000. engravers, 10,000; copperplate printers, 4,0007.; paper makers, 5,000l.; binders, 9,000l.; silk manufacturers, 4,000l.; leather sellers, 2,000; for advertising, &c. 2,000l.; incidental matters, 1,000l.; publishers' profits, 10,000l.; retail booksellers, 30,000l.; one binder alone, Mr. Westley, of Friar Street, Doctors' Commons, has 250 persons almost exclusively engaged on those works. This will give some idea of the employment they afford to working printers, silk manufacturers, copperplate printers, paper makers, &c. We have no hesitation in asserting that they give bread to above 2000 persons during a considerable portion of the year.

Apes not rational.-Around Gibraltar 1s found a sort of ape in great numbers. These animals seem fond of warming themselves at the fires where the soldiers have boiled their kettles; but, although chips of wood are in abundance, the apes never think of adding them as fuel.

ITEMS.

Extract of a letter from Commodore Jesse D. Elliott, to the Secretary of the Navy, dated

U. S. Ship Falmouth, before Vera Cruz, December 5th, 1829. Respecting the Hornet, it becomes my painful duty to convey information, which, doubtless, will be received with feelings of deep melancholy, as well by the Government as by the relatives and friends of those composing her officers and crew. The information contained in the accompanying letters from Captain E. R. M'Call, of the Peacock, but too fully realizes the conjectures I had previously entertained. Captain Norris, her Commander, had, previously to the 10th September, interposed his official authority in reseting the person and property of one of our citizens from the power of the Spanish invading army. On the 10th September, a gale, unusually severe, came on, which proved highly disastrous to all the vessels anchored along the Coast. The Hornet, in common with others, was compelled, by the violence of the gale, to stand off the Coast. In this attempt, howbly never be reached, foundered: and all on board sunk ever, she failed-and, from some cause which will probainto an untimely and lamented grave.

Eulogy from me on the character of Captain Norris would be superfluous. The whole Navy bear ample testimony, both to his private worth and to his superior professional qualifications. With him are numbered

Lieutenants, Daniel H. Mackey, Jesse Smith, John L. Thomas, John Hamilton; Surgeon, William Birchmore; Purser, Robert Pottinger; "Acting Master, Edward Schermerhorn; Assistant Surgeon, J. F. Whitehill; Midshipmen, James N. Forsyth, Gust. R. A. Brooke, Charles A. Cannell, Edward Laub, Richard L. Tilghman, Samuel I. Washington; Master's Mate, Thomas W. Robinson; Acting Gunner, John Burns; Sail Maker, John Adams.

The loss of the Hornet having occurred several weeks previous to my assumption of the command, I am conse

quently not in possession of a list of the ship's company entire, at the time the occurrence is supposed to have taken place. I must, therefore, beg leave to refer you to the last return to the Department.

The loss of the Hornet being an occurrence of no ordinary nature, calls for the attention of a generous government to the relief of the widows and orphans of those of her unfortunate officers, who have left families. Those on whom alone they depended for support, are now lost to them. Nor will it, I trust, be overlooked, that, while living, they were engaged in a pursuit which deprived them of the means, enjoyed by others, of acquiring a competence for the future.

Copy of a letter from Master Cominandant Edward R.
M'Call, to Commodore Jesse D. Elliot, Commanding
U. S. Squadron, West Indies, dated

U. S. Ship Peacock, off Sacrificio,
Nov. 27th, 1829.

I have the honour to inform you, in pursuance of your instructions of the 30th and 31st ultimo, I left Pensacola and proceeded to the coast of Mexico, and examined the intelligence of the U. S. Ship Hornet, until my arrival shores from Tampico to this place, but could obtain no here on the 21st, when I was informed she was driven from her moorings off Tampico, in a very severe blow on the 10th of September last, since which time there has been no tidings of her.

The Hornet.-The Mobile Register of January 8, saysWe learn by a gentleman direct from New Orleans, that intelligence had reached that city from Tampico, that a number of hats, such as are worn by seamen in our pub. lic vessels, with the word "Hornet” on them, had drifted ashore on the coast in that vicinity. The report was credited at New Orleans, and considered as confirming all our melancholy forebodings of the fate of the officers and crew of that ship.

Lieutenant D. H. Mackey was particularly known to us, as a scientific officer of superior talents. He was the author of the able article in the 8th No. of the American Quarterly Rev. on the New Maritime Artillery.—Nat.Gaz.

Powerful New Fire Engine.-The engine of Messrs. Braithwaite and Errickson will be a steam engine of about thirty horse power, which on an alarm being given, will be drawn forth by horses; and a light being first ap plied to the fuel, which will be always ready in the engine, the wheels as they revolve along will work the bellows and get up the steam, probably before it reaches the place of the fire, where it will perform as much work in forcing water, as could be performed by about 250 men! Such an engine, with a sufficient supply of water, must speedily extinguish any conflagration that can take place.

The result of a recent examination into the present state of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, is a conclusion that it may be actually opened throughout the whole length between the two towns by the first of March next.

Mr. Stephenson, the Engineer, to whose locomotive was awarded the 500l. premium, in a late communication, says, "The Rocket actually accomplished one mile in one minute and twenty seconds; being at the rate of

forty-five miles an hour.

