On the summits of the mountains I beheld frequent vestiges of the tempest, in trees riven by lightning, or prostrated by the tornado; and they suggested to a humble pedestrian, the consoling reflection that the highest are not the safest places. It was my fortune to behold a war of the elements as awful as that which assailed the demented monarch; but, like Lear, I was near to a hovel, one of the hospices erected for the poor or benighted traveller, and there I rested through the night, sheltered from the fury, but elevated and appalled by the uproar, of the tempest.

The next day the wind was still a hurricane, and, as I descended to the thick forests of the valley, it was a singular sight to behold the tops of the trees wrenching in the gale, while not a leaf was stirred below.

Deep woods and solitudes have always inclined my spirit to devotion. The solemn temples' that the piety of man has raised to the worship of his Maker, are less impressive than a primeval forest; and among churches, those that have the greatest devotional influence on the mind are Gothic cathedrals, that owe half their character to their resemblance to a grove.

To sustain it in devotional duties, human weakness requires the aid of local situation and solemn ceremonials. The piety of even the devout Johnson was warmer in the ruins of Iond,' and the liturgy of the English church no less elevates the confidence of the righteous, and inspires hope in others who pray to be delivered from evil.

Having crossed the mountains, I descended the Ohio, the most beautiful of rivers. The Alleghany is limpid and swift, the Monongahela more turbid and slow. One may remind you of a Frenchman, the other, of a Spaniard; in their union, they may bring to your recollection a grave and placid gentleman, who desires to take for the better a more joyous companion.

In this rich and wonderful valley of the West, grandeur is stamped upon the works of creation. What are the meagre and boasted Tybur and Arno, the Illyssus and Eurotas, to a stream navigable to three thousand miles, and rolling, long before it meets the ocean, through a channel of sixty fathoms! What, but grottoes, are the vaunted caves or catacombs of Europe, to the mighty caverns of the West-caverns that ex

tend beneath districts wider than German principalities, and under rivers larger than the Thames. Ye sun-burnt travellers! whose caravans have rested under the shade of the banyan while ye marvelled at the circuit of its limbs-come to the Ohio, and see a tree that will shelter a troop of horse in the cavity of its trunk.

A stroll even now upon the Beautiful River,' will explain the enthusiasm that led the first bold hunters of the Long Knife,' to the forests of the Bloody Ground.' Danger was but a cheap price, at which they enjoyed the rich, wild profusion of the West, when it first opened to the admiration of civilized man.

It was my good fortune to see one of these aged sons of the forest, who, in his youth, had loved danger and venison better than Robin Hood; for Kentucky had other rangers than guarded deer in Sherwood Forest. The lands that he had taken in the wilderness now hold a populous city, and have made the fortunes of his countless progeny. He had paid the purchase by instalments, and when the dreaded day of payment approached, he would stroll with his rifle a few hundred miles to shoot an Indian for the bounty on his scalp.

I descended the river, as I had hoped to pass through life, suffering no damage from the rapids, and lost in admiration of the beauty of the banks. At Vevay, in the county of Swisserland, I moored my bark, and have cast anchor for life among a kind and simple race, that sing the Ranz de vaches in an adopted country, hallowed by names that remind them of their Alps.

P.

ODE TO THE STARS.

How beauteous! how wondrous! fain, fain would I see
Your myriads unrobed of their mystery;

Fain would I cleave the dark dome of the night,
Soaring up, like a thought, to your islands of light; -
Fain would I rifle your secrets divine,

With what forms ye are peopled, and wherefore ye shine;
By what laws ye are govern'd, and fram'd on what plan,
I would know-but I may not-this is not for man!

ODE TO THE STARS.

Great-glorious the day, when the Author of all

Having spake ye from nought-and ye sprung at the call!
Through the regions of space from His hand ye were hurled,
Dark myriads of atoms-each atom a world!

When each sped to his point in the boundless expanse,
And ye caught your first light from the light of His glance!
His power in one moment fix'd each in his spot,
One moment remitted-ye sink, and are not.

What a dot is this earth, 'mid ye orbs of the sky!
And, compared with this earth, what a nothing am I !
Yet I with my mind's cobweb plummet would sound
That Mind that hath known nor creation nor bound;
Would fathom the depths of His wond'rous decree !
Can the fly grasp a world-a shell compass the sea?
No: this to weak man is allow'd, and no more-
He may wonder and worship-admire and adore.

ARIADNE.

Theseus! Oh, Theseus! hear!-in vain-
He leaves me on this desert shore
Unheard, unthought of, to complain;
The false one comes no more.

