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"That letter," said Doveways, "is from a demon of persecution. Read it!-read it!"

I took the letter from the floor, and opening it, found that it was from Lady Macedonia Grizzle. It stated in the most affectionate terms that she had left Florence immediately after my friend; that she was now on her way to the North, but that the extreme beauty of the country had induced her to deviate from her course; and, as she was so very near to Hall, she would take the opportunity of paying her friend Mr. Doveways a visit, if perfectly convenient. We posted up to town, and during the journey I often confessed to myself that there is no infallibility in judging by appearances.

D. E. W.

THE VOICES OF THE NIGHT.

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGfellow.

WHEN the hours of day are number'd,
And the voices of the night

Wake the better soul, that slumber'd,
To a holy calm delight.

Ere the evening lamps are lighted,
And, like phantoms grim and tall,
Shadows from the fitful fire-light
Dance upon the parlour wall,
Then the forms of the departed
Enter at the open door!

The beloved ones, the true-hearted,
Come to visit me once more.

He, the

young and strong, who cherish'd
Noble longings for the strife,
By the road-side fell, and perish'd,
Weary with the march of life!
They, the holy ones, and weakly,

Who the cross of suffering wore,
Folded their pale hands so meekly,
Spake with us on earth no more!
And with them the being beauteous,
Who unto my youth was given,
More than all things else to love me,
And is now a saint in heaven.
With a slow and noiseless footstep
Comes that messenger divine,
Takes the vacant chair beside me,
Lays her gentle hand in mine.
And she sits and gazes at me,

With those deep and tender eyes,
Like the stars, so still and saint-like,
Looking downward from the skies.
Utter'd not, yet comprehended,

Is the spirit's voiceless prayer;
Soft rebukes, in blessings ended,
Breathing from those lips of air.
Oh! though oft depress'd and lonely,
All my fears are laid aside,

If I but remember only

Such as they have lived and died.

.79

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN OUR TIME.

BY WILLIAM JERDAN.

THERE was, a hundred years ago, a King and Queen, who had several children grown up to be men and women. Some lived with them in the palace, which was very fine and magnificent; but their eldest son, who had married a Princess, having quarrelled with his parents, lived in a house with her not far off; where they also had several children. At this period a very curious circumstance happened, which is not to be found in the newspapers or histories; the former being far less particular and authentic than they are now, and the latter little else than a parcel of lies! The only true notice we can find of it is in an ancient prophecy, which declared,

"Forty, some say, will be a year of wonder,

Some say, a year of calmness, some, of thunder;"

and, it is remarkable that in nature and politics both were right,—as your oracles can generally be explained all or any ways, - for there was a desperate long and hard frost, and a thundering war with Spain during the year.

It was to this frost, and not to fairy agency, that we owe the phenomenon, the results of which are now, for the first time, about to be recorded. On one of the days when an entire ox was roasted on the river Thames, the court went to see the cookery and sport; and fine sport it was, I warrant ye. The London Evening Post, the General Evening Post, the St. James's Evening Post, the Gazetteer, the Craftsman, the Common Sense, the Universal Spectator, the Weekly Miscellany, the Daily Advertiser,* and all the mighty journals of that era describe it as a glorious spectacle; and the royal party quite delighted with the entertainment. Indeed, so merry were they, what with cuts from the sirloin, and with plenty of Cognac brandy, which could then be drunk in abundance, as it cost no more than three half-crowns a gallon, that they never discovered they had lost the Princess Goosey (so called for shortness) till their return to the palace. It would seem as

if all the inferior orders had partaken largely in the festivities of the court; for, notwithstanding the exertions of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, Colonel de Veil, Justice Poulson, and other active and sapient magistrates, their watchmen and beadles, not a trace of Her Royal Highness could ever be found.

The mystery in which the affair was involved has, accordingly, continued to the present day, when, by the recent return of the Sally, whaler, of Hull, to port, from a voyage to the Arctic seas, it has been solved in the clearest manner. It appears that when the Sally was harpooning a whale, the firing off the harpoon, and the spouting and struggles of the animal, shook an iceberg of very peculiar shape, so much that it fell to pieces, and, to the utter astonishment of the crew,

In one of these, No. 591, but we forget whether the Common Sense, or the Craftsman, we meet with the following observations in an essay on ambition, “ But, of all kinds of pride, the greatest is that which affects to consist in humility." Well might the author of the "Devil's Walk" say, "Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerint," when he wrote that

"The devil's darling sin, Is the pride that apes humility."

disclosed in the centre the singular figure of a young lady, in a small hoop-petticoat of brocade trimmed with Brussels lace, a bodice of silver tissue, and her hair dressed to an immense height and flowing in profuse ringlets. This extraordinary petrefaction, as they thought it,-little dreaming of its near relationship to the Prince and Princess of Wales, they carefully cut out, and brought on board the Sally, where the gradual thaw soon induced symptoms of animation. The captain of the Sally being a person of education, knew what it was to be spell-bound, as well as ice-bound; and with the sagacity of a whaler, immediately deposited the new-comer in the most quiet and comfortable berth which his cabin afforded. Keeping it, at first, at a low temperature, he gradually increased it as the life strengthened into full play; and in the course of fourteen hours the illustrious Goosey was restored to perfect consciousness and physical elasticity.