The Thames Tunnel.-At a meeting at Rouen some time since, at which Mr. Brunel was present, he stated that no alteration was contemplated in the plan originaily furnished by him; but that it was the intention of the directors to proceed with it at an early period, and he entertained no doubt of the certainty of its completion.

A proposition is before the Legislature of New Jersey, for a railroad from Camden to South Amboy.

THE LITERARY PORT FOLIO.

It is intended that this journal shall contain such a variety of matter as may make it acceptable to ladies as well as to gentlemen; to the young as well as to the old. While we shall take care that nothing be admitted which would render the work unfit for any of these classes, we shall endeavour to procure for it sufficient ability to entitle it to the attention of all of them. To these ends we have secured an abundant supply of all foreign and domestic journals and new books-and we ask the assistance of all who are qualified to instruct or amuse the public. Upon this assistance we depend in a great degree for our hopes of success, for however the abundant stores to which we have access, may enable us to supply matter highly interesting to our readers, we think it of even more importance to give them something peculiarly adapted to the present time and circumstances; something from home.

Communications should be addressed to “ E. Littell for the Literary Port Folio,"-and subscriptions will be thankfully received by E. Littell & Brother, corner of Chestnut and Seventh streets, Philadelphia. Subscriptions are also received by Thomas C. Clarke, 5. W. corner of Chestnut and Seventh streets.

No. 5.

PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4,

Terms.-Published every Thursday by E. Littell & Brother, corner of Chestnut and Seventh Streets, Philadelphia. It will contain four handsome engravings every year. Price Two Dollars and a Half a year, payable in advance.

Agents who procure and forward payment for four subscribers, shall receive the fifth copy for one year; and so in proportion for a larger number.

THE SEA-KINGS.

[The following short account of the SeaKings may serve, rather late in the day, for an illustration of the Pirate, to some of our fair and very young readers. It is extracted from an agreeable popular work on various detached parts of English history. The writer, Mrs. Hack. is a very respectable Quaker lady, of Exeter, England, whose different books for children deserve the attention of parents. Those parts of her English stories which relate to the Saxon history of Britain, are furnished by the excellent authority of Sharon Turner, whose researches into British antiquity are considered, by the eminent scholars of the day, as the most efficient, luminous and satisfactory.]

Embosomed in the hills of Sussex, near Chichester, is a wild and solitary valley, well known to the inhabitants of that district by the name of Kingly Bottom. This spot, now so beautiful from its tranquillity, is memorable as the scene of a terrible battle between a multitude of northern pirates and the rightful subjects of Alfred; and the monuments of this conflict still remain in the tumuli, which are believed to exhibit the sepulchres of those chiefs, or Sea-kings, who fell in that engagement. The beautiful valley derives its name from this circumstance, and these hillocks are called, by the common people, " The Kings' tombs."

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The Sea-kings were a race of men who possessed no territory, and who, by their lawless and merciless depredations on the property of landsmen, became the terror of all the western coasts of Europe, and of the neighbouring isles. Issuing in swarms from the shores of the Baltic, they were the inflictors of misery and destruction wherever they came. Without country, without towns, they had no possessions but their ships, no subjects but their crews, no hope but their swords." They maintained their fearful empire upon the sea, and visited, like fiends of vengeance, every place they could approach. "Never to sleep under a sinoky roof, never to drink wine round a hearth, were the boasts of these watery sovereigns."

It was customary among the barbarous nations that surrounded the Baltic, for one of the male children to remain at home and inherit the royal dignity. From the age of twelve, some members of every numerous family were in action under piratical tutors; and when their brother ascended the paternal throne, they hastened like so many Neptunes to establish their dominion upon the waves; having received their ships and their equipments, as an inheritance from their father.

"Piracy, in the ninth century, was considered the most honourable occupation, and it afforded the most abundant harvest of wealth. Among the sovereigns of the north it was esteemed the general amusement of the summer months. Their subjects endeavoured to imitate the actions they admired; and every man of consequence and property fitted out ships, and roamed the sea in quest of plunder. In this strange state of society, no one was es teemed, or even respected by his countrymen, who did not return in the winter to his home with his ships laden with booty. The spoils

consisted of every necessary of life-clothes, domestic utensils, cattle, which the pirates killed and prepared on the shores they ravaged, and even the miserable inhabitants, many of whom were carried off as slaves."

"These pirates often suffered from destroyers like themselves the same kind of miseries which they had been inflicting on others; and when the successful plunderer returned with his prey, he found only the ashes of his habitation, and the lifeless remains of his family." It does not appear that this retribution taught these perverted beings the folly and cruelty of a piratical life. "Their hearts were so hardened by long habits of violence and rapacity, that they had no tears to shed for the fate of their nearest connexions. But though insensible of the gentler emotions of sorrow, they were capable of the wildest excesses of revenge. This might naturally be expected from men of such a character: and we are assured, that it was their practice to tear the helpless infant from the arms of its mother, and toss it on their lances from one ruffian to another."

