looked uneasy and discomfited, for, with all | bound propensities ever look for exaltation. Deeply as I pity

her talents, such was her natural candor that she could not support the slightest approach to dissimulation. I myself acted my part but indifferently, and after several blundering attempts at conversation speedily sought to compose my nerves by a solitary walk in the garden.

While chewing a green twig in a profound reverie, I was attracted to a summer-house by a whisper and a wave of the hand. It was Arabella herself.

"I have followed you here at some risk," she said, "for I have been burning to tell you that I have no hand in this base rencounter. It was that odious Mrs. Smith who decoyed me hither, and I knew not that Mrs. Thomson was your aunt till this forenoon. What must you have thought of me?"

as I pity my aunt's illiberalities, henceforth shall I revere her for descrying so speedily your worth. It were in my power at present to deceive her by affecting to follow her counsel in paying my addresses to you. Nay, start not! I cannot do it for my own sake, and dare not do it for yours. If my own soul could condescend to such meanness, it were unworthy of worshipping thine."

So saying, I sought my aunt with all haste and told her explicitly that her favorite, Miss Farquhar, was no other than my betrothed. Whether charmed by my candor or by the reciprocity of our tastes, I know not; but my aunt behaved on this occasion in a manner worthy of the sister of my father. Her assistance not only exceeded my expectation, but exceeded my original demand. She even infinitely obliged obliged to Mrs. came so far as Glasgow to patronize with her personal presence our wedding. Nor had she ever reason to regret her generosity, for in her declining years Arabella administered to her infirmities like a daughter, and our first-born little boy, William, renewed once more her long-smothered affection; so that the latter days of her life were benignant and blessed as those of its commencement. While living she would scarcely allow the little rascal out of her sight, and on her death she proved the extent of her love by leaving him all her

"I am Smith-" "Nay, do not provoke me; for indeed I am ready to sink with shame and vexation at the vulgar and mean-spirited plot into which I have been led. Your aunt, I see, is a woman of illiberal notions and contracted habits, and Mrs. Smith, with her natural want of all delicacy, brought me hither under false pretences to secure her favor. When I understood this, I could have torn the vile busybody to pieces."

"A small dose of prussic acid would per- immense property, at my disposal till he came haps be more advisable."

of age, with the exception of only five thousand pounds, which went to the South Sea missions, and a handsome annuity of thirty shillings, which, with some trifling assistance of our own, went to the support of an old housekeeper who had got blind and deaf in her service.

ALEXANDER WHITELAW.

NOAH.

HE sun had sunk behind the He gazed around, and o'er his head was seen
The smiling olive, with its leaf of green.
"Father, come forth!" he cries, with heart

watery waste,

When night's pale regent,

beautiful and chaste,

With silent footsteps stole

upon the sight,

elate;

"For now the waters do indeed abate."

As fearful to awake the Strange to relate, in these unthinking times,
dreams of night. The traveller, while exploring distant climes,
Calmly she mounted up the Leaves thee, O Ararat! and feels no shame,
And scarcely do his lips inquire thy name.
Had not thy towering summit long before
Redeemed the burden that the Deluge bore,
Thou hadst not worn memorials so unjust-
The prints of thoughtless footsteps in thy
dust-

azure plain
With all her twinkling vas-
sals in her train;

Cloud after cloud, in long fantastic chase,
Sweep in succession o'er her pallid face,
But she, still travelling up the blue serene,
Holds her calm course and lifts her light
between,

Till, by no intervening shade o'ercast,
She gives a steady settled ray at last :
The treacherous deep, so late by tempests

And earth until this very hour had run,
A silent planet, round the golden sun:
'Twas Ararat alone preserved from death
The little portion of almighty breath.

When the fierce warfare of the heaven is o'er

And thunders answering thunders cease to

roar,

How beautiful to see the sun's bright helm
Shining serene in his recovered realm!
The victor, in his robes of triumph drest,
Looks gay and smiling from the rosy west,
The dewdrops catch the triumphs of the
sky

And flash a little sun on every eye:
Such joy did in the patriarch's bosom reign.
When first the ark reposed on earth again.
He cries, "In reverence to this holy place,
Put off your sandals, all of Noah's race!

The favorite lamb is now condemned to Sorrow was banished from its orbit quite :

He turned, and saw a face that seemed to Thy infant eye had caught in summer hour

To seize the poor mechanic seated there:
The little captive looked, and saw with dread
The infant blossom closing o'er his head;

The marks that Care's rude hand had sculp- Disconsolate he roamed his narrow cell,

Be it my present office to display
Some great events that time's unfolding ray
In long futurity shall bring to light,
Though now deep-buried in the shades of
night.

Still does the charm, the infernal spell, allure;

The demon laughs: his prey is now secure.

"The solid earth presents too small a space To bound the enterprise of Adam's race:

"No more the thorns and thistles in thy A hardy race of men shall spring from thee ground Whose only residence an ark shall be. Shall raise their martial points to fence thee For, lo! astonished Ocean shall survey In future times, though distant now the

round

That sad and mournful family that shun
All vegetation and the cheering sun,
And seem in some secluded spot to tell
In whispers to the wind that Adam fell;

Thy spot of ground no ruffian weed shall
taunt,

day,

Such wonders as have never reached his ken:

His empire humbled by the sons of men,

Arks beyond number, borne by heavenly breath,

But in its stead thy hand the vine shall Shall dare the surface of the roaring death. Vain does he fret and climb the heights of

plant

The fruitful vine-and, while thou joyest to know

How full and dark its clustering honors grow,

More shalt thou joy to hear what God enjoins:

Thy progeny shall far exceed the vine's.

"But, ah! thou little knowst what depth of
sin,

What idiot frenzy, dwells the grape within :
Reason no longer holds her balance true
With eyes once bathed in this bewildering
dew;

air

Like some proud steed that scorns his lord

to bear;

In vain he foams and rears, for human skill
Has conquered, and he feels the bridle still.

"Ocean's proud giant sees the roaring main Usurped by man, and flies-but flies in

vain

O'er liquid mountains horrible to name.
Intent on death, man seeks the timorous

game;

In vain the monster trembles, and retreats
To his dark caverns and his coral seats:

He tastes: the victim knows not when to The persecutor, anxious for his prey,

stop,

Though frantic demons poison every drop:
Down, down, he sinks in ruin and de-
spair.

In vain may sacred friendship, weeping there,
In vain may fathers, brothers, intercede,
In vain may honor execrate the deed :

Waits his return unto the beams of day;
There struck, he flies and flounders with the
pain,

And seeks the dark recesses of the main;
Vain is his flight, opposed to human skill,
For there the barb of death pursues him

still;