come a prevalent sentiment that a man must ac-, overlays them all, the peaks inflamed with that rosequire his fortune before he marries-that the wife red glow, seen on the Swiss Alps, and emitting curls must have no sympathy nor share with him in the of smoke, which shine like scattered gold-dust in pursuit of it-in which most of the pleasure truly the sun. These woods overspread a large proportion consists-and the young married people must set of the surface in most of the islands, though in some, ont with as large and expensive an establishment as as in Java, the eye is delighted by a series of cultiis becoming those who have been wedded for twenty vated hills and park-like slopes, curving gracefully years. This is very unhappy; it fills the community upwards from the sea, with all the processes of agriwith bachelors, who are waiting to make their for- culture exhibited in succession, from ploughing to tunes, endangering virtue, and promoting vice; it reaping, according to the temperature, which is redestroys the true economy and design of the domes-gulated by the elevation of the land. In Borneo lie institution, and it promotes idleness and inefficiency among females, who are expecting to be taken up by a fortune, and passively sustained, without any care or concern on their part; and thus many a wife becomes, as a gentleman once remarked, not a "help-inate," but a "help-eat."-zilian woods. Birds countless fill the solitude with Winslow. INDIAN SUPERSTITION. A beautiful superlition prevails among the Seneca tribe of Indians. When an Indian maiden dies, they imprison a young bird until it first begins to try its power of song, and then loading it with kisses and caresses, they loose its bonds over the grave, in the belief that it will not fold its wings, nor close its eyes, until it has flown to the spirit-land and delivered its precious burden of affection to the loved and lost. It is not unfrequent to see 20 or 30 birds let loose over one grave. Gardeners' and Farmers' Journal. - and Sumatra, however, dense forests extend over large tracts :-trees of gigantic stature, of abundant foliage, and hung with a thousand creeping plants, entangled, fantastic, brilliant with flowers, and equal in their gaudy splendour to the growth of the Bratheir songs-some deep, long-drawn and shrill, others tremulous, plaintive, and wild, but few with sweet notes, or very melodious tones; their plumage is more beautiful than their music, and it gleams amid the branches, gold, or red, or blue, or flashes with a metallic lustre, peculiarly dazzling to the eye. From the boughs also hang snakes, green and velvety, or like a roll of coral, some harmless, others deadly, falling through the leaves, or gliding amid the tangled flowers and grass. Insects of splendid hues, and in immense variety, animate the solitudes of Celebes and Borneo-the bronze green beetle, EFFECTS OF PERSEVERANCE. All the per-emittling a perfume like attar of roses; the silverformances of human art, at which we look with winged butterfly, and myriads of grasshoppers. praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force The Indian gazelle, herds of elephants, the rhinoof performance; it is by this that the quarry be-ceros, the tiger, the taper, the barbirusa, the mias comes a pyramid, and that distant countries are pappan, the sloth, and the buffalo, also inhabit the united by canals. If a man were to compare the woods of the great islands, while in the smaller single stroke of a pickaxe, or of one impression of groups, as the Moluccas, if these creatures are tare, the spade, with the general design and last result, others more curious are found, especially of the he would be overwhelmed with a sense of their dis-winged species. More beautiful than any are the proportion: yet those petty operations, incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and mountains are levelled and oceans bounded by the slender force of human beings. A BROKEN HEART.-To d'e of a broken heart is an expression much ridiculed by those who, not possessing one themselves, cannot comprehend the possibility of such a thing. We do not much imagine such a death to be of common occurrence, the feelings of our modern race being, for the most part, entirely absorbed by the most trivial subjects-dress, riches, dissipation, and vanity of all kinds being their idols. There is another and a much commoner fate, which is far more melancholy, more pitiable, and that is-to live with a broken heart. MIND. It is mind, after all, that does the work of the world; so that the more there is of mind the more work will be accomplished. A man in proportion as he is Intelligent, makes a given force accomplish a greater task, makes skill take the place of muscles, and, with less labour, gives a better produce. INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.