selves far more on their water works than on their State House. Their Io Pœans on account of the former, are loud and unceasing, and 1 must say, the annoyance which these occasion to a traveller, is very considerable. A dozen times a day was I asked whether 1 had seen the water works, and on my answering in the negative, I was told that I positively must visit them; that they were unrivalled in the world; that no people but the Americans could have executed such works, and by implication, that no one but an Englishman, meanly jealous of American superiority, would admit an opportunity of admiring their unrivalled mechanism.

There is no accounting for the eccentricities of human character. I had not heard these circumstances repeated above fifty times, ere I began to run restive, and determined not to visit the water works at all. To this resolution I adhered, in spite of all annoyance, with a pertina

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the outlaw terminated. The scene opens in Virginia, at a Barbecue, and it is principally for the purpose of introducing this most graphic description, that we introduce the book to the notice of our readers.

A VIRGINIA BARBECUE.

"The horses were soon at the door, and the party proceeded, attended by several servants, to the place of meeting. It was a gay and beautiful morning. They passed over a high mountainous ridge, by a winding and rugged path, which at some places seemed impracticable but the horses, accustomed to these acclivities, stept cautiously from rock to rock, or nimbly leaped the narrow ravines that crossed the road, while the riders scarcely suffered any inconvenience from the irregularities of the surface. Sometimes the path led along the edge of a precipice, and they paused to look down upon the broad-spread valleys, that lay extended in beau

HARPE'S HEAD.

It is our custom to pay particular attention to an American book. Our native authors of merit are few, and those few we fear do not receive as much attention as their merits deserve; it is a just complaint that the law which does not admit foreigners to take out a copy right in this country, renders the productions of England so much cheaper to the booksellers than the purchase of an original work, that, the merit being equal or even less, the bookseller chooses the cheaper for publication. This will be the result until a reciprocation is allowed by our government with England, where our authors have the facility of securing to themselves the fruits of their own brain; and till this is done, and the poorer trash of London is in some degree excluded, we must expect native talent to dwindle. The book which last attracted our notice, was the new novel of "HARPE'S HEAD, a Legend of Kentucky," by James Hall, author of the "Soldier's Bride, "Legends of the West," &c. Written evidently in haste, yet it has some masterly scenes. The story is founded upon that of the celebrated freebooters, the brothers Harpe, who infested Kentucky, at the time when emigrants began to settle that state. They were perhaps the most reckless robbers of our country, murdering travellers and performing deeds of violence, which equalled the celebrated robbers of Spain. The name of the book is thus derived the head of the fiercest Harpe having had a price set upon it, is in the course of the story brought upon the stage, and the career of

among the branches of a tall tree, pouring forth his miscellaneous and voluble notes, imitating successfully all the songsters of the grove, and displaying a fullness, strength, and richness of voice, which often astonishes even those who are accustomed to his melody. Upon reaching the highest elevation of the ridge, they wound along its level surface, by a path well beaten and beautifully smooth, but so seldom travelled as to be covered with a growth of short grass. Its width was sufficient only to admit the passage of a single horseman, and its course so winding that the foremost rider was often concealed from the view of the last of the train. Dense thickets grew on either hand, and the branches of the trees interlocking above the riders' heads, formed a thick canopy, giving to this romantic path the appearance of a narrow, serpentine archway, carved with art out of the tangled forest. Virginia, when she reached this elevated plain, seemed to feel as if in fairy land, and, loosening her rein, bounded away with the lightness of a bird, grad gracefully bending as she passed under the low boughs, gliding liding round the short angles, and leaping her beautiful steed over the logs that sometimes lay in the way. Fennimore galloped after, admiring her skill, and equally elated by the inspiring scene; while Major Heyward, who thought it undignified to ride out of a walk, at any time except when following the hounds, followed at his leisure, wondering at the levity of the young people, which made them forget their gentility and ride like dragoons or hired messengers.

