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purchases, and modesty is quite lost sight of. A tradesman will cover the whole front of his house with a sign, whose gaudy and huge characters might be read, without the aid of a glass, at a mile's distance. He will cover the town with a shower of coloured bills, descriptive of the extraordinary excellence and cheapness of his wares, each measuring half a dozen feet square, and to make them more conspicuous, will plaster them on the very chimney-tops, or, what appears a very favourite situation, the summit of the gable of a house destroyed by fire, or any other calamity calculated to attract a mob. In short, there is no end to the ways and means of the London tradesmen. Their ingenuity is racked to devise schemes for attracting attention, and their politeness and sauvity of manner exceeds almost what could be imagined. Yet it is all surface work. Their civility is only a thin veneering on the natural character; after pocketing your money, they perhaps care not though you were carried in an hour hence to the gallows. But why should we expect any thing else? It would be too much for human nature The struggle which takes place for subsistence in London is particularly observable in the minute classification of trades, and in the inventive faculty and activity in individuals in the lower ranks. Money is put in circulation through the meanest channels. Nothing is to be had for nothing. You can hardly ask a question without paying for an answer. The paltriest service which can be rendered is a subject of exaction. The shutting of a coach-door will cost you two pence; some needy wretch always rising up, as if by magic, out of the street, to do you this kind turn. An amusing instance of this excess of refinement in the division of labour, is found in the men who sweep the crossing places from the end of one street to another. These crossings are a sort of hereditary property to certain individuals. A man, having a good deal the air of a mendicant, stands with his broom, and keeps the passage clear, for exercising which public duty, the hat is touched, and a hint as to payment muttered, which, in many cases, meets with attention, for there are a number of good souls who never miss paying Jack for his trouble.We happen to know a gentleman who never passes one of these street-sweepers without laying a contribution into the extended and capacious hat.

"The constant thoroughfare on the pavements of the city always forms a subject of wonder and curiosity to the stranger. When the town is at the fullest in winter and spring, the pavement is choked with passengers, all floating rapidly on in streams in different directions, yet avoiding any approach to confusion, and in general each rounding any difficult obstruction in the way, with a delicacy and tact no where else to be met with. Many of the strangers who arrive in London from the country are possessed with dreadful notions of the dangers to be encountered in all directions when walking along the streets. In their youth they have carefully perused a tattered copy of " Barrington's New London Spy," a work which, as a matter of course, horrified them with accounts of ring-droppers, cut-purses, foot pads, and others, who subsist on way-laying

simple passengers. Before they leave home, they sew up their money in the linings of their clothes, and resolve never to show more than six-pence at a time-in public. They also determine to have all their eyes about them wheresoever they go, and make up their minds never to appear astonished at any thing, lest they be singled out for robbery, and perhaps murder.Catch them, if you can, going any way but in the main lines of the street; the Strand and Fleet street are their regular beat, and they would as soon think of crossing the deck of a line of battle ship in the time of action, as venture through any of the narrow streets or short cuts. No, no; they know better than to do that. Strangers make a serious miscalculation when they imagine that they are to be annoyed or plundered in the streets of London. These streets are now as well regulated as those of any town in the empire, if not better, and no one is liable to interruption or spoliation unless he court the haunts of vice, or remain out at improper hours. You may at all times of the day walk along without suffering the slightest molestation. Nobody will know that you are there.In the midst of dense moving crowds, you are as much a solitary as in a desert. You are but an atom in a heap; a grain of sand on the sea shore. It is this perfect seclusion that forms one of the chief charms of a metropolitan life. You depart from a retired part of the country where you cannot stir out unobserved, and, plunging into this overgrown mass of humanity, you there live and die unobserved and uncared for.

For the Casket.