-The peculiar charm of the Archipelago is the fresh green perpetually displayed. Its atmosphere is of equinoctial warmth, yet continually charged with moisture, purified by season winds, and so fecundating that the very rocks shortly become fertile. Round the larger islands lie rings of smaller ones, described as resembling floating gardens, umbrageous and flowery, on waters so blue and gleaming that they would dazzle but for the shadows of the clouds reflected in them. In other quarters there is the sublimity of lofty ranges, but instead of glaciers or snows, one invariable fores biles-fabled to be the messengers of God, who fly birds of paradise-discolores maxime et inenarratowards the sun, but overpowered by the fragrance of the isles over which they pass, sink to the earth, and fall into the hands of man. The lori and the Argus pheasant, the cream-coloured pigeon, and those atoms of the rainbow," the Cinnyris, or sun-birds, gleam and glitter amid the foliage; while to perfect the beauty of the islands, fields of the Indian lotus and the tiger lily, sprinkled with patches of scarlet or violet flowers, surround the woods, or border the large sheets of water. Alligators in great numbers haunt the mangrove creeks and rivers, with lizards of innumerable species. Fragile and richly-tinted shells, the olive and the harp, co loured like the most beautiful tulips, strew the sand of the beach, which is in many parts fringed with sea-weed and rocks in the shape of stars, flowers, or shrubs. The sea is inhabited by multitudes of fishsome of them exceedingly curious and rare, as the Malayan mermaid, food of kings, which suggested that romance so pleasing to the Oriental imagination.-Horace St. John. THE PAMPAS. On we went. Hardly were we in the saddle when the correo cries "Gallop!" cuts the pack-horse over the hips with his long whip, and away we fly across the Pampas. Hold the bridle tight in your hand, dear reader, and look well for your path. Badgers and owls have their holes here at every step, and if you do not help your horse a little with your eyes, you may both kiss the ground. The correo is already a long way in front, you have spared your animal too much, Away with you, and take care of the reedy grass ahead, for it covers a swamp. A little more to the left the ground is harder, but it is full of halfconcealed holes, and yet must be passed in haste; for the night is fast coming on, and your guide will soon be beyond reach, while path and road no longer exist. As I came up, the old correo sat his horse stiff and motionless; while his long and heavy poncho, streaming out with every movement, Happed against his shoulders; and only his right arm, as it struck out with the relentless whip, showed that he had power to move, On, on!" this was his only thought. The steed that bore him had no hold on his sympathies: it was only a horse; and if it carried its load to the door of the next station, it might lie down and die for all he cared. I rode myself one of the poorest horses I had yet seen in the Pampas: it stumbled at every other step, and I was continually wondering why we did not both come down together. At last we came to a low soft spot, where the grass was very luxuriant; but the soil, as if elastic, gave way at every tread. My poor horse bore up a good while, till, just as we were coming on drier ground, it came right down on its nose, and pitched me overhead. I was up in a second, and replacing the saddle-bags, the strap of which had been broken by the fall, got in the saddle again, and followed the old correo and postillion, who, I really believe, had not even looked round after me, to see if I was coming. But they were in the right: I was old enough to take care of myself; and setting spurs to my horse, I soon recovered my distance. It was now getting dark, and we had yet a long way to go. The appearance of the plain began to be very peculiar. As night set in, a damp mist rose from the low ground, to a height of from two to three feet, changing the campo into what seemed a milk-white, ahoreless lake, to which the last rays of the sun, reflected by the clouds above, imparted at intervals a soft rosy radiance. I had now lost sight of the correo, in fact I had forgotten all about him, and left my horse to choose his own road, just as though I were not traversing a wide and pathless plain, infested by wild tribes, and where, if I lost my leader, 1 might wander for hundreds and hundreds of miles without regaining the track, and ignorant of the dangers that awaited me. But the scene around was far too interesting to be neglected; and still leaving the bridle to my horse, I hadly knew or cared whither we went, if I could continue to gaze on this strange and beautiful sight. The most extraordinary objects in this floating sea of mist were the grazing herds, the upper part of their bodies alone being visible; and the fog, gathering in large fleecy masses, began to assume fantastic shapes, such as bergs and figures, which seemed to float on the shining surface of the lake, while lofty dangerouslooking cliffs and glaciers hung above. It seemed that I was always galloping down the slope of a steep hill, and that the mist would close the next minute over my head, and yet I had not left the open plain, and the sward lay smooth before me. But as night closed in, the mist rose higher and higher, and finally became so thick, that I could hardly see the ground for ten or twelve yards on either side. But my horse had in the mean time done his best; right ahead I could hear plainly the hoofs of my companions on some hard ground; and in a few minutes I reached a hard-beaten path, and we all arrived together at the hut where we intended to pass the night.