are content to sit by their distant waters, and beneath the shadows of their branches. Many are journeying on in the literary highways, and hurry from stage to stage without once pausing to look upon the beautiful scenery that invites them to linger on their way; but we, who choose the rambling vehicle of the essay, turn off into the by-ways, and enjoy the irregular interchange of woods, and waters, and green valleys.

he will find them there. If the world cen- ter he kept himself close to his harbour.
sure him, its chidings will be lost amid their He is now a septuagenary,—a sprightly,
consoling voices,-if the world's friendship hale old man; and though he feels the tide
has been sterile, he will see no barrenness of life beating within him less vigorously
in theirs, and if the world has been un-day after day, yet having enjoyed the green
kind and malevolent, he will find nothing and flourishing spring of life, and the lusti-
there of its stern austerity.
hood of its summer, he sits quietly down in
the cheerfulness of its autumn, like one
that rejoices in the full fruits of early
toil.

When my uncle beheld my childish admiration for his venerable black-letter tome, he fondly thought that he beheld the germ of an antique genius already shooting out within my mind, and from that day I became with him as a favoured vine. Time has been long on the wing, and his affection for me grew in strength as 1 in years; until at length he has bequeathed to me the peculiar care of his library, which con sists of a multitude of huge old volumes, and some ancient and modern manuscripts. The apartment which contains this treasure is the cloister of my frequent and studious musings. It is a curious little chamber, in a remote corner of the house, finished all round with painted pannelings, and boasting but one tall, narrow Venetian window, that lets in upon my studies a "dim, religious light," which is quite appropriate to them.

When I was a boy, my earliest attention was excited by the brass clasps of an antiquated, worm-eaten tome, that an old uncle of mine, sadly given to antiquarian reFrom my youth up, my life has been a search, had left upon my mother's table. kind of vagrant existence, and I have al- No sooner was the event of my birth, which ways been fond of rambling about in the forms an epoch in our family history, anwoods and quiet fields of the country. Inounced, than the kind-hearted old man have been a truant from society, and have came posting down from his country resiturned from the troubled world of realities dence. He was a virtuoso in thought, to an ideal world of mine own; and yet in word, and deed. He was a rusty old felretirement, and amid the pleasant woods low, and, like one of his own coin, had the that had become home to me, I never look- features of antiquity indelibly stamped uped for solitude, and never found it. There on him; and the gradual wastes of time, was a spirit there that communed with my by rendering the relievo less distinct, placed own. The earth was peopled with imagi- the antiquity beyond a doubt. His countenary forms, and in the sound of the river. nance very much resembled that of Cosmo, and of winds that fanned its bosom and on the medallions of the Medici; and made the tall reeds bend, I heard the voice though the severity of his eye indicated of humanity distinct, and to my intellectual deep thought, yet there was something ear articulate. Thus I became the child about the mouth that declared his subtle of wayward fancy, and nature touched vein of shrewdness and grotesque humour. within me that chord of simple poetic feel- He was deeply versed in alchemy and olding, which has not yet ceased to vibrate. school chemistry, and very vain of his I am melancholy, but studious thought has knowledge;—if 1 borrow a simile from his Every thing about the apartment is old made me so, and not those cares which pursuits, he thought that the halo of his and decaying. The table, of oak inlaid tire men of the world. It is a melancholy own glory was increasing like the circular with maple, is worm-eaten and somewhat of that kind which has nothing of malevo- corona of vapour that arose from a certain loose in the joints; the chairs are massive lence or austerity about it; it is but that chemical combination of his, which, as it es- and curiously carved, but the sharper edges pensive shade, which, to him who loves to caped from his alembic, widened and widen- of the figures are breaking away; and the muse, gently mellows down the hard feat- ed whilst ascending; but, unfortunately for solemn line of portraits, that cover the ures of society, and gives a still-life se- him, his fame, like that vapour, grew thin-walls, hang faded from black, melancholy renity to a bustling world. As I sit in ner and thinner, and at length lost itself in frames, and declare their intention of soon my silent cloister, surrounded by a multi-air. He was an inveterate old bachelor; leaving them forever. In a deep niche tude of books-mute but eloquent compan- but kind-hearted and extremely benevo- stands a heavy iron clock, that rings the ions, and look out upon mankind as they lent; and charity, which was written upon hours with a hoarse and sullen voice; and toil on in the thoroughfares of life, the calm his countenance, was written more deeply opposite, in a similar niche, is deposited a and quiet feeling of my retirement becomes upon his heart. I have heard it whispered gloomy figure in antique bronze. A recess, spiritualized from self-enjoyment to a glow-in the family,-but very cautiously, for the curtained with a tapestry of faded green, has ing philanthropy. The world is full of sufbecome the cemetery of departed genius, fering, and I feel a charity for those who and, gathered in the embrace of this little have known that misery which I have not sepulchre, the works of good and great men known; and I endeavour to remember how of ancient days are gradually mouldering ineffectual that charity is, which begins and away to dust again. ends in feeling!