"Suddenly the path seemed to end at the brink of a tall cliff, and far below them they beheld the majestic Potomac, meandering through its deep valleys, and apparently forcing its way among piles of mountains. The charms of mountain scenery were enhanced by the endless variety of the rich and gorgeous, the placid and beautiful, the grand and terrific, that were here embraced in one view. At one place the tall naked rock rose in perpendicular cliffs to an immense height, terminating in bare spiral peaks; at another, the rounded elevations were covered with pines, cedars, and laurel, always indicating a sterile soil, and a cold exposure. 516

The mountain sides were clothed with verdure, in all the intervals between the parapets of rock; and the clear streams of water that fell from ledge to ledge, enlivened the prospect. Far below, the rich valley spread out its broad bosom, studded with the noblest trees of the forest, the majestic tulip-tree, the elegant locust, the gum, the sugar-maple, the broad spreading oak, and the hickory. The numberless flowering trees were in full bloom, and their odours filled the air with a rich perfume. The river, with its clear blue waters, was full of attraction, sometimes dashing round rocky points of the mountain, and sometimes flowing calmly through the valley; at one point placidly reposing in a wide basin, at another, rushing over a rocky ledge whitened with foam.

""How beautiful!' exclaimed Virginia, as she reined up her horse, and gazed, with a delighted eye, over the wide-spread landscape.

"How exquisitely beautiful!' re-echoed Fennimore, as his admiring glance rested on the form of his lovely companion. Her deer-like animal, smoking with heat, and just sufficiently excited by exercise to bring every muscle into full action, to expand his nostrils and swell his veins-his fine neck arched, his head raised, his delicate ear thrown forward, and his clear eye sparkling, stood on the very edge of the cliff. The light figure of Virginia was rendered more graceful by an elegant riding-dress, closely fitted to her person, and extending below her feet. She sat with the ease of a practised rider. But her chief attraction, at this moment, was the animated expression of her features. Her bonnet was pushed back from her fine forehead, her eye lighted up with pleasure, her cheek flushed and dimpled, her lips unclosed; and as she extended her whip in the direction indicated by her glance, Fennimore realized the most exquisite dreams, that his fancy ever formed of female loveliness.

"She turned towards her companion, as his expression of admiration met her ear, blushed deeply when she discovered that his impassioned glance was directed towards herself, and then, with a little dash of modest coquetry, which is quite natural in a pretty woman of eighteen, laughed, and resumed her descriptions. But her tones softened, and her conversation, without losing its sprightliness, assumed the richness and vividness of poetry, from an involuntary consciousness that all the young and joyous feelings of her heart were responded in kindred emotions from that of her companion.

"In a few minutes they were joined by Major Heyward, and the whole party descended the mountain by a precipitous path, which led to a part of the valley bordering on the Potomac.

*

*

*

*

*

"It was a gay seene: the horses hitched to the surrounding trees, the ladies sitting in groups or parading about, and the gentlemen preparing for the diversions of the day. Some dispersed into the woods with their fowlingpieces, some distributed themselves along the rocks that overhung the river, and threw out their fishing-lines, and others launched their canoes in the stream, and sought the finny tribes in the eddies of the rapid current. A few of the

ladies participated in the amusement of angling, whether to show their skill in throwing out a bait, or to prove that they possessed the virtue of patience, is not known; but it is certain that they broke quite as many rods and lines a hearts.

"Immediately opposite the spot at which our party was assembled, the river rushed over a series of rocky ledges intersected by numberless. fissures, affording channels to the water, which at the same time foamed and dashed over the rocks. A number of the youth were amusing themselves in navigating these ripples with ca noes. By keeping the channels, they could pass in safety down the rapids, but it required the greatest skill to avoid the rocks, and to steer the boat along the serpentine and sometimes angular passes, by which alone it could be brought in safety through the ripples. Sometimes a canoe. missing its course, shot off into a pool or eddy. where the still water afforded a secure harbour but if it happened to touch a rock, in the rapal descent, inevitable shipwreck was the conse quence. The competitors in this adventurous entertainment soon became numerous; several of the young ladies who loved sport too well, or feared the water too little, to be deterred by the danger of a wetting, engaged in it; so that some of the canoes were seen to contain, besides the steersman, a single female, for these frail vessels were only intended for two persons.