And is this, then, thy gratitude,
O Theseus? and is this thy love?
Didst thou not swear? But gods are just,
And there are gods above.

Yes, proud deceiver, though thy bark
Drive swift before the fav'ring wind,

Though no reverted eye may mark
The woe thou leav'st behind.

Just vengeance cometh with the morn-
Yes-boast this fond heart breaks for thee;
Scoff on-my love well merits scorn--
But thou shalt mourn like me.

Stafford.

J. F.

ROTHELAN.

66

BY JOHN GALT, ESQ. AUTHOR OF THE ANNALS OF THE

PARISH," &c.

In the thirteenth century, there was a gallant soldier who had distinguished himself much in the wars of the time: his name was Edward de Crosby, Lord of Rothelan. During a visit to Italy, Lord Rothelan married an illustrious Florentine lady, and fell in the Scottish wars, during the minority of Edward the Third, leaving an infant boy in Crosby House, London, under the protection of his brother, Sir Amias de Crosby, an artful scoundrel, who, in order to dispossess his nephew, hesitated not to dishonor the mother, and dispute the legitimacy of the son: to aid his purpose, he called to his confidence Ralph Hanslap, a cool calculating villain, slow of speech, and quick of thought-wary in taking his aim, but speedy in the blow. Sir Amias caused young Rothelan to be kidnapped, taken to the Scottish camp at Durham, and sold, as a prisoner that would bring a profitable ransom, to an old captain, one Gabriel de Glowr, or Falaside. Sir Gabriel followed the army, not as a hound that hunts, but one that filled up the cry; in plain English, plunder was his object, and the sacking of Durham afforded him an opportunity of gaining it. On his return, however, he was met by the Musselburghers, who were determined to share in the spoil. Their respectable magistrate most cordially assented to this judicious proposal; and the wives forthwith, abandoning their creels and baskets, began to tie stones in the corners of their aprons, and to take off their stockings, putting stones into the feet thereof; so making them into powerful efficacy in the flourish of free fighting.

When the Amazons of Musselburgh had thus girded their resolution, and thus armed themselves for battle, their valiant husbands drew their swords, and the whole party advanced with a determined air against their more successful neighbour. The band of Gabriel de Glowr, seeing the approach of such a formidable array, halted on the heath, not daunted, but only troubled in mind on account of the danger which thus suddenly manaced their booty. Clinkscales, for so the worthy magistrate of Musselburgh was called, separated his forces into two divisions. The burghers he drew up in a compact

body, and halted them on the brow of a knoll, while the wives, acting as light infantry, nimbly extending to the right and left, formed themselves into two crescents, and moving at a double-quick time, flourished their weapons round their heads, like slingers preparing to throw, rushed in upon the beeves and horses, and enclosed them within a circle. A parley ensued, in which Sir Gabriel de Glowr and Clinkscales agreed to divide the spoil.

Under the care of Sir Gabriel de Glowr young Rothelan remained some time, and was trained in warlike exercises, in order, no doubt, to aid Sir Gabriel, who was an avaricious border chief, in his forays. At the battle of Neville's Cross, Rothelan was, however, rescued by the English, who conveyed him to London, where he met his mother. The Lady Albertina, finding her marriage and the legitimacy of her son disputed, sent to Italy for witnesses to prove their truth. Most anxiously did they wait for their arrival, and even the consolations of Adonijah were scarcely able to sustain the spirit of the afflicted lady. This Adonijah was a benevolent Jew, who assisted her ladyship with money, without accepting any return. At last, news was brought that the ship was seen in the river; and the story of Rothelan having become alehouse talk, the tidings of her approach caused a great movement in the town. Every man in London, who had heard of the lady's constancy and the Jew's friendship, desired to know the sequel, like a credulous child that is impatient for the retribution at the end of a tragic tale. But there was, at this time, a great thirst for strange matter among the people, the hectic of which, some of those who were astrological, ascribed to malign aspects of the stars, and other signs and omens, which daily bore visible testimony to the credibility of certain baleful predictions and pestiferous prophecies, wherewith the whole of Christendom was then much troubled. The trees untimely budded, and brought forth untimely fruit, of which no lip could abide the taste; the ivy slackened her ancient hold of the wall, and shot out branches that bore wonderful leaves; great fishes were heard in the night moaning afar in the sea; and there was a shower of worms. For an entire month the moon was not seen, and the nights were so dark, that it was feared she had wandered away from her sphere. A holy man seven times saw a mighty hand between him and