-F. Gersteacker. THE EXHIBITION AT GORE HOUSE. Throughout the past month, the laburnums and lilacs in the grounds at "Gore House" have been dropping their golden rain, and showering their vary-coloured blossoms, on larger crowds than ever gathered there in the palmy days of its aristocracy, or the more recent ones of its desecration; but the occasion is worthy of the mansion's old associations with art and talent; and whether as regards the display of cabinet work, or the studies from the "Schools of Design," affords one of the most interesting if not the most interesting exhibition of the season, making, as it does, a new epoch in the history of art and science in this country, and bearing witness to the results involved in the "Industrial Congress of 1851!" When we see Royalty leading the advance of national refinement, by assisting the education and development of artistic skill, liberally lending the treasures of antique art, the chef d'œuvres of the old Flemish and Italian craftsmen, in order to improve by familiarity with their exquisite ornamentation, and the various beauties of their various styles, the utility and excellence of the cabinet work of our own times, we cannot wonder at the list of powerful patrons who have assisted the project, and added to the The variety of objects, their quaint shapesthe glitter of unaccustomed surface-ornamentsome incrusted with silver "repoussé" work, or inlaid with exquisite paintings-porcelain, metals, ivory, and tortoise-shell; others overwrought with precious stones, carvings in high relief, and gorgeous Buhl-work, confuse for a time all attempts at an orderly survey of them; and it is not till after repeated circuits of the rooms, that we are enabled to separate and arrange, in time and place, this magnificent display of the ornamental furniture of past ages. Then what a volume of interesting associa tions might be connected with these various objects: here a cabinet, originally executed for the once powerful Roman family of the Orsini; there, one assumed to have belonged to Diana of Poitiers; and another, the gem of the Exhibition (the cabinet in Pietra Dura, belonging to the Duke of Northumberland), once the property of the magnificent Louis Quatorze. Next to Windsor, Knole, the ancient seat of the Sackville family, has furnished the largest number of specimens. A famous place from the period of the Conqueror, it has afforded suites of furniture made on occasions of Royal visits, and exhibits the arm-chair, two stools, and footstool, covered in purple velvet, expressly executed for that of James I.; while it is said that the mirrors, candelabra, sconces, and table, magnificent specimens of "incrustation" in silver repoussé-work, were made on the occasion of a visit of Charles II. It would be impossible, in the limits of a short paper, to notice half the exquisite objects, from the tapestry on the walls to the china ornaments sprinkled over commodes, and cabinets, and pier-tables, in which the history of art is written; we would have all our readers, who have the opportunity, to note them for themselves, not merely for the sake of the visual pleasure of the Exhibition, but for the pleasing associations connecting it to that in the upper rooms, the "Studies from the Schools of Art," with the improvement and promotion of which it is so intimately blended. When we remember how short a time such schools have existed in this country, the pro OUR gress seen in every department of design is really extraordinary. And it is especially pleasing to record in a "woman's book," that they have opened for our sex new sources of industry and emolument. At present the wood-engraving class is wholly confined to females, of whom five out of nine exhibitors have received medals; while in the painted china, and flower-drawing classes, they exhibit great proficiency and talent; and are not far behind their male competitors in the novelty and beauty of their designs for lace and textile fabrics. The two-fold exhibition appears to us expressive of a new era, not only in the diffusion of art-knowledge, but of the estimate in which such knowledge, practically developed, will hereafter be held. Hitherto, the inventor, the manufacturer, and the skilled artisan, have held false and inferior positions in the scale of social rank and estimation-the nobility of labour, the aristocracy of skill, has been (as a rule) excluded from honours and high places; but Peace, with its opportunities for reflection and observance, has taught us to comprehend the true obligations which a nation owes to men who, in the fair intercourse of commerce, have built up friendly relations with foreign states (more solid and lasting than political treaties), and peacefully protect the wealth and well being of their country-men who have enlarged the field of human enterprise and industry, and spread over it, amongst the great bulk of the population, the seeds of order, contentment, and their results national prosperity. C. A. W. LIBRARY pro THE POETRY OF GEOGRAPHY. By Peter Livingstone. (Groombridge and Son, PaternosterTow.)-Under the above title, the author has duced a little work admirably calculated to popularize the study of geography, by a pleasant mingling of interesting and instructive matter. He appears to have started with an attempt to illustrate different localities by appropriate verse; but the power to carry out this idea is so partial, that, after a few pages, the intention is abandoned, and the author remarks with regard to the title, that "the poetry is in the subject, rather than in his treatment of it;" and, truly, few themes are more replete with poetry; since every habitable spot of earth, and some that are no longer so, are crowded with associations of more or less interest to the whole human family. "A knowledge of the earth which we inhabit," says Mr. Livingstone, "is essential to man. By that knowledge alone, can we understand and feel an interest in the actions of our