"They first pushed their canoes up the stream with poles, keeping close to the shore, where the current flowed with little rapidity, until they reached the head of the ripple; then taking their paddles they shot out into the stream, guided their boats into the channels, darting down with the velocity of an arrow, sometimes concealed among the rocks, and sometimes hidden by the foam, and in a few minutes were seen gliding out over the smooth water below, having passed for nearly a mile through this dangerous navigation. Sometimes they purposely forsook the channel, and showed their skill by turning suddenly into the eddies on either side, where they would wait until the next boat passed, and dart after it in eager chase. Dangerous as this amusement appeared, there was in fact little to be apprehended; for the upsetting of the canoe, which seldom occurred, would throw the passengers into shallow water or lodge them against a rock, with no other injury than a wetting, or perhaps a slight bruise.

"Fennimore, who had walked with Miss Pendleton to the shore, and watched the canoes for some time, proposed to her to join the party. ""Can you manage a canoe?' inquired she, hesitating.

""Try me,' said he, gaily. 'I would surely not venture to take so precious a charge, without some confidence in my skill. I have been a western ranger for several years, and am quite familiar with the use of the paddle.'

Virginia stepped into the canoe, and having seated herself in the prow, while Fennimore took possession of the stern, exclaimed,

""A ranger! I am surprised, Mr. Fennimore; why, you do not look like a ranger!"

""Am I at liberty to consider that doubt as a compliment?'

""Oh no-I do not pay compliments. But I always thought that a ranger was a great rough man, with a blanket round his shoulders, a tomahawk at his belt, and a rifle in his hand.'

""Such indeed is a part of the equipment of the backwoods soldier; and believe me, Miss Pendleton, many of the most gallent men of this day have earned their laurels in such a dress.'

"Oh, terrible! you will destroy some of my finest associations. I never think of a hero, without fancying him a tall elegant man in dashing regimentals, with a rich sword-knot, and a pair of remarkably handsome epaulets.'

""Add to your picture a powdered head, a long queue, a stiff form, and measured tread, and you have the beau-ideal of a soldier of the school of Baron Steuben.'

""Say not a word against that school, Mr. Fennimore: it has produced a noble race of heroes. What would have become of our country, had it not been for those fine old generals, who trained our soldiers to war in the late revolution, and who were models of that neatness and military etiquette, which I am afraid you undervalue. We have a dear old gentleman here, whom you will see at dinner, and who is an excellent specimen of by-gone days.'

""Who is he?'

a

""General Armour, one of our revolutionary veterans, a most excellent man, but one who seems to think that the highest degree of human excellence consists in looking and and acting like soldier. He continues to wear his three-cornered hat, his buff waistcoat, and his blue regimental coat turned up with red, and would rather part with his estate than with his black cockade.'

""I honour such men,' said r'ennimore, 'but see, here we are at the head of the rapids.'

"Fennimore paddled his light canoe over the smooth water above the rapids, advancing towards the reefs and then retiring, describing circles with his little vessel, as if to try his skill before he ventured among the breakers. He was evidently familiar with this exercise; and Virginia, as she beheld with admiration the strength and dexterity with which he handled the paddle, felt no longer the slightest timidity, but enjoyed the exciting sport.

""Let me now acknowledge freely,' said F'ennimore, as he cast his eye over the ripple, 'that I am unwilling to attempt a dangerous navigation, which is new to me, with so valuable a charge.'

