A SEMI-MONTHLY LITERARY JOURNAL.

VOL. IL]

DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO THE DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF POLITE LITERATURE.

[NO. 5.

tine banker, and conducted a branch of his uncle's business in Marseilles. They met in the gay circles of fashion; friendship budded in the bosom of each, which soon ripened into love, and, at the age of fifteen, the beautiful Victorine was led to the altar, and became a bride. Father and uncle united with the priest in his benedictions, and happiness shed its sunlight around them.

The honey-moon had scarcely passed away before business called the young husband to Lisbon, and he embarked on board of a vessel richly laden, bound for Oporto. When two days out, a storm drove them near the Moorish coast. A delightful calm succeeded. On the following evening, just at sunset, a dark-looking vessel appeared, and, when night closed in, was seen' bearing down towards them. The first ray of morning brought sad tidings, for within half a league, an Algerine corsair was pressing all sail, to over take them. She came up, a fearful conflict ensued, the deck of the merchantman was incarnadined with blood, and after six hours of plunder she was left, a burning coal floating upon the placid bosom of the Mediterranean. Those who escaped the mortality of the first onslaught were carried on board the pirate barque. . Among the number was Costello, the husband of Victorine, and ere twilight spread its mantle upon the waters, he was bound in chains, destined for the slave mart of Algiers.

Unconscious of the gathering storm, Victo

and yet no tidings of the vessel were heard, and the gay house of the Genoese was turned into a chamber of mourning. At length the sad tale was unfolded, and the star of hope on which the eye of Victorine had fondly rested, set amid the clouds of despair forever.

First love is a passion, impetuous and consuming, even when destiny forbids a reciprocity of feeling or destroys the cherishing cause. It is omnipotent in combating the allurements which would fain draw it from its orisons at the altar where it made its first sacrifice. Like a phosphorescent torch, attrition with the pleasures of society but increases its flame, and it seldom expires until the soul leaves its prison, and returns to the divinity from whence it emanated.

The passion of Victorine was first, deep and abiding. It was the pure affection of an artless girl just expanding into womanhood, and, as ab. sorbing as her love, so overwhelming was the reverse that deprived her of her dearest treasure. When the first burst of grief had subsided, and the serenity of resignation, heightened by a pious confidence in the mercies of her Redeemer, shed its light over her sad countenance, the anxious tather administered every cordial to her wound,

ed spirit. He took her to the temple of pleasure, but she turned from its tinsel show with disgust. He sought pleasant retreats, the charms of music, the breezes of the ocean, and the delicious

vintage grounds of Burgundy; but none of these could quench the fire that was consuming the unhappy bride. At her request, he consented

to a last resort to save his daughter from the

tomb that opened to receive her; and at the age

LADIES' DEPARTMENT.

RELIGION IN WOMEN.
How often have young men propounded to

themselves and others the question, What is the
first quality to be sought for in the choice of a
wife? and how diverse have been the answers
to this most important interrogatory. The gay
and thoughtless will point you to beauty,wealth,
accomplishment; others, who look beyond the
tinsel of the exterior, regard amiability and feel-
ing as the brightest jewels in the female charac-
ter; others still, who have searched deeper into
the springs of human action, and know well the
fountains whence flow the purest and most en-
during happiness, will give the only true answer
to the inquiry, viz. a strong Christian faith,
sentiments, and practice.

Religion is everywhere lovely, but in woman
peculiarly so. It makes her but little lower than
the angels. It purifies her heart, elevates her
feelings and sentiments, hallows her affections,
sheds light on her understanding, and imparts
dignity and pathos to her whole character. Nor
does its influence end here—

"It beams in the glance of the eye,
It sits on the lips in a smile.
It checks the ungracious reply,

It enrapturos, but cannot beguile.'

