its mystery unveiled, gleaming on him amid the riot and confusion of this magnificent scene! Even Flora was forgotten. "Norman Leslie!" she said, after a gaze of singular agitation, "you are in danger!" "How? from whom?" "Your life-you are watched." "My life I value not; but, mysterious woman you know me-you are then she? By Heaven!" he grasped het wrist, "you shall not leave me till--" "For God's sake! I am your friend; stand aside but for one moment. Seem not to regard me.--Eyes are or us-eyes of hate, fire, and revenge. More presently." She glided away, leaving Norman almost motionless with astonishment. He turned to Flora-she also was gune. "Alms!" said a holy friar, beneath whose cowl might be detected the head of a profligate young noble; "alms, I pray you." "Stand!" cried a stalwart figure, arrayed as a robber. Norman looked around. Nothing could he see but a wilderness of grotesque forms and masked faces. Presently a hand touched his arın. "Look not around," said the voice: "I am the sable plume. If you attempt to gaze, or follow, if you exhibit any sign to betray to others that I am addressing you, both of us are lost-nay, then, I will fly; you shall never hear of me again." Speak, azain," said he. Beware the harlequin." him. when a figure darted upon them and threw a heavy cloak upon the arm of the assassin. Grasping him, thus entangled, Norman hrought him to the ground, and tore off his mask. The face of Clairmont met his eyes. It was black with passion. He wrenched the knife from his hand-a dreadful feeling flashed across him; but muttering, "No-no blood!" he flung the blade fiercely away. 'Dog! assassin! you shall come with me!" A crowd of revellers burst suddenly round the corner -several rushed to the spot. Norman stood alone. His victim, with a sudden and desperate struggle, had wrenched himself away, leaving only a few shreds, of various colors, in the hand of his foe. An Extract from Clinton Bradshaw. ADVENTURES OF AN EVENING. Bradshaw and Willoughby exchanged smiles. They explained to Cavendish that they could not all go; and, after a good deal of trouble with him, he agreed to remain. They made their apologies to the ladies, and departed. They were soon at the watch-house. At the door, they met Jones, with four other watchmen, going upon their mission to catch Adams. A few words were exchanged between them, when the watchmen entered the watch-house, to obtain for Bradshaw and Willoughby the necessary disguises. The watch-house was situated in the centre of the city. It was the house where the watchmen met to "The harlequin? There are twenty here." Then avoid them all-and the palmer they scek thy receive the orders of the captain of the watch, and to life." "Sir knight of the crimson plume," said a voice. "Weil my fair page?" "Beneath the vase, on yon pedestal, lics a scroll. It is for you; but read it not till you are alone. Bewildered, half believing himself in a romantic dream, be made his way to the spot designated, and with a cautious hand moved the small vase. Passing his fingers over the marble, he seized a strip of paper. Trembling with curiosity, hoping that he was about to make the discovery which would lift him at once to bliss umutterable, he forgot the caution he had so singularly received respecting the harlequin; and, after wrapping around him a heavy black mantle which he had left in the corridor, without waiting for his carriage. he hastened he almost flew into the street. The moon was just emerging from a silver cloud that lay like a bar along the sky. Its light fell broadly down from the eaves of an immense palace. Pausing in a narrow lane, he held up the scroll. It contained only a line:" By twilight, meet me to-morrow night, St. Peters, before the altar of St. Leo the Great.Your life more than your life depends on it." A short, deep exclamation at his side startled him; and the glimmer of the bright blade trembled in the moon beam. "Ha! at last!" cried a well known voice, a dagger was lifted over his breast. Of his guard, unarmed, utterly exposed, death once again gleamed before him: from which all his personal strength and courage would have been unable to defend which the rioters and marauders of the night were brought and locked up, to await a hearing before the magistrate, who always attended early in the morning. The room the young men entered was low and long; & dingy lamp of tin hung suspended from the ceiling. Along the walls were benches, permanently fixed, on which lay, at length, or reclined, in an attitude that pleased them, those watchmen who were not on duty. Behind the desk, near a fire-place, was a large square-shouldered man, with a dread-naught coat