ent race, (I had almost said, species), from the Maltese collectively; and finally that these Men possessed exclusively the government of the Island; it may be safely concluded that they were little better than a perpetual Influenza, relaxing and diseasing the hearts of all the families within their sphere of influence. Hence the Peasantry, who fortunately were below their reach, notwithstanding the more than childish ignorance in which they were kept by their Priests, yet compared with the middle and higher classes, were both in mind and body, as ordinary men compared with dwarfs Every respectable family had some one Knight for their Patron, as a matter of course; and to him the honour of a Sister or a Daughter was sacrificed, equally as a matter of course. But why should I thus disguise the truth? Alas! in nine instances out of ten, this Patron was the common Paramour of every Female in the Family. Were I composing a State-memorial, I should abstain from all allusion to moral good or evil, as not having now first to learn, that with Diplomatists, and with practical Statesmen of every denomination, it would preclude all attention to it's other contents, and with no result but that of securing for it's Author's name the official private mark of exclusion or dismission, as a weak or suspicious Person. But among those for whom I am now writing, there are I trust many, who will think it not the feeblest reason for rejoicing in our possession of Malta, and not the least worthy motive for wishing it's retention, that one source of human misery and corruption has been dried up. Such persons will hear the name of Sir Alexander Ball with additional reverence, as of one who has made the protection of Great Britain a double blessing to the Maltese, and broken," the bonds of iniquity" as well as unlocked the fetters of political oppression.

When we are praising the Departed by our own firesides, we dwell most fondly on those qualities which had won our personal affection, and which sharpen our individual regrets. But when impelled by a loftier and more meditative Sorrow, we would raise a public monument to their memory, we praise them appropriately when we relate their actions faithfully: and thus preserving their example for the imitation of the Living, alleviate the Loss, while we demonstrate it's magnitude. My funeral Eulogy of Sir Alexander Ball, must therefore be a narrative of his Life; and this Friend of Mankind will be defrauded of

honour in proportion as that narrative is deficient and fragmentary. It shall, however, be as complete as my information enables, and as prudence and a proper respect for the feelings of the Living permit me to render it. His Fame (I adopt the words of one of our elder Writers) is so great throughout the World that he stands in no need of an encomium: and yet his worth is much greater than his Fame. It is impossible not to speak great things of him, and yet it will be very difficult to speak what he deserves. But custom requires that something should be said it is a duty and a debt which we owe to ourselves and to mankind, not less than to his memory: and I hope his great Soul, if it hath any knowledge of what is done here below, will not be offended at the smallness even of my Offering.

After my next number, which will contain the conclusion of No. 17, (for I must not disappoint the expectations raised by the masterly comments on the Letter of Mathetes) I shall proceed with these sketches of the Life and Character of the late Admiral Sir Alexander Ball, under three heads; first, as a naval officer; secondly, as entrusted with the Government of Malta; and lastly, of his opinions and principles, as learnt from his own conversation. Ah! how little, when among the subjects of THE FRIEND I promised "Characters met with in real Life,” did I anticipate the sad Event, which compels me to weave on a Cypress branch, those sprays of Laurel, which I had destined for his Bust not his Monument! He lived as we should all live; and, I doubt not, left the world as we should all wish to leave it. Such is the power of dispensing blessings, which Providence has attached to the truly great and good, that they cannot even die without advantage to their fellow-creatures: for Death consecrates their Example; and the wisdom, which might have been slighted at the Council Table, becomes oracular from the Shrine. Those rare excellencies, which make our grief poignant, make it likewise profitable; and the Tears, which wise men shed for the departure of the Wise, are

Of course I here imply, that these comments were themselves a communication to THE FRIEND. The Writer was present at the receipt of Mathetes' Letter, and much interested by it's contents: His remarks on which were so judicious and conceived in so manly and original a style of thinking, that I requested him to reduce them into form and permit them to be annexed to the Letter.

among those that are preserved in Heaven. It is the fervent aspiration of my spirit, that I may so perform the task which private gratitude, and public duty impose on me, that "as God hath cut this tree of Paradise down, from it's seat of Earth, the dead Trunk may yet support a part of the declining Temple, or at least serve to kindle the Fire on the Altar." BP. JER. TAYLOR.

