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wild stare, which is all that remains of that once expressive countenance, I read unutterable things.

Such is my story-such are my occupations. After reading this, will you ask me why I am unhappy, or why I shun the haunts of man?

STANZAS TO THE MOON.
All hail, thou lovely, pensive queen!
Fair empress of the silent night!
Thy placid beauty, how serene!

Thy sacred rays, how softly bright!
From thy imperial cloudless throne,
Thy cheering brilliancy unfurl'd
Shines, brightly radiant and alone,
O'er the weary, slumbering world.
How chastely, in the eastern sky,
Thou risest from the ocean's breast,
Where, while the blazing sun was high,
Thou soughtest a refreshing rest.
Thy stately presence stills each sound,
The darkling shades before thee fly,
The stars but faintly twinkle round,
And thou'rt left roving o'er the sky.

When bursting clouds thy light unfold,
And roaring tempests cease to rave,
Thou spanglest bright, with sparkling gold,
The glimmering wrinkle on the wave:
When, through the mystic peaceful grove,

Thou peep'st where dew-wash'd flow'rs are strew'd,
From nature's canopy above,

Oh! then how grand is solitude!

How great must be that power, whose hand

Has all heaven's splendours o'er us hurl'd!

That orb rides out, at His command,

From mantling clouds to light the world:
How many other orbs we find

That, at His will, in myriads rise!
Proclaiming loudly to mankind-

Remember all beyond the skies!

T. S.

THE VICAR OF BRAY.

"Not

Every one has frequently heard this reverend son of the church mentioned; probably his name may have outlived the recollection of his pious manoeuvres : he was in principles a Sixtus the Fifth. The Vicar of Bray, in Berkshire, was a papist under Henry the Eighth, and a protestant under Edward the Sixth: he was a papist again under Mary, and once more became a protestant in the reign of Elizabeth. When this scandal to the gown was reproached for his versatility of religious creeds, and taxed for being a turn-coat and an inconstant changeling, as Fuller expresses it, he replied, so, neither; for if I changed my religion, I am sure I kept true to my principle; which is, to live and die the Vicar of Bray.” This vivacious and reverend hero has given birth to a proverb peculiar to his county, "The Vicar of Bray will be Vicar of Bray still." Fuller tells us, in his facetious chronicle of his Worthies, that this vicar had seen some martyrs burnt two miles off, at Windsor, and found this fire too hot for his tender temper. He was one of those who, though they cannot turn the wind, will turn their mills, and set them so, that wheresoever it bloweth, their grist shall certainly be ground.

A SUMMER CLOUD.

I marked towards the glowing west
A cloud of brightest hue;

It seem'd to speak of souls at rest
Beyond the placid blue.

It look'd as calm as angel could
Upon the world below;
It beautified the field, and wood,
And the water's quiet flow.

A centinel at heaven's blest gate
To guide the Spirit through,
When wandering to another state,
We bid the word adieu !

E. S.

ORIGIN OF THE TERM "JOHN BULL." Dr. John Bull was the first Gresham professor of music, and organist and composer to Queen Elizabeth. John, like a true Englishman, travelled for improvement; and having heard of a famous musician at St. Ömer's, he placed himself under him as a novice; but a circumstance very soon convinced the master, that he was inferior to the scholar. The musician showed John a song, which he had composed in forty parts! telling him at the same time, that he defied all the world to produce a person capable of adding another part to his com position. Bull desired to be left alone, and to be indulged for a short time with pen and ink. In less than three hours he added forty parts more to the song. Upon which the Frenchman was so much surprised, that he swore in great ecstacy, he must be either the devil or John Bull; which has ever since been proverbial in England.

COME LEAVE THIS TOWN.

A SONG. BY THOMAS FURLONG.

AIR" There's nae luck."

Come leave this town's o'ercrowded walks,
Here folly spreads her sway,
Here heartless fashion coldly stalks,
And scares content away.
Gay frippery strikes the wearied eye,
Smooth nonsense taunts the ear,
And smiles the bosom's pangs belie-
The happy are not here.

Then leave this town, &c.

Come, then, to different walks we'll steer,
Through rural scenes we'll stray;
Where the poor peasants' talk we'll hear,
Or mark his plain array :

Where through the day we'll wander free
O'er fields all fresh and fair-

Come, then, away, at once, and see

If happiness be there.

Then leave this town, &c.

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perhaps of papers consumed by age: on the ground floor of the same range was discovered a pit, one of those places of concealment and destruction so common in ancient castles: most of the buildings of the west and north sides seem to have been added by the Lords of Ruthven.

""

In the reign of James VI. of Scotland, of blessed memory," Gowry House was the scene of one of the most atrocious acts which the history of the world has ever afforded. The tragedy to which we allude was, that the Earl Gowry and his brother should be put to death, as in a sudden scuffle, in which, however, they were to appear as traitors; a specious pretence was to be found in the king's coming to Perth; his safety was to be provided for by corrupting some of the earl's servants, and by bringing a sufficient number of armed gentlemen from the country. The king, after dining at the earl's house, was to pretend a necessity of retiring to a private apartment, and so to manage that the earl's brother should attend him thither; at this moment the courtiers were to be assembled in the street, and the king was to cry to them from the window that his life was in danger.

These preliminaries being settled, the king paid great attention to the earl's brother, who waited behind him during the time of dinner: when James had dined, he made the pretence before mentioned, and was conducted by the earl's brother into an apartment agreed upon by the conspirators, where some persons were already posted for the king's security, and the furtherance of the cruel design. James made the proposed outcry, when Sir John Ramsey, one of the pages, according to his own deposition, rushed into the apartment, and saw the king, and a man standing behind him; he stated that he did know who the man was, but that after he (Ramsey) had once stabbed Mr. Alexander Ruthven, the man went suddenly away. Ramsey says he found Mr. Alexander his knees, with his head under the king's arms, and endeavouring, with his hand, to stop the king's mouth. Ruthven was thrice as strong as the king, who, from his infancy, was of a weakly constitution; it seems, therefore, certain, that the advantage which the king now had over him, was the effect not of superior bodily strength, but the young man's veneration for his majesty. The king did not accuse Ruthven of any particular crime, nor commit him to be afterwards tried, which could

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