on; his cheeks were adorned with an immense pair of whiskers, and through his busy eyebrows his redish eye glowed like a cigar in a dark night, in the mouth of some sturdy smoker. This was the captain of the watch. "Lawyer," said he to Bradshaw, "so you're going a larking to-night. I heard of your business with Adams last night; I wonder, being as you're a small man, that you came off so well. The fellow's a noted gallows bird, and fights like vengeance. He has sworn he won't be taken alive; you'll have tough times to-night." "There is no harm in taking him dead, is there?" said Bradshaw. "Not exactly," said the captain, hesitatingly: "but it would be best to take him alive." Bradshaw did not mean all that might have been meant by this phrase; but he knew among whom he stood. He remarked, "I have no enmity against the fellow; but he's a great rascal, and he ought to be taken. Jones here has a large family, and is a good watchman, and I want him to get the reward." So saying, the young men, who had put on dread-naught coats and old hats, and the watchmen, departed together. They reconnoitred in the neighbourhood of the alley for some time before they entered it. Several squads of young men, frequenters of the neighbourhood, passed them; but they were much more peaceable than usual; the late transactions having quelled their turbulence. It must have been after one, when they entered the lane. Loose clouds had been floating in the heavens since dark; after midnight, they gathered in huge masses, and the wind began to blow roughly. "What think you of the business, Squire?" said Jones in a whisper to Bradshaw, as they approached the house where Bradshaw had contended with Adams | Kentuck," (and he thrust his hand into his pocket, -"had we best enter the house?" "Kentuck," whispered Bradshaw, as they advanced towards the grocery, "what do you think of this business?" "First rate," was the reply, "I'm for going the whole hog. Suppose, we turn thief takers, and rival Vidocq or old Hays?" "We will, if we succeed, but remember this is our first attempt. Have you pistols?" "Yes, two of them, and a dirk." "So have 1. Let's have the word Kentuck for our watch-word, and if I hear you call it, or you me, we must come to the rescue. I've no idea of having my profile spoilt, or of being carried out feet foremost; and, therefore, if any of these fellows flash their knives dangerously it will be worse for them." The grocery store was a high frame building; on one side of it was a vacant lot, and on the other a frame house not quite so high, and divided from it by an alley of about seven feet in width. Bradshaw and Kentuck entered, and passing up by a counter, they took their station near a stove. Seated by the stove, were two young men, who looked at the new comers, and stretched out their persons so as to take up as much room as possible. The one by Willoughby, put his feet on the only chair that was between them. As soon as Kentuck observed it, he said, "My good fellow, if you'll let your carcass occupy but one chair, I'll take a seat" and without waiting for the removalhe lifted the chair, let the fellow's leg fall, and sat down. The man stared at Kentuck, who returned his glance with the mildest expression in the world, which the fellow observing, and mistaking for "no fight," said, "Do you want a fuss here, my young lark ?" "Why, I don't much care," said Kentuck, in a drawling tone. "If there's a fuss, I shall be into it to a certainty; and if there ain't a fuss, I shall sit still. I tell you what it is, stranger, I'm all the way from old Kentuck; you've heard of such a place, may be? It's a place for varmints, wild varmints, I tell you. The word there, is go a-head. You've hearn tell of people licking their weight in wild cats, hain't you? I've seen it done. May be I could do it should like to try? You've hearn tell of rowing a man up salt river, hain't ye? Well, I've seen it done; there's no joke in it. Did you ever see a man bite the head of a nail off? Bring me one." While Willoughby spoke this, he stretched his legs out, and looked the man in the face with the most imperturbable indifference. "You're a picture," said the fellow, struck with his don't care manner. "Now, ain't I?" said Kentuck. "I'm not one of your pictures to hang around a girl's neck, though; I am a full length painting. One of your pictures that may dangle in a strange kind of frame, some of these days-two posts upright, and one across, with a rope and the picture at the end of it, so well done, that the whole people are admiring the execution. Do you take, stranger?" The fellow nodded, and grinned. "Well, it's no matter while we live, be