and independent looks were not relished by any but the novelist, and I would have given a trifle to have examined his sketch-book. channel it fell a perfect calm, but at the When about midsame time the blackening clouds that hung upon the horizon warned us at least of rain. Evening now closed in, and many anxious fears for safety were expressed. "Blesh ma conscience, (cried Shadrach,) ven shall ve get over de pond! Oh I vish I vas in Dukesh Plaish again!"-" Pray, thailor, inquired the young buck,) do the American privateerth ever come here "-" Sometimes, Sir, they give us a slap. We had five or six passengers killed about a fortnight ago."thocking thing!-what, fight ?"-" Oh "Oh dear, what a that's nothing; the skippers often bury their passengers, and who's the wiser ?" "What, I suppoth, the privateerth attack you over night; and where do they go to ?"-"Oh, Sir, they're snug in America next morning."-"Oh dear, I hope they won't come now." doctor and the abbé had commenced a The violent contest, when a sudden puff of wind put a stop to the argument, and away they all went to leeward."Arrah, stop the ship, stop the ship!" roared the sergeant, grasping his dear Judy round the waist. shrieked, the ladies cried, the men The Countess groaned, and the sailors laughed; while the Captain whistled "Crazy Jane" with all his might. The only unconcerned individual was our farmering friend, who appeared as indifferent as possible, except that while the crew were hauling down a reef in the mainsail, he seemed quite at home, assisting with a hearty good will. "Blesh ma heart, vat shall I do!" cried Shadrach, when he tumbled head foremost against the stomach of a Don Cossack, who lifted him up with the same ease that he would a sucking pig, and set the dirty little animal on his legs. "Thank you, Shir, mit all ma heart; and if ever you should come to Dukesh Plaish-" dropped Shadrach through the companDown ion, and crawled away to bed. "Whath the matter ?" cried the young buck."Nothing, nothing, (replied the Captain,) only the ship's overboard."-"Oh dear, oh dear! then we shall all be drowned !". get ready for t'other world."-" Faith, "In less than an hour, so Captain, but this is comical tratement F-;) and next time I go by your for gentlemen! (exclaimed Sir Fconveyance I'll engage you shall keep the vessel quiet.". where are you, darling ?"-"Faith,and it's here I am, Pat, in the centre of a "Arrah, Judy, hobble, all alone by myself, in the middle of the Russians." heart beat like a pestle and mortar, making a strange mixture; the Countess The doctor's took a vivifying draught of ratifia; Madame Go-ginger-bread applied herself piously to the eau-de-vie; the abbé joined in the libation; the alderman kets; the M. P's. declared they would had turned the turtle between the blanget an act passed to ensure fine weather, and cried out lustily about breach of privilege; the Cossacks were satisfied they should not starve while the horses remained; the deputy commissary-general began to think of short rations; the scene-painter, like an old fox, had dropyoung colonel was fast asleep; the ped his brush; the traveller was travailing with apprehension; the operaheer Von Donker-drunk considered it dancer figured in a sorry band; Mynbest that every corporation should rest tion; the French captain concealed upon its own broad-bottomed foundahimself under the lappets of the burgomaster's coat; the smuggler was picking up the wee things about the decks; the sergeant-at-law was at cross examination; while the Dover magistrate, with his family, were neither one thing nor the other. I stuck by the old Captain, who still whistled and sung "Crazy Jane" with lungs like the bellows of a church organ; and close to us stood the farmer. "Rough night, Captain," said he. Shun not then poor Crazy Jane.' Perhaps you'd like a glass of grog, Sir, or "Aye, Sir, it blows freshwine. George! bring some grog and biscuit." Here, George! Steward Mate, how does she go, Mate ?" inqui The Mate now joined us. red the Captain; and without waiting "Well, for an answer,continued his song-"Do my frenzied looks alarm you'-Stop a minute, Mate, the grog is coming'Shun not then poor Crazy Jane.' George appeared with the grog. We had just mixed our glasses, when the wind came fair, and promised us safe landing in about an hour. "Well, Captain, 'tis an ill wind that blows nobody good, (said the farmer ;) here's your health. And in return for your glass of grog, if you want any one to take the helm in running in, I'm your boy, (he was upwards of seventy ;) or when you get ashore come to Dessein's, and ask for Admiral and we'll crack a bottle together." And sure enough it was he himself. Born to that splendid fame which dwells not in outward show, the memorial is deeply engraven on every Briton's heart." Blesh ma conscience, are we shafe yet ?" enquired Shadrach, knocking a bumper glass out of the hand of the Countess as she was receiving it from her attendant. "Get up the towlines, Mate, (cried the Captain,) and have the jib-purchase and MERRILY whistles the wind of the shore Through the lithe willow, But wearily