NIGHT---A Fragment.
Dark through the sky with shadowy wings
Mysterious night her curtain flings,
And pours her shades of sombre hue,
O'er earth's green bosom gemm'd with dew.
Now groves and vales in silence sleep,
And faintly gleams each dewy steep;
Till bright in heaven, enthron'd on high,
Mild Cynthia through the clear blue sky
Her rays of silver lustre shows,
And o'er the sylvan landscape glows;
While Philomel, in softest strains,
Still to the ear of night complains,
And swells her wildly warbled song,
Whose dying falls the gales prolong.

Deep whisp'ring through the forest shade,
(A wild retreat, for melancholy made),
The breeze of night, in solemn sound
Of mystic murmurs, sighs around.

The scene how sweet! how mild! how bright!
Soft sleeping in the tender light,
By Cynthia's beams of silver shed
Upon the mountain's lofty head;
While bright the trembling radiance plays
Upon the stream that trickling lays,
And shifting still, reflects the rays.

E.

Every man ought to endeavour at emminence, not by pulling others down, but by raising himself, and enjoy the pleasure of his own superiority, whether imaginary or real, without interrupting others in the same felicity.

CONSTANCY.

Written for the Casket.

CONSTANCY.

"The perfection of love is constancy."

325

communication, was to request his son's immediate return home on business of importance.

On the evening previous to his intended departure, George, with a volume of "Ivanhoe" in his hand, was conversing with Esther, on the beauty of that passage, in which a description is given of the interview between Du Bois Gilbert and Rebecca, in prison. "Indeed," said he, "I have ever thought the Jews a slandered race; and Christians are apt to forget, that in the rigor of persecution, they forfeit themselves all claim to that title, the lack of which is all that they can charge to the unoffending Israelite."

George Williams was the only son of a weal thy citizen, who resided in one of our southern towns, no matter which. His grandfather an Englishman, had amassed a large fortune in this country, the whole of which his father inherited, and with it too, that haughty spirit, so predominant in John Bull and the most of his descendants. George, however, had the good fortune to fall heir to all his mother's virtues, and but just so much of his father's foibles, as enabled "Yes," replied Esther, "my nation are truly him to glide through the world with dignity and an unfortunate people; but in this happy country, honor to himself, without, at the same time, be- where all religions are tolerated, I rejoice that holding contemptuously the pretensions of others. many of them have been thought worthy to ocThus he became one of the most beloved and cupy offices of both honor and profit." popular among his fellow citizens, while his faGeorge was amazed! but doubting the evither, in the buckram pride of his ancestors, pre-dence of his senses, he immediately replied, sented a formidable barrier against the ap-"True, but why honor them with the term your proaches of aught in the form of good feeling or friendship.

Early in life, George formed an attachment for a lady with whom he became acquainted during a summer excursion for pleasure.

nation? You, certainly, do not belong to them." For a moment Esther's countenance assumed the lily's hue, but it was as quickly supplanted by the blush of the rose; and in a voice which she intended should be firm, but whose tones Esther, for that was her name, was beautiful were rendered faint by emotion, she murmured, beyond description; the graces of her person" Mr. Williams, have you yet to learn that I being surpassed by none but those of her mind. am a Jewess? If so, better perhaps that we had She was accompanied, when George first beheld never met!" her, by her stepfather, Mr. Morgan, who, after the death of her mother, had reared her as tenderly as the fondest parents could have done. Besides a considerable fortune of her own, she was also the presumptive heiress of Mr. M.'s large estate; he having no children.

Had George been more of a Christain himself, or less in love, we are prepared to deny the fact, that this declaration might have wrought some change in his views; but certain it is, that in the actual state of the case, he did not betray any extraordinary emotion. But gently leading Their "home" was on the banks of the Roan-Esther to the seat which she had quitted, he imoke, in a somewhat retired part of the country.plored her never again to use the cruel expresWith a view of obtaining for Esther, some sion with which she concluded; but to explain knowledge of the fashionable world, Mr. Mor- the mystery involved in her words. gan spent most of his summers in travelling Somewhat reassured, she continued-" My Saratoga, Ballston, and the Highlands, were all parents were both Jews, but after the death of visited in their turn; and in the course of their my father, my mother became a convert to the trips, it may be supposed that Esther formed doctrines of Christianity; after which, she marmany acquaintances, anxious to ingratiate them-ried my present guardian and protector. I, of selves with an heiress so lovely.