merry. What'll you take to drink?" "It you're for drink," said the fellow, "I'll take a little whiskey." "Ay, of the mountain dew," said Cavendish. "What's this landlord's name?" "Scratch, they call him." "Here, Scratch," called out Willoughby, to an old man by the door, who was keeping a sharp eye upon his moveables-"let's have some of your very best; no deception, old boy, or you'll get scalped, just as a wild Indian scalps a fellow. They learnt the trick to the Kentucks, and we can do it like lightning. I'll bet you a treat for the company, that I'll take this and produced a curiously wrought, large knife,) "I'll take this Kentuck, and with one sweep, just one, round your head, I'll leave you, old Scratch, in the condition for a namesake, with no more hair upon your crown, than there is on the back of my hand. What say you?" "Sir, the liquor's good," said Scratch, "and I want no such experiments." "Old boy, you'd scarcely feel it. It's a mere circumstance, you'd look just as well with a scratch; and who knows but that you might get a pension by the scalping? But, no matter, if ever you want it done, you must call on me. Stranger," continued Willoughby, turning to the fellow beside him. "I've been a river character, a wild woods river character; I've seen sawyers, and swamps, and snags, and allıgators, and every thing. Why, the sprees you have here, in your lanes and alleys, are nothing to Natchez under the Hill, or the swampsat New Orleans. They'll dirk a tellow there just to keep their hands in. I've seen knives there flash around like sunbeams, and I just set among 'em as I set now and looked on." "What brings you all the way here?" asked the fellow who had just taken his liquor, and who felt warmed towards Willoughby. "Why, when I was last at New Orleans, I took the sea, round from there, and landed at New York, looked round there a spell, cut up in other places, and at last came here. I happened to get the word, while I was in this here city, that an old comrade of mine had got into hardships somewhere down this way, and I thought I'd just take a look after him." "What's his name?" "Adams," replied Willoughby. "Do you know such a man, stranger?" "What, besides Adams, is his name?" "Henry Adams," said Bradshaw, who observed that Kentuck was at fault. "He's been a high boy in his generation. The word reached us to day that he'd got into a bad fix. It wasn't to-day, exactly, it reached us, but last night. You see, we took a spree, and got lodged in the watch-house. While they were talking with us, the watchmen came in, and told about some fellow having a fight here last night with Adams, and how Adams got hurt-knocked down two or three times about a girl, at a place they called old Moll's. He described the place pretty exact, and I know it must be in this lane." "What kind of a looking man is this Adams, that you speak off?" inquired Scratch. "He's a thick-set, bull-necked fellow," said Brad shaw, "with black hair and eyes. He was lately in jail. I went there to see him; but they wouldn't let me in." Old Scratch hesitated a moment, seemed perplexed, and remarked, unawares "He says he has known men like you, but none that they call Kentuck.". "My old boy," said Kentuck, "can't a man change his name, and have what these lawyers call an alias. You don't think a free rover sails always under the same flag, do you?" "No," said the old fellow, with a grin, "I guess not. But what do you want to see him for?" "To see him for!" exclaimed Willoughby. "The devil! Why, don't you know that the watchmen and constables are after him, hunting high and low?" "Yes," said Bradshaw, who was satisfied that Adams was in the house; "they'll be down upon you presently, and raise the devil. We want to get him off somewhere if we can. We heard the watchmen say, the other night, they would turn over every stone in the city for him." "Blood and thunder!" exclaimed Scratch,-"can't 레 trouble!" a man do for a friend, without always getting into | whiskers. Snatching a pistol from his bed-side, and aiming it at the head of Bradshaw, Adams exclaimed, "Scratch," said Bradshaw, "they'll blow the same instant that he fired "We're betrayed!" high if they find him; and they'll take him, besides. The ball grazed the left temple of Bradshaw, and plough He'sza fellow that'll tell on any body to get himself off. By thunder, 1 don't want him to tell on me. I want to hide him." "It will be hard work to move him," said old Scratch. "He's very bad; he's got his foot twisted all out of place; his head and shoulder is terribly bruised. Come on; let's see if we can't do something for him. Mind, I depend on you as his true friends. You're on no account to