old man's feelings are sensitive upon the subject, that, like sundry other good old bachelors, he had been in his younger days a chevalier d'amour; but shivering long in the frowns of unrelenting beauty, he grew desperately cold towards the whole female My retirement to this solitary place arose As the hand of time is continually chang sex,-as slighted woers sometimes will, from a love of seclusion, and was not, as ing the scenes of the world's vast theatre, and even in the heyday of life forgot retirement often is, a desperate after-game I cannot help observing how grotesquely "love's charming cares." A few days ago, in the affairs of life. A strong attachment mingled in the romance of life are its trag- as I was turning over some neglected pa- to a still and quiet existence has brought ic and comic acts. But to a solitary being pers in his library, I found several desper- me here;-and if I seem to have slighted like myself, departing years bring but little ate looking love verses, and a French Val- the world too soon, I can urge in my own change. Time's gradual current steals peace-entine on gilt-edged paper, with altars and defence, that I am one of those, who may fully away, the seasons of life slowly suc- torches in the corners, which go far to cor- depart from society whenever they will, and ceed each other,—and day after day thought none ask-Where are they? I would not ripens and ripens to its maturity;-but forget the world, and would not be forgotstill my pursuits and occupations are the ten by it; but I would live in the hearts of same, and the same communion and fellowmen as well as in their memories, and leave ship and good feeling exist between myself that quiet recollection behind me, which and my books. It is very silly perhaps to mankind will cherish for its very gentleprate now-a-days about the tranquil delight ness. And yet, whilst, like a timid bark, I which books assume to him who is happy woo the breath of others to give me motion enough to love them, but I speak from the on fame's still waters, my chief joy is in heart. If any man is sick and tired of the seclusion and solitary musing; though I world, and would find those friends who are would live in part for others, yet I would silent or garrulous, as he is melancholy or not in so doing become a stranger to my cheerful, let him retire to his library, and own thoughts.

roborate the oral tradition of his early love.
This is indeed exactly what I should have
expected from his sanguine temperament;
and time never effaced every vestige of this
gallant feeling; on great occasions he was
apt to wear a highly ornamented broach of
amber, containing in its centre a little ani-
mal that strikingly resembles a lady-bug;
and sometimes figured in a brocade vest of
faded damask, with large sprigs and roses.
One serious love adventure of this kind
was enough for him; he was lost on a sea
of troubles in his first voyage, and ever af-

very pretty Arcadian nation!' I may be excused for wishing that Lord Byron had published this himself; but though he is responsible for the atrocious falsehood, he is not for its posthumous publication. I shall only observe, therefore, that the slander is as worthy of his lordship as the scheme itself would have been. Nor would I have condescended to notice it even thus, were it not to show how little this calumniator knew concerning the objects of his uneasy and restless hatred. Mr Wordsworth and I were strangers to each other, even by name, when he represents us as engaged in a satanic confederacy, and we never published any thing in common.

Here I dismiss the subject. It might have been thought that Lord Byron had attained the last degree of disgrace, when his head was set up for a sign at one of those preparatory schools for the brothel and the gallows, where obscenity, sedition, and blasphemy are retailed in drams for the vulgar. There remained one further shame there remained this exposure of his private conversations, which has compelled his lordship's friends, in their own defence, to compare his oral declarations with his written words, and thereby demonstrate that he was as regardless of truth as he was incapable of sustaining those feelings suited to his birth, station, and high endowments, which sometimes came across his better mind.

