Imatges de pàgina
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Ellustrated Article.

THE BURGLAR; OR, MATERNAL LOVE.*

GRACE HUNTLEY marries a man, handsome in person, who, unfortunate ly, after a few years becomes an abandoned villain; and, finally, leaves his wife. Occasionally, however, he returns for a day or two, after months of absence; and having formed an ac quaintance with two poachers of the name of Smith, he endeavours to seduce his own son to his evil and guilty practices, by making him steal his mother's things, and a partaker in his nightly exploits.

"Huntley soon discovered that his wife had been influencing their child's conduct; indeed, the sacred law of truth formed so completely the basis of her words and actions, that she did not attempt for a moment to conceal it.

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"Then you mean to set yourself in opposition to me!' he said, all evil pas sions gathering at his heart and storming on his brow.

"Not to you, but to your sins, Joseph,' was her meek but firm reply; whereupon he swore a deep and bitter oath, that he would bring up his own child in the way which best suited him; and dared her interference.

"As sure as you are a living woman,' he continued, with that concentrated rage which is a thousand times more dangerous than impetuous fury-as sure as you are a living woman, you shall repent of this! I see the way to punish your wilfulness; if you oppose me in the management of my children, one by one they shall be taken from you to serve my purposes. You may look for them in vain; until (he added with a fiendish smile) you read their names in the columns of the Newgate Calendar.'

"That night, as latterly had been his custom, he sallied forth about eight o'clock, leaving his home and family without food or money. The children

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They left no kindred; he was the last of his race; and the old castle on the Danube soon fell into decay, and became an outlaw's den. The emperor recovered in time his gaiety amidst the blandishments of his court; but as often as the season of the chase returned, his nobles remarked that he was never more the same light-hearted and reckless sportsman. Few knew why; but the associations were too strong-he could never banish from his mind the parting look of her whom he had first met in the dark forests of Hungary.

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EXTRAORDINARY JAPANESE Mirror. -A curious mirror has been recently brought from China to Calcutta, and is now amusing the Dilettanti, and perplexing the philosophers of our Eastern metropolis. This mirror is made of white metal; it has a circular form, and is about five inches in diameter. It has a knob in the centre of the back, by which it can be held, and on the rest of the back are stamped. in relief, certain circles with a kind of Grecian border. Its polished face has that degree of convexity, which gives an image of the face half its natural size; and its remarkable property is, that when you reflect the rays of the sun from the polished surface, the image of -the ornamental border, and circles stamped on the back, is seen distinctly reflected on the wall. The gentleman

who brought it from China says that they are very uncommon in that country; and that this one, with a few others, was brought by a Dutch ship from Japan several years ago. On the back of one of these was a dragon, which was most distinctly reflected from the polished side. George Swinton, Esq., who has sent the account of this curiosity to England, ingeniously conjectures that the phenomena may have their origin in a difference of density in different parts of the metal, occasioned by the stamping of the figures on the back, the light, being reflected more or less strongly from parts that have been more or less compressed. Other speculations have been formed as to how these strange effects are produced, but as the original mirror is to be sent to England, either to Sir David Brewster or to Sir John Herschel, in such able hands the question cannot remain long undetermined.

Philosophical Mag. TISTY TOSTY-A derivation.-This is a game played by two persons with a ball made of cowslips, and simply a contraction of "This to ye"-" Toss'd to ye." Forty-four times, the number the ball must be kept up, rhymes as this-"Tisty tosty, four and forty." z.

RATS IN JAMAICA.-In no country is there a creature so destructive of property as the rat is in Jamaica ; their ravages are inconceivable. One year with another, it is supposed that they destroy at least about a twentieth part of the sugar-canes throughout the island, amounting to little short of £200,000 currency per annum. The sugar-cane is their favourite food; but they also prey upon the Indian corn, on all the fruits that are accessible to them, and on many of the roots. Some idea will be formed of the immense swarms of those destructive animals that infest this island, from the fact, that on a single plantation thirty thousand were destroyed in one year. Traps of various kinds are set to catch them, poison is resorted to, and terriers, and sometimes ferrets, are employed to explore their haunts, and root them out; still, however, their numbers remain undiminshed, as far at least as can be judged by the ravages they commit. They are of a much larger size than the European rat, especially that kind of them called by the negroes racoons. On the experiment being tried of putting one of these and a cat together, the latter declined attacking it.