reveal the place where you find him." So speaking, Scratch led the way to the back part of his house, and then, by a ricketty pair of steps, to the second story. His house was uninhabited, save by himself, and those outlaws whom he harboured. All his goods that were of any value, were in the front part of his shop; they consisted, principally, of liquors which, together with a few dry goods, and a barrel or two of fish, and some cordage, comprised his stock in trade. The second story had two or three rooms in it, which, as the doors were open, the young men could observe were filled with all kinds of rubbish, of the most inflammable materials. "You see," said Scratch, chuckling, "they may hunt the hare, but they can't find him. It them dogs of constables press too heavy on me, do you see?-I can just let a candle fall in yon old tar barrel, and if they don't scamper like old rats, what's that to me ?" ed its way right over the top of the landlord's head. The bone of his scull was thick enough to resist its entrance-but it nearly did for him what the Kentuckian offered to do with his knife. Uttering a yell of pain, old Scratch descended the ladder with all possi ble speed, and fastened the door after him. Bradshaw threw himself upon Adams just as he was cocking another pistol, and he had scarcely time to force his hand in a harmless direction, when he pulled the trigger, but it only snapped. Willoughby sprang upon the body of the ruffian, as he attempted to fire, and said "I'm the strongest-let me hold him. Run, Bradshaw, and bring the watch." Quick as thought, Bradshaw hastened down the ladder. He found the door fast; but, placing his body against the wall, and his feet against the door, with main force, after a powerful effort, he burst it open, and tumbled into the room. Within ten feet of him, near the tar barrel, stood old Scratch, with the light in his hand. Bradshaw rushed past him, and descended the steps, into the grocery. There were several persons around the stove, who evidently had been startled by the report of the pistol. Bradshaw looked round to see if there was any back way, through which he could pass out; for he reflected, without his false whiskers and hat, he might be known to some of them, as the one who had hurt Adams. He saw no way of passing out, but by the front door. As he rapidly advanced to do so, the fellow who had been conversing at the stove with Kentuck, asked "Where's the other fellow? Who fired the pistol? Where's your whiskers and hat, my lark?" "Keep dark," said Bradshaw; "I left them up stairs. There's watchmen hid away, about here, I believe." "The devil! What will Adams do? Don't you smell something burning?" At this moment, old Scratch called out from above "Knock him down-kill him! He's a spy." The fellows immediately placed themselves in a threatening attitude; one brandished a formidable club, and others drew their knives. They stood directly between Bradshaw and the door, calling "Traitor, spy-we know you. Say your prayers!" "Make way, my brave boys," said Bradshaw, nothing intimidated, drawing and cocking a pistol, as he spoke. "Make a clear passage. Put up your knives and clubs. The first man who attempts to use one, I'll shoot dead." Bradshaw and Cavendish felt in a quandary, as to how they should act, on seeing Adams; but, as they could not communicate with each other, by a tacit understanding, they determined to follow to his hidingplace, and trust to circumstances. The watchmen would, doubtless, keep their station until they heard the signal, or the young men left the grocery. If Adams was much disabled, they could easily take him; but the main point was to prevent the interference of old Scratch and his company, before they could communicate with the watchmen; however, on went the landlord, and they followed after. He led the way to the corner of the building, next to the vacant lot, beside the tar barrel to which he had pointed, and to ching a board, that seemed to be nailed against the wall to repair a dilapidation, a narrow door open-outed, which led by a ladder to a kind of third story or cock-loft. On entering the apartment, it appeared long and narrow, with the ceiling unplastered and slanting, which was, in fact, formed by the roof of the house. There was no flooring on the rafters, only, here and there, a board laid across in different directions. Treading a board that appeared red to lead to the sky-light, the landlord opened a door close to the eves, which they bad to stoop to enter, and Bradshaw and Willoughby found themselves in a miserable room, if room it might be called, on the floor of which, on a mattress, lay Adams. The ruffian's encounter