fellow-men, and without it, we can read no history with profit, no poetry with delight, no travels with pleasure, no voyages with edification or interest. We have read the works of Shakespeare, but where is the blasted heath upon which Macbeth met the weird sisters ?where is the castle in which the royal King was TABLE. killed? Where is the land of Hamlet the Dane, and the spot on which, at midnight, walked the buried Majesty of Denmark? We cannot read Byron, where he sings so sweetly of 'The isles of Greece-the isles Where burning Sappho loved and sung,' land where Sappho sung? We have heard of the without asking where are the isles of Greece, and the mighty Alexander, who went forth to conquer the world, and tradition tells us, that when he came to the sea-shore, he wept, because he had no more worlds to conquer; can we point out the spot at which the big baby is said to have wept his woman's tears? Where are the lands of the patriot Tell, and Bruce, of Bannockburn? Where are the eternal Alps, which Napoleon crossed, when he came down like a thunder-cloud upon Italy? Where is Corsica, on which he was born-and St. Helena, on which he died? Where is the island upon which Columbus first lighted, when he found out the new world of the West? Where is the Owhyhee in the ocean on which Capt. Cook was killed? Where is Waterloo, the field upon which Wellington, who is now no more, fought the battle of the giants? Where is Trafalgar Bay, on the waters of which the great and immortal Nelson won his glory and his grave? At what spot on the banks of the Niger, did the black mother sing songs of Fatherland to Park, which gave him faith and hope in the desert? and where is the spot of earth, at which the faithful slave lifted up the ashes of Pompey, in an urn, and conveyed them as a love-offering to his devoted wife? Where is the land made sacred by the footprints of our Saviour? ---the sea of Galilee on which he sailed, and Samaria where he counselled, and Calvary where he died?, Where are the Nations and the Cities of ancient time?-Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage; where are they?" This passage-which we have quoted entirewill afford our readers a pretty just idea of the author's style, and the intention of the work; brief, yet lucid (for the whole world is traversed in the course of a hundred pages), there is compressed in this small space a multitude of historical events in connection with geography, which, however generally familiar to the student, are apt to confuse themselves in his remembrance under a circumstance which this little volume will admirably help to obviate; while to the pupil, and general reader, it opens a fund of information and association rarely met with in so compendious a form. We recommend it, conscientiously, to the notice of our friends; and particularly to those amongst them who, like the Lady Rachel Russell, find a "noble entertainment and the best diversion" in the education of their children. substituted for bells at the churches-all our family coins encircling her head, and falling over her "The bride was covered from head to foot in a long loose veil, white as snow, but of sufficiently THE THISTLE AND THE CEDAR OF thin texture to admit of her features being partly LEBANON. By Habeeb Risk Allah Effendi, distinguishable, and to show that over her underM.R.C.S. and Associate of King's College. garments, which were composed of richly-em(J. Madden, Leadenhall-street, 1853.)-Here is broidered silks and satins, she was literally beanother venture on the sea of literature, in-spangled with costly gems; large festoons of gold teresting from the simple circumstance of its being written in a really good style of English composition, by a native gentleman of Syria. But whoever takes up the book upon the merits of its scriptural title, will be somewhat surprised to find that not the least analogy exists between them; the volume being, in fact, a sort of memoir of the author's wanderings in his native land, and his experiences in Europe. Much information on the former subject is found throughout the work; and many of the impressions with which the manners and customs of this country affect the writer, might suggest to us valuable emendments. Born at the pretty village of Shuwei-fât, on the Lebanon, Habeeb Effendi appears to have passed a happy childhood, under the favourable auspices of his uncle, the sheik of a village, and secretary to the Emir Beshir Shahah, the Prince of Lebanon-an intelligent, well-informed man, and a devout Christian. Toward throughout life, as man and wife." this circumstance our author seems to have been indebted, in the first instance, for the exercise of those mental powers, which he appears subsequently to have made admirable use of; and, secondly, to the training of the American missionaries at Beyrout-to whose efforts he bears noble testimony. The picture-of almost patriarchal simplicity-afforded by the view that the Habeeb Effendi gives us of his uncle's house is very charming : "When the hour of mid-day was announced by the striking of gongs-which in Syria are usually After visiting Beyrout, Damascus, Cyprus, Aleppo, Antioch, and other towns familiar to us from an early age, in connexion with their scriptural associations, the author sails for England, and subsequently visits France. The following description of a London hotel is very amusing "But whilst we have been thinking about this, the cab stops opposite to a splendid seraiyah, * veritable palace. You imagine that this