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publican was so rare in Rome, that Sabinus, for his honest management of that office, had certain images erected to his commendation, with this superscription, Kalos telonesanti-"For the faithful publican!" Hence publicans and sinners were synonymous.

It is generally confirmed by ancient historians, that not only the Heathens, but the Jews themselves, sometimes became publicans. But Tertullian, on the contrary thought that all publicans were Heathens. Jerome and reason, however, confuted this. First Matthew, who was a publican, was afterwards an Apostle, and therefore unlikely to have been a Heathen. Secondly, Zacheus, his name was pure Hebrew, having no affinity with Roman etymon. Thirdly, the ground, or principal argument on which Tertullian built, was merely erroneous. Finally, of whatever name, country, or purpose, the tax-gatherers are the real publicans of the present day; and a few may be found, like Sabinus, honest men and of good report; but how many are there that exact the last farthing, are Christians in name, Heathens in practice, and at all scacrifices become public and parochial defaulters, in defiance of sympathetic poverty and lenient law, when themselves are visited in comparison with the oppressed?

PYLADES.

THE NYMPH OP THE LURLEI

BERG.-A TALE.
Concluded from page 228,

The morning broke bright and clearthe birds sung out-the green vines waved merrily on the breeze-and the sunlight danced gaily upon the bosom of the Rhine. Rupert and his comrades stood ranged by the rocky land that borders St. Goar to welcome the bride. And now they heard the trumpets sounding far away, and looking adown the river they saw the feudal streamers of Lorchausen glittering on the tide, as the sail from which they waved cut its way along the waters.

Then the Dwarf of the Lurlei Berg, startled by the noise of the trumpets, peeped peevishly out of his little door, and he saw the vessel on the wave, and Rupert on the land; and at once he knew, as he was a wise dwarf, what was to happen. "Ho, ho!" said he to himself, "not so fast, my young gallant: I have long wanted to marry, myself. What if I get your bride, and what it my good friend the Dragon com1ort himself for your fraud by a snap

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at her dowry-Lurline my cousin shall be avenged!" So with that the dwarf slipped into the water, and running along the cavern, came up to the Dragon quite out of breath. The monster trailed himself hastily out of his shell. "And what now, Master Dwarf?" quoth he, very angrily; no thoroughfare here, I assure you." "Pooh!" said the Dwarf, "are you so stupid that you do not want to be avenged upon the insolent mortal who robbed your treasury, and deserted your mistress. Behold! he stands on the rocks of Goar, about to receive a bride, who sails along with a dowry, that shall swell thy exhausted coffers; behold! I say, I will marry the lady, and thou shalt have the dower."

Then the Dragon was exceedingly pleased-" And how shall it be managed?" said he, rubbing his claws with delight.

"Lock thy door, Master Dragon," answered the Dwarf, "and go up to the Gewirre above thee, and lash the waters with thy tail, so that no boat may approach."

The Dragon promised to obey, and away went the Dwarf to Lurline. He found her sitting listlessly in her crystal chamber, her long hair drooping over her face, and her eyes bent on the rocky floor, heavy with tears.

"Arouse thee, cousin," said the Dwarf, "thy lover may be yet regained. Behold he sails along the Rhine with a bride he is about to marry; and if thou wilt ascend the surface of the water, and sing, with thy sweetest voice, the melodies he loves, doubtless he will not have the heart to resist thee, and thou shalt yet gain the Faithless from, his bride.”

Lurline started wildly from her seat; she followed the Dwarf up to the Lurlei Berg, and seated herself on a ledge in the rock. The Dwarf pointed out to her in the boat the glittering casque and nodding plumes of the Lord of Lorchausen. "Behold thy lover!" said he, "but the helmet hides his face. See he sits by the bride-he whispers her-he presses her hand. Sing now thy sweetest song, I beseech thee."

"But who are they on the opposite bank?" asked the Water Spirit. "Thy lover's vassals only," answered the Dwarf.

"Be cheered, child!' said the Chief of Lorchausen. "See how the day smiles on us- -thy bridegroom waits thee yonder-even now I see him towering above his comrades."

"Oh! my father, my heart sinks with fear!" murmured Unna: "and behold

the frightful Lurlei Berg frowns upon us. Thou knowest how Rupert cautioned us to avoid it."

"And did we not, my child, because of that caution, embark yonder at the mouth of the Whisperback? Even now our vessel glides towards the opposite shore, and nears not the mountain thy weak heart dreadest."

At that moment, a wild and most beautiful music broke tremulously along the waves; and they saw, sitting on the Lurlei Berg, a shape fairer than the shapes of the children of earth. "Hither," she sang, "hither, oh! gallant bark! Behold here is thy haven, and thy respite from the waters and the winds. Smooth is the surface of the tide around, and the rock hollows its bosom to receive thee. Hither, oh! nuptial band! The bridals are prepared. Here shall the betrothed gain the bridegroom, and the bridegroom welcome the bride!"