ROBERT SOUTHEY."

RUSSIAN POETRY.

CONTINUATION OF LAPLACE'S MECANIQUE

CELESTE.

domes; the magnificent Wladimir, the luxu- John Quin; seven hanks of yarn, the prop-
rious Bojars, the valiant heroes, and the erty of the widow Scott; and one petticoat
bards of those times. The subject of the and one apron, the property of the widow
poem, in six cantos, is the carrying off of Gallagher, seized under and by virtue of a
the princess Ljudmilla by the magician levying warrant, for tithe due to the Rev.
Tschernomor, and her deliverance to her John Usher. Dated this 12th day of May,
husband Russlau, a valiant knight. The 1824."
plan is admirable, the execution masterly,
and, notwithstanding the numerous charac-
ters introduced, and the episodes and events
which cross each other, the narrative is
rapid, the characters well drawn, the de-
Those who have read the Mécanique
scriptions animated, and the language ex- Céleste, are aware, that upwards of twen-
cellent. Russlau was soon succeeded by ty years ago M. Laplace promised to ter-
"Kaw Koskoi Plennik," a smaller, though minate this great work by an exposé of the
not less excellent, poem; which describes labours of geometers on the system of the
the rude manners of the banditti of Cauca- world, and by assigning to each the share
sus, their mode of life, and the peculiarity which he had contributed towards elucidat-
of the country and its inhabitants, in the ing its wonderful mechanism. The faith-
most lively colours. This poem is gener-ful execution of this task would have im.
ally known to the German public, through posed on the illustrious author of the Mé-
a masterly translation by M. Wulfert, canique Céleste, the necessity of making
which is inferior to the original only in very ample acknowledgments to Lagrange,
the inimitable melody of the Russian lan- and it would almost appear that some re-
guage.
pugnance arising out of this conviction had
retarded the completion of this part of his
labours. The name of Laplace occurs only
once in the second edition of the Mécanique
Analytique, a circumstance which seems
to intimate, that Lagrange had felt some
displeasure at the unacknowledged appro-
priation of his investigations and discove-
ries. M Laplace is, however, at length
slowly redeeming his pledge in the fifth
volume of his work, which is in a course of
publication. The thirteenth Book, which
has recently appeared, treats on one of the
most difficult problems in physical astrono-
my, that of the oscillations of the fluids
which cover the planets. The first chapter
contains a rapid sketch of the principal
views and discoveries of geometers, on the
theory of the tides, from Newton to La-
place. No branch of the history of science
presents more interest, than this view of
the progress of mathematical analysis in
one of the greatest questions of natural
philosophy. It is the peculiar privilege of
the inventors of the principal theories to
show their origin, their difficulties, and
their most important features. The an-
cient geometry has transmitted to us noth-
ing more exact and beautiful than the few
words by which Archimedes has prefaced

Puschkin's new poem, "The Fountain of Baktschissarai," is in many respects superior to his former productions. The subject is very simple: Ġhiräj, Khan of the Crimea, in one of his predatory excursions, takes prisoner a Polish princess, Maria. She is in his harem; the charms of the beautiful christian make a deep impression upon the heart of the rude monarch. He forsakes his former favourite, Sarema, a passionate Georgian; she knows indeed that Maria The young poet Puschkin, has completed persists in rejecting his love, but, tormented a new production, which, though of no great by jealousy, she murders her innocent rival. extent, surpasses, in the unanimous opinion Ghiräj, inconsolable, sentences the Georgian of the critics, all his former productions. to death; and dedicates to the memory of The title is, "The Fountain of Baktschis- Maria, in a solitary part of his garden, a sarai ;" and Mr Ponamarew, a bookseller fountain, the cold drops of which, falling, of Moscow, has given him three thousand even to this day, into the marble bason, reroubles for the copy-right. The poem con-mind feeling hearts of Maria's innocence tains about six hundred lines, so that five and Ghiräj's grief, and the young girls in roubles per line have been paid for it, a the neighbourhood still call it the fountain thing quite unheard of in Russia. Puschkin of tears! is a literary phenomenon, endowed by nature with all the qualifications of an excellent poet; he has begun his career in a manner in which many would be happy to conclude. In his thirteenth year, when he was still a pupil in the Lyceum at ZarskoeSelo, he composed his first distinguished poem, Wospominanie O Zarskom Selo," Remembrances of Zarskoe-Selo; this piece was, perhaps, too loudly and generally admired; the boy aimed henceforward only at the Muses' wreath, and neglected the more serious studies which are essential to the poet. However, up to this time, when he is about twenty-five years of age, he has composed, besides a number of charming little pieces, which have been received with great approbation by the literary journals, three more considerable poems, which are real ornaments of the Russian Parnassus; and what is a particular merit in these days of translation, they are quite original.