Of this class, George Williams was perhaps the most devoted; be that as it may, he was certainly the most favored. Attracted by her beauty, on their first meeting at Saratoga, George had sought her acquaintance merely for the gratification of an idle curiosity, and the whiling away a few idle moments. But worth and beauty, such as Esther's, served for other purposes than these. Her chaste conversation and the dignified reserve of her manner, possessed a charm that George had never before experienced, and which he had neither the power nor the wish to resist. By means within the ken of those alone who love, he contrived through the summer to accompany them from place to place, until on the approach of the fall, he found himself seated beside the beautiful waters of the Roanoke, the declared lover of Esther, and his addresses sanctioned by Mr. Morgan.

Immediately after gaining an assurance of her regard, George addressed his father in a long epistle on the subject. The only reply which Mr. Williams deigned to make to this

course, shall ever be considered a Jewess-unless indeed I publicly recant the faith in which I was born. This I shall never do. But,"—and here, conscious of the integrity which prompted the declaration, Esther's voice had regained all its usual fulness and melody-" if this discovery has made the least alteration in your sentiments, I freely absolve you from all engagements whatever."

George gazed in admiration, while she spoke. He had never beheld her so interesting; notwithstanding the calmness of her manner, her almost tearful eye, and the earnest expression of her countenance, betrayed too well the struggle within. "And can I," thought he," sacrifice so much loveliness to a mere illiberal prejudice? Never!" Then turning to her, "Esther," said he, solemnly, "do you doubt my affection? But no: I see in your speaking eye, that you do not. Here, then, let me renew my vows of affection, and nought shall ever create in me a wavering sentiment. To-morrow I leave you; then, dearest girl, before we part, oh say once more, that you will be mine."

Esther blushed deeply, but her feelings would not permit her to deny him this assurance; and she remained the betrothed of George Williams. Immediately after the receipt of George's letter, conveying the intelligence of his affection for Esther, Mr. Williams had written to a friend in Virginia, for information respecting her; and on ascertaining that she was a Jewess, he refused to hearken to any other consideration-for this, in his estimation, overbalanced all others: and on his return home, George soon ascertained that the important business upon which his father required his presence, was neither more nor less than a proposed matrimonial alliance with a lady of large fortune in his native place. To this he had but one reply to make-that the state of his heart and the nature of his engagements both forbade his entering into the scheme, Exasperated by the firmness of this reply, and provoked beyond endurance at George's having presumed to form an engagement of this nature, without first consulting his wishes, his father addressed him sternly, "Look you, George Williams, if you are resolved to marry this girl in the face of my eternal displeasure then do so. But mark my words, sir, no cent of mine shall ever enrich the descendant of a cursed Jew, whose very God is gold. No: in the the dayyea, in the very hour—that you marry a Jewess, every inch of my possessions shall be brought to the hammer, and with their proceeds I shall seek, an exile in a foreign land, the home of which your disobedience has deprived me in this. I would sooner close your eyes in death, and die myself, with the knowledge that I was the last of my name and race, than witness their eternal and irretrievable disgrace, in your alliance with the offspring of a wretched and despicable Jew."

her-tell her that you are a pennyless dog, and then see how quickly her boasted magnanimity shall evaporate." This idea was too much for George, and hastily turning on his heel he left the room.

He immediately acquainted Esther, as mildly as possible, with his father's determined hostility to their union: but he ventured to express a hope, that a little delay in the accomplishment of their wishes, might perhaps have a favorable effect. He concluded, however, by declaring that his own resolution was irrevocably fixed. Ester's reply soon arrived; George opened it eagerly, and read as follows:-"George Williams, farewell for ever! That I love you devot. edly, I will not deny; but we must never marry. I see, like the rest of my unhappy race, I am doomed to misfortune. Then be it so; but never shall my last moments be embittered_by_the thought of having provoked, on your unoffending head, a father's curse! May the God of Jew and Gentile preserve you from such a calamity. Again I say-farewell for ever!"

