pendous-which, in its turn-" You overwhelm me,” cris ed Rosalie, as I was laboring to pursue the immense concatenation ;-" my mind is bewildered and lost in the effort to follow you, and finds no point on which to rest its weary wing." "Yet there is a point, my dear Rosalie; THE THRONE OF THE MOST HIGH: Imagine that, the ultimate centre, to which this vast and inconceivably magnificent and august apparatus is attached, and around which it is continually revolving. O! what a. spectacle for the cherubim and seraphim, and the spirits of the just, made perfect, who dwell on the right hand of that throne, if, as may be and probably is the case, their eyes are permitted to pierce through the whole and take in all its order, beauty, sublimity and glory at one glance, and their ears to distinguish that celestial harmony, unheard by us, with which those vast globes, as they roll on in their respective orbits, continually hymn their great Creator's praise!"

I cannot paint to the reader, the expression which this thought immediately kindled in the countenance of this child of Nature. It was far beyond that awful stillness and sweet serenity, which usually spread themselves over the soul, amid contemplations like these. The thought seemed to lift her from her seat. She rose slowly, as if borne up, merely by the ascent of her mind. Her fine eyes were raised and rivetted with a look of ecstacy, on the moon. Her hands were clasped upon her breast. Her airy form seemed to float upon the breeze of evening. It was a look of transfiguration-the look of a disembodied spirit-or of a seraph just about to spread her wings to that Heaven to which her mind was so intensely directed. After a deep silence of about five minutes, she repeated, in a low voice, to herself, as if unconscious of the presence of any one else, but, at the same time, with a tone and energy that made my blood thrill along my arteries, the two last verses of Mr. Addison's paraphrase of the XIXth Psalm :-

What tho' in solemn silenee all
Roll round this dark terrestial ball;
What tho' no real voice, or sound,
Amid their radiant orbs, be found-

Inreason's ear, they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
For ever singing, as they shine,

THE HAND THAT MADE US IS DIVINE.

The last word of this beautiful quotation had scarcely

died upon my ear, when there seemed to breathe slowly from the ground the sweetest music that I ever heard. It was a duet of Pleyel's German hymn, that stole upon the ear so softly and solemnly, that it seemed to be formed by the spirits of the air. Never was there any thing more like enchantment, so apposite was it to the train of our thoughts and feelings, and in itself, so ineffably touching and divine. At the first sound Rosalie started from her trance. Her spirits took a new turn; and with a look of the most animated curiosity and surprize, not unmingled with apprehension, she leaned with me, over the parapet, to discover the source from which those melting notes were flowing. We could see nothing. Yet we were the only inhabitants of the castle.-The sounds, however, were not of a character to inspire any feeling of alarm; unless, indeed, of that awful nature which chills and appals the stoutest soul, at the thought of holding communion with the spirits of the dead or with beings of an unknown and supernatural order. Tones, like those however, could be breathed only by spirits of the most benevolent cast; and from such we knew that innocence had no mischief to fear. We listened, therefore, with delight unalloyed by terror; and with a silence as deep and respiration as long-suspended as if we were afraid that a breath would dissolve the charm. The tune ended; and all was still and silent as the grave. Rosalie ventured to whisper emphatically

That strain again; it had a dying fall

"O!-it came o'er my ear like the sweet south,
"That breathes upon a bank of violets”—

My eyes were directed a different way, and my mind busied in conjecturing who or what these musicians could be, when a violent shriek from Rosalie took my breath from me, and turning around I saw her in the arms of a man who strained her to his bosom while her arms were entwined around his neck. Her return of the embrace explained the appearance to me at once; for I knew that there were but two beings on earth beside myself, whose embrace she would have returned. "My brother, my dear Alfred;" She faintly murmured, almost overcome by surprize and joy. Rogue!" cried I, "you deserve the stroke of the crutch I was just meditating, for inflicting such surprize on your sister.” I forgive him, uncle, with all my heart," said Rosalie: "Then so do I; but who and where are these mysterious musicians?" My brother and some of our fellow-students are behind that

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clump of trees with their clarionets. We saw you on the castle, cying the starry heavens, and easily guessed the course of your thoughts. Our Rosalie you know has a spice of the romance in her composition; so at least we were told by the Old Bachelor, and we determined to gratify it-that's all." At his signal, his young friends bounded in; and, in a instant, the castle, so long silent and desolate, was all gratulation, life and bustle.

As to me it seemed as if my youth were renewed. I listened to the little adventures of these young wags on the road, with all the tip-toe spirit and glee with which they were related; enjoyed with the quickest zest, all their wit and repartee; quaffed my glass of wine, after supper, with more heart-felt hilarity than I had done for forty years before; told my story in turn, and in short laughed as loudly and made as much noise as the wildest dog among them. But our cheerfulness was all that of nature and of the heart. My young visitors were all gentlemen. Their gaiety and even volatility became them. It was the combined result of high health, conscious virtue, mutual attachment and confidence, that unexperienced, credulous, captivating innocence, that keeps suspicion at a distance; and that high-bounding hope and throbbing expectation, with which genius looks forward to the great world on which it is just about to enter.