with Bradshaw had been no child's play; he looked squalid and feverish. He was so altered from sickness, and his wounds, Bradshaw scarcely knew him. The Kentuckian eyed his broad chest, bony arms, and bull neck, and wondered how Bradshaw could have contended, successfully, with such superior strength. The landlord, with the candle which he held in his hand, lit one which stood by the bed-side of Adams, and then stepped behind the young men. Willoughby had to stoop very much, in consequence of his height, and the lowness of the room. Forgetting, for a moment, this necessity, as he stepped forward, he struck his head against the roof with such force, as to throw him off his balance. In the impulsive effort to recover himself, he threw out his hand, and struck from the head of Bradshaw the watchmen's hat and false "Don't fear him," exclaimed the fellow who had previously spoken: "his pistol's not loaded. Didn't you hear it go off, up stairs?" "Why don't old Scratch come down," said another fellow, intimidated by Bradshaw's manner, "and help us, if he wants him caught?" "See, boys!" said Bradshaw, producing another pistol, and holding one in each hand,-" two pistols have not been fired: one must be loaded. Your blood be upon your own head! The first one that attempts to stop me is a gone case." So speaking, he passed deliberately by them, while old Scratch came running down stairs, crying out, "Stop him!" They followed, but at a respecttul distance, after Bradshaw, determined to dog him. He crossed over to the old building in which were the watch. He thought it best not to call them, as the fellows might then scamper off; and he wished them to be taken. They followed after him, giving, at intervals, a low whistle, which was answered from the upper part of the lane, where footsteps were heard advancing. All at once, the cry of "Fire! Fire!!" from a hundred tongues, burst forth in that fearful tone, that tells it is near: at the same moment, a blaze of light revealed, to Bradshaw, the forms and faces of the watchmen, among whom he stood. "We've found him," said Bradshaw. "He's at old Scratch's." He turned and beheld the old villain's house on fire, with the flames blazing out of the second story windows. It immediately occurred to him, that Scratch had set it on fire; and the rapid progress of the flames was proof enough that his train, ot which he spoke, was well set. Bradshaw looked anxiously round for Willoughby, but in vain. He told the watchmen, hastily, the circumstances; and requested them to take Scratch in custody, if they should see him. He then entered the burning house, in search of Willoughby.He proceeded as far as the steps to the second story, but he found it impossible to ascend-the whole wasin a blaze; and in places the fire dropped down into the grocery, through the floor, which, in several places, was burned through. He called in a loud voice, stood listening, and called again and again, but there came no answer. By this time, a great crowd had gathered; the bells were ringing: the cry of fire sounded through the city; and the noise of the engine bells and wheels was heard in the lane, as the hose-men ran to and fro, unreeling the hose. When Bradshaw re-entered the street, two engines were in full play on the fire. On the opposite side, he saw old Scratch looking very composedly on the house. Springing forward, and seizing him by the throat, Bradshaw exclaimed, "Where's my friend? Tell me, or I'll choke you? Where's Kentuck?" he stood on the roof of the next house to the grocery. "No, let's put it round this poor devil first," said Willoughby, "and let him down. I would have dared the risk of jumping on the next roof, but I could not leave this man to die, while there was hope." While they spoke, amidst the breathless silence of the crowd, they tied the rope round Adams, and lowered him down in safety. Willoughby wrapped the rope round the chimney, made it fast, and said"Now, Bradshaw, do you descend." "Not until you are first down, said Bradshaw. Willoughby folded his arms, and looked at Bradshaw. "No, Kentuck," said Bradshaw, "I got you into this difficulty. You're making the peril greater for both of us by waiting. Go a-head!" "Come on!" called out the crowd, "come on! the roof is talling!" take the rope. As Bradshaw The Kentuckian still paused; Bradshaw sprang upon the next building, as the only means of making seized the rope; scarcely had it felt his weight, when leaped, Willoughby the roof fell in with a tremendous crash. The crowd thought for a moment that both were lost. But, when the roof fell, the chimney stood; and Willoughby "In the house," said the old fellow, doggedly. As