The boatmen paused, entranced with the air, the oars fell from their hands the boat glided on towards the rock.

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Rupert in dismay and terror heard the strain and recognized afar the silvery beauty of the Water Spirit. "Beware, he shouted-" beware-this way steer the vessel, nor let it near to the Lurlei Berg."

Then the Dwarf laughed within himself, and he took up the sound ere it fell, and five times across the water, louder far than the bridegroom's voice, was repeated "Near to the Lurlei Berg."

At this time by the Gewirre opposite, the dragon writhed his vast folds, and fierce and perilous whirled the waters round.

"See, my child," said the Chief of Lorchausen," how the whirlpool foams and eddies on the opposite shorewisely hath Sir Rupert dismissed superstition in the presence of real danger; and yon fair figure is doubtless stationed by his command to direct us how to steer from the whirlpool."

"Oh, no, no, my father!" cried Unna, clinging to his arm. "No, yon shape is but the false aspect of a fiend-I beseech you to put off from the Rock -see, we near-we near-its base !"

"Hark-hear ye not five voices telling us to near it!" answered the Chief; and he motioned to the rowers, who required no command to avoid the roar of the Gewirre.

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echo from the Lurlei Berg, For dear life's sake, hither!"

"Yes, hither!" sang once more the Water Spirit-" hither, O gallant bark! -as the brooklet to the river as the bird to the sunny vine-flies the heart to the welcome of love!"

"Thou art avenged!" shouted the Dwarf, as he now stood visible and hideous on the Rock. "Lurline, thou art avenged!"

And from the opposite shore, the straining eyes of Rupert beheld the boat strike suddenly among the shoals-and lo, in the smoothest wave it reeled once, and vanished beneath for ever! An eddy

a rush and the Rhine flowed on without a sign of man upon its waves. "Lost, lost!" cried Rupert, clasping his hands, and five times from the Lurlei Berg echoed "Lost!"

And Rupert the Fearnought left his treasures and his castle, and the ruins still moulder to the nightly winds and he sought the Sea-kings of the North; they fitted out a ship for the brave stranger, and he sailed on a distant cruize. And his name was a name of dread by the shores on which the fierce beak of his war-bark descended. And the bards rang it forth to their Runic harps over the blood-red wine. But at length they heard of his deeds no more-they traced not his whereabout-a sudden silence enwrapt him-his vessel had gone forth on a long voyage-it never returned, nor was heard of more. But still the undying Water Spirit mourns in her lonely caves -and still she fondly believes the Wanderer will yet return. Often she sits, when the night is hushed, and the stars watch over the sleep of earth, upon her desolate rock, and pours forth her melancholy strains. And yet the fishermen believe that she strives by her song to lure every raft and vessel that seems, to the deluded eyes of her passion, one which may contain her lover!

And still, too, when the Huntsman's horn sounds over the water-five times is the sound echoed from the Rockthe Dwarf himself may ever and anon be seen, in the new moon, walking on the heights of the Lurlei Berg, with a female form in an antique dress, devoutly believed to be the Lady of Lorchausenwho defrauded of a Knight, has reconciled herself to marriage with a dwarf! New Mon. Mag.

EPIGRAM (For the Olio.)

An angry man may look as stern as you
To write as Sterne, you'll find but very few.

Varieties

DR. BUSBY.-The doctor having chastised some of the boys at Westminster School, they resolved to revenge it, which they effected in the following manner :-They daubed with dirt the balustrades of the stairs leading to the school-room, which the doctor, being infirm, always laid hold of. He was much incensed at the trick, and on reaching the school, offered a reward of half-a-crown to any boy that would inform him who had a hand in it. The apprehension of those concerned in it may be imagined, when a junior boy rose and said that he would tell, provided the doctor promised not to flog him: which being agreed to, the lad directly exclaimed-" You, Sir-you had a hand in it!" The doctor rewarded the boy for his ready wit.

MEMORY. As the magnet, catching eagerly each particle of iron, lets golden sands roll on unheeded by, so memory treasures up our moments of misfortune long after those of gaiety and happiness are forgotten.

THE FAMOUS SAYINGS OF JEMsheed. -The first was, "God has no partner in his wisdom; doubt not, therefore, though thou understandest not." The second, "Greatness followeth no man but goeth before him; and he that is assiduous shall overtake fortune." The third was written, "Hope is always as much better than fear, as courage is superior to cowardice." The fourth was, "Seek not so much to know thine enemies as thy friends; for where one man has fallen by foes, a hundred have been ruined by acquaintances." The fifth," He that telleth thee that thou art always wrong may be deceived; but he that saith thou art always right, is surely a liar." The sixth," Justice came from God's wisdom, but mercy from his love; therefore, as thou hast not his wisdom, be pitiful to merit his affection." The seventh, "Man is mixed of virtues and of vices; love his virtues in others, but abhor his vices in thyself." The eighth, "Seek not for faults, but search diligently for beauties; for the thorns are easily found after the roses are faded." String of Pearls.