of sixteen she was buried in a cloister, not as a
veiled nun, but as a sister of the holy order.
Here consolation administered its balm, and
the sacred duties which she was called upon to
perform gradually blunted the sting of grief, and
cheered her heart with the beams of peace. She
had passed four years in this seclusion, occasion.
ally visited by her father, who was the only lay-
man permitted to enter the cloister, when, one
moonlight evening, while strolling in the gar-
den and sadly reflecting upon her lost Costello,
a voice from without breathed her name. Ima.
gination, ever ready with its deceptive pencil
to portray to her mind the rainbow of promise,
conformed that voice into that of Costello's.
Heedless of consequences, she bounded to the
terraced wall, and with searching eye scanned
the spot from whence the voice came. No be-
ing appeared, and involuntarily she shrieked
out the name of Costello. That delirious excla- Woman, from her very nature, is destined to
mation echoed along the vaulted aisles of the drink deeper from the cup of sorrow and suffer.
convent, and penetrated the chamber of the La-ing, than the other sex. Her trials are chiefly
dy Superior, who in alarm sped to the garden.
There, by the margin of a fountain, she found
Victorine, pale and senseless, her head support-
ed by a young cavalier, who was tenderly bath-
ing her burning brow with the cool waters. As.
tonished at a scene so unexpected, the Superior
could scarce utter a word, but soon recovering,
she bitterly reproached the cavalier for thus in-
vading the sanctity of their holy dwelling place.
'Chide me not, mother,' said the youth, throw-||
ing back his dark locks, and with eyes glisten-
ing with tears, looked imploringly to the Supe-
rior. She was touched by his tender manner,||
and the sensibilities of woman nearly overcame
her sense of duty. But she checked her rising
sympathies, and guided by the rigid require- ||
ments of her station, bade the youth depart.

'Duty, holy mother,' exclaimed the youth, 'duty alone urged me to enter these holy grounds. I have a message for Victorine, but her ears are closed to my communications. Promise that you will deliver it, and I will depart. In the name of Heaven I conjure you to watch over her in this hour of trial. The contending emotions of hope and love now prostrate her delicate frame; emotions more terrible await her, but I am pledged to be faithful. Take this package,' said he, drawing it from his bosom, and by the holy cross swear that Victorine shall this night receive it. The result I leave to the

hand of Providence.'

Let darkness enter you port they yield? dwelling, and the pleasure you derived from them is forgotten, and you look in vain to the same source for relief. Let death invade your

social circle, and lay his ruthless hand on your first-born, shrouding all around you in darkness and gloom, and where do you look for a ray of hope? It is under circumstances like these that religion transforms a wife into a ministering angel. She will bind up your bleeding heart, lead you to the fountain of living waters, and change gloom and despondency into light and cheerfulness. As the sun in setting lights up every hill-top, and tree, and cottage, so religion gilds with its heavenly beams every feeling, enjoyment, and occupation.

Most persons, on entering the married state, (particularly in youth,) fancy it a condition of unmingled joy and pleasure that they are within a charmed circle, the bounds of which no sorrow or trouble can pass. They forget the new and immense responsibilities that are incurred, and the trials which must necessarily accompany them. Not that these should deter any one from taking this most important step, for it is the highroad to improvement and hap piness. What are the boasted pleasures of in. tellect compared with those of affection? The latter are as truly heaven-born and immortal as the former; they are the earliest developed in our nature, and the last touched by the finger of decay. Woman! thy empire is the heart, and he who would know the capacity of the human soul for happiness, must yield himself to thy sway.

