the whale throwing up water was so completely satisfactory as to leave little doubt of the fact, as it is not likely these inland blacks could have known it but from actual observation. Here, then, is a problem that will repay the working, and the sooner we are relieved from the present state of suspense, arising from such a report, the better. The pasture at Bathurst was nearly destroyed; first from over-feeding, and secondly, from long-continued droughts; the soil being very thin, dry, and flinty, as soon as the roots became exposed from over-feeding to the intense rays of the sun, in the middle of the day, the grass became withered, the hot stones burning the roots, and I am afraid it will be some time before the country recovers it. From the great scarcity of timber, fencing is a very expensive improvement, and is only to be seen on the farms of the richest settlers; the want of paddocks is very general-what fences there are, are bad, generally made of stringy bark, of a very inferior quality to the tree found nearer the coast, and as for iron bark there is none. What little fencing timber there is, is found on the ridge, and it takes the wear and tear of two days to bring in a single load. The smaller settlers content themselves with a two-rail fence, and half the space underneath the lower rail is filled up with turf pared from the most tenacious part of the soil, and makes an excellent fence. Nothing can exceed the good quality of the Bathurst wheat, barley, and potatoes; they are just as good as they are in England or Van Diemen's Land; but maize is an uncertain crop, and this year, I fear, will turn out a total loss. It arrives to the great height of ten or twelve feet, but the early frosts of March and April cut it up. Oranges, lemons, tobacco, &c. cannot be brought to perfection, the climate being too cold, owing to the high elevation of the country; for although in the month of February, the hottest in the year at Sydney, we were sleeping at Bathurst under a couple of blankets. The progressive increase of sheep and horned cattle has compelled the large holders to look out for fresh pastures, the country around the settlement being now far too limited in proportion to their stock. Shut out from the western side of the Macquarie, they have been compelled to drive their property either north or south; and in both countries an abundance of the finest grass has been discovered all the year round. Mudgié, on the banks of the Cugegong River, has been long a favourite place. Situate almost in the centre between Bathurst and Liverpool Plains, Upper Hunter's River, and Wellington Valley, at nearly equal distances from all of them, Mudgié will become, in a few years, a place of some consideration, especially as it is nearer Sydney than Bathurst itself, although now reckoned, for want of a road, seventy-five miles beyond Bathurst. The country being comparatively free from hills, the road may be carried nearly straight. The present road is, From Sydney to Cox's River Cox's River to Bathurst Bathurst to Mudgié While the new road is, From Sydney to Cox's River Cox's River to Mudgié (avoiding Bathurst) 95 miles 45 75 215 95 90 185 making Mudgié positively nearer to Sydney by thirty miles. Daby is another favourite spot for large cattle-holders, and as it lies in the direct route from Bathurst to Hunter's River, and is besides an extensive plain of many miles of the richest soil, without a tree, it will perhaps sooner become of importance than even Mudgié. The Cugegong River runs through the middle of the plains. Beyond Daby, the next station on the road to Hunter's River is Pylong, on the banks of a creek that runs into the Goulburn, on the lower part of which river many settlers are already established. This country would afford a rich treat to the lovers of mineralogy. I have seen entire hills of jasper, and when we are dead and gone, I have little doubt that the landed proprietors at Bathurst will be building their mansions of marble, which is found in quarries, nothing inferior to the Italian. Flints, agates, rag-stones, and hones, equal to the German, are found by the most untutored eye, and white and yellow crystals are common curiosities in the meanest craals of the solitary herdsman. From Wellington some specimens of copper ore have been brought to Sydney, of sufficient richness to invite the research of science into this valuable and as yet untrodden field of our natural history. Coal has not been found as yet in the neighbourhood of Bathurst, and from the extreme scarcity of wood, and the rigour of a Bathurst winter, the farmers near the settlement are naturally anxious on this subject. From a fine specimen of coal found by Mr. Lawson near Cox's River, and now in my possession, I should have little doubt of that mineral abounding underneath the naked plains of Bathurst. I was informed that lead and silver ores have been found beyond the Blue Mountains, and we may expect to hear, I think, in a few years, that both these valuable metals, as well as copper, will be found in veins, rich enough to pay the working. We only want a larger population to afford us leisure for these subordinate pursuits, and when the riches and advantages of New South Wales are better known and appreciated in England, we may expect some of her starving and anxious population may come and rusticate amongst us, in the interior of this England at the Antipodes.' X. Y. Z. THE LIGHT O’LOVE. As long as she 's constant, I CARE not that her look is gay, And sing to any key; As she has been to me. I care not that her lips are mute, With brighter smile and warmer praise Ay, press her hand!