drops the boatman's oar On the calm billow :- Tis silent there-although it sing So freshly on the land; We now en fore-halliards all clear." tered between Calais pier-heads, and old Mascot (the brother of him who piloted Louis on his return to his dominion) came aboard to conduct us in. “Halloo, Muscow, haulhee, haulhee with the rope!" said the Captain, observing the wind shorten out of the harbour. However, in a few minutes we landed close to the spot where the impression of the Desiré's foot was cut in the stone by those who, a few years before, were ready to to erect a chin-chopper_to cut off his head. And now, Mr. Editor, having fulfilled my promise, I once more take my leave, thanking you for the attention you have paid my billy-ducks, (you see I have learned a little French;) and promising that, in some shape or other, you shall once more hear from yours, &c. &c. (Lon. Mag.) A RIVER SONG. The feather shook from the wild duck's wing Scarce finds the strand!— Then do not fear-up, maiden, and hear The gushing billow In the deep silent of the night Lie on your pillow; But wake with the waking of the day-lightAs fresh and as fair, and as blushing and bright. II. Is it not pleasanter thus to steal O'er the water-than on a dull bed For this keen, elastic wind?-Look back! St. Mary's turrets fade from our track- The chime of its bells comes o'er the ear, III. Oh! it is pleasant to mark the lark, When the dark brow of night is clearing, Give greeting to the dawn-and-hark! Waked by the dashing of our bark, "Dead night-dun night-the silent of the oight." Shakspeare. HUMPHREY FELT. Currier and Tanner, Through the green waves careering The plover and the shrill curlew Round us screaming→→ Startle thy silent shore, Tiervoe! Of the unshrouded, morning sun, IV. Tis noon! The Race † is past!-tis even Ha! see St. Simon's iste With its high round tower, and churches eleven, Bathed in the evening's smile And deeper and fainter-and fainter still And now the flush is on the hill, Wasting and glowing And now in the west there's a bickering bright, Tis the triumph of darkness! the death of light!— V. Now steal we under the drowsy shore Our toil is done! our sailing o'er- One purple vein is faintly seen Like a thin streak Of the blue sky shown through a silver cloud, When the dim sun lies in his morning shroud! Oscar. The Race: A part of the Shannon near Tarber and Clonderlaw Bay-where it dilates itself so as to resemble a large lake. (Lond. Lit. Gaz.) THE BLANK BOOK OF A SMALL COLLEGER. THIS is a collection of sixteen slight tales, with one or two exceptions of indifferent style, told in an agreeable manner; though several of them want novelty, and an occasional anachronism betrays the writer to be more juvenile than his assumed character. We select the following, to exemplify his talent. "A Constitution.-What a blessed thing is a Constitution! Like Charity, 'it covers a multitude of sins,' and I scarcely know how some people would balance their accounts with heaven, did they not put to the credit side, their Constitution. Go where we will, this most potent plea meets us.My particular friend, Delaware, but a day or two since, when the Churchwardens told his father, that the additional rates were owing to his own son, for he had seduced almost every girl in the parish,' assured his dad, with the most enviable equanimity, that he was a libertine from constitution rather than from vice!' "Again. There was a Mrs. Hill, of Wakefield-the head of the Lying-in-Charity, and a very ingenious lady-who had her constitutional weakness; and a queer one, beyond controversy, it was. Though a woman in very easy circumstances, she could never resist, on entering her milliner's shop, purloining some bit of finery which struck her fancy. The milliner was sorely perplexed at the regular disappear. ance of remnants of lace-French kid gloves--and superfine silk stockings, after Mrs. Hill's visits, and had long puzzled her brains to no purpose; till accident, one morning, discovered the thief. Unwilling to lose her property, and equally unwilling to lose a good customer, with the true sagacity of a Marchande des Modes, she determined on adding the lost articles to Mrs. Hill's account, and silently awaiting the result. The stratagem succeeded. The bill was paid, and no questions were asked. But in an evil hour, Mrs. Hill ventured to practise her pranks in a strange shop, the owner of which, unlike the complaisant Miss Weathercock, acquainted Mr. Hill with the fact, and rudely threatened to prosecute his lady. Mr. Hill listened to the story with Quaker-like calmness, and with a dry hem, exclaimed, 'It was constitutional-quite so!' "Others have a constitutional propensity laught at any thing dreadful;' and from being thus naturally blessed, Etheridge, a college chum of mine, lost only ten thousand pounds! His uncle awoke him one morning, and told him, with a face of horror, that his grandfather had been found dead in his bed. The expression of his uncle's phiz-the red velvet night-cap which frame, which made his teeth rattle like the keys of an old harpsichord-combined with his