they were simply a set of chessmen, albeit of early workmanship, and made, not of ivory, but of the tooth of the sea-horse. There could therefore be no doubt that Pennant had set forth as the picture of a particular king what was neither more nor less than a chessman, and no more a particular portraiture than the figures of kings and knaves on a pack of cards. The happy inductions of Cuvier from a single fossil bone as to the general character of the animal to which it belonged, may be said to rank with the steamengine and the Rosetta stone -the one good hit amongst many misses. It would appear that even this eminent man was not incapable of being led too far by a wish to account for appearances. The writer

of the paper in the North American Review, which has

*

*

already been quoted, tells the following anecdote :-
A learned professor, well known some years since in
New York, "devoted himself with great ardour to
scientific pursuits, particularly to investigations into
the animal kingdom, and was singularly curious in his
inquiries into all circumstances presenting any un-
usual features. This trait of character rendered him
sometimes liable to be deceived; but he filled his
position worthily, and contributed to the progress of
his favourite sciences. In one of our western excur-
sions, we found ourselves in the country of the gophers,
small animals which dwell principally in the earth,
and which are known to naturalists under the name
of pseudostoma bursarium. Their natural habits lead
them to burrow in the ground, and they are furnished
with two pouches, formed by prolongation and inden-
tation of the skin of the cheek, by which the pouch,
while it opens outwards, is contained within the jaws.
The object of this strange apparatus is said to be to
enable the little animal to excavate his dwelling in
the sandy ground by filling his pouches with sand,
and then carrying the burden to the entrance of his
hole, and there depositing it by pressing his fore-paws
At this time the animal was
upon his cheeks.
not much known, and we succeeded in procuring one,
and gave directions that the skin should be carefully
prepared for preservation. It was in the month of
July, and it became necessary to turn the skin of the
pouches inside out, in order that it might be effectu-
ally dried. In this position, they presented the ap-
pearance of two strange-looking projections, pushed
out from the cheeks, and whose object it would have
been difficult to divine. We saved these exuviæ of
our gopher, and afterwards sent them to the naturalist
to whom we have already alluded. We did not re-
place the inverted pouches in their proper position,
never supposing for a moment that any mistake could
exist respecting their natural arrangement. But so
it was: the stuffed specimen was sent to Europe with
the projecting appendages; and the animal formed the
subject of a memoir, we think, of Cuvier himself, to
the Academy of Natural Sciences, in which this zoolo-
gical stranger was described as belonging to a new
species of quadrupeds, and some speculations were in-
dulged upon his proper position and his habits of life.
Soon after the journal of the scientific body, which
contained this memoir, reached the United States, we
met the same gentleman, who was the correspondent
of Cuvier, and he informed us of the high rank which
the new animal had attained, and favoured us with
an inspection of the memoir in which it was described.
We immediately saw and pointed out the mistake of
which we had most unconsciously been the cause.
The circumstances were subsequently explained, and
the error corrected in the history of the proceedings
of the learned naturalists of Paris. But the incident
has remained impressed upon our memory, warning
us that the highest acquirements may be at fault, and
that we must not always surrender our confidence to
the highest names."

Let us not, however, press the matter too severely against the men who give their thoughts to scientific or even to archaiological inquiry. If we search deeply into the philosophy of these mistakes, we shall find that they in many instances proceed from causes rather reflecting credit than discredit on the human mind. In all such cases, it must be observed, there is the vagueness inseparable from a want of clear knowledge. From what is known, perhaps only a few fragmentary and disconnected particulars, it is amazing how plausible a hypothesis is sometimes formedperfect in itself, tallying perfectly with every ascertained particular, every thing that could be wishedexcept the truth. The case of the Swedish rock is at first sight ludicrous, but I, for my own part, can easily understand how such a thing might occur, without

POPULAR ENGLISH FESTIVALS.

MIDSUMMER DAY-THE NATIVITY OF ST JOHN THE

BAPTIST.

CONSIDERING the part borne by the Baptist in the transactions on which Christianity is founded, it is not wonderful that the day set apart for the observance of his nativity (June 24) should be, in all ages and most parts of Europe, one of the most popular of religious festivals. It enjoys the greater distinction that it is considered as Midsummer Day, and therefore has inherited a number of observances from heathen times. These are now curiously mixed with those springing from Christian feelings, insomuch that it is not easy to distinguish them from the other. It is only clear, from their superstitious character, that they have been originally Pagan. To use the quaint phrase of an old translator of Scaliger, they "form the foote steps of auncient gentility," that is, gentilism, or heathenism.

necessarily throwing ridicule on either antiquarianism | cautious alone, would for certain perish of cold and
or these men in particular. Let me be candid, and hunger, before ever they had shown their first teeth.
state a case where I was myself, though with very | The credulous catch them and foster them, and look
humble pretensions, the investigating archaiologist. out for their parishes, and get them comfortably
The subject was a three-fourths obliterated Latin in- brought on to their apprenticeships. By and by, they
scription in the Gothic character, which had puzzled begin to kick about for themselves, and settle into
every body. I made out a reading of it, which ap- respectable and useful members of society-but no
peared tolerably good sense, and appropriate to the thanks to the awful doctors who never have any thing
situation; but on a second and more careful inspec- to do with the intellectual bantlings that don't come
tion of the stone, it was found that some features of into the world properly stamped and labelled.
the lettering were not rightly accounted for. Setting
to the task again, I found reason to give up almost
every part of the first reading, and adopt a second
quite different in its general sense, but in which
scarcely a single feature of the legend was left with-
out a proper significance. Here were two conjectural
readings, one extremely plausible, another nearly as
much so, but different, excogitated from one inscrip-
tion. This I cannot help thinking a curious mental
process, somewhat analogous, perhaps, to the more
dexterous and felicitous efforts at anagram-making.
Of a similar character are the many various hypo-
theses which have been formed as to who was Junius,
two or three of which have been so perfect in all re-
spects when taken separately, that no one could well
doubt-till he saw the second and the third. Some
of the more mystic parts of Scripture have given a
like exercise to the ingenuity of commentators. There
are passages in the Apocalypse which have been ex-
plained six or eight ways by different men, and all the
explanations equally plausible considered apart from
the rest. There are some minds which delight in
such exercises. I have heard a learned and inge-
nious person detail a theory which he had formed
from a number of far-detached texts, showing the
most unexpected typical relations amongst them,
and the whole bearing most luminously upon human
destiny; which yet one could not but feel to be
merely a surprising product of human cogitation,
from data out of which another person would pro-
bably have made as good and plausible a result, but
totally different. The making up of such imaginative
textures, with the few clear points all so nicely pieced
in, may not be a directly useful, yet neither is it a
mean exercise of intellect. Any where but in a paper
on credulity, I might have been tempted to suggest it
as a new and interesting kind of proof of the power
of mind over matter. How almost creative does mind
appear in such a power of fashioning and accommo-
dating dead things to its own notions!

This ductility of obscure matters, or plasticity of mind over them, shows two things-first, that the hoaxing of men of learned investigation is far less of a good joke than is generally supposed. Such hoaxes are thus shown to be easy matters, for there is evidently no phenomenon so odd and irrelative but what the vagueness of all knowledge will admit of its being brought by human ingenuity into some relation, and explained accordingly. Hoaxing in such circumstances is like tempting a child into a criminal act. It is no triumph, because it is so easy. The second thing is, that investigators can scarcely be too cautious in yielding complete conviction where exact proof is wanting. When we reflect on the great theories which have been formed respecting doubtful matters, all self-consistent, all of them weaving in and accounting for the stray facts, yet all ultimately proved to be groundless, we are almost led to doubt of every thing not mathematical. But this is not right. Belief upon the testimony readily to be had is essential to our condition here, since it is quite impossible for every one to investigate every thing for himself. Therefore, indeed, it is that there is belief.