-my gift may gleam I loved her only for the dress Of chance and change she wore ; SERMON BY THE RIGHT HON. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. SHERIDAN is well known to have been a lover of what are called "practical jokes ;" and among the number ascribed to him, the following, as related by Mr. Moore, ("Life of Sheridan," vol. ii. pp. 85, 86.) is not the least amusing. "The Rev. Mr. O'B- (afterwards Bishop of -,) having arrived to dinner at Sheridan's country-house, near Osterley, where, as usual, a gay party was collected (consisting of General Burgoyne, Mrs. Crewe, Tickell, &c.) it was proposed that on the next day (Sunday) the Rev. gentleman should, on gaining the consent of the resident clergyman, give a specimen of his talents as a preacher in the village church. On his objecting that he was not provided with a sermon, his host offered to write one for him, if he would consent to preach it; and, the offer being accepted, Sheridan left the company early, and did not return for the remainder of the evening. The following morning Mr. O'B found the manuscript by his bedside, tied together neatly (as he described it) with riband-the subject of the discourse being the "Abuse of Riches." Having read it over, and corrected some theological errors, such as "it is easier for a camel, as Moses says," &c.) he delivered the sermon in his most impressive style, much to the delight of his own party, and to the satisfaction, as he unsuspectingly flattered himself, of all the rest of the congregation, among whom was Mr. Sheridan's wealthy neighbour Mr. C. "Some months afterwards, however, Mr. O'B- perceived that the family of Mr. C, with whom he had previously been intimate, treated him with marked coldness; and on his expressing some innocent wonder at the circumstance, was at length informed, to his dismay, by General Burgoyne, that the sermon which Sheridan had written was, throughout, a personal attack upon Mr. C, who had at that time rendered himself very unpopular in the neighbourhood by some harsh conduct to the poor, and to whom every one in the church, except the unconscious preacher, applied almost every sentence of the sermon." We are enabled, through the kindness of an eminent collector of autographs, to lay before our readers the curious sermon here alluded to, which has never before appeared in print. The parody on the benediction at the close, though it may be deemed by some pious persons a little heterodox, we have preserved for the sake of its wit. TEXT. "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord: I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.”—Ps. xii. v.5. AMONG the various calamities to which human nature is subject, there is no misfortune or oppression which appears so strongly to recommend the sufferer in the sight of our all-merciful Creator as a state of helpless poverty. The poor man is everywhere mentioned in Scripture as so We believe that the clergyman who preserves so strict an incognito in Mr. Moore's pages, was the Rev. Mr. O'Beirne, afterwards Bishop of Meath. peculiarly entitled to divine protection and commiseration, that arguments might almost be drawn against those efforts of industry which tend to raise a man from the state which appears to be "the lot most favoured in the eye of God." But it is to be remembered that the poverty and humbleness of station which are here so favourably spoken of, must proceed from guiltless disasters, or disappointed industry, and not be the merited effects of indolence or prodigality. "The poor committeth himself unto God," saith David, but his trust in the Lord must be founded on a consciousness that no honest endeavour has been omitted on his part to avoid the state of helplessness to which he is reduced, and then he may be assured his lamentation will be heardand, in the words of our text, "For the sighing of the needy the Lord will arise." This confidence is warranted from the extreme indignation which is everywhere expressed in the Psalms against the pride and oppression of the rich. Indeed there seems to be no vice or inferiority of the human heart more abominable to God, than the insolent and persecuting spirit which ever accompanies the pride of wealth. Pride, of whatever sort, or however supported, is strongly rebuked by Scripture. But that pride which is founded solely on a superiority of earthly treasure, is the most offensive to God and to reason-to God, whose impartial bounty gave the goods of this world in common to all mankind—to reason, which teaches that such possessions themselves form no part, quality, or attribute, of the creature whom we are to respect for possessing them. It is not difficult to trace