SIR WILLIAM WISE. -Having one day lente Henry VIII. his signet to seale a letter, which having powdered eremites on the seale, Why how now, Wise, quoth the king, what! hast thou lice here? And, if it like your majestie, quoth Sir William, a louse is a rich coate; for, by giving the louse, I

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3. Gentian root

Orange peel, dried

1 ounce. 2 drachms.

Fresh lemon peel ounce. For a pint and a half of boiling water. Let the infusion cool, then s'rain, and add a pint of brandy. In the morning or forenoon a wine glassful will be found a grateful solace to a stomach debilitated from excess of any kind.

THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN SCOTLAND.-Ben Nevis has, till very lately, been considered the monarch of Scottish mountains, but it now appears, from the trigonometrical survey lately made by order of Government, that he must yield the palm to Ben Macdui, a mountain in Aberdeenshire, who o'ertops him by about 20 feet. The height of Ben Nevis is 4370 feet; of Ben Macdui, 4390 feet. Thus Ben Macdui is the loftiest mountain, not only in Scotland, but in Great Britain.

REMARKABLE HEAT OF The Earth. The German papers contain the following intelligence, dated from the Lake of Geneva, Aug. 18:- The extraordinary heat which has prevailed, almost without interruption, for nine weeks, has produced phenomena in the countries bordering our lake to which there is no parallel on record. At Geneva, a spontaneous combustion took place in the churchyard of Plain Palais, although in a rather damp plain (plana palus). The high grass on the graves, the cypress, and fir-trees took fire, and it was necessary to bring the engines

render at all legible. His lordship scarcely ever closed a sentence. He ran them all into one, was full of tautology, wandered from his subject into

his subject, and at a tangent flew off to something totally unconnected with it. His parentheses were as numerous as Sancho's proverbs, and unless they were well managed by the reporter, they often had the ludicrous, or sometimes the mischievous, effect of making his lordship say directly the reverse of what he intended. However the verbatim report of his lordship's speech appeared in the New Times; and

to extinguish it, which was effected, but not without difficulty. A more re markable event took place in Savoy, near the village of Magland (province of Faucigny). All at once the alarm-something analagous, then reverted to bell was sounded, not only in the village, but the whole surrounding country, and in the whole valley, to summon the inhabitants with all speed to extinguish a dangerous fire, of a kind hitherto unheard of; for it was not houses, or trees, or heath that was burning, but the roots of the trees, two feet under the ground. This strange fire began at Seine (in the commune of Arrache): nothing appeared on the surface; the furze and bushes were untouched, till at once several trees fell, and were then consumed by the fire that burnt from their roots.The people, indeed, felled the wood, that the fire might not spread, and would willingly have turned up the ground to extinguish the fire that was burning the roots; but, in the terrible drought, where were they to get water? This subterraneous fire, therefore, consumed 250 acres of fine forest. The fear of the subterraneons fire had such an effect on the inhabitants, that many villages (for instance, Colsane) were wholly deserted: and as the people were also afraid of going into the forest, they remained exposed to the scorching rays of the sun (generally 40° of Reaumur) in the naked plain, where the wells began to dry up.-This subterraneous fire is doubtless closely connected with the flames which at the same time issued from the earth in several places in Lausanne. The rain, which came a few days ago, and considerably lowered the temperature, seems to have checked this fire, though many persons fear that the rain was by no means of sufficiently long continuance to penetrate so deep into the earth as to remove all danger of the fires beginning again on the return of hot and dry weather, such as seems to be setting in."

Laughter, holding both his sides," could scarcely have read it without bursting. His lordship conceived that some enemy had played him this mauvaise plaisantrie. He sent a friend to the editor with bitter complaints: the thing was explained, and the idea of verbatim reporting was abandoned.No speaker, however excellent, is without tautologies, ellipses, and sentences redundant, deficient, and confused, or occasionally unintelligible. Here and there a screw will be loose; the train of ideas will be lost, and all intended order and arrangement will wander from the mind, leaving it for a short time a chaos. It is here that a reporter's art is put to the test, to reduce every thing to order, without departing from identity-and it requires a man of intellect, of superior education, and of tact, to go along with the speaker, to identify minds with him, and to fix what he has thought rather than what he has said, by the context, and a deduction from the tenor of the particular division of the subject of the speech. The statement applies even to such men as Sir Robert Peel, Lord Brougham, Lord Grey, Sir Francis Burdett, and all our best speakers. Without disparagement to the excellent speeches of Sir Francis, I may observe, that he puts reporting The to a severe trial, for one of his sentences would fill at least a column without a full stop, and his parentheses are as numerous as the colours of the rainbow, and like them run one into the other without line of demarcation.

