"a

thered into a poetic structure. Ah, your rhyme-builder is a Inxurious fellow: something of a sensualist too, and withal, egotistical; but soul-filled with benevolence, and loving all earth and heaven born beauties. In his imaginative words, space is too circumscribed, and he will put you girdle round about the earth" in less time than any "tricksy sprite" of them all. He is on the earth, but not of it. Living in an atmosphere peopled with his own creation, and holding communion with spirits too shadowy and etherial for any land but cloud-land.

Verd-Pray, what has all this to do with the fountain? Self-Most discordant Verdant! The sound of your voice may be music in your own land-but to me it is worse than the jar of an omnibus, or the yell of a milkman. Have you no heart for the ideal? No soul for poetry? Well, you must come to the city for the acquisition. And as we have descended, allow me to ask, do you know where you are? Verd. Not exactly!

155

tion, but the spark of love is not yet kindled in the heart of
the writer; he is too slightly acquainted with you, Sylveria,
to love you with both intensity and judgment. The accep
apt to prove the truth of the old proverb, Marry in haste,
tance of this offer, at the present juncture, would be very
and repent at leisure.' It is a singular coincidence, how.
ever, that, at the moment of Hernandez's desertion, this offer
of his hand should come from Don Raimundo. What says
your father to it?"

"He knows nothing of it. I shall decline Don Raimun-
do's offer, and from henceforth close my heart to all the
a good angel that whispered me to come to you, you are
world, yourself excepted, dearest Madame Douro. It was
considerate. Mamma is so absorbed with
always calm

the cares of her family, that I will not willingly add to her
troubles; and papa is so harsh and determined in his opposi
Raimundo's offer, from sheer vexation."
tion to Hernandez, that I was half inclined to accept Don

one

Hand in hand, the friends stepped forth on the balcony. Self-Satirical oaf! We are on the steps of the Atlantic Hotel, and its "tired denizens" are flocking home to Calmly reposed the waters of the beautiful bay of dinner. How I should like to startle some of them, by giv. of the loveliest, on the coast of Florida; not a ruffle on its ing a sudden turn to their thoughts. Look at that elaborate-surface, the moonbeams spreading in a wide expanse of

ly dressed "middle aged" gentleman, with such an ampli-
tude of shirt-frill. I wonder what he would say, if I were
he knows that
to ask him

"It's not the linen he's wearing out,

But human creature's lives!""

What business has that ragged urchin on the walk to be singing his Clay songs? What does he know of President making? How does he know but he undergoes the malediction of some hungry democrat?

The big-bellied omnibus that comes thundering down the street, is filled with the mortal remains of our up-town very young ladies school. How it attracts the gaze of the Broadway loungers. Bless their infantine hearts? Who would

believe,

"not I, for in deceiving

Lies the dear charm of life's delightful dream." that, for all their gay looks, their thoughts are, at this moment, on imaginary roast chicken, and cranberry sauce.

upon their reflected brightness. The only sound that broke
glory, and the stars, in the blue vault above, gazing down
the silence of the hour was the occasional shrill whistle of
the boastswain on board the frigate, anchored a mile or two
from the shore; so profound was the quiet of all around, that
the dip of the oars, as they fell with measured stroke on the
placid waters, sent a musical echo even to the balcony,
"Cheat not the hour of its charm, Sylveria; sing to me,
where stood Madame Douro and Sylveria.
and music will restore peace to your soul."

A more perfect specimen of Spanish grace and loveliness the moon never shone upon, and a more melodious voice never warbled the old romances of Castile. At first her

fingers dwelt mournfully on the strings of the guitar; memories of disappointed hopes and slighted vows, imparted a tremor to the thrilling harmony breathed forth; gradually the with a head, with its clusters of dark ringlets was flung back, the liquid gray eye gazed steadily on the stars above; bold and determined hand she touched the strings, and the guitar vibrated to the decision of the soul, which had roused up all its energies to crush a love which had been slighted. From that hour, the name of Hernandez was unheard, his G. image forever banished.