George was silent with emotion. He could not, for all the wealth his father owned, have given him any knowledge of this epistle, for he was too well aware of the construction that would be placed upon its contents. To his unprejudiced mind, however, her magnanimity of soul, which scorned to purchase happiness at the price of his father's misery, together with that abhorrence of the parental curse, so characteristic of the Jewish nation, immediately presented themselves as the redeeming motives by which she was actuated. Indeed it is to this trait in the character of that people, that we may in a great measure attribute the seldom occurrence of apostacy among them. For a denial of that faith, in which their fathers were content to rely for salvation, conveys to their excessive filial reverence an idea so sacreligeous, that it is contemplated with a horror little short of that with which the Christian revolts from the perpetration of actual crime.

It was well for George that he possessed a serenity of temper, not to be disturbed by trifles; and that in extraordinary cases such as this, the sacred name of father was a charm against wrath. His feelings were touched: but still he felt himself grossly insulted, and it was in the But lest the reader, influenced in some degree spirit of his outraged affection for Esther, that by Mr. William's opinion, should scan Esther's he mildly but firmly replied-that be the conse- epistle with an eye less generous than that of quences what they might, he was resolved to her lover, we proceed to inform him-that Mr. marry her; that as to his father's leaving the Williams had written to his friend in Virginia, country, he thought, upon reflection, he would in terms so offensive towards her, that he, being find the United States large enough to contain also the friend of Mr. Morgan, took the liberty them both, without inconvenience to either: of declaring, that he valued Esther's worth too and in regard to money, the lady whom he ex- highly to permit her entrance into the family of pected to marry possessed sufficient for both. any man so insensible to her merits, without "Gracious heavens!" ejaculated Mr. Wil-making an effort to prevent it: and that Mr. liams, and raising his hands in unaffected amazement, he exclaimed, as in soliloquy-" the boy is mad; absolutely lost his reason! A Jew have money sufficient! Good Lord, was any thing so absurd ever uttered before." Then turning to his son, he repeated-" A Jew have money sufficient! I tell you, child, the thing is impossible. Their insatiate avarice can never be satisfied. No: if they possessed the wealth of the whole world, they would, like Alexander, sigh for more. But you do not believe my words; then try them-put them to them to the test, and see if they do not prove true. Try even this, your paragon of excellence, and behold how soon her Jewish principle will betray itself. Write to

Morgan immediately acquainted Esther with this conversation, upon which, with a spirit equal to that of Mr. Williams himself, she penned the reply to George, which we have just read.

After this event, Mr. Morgan fearing that Esther's spirits might become a prey to melancholy, and concluding that change of scene would be serviceable, sold all his possessions in Virginia, and removed to Philadelphia; soon after which he fell a victim to a bilious attack.

In the meantime George signified to his father that he had resigned all hopes of marrying Esther, but begged to be excused, for the present, from forming any other connexion. To this he

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readily agreed, and in about two years after ex-house. Surely, thought he, fortune favors my pired, blessing George with his last breath, and leaving him heir to his immense possessions.

The tone of Esther's epistle had been too decisive for George to make any further appeal, during his father's life; yet he had never proved false for a moment. He had not heard from her since that time, and did not even know that she was living: but soon as he had settled his father's affairs, inspired by hope, he set out once more for the banks of the Roanoke-the scene of all the earthly happiness he had ever enjoyed. On arriving there, what was his dismay at learning that Esther was gone, Mr. Morgan no more, and his informant even added, that he had heard Esther was married, "how true it was, he could not tell."

design; and lest his feelings should shrink from the task, he hastily raised the knocker, and was ushered by the servant who answered his call, into a splendid drawing room. He inquired, "Is Mrs. Desorbry at home?" The servant answered in the affirmative, and left him to his meditations. George trembled with emotion; his heart throbbed audibly. Presently he heard a quick, light step, descending the stairs-in a moment it was at the landing. Hastily rising from his seat, which the tumult of his feelings would not allow him to retain, George advanced to the door-it opened, and an elegant female stood before him-but it was not Esther. Surprised at the unexpected appearance of a stranger, he stammered forth something like an appology for a mistake-what kind he did not rightly know himself. "He had asked," he said, for Mrs. Desorbry."