It may readily be supposed that her early conversations with the captain were odd enough on both sides, and that neither could very well comprehend the meaning of the other. In short the seaman considered his fair protégée to be insane, and the Princess fancied that she must have awakened in another world, bearing some slight resemblances to that she had left, but altogether different in its great features and various conditions. Having obtained a full ship, Captain Shoalsby (we have not mentioned his name before) turned his prow homeward; and it is from the then comparatively idle log-book of the Sally that we copy the following entries:

-

"8 A. M. Lobscouss. Wind E.N.E. moderate. Conversed with the Princess, as she styles herself. She asked whether I knew if the King had returned from Hanover? to which I answered, I believed not, as there was no occasion. But, as a sailor,' she observed, 'you can, at any rate, tell me the latest news of the immortal Vernon, and how the Spanish war is carried on after the glories of Porto-Rico.' To this rhodomontade I was obliged to plead ignorance; but informed her that General Evans had returned in perfect safety, with a considerable number of disabled Isle-of-Doggians; that the Christinos and Carlist. had not yet entirely settled matters; and that the glories of the Peninsula still hung, like an aurora borealis, around the laurelled brow of Wellington, whose name I presumed she had mistaken for Vernon, as there was no noticeable individual so called. The poor creature shook her head. No Vernon!' she sighed; you might as well tell me there is no Walpole, no premier to guide the destinies of England, and guard and uphold her Protestant throne!' Truly, ma'am, I replied, I know of no such person. As for a premier, we have had Lord Melbourne since the Reform Bill; but they say that he, rather than guard and uphold, likes to deal heavy blows and sore discouragement on the Protestant Church; and the Queen, God bless her! does not like him a bit the worse. Being a plain sailor myself, can't say I am a judge of thrones being Protestant or Romish. Would not care if the binnacle or capstan, there, were called either one or t'other, so be it they did their duty.'-'Alas!' exclaimed the late Icicle, 'alas! that the good Queen Caroline should have so forgotten the principles

66

Signal: sail in sight. Went on deck to ascertain her. Alarmed by a fearful scream from the cabin; rushed down, and found the Icicle at the window in great agitation. O! captain, for heaven's sake, hasten to the rescue of these wretched creatures. Dreadful it is to see them on the lovely blue ocean doomed to perish in the raging flames.

.

Look how the smoke and fire burst from their fated bark, and the lurid cloud hangs over them like a pall to cover the dead. Oh! hasten-hasten to their aid !'-' Pray, madam, be composed: that vessel, I take it, is the steamer from Hamburgh, and not in the slightest danger. For shame, sir! to attempt thus to conceal your apathy. Woman, and Princess as I am, do not I observe there is not a sail upon that miserable ship; that she is driving before the element with demon force; and that in a few instants she, and all she contains, must irrevocably perish. No fiend, far less an English seaman, could look on this, and not exert his utmost to avert the horrid calamity.' — In vain I endeavoured to explain to H.R.H. the principles of the steamengine, and its application to the impulsion of vessels. Anger took possession of her, and she viewed me with obvious disgust as little better than a murderer. 'It is in vain,' she finally remarked, 'that you try to impose upon me with such monstrous lies. I am aware that the Austrian Colonel has just invented a machine by which he can row boats up the Danube against the stream; and that he has gone six hundred feet in twelve minutes, and even a thousand and eighty feet in fourteen minutes; but, wonderful and incredible as that is, with large wheels, bridges, and machinery, you would have me believe that, by means of a kettle of water put on to boil, you could force great ships to move against wind, and tide, and stream, wherever they wish to go. Fie! to treat me as if I were a fool or simpleton.""