Charlemagne, that great prince, so much in advance of the foresight, the arts, and the resources of the other princes of Europe in his time, aware that the rapacity of these monsters was constantly stimulated and extended by the terrors they inspired, and the wealth they obtained in their predatory expeditions, before they had come so far to the south as France in their ravages, anticipated the danger of that country, and established garrisons for its defence in every harbour, and at the mouth of every river it was possible for them to approach. It is related by Turner, that Charlemagne was at dinner at Narbonne, when some ships of the Sea-kings came in sight. By the construction of the vessels, and the agility of the sailors, he knew they were not merchants. He rose from table, and went to a window to observe them. While he gazed on these terrible destroyers, tears flowed down his venerable face. "I fear not," said he, "that they can injure me; but I weep that they should dare, in my life time, to approach my coasts. I anticipate the miseries they will bring on my posterity."*

England was then divided into small independent kingdoms, and they were prevented, by mutual jealousies and petty discordant interests, from carrying into effect plans of defence efficient as those of Charleniagne. The first recorded attack of these pirates on the coast of England, was in 787. One of the most memorable of their dreadful visitations was to the monastery of Croyland. The following are some of the particulars of this calamity.

A few years before the accession of Alfred, Ragnar Lodbrog, one of the most famous of the Sea-kings, was shipwrecked on the coast of Northumberland. The king of that district took him prisoner, and put him to a cruel death. This unjust action called down vengeance upon the country, as well as upon the perpetrator. When the sons of Ragnar heard how he had perished, they shed no tears, they uttered no complaints, but they bent all the powers of their minds to accomplish a terrible revenge. "They no longer engaged in the piratical expeditions and transient hostilities which usually occupied the attention of Sea-. kings; all former habits and present projects seemed to be forgotten. Radnar Lodbrog had been greatly celebrated among the savages of the Baltic; and when his sons proclaimed his fate, and their resolution to avenge it, numerous bands of warriors joined them, all animated like themselves, with deadly hatred against

* Turner's History of the Anglo Saxons, vol. ii. p. 70.

1830.

the king who had destroyed their favourite hero. When this army was collected, it quitted the Baltic, and arrived safely on the Engglish coast.

"These desperate men did not rush at once upon their prey: they landed upon the coast of East Anglia, which comprehended the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and passed the winter quietly in their camp. The following spring they marched into Yorkshire, and extended their ravages to the Tyne. The sons of Ragnar inflicted the most cruel torments on the murderer of their father; and one of the Danish chiefs, named Ivar, usurped the kingdom of Northumberland, and ruled all the country between the Humber and the Tyne.

"It was soon evident that the invaders had no intention of departing, but had resolved to exchange the vessels of a sea-king for the possession of a kingdom. They separated into dif ferent bands, and committed hostilities in various quarters; but the fourth year of their residence in England was distinguished by a series of the most cruel ravages. In the spring they embarked on the Humber, and landed in the northern part of Lincolnshire. The towns, villages, churches, monasteries, and libraries were pillaged and burned; and after employing the summer in this work of devastation, they continued for several ensuing months to lay waste the country with fire and sword. The brave earl Algar drew out the youth of Holland, the southernmost division of Lincolnshire. Like the Batavian Holland, this tract of country was so moist and boggy, that the ground shook when stamped upon, and the print of the feet remained on it. The lower part of the province consisted of impassable marshes, defended by huge banks from the encroachments of the sea. Amidst these bogs and fens earl Algar, like the Grecian Leonidas, made a noble stand against the enemies of his country. Like him Algar was overpowered by numbers; he retreated with a few brave friends to an eminence, where, like the Spartans and Thespians, they fought till the last man was slain. During the confusion some youths threw their arms into a neighbouring wood, and in the following night effected their escape to Croyland. Croyland was a fenny island in that arm of the sea which separates the counties of Lincoln and Norfolk. The fugitives arrived when the abbot and his monks were at their devotions. The dismal tale they told, struck terror into every heart, and inspired the most anxious forboding of impending destruction. The abbot sent away the strong and youthful members of his community to hide themselves in the neighbouring marshes, with the relics, jewels and charters, belonging to the monastery, till the expected storm might pass by. The aged monks, and a few children who had gone thither for education, remained with the superior at Croyland.

"In this fearful situation, the flames of burn. ing villages came nearer and nearer, and the clamours of the fierce pagans were already heard. About thirty of the monks who had left Croyland, embarked in a boat, and reached the neighbouring island of Thorney, which an ancient historian, William of Malmsbury, describes as a little paradise in the midst of the waters. Though surrounded by marshes that island was beautifully cultivated. Here were fruitful orchards, there, vines crept along the ground, or twined round poles. In another part was a smooth green lawn, shaded with trees and the whole face of it bore witness to human labour and human enjoyment. A momastery was situated in this delightful retirement, and here the monks took refuge.

"In the mean time the walls they had deserted were surrounded with the ferocious Danes, and the abbot with his companions whe

were too young or too old to fly, put on their sacred vestments, and assembled in the choir, with a faint hope, that unresisting age, and helpless childhood, might be spared even by these fierce invaders. That hope soon failed them! A crowd of howling barbarians rushed into the church, rejoicing that they had found Christian priests to massacre. The venerable abbot was cut down at the altar, and the attendant priests were beheaded. The old men and children who ran affrighted from the choir, were seized and tortured to make them discover the treasures of the place. Every part of the building was stained with blood.

"In the midst of this dreadful carnage, Sidroc, one of the Danish chiefs was struck with the beautiful countenace of a child of ten years old. His hard heart relented, and this poor boy alone, of all the inhabitants of Croyland was permitted to live. The spoilers broke open all the tombs and monuments, in hopes of discovering treasures, and 'on the third day set fire to the buildings.