64

“Well, sir,” said she," I am that lady."

With drooping spirits, and an almost despairing heart, George proceeded to Philadelphia, determined to behold Esther as a wife, and convince himself that she was beyond his reach; and then, perhaps, he might feel more at ease. Bewildered with joy, and almost frantic with After attending all places of resort, where he the sudden revival of hope which these words thought it probable they might meet, in vain, had inspired, and entirely heedless what impresand having no clue by which to discover her re- sion the singularity of his manners might make, sidence, he was about to depart without having he exclaimed-" And was not the lady whom I obtained his object; when loitering past a large saw yesterday with Mr. Desorbry, his wife?" fancy store, one afternoon, his attention was at- "No, sir," said the lady, with a smile-for she tracted by a beautiful child, in the arms of its immediately discovered that there was somenurse: and on looking in, he beheld a gentle-thing more in all this than met her eye-" t'iat man and lady in the act of making some pur- lady was my cousin." Then touching a bell, chases; just at that moment, the latter turned requested the servant who made his appearher head-gracious heavens! it was Esther!-ance, to solicit her cousin Esther's attendance, Esther, in all her loveliness-for, to his enrap-who, in the midst of George's evident confusion, tured eyes, she looked more beautiful than entered. ever. His most grievous suspicions were now Think not, gentle reader, that we are about confirmed, she was married; the child he had to inundate you with sighs, tears, volatile salts carressed was hers; and oh! cursed thought, and essences. No: for I assure you, Esther did there stood his happy rival. George sickened not faint; that she was deeply agitated, we will at the sight! Here, then, was the funeral pile of not pretend to deny-for her lovely dark eyes his long cherished hopes! The only charm were suffused with a soft dewy moisture, not unwhich had given zest to existence, was in a mo like to tears, and her beautiful countenance ment snatched from his! And all the tender mantled with blushes. George led her to a seat associations, which thoughts of Esther never—Mrs. Desorbry vanished—and they were alone. failed to inspire, fled before the sad reality. Deeply wounded in spirit, he sought refuge from their view, in an adjoining building. From thence he beheld Esther handed into an elegant carriage, at the door, the gentleman seating himself beside her. And to place the truth beyond all controversy, making some pretence to enter the store they had just left, he inquired, (assuming an air of indifference,) who that gentleman and lady were, and was immediately informed that they were-Mr. and Mrs. Desorbry. George returned to his lodgings, with feelings similar to those of the mariner, who, dashed on some barren strand, beholds from thence the shipwreck of all his earthly possessions; and tossing himself upon his couch, he spent the night in bitter and unavailing regret, alternately accusing himself and Esther, till morning's MEMORY.-Men often complain of short medawwn, when nature, exhausted, sunk to re-mories-yet how seldom do they forget the slightpose. It was late when he awoke, and the first est circumstance or the slightest injury? idea that presented itself to his mind, was in the form of a wish to see Esther. "I will behold her for the last time," said he, as he walked towards the street in which he had seen her alight from the carriage, the evening before. Mr. Desorbry was in the act of leaving the

There is in the perfection of music, a melody, of painting a softness, and of eloquence a charm, which laugh at description. So, too, among the emotions of the heart, are some too exquisite to define, and of which imagination alone is capable of imparting any idea. We shall, therefore, leave it to the reader to conceive the mutual happiness of George and Esther on this occasion.

