Thou terror of virtue;-Oh, take my advice, The promising buds of young virtue to blight, Thou demon, transformed to an angel of light! Thy hateful productions each moralist fears, Lest the youth of our land thy dark spirit should bind. Oh! then weep, if thou can'st, thy heart's blood in tears, O'er the mischief thy genius has wrought to mankind! For thousands undone, e'en if thou art forgiven, Will upbraid thee in hell-when thou art in heaven! THE BELIEVER'S ODE. O Pleasure!-thy aspect is bright, And sweet is the sound of thy voice- Health freshen'd the air with his breath- How grateful the waves were at first, As I wantonly lav'd in the stream! But lo!-a wild hurricane over me burst, And I woke from my perilous dream! What horrors had gather'd around ! What anguish broke in on my soul! The train that ensnar'd me no longer was foundHeav'n's smile was exchang'd for a scowl! The scenes of delight I had view'd were no more— The music was drown'd mid the tempest's dread roar! Some guardian, invisible hand Bore me up on the treacherous tide- 0. By the torments of hell I was compass'd about— The spring of my spirit away Each flash to my sight gave the curse of the law, my Fear shook me,—astonishment sat on my eye- When, lo!-in that moment of fear, Broke mildly Hope's tremulous ray, The accents of Mercy fell soft on my ear, And thus seem'd the seraph to say"Look, look to thy merciful Lord! See where he lays bleeding for thee! Hark! "Come I will SAVE thee!"-Believe on his word, Flee, flee to the refuge,-O flee!"-I heard, I obey'd—for his love drew me onI clung to his cross,—and the terrors were gone! O sweet was the pure peace he bestow'dwas the raptures I knew! My blood-ransom'd spirit with gratitude glow'd To serve, to obey him, I flew All, all I had long'd so to gain, Was now but accounted as dross Earth's riches, and honors, and pleasures,-how vain!- For Jesus alone it was pleasure to live- That life I at length shall resign, And a better receive at his hand He will raise me at length, in his image divine, Already the day is beginning to dawn, And the crown is approaching my head;- Religion, I make thee my choice- Far sweeter to me is the sound of thy voice, Repentance may stand at thy side- But Faith at thy bidding, my footsteps shall guide, And Charity-love which for ever shall glow,- ON RECEIVING AN AUTOGRAPH POEM BY HENRY KIRKE WHITE FROM HIS SISTER. 405 PHILOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY Natural History--Discoveries in Egypt.-Accounts have been lately received from Mr. Waddington of Trinity-college, and Mr. Hanbury of Jesus-college, Cambridge; who, availing themselves of the opportunity of attending the Pacha of Egypt in a military expedition against some tribes of Arabs, have had the good fortune to see a part of the Nile's course, which had not before been safe for any European traveller to visit. They have discovered one or two interesting islands, with about thirty entire pyramids of different sizes, and extensive ruins of temples, of unequal construction, but some of them exhibiting considerable skill, and others apparently of the highest antiquity. Progress of the Land Arctic Expedition, under Lieut. John Franklin, R. N. Soon after the expedition under lieut. Franklin had arrived on the coast of Hudson's Bay, they proceeded from York Factory, the grand depôt of the Hudson's Bay company, towards their wintering ground at Cumber land, the central post of the interior, a distance of about 900 miles from the coast. Lieut. Franklin, Dr. Richardson, Mr. Back, and Mr. Hood, attended by the hardy Orkney men, who had been engaged to man the boats in the rivers of the interior, had worked in the company's service several years, and understood the language of many of the Indian tribes, left the factory on the 7th of September, 1819, with a fair wind, under a salute from the depôt, and amidst the acclamations of the officers and men of the company. Of the immense quantity and variety of provisions supplied by government for the use of the expedition, the greater part was left at the factory; those who knew the country, and the difficulty of travelling through it, having represented the impossibility of conveying European food, which at the Bay receives the name of luxuries, to any considerable distance. On the third day after their departure from the factory, the boats of the company, which were proceeding to the various trading posts in the interior, came up with the expedition in the Steel River, distant about sixty miles from the place at which they set out. Most of the rivers in that part of America abound with rapids and falls. The rapids are generally more navigable near the banks, but they frequently extend across the stream, and then the labour of the boat's crew becomes excessive, every man being obliged to turn into the water and assist in carrying the boat sometimes to the distance of half a mile before they gain the head of one of those terrible impediments. The company's men, upon turning one of the points of the river, observed the officers of the expedition making desperate efforts to get through the mud along the banks; some of them were up to their knees, others up to their waist, while the men were handing the boats over a most violent rapid, which, though but half a foot deep, rendered it necessary that those who stood in the water should hold fast by the boat, the impetuosity of the stream being so extraordinary as not unfrequently to overturn a man in an instant, and dash him to pieces against the rocks and huge stones which lie scattered along the bed of the river. Indeed, before the company's boats had reached those of lieutenant Franklin, it was suspected that the expedition had already met with more hardships than they had any notion of encountering at so early a period. Several of the tin cases which had contained the preserved meats were seen at the different up-putting places (the spots of VOL. IV. No. 8. 2 E |