"Virginia smiled; 'I have often passed these rocks,' said she, 'and feel no fear; but if you have the slightest desire to return, let us do so.' "The stranger hesitated; his prudence restraining him, while the natural ambition which a young man feels in the presence of a lady, urged him on, until Miss Pendleton relieved him by saying, 'Let us run no risks, Mr. Fenni

517

skill, in attempting to flourish his paddle round his head, as a kind of salute to Miss Pendleton, unluckily threw it from his hand. An exclamation of affright arose from both parties; for the canoe was rapidly approaching the breakers, while the steersman had no means of directing its course.

""Shall I follow?' cried Fennimore.

""By all means,' exclaimed his companion; and in a moment he was rapidly pursuing the drifting canoe. The latter kept its course for a little while, then swinging round, floated with the broadside to the current, rising and sinking with an unsteady motion, now striking one end against a rock, and whirling round, and now the other, and sometimes darting head-foremost through the spray. Fennimore pressed on with admirable skill, urging his canoe forward with all his strength, to overtake them, and guiding it with unerring sagacity. He had nearly reached the object of his pursuit, when it struck a rock, and upset, throwing the lady and gentleman into the deepest part of the channel.

""Keep your seat, Mr. Fennimore! guide the canoe!' exclaimed Virginia rapidly, as with admirable presence of mind, she rose from her seat, kneeled in the boat, and leaning forward caught the floating lady by the arm, while Fennimore at the same instant, by a powerful exertion, threw the canoe into an eddy where the waters were still. The whole was the work of an instant; but it was witnessed from the shore, and a burst of applause excited by the presence of mind shown by Fennimore and Miss Pendleton. The dripping lady was drawn into the boat; the dripping gentleman, who had crawled on a rock, was taken in as a passenger; and, when they reached the shore, it would have been difficult to guess that any of the laughing party had met with a disaster. They were greeted with a hundred merry voices as they ascended the bank, and Mr. Fennimore forgot, in the lively scene, that he was a stranger.

Lady Gage, the wife of the first baronet, Sir Johr, ancestor of Viscount Gage, when first a widow was only seventeen, beautiful and rich; she was courted by her three husbands, Sir George Trenchard, Sir John Gage, and Sir William Hervey, at the same time; and to appease a quarrel that had arisen respecting her between them, she threatened her everlasting dis pleasure to the first that should be the aggressorwhich, as she had declared for neither, by balancing their hopes against their fears, stilled their resentments against each other-adding, good humouredly, that if they would keep the peace and have patience, she would have them all in their turns-which singularly enough did happen. --Sharpe's Peerage.

in fault for not telling you sooner, that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for you to pass through the rapips without knowing the chan

nel.'

"At this moment a canoe darted past them, containing a young lady and a gentleman. Both were laughing; and the young man, proud of his

BLACK TEETH.-The teeth of the Tonquinese, like those of the Siamese, are as black as art can make them: the dyeing occupies three or four days, and is twelve or fourteen years old, during the whole operation they never take any nourishment, except of the liquid kind, for fear of being poisoned by the pigment if they swallowed what required mastication. Every person, high and low, rich and poor, is obliged to undergo this severe operation, alleging it would be a disgrace to human nature to have teeth white as those of dogs or elephants.

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THE SEA.

The sea the sea-the open sea!

The blue, the fresh, the ever free!

Without a mark, without a bound,

It runneth the earth's wide regions round:

It plays with the clouds-it mocks the skies-

Or like a cradled creature lies!

I'm on the sea! I'm on the sea!

I am where I would ever be;

With the blue above, and the blue below,
And silence whereso'er I go-

If a storm should come and awake the deep,
What matter-I still shall ride and sleep.

I love-Oh! how I love to ride
On the fierce foaming, bursting tide,
When every mad wave drowns the moon,
Or whistles aloft his tempest tune,
And tells how goeth the world below,
And why the sou'-west blasts do blow.