From this time the Princess lost much of her confidence in Captain Shoalsby, and did not seem to believe him when he assured her he was steering for England, or that an England existed in the world on which she had so strangely appeared. "If so," she inquired, "is Frost Fair* over? has Captain Coram got up a sufficient subscription for a Foundling hospital? is Montague House fitted up for the reception of exposed children? and, what are the latest accounts of the invasion of New York by the French Canadians and their Indian allies? Have the Chicassaws been firm in their resistance with our Colonists? "

The

"With regard to Frost Fair," said the Captain, "I am unable to afford your Royal Highness any intelligence. I suppose it must have been put down with most of the other fairs about London, as being highly vicious and injurious to the morals of the lower orders. Foundling Hospital is a noble old building, and is surrounded by many new streets, and splendid squares. About Captain Quorum I know nothing, never having heard of him in the whale-fishery. He may be a very good man, for aught I can speak to the contrary. Montague House, as I have been informed, is the British Museum, in which, instead of exposed children, there is the grandest collection in the world of books, of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Antiquities, of Zoology, (I myself gave them the jaws of a sperm whale, measuring eightyseven feet four inches,) conchology, and all other ologies and sciences,

It is conjectured that Her Royal Highness must have been involved in the "thereon" accident, of which the following account is given in the journals of the day; and that having been, as it were, encased in the island alluded to, she had, during the confusion of the last event, been carried out to sea, and, in process of time formed a component portion of an iceberg at Spitzbergen.

"At the Frost Fair an island of ice, with about a dozen of men and women thereon, separated from the main against Bear Garden Stairs, and floated, to their utmost consternation, for a considerable time; but, at last, happily fixing against the Three Cranes, they were, with much difficulty, by the help of planks, got safe ashore; but one of the women was frightened into fits."-London Evening Post, January, 1740.

VOL. VIII.

G

astonishing to behold. It is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, and an Institution for the nation to be proud of. As for the French Canadians, and their Indian allies, and all that, I can't tell what to make of you. Lord Seaton, and Lord Durham, and Sir F. Head, and Mr. Poulett Thompson, and Mr. Mackenzie, and Mr. Papineau, have been having a row in both Upper and Lower Canada; but the French have had nothing to do with it; and, as for New York, and the United States, the less that is said about their interference the better. The Chicassaws are extinct, and the stripes occupy the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific."

"What are you talking about?" said the Princess. "It was but the other day the King of France sent workmen to Quebec to work the iron mines of Trois Rivières. What are the United States? What are the stripes?-what-?"

"Why, the mighty independent republic of North America, and its national colours, with nearly fourteen millions of people, governed by the President; and extending over a territory nearly as vast as our own Eastern Empire, including Afghanistan, Candahar, and Caubul, and all the countries overrun in the last campaign."

“Are you mad,” exclaimed the Princess, "that you name the very provinces just conquered by the victorious Thamas Kouli Kan, and wrested from the Mogul for ever? Would the powerful Nadir Shah permit an European to set foot within his dominions; he who now, on his return from his Oriental triumphs, threatens Egypt on the one hand, and the Sublime Porte on the other. Well is it for the Grand Signor that he has concluded a peace with the Emperor of the Romans; and that, in the event of a Persian war, or an attack by the Russian Empress, he may look to the Swede for succour. King Stanislaus, and Poland, it is true, can do little; but the Ottomans are much comforted by their treaty with the Christian potentates, which leaves them at liberty to meet the threatened invasion of the formidable Kouli Kan. Lord Waldegrave, too, by his great abilities, and influence with Cardinal Fleury, will, I trust, preserve the peace with the French King."

In such contradictory discussions did foreign affairs engage the Captain and his fair passenger; and it was impossible to decide which puzzled the other most. If the lady inquired whether the Dey of Algiers had invaded Oran, she was answered that there was no Dey of Algiers, but the country called Algeria was a French colony, and that there were no captives to be relieved from slavery in the Barbary States. The Spanish war was one dream of cross purposes. The Captain spoke of Cabrera and Espartero, and Don Carlos a prisoner; the Princess of the expeditions against the Spaniard sailing from Boston, Newport, New York, and other of our colonies. On one point they certainly agreed, viz. the death of the King of Prussia in June ;* but the Prin

Another curious coincidence occurs in referring to the journals of the date of a complete century apart. On opening them, the eye is struck with lamentations for the death, and accounts of the funeral of a Lady *** Hastings,—in the one case E. and in the other F. The Lady E. Hastings, who died at Ledstone, was the daughter of Theophilus, seventh Earl of Huntingdon, and Elizabeth, co-heir of Sir John Lewis, Bart. who brought large Yorkshire estates into the ancient and noble family with whom she was allied. Her character appears to have been equal to her birth; and this "most excellent lady" is described as having been “polite in manners, and agreeable in conversation; sacred her regard to friendship, and strict to the last degree her sense of honour. What is infinitely above all, she did

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