Bradshaw was in the act of pressing him to the clung to the rope, and held himselt suspended, for an pavement, he glanced towards the house, saw the trapdoor open, and, in a moment after, Willoughby stood on the roof. It seemed to swing and trembled beneath his weight. Stooping down, Willoughby helped Adams through door, and, half him, he could not help himself, they reached the chimney that stood near the adjoining house, divided, as we have before described, from it by an alley of about sevenfeet in width. Luckily for them, the wind blew in the opposite direction, so as to bear the flames towards the vacant lot. The whole of the house on that side was burning; and great bodies of flame broke upward through the very roof at that corner. The engines directed the whole body of the water there, but it seemed inevitable that the two must perish. "Where's the life escape-ladder?" was called out on every side."Not come yet, not come yet," was the answer. The crisis was so fearful that the immense crowd looked on in breathless suspense. The engine men worked away at their engines without their accustomed song, in dead silence, with their eyes upturned to Willoughby and Adams. The Kentuckian stood erect with his arm resting on the top of the chimney; his hat and watchman's cloak he had left in Adams room; a splendid cable chain of gold was plainly perceptible, over the breast of his mole-skin vest. At his feet, cowering and clinging to the roof, with both his hands, was Adams. His face expressed the wildest horror; in heart-rending tones, he was calling on the crowd for God's sake to save him. As soon as Bradshaw saw Willoughby, he called out to him, in a firm, clear voice, that every man in the crowd heard, "Willoughby! Kentuck! hold on; I'll bring you a rope from the next building." Willoughby waved his hand. To throw off his coat and boots, catch up a coil of cordage, and enter the adjacent house, were, with Bradshaw, but the work of an instant. Several of the crowd said it was no use, as he passed them; and one or two, from the best of motives, endeavoured to restrain him, but he rushed on, and, in a moment more, instant, by an admirable presence of mind, air, till the smoke somewhat subsided; and, while the flames were yet smothered under the roof, he let himself down in safety. By almost a miracle, Bradshaw, when he jumped on to the next house, maintained his footing. This he could not have done, had he not been stocking feet. If the Kentuckian had tried it, he must have fallen, booted as he was. "Is he safe?" called out Bradshaw. "Is Kentuck sale?" "Safe as an old 'coon!" exclaimed Willoughby; "how are you, Bradshaw?" Original. TO MY COLLEGE FRIEND, B. W. H. Remember me not, in the hour of glee, For fear it might cause thee sadness. Remember me not, in prosperity's hour, Remember me not, when thou'rt free from care It requires but little acquaintance with the heart, to know that woman's first wish is to be handsome; and that, consequently, the readiest method of obtaining her kindness, is to praise her beauty. -Johnson. From the Southern Literary Messenger for December. BY BENJ. MATTHIAS. "Its bounding crystal frolicked in the ray, It is probable there are but few individuals residing in the vicinity of Philadelphia, who have not beard, during some interval of business engagements, of Wissahiccon creek, a beautiful and romantic stream that falls into the no less romantic Schuylkill, about five miles above the city. The stream is visited, statedly, by but a small number of persons, but as it is neither found on any map, nor marked in any gazetteer that I have ever examined, there may be some apology offered for the indifference to magnificent scenery, manifested by hundreds and thousands of our citizens, who, though domiciled in its immediate vicinity, have never deemed it worthy of a visit. So true it is, that there is a proneness in human nature to undervalue the gifts of Providence which are placed within our reach, and to admire and covet those which are located at a distance. Were a fatiguing journey of several hundred miles necessary, in order to enjoy a ramble along the banks of the Wissahiccon, we should then, without doubt, view its placid waters, its sluggish, meandering course, its richly covered banks, and its imposing precipices, with the admiration and enthusiasm which scenes of this character never fail to inspire in the minds of those who passionately love the untouched works of the hand of Nature. But the delightful little stream courses along within a few miles of our doors, and a ride to its most picturesque views, is but an hour's excursion; hence, except to a few whose researches have