missionaries, and travelers, they subsequently formed the nucleus of populous and prosperous American towns; thus Pittsburgh marks the site of Fort Duquesne, and Utica of Fort Schuyler. The son of the famous English bishop, Burnet, who wrote the notable "History of his own Times," while provincial governor of New-York, built and manned a trading-house and small fort at Oswego, in 1727, in order to gain and keep control of the lakes. Beauharnais ordered Burnet to relinquish the project, which he declined to do; and in order to keep the balance of power, and retaliate, took possession of Crown Point, and erected Fort Frederic there. While Braddock was on his way to a memorable defeat, Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, at the head of fifteen hundred provincials and Indians, traversed the wilderness between Albany and Oswego, (then a perilous and fatiguing journey,) and reached the latter place with his weary followers, to learn the bloody and fatal tidings of Braddock's overthrow, whose successor he became, and instantly strengthened Oswego with two other forts, and began his preparations to make an attack upon Fort Niagara; his own defeat by Montcalm, and the latter's fall, succeeded; and the ruined forts were long a melancholy sight to the Six Nations. In 1757 the English again took possession of Fort Ontario, and two years after it was rebuilt on a larger scale. No action occurred there during the Revolution; but "a detachment of rangers and a few Indians, under Col. St. Lege, were ordered to penetrate by Oswego to the Mohawk, and capture and hold Fort Schuyler, at the head of boat navigation, and thence, re-enforced by Sir John Johnson, with his numerous adherents, to join Burgoyne with the main body at Albany." resort of the friendly and goal of the vindictive savage, the resting-place of the Jesuit missionary, and the weary pilgrim of the wild, the little village of the Revolution, is a prosperous city; massive stone piers, erected by the United States government, stretch into the lake; long and solid bridges span the river; and where Montcalm landed amid a dense forest and on a lonely shore, is the populous center of commerce, where canal, railway, and steamers unite and distribute the products of the vast inland region, and stimulate productive industry in the varied forms of commerce, manufactures, agriculture, and transportation. In the midst of the late financial pressure, twenty-two grainladen vessels arrived at Oswego in one day, mostly from Chicago, and about the same time, says a local journal, "An extraordinary story reaches us, which we give as we received it. When it was first told us we were fully convinced that it was a hoax, but subsequent investigation compels us to say that the statements come well authentireport is, that two men, named respectively cated, and with every appearance of truth. The Ward and Hall, were at work down the lake shore, some miles from this city, getting out hoop stuff, when they discovered a small keg buried in the sand. This they dug out, and opening it, found it contained sixteen hundred silver pieces. The coins were of an ancient French cast, and of the denomination of sevenfranc pieces, valued at one dollar and nine cents each. left for Philadelphia, where they intend to ex The two men with their treasure have change their coin at the Mint." A dwelling now occupies the site of the mound once captured by Montcalm; the old fort stood on a tongue of land at the mouth of the river. A year or two ago some workmen, while grading what is called Botta Island, found a human skull, the back of which was pierced with a musket ball; it was found inside slightly flattened. This was doubtless the relic of one of the victims of the fight which occurred here, in 1756, between Colonel Broadstreet and his three hundred bat At the close of the war Washington sent an expedition thither, more for vigilance than conquest; Willett, the leader, attempted to scale the fort, but was oblig-teaux men and seven hundred French and ed to retreat. In 1796 it was given up by the English, according to the treaty of peace. During the last war the British made an unsuccessful attempt to seize national property at Oswego, and vented their disappointment, as usual, by wanton mischief. And now the trading log cabin of the pioneers, the frontier post of the hunter, the fort of the rival emigrants, the VOL. XI.-41. Indians. The previous year Shirley had left the same number of men to garrison the fortifications he began here, and Deskau's great object, we are told, in reducing Albany, was to "cut off all communication with Oswego." A thrill of trepidation ran through the sparse settlements in what is now Western New York when the news sped that Forts Ontario and Os the lake with success; all was going on well, and he signalized others of his squadron to join; but, like Elliott's ship at Lake Erie, they hung back; at this crisis the commodore's gun burst and killed twelve of his own men. Finding himself wholly unsupported, he withdrew indignant and discomfited. He would not al wego were threatened by the French; and the banners captured at the latter by Montcalm long hung as trophies in the Canada churches; the aboriginal country of the Five Nations was long abandoned to the French. In 1759 it was at Oswego that General Prideaux embarked with the large body of regulars and provincials and Sir W. Johnson and his Mo-low the circumstances, which so wholly hawk braves to invade Niagara. But this was also the scene of more recent warlike events. The English fleet on Lake Ontario in 1814 landed a thousand men and attacked the four hundred who comprised the feeble garrison of Fort Ontario; under their leader, Mitchell, they made a gallant resistance, quitting the intrenchments to fight on the shore; they killed the favorite officer of the invaders, and did them great mischief; but, overpowered by numbers, were obliged at last to surrender: The public storekeeper at that time is still an honored and prosperous citizen of Oswego. When asked by the British admiral where the stores were to be found, he declined informing him; whereupon the incensed Sir George seized him by the collar, and, after heaping curses on his head, declared him a prisoner. He asked leave to examine his trunk, but found it had been rifled. He was taken on board the "Prince Regent," a fine frigate, and messed with the officers; and he found, to his surprise, that the highest grade were not gentlemen, as in the American service, but the roughest sea-dogs. Toward evening Sir George came off, and swore vociferously that his prisoner ought to be hung at the yard-arm, for not betraying the whereabouts of the public stores. Colonel Harvey, afterward governor of Canada, and one of Wellington's aids at Waterloo, apologized for this conduct, and said his commander was irritated by the loss of his brave friend and so many men in the late action. The captive remained a fortnight