I never was on the dull tame shore.
But I loved the great sea more and more:
And backwards flew to her billowy breast,
Like a bird that seeketh its mother's nest;
And a mother she was and is to me-
For I was BORN on the open sea!

The waves were white and red the morn,

In the noisy hour when I was born:

And the whale it whistled, the porpoise rolled,
And the dolphins bared their backs of zold;
And never was heard such ontery wild,
As welcomed to life the ocean-child.

I have lived, since then, in calm and strife,
Full fifty summers a rover's life,
With wealth to spend, and a power to range,
But never have sought or sighed for change;
And Death, whenever he comes to me,
Shall come on the wi'd unbounded sea!

WHERE IS MY TRUNK1

It is well known in Scotland that the road from Edinburgh, to Dundee, though only forty-three miles in extent, is rendered tedious and troublesome by the interposition of two arms of the sea, namely, the Firths of Forth and Tay, one of which is seven, and the other three miles across. Several rapid and well conducted stage coaches travel upon this road; but, from their frequent loading and unloading at the ferries: there is not only considerable delay to the travellers but also rather more than the usual risk of damage and loss to their luggage. On one occasion it happened that the common chances against the safety of a traveller's integuments were multiplied in a mysterious, but most amusing manner-as the following little narrative will show:

The gentleman in question was an inside passenger-a very tall man, which was so much the worse for him in that situation-and it appeared that his whole baggage consisted of a single black trunk-one of medium size, and no way remarkable in appearance. On our leaving Edinburgh, this trunk had been disposed in the boot of the coach, amidst a great variety of other trunks, bundles, and carpet bags, belonging to the rest of the passengers.

Having arrived at New Haven, the luggage was brought forth from the coach, and disposed upon a barrow, in order that it might be taken down to the steamboat which was to convey us across. Just as the barrow was moving off, the tal! gentleman said

'Guard, have you got my trunk?'

'Oh, yes, sir,' answered the guard; 'you may be sure it's there.'

'Not so sure of that,' quoth the tall gentleman; 'whereabouts is it?'

The guard poked into the barrow, and looked in vain among the numberless articles for the trunk. At length, after he had noozled about for two or three minutes through all the holes and corners of the mass of integuments, he drew out his head, like a terrier tired of earthing a badger, and seemed a little nonplussed.

'Why, here it is in the boot!' exclaimed the passenger, 'snug at the bottom, where it might have remained, I suppose, for you, till safely returned to the coach yard in Edinburgh.'

The guard made an awkward apology, put the trunk upon the barrow, and away we all went to the steamboat.

Nothing further occurred till we were all standing beside the coach at Pettycur, ready to proceed on the principal terraqueous part of our journey through Fife.

Every thing seemed to have been stowed into the coach, and most of the passengers had taken their proper places when the tall gentleman cried out

'Guard, where is my trunk?'

'In the boot, sir,' answered the guard; 'you may depend upon that.'

'I have not seen it put in,' said the passenger, 'and I don't believe it is there.'

"Oh, sir,' said the guard, quite distressed, 'there can surely be no doubt about the trunk now.'

''There! I declare there!' cried the owner of the missing property; 'my trunk is still lying down yonder upon the sands. Don't you see it? The sea, I declare, is just about reaching it.What a careless set of porters! I protest I never was so treated on any journey before.

The trunk was instantly rescued from its somewhat perilous situation, and, all having been at length put to rights, we went our way to Cupar.

Here the coach stopped a few minutes at the inn, and there is generally a partial discharge of passengers. As some individuals, on the present occasion, had to leave the coach, there was a slight discomposure of the luggage and various trunks and bundles were presently seen departing on the backs of porters, after the gentleman to whom they belonged. After all seemed to have been again put to rights, the tall gentleman made his wonted inquiry respecting his trunk.

'The trunk, sir,' said the guard, rather pettishly, 'is in the boot.'