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Illustrated Article.

THE BURGLAR; OR, MATERNAL

LOVE.*

GRACE HUNTLEY marries a man, handsome in person, who, unfortunately, after a few years becomes an abandoned villain; and, finally, leaves his wife. Occasionally, however, he returns for a day or two, after months of absence; and having formed an ac quaintance with two poachers of the name of Smith, he endeavours to seduce his own son to his evil and guilty practices, by making him steal his mother's things, and a partaker in his nightly exploits.

"Huntley soon discovered that his wife had been influencing their child's conduct; indeed, the sacred law of truth formed so completely the basis of her words and actions, that she did not attempt for a moment to conceal it.

[blocks in formation]

See page 338

"Then you mean to set yourself in opposition to me!' he said, all evil passions gathering at his heart and storming on his brow.

"Not to you, but to your sins. Joseph,' was her meek but firm reply; whereupon he swore a deep and bitter oath, that he would bring up his own child in the way which best suited him; and dared her interference.

"As sure as you are a living woman,' he continued, with that concentrated rage which is a thousand times more dangerous than impetuous fury- as sure as you are a living woman, you shall repent of this! I see the way to punish your wilfulness; if you oppose me in the management of my children, one by one they shall be taken from you to serve my purposes. You may look for them in vain; until (he added with a fiendish smile) you read their names in the columns of the Newgate Calendar.'

"That night, as latterly had been his custom, he sallied forth about eight o'clock, leaving his home and family without food or money. The children

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crowded round their mother's knee to repeat their simple prayers, and retired, cold and hungry, to bed. It was near midnight ere her task was finished; and then she stole softly into her chamber, having first looked upon and blessed her treasures. Her sleep was of that restless heavy kind which yields no refreshment; once she was awakened by hearing her husband shut the cottage-door; again she slept, but started from a horrid dream- or was it indeed reality? and had her husband and her son Abel quitted the dwelling together? She sprang from her bed, and felt on the pallet-Gerald was there; again she felt-she called-she passed into the next room,-Abel, Abel, my child! as you value your mother's blessing, speak!' There was no reply. A dizzy sickness almost overpowered her senses. Was her hus band's horrid threat indeed fulfilled? and had he so soon taken their child as his participator in unequivocal sin? She opened the door, and looked out upon the night; it was cold and misty, and her sight could not penetrate the gloom. The chill fog rested upon her face like the damps of the grave. She attempted to call again upon her son, but her powers of utterance were palsied her tongue quivered-her lips separated, yet there came forth no voice, no sound to break the silence of oppressed nature; her eyes moved mechanically towards the heavens they were dark as the earth:- had God deserted her?-would he deny one ray, one little ray of light, to lead her to her child? Why did the moon cease to shine, and the stars withhold their brightness? Should she never again behold her boy-her first-born? Her heart swelled and beat within her bosom. She shivered with intense agony, and leaned her throbbing brow against the door-post, to which she had clung for support. Her husband's words rang in her ears: One by one shall your children be taken from you to serve my purposes.' Through the dense fog she fancied that he glared upon her in bitter hatred-his deep-set eyes flashed with demoniac fire, and his smile, now extending, now contract ing, into all the varied expressions of triumphant malignity. She pressed her hand on her eyes to shut out the horrid vision; and a prayer, a simple prayer, rose to her lips; like oil upon the troubled waters, it soothed and composed her spirit. She could not arrange or even remember a form of

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words; but she repeated, again and again, the emphatic appeal, Lord, save me, I perish;' until she felt sufficient strength to enable her to look again into the night. As if hope had set its beacon in the sky, calmly and brightly the moon was now shining upon her cottage. With the sudden change, at once the curse and blessing of our climate, a sharp east wind had set in, and was rolling the mist from the canopy of heaven; numerous stars were visible where, but five minutes before, all had been darkness and gloom. The shadow passed from her soul-she gazed steadily upwards-her mind regained its firmness-her resolve was taken. She returned to her bedroom-dressed and, wrapping her cloak closely to her bosom, was quickly on her way to the Smith's dwelling, on Craythorpe Common.

