THE TWILIGHT HOUR-THE MERMAID'S CAVE. "Thou'lt find," said the Quaker, "in me, and in mine, Who robs from his brother's right!" Had moved and with neatness and plainly dressed, Came forth, as his lips began. I may not swear, but I'll prophecy This lofty forest that towers so high, When the stroke of the axe shall its pride subdue, To shelter the peaceful hearth! To the courts of the Prince of Peace. And the darkness of nature cease!" And thus did the vision of prophecy That the gentle words that hung, But the trees quaked too, at the things he spoke; And they bowed and kissed the ground. The hammer and axe had abjured repose; And her glory beamed around. Her laws were as righteous, pure and plain, Could in wisdom and love devise. The Quaker passed on from land to land, For long had he made up his sober mind, And bright was the spot where the Quaker came, That will sweetly sound from the triumph of Fame, Till its final blast shall die. The city he reared from the sylvan shade. And long have the rivers their pride displayed From the Saturday Evening Post. THE TWILIGHT HOUR. My troubled spirit finds repose A silent penitent I sit, And view the garden, where To bend his knees in prayer. O! awful, silent, sacred spot, The dew drop well might then deny Its once refreshing power, And let the lily droop, and die, During that awful hour. А. Н. М. THE MERMAID'S CAVE. SUNG WITH RAPTUROUS APPLAUSE BY MISS HUGHES. Come, mariner, down in the deep with me, And she who is waiting with cheek so pale, At the tempest and ocean's roar, She has not long to linger for thee, Her sorrow will soon be o'er; For the cord shall be broken, the prisoner free, So sweet she will wake no more. THE THUNDER-STRUCK. Viary of a Physician. R-STRUCK. ondon was visited by thunder-storms that mate. Its character itter form the subject e remember it to the tentous-a still, sur ole of Tuesday, the th nature was trem the coming shock. k at noon, the sky pect, that shot awe ig to startled fancy dim confines of the ras working to the keeping almost eve ery dogs, and other very where panting grace about all her features. She excelled in almost all feminine accomplishments; but the "things wherein her soul delighted," were music and romance. A more imaginative, etherealized creature was surely never known. It required all the fond and anxious surveillance of her friends to prevent her carrying her tastes to excess, and becoming in a manner, unfitted for the "dull commerce of dull earth!" No sooner had this fair being made her appearance in my house, and given token of something like a prolonged stay than I became the most popular man in the circle of my acquaintance. Such assiduous calls to inquire after my health, and that of my family!Such a multitude of men-young ones, to bootand so embarrassed with a concioussness of the poorness of the pretence that drew them to my house! Such matronly inquiries from mothers and elderly female relatives, into the nature and extent of " sweet Miss P- -'s expectations?" During a former stay at my house, about six months before the period of which I am writing, ras a prodigious ex- Miss P- surrendered her affections-(to the diffused throughout delighted surprise of all her friends and relaJon; for, strange to tives) to the quietest and perhaps worthiest of collect the circum- her claimants-a young man, then preparing for ne time confidently conno orders at Oxford. Never, sure, was there ts, religious as well greater contrast between the tastes of a pledged was to be destroyed couple; she all feeling, romance, enthusiasm; The awful Judgment he serene, thoughtful, and matter-of-fact. It was most amusing to witness their occasional collisions on subjects which brought into play their respective tastes and qualities; and interesting to note, that the effect was invariably to rai one in the other's estimation, as if they mutually prized most the qualities of the other. Young N- - had spent two days in London-the greater portion of them, I need hardly say, at my house-about a week before; and he and his fair mistress had disputed rather keenly on the topic of general discussion-the predicted event of the 10th of July. If she did not repose implicit faith in the prophecy, her belief had, somehow or another, acquired a most disturbing strength. me country. Miss He laboured hard to disabuse her of her awful the most charm- apprehensions; and she as hard to overcome his er met with. The obstinate incredulity. Each was a little too eager about the matter: and for the first time since they had known each other, they parted with a little coldness: yes, although he was to set off the next morning for Oxford! In short, scarcely any thing was talked of by Agnes but the coming 10th of July: and if she did not anticipate the e, late in the after ent. I found an air e whole house. My For, were all toge at for me, through with paler faces 1. The visitor just Miss Agnes P, me daughter of an e. Her mother, a an this,) resided in own-from which ays' time, to take 7 showed forth the amiability