Not a bit of it,' said its owner, who in the meantime had been peering about. 'There it lies in the lobby of the inn.'

The guard now began to think that this trunk was in some way bewitched, and possessed a power, unenjoyed by other earthly trunks, of

see.

'Hollo, fellow!' cried he to the servant following the gentleman down the St. Andrew's road; 'is not that my trunk? Come back if you please, and let me inspect it.'

'The trunk, sir,' interposed the guard, in a sententious manner, 'is that gentleman's trunk, and not yours; yours is in the boot.'

'We'll make sure of that, Mr. Guard, if you please. Come back, my good good fellow, and let me see the trunk you have got with you.'

The trunk was acordingly brought back, and, to the confusion of the guard, who had thought himself fairly infallible for this time, it was the tall man's property, as clear as brassnails could make it.

The trunk was now the universal subject of talk, both inside and outside, and every body said he would be surprised if it got to its journey's end in safety. Allagreed that it manifested a most extraordinary disposition to be lost, stolen, or strayed, but yet every one thought that there was a kind of special providence about it, which kept it on the right road after all; and, therefore, it became a fair subject of debate, whether the chances against, or the chances for, were likely to prevail.

Before we arrived at Newport, we had to go on board the ferry steamboat for Dundee, the conversation had gone into other channels, and each being engaged about his own concerns, no one thought any more about the trunk, till just as the barrow was descending along the pier, the eternal long man cried out

'Guard, have you got my trunk?'

'Oh, yes,' cried the guard very promptly, I've taken care of it now. There it is on the top of

all.'

* Not innocent-a phrase applied by the common people in Scotland to any thing which they suppose in vested with supernatural powers of a noxious kind.

519

'It's no such thing,' cried a gentleman who had come into the coach at Cupar; that's my trunk.'

Every body then looked about for the enchanted trunk; the guard ran back, and once more searched the boot, which he knew to have been searched to the bottom before: and the tall gentleman gazed over land, waters, and sky, in quest of his precious encumbrance.

"Well, guard,' cried he at length, 'what a pretty fellow you are! There, don't you see!there's my trunk thrust into the shed, like a piece of lumber.'

And so it really was. At the head of the pier at Newport, there is a shed with seats within where people wait for the ferry-boats; and there perdu beneath a form, lay the enchanted trunk, having been so disposed, in the bustle of unloading, by means which nobody could pretend to understand. The guard, with a half-trightened look, approached the awful object, and soon placed it with the other things on board the ferry boat.

On our landing at Dundee pier, the proprietor of the trunk saw so well after it himself, that it was evident no accident was for this time to be expected. However, it appeared that this was only a lull to our attention. The tall gentleman was to go to Aberdeen by a coach then just about to start from Merchant's Inn, while 1, for my part, was to proceed by another coach, which was about to proceed from the same place to Perth. A great bustle took place in the narrow street at the inn door, and some of my late fellow-travellers were getting into the one coach, and some into the other. The Aberdeen coach was soonest prepared to start, and, just as the guardicried 'all's right,' the long figure figure de devolved from the window, and said, in an anxious tone of voice

'Guard, have you got my trunk?'

'Your trunk, sir!' cried the man; 'what like is your trunk? we have nothing here but bags and baskets.'

'Heaven preserve me!' exclaimed the unfortunate gentleman, and burst out of the coach.

It immediately appeared that the trunk had been deposited by mistake in the Perth, instead of the Aberdeen coach; and unless the owner had spoken, it would have been, in less than an hour, half way up the Carse of Gowrie. A transfer was immediately made, to the no small amusement of myself and one or two other persons in both coaches who had witnessed its previous misadventures on the road through Fife. Seeing a friend on the Aberdeen vehicle, I took an opportunity of privately requesting that he would, on arriving at his destination, send me an account by post of all the further mistakes and dangers which were sure to befall the trunk in the course of the journey. To this he agreed, and, about a week after, I received the following letter: