relation to the widely extended tracks of comets; and in a future stage of this enquiry it will be shewn, that all the circumstances connected with them, if they do not establish their claim to rank as yet among the planets of our system, certainly indicate that they are fast approaching to that state.

(To be continued.)

A WISH.

O! would that I were dwelling in some bright and blooming isle,
Where the tropic sun is shining with an everlasting smile;
Where perennial fruits expand to the never-sated eye,

And brightest verdure robes the earth and brightest blue the sky.
In that land, if such there be, how delighted could I live,
Were mine the joys that woman's love and man's firm frendship
give;

Forgetting all the world, and by all the world forgot,
Save the idol of my heart and the friends who shared my lot.
By the blue and bounding billows, we'd wander all the day,
And at evening sit us down and hear the nightingale's sweet lay;
Then sink into repose 'neath the roof our hands had reared,
'Till the morning star had faded and the morning sun appeared.

How tranquilly along would our life's calm current steal,
Like the music of the rill by which we'd take our noontide meal;
'Till away, far away, should our happy spirits fly,
And quit their Eden here for an Eden in the sky.

Norwich.

BETA.

LITERATURE AND LOVE.

A Tale.

(Continued from p. 27.)

Mortimer started, as well he might when his servant ushered into the room a no less redoubtable personage than Corporal Brown. That worthy individual, though unable to boast like

Siccius of old of forty-five wounds and all in front, indicated by a strange and awkward hobble in his gait, that his loins were still affected by a stray shot received a few years since in flight from the field of battle. This imputation on his honour, however, the worthy corporal would never admit; and to tell the truth, the remains of an enormous pair of black mustachios, coupled with a certain awful kind of majesty in his gaunt form, gave him some resemblance to a tried and trusty son of Mars.

On the present occasion he looked important even to a ludicrous degree, with his dark phiz peering out from a huge and well starched article, yclept a collar. Perhaps it was because he was the bearer of a note which he had been instructed to deliver into

the hands of Mr. Mortimer himself. He presented it with the air of a man who feels that the fate of the three kingdoms is depending upon the proper fulfilment of the mission entrusted to him-Frederic glanced over the contents.

"No answer yet" he replied—and the old soldier having done all, much apparently to his own satisfaction, wished his honour good morning and with a stalk quite en militaire quitted the

room.

The note was to the following import,

SIR,

I know not how to account for your very marked attention to my daughter last evening, except upon the supposition that you have become seriously attached to her. Conversation with herself has confirmed my suspicions. I take therefore this the earliest opportunity of informing you that no such connexion can ever have my sanction.

EDWARD BELVILLE.

In order to explain this note it will be necessary that we should briefly revert to the circumstances which had caused it.

Several months had now elapsed since Mortimer was first included in the polished circle which Lady Shad been wont to assemble around her. On that evening his brilliant talents had shone with an unrivalled lustre. Topic after topic had been started, and while to each he had brought the resources of a strong and vigorous understanding-he had even to an unwonted degree fascinated by the playfulness of his wit. No wonder, then, that while he impressed all with a profound respect for his

talents, he inspired the young and the ardent with a warm admiration of them. In the latter class ranked Emily Belville. She was the daughter of an old officer of noble blood, who had been knighted for his services abroad, and had now retired to his family estate in Kent. At present he was staying in town, whither he had brought with him the beautiful Emily. Only to say that she was beautiful, would be doing her injustice. It was not that her face was formed after the most exquisite model of perfection, or that a rich profusion of auburn curls shaded her fair forehead: they were but inferior charms. But there was that soul—that vein, so to speak, of intellectual light pervading her countenance, which would have stamped an interest on far more ordinary features. Perhaps a slight tinge of melancholy was their habitual expression; yet a smile became them well-especially such a smile as sat upon them when their fair proprietor was listening to the brilliant sallies of Frederic Mortimer, on the memorable evening when they first met. To find one's self an object of interest to a young and beautiful female, has created a flutter in the heart of many an older beau than our hero;—and when susceptible and ardent as he was, he read in the eyes of Emily Belville the fervent homage she was paying to his genius, it would hardly have been human nature had he been utterly insensible to the tribute. But we will not enlarge. He returned home that evening convinced that she was, at all events, a very charming girl.