The first of them is "Russlau and Ljudmilla," which carries us back into the ancient days of chivalry and fable in Russia, and places before us Kiow, with its gilded

IRELAND.

It appears, by a late census of the popu-
lation of Ireland, that the number of males
is 3,341,926-of females 3,459,901. Those
employed in agriculture are 1,138,069,-
in trades, manufactures, or handicraft,
1,170,044. Dublin is supposed to contain
227,335. The state of the whole country
is represented as very precarious. There
are now public theological disputations, in
which the zeal on each side is quite equal
to the christianity displayed. No doubt, if
each party could for a season enjoy the
pure, unmixed ascendancy of the primitive
times, neither would want a fine crop of
martyrs. The following document is an
amusing instance of real distress; and in-
dicates pretty well the degree of probabili-
ty which exists for an amelioration in the
state of feeling upon the subject of re-
ligion.

"To be sold by public cant, in the town
of Ballymore, on Saturday, the 16th instant,
one cow, the property of James Scully; one
'new bed-sheet and one gown, the property of

his works.

ENGLISH BOOKS.

the month of December, in Great Britain. The number of works published, during was sixty-three. The number of distinct volumes, eighty-one.

LONGWOOD.

A late visitor at St Helena, says, that the house inhabited by Napoleon in that island is now converted into a barn, and that there is actually a threshing machine in the cham ber in which he breathed his last! Surels this residence, so much vaunted by Low and Co., could not have been very valuable if it is thus considered fit only for such "vi uses." What a tell-tale time is!

through all the exercises in Orthography, Syntax, Punctuation, and Rhetorical con

struction.

adapted to produce a radical improvement Murray's Exercises; a new and improv-
in this very important department of Eng-ed stereotype edition, in which references
lish education. With these aids, individu- are made, in the Promiscuous Exercises, to
als and pupils, with a little instruction in the particular rules to which they relate.
parsing, may alone become not only profi- Also for sale, the School Books in gener-
cients, but skilful and just critics, in one of al use.
the most copious and difficult of all lan-

The Exercises form a neat 18mo volume of 252 pages, on good paper and neat type, for the particular use of pupils in schools; and being a counterpart to the Teacher, corresponds to it in design and execution.guages, our own. The Key is left out of this volume for the purpose of giving the scholar an opportunity of exercising his judgment upon the application of the rules, without a too ready and frequent reference to the key.

The Promiscuous Exercises in each of the four parts of False Grammar, in both volumes, have figures, or letters of the alphabet, introduced, referring to the partic-a ular rule or principle by which nearly every individual correction is to be made. Great care and vigilance have been exercised to prevent defects of the press in these editions, as well as to correct the numerous errors which have found their way into the various editions of these works now in circulation. There can be no hazard in saying, that there is no American edition, either of Murray's Exercises or Key, so correct as the English Teacher, and the Boston" Improved Stereotype Edition of the English Exercises."

These very neat and handsome school manuals will perform much service, save much time, and furnish teachers, private learners, and schools with those facilities which will enable the attentive and industrious student to trace with precision, pleasure, and profit, the great variety of principles, which, like the muscles of the body, spread themselves through the English language.

Feb. 1.

VALUABLE SCHOOL BOOKS,
PUBLISHED and for sale by LINCOLN &
EDMANDS, 59 Washington-street [53 Corn-
hill.]