of the heart, and consequently the hardest to be
borne. She is seldom, perhaps, called upon to
contend with those formidable evils and tempta.
tions which rouse all the energies of our nature
to repel their attack, but is beset (from the time
A MOTHER'S LOVE.
she merges into womanhood) by a thousand pet.
“Happy is he who knows a mother's lov
ty trials and annoyances, which, while they What is so pure? The patriot expects fame,
seem too insignificant to require much effort to the friend sympathy, and the lover pleasure.
resist, are, at the same time, most difficult to Even religion, while she waters her faith with
overcome. Religion alone can disarm these tears, looks forward to the best fruits of her
trials, and enable her to preserve that equanimi- labors, and her love. But maternal affection
ty and peace of mind so essential to happiness. springs from the breast uninvoked by the wand
It is her talisman. To it she flies in the hour of of hope, unadulterated by the touch of interest.
disappointment and sorrow, and from it never Its objects are the weak and the woful. It
fails to derive consolation and support. Yet haunts the cradle of infantile pain, or hovers
how few, in the selection of a partner for life, near the couch of the faint and forsaken. Its
regard this most important qualification. How sweetest smiles break through the clouds of mis-
few think to penetrate into the secret chambers fortune, and its gentlest tones rise amid the
of the soul, to see what is there hidden within sighs of suffering and sorrow. It is a limpid
so fair an exterior-if there the vestal lamp and lovely flow of feeling which gushes from
sheds its clear and constant ray. External at the fountain-head of purity, and courses the
tractions may lead us captive for a time; feel-heart through selfish designs and sordid pas.
ing may send a thrill of exquisite joy through sions immingling and unsullied.
the heart of the recipient; talent may call forth
unbounded admiration; but if religion make
no part of the character, the key-stone to the
arch is wanting, and the fabric will ere long
crumble and fall.

It should be remembered that life is not all sunshine. Bright as the world may be before us, we cannot live long without encountering The Superior acquiesced. many sorrows, and disappointments, and trouTo-morrow,' said the cavalier, 'I will call at bles. They are sent by a kind Providence to the convent gate. Fold the secret of that letter sever the cords which bind us too closely to earth; in your own bosom, and Heaven will reward to turn our thoughts inwards upon ourselves and your fidelity. At evening vespers, and I will upwards to Heaven. While our barque glides be at the gate,' said he, and bounding over the calmly on a summer's sea, with the blue sky aconvent wall, disappeared in a grove of accacia.bove and bright waters around us, the blandish.

[Concluded next number.)

We are overrated by some, and underrated by others. We are rarely rated at what we should be,

What is so firm? Time and misfortune, penury and persecution, hatred and infamy, may roll their dark waves successfully over it-and still it smiles unchanged; or the more potent allurements of fortune, opulence and pride, power and splendor, may woo her and yet she is unmoved! A mother loves and loves forever!

What is so faithful? From infancy to age, through good report and through evil report,' the dews of maternal affection are shed upon the soul. When heart-stricken and abandoned, when branded by shame, and followed by scorn, her arms are still open-her breast is still kind ; through every trial, that love will follow, cheer us in misfortune, support us in disease, smooth the pillow of pain, and moisten the bed of

ments of youth, beauty, accomplishments, may
satisfy the heart; but let it be overtaken by the
storm and the tempest, and where is the sup-death!

to Christian sympathies and biblical reminis-world with increasing force. We forget this. Queen Charlotte was a woman of the most cences. She made the journey without a male | Do we not seem to educate our daughters excluordinary size of understanding, of exceedingly protector. She sojourned in a Catholic convent || sively for the transient period of youth, when sordid propensities, of manners and disposition ||while at Jerusalem, and was kindly entertained. it is to maturer life we ought to advert? Do that rendered her peculiarly unamiable, of a She was, when near the Levant, amidst those we not educate them for a crowd and not for person so plain as at once to defy all possible || dying with the plague, and was once in a place themselves? for show and not for use? for time suspicion of infidelity, and to enhance the vir- || agitated by a tremendous earthquake. She has and not for eternity? tue by increasing the difficulty of her husband's presented the editor of the United States (Phil.) undeviating constancy. Her virtue was so much Gazette, from whom we receive this informaaccompanied with superfluous starchness and prudery, that it set the feelings of respect and sympathy on edge, and though her regularity of life was undeviating, the dullness of her society, the stiffness of her demeanor, the narrowness

Love is a new intelligence entered into the being; it is the softest but the most subtle light; in all experience it deceives itself; but how many truths does it teach-how much knowledge does it impart! It makes us alive to a thousand feelings, of whose very existence, till then, we had not dreamed. The poet's page has a new magic; we comprehend all that had before seemed graceful exaggeration; we now find that poetry falls short of what it seeks to express; and we take a new delight in the musical language that seems made for tenderness. Even into philosophy is carried the deeper truth of the heart-and how many inconsistencies are at once understood! We grow more indul. gent, more pitying; and one sweet weakness of our own leads to so much indulgence for othWe doubt, however, whether the term, weakness, be not misapplied in this case. If there be one emotion that redeems our humanity, by stirring all that is generous and unselfish within us, that awakens all the poetry of our nature, and that makes us believe in that heave of which it bears the likeness, it is love: love, spiritual, devoted and eternal; love, that softens the shadow of the valley of death, to welcome