They met again and again; and, need I say it?—they loved. Yes, they loved-not with the love which is born and can exist only in the tapestried hall, or the crowded assembly, but with that deep and intense passion which is best nurtured amid the works of nature, and beneath a moonlight sky.

It would be profanation to lift the veil and attempt to tell of a passion so pure and perennial as that which glowed upon the altar of their young affections. A stranger to the arts of coquetry or prudishness-Emily had won a noble spirit, and she disdained to trifle with it: but she gave in return the devotion of a gentle heart, yet unscathed by contact with a selfish world, or unchilled by "the withering frown of fate."

It was soon guessed, by their mutual friends that they entertained a partiality for each other; and the consequence was, that they were more frequently than ever included in the same party:

nor could the truth be long concealed from the old knight, her father. His eyes were accidentally opened to it by Mortimer's prevailing upon his daughter to sing one evening after the repeated solicitations of the rest of the company had been urged without effect. The consequence was, the dismissal of the valiant Corporal Brown next morning on the errand which we have already seen him fulfilling so much to the satisfaction of himself, at least.

Returned, Sir Edward was impatient to learn the result of his visit.

"Why, an' please your honour, it has almost cured me of the little lameness I was complaining of to your honour this morning."

"But what of the business you went man upon ? How did the gentleman look when you gave him the note ?"

“Much like other gentlemen, your honour, only more handsome, may be. "And if,—continued the corporal, with the most provokingly imperturbable coolness imaginable-" and if he is to have Miss Emily, as Betty told me the other day she had heard he was, I am thinking 't will be a noble match for her, that's all."

"Peace, fool," retorted the irritated knight; but he soon remembered that this was the worst way in which to deal with his old friend. They had passed together through the perils and hardships of the camp-they had bled side by side in the battle-field: and though Brown's character for bravery did not stand very high with his corps, yet through weal and woe he had been faithful to his master. He was wont, therefore, to assume a certain kind of familiarity which, under other circumstances, would never have been admitted; add to this the natural obtuseness of the worthy man's intellect, and you have the sum total of difficulty which Sir Edward had in extracting from him the necessary information. At length, by dint of considerable application, he gathered that there was no answer at all. So Brown was dismissed, and his master betook himself to his meditations.

That evening, Sir Edward being engaged out, the lovers were to meet, by appointment, in the grounds of Lady S. which adjoined her father's residence. Mortimer thought every minute an age, till the expected hour arrived ;—and some twenty minutes before it did come, he was at the place of meeting.

It was a lovely night. The pearly moon was walking in beauty over her appointed course: and beneath lay the great city bathed in her calm and quiet light. He gazed upon the scene

with no ordinary sensations :

"For the night

Had been to him a more familiar face
Than that of man: and in her starry shade
Of dim and solitary loveliness

He learn'd the language of another world."

It brought forcibly to his mind the evening of his father's funeral, when the whole current of his thoughts and feelings had been changed by a mighty moral effort. The resolve then formed had given him a place in the temple of fame. But had that made him happy? Oh no! The question returned-but still the answer was the same. And yet he had been happyhappy in the requited love of a being whom he idolized. But then he thought of the note-the cold and calculating note— and he sighed again.

He forgot all his forebodings, however, when he perceived in the distance, outlined in the clear moonlight, a female figure advancing towards him at considerable speed. Though somewhat surprised at the unusual haste evinced, he attributed it all to the anxiety of love, and was just preparing to throw himself into very becoming ecstacies. To his increased surprise, however, the figure, on reaching him, put a note into his hand, and retired as speedily as it had made its appearance. As soon as he could regain the street, he read, by the light of a lamp, traced with a pencil, and evidently in haste.

DEAREST FREDERIC,

Your conduct at Lady S's last evening, has excited my father's suspicion. He has questioned me, and I confessed all. He is inexorable. He watches me with a jealous care; and to-morrow morning we start for Tilbury hall. Let us hope for better days; and meanwhile, be assured that no distance of time or space can affect or change the love of your

EMILY.

P. S. Any personal application of your own would, just now, I am sure, be ill-timed and unavailing.

He read and re-read it ;-but still the same harrowing sentence met his eye" To-morrow morning we start for Tilbury hall."