Caution as to final approval is all that is really required. "Try all things," is, within certain limits, a good maxim in the affairs of learning. And here it is that I think the present tone of the philosophical mind in our country and age is at fault. The constant cry is, give us facts and leave hypotheses alone. But it is not possible for any human being to go on constantly collecting dry unconnected facts. We require to be allowed a little generalisation by way of bon-bons, to encourage us in our tasks. And is not imagination often a means of leading on to fact? We conjecture, we seek evidence in support, and ultimately our guess becomes a truth. Therefore, I say, the forming of hypotheses is, to a certain extent, not only allowable but laudable. And thus there is a utility and a final cause for even that mocked thing, credulity. The credulous are the nurses appointed for ideas in their nonage—which, if left to the tender feelings of the

The observances connected with the Nativity of St John commenced on the previous evening, called, as usual, the eve or vigil of the festival, or Midsummer Eve. On that evening the people were accustomed to go into the woods and break down branches of trees, which they brought to their homes, and planted over their doors, amidst great demonstrations of joy, to make good the Scripture prophecy respecting the Baptist, that many should rejoice in his birth. This custom was universal in England till the recent change in manners. In Oxford there was a speciality in the observance, of a curious nature. Within the first court of Magdalen College, from a stone pulpit at one corner, a sermon was always preached on St John's Day; at the same time, the court was embowered with green boughs, "that the preaching might resemble that of the Baptist in the wilderness."

Towards night, materials for a fire were collected in a public place and kindled. To this the name of bonfire was given, a term of which the most rational explanation seems to be, that it was composed of contributions collected as boons, or gifts of social and charitable feeling. Around this fire the people danced with almost frantic mirth, the men and boys occasionally jumping through it, not to show their agility, but as a compliance with ancient custom. There can be no doubt that this leaping through the fire is one of the most ancient of all known superstitions, and is identical with that followed by Manasseh. We learn that, till a late period, the practice was followed in Ireland on St John's Eve.

It was customary in towns to keep a watch walking about during the Midsummer Night, although no such practice might prevail at the place from motives of precaution. This was done at Nottingham till the reign of Charles I. Every citizen either went himself or sent a substitute; and an oath for the preservation of peace was duly administered to the company at their first meeting at sunset. They paraded the town in parties during the night, every person wearing a garland of flowers upon his head, additionally embellished in some instances with ribbons and jewels. In London, during the middle ages, this watch, consisting of not less than two thousand men, paraded both on this night and on the eves of St Paul's and St Peter's days. The watchmen were provided with cressets, or torches, carried in barred pots on the tops of long poles, which, added to the bonfires on the streets, must have given the town a striking appearance in an age when there was no regular street-lighting. The great came to give their countenance to this marching watch, and made it quite a pageant. A London poet, looking back from 1616, thus alludes to the scene :

"The goodly buildings that till then did hide
Their rich array, open'd their windows wide,
Where kings, great peers, and many a noble dame,
Whose bright pearl-glittering robes did mock the flame
Of the night's burning lights, did sit to see
How every senator in his degree,
Adorn'd with shining gold and purple weeds,
And stately mounted on rich-trapped steeds,
Their guard attending, through the streets did ride,
Before their foot-bands, graced with glittering pride
Of rich-gilt arms, whose glory did present
A sunshine to the eye, as if it meant,
Among the cresset lights shot up on high,
To chase dark night for ever from the sky;
While in the streets the sticklers to and fro,
To keep decorum, still did come and go,
Where tables set were plentifully spread,
And at each door neighbour with neighbour fed."
King Henry VIII, hearing of the marching watch,
pleased with what he saw, that he came with Queen
came privately, in 1510, to see it; and was so much
Catherine and a noble train to attend openly that of
St Peter's Eve a few nights after. But this king, in

the latter part of his reign, thought proper to abolish the ancient custom, probably from a dread of so great a muster of arined citizens.

Some of the superstitious notions connected with St John's Eve are of a highly fanciful nature. The Irish believe that the souls of all people on this night leave their bodies, and wander to the place, by land or sea, where death shall finally separate them from the tenement of clay. It is not improbable that this notion was originally universal, and was the cause of the wide-spread custom of watching or sitting up awake on St John's night, for we may well believe that there would be a general wish to prevent the soul from going upon that somewhat dismal ramble. In England, and perhaps in other countries also, it was believed that, if any one sat up fasting all night in the church porch, he would see the spirits of those who were to die in the parish during the ensuing twelvemonths come and knock at the church door, in the order and succession in which they were to die. We can easily perceive a possible connexion between this dreary fancy and that of the soul's midnight ramble. The civic vigils just described were no doubt a result, though a more remote one, of the same idea. There is a Low Dutch proverb used by those who have been kept awake all night by troubles of any kind-"We have passed St John Baptist's night." In a book written in the seventeenth century for the instruction of a young nobleman, the author warns his pupil against certain "fearful superstitions, as to watch upon St John's evening, and the first Tuesday in the month of March, to conjure the moon, to lie upon your back, having your ears stopped with laurel leaves, and to fall asleep not thinking of God, and such like follies, all forged by the infernal Cyclops and Pluto's servants." A circumstance mentioned by Grose supports our conjecture-that to sleep on St John's Eve was thought to ensure a wandering of the spirit, while watching was regarded as conferring the power of seeing the vagrant spirits of those who slept. Amongst a company who sat up in a church porch, one fell so deeply asleep that he could not be waked. His companions afterwards averred that, whilst he was in this state, they beheld his spirit go and knock

at the church door.

The same notion of a temporary liberation of the soul is perhaps at the bottom of a number of superstitions practices resembling those appropriate to Hallow-eve. It was supposed, for example, that if an unmarried woman, fasting, laid a cloth at midnight with bread and cheese, and sat down as if to eat, leaving the street-door open, the person whom she was to marry would come into the room and drink to her by bowing, after which, setting down the glass, with another bow he would retire. It was customary on this eve to gather certain plants which were supposed to have a supernatural character. The fern is one of those herbs which have their seed on the back of the leaf, so small as to escape the sight. It was concluded, according to the strange irrelative reasoning of former times, that to possess this seed not easily visible, was a means of rendering one's self invisible. Young

come and take it out." So also, in a poem entitled the | face attracts, and every kind look is taken as an indi'Cottage Girl," published in 1786 :

"The moss-rose that, at fall of dew,
Ere eve its duskier curtain drew,
Was freshly gather'd from its stem,
She values as the ruby gem;
And, guarded from the piercing air,
With all an anxious lover's care,
She bids it, for her shepherd's sake,
Await the new-year's frolic wake,
When, faded in its alter'd hue,
She reads--the rustic is untrue!
But, if it leaves the crimson paint,
Her sickening hopes no longer faint;
The rose upon her bosom worn,
She meets him at the peep of morn,
And lo! her lips with kisses prest,

He plucks it from her panting breast."

We may suppose, from the following version of a
German poem, entitled "The St. John's Wort," that
precisely the same notions prevail amongst the peasant
youth of that country :-

"The young maid stole through the cottage door,
And blush'd as she sought the plant of power:
Thou silver glow-worm, oh, lend me thy light,
I must gather the mystic St. John's wort to-night—
The wonderful herb, whose leaf will decide
If the coming year shall make me a bride.'
And the glow-worm came

With its silvery flame,
And sparkled and shone
Through the night of St. John,

And soon has the young maid her love-knot tied.
With noiseless tread,

To her chamber she sped,
Where the spectral moon her white beams shed:
Bloom here, bloom here, thou plant of power,
To deck the young bride in her bridal hour!'
But it droop'd its head, that plant of power,
And died the mute death of the voiceless flower;
And a wither'd wreath on the ground it lay,
More meet for a burial than bridal day.

And when a year was past away,
All pale on her bier the young maid lay;
And the glow-worm came
With its silvery flame,
And sparkled and shone
Through the night of St. John,

As they closed the cold grave o'er the maid's cold clay."