"When they had destroyed all they could, and collected a great number of cattle in the neighbourhood, they marched to Peterborough. There stood another monastery like Croyland, the boast of that age, for its architecture, and possessing a library, collected by the anxious labours of two hundred years. The barbarians neither respected learning nor the elegant arts. They attacked the gates and walls with their machines and archers. At the second assault they burst in and began the work of slaughter. Every one of the inhabitants was killed; and the only trait of humanity exhibited on that dreadful day, was shown by Sidroc. He cautioned the boy whom he had saved from Croyland, to keep out of the way of Hubba the Danish commander who was most active in the work of death. Peterborough shared the fate of Croyland. The beautiful edifice, and the valuable library it contained, were soon wrapped in flames, which continued burning for fifteen days."

"The Danes now quitted the monastery with all the booty they had amassed, and directed their course southward. Sidroc was one of those appointed to guard the rear, and transport the baggage across the rivers. As they were passing the Nen, two cars laden with precious things were overturned, and, with all the cattle which were drawing them, precipitated into a whirlpool of unknown depth. While the attendants of Sidroc were thrown into confusion by this accident, the child of Croyland escaped to a near wood.

"He walked all night, and happily in the right direction, for by the first rays of the rising sun, he saw at a distance the smoking ruins of his monastery. When he arrived there, he found that the monks had returned from Thorney on the preceding day, and were busily employed in extinguishing the flames, which still raged in different parts of the buildings. When the child in his artless manner, related the horrid scenes which he had passed through, the monks, overwhelmed with grief for the fate of their father and brothers, were for a time unable to continue their exertions. As soon as they could command themselves, their first task was to collect as many as they could find of the mutilated and half consumed bodies of their friends, which they buried as decently as their circumstances would permit. Having performed this last office of respect to the departed, they repaired part of the ruins and chose another abbot. They now received a visit from their late benefactors the hermits of Thorney, who appear to have left their beautiful retreat from motives of Christian charity. They came to Croyland to request assistance from the morks in performing funeral rites in the monastery at Peterborough, where they were now living, to bury their dead, and beasts of prey were already devouring their unprotected ro mains. A deputation of monks left Croyland on this mournful errand. At Peterborough they found eighty-four dead bodies, and consigned them all to one large grave, laying the

corpse of the abbot at the top of the pile. A pyramid of stone was then raised over these victims of pagan fury, which was afterwards adorned with sculpture in memory of their unhappy fate."

This is a simple account of one of those achievements upon which are founded the fame of predatory warriors. Usurpation, murder, and robbery constitute their claim to admiration, but their boldness, perseverance, undaunted courage, and untired energy of mind, are high qualities; and when they recompense themselves with power wrested from the hand of weakness, and wealth plundered from industry or avarice, and afterwards, in some other region diffuse this ill-gotten treasure, along with the fame of acquiring it, they excite gratitude and enthusiasm. It is not out of nature that the lovely, and simple hearted Minna Troil is made to cherish among the idols of her imagination, the traditionary heroes of northern Europe; though in a better and a wiser age they appear worthy of that ignominy and punishment to which the wisdom and justice of our times consign such as they.

The mythology of the ancients has in our day, as of old, delighted the imagination with its fabled glories, its splendid images, its manifold complications with the history of mankind; its connexion with the feelings natural to man, its endless variety of character, will, and dispensation in divers agents of supreme power, not only interest curiosity, and afford amusement, not only spread magnificent and imposing spectacles before the "mind's eye," but to many, serious and meditative, teach a most affecting lesson, and awaken the most grateful emotions. Such have rejoiced, that all this is not addressed to them as a revelation, that what once deceived, can now only amuse mankind, that what is delusive as religion, is delightful as a fiction, that these inventions of men have been superseded by manifestations of God, and, that neither our hopes or fears, our confidence or our despair, can be inspired by arbitrary, revengeful, capricious, and sensual deities. How beautiful is the contrast between our faith and this! Instead of a multitude of contrarient principles mingling spiritual powers and animal passions in their dealings with men, we acknowledge, on the authority of his own declarations, and on the evidence of his nature and purposes, one just, merciful, holy, and purely spiritual Father and Governor. According to this view of the Deity, we not only anticipate our destiny, but regulate our lives, not only reverence his attributes but consult his will, not only adore his power but confide in his love, not only behold his providence in all that he does, but trust his retributive justice in all that he appears not to do.

In tracing out ancient devices, this gracious Being is discerned dimly shadowed forth in them; we can divest them of many of their earthly and sensual encumbrances, and discover in them a moral character; and we may concentrate the multiform divinity of unregenerate man to its true unity, and rejoice amidst all the sin, blindness and falsehood of unenlightened times, that the scattered rays of truth, weakened, broken and intercepted as they were, still bore witness of him who is the Father of light.

I sat down to write after having finished Potter's Eschylus. I did not mean to compose a sermon, did not mean to touch upon the most awful of subjects, but simply to recommend to the young to taste a pleasure that I had not enjoyed till I was not young. I sat down, as Dr. Gregory, Mrs. Chapone, and Miss Edgeworth have done before me, not as a censor of the faults and follies of early life, but to contribute something towards exalting and multiplying its enjoyments. I am in the valley of departed youth-the shadows of memory are lengthening behind me-the perspective of futurity is becoming shorter and shorter. What could have given a richer zest to the past? What could have added pleasure to these

latter days? Nothing, but more virtue, more wisdom, and more knowledge.