Among the passengers in the Susquehanna, recently arrived at Philadelphia, was Miss Har. riet Livermore, the zealous preacher. This lady, about two years since, left Philadelphia, || to go to Jerusalem. She went, tarrying a short time at London, touching at Gibraltar, Malta, and the intermediate places, and abode for some time in the Holy City, sitting in the sepulchre "where the Lord was laid,' wandering in the Valley of Jehosaphat, climbing the Mount of Olives, fording Kedron, lingering in Gethsema. ne, and journeying around places consecrated

36

THE ESSAYIST.

For the Poughkeepsie Casket.
NO. IV.

I hold the world but as the world,
A stage where every man must play a part.
SHAKSPEARE.

Although human nature remains the same, and the laws of mind are unchanging, the world is but a scene of change; a grand theatre of action, upon which, at one time tragedy, at another comedy, prevails; nations change, individuals differ from each other and from their former selves, and one man in his time plays many parts!

Southern feeling differs widely from Northern, and a Georgian or a Carolinian would take fire upon what would scarcely warm a New-Englander; perhaps the one may be too sanguine and the other too phlegmatic. As regards foreigners, our conduct towards the jealous Span. iard or Italian should be governed by principles somewhat different from those which would regulate our intercourse with the less suspicious people of northern Europe. Did we wish to influence the gay and sanguine Frenchman, motives and arguments might be requisite widely different from those which would be re. quired to convince the abstrusely metaphysical German.

truth, he who wishes to influence or persuade Climate exerts a powerful influence over the mankind will address different motives to differ-intellect and passions even in our own country. ent ages; but as individuals in the same period of life differ materially from each other, he must be governed much by the circumstances of each individual case. Still more do commu. nities and nations differ, and the phases of char. acter finally become so variable that it does seem there can be no criterion by which to judge of it. But these varieties of character are mostly occasioned by the varieties of circumstance and situation in which men are placed; and did we know the influence which the latter naturally exert over the mind and feelings, we should seldom err in our opinions of mankind. While There have been some prevalent dogmas in the general principles of human nature remain every age, which after times have deemed the same, there are a thousand causes which most irrational and absurd; each age thinks its change or modify them; and those whose opA powerful influence is exerted upon the own better than the former, and each succeed-portunities of observation are the most extensive, character of a people by the government and ing generation deem themselves wiser than will the soonest learn their legitimate influence. laws which are imposed upon them. But among their fathers were. And, judging from the past, It is not those who stand upon the high places a free people the laws and public institutions is there any probability that posterity will not of the world, who are best acquainted with the bear rather the impress of the national charactreat some of our most cherished opinions as character of those beneath them. A state rife ter-the latter is the cause, the former the effect. prejudices of an ignorant age? Almost every with discord and complaint is often on the verge Under a despotic government there is in private age has its own schools of philosophy, which dif- of a revolution, while the monarch, judging life the same arbitrary feeling, the same despotic fer from and severely censure former systems. from the flattering representations of a servile rule which the subject is accustomed to see exBut although materially different in principle, they may be of equal utility to the age and parasitical court, deems he still holds a power-ercised by his prince-a natural consequence of ful sway over loyal subjects and willing slaves. the influence of that unnatural relation between people for whom they were designed. A sys. To judge well of mankind we must not then lord and vassal, master and slave. If the peotem of morals or politics may be well adapted establish our criterion of character from that ple have voluntarily adopted or framed a system for one age, and illy designed for another. Phi- circle alone in which we chance to move. Char- of government, we may be assured that it is a losophy should have for its object the correction acter, feelings, opinions, among a city popula- very fair exposition of the national character ; of the prevalent errors of the age; and as nation differ widely from those of the country; but not if the government be forced upon them, tions change their government, their religion, or and history shows us that patriotism has gener. although in the latter case the people will, while ally been found in barren countries rather than its power is exercised over them, slowly but in fertile, in small communities rather than in surely assimilate themselves to its spirit and large, in the country rather than in the city. practice. Cities are oftener the seats of sedition and misrule than the country. Sudden excitements which in the country would soon subside from the want of seasonable nourishment, spread like wild-fire when caught by the passions of the multitude. The ardor of patriotism in the ever. changing city naturally languishes, for there is little of permanence there to which it can attach itself. The wild and permanent grandeur of mountain scenery, the everlasting hills, and the varied charms of nature are there unknown; there are few attachments for place. The home and the attachments of the inhabitant of a city are wherever his friends are; but the Swiss peasant and the Highlander are linked to the scenes of their youth, to their native mountains, wild and sterile though they be, with an attachment which neither length of time nor distance can sever. The name of Erin ever falls sweetly on the ears of her exile, though oceans roll be tween him and his native land; in fancy he oft revisits his rustic cottage upon the plain, and finds himself once more fondly gazing upon the purple heath and the blue hills in the distance, which span the horizon, and for a moment the aching void in his heart is filled with a sense of the reality of his reverie; misfortune and pov.