Some years ago, there was exhibited before the
in a ploughed field near Cawood in Yorkshire, and
Society of Antiquaries a ring which had been found
which appeared, from the style of its inscriptions, to
be of the fifteenth century. It bore for a device to
pine plants joined by a true-love knot, with this
heart wills, or is desirous. The stalks of the plants
motto above, "Ma fiancée relt," that is, My sweet-
that the parties represented by them were to come
were bent towards each other, in token, no doubt,
together in marriage. The metto under the ring was
are these popular notions.
"Joye l'amour feu." So universal, in time as in place,

cation of especial favour, serious sorrows might more often flow, were it not that nature neutralises them in part by planting in the youthful breast such a love of variety that our admiration of the beautiful is temporary and transient, shifting from object to object with ease and rapidity. A lasting degree of love or regard is commonly reserved for a more advanced season of life, when the passions, subservient to the maturer dictates of judgment, allow reason and prudence to have a say in matters in which their interference is of the utmost importance. This is a general truth, though my own case in some measure ran counter to it.

all.

I have said that Sunday was a bright day for us It was particularly so to me; for besides enjoying the happiness of accompanying my sister to church, I found then and there attractions of a more thrilling kind; and I well remember, in my youthful ardour and enthusiasm, how I used to count the days of the week, and rejoice to think that every succeeding day brought me nearer to the day which "comes betwixt the Saturday and Monday." I loved the day for good and grave reasons, but for other ones also, I confess. Immediately opposite to our pew in church sat the family of an eminent merchant, whose riches, in my estimation, consisted not so much in this world's wealth, as in the possession of two beautiful daughters, distinguished, above all the other girls of the place, for elegance of person and beauty of face. Besides these natural advantages, their father's circumstances enabled them to enjoy all the aids of dress and ornament, and they were in all respects the belles of the town.

My sister was acquainted with these young ladies; and it might have been amusing to any one skilled in scrutinising causes and effects, to have watched the blush which always accompanied my recognition of the youngest of these provincial beauties, who did not seem altogether unconscious of the emotions she excited in her devoted but humble admirer. My sister tried often to rally me out of my partiality for Cecilia, saying that a boy like me had little to hope from the condescension of the rich merchant's daughter. But of a first love! And though girls of seventeen choose when did a boy ever reflect, while under the influence to deem young men of eighteen or nineteen mere lads, I was, in reality, older than Cecilia. Besides, I fancied the fair object of my adoration looked encouragingly on her admirer; at all events, I was willing to think so; and looking through the bright medium of Hope, graces), I saw nothing to disturb the happiness of the and Love, and Faith (for I had dependance on all the pations that partook not of the same bright hue. blissful present, while, for the future, I had no antici

This was too favourable an opportunity to let slip, and At this stage of my affairs, Valentine's Day occurred. The observance of St John's Day seems to have Cecilia. After many efforts, and many a sleepless I set myself down to compose a poetical address to been, by a practical bull, cortined mainly to the pre-hour, I at length managed to compose a few verses, vious evening. On the day itself, we only find that expressive of my admiration. My sister, I well rethe people kept their doors and beds embowered in member, sat opposite to me at a small table while I the branches set up the night before, upon the under- wrote; but although I knew that she guessed the tempest, and all kinds of noxious physical agencies.

A SIMPLE STORY.

Ir is a sufficiently old saying, that the life of man
rests largely on trifles, and that its serenity is more
frequently interrupted by slight causes than by things
which, to appearance, possess a much greater degree of
importance. A look, a word, or a supposed tincture
of asperity even in the tone of utterance, will some-
times produce consequences alike painful and per-
manent in their effects. The whole current of a life
may be altered by the misinterpretation or misrepre-
sentation of a sentence; nay, the most serious results
have followed from the misplacing of a letter or a
misspelt word. Of the truth of these reflections, the
following little story may serve as an illustration:-

to her. I dispatched my epistle; and next morning I fancied, in the simplicity of my heart, that every one knew what I had done, and my heart throbbed with an undefinable feeling of alarm when any one addressed me. Oh the inexpressible anxiety I experienced as to the result of my letter! Would it elicit a reply?-and of what nature would this be? At length, on the following day-an age to me-an answer came; but eager as I had been to possess myself of this important document, I could scarcely summon courage enough to break the seal. I stole away to a place where I hoped I should be unobserved, and, rallying myself on my foolish trepidation, I opened the precious billet. Who can imagine my feelings of disappointment, anguish, and shame, when I read four lines to this effect :—

"He who aspires at writing well

men would go out at midnight of St John's Eve, and standing that these had a virtue in averting thunder, purport of my letter, I did not think fit to show it endeavour to catch some in a plate, but without touching the plant-an attempt rather trying to patien-ce, and which often failed. Our Elizabethan dramatists and poets, including Shakspeare and Jonson, have many allusions to the invisibility-conferring powers of fern seed. The people also gathered on this night the rose, St John's wort, vervain, trefoil, and rue, all of which were thought to have magical properties. They set the orpine in clay upon pieces of slate or potsherd in their houses, calling it a Midsummer Man. As the stalk was found next morning to incline to the right or left, the anxious maiden knew whether her lover would prove true to her or not. Young women likewise sought for what they called pieces of coal, but in reality, certain hard, black, dead roots, often found under the living mugwort, designing to place these under their pillows, that they might dream of their lovers. Some of these foolish fancies I am now a man advanced in years; and although are pleasantly strung together in the "Connoisseur," the feelings are said to become deadened and blunted a periodical paper of the middle of the last century. by the tear and wear of the world and its cares, yet "I and my two sisters tried the dumb cake together: does my mind recall, with the freshness of yesterday, you must know two must make it, two bake it, two events which occurred at the distance of more than a break it, and the third put it under each of their quarter of a century. In youth, I was endowed with pillows (but you must not speak a word all the time), a lively fancy and a peculiar sensitiveness of dispoand then you will dream of the man you are to have. sition, which caused me to feel keenly alive to any This we did; and, to be sure, I did nothing all night thing in the shape of insult or ill usage; but withal, but dream of Mr Blossom. The same night, exactly unless I err greatly, I possessed a frank and good disat twelve o'clock, I sowed hemp-seed in our back-position, which led me to forgive injuries as soon as yard, and said to myself-Hemp-seed I sow, hempseed hoe, and he that is my true love come after me and mow.' Will you believe me? I looked back and saw him as plain as eyes could see him. After that I took a clean shift and wetted it, and turned it wrong side out, and hung it to the fire upon the back of a chair; and very likely my sweetheart would have come and turned it right again (for I heard his step), but I was frightened, and could not help speaking, which broke the charm. I likewise stuck up two Midsummer Men, one for myself and one for him. Now, if his had died away, we should never have come together; but I assure you his blowed and turned to mine. Our maid Betty tells me, if I go backwards, without speaking a word, into the garden upon Midsummer Eve, and gather a rose, and keep it in a clean sheet of paper, without looking at it till Christmasday, it will be as fresh as in June; and if I then stick it in my bosom, he that is to be my husband will

confessed.

My father was engaged in an extensive mercantile concern, requiring vigilant attention on the part of its conductor; and, in order that he might surround himself with assistants in whom he could place implicit confidence, he took my brothers and myself, in early youth, into the counting-house. Here we did our best to please, and agreed well together. We had but one sister, a gay warm-hearted girl, to whom we were all devotedly attached; and it was a pleasant thing for us on Sundays to walk to church one on each side of her, while the rest acted as a sort of body-guard behind.

At the time to which I more immediately refer, I was between eighteen and nineteen-a most susceptible period of life, when the heart overflows with affeetionate impulses, attaching itself to every thing fair and good, regardless or fearless of consequences. From the tendencies of this most impressible age, when every new

Must learn beforehand how to spell. Ere you again give rhymes to light, Go, blundering goose, and learn to write." This severe reply came on me like a thunderbolt. My misery was fearfully complete. The idea of being told that I could not spell, and by Cecilia, was maddening. I could have borne any reproach but that. I imagined there was something inexpressibly humiliating in being told, and by her, that I could not spell the words I had used to express my passion. But it is needless to attempt to describe the overpowering weight of my affliction. I dragged myself home a saddened and broken-spirited creature, with only one idea possessing my mind, namely, an utter abhorrence of all womankind. My despair showed how deeply, boy as I was, I had loved. As I stole to my room, I caught a sight of my sister's face, wearing, as I fancied, an expression of intense roguishness; but as I had some vague notion of every one being aware of the slight I had received, this did not strike me as at all peculiar. I passed a miserable sleepless night, and rose next morning full of strong resolves, which, on the first opportunity, I determined to put in practice. 'Twas in vain I tried to recall every word I had written in my ill-fated valentine, that I might satisfy myself where the error lay which had thus exposed me to the ridicule of Cecilia. I could make nothing of it. I wrote and re-wrote my lines again and again, hoping that my eye would deteet the appearance of every distinct word, but it

would not do. The words, as words, were perfect; the
spelling was faultless; so I had nothing for it but to
smother my chagrin in the best way I could.
During the day, I mentioned to my father, as if it
had been long occupying my mind, that I thought it
would be for my advantage to go to London for a time,
in order that my knowledge of business might be ex-
tended. This idea did not seem at first to meet with
my father's approbation; but he promised to give some
consideration to the subject, and that was as much as
I had hoped for on a first application.

Next day there were consultations amongst my brothers, and at last my father's consent was obtained. Thus sanctioned, I made all haste to get my arrangements completed for departing from the scene of my disgrace. In a few days I was on my way to London, accompanied by the regrets and affectionate adieus of my relations, and stocked with recommendations from my good father to a house in London with whom

he had an extensive connexion.

I need not describe my feelings during my journey; but I remember I detected myself several times wondering why I was not more happy. Silly youth! the plague was in my own heart! But I flattered myself, I recollect, with the idea that my sudden departure would inflict a blow on the vain Cecilia; and, under that impression, I thought I had so far triumphed. I was received with the most flattering attention by the gentleman to whose notice I had been consigned. He made arrangements without delay to receive me into his warehouse; but, as he was a single man, he apologised for not being able to accommodate me in his own house. I had, therefore, to look about me for a lodging, and, domestically speaking, was for the first time thrown upon my own resources. I engaged a lodging at no great distance from my employer's office; and when, on the first evening after my arrival, I found myself sitting in my little humble parlour, and thought of home with all its delightful associations, of its happy inmates, of the cheerful evening they would be enjoying, and of Cecilia, I doubted if my triumph was as complete as I had allowed myself to imagine. Strange to say, Cecilia was still the leading object of my thoughts. I had truly loved with all the ardour of a boy's first love.

Next day, I was installed in my new office; and the overwhelming extent of the business in which I was soon immersed partly dissipated my own sorrow. It was in the evenings, when, exhausted by the day's exertions, I sat down to recruit in my dark parlour, that I had time to think. Sometimes I accused myself of great folly in casting from me all those minor comforts which are never appreciated until withdrawn, and I longed for the familiar intercourse of my old friends. Acquaintances I might have had by the hundred in London, but there a stranger youth can seldom boast of many disinterested friends. At other times, while musing bitterly on the valentine, I felt a revival of all the feelings which had produced it. About a year after my arrival in London, I learnt, by a letter from my sister, that Cecilia's father had died suddenly of apoplexy; and that, on examination, his affairs were found to be in a state of bankruptcy! It was supposed that there would be nothing left available for his daughters, who were thus brought all at once from a position of affluence to poverty and destitution. Deeply and sincerely did I regret this sudden change of fortune on Cecilia's account; a change the more distressing, as she was ill calculated to bear up against such a calamity. I soon after heard that the two fatherless girls had left the town, and that no one knew whither they had gone. Although my heart had ceased to throb so violently as it once did at the mention of Cecilia's name, I often wished I could discover her retreat, and add to her comforts in some way or other, without allowing her to discover from whom the relief flowed. But my secret inquiries were fruitless in this respect; and all that regarded my once gay and beautiful mistress remained a mystery.

"No," she replied; "it was never shown by me to a human being. My own sister did not even know that I had received it."

something peculiarly interesting in her fair and even pale
countenance. She appeared a fragile being, formed to
cling to man for shelter and support. Her conversation
pleased me much, and her mind proved to be of superior Then it occurred to me, all at once, that my sister might
order. My friends had for some time pressed me to have been the person who sent it, for I recollected that
that the influence of a first love still affected me, I had and as my hand was round and large, and as I did not
marry; but, although I should have felt reluctant to own she sat opposite to me at the little table while I wrote,
certainly felt very indifferent upon the subject. At the spare the ink, she might have had no difficulty in de-
close of the evening party, however, I found myself inter- ciphering every word. Cecilia thought this not impro-
nally concluding, that if a partner for life was to be taken, bable; but it was vain to say more about it then. I made
the young lady in question would form a pleasing and some inquiries about her health and her views for her
fitting one. It is unnecessary to dwell on this point. future support, and mentioned my generous wife's ideas
Though far from being an ardent lover, I felt such an on the subject. She heard of this kindness with grati-
attachment spring up in a short time, as led me to offer tude and tears, but resolved to take some time to reflect
my hand to my friend's cousin. It was accepted, and we on her proceedings. On my way home, the valentine
were married.
affair, so unexpectedly started, recurred to my mind, and
Several years of calm wedded happiness passed away I could not help musing on the deep influence which the
after this event. My wife brought me several children; harsh answer had exerted on my career in life. I had
been sent from home by it for a long period; it had cost
but, at last, a change came over the placid course of our
me many bitter days, months, ay, even years; I had lost
existence. By degrees my wife's health gave way. I tried
every possible means for restoring her, for she had proved by it, perhaps, the woman who had gained the ardent
wise, good, and affectionate; but she continued still love of my youth; and, in short, it had been one of the
slowly to decline in strength. It was at this time that I moving springs of my past course in life. Reflecting on
had occasion to visit a manufacturing town at some dis- these things with mingled feelings, I reached home, and,
tance, and, for their amusement, I took my two eldest to my inexpressible grief, found my dear wife much
children with me. Having gone and completed my busi- worse-dying. She was anxiously waiting for me. I
ness, I prepared to return home, and was waiting for my went hurriedly to her side. "Dearest Henry," said she,
vehicle at the door of the town inn, when a poor-looking
"I have but a short time to speak to you, and I have one
woman passed, dressed in a faded cloak, and a miserable- important thing to say. I have thought of it long; and
looking silk bonnet. I got a glimpse of the face, and a circumstances have lately occurred which make me hope-
thought struck me that it was in some way familiar to ful of seeing my wish in the way to fulfilment ere I die.
The woman, too, had apparently had some similar For our sweet children's sake marry again, and marry one
when I was almost paralysed with horror on recognising so. Pardon me for making secret inquiries about that
idea regarding my features, as she turned to look again, who will be a mother to them. There is one who will be
in the faded dejected being before me the once gay and person; she is gentle and good, and has known misfor-
beautiful Cecilia! Our recognition was simultaneous; tune too well not to pity the motherless child. You have
and on my uttering her name, a deep blush passed over ever loved her. Dear Henry, it is Cecilia. Make her
the sunken features, recalling something of the brilliancy your wife. It is the dying request of one whom you
of former days. She held out her hand timidly, as if have striven to make happy, and who would, if possible,
doubtful whether her advances would be received. I ensure your happiness till our final reunion takes place in
immediately tried to recover myself, lest she should another world." Such, in broken language, was the wish
think that my astonishment arose more from her altered uttered by my noble and disinterested wife. She died
appearance than from simple surprise at meeting her; very soon afterwards.
and having asked her to walk into the inn with me,
was soon put in possession of the particulars of her sad
history.

me.

wise have kept her silent on this occasion. Sorrow and
Necessity overcame the delicacy which might other
want had subdued the once proud girl, and she wept be-
fore me. I did not then think of my triumph, as I was
once ignorant enough to call my own pride; this was no
time for any feeling but that of sympathy, and this I
could fully bestow.

Years have passed away since that period; and Cecilia sits by my side, the mother of children of her own, yet a fessed that she had been the writer of the severe letter, mother, also, to those that are motherless. When applied to on the subject, my sister, now a grave matron, conhaving noticed my letter to be a valentine, and chanced to catch the misspelt word. Guessing my removal to London to be the result of her act, she had never dared to confess it. It is needless to draw any moral at length from this simple story. The gross impropriety of my sister's conduct is rendered obvious by its consequences. A wise over-ruling power, however, modified all in the end for the happiness of those concerned.