They were married in the course of a fortnight; and Esther affords a convincing proof that virtue-like its opposite, vice-is confined to no particular sect; and that she is as often found to exist in her loveliest guise among the exiled Jews, as in any other of the human race. Camden, S. C. F. N.

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues.-Shakspeare.

Written for the Casket.

THE MINISINK.

A placid forest glade I tread,
Beneath this blue autumnal sky,
Where daring courage nobly bled,

Scorning to yield, yet doomed to die! Although on history's scroll of fame

The memory of this fight is not, Although no laurell'd warrior's name Embalms this sylvan spot,

Yet here were deeds perform'd, as bright As ever blaz'd in glory's light.

Remote and lovely is the scene,

With scatter'd tree and thicket green; Bounding like thought, yon timid deer Speeds from the forest's skirt of gloom, And in the streamlet's mirror clear

The red bird laves his crimson plume; The insect carols in the grass

The bee darts by me as I pass.

But what, beneath that laurel bower,
Is glistening in the sun?

A relic of some bloody hour

It is a skeleton!

The green fern waves around it now,

The wild flower wreathes its bony brow,

It lies upon its grassy bier,

To shov what once was acted here.

Long had the fields, with slaughter red,

The village strewn mid blood and flame,
Proclaim'd upon its path of dread,

Where Indian vengeance came.
Oft in the midnight's silence deep
Did the shrill warwhoop startle sleep,
Until the boldest quail'd to mark,
Wrapp'd round the woods, its mantle dark.

At length arose a gallant band,

Burning with courage strong and high,
Determin'd for their forest land

To conquer or to die.

On the trail'd footsteps of the foe
They trod with hope's exulting glow;
Sabre bared and bayonet bright,

Flash'd in dazzling lines of light;

And the shout and the laughter of light hearted glee,
On the soft summer air echo'd loudly and free!

Hark! is that a panther's yell,
Pealing from yon tangled dell?
Again-and bursting wild and keen,
Warwhoop on warwhoop woke the scene.
Clouds of dark forms from ambush started,
And to their work of slaughter darted;
Short was the murderous strife, for there
Was valor weaken'd by despair.
Eye to eye and hand to hand,
Fought that small determin'd band;
Vainly to breast the shock they stood,
'Twas but to perish in their blood;
In vain each musket's every flash
Scorch'd eagle plume and wampum sash;
Like the ripe corn the sickle reaps,
Down, down they fell in gory heaps;
And scatter'd on the glade were cast,

Like the leaves of the forest when strewn by the blast.

[merged small][merged small][graphic]

The plant represented in the accompanying picture, is so well known and enjoyed, in all quarters of the civilized world, that a description would seern unnecessary; but of the millions who make use of it, what great numbers are ignorant of its origin and progress into general use-its qualities, and the difficulties which beset the early attempts to make it prevalent?

It may certainly be called a matter of astonishment, that a nauseous and poisonous weed, of an acrid taste, and disagreeable odour, whose only properties are deleterious," should have been so long considered an indispensable comfort, and eagerly sought for among all nations. Such, however, is the fact, and a plant that can work such wonders, deserves a history.

The growth of Tobacco, (Nicotiana tobacum) dates as far into the past, as the discovery of America by Columbus, at which time, it was used as a sort of offering, in the religious ceremonies of the IndiansIts introduction into the eastern continent was every where persecuted and ridiculed. Numerous books were written against it; one by a monarch, James I. It was opposed by Pope Urban VIII. who excommunicated those who used it; in Transylvania, by the Grand Duke of Moscow and the king of Persia, it was denied to the people, by the severest penalties.Nevertheless, it grew mightily; and now all the sovereigns of Europe, and most of those of other parts of the world, derive a considerable part of their revenue. from tobacco. The name of the plant is believed, by Humboldt, to have been derived from the term used in the Haytian language to designate the pipe or instrument, employed by the natives in smoking the herb. Of the different kinds of snuff and the fragrant segars,

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