CHRISTMAS WITHIN DOORS,

IN THE NORTH OF GERMANY,

There is a Christmas custom here which pleased and interested me.-The Children make little presents to their Parents, and to each other; and the Parents to the Children. For three or four months before Christmas the Girls are all busy, and the Boys save up their pocketmoney, to make or purchase these presents. What the Present is to be is cautiously kept secret, and the Girls have a world of contrivances to conceal it-such as working when they are out on visits and the others are not with them; getting up in the morning before day-light, &c. Then on the evening before Christmas day one of the Parlours is lighted up by the Children, into which the Parents must not go: a great yew bough is fastened on the Table at a little distance from the wall, a multitude of little Tapers are fastened in the bough, but not so as to burn it till they are nearly burnt out, and coloured paper, &c. hangs and flutters from the twigs.-Under this Bough the Children lay out in great order the presents they mean for their Parents, still concealing in their pockets what they intend for each other. Then the Parents are introduced and each presents his little Gift-and then bring out the rest one by one from their pockets, and present them with kisses and embraces.-Where I witnessed this scene, there were eight or nine Children, and the eldest Daughter and the Mother wept aloud for joy and tenderness; and the tears ran down the face of the Father, and he clasped all his Children so tight to his breast-it seemed as if he did it to stifle the sob that was rising within. him. I was very much affected.-The Shadow of the

Bough and its appendages on the wall, and arching over on the Ceiling, made a pretty Picture-and then the raptures of the very little Ones, when at last the twigs and their needles began to take fire and snap-O it was a delight for them!-On the next day, in the great Parlour, the Parents lay out on the table the Presents for the Children: a scene of more sober joy succeeds, as on this day, after an old custom, the Mother says privately to each of her Daughters, and the Father to his Sons, that which he has observed most praiseworthy and that which was most faulty in their conduct.-Formerly, and still in all the smaller Towns and Villages throughout North Germany, these Presents were sent by all the Parents to some one Fellow who in high Buskins, a white Robe, a Mask, and an enormous flax Wig, personates Knecht Rupert, i. e. the Servant Rupert. On Christmas Night he goes round to every House and says, that Jesus Christ, his Master, sent him thither-the Parents and elder Children receive him with great pomp of reverence, while the little ones are most terribly frightened-He then enquires for the Children, and according to the character which he hears from the Parent, he gives them the intended Present, as if they came out of Heaven from Jesus Christ.—Or, if they should have been bad Children, he gives the Parents a Rod, and in the name of his Master, recommends them to use it frequently.-About seven or eight years old the Children are let into the secret, and it is curious how faithfully they keep it!

CHRISTMAS OUT OF DOORS.

The whole Lake of Ratzeburg is one mass of thick transparent ice-a spotless Mirror of nine miles in extent! The lowness of the Hills, which rise from the shores of the Lake, preclude the awful sublimity of Alpine scenery, yet compensate for the want of it by beauties, of which this very lowness is a necessary condition. Yester-morning I saw the lesser Lake completely hidden by Mist; but the moment the Sun peeped over the Hill, the mist broke in the middle, and in a few seconds stood divided, leaving a broad road all across the Lake; and between these two Walls of mist the sunlight burnt upon the ice, forming a

road of golden fire, intolerably bright! and the mist-walls themselves partook of the blaze in a multitude of shining colours. This is our second Frost. About a month ago, before the Thaw came on, there was a storm of wind; during the whole night, such were the thunders and howlings of the breaking ice, that they have left a conviction on my mind, that there are Sounds more sublime than any Sight can be, more absolutely suspending the power of comparison, and more utterly absorbing the mind's self-consciousness in it's total attention to the object working upon it. Part of the ice which the vehemence of the wind had shattered, was driven shore-ward and froze anew. On the evening of the next day, at sun-set, the shattered ice thus frozen, appeared of a deep blue, and in shape like an agitated sea; beyond this, the water, that ran up between the great Islands of ice which had preserved their masses entire and smooth, shone of a yellow green; but all these scattered Ice-islands, themselves, were of an intensely bright blood colour-they seemed blood and light in union! On some of the largest of these Islands, the Fishermen stood pulling out their immense Nets through the holes made in the ice for this purpose, and the Men, their Net-Poles, and their huge Nets, were a part of the glory; say rather, it appeared as if the rich crimson light had shaped itself into these forms, figures, and attitudes, to make a glorious vision in mockery of earthly things.

The lower Lake is now all alive with Scaters, and with Ladies driven onward by them in their ice cars. Mercury, surely, was the first maker of Scates, and the wings at his feet are symbols of the invention. In scating there are three pleasing circumstances: the infinitely subtle particles of Ice, which the Scate cuts up, and which creep and run before the Scate like a low mist, and in sun-rise or sun-set become coloured; second, the shadow of the Scater in the water seen through the transparent Ice; and third, the melancholy undulating sound from the Scate, not without variety; and when very many are scating together, the sounds and the noises give an impulse to the icy Trees, and the woods all round the Lake tinkle!

Here I stop, having in truth transcribed the preceding in great measure, in order to present the lovers of Poetry with a descriptive passage, extracted, with the Author's