And now Verdant, let us drop in at the hotel, where we shall find the best and quietest home for a worn traveller, that you will meet in many a long league.

[Skirt of a coat disappears, and door closes.]

DONNA SYLVERIA LOPEZ AND HER LOVERS. WITH a slow and graceful step, a young girl enters a room, where sits her friend, Madame Douro.

"Why so sad, Sylveria; there is a mixture of perplexity and anxiety on your brow?"

"Ah! me, ah! me, my heart is filled with fears, lest the reports in circulation prove true; my father is so incensed against Hernandez, that he has forbidden me to see him again; he will not even allow his name to be mentioned. ah! me, that he should desert me for another!" Ah! me, For a while Sylveria sat with clasped hands and downeast eyes, the quick motion of the small foot alone evincing the storm of passion within. Starting up, she exclaimed:

"I have in my hand that which, accepted, would inflict instant punishment on his treachery. Read, and advise me what to do."

"That strain again;-it had a dying fall:

O it came o'er mine ear like the sweet south,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing, and giving odour."

"Are you moon-struck Townsend, or what ails you? Since we came on board, your whole bearing is altered. Is the "Bueños noches, bueños noches," of that siren still ringing in your ears?"

True it was, that while Sylveria sang that graceful finale their frigate, had laid on their oars, and every word had to her friend, Townsend's boat's crew, as they returned to "fallen as soft as snow on the sea," and dissolved his heart as instantly. His watch on deck that night was stepped to the measure of that magical song.

"You must sing it to me, fair lady, for myself alone, and I shall die content, or live to be the happiest of men."

The next morning beheld Townsend on his way to the While Madame Douro carefully perused the letter, Sylve- residence of Don Juan Lopez; the reception-room, as ria stood watching the countenance of her friend; so impli- usual, he found occupied by Sylveria, and a bevy of officers. morning to household affairs, Sylveria had entire control of cit was her trust in the judgement of this dear friend, that Rising with the lark, and devoting the early hours of the every thought of her heart was laid open. "This letter breathes the profoundest respect and admira.her time during the remainder of the day. Her energy, and

Gifted with fine conversational powers among his companions, at these levees the finger of silence seemed transferred from the lips of the divinity to those of our excited lieutenant. Not a word could he utter beyond the ordinary salutations of the day; the weather, prospective cruises, &c. had all been discussed before his arrival ; he could not venture to ask for the magical song still echoing in his ears, the sun shone too brightly, and "Bueños noches, bueños noches, dueno amado," was sacred to moonlight and sentiment. Like the immortal Dumbedikes, he sat and looked, and fain would have stretched forth his hand, and placed it, not on the hand of Sylveria but on the collar of the officious widowed post-captain, who was breathing soft nothings in the ear of IMAGINATION, though no mean thing, is not a proud one. his Dulcinea. Jealousy, anxiety and impatience changed his If it looks down from its wings upon common-places, it only usually agreeable deportment into abrupt starts or rude ab- the more perceives the vastness of the region about it. The infinity into which its flight carries it, might indeed throw stractions. Hastily making his adieu, he dashed down back upon it a too great sense of insignificance, did not the street to the café where the officers were in the habit of Beauty or Moral Justice, with its equal eye, look through assembling. that blank aspect of power, and re-assure it; showing it that "Here's Townsend again, coming in like a gale of wind." that reaches to all, is to the hand that can touch only thus there is a power as much above power itself, as the thought

But we do not wish to get into this tempting region of "Received your walking ticket?"-chimed in a dozen speculatoin just now. We only intend to show the particu voices together. lar instance, in which imagination instinctively displays its times and people have shown for what is personally remote natural humility: we we mean, the fondness which imaginative from them; for what is opposed to their own individual consciousness, even in range of space, in farness of situation.

There is no surer mark of a vain people than their treat- because he had seen so many adventures and nations. So ing other nations with contempt, especially those of whom was Aboulfaouris the great voyager, in the Persian tales. they know least. It is better to verify the proverb, and take || His very name sounds like wonder. every thing unknown for magnificent, than predetermine it to be worthless. The gain is greater. The instinct is more judicious. When we mention the French as an instance, we do not mean to be invidious. Most nations have their good as well as bad features. In Vanity Fair there are many booths.

The French, not long ago, praised one of their neighbours so highly, that the latter is suspected to have lost as much modesty, as the former gained by it. But they did this as a set-off against their own despots and bigots. When they again became the greatest power in Europe, they had a relapse of their old egotism. The French, though an amiable and intelligent people, are not an imaginative one. The greatest height they go is in a balloon. They get no farther than France, let them go where they will. They "run the great circle and are still at home," like the squirrel in his rolling cage. Instead of going to Nature in their poetry, they would make her come to them, and dress herself at their last new toilet. In philosophy and metaphysics, they divest themselves of gross prejudices, and then think they are in as graceful a state of nakedness as Adam and Eve.

At the time when the French had this fit upon them of praising the English (which was nevertheless the honester one of the two,) they took to praising the Chinese for numberless unknown qualities. This seems a contradiction to the near-sightedness we speak of: but the reason they praised them was, that the Chinese had the merit of religious toleration: a great and extraordinary one certainly, and not the less so for having been, to all appearance, the work of one man. All the romance of China, such as it was,-anything in which they differed from the French, their dress, their porcelain towers, their great wall,-was nothing. It was the particular agreement with the philosophers.

With many a tempest had his beard been shaken. It was one of the workings of the great Alfred's mind, to know about far-distant countries. There is a translation by him of a book of geography; and he even employed people to travel: a great stretch of intellectual munificence for those times. About the same period, Haroun al Raschid (whom our manhood is startled to find almost a less real per. son than we thought him, for his very reality) wrote a letter to the emperour of the west, Charlemagne. Here is Arabian and Italian romance, shaking hands in person.

The Crusades pierced into a new world of remoteness. We do not know whether those were much benefited, who took part in them; but for the imaginative persons remaining at home, the idea of going to Palestine must have been like travelling into a supernatural world. When the campaign itself had a good effect, it must have been of a very fine and highly-tempered description. Chaucer's Knight had been

Sometime with the lord of Palatie
Agen another hethen in Turkie :

And evermore he had a sovereign price;

And though that he was worthy, he was wise,
And of his port as meek as is a mayde.

How like a return from the moon must have been the reappearance of such travellers as Sir John Mandevile, Marco Polo, and William de Rubruquis, with their news of Prester John, the Great Mogul, and the Great Cham of Tartary! The long-lost voyager must have been like a person consecrated in all the quarters of heaven. His staff and his beard must have looked like relics of his former self. The Venetians, who were some of the earliest European travallers, have been remarked, among their other amiable qualities, It happened, curiously enough, that they could not have for their great respect for strangers. The peculiarity of their selected for their panegyric a nation apparently more con- position, and the absence of so many things which are com temptuous of others; or at least more self-satisfied and un- mon-places to other countries, such as streets, horses, and imaginative. The Chinese are cunning and ingenious; and coaches, add, no doubt, to this feeling. But a foolish or vain have a great talent at bowing out ambassadors who come to people would only feel a contempt for what they did not posvisit them. But it is somewhat inconsistent with what ap sess. Milton, in one of those favourite passages of his, in pears to be their general character, that they should pay which he turns a nomenclature into such grand meaning and strangers even this equivocal compliment; for under a pro- || music, shows us whose old footing he had delighted to foldigious mask of politeness, they are not slow to evince their low. How he enjoys the distance; emphatically using the contempt of other nations, whenever any comparison is in-words far, farthest, and utmost ! sinuated with the subjects of the Brother of the Sun and Moon. The knowledge they respect in us most is that of gun-making, and of the East-Indian passage. When our countrymen showed them a map of the earth, they inquired for China: and on finding that it only made a little piece in a corner, could not contain their derision. They thought that it was the main territory in the middle, the apple of the world's eye.