their laws, and as prejudices creep in, each age requires a new representative of its character, and a new corrector of its opinions. As the physical constitution of man requires different medicines for different diseases, so the vitiated

body politic requires for particular vices their own peculiar antidotes. Let us beware then of too hastily censuring as absurd and unphilosophical, the now obsolete systems of other ages, or the now prevalent systems of other nations. Although republicans ourselves, it might be the height of folly to disseminate liberal principles among an ignorant and vicious people. That which is an antidote to disease in one case may be deadly poison in another. We boast of liberty and equal rights as a common boon designed for all men; yet, it would be the part of nei

ther philosophy nor reason to award them to the highway robber or the madman.

The opinions that we form of others are to regulate our conduct towards them, and errors of opinion must necessarily lead to errors in practice. In judging mankind, in nothing do we err more than in attempting to deduce general rules from the few facts that lie within the

narrow limits of our own observations. We are

moreover too much inclined to regard present
impressions as the unerring oracles of truth,
without reflecting that the brilliant hues of life's
morning that cheated us with many a delusive
hope, have already faded into the 'sear and yel-erty ever quench his love of home. His ardent
low leaf. As each fond vision flits before the
imagination, we are prone to believe it no illu-
sion, and after oft repeated disappointments, still
allow the fancy to lead the judgement. It has
been wisely remarked that in youth we are gov-
erned by passion, in middle age by reason, and
in old age by habit. Availing himself of this

attachment to country arises not from its insti-
tutions or its laws, for though it bow beneath
the yoke of the oppressor, he loves his country
still. But this attachment is seldom found in
the is habitant of a city, for if he change his re-
sidence he may carry his attachments with

him.

As the developements of individual character appear in the manners, customs, pastimes and employments of nations, it is from such sources that an accurate observer will derive much practical knowledge of mankind. I will only men. tion one source to illustrate this principle. We all know how various are the kinds of music found in different nations; and among a people of any great antiquity, their music has assumed a decidedly national character. The Italian, the German, and the Scotch music, differ essentially from each other. In the early stages of society, music is of the rudest kind. Among a savage and warlike people it consists of warsongs, which comprise a recital of the deeds of illustrious chieftains. Among some of the peaceable African tribes and the natives of sev. eral of the West India islands when discovered by Columbus, their songs were in a less savage strain, and dwelt upon murmuring rivulets, cool fountains, and shady groves-objects of desire to natives of a parched and torrid clime. The music of the Highland Scotch and Swiss is wild and romantic; and even in their most solemn musical pieces, their funeral wails for their chieftains, there is still a wild freedom which bespeaks the land of Wallace or of Tell. The music of the Germans is mostly heavy and sol. emn: witness the heavy, solemn peals of the organ, a German invention. And how well does the music accord with the character of the people! And the same may be said of the French and Italian music. But we need not multiply examples. It is sufficient to direct our attention to the subject, to convince us of the great