THIRD ARTICLE. BY A LADY.

Cecilia told me that, on the death of her father, she and her sister had left the town, in the hope of finding a home with an old aunt; but they soon found that this lady could not provide for them both, as she had just enough to support herself. They therefore determined to do something for themselves. Her sister entered a house of business; but the close confinement to which she NOTES OF A RESIDENCE IN THE BUSH. Cecilia obtained a situation as lady's maid in a family of was subjected soon undermined her health, and she died. rank, and continued to fill it for a time with comparative RETURN TO THE STATION-DAIRY MANAGEMENT — comfort. But her health, also, became unsettled. She had, for this cause, to leave in succession several places, until matters grew worse and worse with her. At length she was forced again to think of her old aunt; and when I saw her, she was on her way thither, unwell, and almost penniless. My heart bled to see her sad condition. I prevailed on her to take some little money, and parted with her, resolving to do yet more in behalf of one once so dear.

About a

I had no secrets from my poor suffering wife, and nar-
rated to her all that had occurred, on my return home,
telling her of the past as well as the present. She,
plans in her mind for assisting "my first love." I even
with her accustomed benevolence, revolved a thousand
thought that my wife took a strange care in planning out
modes of help for Cecilia. I can now divine what were
her kind and pure-minded feelings in doing so.
fortnight afterwards, my wife made me pay a visit to the
aunt of Cecilia, who lived at no very distant spot, and to
see what could be done in the way of assistance. On
being admitted to the poor lodging of the aunt and niece,
I found the latter employed in sewing.
In the course of conversation, she said she had been
that very morning looking through some old papers
which she had preserved; and, rising up as she spoke,
coming forward, she said, smilingly,
she took from a drawer an old worn-looking letter, and
"This was amongst
them; do you remember it ?" I opened the letter, and
found it was the identical valentine that had at one time
cost me so many bitter pangs. I replied, "Yes, I
remember it;" and added, in a half jocular manner,
"Ah! Cecilia, had it not been for the saucy answer you
made to this very epistle, you might now have been very
differently placed."

ANECDOTES OF THE COUNTRY.

DURING my absence at Melbourne, every thing had
gone on well at the station; but I soon found that
Mary had been managing as she chose too long to like
being again under my control. I found her almost
totally changed; no one dared to find fault with her ;
and so far from being of any assistance to me, she be-
came a great torment. The first act of rebellion was
her refusal to wash my baby's clothes, on the plea
that she was not engaged to do it, so I had to do it
myself: the next was, she would not wash any one's
clothes unless I cooked for two days. I wondered
what her next demand would be; but what could I
do?-it would have been very difficult to get another
woman-servant. I had so far to humour her, that I
cooked one day in the week when she had to wash.
She never helped me at all with the children, although,
management of the dairy upon myself-except, of
as we had lately got a herd of cattle, I had taken the
course, milking the cows, which is done by men; but
my time was fully employed, and I often envied Mary
sitting quietly in her own hut and sewing her own
I knew well why she behaved in this man-
work.
ner; she wanted me to retain her as a nursery-maid
only, and get a man as hut-keeper; but wages were
too high for us to do that at this time. We could
not get a man under L.40 a-year and his rations be-
sides; and provisions were now exorbitant in price.
Flour could not be purchased under L.80 per ton
(formerly we got it for L.25), and every other thing
was in proportion. This advance of prices pressed
very hard upon the settlers, so that we determined
to have no unnecessary expense at the station; and I
times too much for me. If my baby would not sleep
when I wanted him, I sometimes laid him on the
grass and let him roll about while I was in the dairy;
and when he tired of that, I put him in a basket and
hung him at my side, as I had seen the native women
do.

I must now pass over a few years, during which I continued, by steadily persevering in an honourable and upright course of conduct, to gain the esteem and friendship of my employer, who ultimately offered me a partnership in the concern. But I had the wish to return home, that I might give my father's establishment the benefit of the increased knowledge and experience resulting from my residence in London. London had had its usual salutary effect upon me. In the intense struggle in which every one is sure to be involved who there applies himself to business, a vain self-esteem cannot exist. The circumstance of being exposed to the rubs of hundreds of young fellows of have forgotten; you wrote me an answer, and a very really liked managing the dairy, although it was some

proved ability, as regarded all that appeared necessary for them to know, had brought me down in my own estimation. I had found my stilts knocked from under me, and had made the desirable discovery, that I formerly knew "nothing." I had applied myself diligently to remedy these defects, devoting my leisure hours to study; and the more information I acquired, I found I had yet the more to learn.

"Answer? What answer? I never replied to this
letter," she said.
you must

"Ah! you must not tell me that," said I;

severe one it was, too."

"Never!" she exclaimed, with some energy. "I can assure you that I never in my life wrote to you either good or bad, and it pains me to think that you doubt what I now state as being strictly true."

I now explained that my impression had been so strong that the reply to my unlucky valentine came from her, that she must pardon me for having felt disposed to look I had been some time at home, when a friend proposed incredulously upon her first denial; but of course I now one day that I should accompany him a little way into must acquit her of any share in the transaction, as her the country to see a cousin of his, a young lady, who was word was sufficient to convince me that I had been in on a visit to some relations, who were also his near friends. error. I repeated the biting lines about my inability to When we arrived at the place, a charming country resi-spell; and I then, with some degree of confusion, looked dence, we were met, in the garden in front of the house, by the young lady alluded to. Her appearance struck me, although my fine susceptibilities had been long gone, never, I thought, to return. She was extremely slender in forin, and seemed in delicate health, but there was

over my boyish effusion, and discovered that, in spelling
the word heart, I had left out the letter e, making it hurt.
I then said, Yet who could know of this but you, or
some one to whom you had shown it, and who took ad-
vantage of the error to quiz me."

We were now milking twenty cows, and we sent a great deal both of butter and cheese to market; for the butter we got 2s. 2d. per lb., and for cheese 1s. 8d. Our cheese was the best that had gone to market, but there was no great demand for it; but if so, a cheese dairy would pay very well, even at a shilling per pound; and I should suppose, that as the population increases there will be a greater demand. We had a ready sale for butter, and contracted with a person to give him butter all the year at 2s. 2d. per lb. With much persuasion I got my brother to bring home some

pigs; he seemed to have a great dislike to them, but I
could not bear to pour out so much skim milk on the
ground every day. Our pigs got on well, and fattened
on the milk and whey, and made an agreeable change
in our diet.
In very hot weather I made cheese
when I could get rennet, as the milk did not keep
well; our dairy was too small, and not cool enough.
In thundery weather, I had occasionally to give all
to the pigs. I have seen, when a sheep was killed in
thundery weather, the whole carcass get quite black
in a few hours, and become useless; we found it very
difficult to keep meat in any way in summer. We
had it killed always after sunset, and then cut up and
salted early next morning, and put into a cask under-
ground. I had made a good supply of mutton hams,
which were found useful in hot weather; and our
dairy was a great comfort and saving to us, as we
could use the milk, prepared in many ways, instead of
meat. The shepherds were also fond of it. We gave
them no butter except on the churning day, on which
occasion I sent them some for tea, which was a great
treat.

he got a good firm hold, and then sprung on the
horse's back. James said he never saw a cleverer
piece of agility in a circus. On their way home they
killed an emu, but they could not carry it with them,
being already well loaded. When James and our shep-
herd Sandy came near our hut, they fired off their
pistols to let us know they had found the sheep; but
we did not understand the signal, and I was very
much frightened. We at home had been living in
great anxiety while my brother was away. I was at
the station with only Mary and the children through
the day, and our comfort was not much increased at
night by knowing that the two old shepherds were at
home; we had seen, two days before, seven wild
natives run past our hut at a little distance, all naked,
which gave us a great fright; I thought Mary was
going into a fit. I got my pistol, which I had hanging
in my room, loaded; Mary then went for hers, and
we walked up and down before the hut for about an
hour. My husband was at the settlement during all
the anxious time we had had at the station, and he
heard nothing of our loss of sheep until his return
home.