the cause why this sort of pride is considered in so odious a light. There is no vanity or self-sufficiency beside, but what originates in a better principle, and may be productive of some better consequence. The pride of birth is in itself empty and ridiculous, but where it is encouraged, it is frequently associated with ideas of hereditary virtue, and a fear of disgracing those from whom our title to pre-eminence is derived. There is nothing in the nature of this vanity to debase or deprave the mind, though it be a prejudice of a weak and illiberal nature. The pride of power is of a sterner and more insolent temper; but this, when founded in fair authority, must be granted to the infirmity of human nature; and, by a judicious allowance, may be employed to gain respect and obedience from the vulgar to the weakness of human institutions. The pride of cultivated talent, or great acquired knowledge, is of a very different nature. Concealed with propriety, or decently subdued, it may serve only to give spirit to science and independence to genius; or, though it should degenerate into a disgusting and arrogant selfsufficiency, yet no base or cruel effects are to be apprehended from it; for the pursuits of learning and genius do in themselves meliorate and liberalize the heart, implanting in their progress qualities to compensate every vanity which their success can impart. But the pride of wealth can in no case, nor under any circumstances whatever, admit of the smallest justification, or lead to any possible good. He who takes pride in his riches will covet to preserve them, and "The covetous (we are told by the Psalmist) are those whom the Lord most abhorreth." If his riches come to him by inheritance, he hath not even the pretence of skill or industry to ground his pride on, but makes it a part of his pride that he is born above the need of either of those qualities. And, if from a mean estate he becomes preposterously possessed of such disproportionate wealth, it is more than probable that the illiberal drudgery through which he has toiled for it, and the mean caution with which he has amassed it, have driven every just and worthy feeling from his mind; and of this his oppression and insolence to the poor and humble of spirit will be a sufficient confirmation. "But the needy shall not alway be forgotten, the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever." Hence it is that our Saviour announces that seemingly partial and hyperbolical judgment against the wealthy:-"That it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for the rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven:" not that riches are in themselves crimes, but that the means by which they are for the most part acquired pollute and corrupt the heart, so that the possessor "through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God." It is to be considered beside, that the actions of the rich man are scanned and judged by a different line from those of the poor man whose occupation is toil, and whose chiefest virtue must be resignation and abstinence from evil. But the situation of the rich man is critical in proportion to the power he has of doing good; it is not sufficient in him that he abstains from evil: every day, every hour of his existence has some duty of benevolence annexed to it, the omission of which is a reproach and crime in the eyes of the Lord, who has entrusted him with the means of procuring blessings on his providence. For these considerations I would say to such of you who hear me, and whose hard lot in this world is poverty and oppression, from the pride of the more fortunate, that to the haughtiness of the high-born your humbleness need make no reply; the day shall come when the lowly shall be exalted. To the insult of the powerful prudence will dictate to you to submit-perhaps the power you shrink from to-day, may at another time be your protection. Or, should the learned and knowing man rebuke you, though his vanity be his reproach, yet take shame that you have not better cultivated your own mind, and respect in him the improvement of the nobler part of your nature. But when the "rich man persecutes the poor," when he says to you in his pride, "bow down to me, for thou art poor and I abound," boldly deny his claim-say to him," are we not equal?" Or, if he would be thy superior, let him praise the God who gave him the most blessed means-let him relieve thee;-but if his churlish heart refuses, he abuses thee, and Heaven that views his mean presumption, while thou mayest say with David, "Though I am poor and needy, yet the Lord careth for me!" Before I conclude I must repeat that as man is ordained to labour, no degrees of misery and penury, if brought on by the sluggish or wasteful habit of the sufferer, will entitle him to this benign regard and commiseration of the Almighty. Poverty in that case becomes the punishment of evil, and, though God's mercy delights to comfort the afflicted, it is not consistent with his justice to cherish the disobedient. But, whosoever with a manly and persevering industry hath struggled with calamity, combating to delay the hour of helpless adver |