Walker's School Dictionary, printed on
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The Elements of Arithmetic, by James
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the first classes in schools.

The American Arithmetic, by James Robinson, jr.; intended as a Sequel to the Elements. This work contains all the general rules which are necessary to adapt it to schools in cities and in the country, embracing Commission, Discount, Duties, Annuities, Barter, Guaging, Mechanical Powers, &c. &c. Although the work is put at a low price, it will be found to contain a greater quantity of matter than most of the School Arithmetics in general use.

The Child's Assistant in the Art of Read

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The Pronouncing Introduction, being
Murray's Introduction with accents, calcu-
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The Pronouncing English Reader, being Murray's Reader accented, divided into paragraphs. Enriched with a Frontispiece, exhibiting Walker's illustration of the Inflections of the Voice. The work is printed on a fine linen paper, and solicits the public patronage.

Adams' Geography; a very much approv-
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ous editions. With a correct Atlas.
Temple's Arithmetic, with additions and
improvements.
Printed on fine paper.
Eighth edition.

It is to be regretted that so few fully understand the grammatical and accurate construction of their own language. There is a fashion already too prevalent in our country, which has long obtained in England, particularly among the superior classes of society, and which has by no means been conducive to a general and extensive cultivation of the English language. The subject of allusion is an extravagant predilection for the study of foreign languages, The Pronouncing Testament, in which to the neglect of our own, a language all the proper names, and many other which by us should be esteemed the most words, are divided and accented agreeably useful and valuable of all. This extrava- to Walker's Dictionary and Classical Key; gance has been justly censured by Mr Wal--peculiarly suited to the use of Schools. ker in the following remark. "We think," Conversations on Natural Philosophy, says he, "we show our breeding by a knowledge of those tongues [the French and Italian], and an ignorance of our own."

with Questions for examination, with addi-
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Alger's Murray, being an Abridgement
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A knowledge of other languages is truly desirable, and the acquisition of them ought, in a proper degree, to be encouraged by all friends of improvement; but it is devoutly to be wished, by every friend to the interests of our country and of English literature, that American youth would show The English Teacher, being Murray's a zeal, in this respect, exemplified by the Exercises and Key, placed in opposite colmatrons of ancient Rome; and, like them, umns, with the addition of rules and obsersuffer not the study of foreign languages to vations from the Grammar;-an admiprevent, but strictly to subserve the culti-rable private learner's guide to an accurate vation of their own. knowledge of the English language, and also an assistant to instructers. By T. Alger, jr.

It is confidently believed that the English Teacher and Exercises are excellently

**In issuing the above works, it has been the object of the publishers to elevate the style of School Books in typographical execution; and they cherish the expectation that instructers and school committees will, on examination, be disposed to patronise them.

Feb. 1.

JUST PUBLISHED,

BY R. P. & C. WILLIAMS, 79 Washington-street, Boston,

A Letter from a Blacksmith to the Min

isters and Elders of the Church of Scotland, in which the manner of Public Wor ship in that Church is considered, its inconveniences and defects pointed out, and methods for removing them humbly proposed.

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine

heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for
let thy words be few. Eccl. v. 2.
God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore

I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. 1 Cor. xiv. 15.

From a London edition. For sale as above, and by the booksellers throughout the United States.

This work is published on common paper, and sold at a cheap rate for distribution; also on fine five dollar paper, to bind, and match other elegant books.

Feb. 1.

WELLS & LILLY, HAVE in press, and will shortly publish, A New Digest of Massachusetts Reports. By Lewis Bigelow, Counsellor at Law. The work will embrace all the Reports now published, and will be otherwise improved in several important particulars.

THE Publishers of this Gazette furnish on liberal terms, every book and every periodical work of any value which America affords. They have regular correspondents, and make up orders on the tenth of every month for England and France, and fre quently for Germany and Italy, and import from thence to order, books, in quantities or single copies, for a moderate commis sion. Their orders are served by gentle men well qualified to select the best edi tions, and are purchased at the lowest cash prices. All new publications in any way noticed in this Gazette, they have for sale, or can procure on quite as good terms as those of their respective publishers.

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CAMBRIDGE:

PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS,

BY

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