Bad servants were now our chief annoyance; and it seemed of no use being at the expense of bringing Besides the occasional frights of this kind from good ones from home, for they soon get corrupted; natives, with whom it was no easy matter to be on good But I must make an exception in favour of Mrs Clerk, terms, we were at times troubled with wild dogs, the servant of Messrs Donald and Hamilton, who was which proved a very serious annoyance. These anithe best servant I ever saw; she was always neat her- mals generally discovered themselves when they came self, and kept every thing neat and comfortable about by setting up a most piteous howl, which was the the hut, and never grudged hard work; she was in- signal for sallying out in pursuit of them; for, if let valuable to her masters. We all went over one day alone, they would make no small havoc with the live to dine at Messrs Donald and Hamilton's; it was the stock. They seldom escaped. One of our sheep dogs only visit I ever paid in the bush, although I had had a most inveterate hatred to thein, and he always many invitations. I of course took the children tracked them, and often killed one of them without with me; we enjoyed ourselves very much, and re-assistance, although they are very tenacious of life. mained all next day. Mrs Clerk joined her persuasions for us to do so, and told us we had not seen half the good things she could make; she spared no pains to make us comfortable, and went through her work both quickly and well, besides nursing my little boy. After this visit, I had many invitations to visit the neighbours round, which I should have liked very well, but I had too much to detain me at home.

I now come to the year 1840. Provisions at this time became very high in price. Flour, as I have mentioned, was L.80 a ton, and it was scarcely to be had in a good condition; tea L.16 a chest; sugar 6d. a lb.; meat, butter, and cheese, were, unfortunately for the farmers, the only things which fell in price. We could now get only 1s. 10d. for butter, and 1s. for cheese.

the grubs are to be found. It is a large white grub
with a black head. I know a gentleman who was
tempted to taste them from seeing the natives enjoy
them so much, and he said they were very good, and
often ate them again. 'Manna falls very abundantly
from the gum trees at certain seasons of the year; I
think it was in March I gathered some.
It is very
good, and tastes like almond biscuits; it is only to be
procured early in the morning, as it disappears soon
after sunrise. We sometimes got some skins of the
opossum and flying-squirrel, or tuan, from the natives.
It was a good excuse for them to come to the station.
I paid them with a piece of dress, and they were very
fond of getting a red pocket-handkerchief to tie round
their necks.

OCCASIONAL NOTES.

THE PENNY POSTAGE.

WHEN the plan of a universal penny postage was proposed, we hailed it as a great boon to the country, but were very doubtful if it could be carried conveniently into execution. The experience of a year and a half has proved that it is perfectly suitable in every respect, and it may now be said to be irrevocably fixed in the affections of the people. Only on one point has it failed: the increase in the number of letters is not Iso great as was anticipated, and the revenue has materially suffered. But it may very properly be asked

noon; 3 and 5 afternoon; and 7 evening. And how

have the Post-office authorities shown any thing like zeal in adopting those measures which would promote a larger intercourse by letters? We decidedly They are more like a fox than a dog; are of a reddish- think not, and the public at large are of the same brown, and have a very thick bushy tail. When one opinion. It seems to be a principle in Post-office ecois killed, the tail is cut off as a trophy, and hung up in the hut; the shepherds generally get five shillingsnomy to send as few mail bags as possible-once a-day from their master for every wild dog they kill. My to most places, and twice a-day to places of greater husband saw a wild dog which was supposed to be importance, being the ordinary allowance. Now, dead; its tail was cut off, and in a few minutes it got who could expect a marked increase of epistolary up and began to fight again with the dogs, but it was correspondence under such circumstances? The arAt this time we had a very troublesome old shep- soon overcome. herd, who was continually letting his sheep go astray. Australia, as is well known, possesses many beauti- rangement is quite behind the age. Society in all One morning, when my brother was counting them ful birds, and of these we seldom wanted visiters, departments is shooting ahead; while the Post-office over, ninety-two were missing; the shepherd could particularly parrots and cockatoos; but I never is in a complacent dream, as if such things as stagegive no account of them, but that the day before the heard any sweet-singing bird, such as the larks and coaches, steam-boats, and railways, were scarcely in Hock had divided, but he fancied he had collected them blackbirds of Scotland, and this I thought a great existence. A railway train leaves London for the all again. My brother James took a hurried break-drawback on their elegance of plumage. Some of the fast, and went with two of our men on horseback to birds uttered very strange sounds, as if speaking. I Liverpool side of the country half a dozen times a-day endeavour to track them; they returned in the even heard one every morning say-Eight o'clock," and how many of these carry mails? Or, take the railing without having seen anything of them; but James Get up, get up" another used to call out-" All fat, way from Glasgow to Edinburgh. A train leaves each determined to go off again early next morning, and, if all fat ;" and another was continually saying-" Po-end at 5, 6, 7, and 9, in the morning; 11 in the forenecessary, remain out several days. One of the men tato, potato," which always put us in mind of our loss returned in two days, and brought us intelligence that in having none, nor any other vegetables at all. Parthey had found the sheep-track beyond Mr Campbell's rots are very good eating; many a parrot-pie we had; station, which was fifteen miles distant; the man re- the white parrots are, I think, the best; next, the turned to try and get a fresh horse from some of the white cockatoo. neighbours, but we could not get one for two days; he brought home an emu across his horse, which he had run down. He told us that my brother was out with several gentlemen, and they had a native boy with them who was famous for tracking, but who seemed sadly afraid of going among a hostile tribe of nativ es, and therefore was of little use. Our own man Sand_y, whom we had brought from home, was a good tracker, and could see a mark when no one else could; he had tracked the sheep for nearly a mile on his hauds and knees, the marks being too faint to be seen when walking or riding. Mr Alexander and Mr Colin Campbell were exceedingly kind in their assistance to my brother, and were out with him for several days. At last, after fourteen days' riding, the sheep were found a hundred and forty miles from our station. My brother and his friends had almost given up thoughts of looking any longer for them; but they rode on about a mile farther, when they saw them in a hollow, surrounded by about a hundred natives; the men had all hid themselves, having seen the party coming, and left the women and children, who ran about chattering and hiding behind the rocks. The party rode down among them, and a singular scene met their view: the ground was strewed with heads of sheep and bits of mutton, and some of the sheep were as well cut up as if done by an English butcher; the skins were pegged out on the ground, and the fat collected in little twine bags, which the women make of the bark of a tree. Fifty live sheep were enclosed within a brush fence (James said it was the best brush fence he had seen in the country), but they were very thin, the natives being too lazy to take them out to feed; they were killing and eating them up as fast as they could. The gentlemen lighted a good fire by which to watch the sheep all night; but they durst not sit within the glare of it, for fear of the natives taking aim at them, as they knew they were among the rocks, and very likely watching them, although they did not show themselves. The party slept little that night; they cooked and ate some of the mutton, and the little native boy they had to track for them, although in great fear of the other natives, devoured nearly a whole leg. They started early next morning, driving the sheep before them, and loaded with spears, tomahawks, waddies, and baskets, which they had taken from the natives. The native boy mounted a horse, saying he would not walk a step; but as he mounted, he slipped off again, and the horse started on; the little fellow caught hold of the tail, and allowed himself to be dragged on till

once. This is not the place to go into the question of Post-office management; but we may be excused for expressing a belief that the system in the particular referred to is extremely defective, and that until it be effectually remedied, it is needless to expect any decided increase in the quantity of letters carried, or any addition to the revenue of the country.