"The solitary hut was more than two miles from the village; the path leading to it broken and interrupted by fragments of rocks, roots of furze, and stubbed underwood, and, at one particular point, intersected by a deep and brawling brook. Soon after Grace had crossed this stream, she came in view of the cottage, looking like a misshapen mound of earth; and, upon peering in at the window, which was only partially lined by a broken shutter, Covey, the lurcher, uttered, from the inside, a sharp muttering bark, something between reproof and recognition. There had certainly been a good fire, not long before, on the capacious hearth, for the burning ashes cast a lurid light upon an old table and two or three dilapidated chairs; there was also a fowling piece lying across the table; but it was evident none of the inmates were at home; and Grace walked slowly, yet disappointedly, round the dwelling, till she came to the other side, that rested against a huge mass of mingled rock and clay, overgrown with long tangled fern and heather. She climbed to the top, and had not been many minutes on the look-out ere she perceived three men rapidly approaching from the opposite path. As they drew nearer, she saw that one of them was her husband; but where was her son? Silently she lay among the heather, fearing she knew not what-yet knowing she had much to fear. The chimney that rose from the sheeling had, she thought, effectually concealed her from their view; but in this she was mistaken-for while Huntley and one of the Smiths entered the abode, the

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other climbed up the mound. She saw his hat within a foot of where she rested, and fancied she could feel his breath upon her cheek, as she crouched, like a frightened hare, more closely in her form; however, he surveyed the spot without ascending further, and then retreated, muttering something about corbies and ravens; and, almost instantly, she heard the door of the hut close. Cautiously she crept down from her hiding place; and, crawling along the ground with stealth and silence, knelt before the little window, so as to observe, through the broken shutter, the occupation of the inmates. The dog alone was conscious of her approach; but the men were too seriously engaged to heed his intimations of danger."

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dhen there is hope for my poor

child,' she thought, and I can-I will save him! With this resolve, she stole away as softly and as quickly as her trembling limbs would permit. The depredators revelled in their fancied security. The old creaking table groaned under the weight of pheasant, hare, and ardent spirits; and the chorus of a wild drinking song broke upon her ear as returning strength enabled her to hasten along the rude path leading to Craythorpe.

"The first grey uncertain light of morning was visible through the old churchyard trees, as she came within sight of her cottage. She entered quietly, and saw that Abel had not only returned, but was sleeping soundly by his brother's side.

"Grace set her house in order took the work she had finished to her employer came back, and prepared breakfast, of which ing by this time als husband, havreturned, partook. Now he was neither the tyrant whose threat still rung in her ears, nor the reckless brave of the common; he appeared that morning, at least so his wife fancied, more like the being she had loved so fondly and so long.

"I will sleep, Grace,' he said, when their meal was finished- I will sleep for an hour; and to-morrow we shall have a better breakfast.' He called his son into the bed-room, where a few words passed between them. Immediately after, Grace went into the little chamber to fetch her bonnet. She would not trust herself to look upon the sleeper; but her lips moved as if in prayer: and even her children still remembered that, as she passed out of the

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Come with me, , Grace, 'come with me, father, will make a rare holiday.'

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"She hurried the feeble old man along the road leading to the rectory;2 but returned no answer to his enquiries. The servant told her, when she arrived at her destination, that his master was engaged-particularly engaged-could not be disturbed-Sir Thomas Purcel was with him; and as the man spoke, t the study-door opened, and Sir Thomas, n crossed the hall.

"Come back with me, sir,' exclaimed Grace Huntley, eagerly; I can tell you all you want to know. an

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"The baronet shook off the hand she had laid upon his arm, as if she were a maniac. Grace appeared, to read the expression of his countenance. “I) ames not mad, Sir Thomas Purcel,' she cont tinued, in a suppressed tremulous voice, 'not mad, though I may be so soon. Keep back these people, and return with me. Mr. Glasscott knows I am not mad.'

"She passed into the study with a resolute step, and held the door for Sir Thomas to enter; her father followed also, as a child traces its mother's footsteps, and looked around him, and at his daughter, with weak astonishment, One or two of the servants, who were loitering in the hall, moved as if they would have followed.

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me,

Back, back, I say!' she repeated; I need no witnesses there will be enough of them soon. Mr. Glasscott,' she continued closing the door, hear while I am able to bear testimony, lest weakness woman's weakness overcome me, and I talter in the truth, in the broom-sellers' cottage, across the common, on the left side of the chimney, concealed by a large flat stone, is a hole -a den; there much of the property

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