of her anguor, or rather r features, that to Cutes the highest loveliness. Her spoke a soul full actual destruction of the globe, and the final ader, had but felt judgment of mankind, she at least looked forow glistening in ward to some event, mysterious and tremendm beneath their ous. The eloquent, enthusiastic creature almost arkling with en- brought over my placid wife to her way of thinkcitement was on ing. white hands has ses from her ala have thrilled as ith me have ex tar of your sex!" w and various eanour, were in With my chin resting on the palm of my up stairs, and haven't seen her since, sir.""What!" I exclaimed with increased trepidation, "Was it about the time that the first flash of lightning came?" "Yes it was, sir"-"Take this into your mistress, and say I'll be with her immediately," said I, giving him what I had mixed. I rushed up stairs, calling out as I went, "Agnes, Agnes, where are you?" 1 received no answer. At length I reached the floor where her bed-room lay. The door was closed but not shut. "Agnes! Where are you?" I inquired very agitatedly, at the same time knocking at her door. I received no answer. "Agnes! Agnes! For God's sake, speak! Speak, or I shall come into your room!" No reply was made; and I thrust open the door. Heavens! Can I describe what I saw? Within less than a yard of me stood the most fearful figure my eyes have ever beheld. It was Agnes! She was in the attitude of stepping to the door, with both arms extended, as if in a menacing mood. Her hair was partially dishevelled. Her face seemed whiter than the white dress she wore. Her lips were of a livid hue. Her eyes, full of awful expression of supernatural lustre, were fixed with a petrifying stare, on me. Oh, language fails me, utterly! Those eyes have never since been absent from me when alone! I felt as though they were blighting the life within me. I could not breathe, much less stir. I strove to speak, but could not utter a sound. My lips seemed rigid as those I looked at. The horrors of night-mare were upon me. My eyes at length closed; my head seemed turning round; and for a moment or two I lost all my consciousness. I revived. There was the frightful thing still before me; nay, close to me! Though I looked at her, I never once thought of Agnes P. It was the tremendous appearance; the ineffable terror gleaming from her eyes, that thus overcame me. I protest I cannot conceive any thing more dreadful Miss P continued standing perfectly motionless, and while I was gazing at her in the manner I have been describing, a peal of thunder roused me to my self-possession. I stepped towards her, took hold of her hand, exclaiming "Agnes-Agnes!"-and carried her to the bed where I laid her down. It required some little force to press down her arms; and I drew the eyelids over her staring eyes mechanically While in the act of doing so, a flash of lightning flickered luridly over her; but her eye neithe quivered nor blinked. She seemed to have beer suddenly deprived of all sense and motion: in fact, nothing but her pulse-if pulse it should be called--and faint breathing showed that she lived. My eye wandered over her whole figure dreading to meet some scorching trace of light ning; but there was nothing of the kind. Wha had happened to her? Was she frightened-t death? I spoke to her; I called her by he name, loudly; 1 shook her, rather violently: might have acted it all to a statue. I rang th chamber bell with almost frantic violence: an who hannoned to pass the door of the mom whawenescantle mor d, and t then clung conghtning struck her?" age myself from her the adjoining room, to attend her; and patient. But what s I was, I never had umstances, and felt as agitated. It was oplexy, a swoon, nor eria. The most re e, and what enabled of her disease, was dentally to alter the etained, for a short or instance, I moved hile in the situation , and gradually re ised her into an up I sitting so without er assistance, as ex e express a wish to ; but the horrid va elevated one eyelid e state of the eye, it aless I drew it over ces, which terrified gat my elbow, and ! she's possessed! e that the unfortu with CATALEPSY; [The new patient proved to be a noted and very profane boxer, who had in returning home dislocated his ancle. His pain and blasphemies were horrible, and during one of his imprecations a flash of lightning struck him DEAD!] so fearfully blenddeath: presenting I hurried home, full of agitation at the scene I of death, and death had just quitted, and melancholy apprehensions that extreme ter- concerning the one to which I was returning. rvous system most On reaching my lovely patient's room, I found, active fancy, had alas! no sensible effects produced by the very Doubtless the first active means which had been adopted. She lay nder-storm, espe- in bed, the aspect of her features apparently the that flash of light- same as when I last saw her. Her eyes were f, apparently cor- closed: her cheeks very pale, and mouth rather rawful apprehen- open, as if she were on