often is the mail taken by these eight trains? Once, at 11 forenoon; and to carry out the farce, another mail is dispatched by a coach between 9 and 10 at night. Both these times are virtually no better than one, for they are so widely asunder as nearly to meet : in point of fact, a letter cannot, without great inconvenience, be answered in any case sooner than next day. Is this common sense, or what the country has a right to expect? Is it at all reasonable that a letter should Our station had now a great look of comfort about be of more difficult transmission than a human being it. We had plastered the outside of our hut with mud, which made it quite close; we had windows and or a parcel of goods? Yet such is actually the case. good doors, and a little flower garden enclosed in You may send a parcel several times a-day to a disfront; we had built a good hut for our servants, a tant town by means of coaches, steam-boats, or railnew store, a large dairy under ground, a new wool-ways, but seldom can you send a letter oftener than shed, and had two large paddocks for wheat, potatoes, &c., and we had now plenty of vegetables. We had also put up a larger stack-yard, as our cattle were increasing, and a large covered shed for the calves at night; also to milk in. About five miles from the home station, we had formed an out-station for the sheep, which secured to us a large tract of land, as no new settler can come within three miles of a station. Every one thought highly of our station; and we were well off for water, having several large rater holes (as they are always called here, but at home we should call them lakes or large ponds); and when The frequent loss of valuable ships at sea by fire orithe rains come on, these ponds are joined together in ginating in the hold, is deeply lamentable on the score a river, which comes down very rapidly. We often of humanity, and an evil of serious importance to genehad a river running past our huts, where a few mi-ral commerce. The latest of these disasters was the nutes before I had walked over on dry land. An im- total destruction of the fine ship Georgia, of Newcastle, mense number of ducks and geese came down with the water; I have seen our man Sandy kill seven or an Indiaman, Captain Mitchell, on her passage from eight at a shot just opposite the huts. We had had England to Calcutta. The unfortunate event took a good many visits from the natives lately; they were place in the early part of last April, while the vessel much encouraged at Mr Baillie's station, and we be- was in the Indian Ocean. Early in the morning, the gan not to turn them away so quickly as we used to officer of the watch noticed something burning about do; but we never allowed them to sleep at the station, the ship, and supposed that one of the crew had left except one big boy, "Tom," whom we had determined his candle burning, and had fallen asleep. The officer to keep if he would remain, thinking he might be went into the forecastle to ascertain if such was the useful in finding stray cattle or sheep. Tom was very lazy, but he was always obliged to chop wood or do some work, else he got nothing to eat; which we found to be the only way to make the natives active.

In some of the fresh-water ponds there are found immense quantities of mussels, which the native women dive for. We often saw numbers of shells lying in heaps where the blacks had been eating them. They are also fond of a large grub found generally in the cherry and honeysuckle tree; they can tell, by knocking the tree with a stick, if any grubs are in it. When they knock the tree, they put their car close to listen, and they open it with a tomahawk at the very spot

LOSS OF SHIPS BY BURNING.

case, but found the interior apparently safe, and the lights all extinguished. On returning to the deck, he observed that the stench increased, which excited his suspicions; and he ultimately aroused the commander, Captain Mitchell, and the rest of the ship's crew, when a strict search was determined upon. On the boats being removed, and the main hatches taken off, the burning was found to proceed from the cargo, when orders were given to remove some portion of it, so as to get at the fire; the crew, however, had not proceeded far before a volume of smoke burst upon them, and shortly afterwards it became so intense, accompanied with excessive heat, that they were forced to

grave.

desist, and leave the hold, notwithstanding large quantities of water had been thrown down amongst the cargo. Captain Mitchell then had the hatches replaced, and blocked up every aperture in the ship, including the cabins, in the hope of stifling the fire; but this proved unavailing, for in about two hours the flames broke through the cabin windows, and likewise from the hatchway over the forecastle, to the terror and dismay of all on board. Captain Mitchell, who was a young man, acted with surprising fortitude. Perceiving that the destruction of the vessel was inevitable, he directed the crew to prepare themselves to leave the ship, which they immediately commenced doing, by lowering the boats, two in number, over the vessel's side. It was a most trying moment, for the sea was extremely rough, with a heavy gale of wind, and with the knowledge of their being 800 or 900 miles from land; every soul expected to meet with a watery About eight o'clock, the chief mate, with nine of the crew, left the burning vessel in the jolly-boat, and they were directly followed by Captain Mitchell and the rest of the ship's company, four in number, in the small boat. In the course of a quarter of an hour afterwards, the work of devastation had reached the masts, and she appeared embodied in one mass of flame, forming a terrible though magnificent appearance. At this critical period a vessel was observed at a distance bearing towards the ill-fated ship, and the chief mate turned round to make known the joyful intelligence to Captain Mitchell and the rest of the crew. He was horror-struck on finding that the boat had foundered, and none of them were to be seen. They rowed about in hopes of picking them up, but unfortunately none of the poor fellows ever rose after. The ship Thomas Sparks, which proved to be the vessel they saw bearing down to their assistance, came up alongside soon afterwards, and took the chief officer and the rest of the Georgia's crew on board, and they remained within a short distance of the burning ship until she went down, which event took place at a late hour in the afternoon. According to the newspaper accounts, the survivors were brought safely to England in May.

BIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES.

THE REV. JOHN CAMPBELL.

whole of his life he was a great distributor of little books amongst children. According to his biographer -"The exclamation, Now we shall have some more nice little books, for here is Mr Campbell at the door!' is well remembered throughout all the circle of his calls. It was often heard, too, in the streets and lanes around this neighbourhood from the children at play. He was not, however, an indiscriminate or lavish distributor any where, but required some account of the contents as well as the names of what he had last given to his greedy groups, whether within doors or without."

the family used to attend public worship twice, in a
chapel of which Mr Bower, their uncle, was an elder,
and to spend the remainder of the day in that strictly
pious manner which was customary in former times
in Scotland. In due time, our hero was apprenticed
to a jeweller. His brothers, several years his seniors,
were at that time in business for themselves-the
one as a solicitor or writer, the other as an iron-
monger. After the death of their uncle, they all
continued to live together with Mrs Bower, and they
constituted a very happy family. The simple piety
of old Scottish life was the presiding spirit of the
domestic scene. The two elder brothers died early, About 1798, Mr Campbell made up his mind to aban-
and John Campbell succeeded to the business of the don business, and devote himself entirely to the duty of
ironmonger, which was carried on in a small shop a preacher. He had, before this time, given up a con-
at the east end of the Grassmarket. For some years nexion with the established church, which for some
he pursued this calling with diligence, devoting, how- years must have been sustained with difficulty. His
ever, much of his time to the perusal of pious trea- friend Mr Haldane, who possessed a fortune which he
tises and to philanthropic objects. His religious sen- was willing to spend in behalf of religion, had laid the
timents all took the tendency of practical good, and foundation of an independent system, or what at first
therefore he engaged earnestly in the establishment seemed such ; and, for the training of young preachers
of Sunday evening schools, and the communication, at to work out the scheme, a theological school had been
all convenient opportunities, of religious instruction formed at Glasgow under the charge of Mr Greville
to those who appeared to require it. Others united in Ewing. Here Mr Campbell went through a course
the cause; and about the year 1790, their effervescence of study, though, from his previous accomplishments,
originated a system of itinerant preaching, which we should suppose this to have been little necessary.
greatly annoyed the established clergy, and even Mr Haldane wished to send him as a missionary to
alarmed politicians for the tranquillity of the public Bengal; but he preferred labouring at home, where
mind. Mr Campbell took a part in the movement, he thought the need for his exertions was equally
though constitutionally a lover of quiet, and anxious great. He now began a system of itinerating over
to give his best attention to various religious and Scotland, sometimes by himself, and sometimes in
benevolent societies which he had originated or sup- company with Mr James Haldane or Mr Aikman.
ported in Edinburgh. One of these was a Magdalen The brethren were looked on with great jealousy by
asylum, of which he was in a great measure the the fixed clergy, as well as by a large portion of the
author, and which he caused to be followed up by a public. It was a time when every novel and exciting
similar institution in Glasgow. At the same time, thing was deprecated, for fear it should favour the
"he was extending his business, and multiplying his views of anarchists, and not for years were the ob-
correspondence at home and abroad, and originating jects of these simply zealous preachers properly ap-
Sabbath schools, by letters and tracts, all over Scot-preciated. Mr Campbell, in some of his excursions,
land. Soldiers and sailors wrote to him for advice; encountered considerable personal risk, as when he
the needy and greedy for money; reclaimed outcasts crossed Loch-Fine in a disused boat, with a hole in its
for prayers and counsel; dark villages for itinerants, bottom stuffed with straw, in order to get to Greenock
and chapel builders for help; besides the hundreds in time to preach there on a Sunday, all the minis-
who ordered their Missionary Magazines, books, and ters of the town being absent. The little drudging,
Scott's Commentary, and paid their accounts, through black-complexioned man, with so much shrewdness in
him."
his head and such unction on his tongue, in time be-
came known over the whole of Scotland, not excepting
the Orkney Islands. His ready and fertile mind took
advantage of every thing. Sailing once in a packet
from London to Leith, he "warned the crew against
the influence of bad example, by directing their at-
tention to a vessel in the Thames, from which a herd
of young bulls were all following the example of one
which had leaped overboard, although it seemed
drowning." "He did not," says his biographer, "ac-
quire much science whilst a student in Glasgow, but
he made a good use of what he got, and was for ever
on the outlook for more. Indeed, next to the holy
unction which rested upon his spirit, his habit of ob-
serving man and nature was the secret of his charm
as a preacher. He had always something new to say
in his own way, and fresh from the works of God.
There was also a witchery in his mode of telling old
and familiar things which made them seem new.
fact, he was not comfortable in the pulpit unless some-
thing hit his fancy, which he had looked at on all sides
with his own eyes, and for himself. Accordingly, his
preaching at Kingsland, if it never rose far above its
first standard, never sunk below it, long as he was
there. It was full of vivacity and originality from
first to last. Every sermon might not be interesting
as a whole (and none were profound, except in unction
and experience), but each had something in it which
could hardly be forgotten, and which all admired, and
yet no one ever felt that Mr Campbell was trying to
be ingenious, or that he had prepared to give effect
to certain points. Indeed, no one felt that he was
conscious of his finest strokes, except so far as they
rebounded upon himself, and made him spring up into
the third heaven' of devotional feeling. His oldest
and constant hearers just thought and spoke of him
to the last as they had done at first, and as all the
neighbourhood did-that he was an original in the
pulpit. But this never meant oddity, extravagance,
or wit, in the sense of levity or rashness. It was im-
possible not to smile at times; but it was equally im-
possible to laugh at all. No one ever repeated, as a
joke or a pun, any of Mr Campbell's odd sayings.
During fifteen years' residence in this district, I never
heard a laugh raised at his expense as a preacher, nor
of any one who went to be amused by his sermons. Not
one of his strange sayings is proverbial in the neigh-
bourhood-they are either forgotten in, or associated
with, the remembrance of his seriousness, spirituality,
and prudence."