constitutional propensity, to make my unlucky friend roar again. The old bache adorned his brow-the shiver of his whole lor, thunderstruck, left the room; took out his bene decessit a few months afterwards; and by his will left his nephew-five guineas for a mourning ring! "Then there are constitutional liarsmen, who, without any advantage to gain, or any end to answer, indulge in the most palpable falsehoods. Under this description come two brothers whom I once met. The one had travelled, and had seen more prodigies than any tourist before or after him; the other was a man of bonnes fortunes, and had been on intimate terms with every beauty in Europe. The first declared he had seen water boil till it was red-hotmanfully stood to his assertion before a large party-and because one gentleman in company expressed his doubts respecting the phenomenon-fought a duel to prove it! The other carried his constitutional weakness still farther: for he made his last action on earth, constitutionally in keeping with the rest of his life. A few hours before he died, he summoned a particular friend to his bed-side, and in a voice tremulous with approaching dissolution, entreated him to be a guardian and father to a little boy whose mother was a beautiful girl of high rank. To her he gave him a letter beautifully and pathetically worded,and filled with the most familiar endearing epithets, authorizing her to surrender his child to his friend. Firmly believing the dying man's statement, the friend, after following him to the grave, hurried to Harleystreet, and with considerable difficulty, obtained an interview with the lady :-delivered the letter:-and begged to be favoured with her commands. The scene may be more easily supposed than described, when I add, that the Earl's daughter-for such she was-amazed at its contents, summoned one of her brothers to unravel the mystery;-and that a duel had very nearly been the result. It was, at last, proved, beyond all question, that the lady had been absent from England during the whole period to which the letter referred-that she could not possibly have ever known the writer— and in all human probability, was utterly ignorant that such an unprincipled being was in existence. "Again. I have heard it asserted, ''tis years ago!' of an old naval officer, who was an ornament to his noble profession, and had a heart that did honour to human nature--that he lived swearing, died swearing; and it was shrewdly sus "But how does it happen that the case is so seldom reversed? Rarely, very rarely, does Constitution get the credit of our virtues. I never heard of a lady owning that she was constitutionally chaste--a clergyman that he was constitutionally pious a Whig, that he was constitutionally patriotic--or a Fellow of a College, that he was constitutionally abstemious. O, dear, no! all that is Principle. We claim for ourselves all the credit due to our virtues, while we burthen our constitution with our vices; and it seems most happily ordered, that every creature under heaven, has some failing with which he can charge his constitution. "To be sure, here and there, one lights upon an exception. For instance, my hy pochondriacal neighbour, who can eat, drink, sleep, and talk ;---owns a face like a dairy maid; and a corporation only second to that of Sir William Curtis; has, to my certain knowledge, been in a dying state for the last five years, owing to a compli cation of disorders.' Wretched mortal! he has deprived himself of the most availing plea for ever. He told me, this morning, with a countenance that would have made a mile-stone melancholy, that it was all over with him---his case was decided on---Pelham Warren had only just told him, he could do nothing more for him----HE HAD NO CONSTITUTION AT ALL!'" (Lond. Lit. Gaz.) THE FAIRY'S GIFT. HASTE, Sisters! haste: a garland entwine For a faithful youth and a maiden true, With roses and fragrant eglantine, And orange flowers and violet blue; Fond burthen of true lover's tale; To wound the tender breast of love: And, oh! examine it through and through, Lest harbour there the hateful rue. Haste, Sisters! haste again; and bring In cowslip cup, or early wing. Of lark shakes from the bending blade ; And crystallize that lucid tear, · Imbued with the morning rays, That it may sparkle ever clear, And, bright with native lustre, blaze, Weave a zone of the twined light, All moist with joy's ecstatic tear: The wreath is twined, the zone is wove, Sincere as martyr's dying prayer. Bring, Sisters! bring the Zone to me, Might wear that zone in angel bowers; Who well may grace the pearl of truth; And she shall throw, with playful wile, The wreath around her chosen youth, To bind him to her bosom ever, Enraptured now, nor more to sever! * Myosotis arvensis. FIRE. We lately mentioned the new mode of extinguishing fire in chimneys by throwing sulphur on the fire below, which has been tried at Rome. Recent experiments have fully confirmed the valuable result of this method, which is in fact perfectly consistent with the received theory of combustion. Only, the person using it must take care not to