- Embassies from regions far remote,
In various habits, on the Appian road,
Or on the Emilian; some from farthest south,
Syene, and where the shadow both way falls,
Meroe, Nilotick Isle; and more to west,
The realm of Bocchus to the Black-moor sea;
From the Asian kings, and Parthian among these;
From India and the golden Chersonese,

And utmost Indian isle Taprobane.-Parad. Reg. b. iv.
One of the main helps to our love of remoteness in general,
is the associations we connect with it of peace and quietness.
Whatever there may be at a distance, people feel as if they
should escape from the worry of their local cares. "O that
I had wings like a dove! then would I fly away and be at
rest." The word far is often used wilfully in poetry, to
render distance still more distant. An old English song
begins-
In Irelande farre over the sea
There dwelt a bony king.

On the other hand, the most imaginative nations, in their highest times, have had a respect for remote countries. It is a mistake to suppose that the ancient term barbarian applied to foreigners, suggested the meaning we are apt to give it. It gathered some such insolence with it in the course of time; but the more intellectual Greeks venerated the countries from which they brought the elements of their mythology and philosophy. The philosopher travelled into Egypt, like a son to see his father. The merchant heard in Phoenicia the far-brought stories of other realms, which he told to his delighted countrymen. It is supposed, that the mortal part of Mentor in the Odyssey was drawn from one of these voy-Thomson a Scotchman, speaking of the western isles of his agers. When Anacharsis the Scythian was reproached with own country, has that delicious line, full of a dreary yet lullhis native place by an unworthy Greek, he said, "My coun- ing pleasure;try may be a shame to me, but you are a shame to your country." Greece had a lofty notion of the Persians, and the great king, till Xerxes came over to teach it better, and betrayed the softness of their skulls.

It was the same with the Arabians, at the time when they had the accomplishments of the world to themselves; as we see by their delightful tales. Everything shines with them in the distance, like a sunset. What an amiable people are their Persians! What a wonderful place is the island of Serendib? You would think nothing could be finer than the Caliph's city of Bagdat, till you hear of "Grand Cairo;" and how has that epithet and that name towered in the imagination of all those, who have not had the misfortune to see the modern city? Sindbad was respected, like Ulysses,

As when a shepherd of the Hebrid isles,
Placed far amid the melancholy main.

In childhood, the total ignorance of the world, especially when we are brought up in some confined spot, renders everything beyond the bounds of our dwelling a distance and a romance. Mr. Lamb, in his Recollections of Christ's Hospital, says that he remembers when some half-dozen of his school-fellows set off, "without map, card, or compass, on a serious expedition to find out Philip Quarll's Island." We once encountered a set of boys as romantic. It was at no greater distance than at the foot of a hill near Hampstead; yet the spot was so perfectly Cisalpine to them, that two of them came up to us with looks of hushing eagerness,

"It is generally, and correctly believed, that the minds of those whose thoughts are not distracted by external ebjects, SURREY THEATRE.-A tragedy, called Octavia Bragaldi; are capable of greater concentration, but it is not the less or, The Confession-new to the London boards-was pro-important that culture should open the avenue to thought, duced at this theatre a few weeks since, in which the fair authoress, Miss Charlotte Barnes, from the New-York and other American theatres, made her debut as the heroine. Such portion of the play as we saw (says the London critic) possessed powerful and exciting interest, which the general good acting of the piece well sustained. The debutante, though apparently young, is manifestly well accustomed to the higher duties of the stage, and acquitted herself most satisfactorily. At the close of the tragedy, in obedience to a unanimous call, she was led before the curtain to receive the plaudits of the house, which was a tolerably crowded one.

Frances Jane Crosby, whose compositions are to be found in the following pages, was deprived of sight by illness at the early age of six weeks. She entered The NewYork Institution for the Blind' when she was fifteen years old, prior to which her opportunities for education were exbon-ceedingly limited; losing her father in her infancy, her remaining parent was left in indigent circumstances, to provide for herself, and therefore unable to bestow that care on her sightless daughter, which she so much needed. Thus the dawn of her mental existence may be said to have commenced with her introduction to the Institution, from which period her intellectual powers have expanded, until her imaginative mind has been enabled to clothe its thoughts in language at once chaste and poetic.