Nature has given us animal spirits and faculties, ardent affections, reasoning powers, relations to one another, and to mute and material things. All these are productive of daily and hourly joy to us, and in the freshness of life we possess our gifts in such susceptibility of happiness, that it seems hardly needful we should begin early to look before and after-that we should think much of aught but the perfumed air, the clear heavens, the unclouded sun, the flowers beneath our feet, the thousand according notes that sing praises to the Fountain of life, the kind faces that greet us every moment, the gentle voices that bless us, and the smiles that encourage our efforts and dry up our first tears. But all these, speaking to our senses and our hearts, cannot fill our wide capacity for happiness. There is more for us to pursue, more to enjoy, and to give the most original and most importunate capabilities of pleasure, their highest, widest, most untiring gratification, we must go beyond our own senses, our own interests, and our own selfishness; we must learn to sympathize in the whole history of human nature, we must fonour genius, and grow rich by its lore. The province of fancy as well as that of experience will be added to our dominion, if we follow the flights of those great spirits that have spurned the bounded views of vulgar men-who, taught by the inspiration that giveth man understanding, have brought down their conceptions and imaginings to our faculties, and who will elevate us in proportion as we admire, study, and love them."

I intended to have given a sketch of the life of Eschylus and of the drama of Prometheus, but this premonition, designed especially for the young and fair, occupies too much room, has made too large a demand upon their patience to justify a longer intrusion upon their attention, and I must take another opportunity to convince them that the neglected translations of the Greek dramatists by Potter, will afford specimens of manners, morals, sentiment, and religion, that are not only extremely interesting, but which give a character to fabulous history, that in mere compends of mythology is wholly wanting, exhibiting all that dignity and beauty of which ancient sculpture is the perpetual monument, and producing in the very contemplation a transfused elegance of thought and of taste, which it is one of the chief objects of education, or of selfcultivation to cherish.

NAPOLEON ON HIS VOYAGE TO
EGYPT.

[Part of an article in the Museum.] On board the L'Orient, the occupations, and even the amusements of Bonaparte, were characteristic of the activity of his mind. Every country that came in sight excited a crowd of historical recollections, and gave to his ideas a kind of poetical inspiration. His intellectual intercourse with Monge and Berthollet, and the other most instructed members of his suite, was incessant and delightful. One of his greatest pleasures was after dinner to pick out three or four persons to argue a proposition of any kind. One day he would suggest the question whether the planets were inhabited: at another time the age of the world; the probability of the destruction of the globe, by water or by fire; the truth or falsity of presentiments, and the interpretation of dreams. A circumstance which will not appear remarkable to those who have lived with Bonaparte, says Bourrienne, is, that he always gave the preference to the disputants who had defended an absurdity with talent, over those who had equally well maintained a rational proposition. He himself invariably gave out the text of the discussion, and most frequently made it turn upon questions of religion, the different species of government, and the strategic art. He had an object in this beyond the

temporary amusement it afforded; it enabled him to sound the capabilities of his officers and com. panions-a knowledge which he laid up for future use.

The musicians on board the L'Orient frequently played upon deck. Bonaparte, however, did not at that time love music enough to tolerate it in his own apartment; for it is remarkable that his taste for this art increased with his power, just as his love of the chase sprung up altogether after his elevation to the empire, as if, observes his secretary, he wished to prove that he was not only born with the genius to command, but likewise with the instinct of those pleasures which are supposed to be truly royal.

Bonaparte's carelessness of human life in the mass needs not to be pointed out; but how are we to reconcile it with his humanity in individual cases, of which instances are not rare? In the voyage to Egypt, as in all other voy. ages in a crowded vessel, a man frequently fell overboard. The cominander-in-chief had no repose till he was saved. He invariably directed the ship to lay to, and ordered the individuals who had exerted themselves to be well rewarded. One night the crew were all alarmed by the cry of "a man overboard," which resounded from one end of the vessel to the other. Bonaparte ordered the ship to be laid to. It proved, however, in the end, to be nothing more than a quarter of an ox, which had slipped from the provision hooks. Bonaparte wisely ordered that on this occasion the sailors should receive a more than ordinary reward. "It might have been a man, and these fine fellows have not shown less courage and zeal than if it had." So spoke he who was on his way to immolate his thousands and his tens of thousands.

HIS RETURN FROM EGYPT TO FRANCE.
[From the same.]

Bad weather drove the two frigates into Ajaccio, the general's native place. Here it absolutely rained relations, according to his own expression: every other child had been held to the font by him, or in some remote degree claimed to be held a cousin. The crowds of kindred were amazing; but Bourrienne says, "that he never took greater delight in counting his crowns at the height of his fortune, than he did on this occasion in pointing out the limits and situation of his father's small domains." The detention of eight days in Corsica was a severe trial of temper; at length they sailed.