throw on too large a quantity of sulphur, otherwise he might be exposed to inhale the noxious effluvia, which destroys animal life on the same principle that they extinguish the fire. (Lond. Lit. Gaz.) SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. BY WILLIAM BULLOCK. EVERY day adds to the political and commercial interest which we attach to the powers now developing in South America; where we behold six or eight great states, so long held in thraldom as mere provinces of an exhausted European monarchy, rising into so many independent empires,kingdoms, or other governments-Brazil, Buenos Ayres, Chili, Peru, Columbia, and though last, not least, Mexico. Of this last mighty country, it is extraordinary how very little is directly known to the British public. Since the period of Charles II. no native of England has explored it, and written any account of his travels; and we are therefore the more deeply indebted to Mr. Bullock, for the present straight-forward, intelligent, pleasing, aud useful volume. During an active residence of above half a year in Mexico-visiting places of immense importance with which we are hardly, if at all acquainted,-examining mines, investigating antiquities, inquiring into the trade and manufactures of the people-studying the natural history, and, in fine, observing every thing worthy of observation, the author has obtained all the stores of information which he has here detailed in a popular form, agreeably to his purpose, and calculated to be very beneficial to his country. Having premised this general charactes of his work, we can only farther il lustrate it with one or two striking quo tations. Near the city of Tezcuco, formerly the Athens of Mexico, Mr. B. and his party (he tells us) A "Were informed, that at a distance of only two leagues was a place called Bano de Montezuma, and that it had formerly been used as a bath by that monarch. gentleman of the town, Don Trinidad Rosalia, offered to escort us, and in a few minutes we were on horseback: after a smart canter through cultivated grounds, and over a fine plain, bounded by the mountains of the Cordilleras, we approached a hacienda and church; and here I expected to find the bath of which we were in search, in some subterraneous place, but learnt to my surprise.that we had to mount a conical mountain called Tescosingo. We employ ed our horses as far as they could take us, but the unevenness of the ground at last obliged us to dismount; and having fastened them to a nopal tree, we scrambled with great difficulty through bushes and over loose stones, which were in great quantities on all sides, and at last perceived that we were on the ruins of a very large building—the cemented stones remaining in some places covered with stucco, and forming walks and terraces, but much encumbered with earth falling from above, and overgrown with a wood of nopal, which made it difficult to ascend. In some places the terraces were carried over chasms by solid pieces of masonry; in others cut through the living rock: but, as we endeavoured to proceed in a straight line, our labour was very great, being sometimes obliged to climb on our hands and knees. By the assistance of underwood, however, at length, after passing several buildings and terraces, the stucco cf which appeared fresh and of a fine peach colour, we arrived at about twothirds of the height of the hill, almost exhausted with our exertions; and great indeed was our disappointment when e found that our guide had mistaken the situation, and did not know exactly where we were. Greatly chagrined, we began to retrace ou steps; and luckily in a few minutes perceived the object of our search. It was cut in the solid rock, and standing out like a is not only an extraordinary bath, but still more extraordinarily placed. It is a beautiful basin about twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well about five feet by four deep in the centre, surrounded by a parapet or rim two feet six inches high, with a throne or chair, such as is represented in martin's nest from the side of a house. It ancient pictures to have been used by the kings. There are steps to descend into the basin or bath; the whole cut out of the living porphyry rock with the most mathematical precision, and polished in the most beautiful manner. This bath commands one of the finest prospects in the Mexican valley, including the greater part of the lake of Tezcuco, and the city of Mexico, from which it is distant about thirty miles. "Night was fast approaching, and the sky portending a thunder-storm, we were obliged to depart ; and now I had occasion to regret the hours I had unprofitably lost at the cock-fight. I had just time to make a hurried sketch for a model, and my son to take a slight drawing, when we were reluctantly forced to quit a spot which had been the site of a most singular and ancient residence of the former monarchs of the country. As we descended, our guide showed us in the rock a large reservoir for supplying with water the palace, whose walls still remain eight feet high; and as we examined farther, we found that the |