his disc to us the faint indications of movements of unimagined grandeur in his luminous atmosphere—a solar eclipse, a transit of the inferior planets, the mysteries of the spectrum, all phenomena of vast importance and interest; but night is the astronomer's accepted time he goes to his delightful labors when the busy world goes to its rest. A dark pall spreads over the resorts of active life; terrestrial objects, hill and valley, and rock and stream, and the abodes of men disappear; but the curtain is drawn up which concealed the heavenly hosts. There they shine and there they move as they moved and shone to the eyes of Newton and Galileo, of Keppler and Copernicus, of Ptolemy and Hipparchus; yea, as they moved and shone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. All has changed on earth, but the glorious heavens remain unchanged. The plough passes over the site of mighty cities, the homes of powerful nations are desolate, the languages they spoke are forgotten; but the stars that shone for them are shining for us, the same eclipses run their steady cycle, the same equinoxes call out the flowers of spring and send the husbandman to the harvest, the sun pauses at either tropic as he did when his course began, and sun and moon, and planet and sat ellite, and star and constellation and galaxy, still bear witness to the power, the wisdom and the love of Him who placed them in the heavens and upholds them there. on the 12th of June, 1804, and at an early age became a pupil of Baron Gros. His painting of "Achilles pursued by the Hunters" took the grand prize at Paris in 1831. He was a most industrious and prolific worker, and enjoys a greater reputation abroad than in this country, where few, if any, of his pieces have been brought. Among his best works are "The Last Moments of the Cenci, "Charles IX. signing the Edict of the St. Bartholomew," "The Martyrs of Cilicia," "Jesus and the Virgin appearing to St. Francis of Assisi," "Laban receiving Jacob," "The First Interview of Jacob and Rachel," several subjects from Eugene Sue's Mystères de Paris, and a few battle-pieces of the Napoleonic wars. His pictures have been very numerously engraved and lithographed. Schopin was made an officer of the Legion of Honor in 1854. "THE FIRST INTERVIEW OF JACOB AND RACHEL." 10 paraphrase in language the story of Jacob and Rachel is not only lost labor, but it spoils that exquisite gem of a love-tale which is found in the twenty-ninth chapter of Genesis, so simple and musically redundant in its diction, bearing us, as by some incantation, into that far-off region, in the very olden time, when, one step above barbarism, men lived in tents and wandered beside their flocks and herds in natural pasturelands, but still had human hearts in their bosoms, swayed by floods of emotion and streams of passion, and yielding to the witchery of "Love's young dream.' It was after his holy vision of Bethel, when he had set up his pillar and vowed how he was wont to lay back his ears on his arched neck and push away from all competition. He is done, poor fellow! The spavin spoiled his speed, and he now roams at large upon "my farm at Truro." Mohawk never failed me till this summer. I pride myself in taking the conceit out of coxcombs I meet on the road, and on the ease with which I can leave a fool behind whose nonsense disturbs my solitary musings. his vow that the Lord should be his God, and that he would thenceforth always give him a tenth of all his goods, that Jacob, in the idiom of the Hebrew, "lifted up his feet" and came to the land of the people of the East, where some of his father's people had gone; and as, lonely and doubting, he-you may laugh at such childish weakness wandered in the vague search for Laban, his in a man of my age, but still I pride myself mother's brother, lo! a vision of hope and beauty and love stood before him. It was his cousin Rachel, the daughter of Laban. With what eager pleasure did he water her sheep! and then, this tribute to her charms being paid, with what new rapture did he kiss her! and, "lifting up his voice," he wept with the overflow of emotion. Thus, in the idyllic life of all periods and all people, the same story must be told, because men and women are the same from the beginning to the end of time; and art, which is bolder than letters, dares to represent such scenes again and again. Among the most successful efforts is that of Schopin, in the engraving before us. THE CIRCUIT. FROM "SAM SLICK THE CLOCKMAKER." I WAS always well mounted : I am fond of a horse, and always piqued myself on having the fastest trotter in the province. I have made no great progress in the world; I feel doubly, therefore, the pleasure of not being surpassed on the road. I never feel so well or so cheerful as on horseback, for there is something exhilarating in quick motion, and, old as I am, I feel a pleasure in making any person whom I meet on the way put his horse to the full gallop to keep pace with my trotter. Poor Ethiope! you recollect him On my last journey to Fort Lawrence, as the beautiful view of Colchester had just opened unto me, and as I was contemplating its richness and exquisite scenery, a tall thin man with hollow cheeks and bright twinkling black eyes, on a good bay horse somewhat out of condition, overtook me, and, drawing up, said, "I sir?” guess you started early this morning, "I did, sir," I replied. "You did not come from Halifax, I presume, sir, did you?" in a dialect too rich to be mistaken as genuine Yankee. "And which way may you be travelling?" asked my inquisitive companion. "To Fort Lawrence." "Ah!" said he; "so am I: it is in my circuit." The word "circuit circuit" sounded so professional I looked again at him to ascertain whether I had ever seen him before, or whether I had met with one of those nameless but innumerable limbs of the law who now flourish in every district of the province. There was a keenness about his eye and an acuteness of expression much in favor of the law, but the dress and gen eral bearing of the man made against the supposition. His was not the coat of a man who can afford to wear an old coat, nor was it one of Tempests & More's, that distinguish country lawyers from country boobies. His clothes were well made and of good materials, but looked as if their owner had shrunk a little since they were made for him; they hung somewhat loose on him. A large brooch and some superfluous seals and gold keys which ornamented his outward man looked New-England like. A visit to the States had perhaps, I thought, turned this Colchester beau into a Yankee fop. Of what consequence was it to me who he was? In either case I had nothing to do with him, and I desired neither his acquaintance nor his company. Still, I could not but ask myself, "Who can this man be?" "I am not aware," said I, "that there is a court sitting at this time at Cumberland." 'Nor am I," said my friend. What, then, could he have to do with the circuit? It occurred to me he must be a Methodist preacher. I looked again, but his appearance again puzzled me. His attire might do the color might be suitable, the broad brim not out of place; but there was a want of that staidness of look, that seriousness of countenance-that expression, in short-so characteristic of the clergy. I could not account for my idle curiositya curiosity which in him I had the moment before viewed both with suspicion and disgust, but so it was: I felt a desire to know who he could be who was neither lawyer nor preacher, and yet talked of his circuit with the gravity of both. How ridiculous," I thought to myself, "is this! I will leave him." Turning toward him, I said I feared I should be late for breakfast, and must therefore bid him good-morning. Mohawk felt the pressure of my knees, and away we went at a slapping pace. I congratulated myself on conquering my own curiosity and on avoiding that of my travelling companion. "This," I said to myself" this is the value of a good horse. proud of him. I patted his neck; I felt Presently I heard the steps of the unknown's horse; the clatter increased. "Ah, my friend," thought I; "it won't do! You should be well mounted if you desire my company." I pushed Mohawk faster, faster, faster to his best. He outdid himself; he had never trotted so handsomely, so easily, so well. "I guess that is a pretty considerable smart horse," said the stranger as he came beside me and apparently reined in to prevent his horse passing me; "there is not, I reckon, so spry a one on my circuit." Circuit or no circuit, one thing was settled in my mind: he was a Yankee, and a very impertinent Yankee too. I felt humbled; my pride was hurt, and Mohawk was beaten. To continue this trotting contest was humiliating; I yielded, therefore, before the victory was palpable, and pulled up. "Yes," continued he, "a horse of pretty considerable good action, and a pretty fair trotter, too, I guess.' Pride must have a fall; I confess mine was prostrate in the dust. was prostrate in the dust. These words cut me to the heart. What is it come to this, poor Mohawk, that you, the admiration of all but the envious, the great Mohawk, the standard by which all other horses are measured, trots next to Mohawk, only yields to Mohawk, looks like Mohawk-that you are, after all, only a counterfeit, and pronounced by a straggling Yankee to be merely a pretty mounted on," said I; “I seldom meet one fair trotter? that can travel with mine." "If he was trained, I guess that he might be made do a little more. Excuse me; but if you divide your weight between the knee and the stirrup rather most on the kneeand rise forward on the saddle, so as to leave a little daylight between you and it, I hope I may never ride this circuit again if you don't get a mile more an hour out of him.” "What! Not enough," I mentally groaned, "to have my horse beaten, but I must be told that I don't know how to ride him, and that, too, by a Yankee? Ay, there's the rub! A Yankee what? Perhaps a half-bred puppy, half Yankee, half Bluenose. As there is no escape, I'll try to make out my riding "Your circuit," said I, my looks expressing all the surprise they were capable of 'your circuit? Pray what may that be?" "Oh," said he, "the eastern circuit; I am on the eastern circuit, sir." "I have heard," said I, feeling that I now had a lawyer to deal with, "that there is a great deal of business on this circuit. Pray, are there many cases of importance?" "There is a pretty fair business to be done —at least, there has been-but the cases are of no great value; we do not make much out of them. We get them up very easy, but they don't bring much profit." "What a beast!" thought I, "is this! and what a curse to a country to have such an unfeeling, pettifogging rascal practising in it! A horse-jockey, too! What a finished character! I'll try him on that branch of his business." "That is a superior animal you are "Yes," said he, coolly, "a considerable fair traveller, and most particular good bottom." I hesitated; this man who talks with such unblushing effrontery of getting up cases and making profit out of them cannot be offended at the question. Yes, I will put it to him: "Do you feel an inclination to part with him?” "I never part with a horse, sir, that suits me," said he; "I am fond of a horse. I don't like to ride in the dust after every one I meet, and I allow no man to pass me but when I choose." "Is it possible," I thought, "that he can know me that he has heard of my foible and is quizzing me or have I this feeling in common with him?" |