discovered, and whose good taste enabled them to appreciate, the beauty, sublimity and majesty of this stream, it is almost unknown. But there are persons who have not been thus negligent of nature's treasures in this vicinity, and to these a visit to the fascinating Wissahiccon, calls up remembrances and associations of the most delightful character. To those who enjoy Nature in her majesty-free, uncontrolled, undespoiled of her beauty by the effacing efforts of human skill-there is no spot, within a circle of many miles, so rich in imagery, so imposing in appearance, so fascinating attraction, as the banks of the Wissahiccon. The stream takes its rise from several springs in the upper part of Montgomery county, and flows, for a short distance, through a limestone country, remarkable for fertility and a high state of cultivation.Thence it passes, south-westernly, "a sweet smiling stream sleeping on the green sward," into more undulating land, until it reaches the Chesnut ridge, from which it progresses, at times indolently, and at times with an impetuous current, through a narrow valley, hedged in on either side by high hills, steep and craggy cliffs and precipitous mountains, until it strikes the Schuylkill, about a mile above the falls. Along * According to Heckewelder, the Indian term Wi. sauchsican, from which "Wissahiccon" has most probably Leen derived, means a yellowish stream. its whole course the scenery of the Wissahiccon is beautiful, but it is the portion lying within four or five miles of its mouth, that is generally regarded as the most attractive, as it exhibits, in bolder relief than any other portion, the peculiar sublimity and grandeur of the stream, and the imposing and majestic ledge of rock work through which it passes. It is along this distance that I have been accustomed to ramble during leisure moments, for years, and it is under the shade of the forests of brilliant hue that line its banks, that I have often reclined, and enjoyed, undisturbed, the sweet melody of nature, issuing from the bursting green foliage around me. 1 love nature with enthusiasm, and whether standing on the bank of a running stream and listening to the sweet gushing sound of its waters, or seated on an eminence overlooking the waving fields of golden fruit that bless the labour of the husbandman; whether enchanted by the Siren song of nature's minstrels in the spring, or watching the many-coloured leaves of the forest, as they are borne through the air by the whistling winds of autumn-there is, in the scene before me, ab sorbing attraction, calling forth reflections which never fail to mellow down the selfish and unkind feelings of the heart, and to shed a peaceful, consoling and happy influence-all-pervading and lasting in its impressions-over the heart. The wild and majestic are, however, the scenes to which I am most strongly attached, and which invariably elicit, to a greater extent than those of a softer character, passionate emotions of wonder and admiration. I love to stand at the base of a mountain whose summit reaches the clouds, and to clamber among rocks and under precipices whose projecting cliffs threaten destruction to the hardy adventurer-1 love to explore the dense forests of our bold and beautiful hills, and to bury myself in the hidden recesses of nature, where the foot of man has never trod, where the sound of civilization has never been heard-1 love to stand at the foot of Niagara, and watch the mighty torrent of a mighty inland sea, hurling its concentrated power into the gulph below, and to gaze deep, deep, into that awful abyss-unfathomable, destructive, appalling-I love to see the elements at war, to hear the rush of the tornado and whirlwind, laying prostrate in their furious course every impediment to their destructive progress, and to witness of the powerful oak and the whirlings of its cleft branches in the sea of matter above, crushing and overwhelming the most formidable obstacles of art. These are scenes in which the spirit of the enthusiast revels, and they are scenes which strike the soul with awe, speaking trumpet-tongued of the presence of an Almighty power! of the omnipotence of his authority, of the insignificance of human effort, and the frailty of human life. The scenery near the mouth of the Wissahiccon is of a wild, romantic and imposing character, beautiful in its ever-varying aspect, and interesting in its mystic associations. High hills, occasionally assuming the appearance of mountains, rise on either side, covered with a dense and beautifully variegated foliage. The dogwood, with its beautiful flowers, the chesnut, the locust, the melancholy willow, the sumac, the |