must be the Queen's residence, and begin to expostulate with your friend for ushering you into the presence of royalty before you have had time to pay some attention to your toilet: he laughs at your ignorance. Two gentlemen, handsomely dressed, and without hats, rush into the street, and officiously carry in your luggage. You are quite shocked to see the nobility thus debased, and struggle with them to relieve them of their burden. The friend again interferes, and you find to your amazement that the palace is nothing more than a large Khan for the accommodation of wealthy travellers, and that the two gentlemanly-looking men are khudámen, and that there are at least a dozen more, all in the same capacity, all as well dressed, and as good looking. Speaking of a duel which he was very nearly witnessing on Wimbledon Common, and which was only prevented by one of his friends starting off and bringing a constable, the author forcibly observes— "I cannot say how detestable and absurd this crime appeared in my eyes-such bloodshed to occur in civilised England appeared to me marvellous, in a country professedly Christian." And equally pertinent are his remarks with regard to some of the domestic usages in France and this country— "You will barely credit what I write," he observes, "when I tell you, that there are many instances where mothers of young families seldom see or inquire after their offspring more than once a day, sometimes not so often; and even sometimes they go out of town for a week or ten days, leaving these troublesome incumbrances to the tender mercios of a nursery-maid. What would our mothers have said if any one had suggested to them that it would be best to place us under the care of servant maids?" Polygamy in the East leads him to speak of the occasional conduct of European husbands, who, while professing the utmost abhorrence of such an institution, indulge in the same thing under limits of our notice to point out half the interesta different form. It would be impossible in the ing passages of this really pleasant book, which contains a fund of interesting information rela. tive to the manners and customs of the Syrians, and many suggestive remarks on those of our own country. The differences between the Greek and Latin Churches is treated of at some length; and no inconsiderable portion of the volume is devoted to enlarging on the advantages which Englishmen might gain by emigrating to Lebanon and Syria; a suggestion strengthened by the assurance that fifty pounds per annum would there enable one to live in comparative luxury; while a family man, with two hundred pounds a-year might, according to the showing of Habeeb Effendi, purchase all that comes within our ordinary notions of it. AMUSEMENTS OF In fashionable circles the past month has been a very eventful one. Morning concerts, the Cologne Choral Union, and the Camp at Chobham-Flower-shows and the French Plays, Earth-men and the Opera, the Queen's Drawing-room, and the Bazaar at the Cavalry Barracks-white-bait dinners, and the Water-colour Drawings, the Royal Academy, and Gallery of Amateur Paintings, have all combined their attractions to amuse and distract the leisure of the many, the ennui of not a few. appears After Madame Puzzi's Concert-always one of the best of the season-Benedict's to have been the most successful, and deservedly so, considering the strong force of talent mustered on the occasion, and the admirable programme, to which that talent did full justice. Fortunately for the provider of this harmonic feast, ladies (always the majority of an audience at morning concerts), when they have settled any point within themselves, are the least likely of all bipeds to change their minds; and therefore, though the morning was wet and disagreeable, the room was sufficiently crowded with a fair company of the élite. The Theatres afford us little to say of the art which they are intended to illustrate. The ST. JAMES'S appears to be the only house at which good acting is to be enjoyed: there (while Mr. Kean is kinging it as Sardanapalus at its worthy rival in point of elegance, the PRINCESS's) Mademoiselle Rachel and M. Regnier are taking the town by storm with the genius of their acting-a display as rare as it is perfect. Why will the lessee of the former house persist in giving the public a series of magnificent tableaux instead of genuine representations of the drama? No one who witnessed "Macbeth" can doubt his power to produce the most splendid scenic effects, any more than his scholarly acquaintance with the costumes and appointments of antique times. But while it is very beautiful to realize upon the stage a sort of panorama of Layard's pictures, we lack much more than the spectacles can make up, and wander in spirit to the leafy forest of Ardennes, and would fain exchange the Assyrian throne for the green-wood tree, and the languishing Myrrah for the gentle Rosalind. On the recent occasion of her benefit, the genius of Rachel was exercised in giving interest and vitality to the drama of "Louise de Lignerolle," originally written for the Théâtre Français in 1838, by MM P. Dinaux and M. E. Legourée, when the heroine's character was filled by Mademoiselle Mars. Though confessedly one of the weakest and most unpleasant productions in the French répertoire, the acting of Mademoiselle Rachel so raised the interest of the piece, that whenever she appeared objections vanished. The character of Louise received dignity from her impersonification of it; and her |