the point of speaking. erpowered her at The hair hung in a little disorder on each side of earful situation in her face, having escaped from beneath her cap. ARRESTED in her My wife sate beside her, grasping her right hand the door of her-weeping, and almost stupified; and the servant ought struck me, that was in the room when I entered, seemed so ary from the light- bewildered as to be worse than useless. As it t might be so, for was now nearly nine o'clock, and getting dark, the pupils of the I ordered candles. I took one of them in my hand, opened her eye-lids, and passed and repassed the candle several times before her eyes, but it produced no apparent effect. Neither the mer agitating cir- eye-lids blinked, nor the pupils contracted. I is extraordinary, then took out my penknife, and made a thrust with the open blade, as though I intended to plung it into her right eye; it seemed as if I might have buried the blade in the socket, for the shock or resistance called forth by the attempt. I took her hand in mine, having for a moment displaced my wife, and found it damp and cold; but when I suddenly left it suspended, it continued so for a few moments, and only gradually resumed its former situation. I pressed Them into action. lated than usual, ch distracted my promptly to deal of, but never be however, was to at once to strong ed her from the ind the ear, im - with her hands, ater, and endea tha haale of the blade of my nenknife upon the lar ill success. I felt at an extremity. Com- | fearful forms about me, and my ears seemed to pletely baffled at all points; discouraged and ring with his curses. It must have been, I should I did not so much sleep as dose interruptedly for the first three or four hours after getting into bed. I, as well as my alarmed Emily, would start up occasionally, and sit listening, under the apprehension that we heard a shriek, or some other such sound, proceed from Miss P's think, between two and three o'clock, when I dreamed that I leaped out of bed, under an impulse sudden as irresistible-slipped on my dressing gown, and hurried down stairs to the back drawing room. On opening the door, I found the room lit up with funeral tapers, and the apparel of a dead room spread about. At the further end lay a coffin on tressels, covered with a long sheet, with the figure of an old woman sitting beside it with long streaming white hair, and her eyes, bright as the lightning, directed towards me with a fiendish stare of exultation. Suddenly she rose up-pulled off the sheet that covered the coffinpushed aside the lid-plucked out the body of Miss P, dashed it on the floor, and trampled upon it with apparent triumph! This horrid dream woke me and haunted my waking thoughts. May I never pass such a dismal night again. I rose from bed in the morning, feverish and unrefreshed; and in a few minutes' time hurried to Miss P's room. The mustard applications to the soles of the feet, together with the blisters behind the ears, had produced the usual local effects without affecting the complaint. Both her pulse and breathing continued calm. The only change perceptible in the colour of her countenance was a slight pallor about the upper part of the cheeks; and I fancied there was an expression about the mouth approaching to a smile. She had, I found, continued, throughout the night, motionless and silent as a corpse. With a profound sigh I took my seat beside her, and examined the eyes narrowly, but perceived no change in them. What was to be done? How was she to be roused from this fearful, if not fatal lethargy? While I was gazing intently on her features, I fancied that I perceived a slight muscular twitching about the nostrils. I stepped hastily down stairs, (just as a drowning man, they say, catches at a straw,) and returned with a phial of the strongest solution of ammonia, which I applied freely with a feather to the interior of the nostrils. This attempt, also, was unsuccessful as the former ones. I cannot describe the feelings with which I witnessed these repeated failures to stimulate her torpid sensibilities into action and not knowing what to say or do, I returned to dress with feelings of unutterable despondency. While dressing, it struck me that a blister might be applied with success along the whole course of the spine. The more I thought of this expedient the more feasible it appeared:-it would be such a direct and powerful appeal to the nervous system-in all probability the very seat and source of the disorder! -I ordered one to be sent for instantly, an and myself applied it, before I went down to breakfast. As soon as I had despatched the few morning patients that called, I wrote imperatively to Mr. N, at Oxford, and to Miss P's mother, entreating them by all the love they bore Agnes, to c come to her instantly. I then set out for Dr. D's, whom 1 found just starting on his daily visits. I commu nicated the whole case to him. He listened with interest to my statement, and told me he had once a similar case in his own practice, which |