I have never seen a finer parcel of young fellows. They were a perfect feast to me. The observation of the human character has been, all my life, one of my greatest enjoyments; and this pleasing groupe, each of whom was in himself a character, gave food to my palate which could never cloy. My amusement was to compare them with each other, to see how they settled the point of precedence among themselves by that tacit vote of superior attention which never fails to shew itself; and to predict from my own observation their future figure in the world.. Of my own boys I have already said enough: but the reader I am sure will not be displeased to be introduced to the rest of the party.

animæ, quales neque candidores

Terra tulit; neque queis me sit devinctior alter,
O qui complexus, et gaudia quanta fuerunt!
Nil ego contulerim jucundo sanus amico.

Hor. Lib. 1. Sat. 5. v. 39.

Next rising morn with double joy we greet

Pure spirits these; the world no purer knows;
For none my heart with more affection glows.
How oft' did we embrace? Our joys how great!
For sure no blessing in the pow'r of fate
Can be compar'd, in sanity of mind,

With Friends of such companionable kind.

Francis.

On the night of the arrival of the young friends mentioned in my former number, Alfred, whose signal had drawn them to the parlour, where they were met by Rosalie and myself, performed the part of master of ceremonies by giving us a mutual introduction; which he did in the following terms:

"My friends, this is Doctor Cecil, the benevolent censor of the age and this is my sister Rosalie."-" This, Sir," continued he, addressing me, "is the son of a man whom I have often heard you admire, Mr, Sidney :" presenting a spare young man of good figure; whose face seemed formed on the finest model of antiquity, and whose large eye, of soft deep blue, habitually expanded as if looking upon a wide and boundless surface, might well be called an eye of occan. He advanced with mild and graceful composure, and saluted me with an unassuming modesty and politeness, blended at the same time with a manly firmness, simplicity and dignity, which gave me the presentiment that he was a superior character. By the bye, I think that there is scarcely any other point of time or any other act, in which, to an observing man who is himself at his ease, the character of a stranger is so apt to shew itself, as on the first introduction and in the act of salutation. The pert and shallow coxcomb, the grinning sycophant, the plausible hypocrite, the pompous pretender to weight and consequence, the wretch yet undetected who still continues to keep up commerce with the virtuous world; stern arrogance which deems the world scarcely

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large enough to hold it, malignant officiousness, smirking conceit, harmless vanity ;--contemptuous sarcasm, and meek good humor; benevolence and misanthropy ; intelligence and weakness; genuine modesty and callous effrontery; all have their own appropriate mode of salutation which betrays them at once to a man acquainted with the world; and enables him to pronounce upon them, with almost absolute certainty, on the moment of introduction. But to proceed with my young friends. "This, Sir," continued Alfred, "is Mr. Herbert, whom I am proud to add to the list of your acquaintances; he has long since been one of Doctor Cecil's friends"-presenting a remarkably handsome and graceful young fellow, whose address although highly spirited and polished, had so much of hurry as well as self-sufficiency in it as to impress me less favorably both towards his mind and temper than I had been towards Sidney's. This, Sir," proceeded Alfred, in a kind of mock tragic tone, turning towards a young fellow, somewhat knock-kneed and round-shouldered, and of a most comic phiz, "is the celebrated Van Tromp of maritime memory; the same Dutch admiral who was shot through the heart with a musket ball during the protectorship of Oliver Cromwell." Van Tromp's sly and brilliant eye, and his countenance at once demure and arch; honest, good-humored and intelligent; together with his frank and pleasing manner, soon made us forget the defects of his person." My name is, indeed, Van Tromp, Doctor," said he advancing-" but I beg you to believe that I have come alive and heart-whole to the castle, whatever may be my condition when I leave it." I was glad to find that Rosalie had too much good sense as well as dignity, to seem to understand this compliment, although it was applied by a glance of Van Tromp's eye, as well as by the looks and smiles of the rest of the company. A very light blush indeed perceptible, I believe, by no eye but my own, flew over her cheek. Alfred however instantaneously relieved the self-command which she was exerting, by presenting the next gentleman, a young. man about six feet high, whose pale face was full of expression: "This, Sir, is Albert Durer a descendant of his illustrious name-sake of Nuremberg; but whom you will soon value much more for his own sake than his name's sake.". “Good, good,” exclaimed our cousin Reynolds with a laugh, struck by the singularity of the sentence; Reynolds was the last of the visitors and required no introduction, having been to see us only four years before. He is a Pennsylvanian; a grandson of that brother of my mother's, who is mentioned in my XIIIth Number; à