"The voyage was prosperous and undisturbed till the next day; but on that day, just as the sun set, we signalled an English squadron of fourteen sail. The English, having advantage of the light, which we had in our faces, saw us better than we could see them. They recognised our two frigates as Venetian built; but luckily for us, the night came on, for we were not far apart: we saw the signals of the English for a long time, and heard the report of the guns more and more to our left; and we thought it was the intention of the cruisers to turn us on the southeast. Under these circumstances Bonaparte had reason to thank fortune, for it is very evident, that had the English suspected our two frigates of coming from the east and going to France, they would have shut us out from the land by sailing between us and the continent, which to them was very easy. Probably they took us for a convoy of provisions going from Toulon to Genoa; and it was to this error and the night that we were indebted for being let off without any worse consequence than that of being well frightened.

"During the cruel night which followed this evening of fear and tribulation, the most lively agitation reigned on board the Muiron. Gantheaume especially was in a state of anxiety which it is impossible to describe, and which it was painful to witness; he was quite beside himself, for our disaster appeared inevitable.

He proposed to return to Corsica. No! no! replied Bonaparte, imperiously. No! spread all sail; every man at his post. To the northeast! To the north-east, sail! This order saved us, and I can affirm, that in the midst of a terror almost general, Bonaparte was solely occupied in giving orders; the rapidity of his judgment seemed to grow in the face of danger. The remembrance of this night will never be effaced from my memory: the hours of it were long; none of us knew upon what new dangers the sun would shine.

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However, the resolution of Bonaparte was taken; his orders were given, his dispositions made. Already in the evening he had resolved upon throwing himself into the long boat, (which he had provided with the best rowers of Corsica); already he had fixed upon the persons admitted to share his fate; already he had indicated to me the most important papers, and which it was necessary to save. Happily our terrors were vain, and our arrangements useless. The first rays of the sun discovered the English fleet sailing to the north-east, and we took the direction of the wished-for coast of France.

"The 8th of October, at eight o'clock in the morning, we entered the roads of Frejus. The sailors not having recognised the coast during the night, we did not know where we were. There was at first some hesitation, in order to ascertain whether we should advance. We were by no means expected, and did not know how to answer the signals, which had been changed during our absence. Some guns were even fired upon us by the batteries on the coast; but our straightforward entry into the roads, the crowd upon the decks of the two frigates, and our signs of joy, did not permit them to doubt long that we were friends. Scarcely were we in the port, scarcely had we approached the landing place, when the rumour spread that Bonaparte was aboard one of the two frigates. In an instant the sea was covered with boats; in vain we begged them to keep at a distance; we were carried off and landed; and when we told the crowd of men and women who were pressing about us of the risk they ran, they all cried, We prefer the plague to the Austrians."

So much for the fortune of Napoleon, which however we are disposed, with Bourrienne, to call his genius.

"We often talk," says he, "of the luck which some people are favoured with, and which accompanies them through life: without attaching faith to this sort of predestination, when I think of the numerous and various dangers which beset him, and from which in his different enterprises he escaped, of the risks he ran, the hazards he faced, I can understand how it is that others entertained this belief; but having myself for a long time studied the 'man of destiny,' I have remarked that that which he called his fortune was in fact his genius; that his good luck resulted from his keen insight into things, from the calculations he made rapid as lightning, from the simulta neity of his actions and his conceptions, and from the conviction which he himself held that boldness is often wisdom."

HIS FORESIGHT OF THE BATTLE OF MARENGO. [From the same.]

In the anecdote which Bourrienne tells us of the conception of Marengo, there is a felicity of combination, as well as facility of execution. This is the story which Bourrienne calls the guerre des epingles; the picture is admirable. "The 17th of March, in a moment of gaiety and good humour, he (Bonaparte) told me to unrol the great map of Italy, by Chauchard. He stretched himself upon it, and made me put myself by his side. He then, with great seriousness, began to prick here and there numerous pins, with heads of black and red sealing-wax. I observed him in silence, and waited the result of this inoffensive campaign. when he had finished placing the enemy's

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troops, and arranged his own in the positions in which he hoped to lead them, he said to me, 'Now where do you think I intend to beat Melas,' (the Austrian_general)? The devil take me,' said I, if I understand any thing about it.' 'You are an ass,' said Bonaparte; look here a little. Melas is at Alexandria, his head-quarters; he will remain there till Genoa surrenders. At Alexandria he has his magazines, his hospitals, his artillery, his reserves. Passing the Alps here (pointing out the great St. Bernard), I fall upon Melas, I cut off his communications with Austria, and I meet with him here in the plains of Scrivia,' (placing a red-headed pin at San Juliano). Observing that I considered this manœuvre of pins as a pastime, he commenced his round of little abusive apostrophes, (such as niais, nigaud, bête, imbecile, &c. &c.) which were with him nothing but a kind of affectionate familiarity, and then set to work again upon his pins. We rose from the map after about a quarter of an hour: I rolled it up, and thought no more of the matter. But when, four months after, I found myself at San Juliano, with his port-folio and his despatches, which I was obliged to gather up in the confusion of the day; and when the same evening at Torre-diGalifolio, which is but a league thence, I wrote under his dictation the bulletin of the battle-I frankly avowed my admiration for his military conceptions. He smiled himself at the exactness of his foresight."

LETTER FROM LOUIS XVIII. TO NAPOLEON, FIRST CONSUL.

It is well known that Louis XVIII., in a dignified but complimentary letter to Bonaparte, claimed his throne at his hands. The St. Helena Memoirs communicate the fact, and give the substance of the First Consul's answer. In the Memoirs of Bourrienne we find an exact copy of the correspondence, and an account of the reception it met with from Napoleon.