We have noticed this very melancholy case of conflagration at sea, in order to suggest that men of practical science should, if possible, invent some means "As may be supposed, Mr Campbell could not of averting such calamities. It is evident, in every thus take the lead in new schemes of doing good case, that the commander possesses no method of know-without incurring censure or suspicion from some ing the condition of the hold without actual inspec- quarter. Calumny, however, never dared to breathe tion, which is either inconvenient or dangerous. Might upon him. Nothing but his preaching to prisoners a means not be discovered for ascertaining daily the and the poor gave offence; and that did shock some temperature of the hold of the vessel, by lowering a orderly Presbyterians not a little." He was indefathermometer through a tube at different parts of its tigable in private efforts for the relief of distress area? Were some precaution of this nature adopted, of all kinds. As a visiter of the Destitute Sick the slightest tendency to overheating and conflagrat- Society, he became acquainted with a couple in reing would certainly be discovered, and as speedily duced circumstances, who died nearly about the same checked. We throw out this hint, however, for wiser time, leaving an orphan boy totally unprovided for. heads than ours, trusting that the subject will meet Mr Campbell took home the lad, and kept him for the attention it deserves. a year, when at length he succeeded in procuring for him admission to the Orphan Hospital. Kenneth Duncan there proved so good a youth, that the governors would have kept him a year longer than the usual time, for the sake of the example he set to his companions. Having served an apprenticeship to a clothier in Edinburgh, he was recommended into a counting-house in London, and there conducted himself so well, that in time he was sent out to take charge of a branch of the business at the Cape of Good Hope. Mr Campbell now lost sight of him; but, many years after, when he himself went to South Africa as a missionary, Mr Kenneth Duncan was the first person that met his eyes in approaching Cape Town, having come out in a boat to meet the vessel, the cargo of which was in reality assigned to his care. He was now an eminent merchant, married to the daughter of the chief magistrate, and living in his house. He was delighted to meet his old benefactor, whom he invited to stay with him during his residence in Cape Town. Mr Campbell did so, and enjoyed very much the effects of the grateful feelings of the poor Edinburgh boy. Many, besides Mr Duncan, had owed their support for a time to Mr Campbell. We are told that when, in 1797, Mr Newton advised him to marry, "he counted his orphans upon his fingers, till he proved that his family was large enough already."

MR THOMAS CAMPBELL sometimes relates the following anecdote. He had bought a book from a stall in one of the suburbs of London, and, on mentioning his address, that it might be sent home, the man repeated the name, and then said, "Are you the great Mr Campbell?" The poet took a cautious course, and asked, "Whom do you mean by the great Mr Campbell?" "Oh, to be sure, the Mr Campbell that travelled in South Africa!" It is a good joke to those who know no Mr Campbell of much notoriety besides the author of the "Pleasures of Hope;" but the bookseller was nevertheless not far wrong in the estimate he put upon the South African missionary. Mr John Campbell was a man who never ceased to benefit his fellow-creatures throughout the whole of a long life; he was one of a few who contributed to give a good direction to a considerable portion of the public mind at a very remarkable crisis; and his productions still exert no small beneficial influence in society. What made all this the more remarkable, he possessed no high qualities of intellect, nor external advantages of any kind-he only used uncommonly well the moderate means which he did possess. In his life we have a most encouraging proof of how much good may be done with endowments of an ordinary kind, or little above ordinary, when these are entirely and conscientiously devoted to sound and right objects.

Mr Campbell was the son of a grocer in the Cowgate of Edinburgh, where he was born in 1766. His father, who was a native of Killin in Perthshire, died when he was a child, as did his mother soon after. He and two elder brothers were left, with a moderate provision, under the care of a Mr Bower, who was a manufacturer on a small scale, and the husband of his mother's sister. The young men received a classical education at the High School. From his earliest boyhood, John Campbell was fond of travelling. In the memoir of his life by Mr Philip, recently published, we are presented with some curious memoranda of his first rambles a little beyond the suburbs of Edinburgh, and the feelings which new scenes engendered in him-rambles which by and by were prolonged into little tours with his brothers to towns at the distance of forty miles, and to the Highland village which had been his father's birth-place. On Sundays,

When the Missionary Society was formed in London, a similar one arose in Edinburgh, of which Mr Campbell was one of the first directors. He projected, and after many difficulties effected, the bringing of a number of African boys and girls to be educated in England, in order to go back as missionaries to their own country. This led him several times to London, and his biographer gives some interesting anecdotes of the conversations which he held with his fellow-passengers in the mail-coach, with a view to their spiritual improvement-for he was one who never omitted any opportunity of, as he thought, doing good. To support the cause of missions, he originated the " Missionary Magazine" in Edinburgh, and was only prevented from undertaking the editorship by finding a better substitute. It may now be mentioned, that he was one of the first to give an impulse to the present system of addressing books specially to children, and of this class of books he was himself a successful writer. His "Worlds Displayed" is a small tome which has gone through editions numberless, and done a vast amount of good. Many similar books, written with a Franklin-like clearness and simplicity, followed the "Worlds Displayed." Throughout the

In

From January 1804, Mr Campbell was the pastor of a fixed congregation at Kingsland, near London; but, unable to rest satisfied with such duty, he every year made a tour of a few weeks or months in the country, sometimes extending his travels to the very northern extremity of Scotland. We are told that in Caithness, on one occasion, he preached once or twice every day, and three or four times on the Sabbath, his conveyances varying from a family chariot to a Shetland pony, and his residences from a laird's mansion to a hovel "in which there were, in the same apartment, three calves, one sow, some ducks, a hen and chickens, an old woman, and himself." Amongst his home duties was that of teaching a school-which was imposed upon him by necessity, his salary being