PARLIAMENTARY REPORTING. scheme of verbatim reporting has been tried, and met with the failure it merited. When Dr. Stoddard commenced the New Times, one promised improvement upon the old system of newspapers was verbatim reports of the debates. For this purpose he hired, inter alios, the first short-hand law reporter in London (Mr. Gurney of course excepted.) It happened that the coup d'essai was made upon á speech of Lord Castlereagh, the most confused speaker in the memory of man and the most difficult for a reporter to reduce to order, or to

Metrop.

SINGULAR PHENOMENA IN ANIMAL MAGNETISM.-A patient in the hospital Della Vita, at Bologna, is subject, every third day, to violent convulsions, during the continuance of which he loses entirely the use of all his senses, and can neither hear, see, nor smell; his hands also become so firmly clenched that it

would be impossible to open them without breaking the fingers. Nevertheless, Dr. Ciri, the physician, under whose charge he is placed, has discovered that the epigastric region, at about two fingers-breadth above the navel, receives all the impressions of the senses, so as to replace them completely. If the patient be spoken to while the finger is placed on this spot, he gives answers, and even, on being desired, opens his hands of his own accord. If any substance or matter is placed there, he can describe its form and quality, its colour and smell. As long as the finger is kept on the stomach, the convulsion gradually diminishes till it entirely disappears; but if the finger be placed on the heart, the convulsion returns with increased violence, and continues as long as the finger is kept in that position. If a flute be played while the finger is kept on the stomach, the patient hears the music; but if the finger be taken away, even for an instant, and placed on the heart, and then taken back again to its former position, the man asks why they play by intervals, though the flute has never ceased. These experiments have all been made in the presence of the professors and students of the hospital.

THE THREE FANNIES.-Miss Fanny Kelly, a woman of original genius, fine taste, strong intellect, and exquisite sensibility, equal to any part of fashion. Miss Fanny Kemble acts nobly, like a poetess. as she is; and equal to either of them in all things, and in some superior to both, is our own Miss Fanny Jarman, equal to either in power and pathos, and superior to both in grace, elegance, and beauty. The three are all as much respected for their virtue in private life, as they are admired for their genius on the stage; and that lends a charm to their impersonations of such characters as Imogen, Desdemona, Ophelia, and Cordelia, which is felt by every audience, and for the want of which no accomplishment can compen

sate.

Blac. Mag

ANTWERP. This city, under the Spanish domination, was, of all the cities of the world, that of which the comulerce was most extensive; nowhere was its wealth, its power, or its resources, then equalled. Antwerp was, indeed, the entrepot for all the merchandise of the universe; and the ships of all regions and of all countries cast achor there. When Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, his catholic

majesty's general, reduced the city after a most obstinate resistance, the Scheldt was shut, and that single circumstance compelled all the industrious inhabitants to emigrate. They established themselves at Amsterdam, and several other places in Holland, and soon Antwerp lost its astonishing prosperity, and the natural advantages of its position, which were neutralized by the closing of the Scheldt. Its decadence was rapid and inevitable. The towns of Holland, and especially Amsterdam, attained, however, an extraordinary importance an importance which was merely the consequence of the disasters of Antwerp, and the emigration of its inhabitants, who transplanted their labour and their industry to cities possessing advantages which had been lost by Antwerp. Holland owed the greatest part of its prosperity during two centuries to this circumstance, and has now acquired such a mass of convincing proofs of this truth, that the freedom of the Scheldt will ruin her, that she prefers making any sacrifice rather than subscribing to a condition involving inevitable ruin. When the Emperor of Austria wished to restore to his Brabant subjects the freedom of the Scheldt, the Dutch felt that it was a question involving the preservation or the loss of their prosperity, and that even their existence was compromised. They then firmly determined to repel the pretensions of the emperor, and to resist the force which the latter had prepared for the execution of his project. The affair was arranged, the Dutch paid about twenty millions, and the Scheldt remained closed until the 16th of May, 1795, the end of the Republic. It is obvious why the Dutch wish to keep the Scheldt' closed, and if William now display so inuch obstinacy, it is on account of the safety of his people; add to this that the natural advantages enjoyed by Antwerp are such that the produce of the Dutch Indies would sooner arrive at Antwerp than at Amsterdam; and soon the latter city, now so flourishing, would experience the fate which Antwerp was subjected to at the end of the 16th cenwould be reduced with a dismal rapidity.' tury, and the prosperity of Holland

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