The First Consul was greatly agitated at the reception of this letter. Although he every day declared his resolution to have nothing to do with the princes, he was still reflecting upon whether it was necessary to answer it or not. The number of important affairs (20th Feb. 1800) which occupied him at the time, seconded his indecision, and he was in no hurry to reply. I ought to say that Josephine and Hortense conjured him to give the king hope; that that bound him to nothing, and would leave time to see if he could not in the end play a far higher part than that of Monck. Their entreaties were so urgent, that he said to me, 'These devils of women are mad; the Faubourg St. Germain turns their heads; they have made the royalists into gods. But that is nothing to me; I'll have none of them.' Madame Bonaparte told me that she urged him to this step, lest he should think of making himself king, which always excited in her a presentiment of misfortune that she could not banish from her mind. . . . . In the numerous conversations which I had with the First Consul, he discussed the proposition of Louis XVIII., and its consequence, with great sagacity: he said, however, 'The partizans of the Bourbons are very much mistaken if they think I am a man to play the part of Monck.' The thing rested there at first, and the letter of the king was left on the table. In the interval Louis XVIII. wrote a second letter.

"It is a long time since, general, you ought to be aware, that you have acquired my esteem. If you doubt the force of my gratitude, choose your place, fix the lot of your friends. As to my principles, I am a Frenchman-Clement by character, I should be still more so by reason. No! the conquerer at Lodi, Castiglione, Arcole, of Italy and of Egypt, cannot prefer a vain celebrity to true glory. But you are losing precious time. We have the power of ensuring the glory of France; I say we,

because I have need of Bonaparte for that, and he cannot do it without me. "General! Europe observes you, glory awaits you, and I am impatient to restore peace to my people. LOUIS.'"

This letter also remained for some time unnoticed. At length Bonaparte determined to write an answer. He made a rough copy; Bourriene suggested some grammatical changes, which were made. This disfigured original was then signed; it was not, however, after the alterations, in a state fit to send, and it laid for some time longer on the table; it was despatched at last. The substance was, that Louis ought to abandon all hope of a return to his throne, for it was only by marching over the bodies of a hundred thousand Frenchmen that he could arrive at it.

Some days after the receipt of the letter from Louis XVIII. Bonaparte and his secretary were walking in his favourite alley at Malmaison, which was only separated from his cabinet by a small bridge; he was in a good humour, for affairs were going on well, and he commenced a confidential conversation on the return of the Bourbons. His remarks prove that he had deeply weighed all the peculiarities of his situation, and had calculated the probable consequences of the restoration of the legitimate family with his ordinary acuteness and more than ordinary coolness. He broke off the dialogue with "My part is taken. Let us talk of it no more; but I well know how the women torment you. Instead of agreeing with them, however, you ought to open their eyes and undeceive them about their ridiculous presentiments. Let them leave me alone, and attend to their knitting." The women went on knitting, remarks Bourrienne, he went on writing; Bonaparte made himself Emperor

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and died at St. Helana.

FAME.

From the "York Gazette."

I love thee, mighty trump of Fame,
When echoing to the winds of Heaven,
Swells o'er the earth some glorious name-
Some mind for man and nature given;-
But more I love the secret praise
That like the morn's half-opening rose,
But by its scented breath betrays

The bower in which its beauty glows!

I love thee, Sun, of stars the star!

As, throned amid the heaven of blue, Rushes thy splendour free and far,

O'er mountain top and vale of dew;But more I love the infant ray,

As rising from its eastern cave, With circling flight, with fond delay, It seems to kiss the crimson wave.

I love to hear the Anthem's sweep

Through old cathedrals dim and high,
Like swellings of the midnight deep--
Like echoes of the opening sky;-
Yet more I love the first faint tone
That dies along the breeze's wing;
Now thrilling sweet, now dim and gone,
As if a spirit touched the spring.

I love thee, Genius, in the hour

When triumph round thee pours its blaze; When stands in bright consummate power The Spirit for a nation's gaze.

Yet more I love the first rich glance

Of thy dark eye through early gloom, The whisperings of thy half-waked trance, The first wild rustlings of thy plume.

LA FAYETTE.

LA FAYETTE is one of the noblest characters of France. Always the same amidst the raging of an excited people, and at the head of an ariny, at the tribune of the legislative assembly, and in prison, under every circumstance, his life had only one object,-justice and free

dom. To this noble end, he sacrificed twenty years of his active life, to this he devoted his exertions, and his property. For this he gave up all that men usually desire,-distinction, rank, convenience, and wealth. Placed in society by his birth, among the favoured and the distinguished, he descended to natural equality, to become a man and a citizen. Favour and hate, tempted him equally in vain, and in a stormy and agitated time, he changed neither his opinions nor his principles, and hope left him equally unchanged with fear. A friend of justice and truth, under whatever climate he found them, he always rendered homage and assistance to these highest benefits of humanity. He defended freedom against arbitrary power, and lawful power against anarchy. He would have saved France and the king, if France and the king would have trusted him. A citizen of every state that honoured the citizen, a friend of men where they showed themselves human, he remained true to France. Every thing noble scemed to him natural, the fulfilment of the most arduous duty an impulse, and as he never violated right, nor denied the truth, so he never deviated from the path of honour, and his virtues with all their severities, retained a certain chivalrous grace Although he stands distinguished, and alone in his time and nation, we remark in him no feature of harshness, partiality or affectation. We may ask whether there can be a greater triumph, than fifty years of a life, such as he has passed from his early youth, where he devoted himself to the liberation of America, to the present day. Ambition, you will say, is the soul of all his exertions. A strange ambition, which in fifty changing years, in youth, in manhood, and in age, has followed the same object, constantly sacrificing himself, and seeking his happiness only in the welfare of others. Modern times can only display one public character, who claims our love and admiration in the same degree-his brother in arms in youth-Koskiusko.

A TALE OF A TRAINING: Or a Chapter of the Adventures of the Massachusetts Militia.

NOBODY, up and down the country, was equal to Josh Beanpole, of Rye. He grew up faster than a hop-vine or a string-bean. He was a man before he knew it, and being told of it, gave himself such airs that he was thought quite the thing by all the girls ten miles round. He was an absolute dandy, if such a thing could be, among the woods. He was the foremost in all husking parties, quiltings, housewarmings, sleigh-rides, and scrapes of all colours, wore an eel-skin queue and a ruffle shirt on Sundays, and so by hook and by crook got into such favour with the feminine gender, that he might almost have taken his pick out of the whole town. There was not one who would have said No to such a gallant gay Lothario as our Josh, except one, but as the devil would have it, she happened to be the very one Josh wanted to get.

There is no accounting for the whims of a woman, so we shall not attempt to assign the cause why Nance Crabtree turned up her nose at Josh Beanpole. Certain it is that Josh stuck to her like a bur without any effect. She carried her head high, looked askew and gave Josh the go-by, whenever he attempted to be familiar.

Some thought that she looked upon Josh, with all his accomplishments, to be no great shakes. Others thought she had set her cap for the parson of the parish. There might have been some truth in this last supposition, for when the parson, to her great surprise, married the widow Sly, Nance began to relent, and Josh found himself getting into favour. He laid siege to her heart with redoubled ardour, and the whole town at last thought it would be a match-Still, she was now and

then a little offish, and Josh was sharp-sighted enough to see that he must cast about for some uncommon expedient to push his suit."The girls," thought he, "are fond of titles and show and parade; Nance would have snapped up with the parson to a dead certainty; now if I can get to be a captain of militia I shall come off conqueror. If she turns up her nose at me then, the devil is in her."

So Josh set about intriguing for the office, and as the actual incumbent had been for several years somewhat cramped with the rheumatism, and unable to march faster than common time, or carry his body nearer to a perpendicular than 45 degrees, people began to think he had served his country long enough. Without much difficulty he was prevailed upon to resign. Josh set himself up as a candidate for the office, and having opened a grocery store, eame in by a unanimous vote, for it is a standing maxim in the country, that the best man in the world for a militia captain is a grocer or a tavern-keeper. Now was Josh near the completion of his wishes. A captain! who could resist a captain? But little did he think that the very stick which he took up to help him over the ditch would itself knock him into the mud! However, let us not anticipate the catastrophe of the story.

In order to begin the campaign with uncommon splendour, Josh determined upon a sham fight; there is nothing like a sham fight for all lovers of military glory; nothing like a sham fight for all lovers of fun and frolic up and down the country. It was immediately noised abroad, and great preparations were made in all quarters for witnessing the grand show to be made by the Rye company and their new captain. Josh had bespoken a bran new uniform of blue, turned out with yellow flannel, and it was thought would cut such a dash, and make such a flaming appearance as to steal the heart of every girl who was made of penetrable stuff. Josh was not a whit behind any body in the confidence of his hopes. "By the hokey!" said he, as he looked at himself in his regimentals, "if this don't take the sunshine out of her eyes, she's harder than hickory!"

"At last the long expected day came; and what a flocking, and crowding, and bustling there was! the like had not been known in those parts" within the memory of the oldest inhabitant." Such throngs of jolly damsels and old grannies; such crowds of every age, sex, and condition; such a rattling of chaises, and carts, and wagons; such an array of booths and tents, and extempore retailing shops; such a show of gingerbread, sugar-plums, and molasses candy! There was no end to the wonders and the novelties which this grand occasion brought into display. Josh marched his company up and down with great eclat, and though they did not display a perfect regularity of uniform, and were unable exactly to keep time in marching, yet they were pronounced to have an uncommonly martial appearance.

According to the plan previously drawn up, the sham fight was to represent the capture of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, and a spacious pigstye on the side of the hill was fixed upon to be the scene of the conflict. The wooden walls of this formidable dwelling were accordingly cleared of the swinish multitude, and by the help of a few plank and rafters metamorphosed into the fortifications of Yorktown. Josh placed half of his company under Lieutenant Shute in the pigstye, to act as the British army under Lord Cornwallis, while he himself, in the character of General Washington, took the command of the besieging army. The whole plan of the attack, defence, and surrender, was as follows:

Lord Cornwallis was to open the campaign by detaching half a platoon of his forces under Corporal Spinbutton to forage in Deacon Styles's cabbage-garden. These, on being attacked by General Washington's advanced guard, who were to form a corps of observation at the Hole in the Wall, were to retreat across Dobson's Folly and Mud Lane, till they reach

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