on board the frigate. When she lay off Kingston he sent to an old customer there for payment of a bill due him, and with the proceeds bought a piece of linen, which the officers' wives made into shirts for him. Besides thus replenishing his scanty wardrobe he discovered, during the cruise, many facts of the war which history has since ignored or distorted. Commodore Chauncey had attacked the British fleet at the head of exculpated him from blame, to be reported at Washington, and so died without the credit for gallantry he deserved. On the other hand, Brown, a militia officer, when attacked at Sackett's Harbor, ignominiously decamped from the fort. The British, under Prevost, soon after taking possession, believing the abandonment a trick, and that the Americans were lying in ambush among the adjacent thickets behind and around the fort, soon took their departure; then Brown returned and took possession. He was applauded as a victor; whereas both parties ran away! An incident, which occurred during this gentleman's brief captivity on board the royal frigate, illustrates the vicissitudes of war. A boat with American stores, in a dense fog, got into the midst of the English fleet; the men reported a squadron of boats manned by the enemy, and two hundred men with the commodore's gig were dispatched in pursuit. Through the influence of Appleton they were allowed to go up to the head of a creek, and there surrounded, and the whole detachment taken prisoners by the Americans. They learned by the firing on board the frigate that a conflict was going on, and the next morning a flag of truce, sent to obtain the clothes of the prisoners, chagrined them with the news that they had caught a Tartar. TEST FOR THE FUTURE HUSBAND.The Moscow ladies still observe an ancient and curious custom on New Year's Eve, to ascertain who is to be their future husband. Precisely at twelve o'clock, a servant or friend is stationed at the front door of the house, and the first gentleman who passes is stopped and requested to give his christian name. This is immediately told to the young lady, and is believed by her to be the name of her intended. If no figure passes, it is considered that the lady will not be married that year. The custom gives rise to many amusing scenes. THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. JOB; HIS TRIALS AND HIS PATIENT EN- Then, as it was in the days of the apostles, as it always will be, he who loveth God will love his brother also. Job sympa thized in the afflictions of his fellow-men. WE have discussed the questions rela- He wept for those that were in trouble. time in lived, His was grieved for poor. the style of the book in which his history is written, and the peculiar characteristics of the friends who came to condole with him. The former part of his personal history is now to be considered-his afflictions and his patience. His querulous complainings and bitter lamentations are reserved for a future essay. As to Job's moral character, the sacred writer says he was perfect and upright; one that feared God and eschewed evil. He was, moreover, a man of large worldly possessions; the greatest of all the men of the East. Then, as now, riches conferred distinction, and men did reverence to the possessor of large estates. Then, as now, wealth was a snare to the soul, and a righteous rich man was a rarity. But Job was eminent alike for wealth and virtue: the richest man in all the East and the most holy. was his sympathy evinced merely by tears, or his grief the expression of his lips only. Driven to a justification of himself by the harshness of his accusers, he adverts in conscious integrity to his deeds of benevolence. The stranger did not lodge in the street: I opened my doors to the traveler. I have not seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; for he was warmed with the fleece of my sheep. I delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame; I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not I searched out. As the natural result of this uniform benevolence, Job had the esteem of his equals and the blessings of his inferiors. The young men saw me and hid themselves, and the aged arose and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and the nobles held their peace. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me it gave witness to me, and the blessing of him that was ready to per He is first introduced to us as offering sacrifices to God in behalf of his children. It may be, he said, that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. He rose up early in the morning and of fered burnt-offerings, according to the number of them all. This was his con-ish came upon me. stant practice. In that early twilight of the world's history it was thus, by sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that men evinced their faith in the promises of God, and through them found access to the High and Holy One. Here, too, is additional evidence that Job lived at a very early period in the world's history. Noah acted as the high priest of his family. So did Job. But, in the time of Abraham, an established priesthood seems to have existed. Melchizedec, styled the priest of the most high God, blessed the father of the faithful, and Abraham paid him tithes. Job lived also in the personal enjoy ment of the favor of God. His candle, says he, shined upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness. The secret of God was upon my tabernacle; the Almighty was with me. Of course he who thus loved God loved his neighbor also. I say, of course, for the two have been inseparable from the beginning. At the time when the sacred writer begins his history his seven sons appear to have been settled in life. Whether this was the case with his three daughters, or whether they yet lived under the paternal roof, is not so clear. They resided near each other, and were united by the ties of affection and love. The brothers and sisters frequently met at each other's dwellings. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. Truly the sun of prosperity shone brightly upon his path. Not one element of happiness seems to have been lacking. Wealth was his, and health; the endearments of the family circle; sons and daughters loving and beloved; esteemed by the good, feared by the wicked, respected by all, with the blessings of the poor, the fatherless, and the widow upon his head. Nor was this all. He had in addition the calm consciousness of his own integrity, and en joyed sweet communion with his Maker. The lines had fallen to him in pleasant places; he had a goodly heritage. I marvel not that he said in his prosperity, I shall never be moved; I shall die in my nest. Did I say in the cup of Job's happiness nothing was lacking? I was wrong. There was wanting, what man cannot have in this life; there was wanting the assurance of perpetuity, a guaranty against accidents and losses, a something, like the rod of Franklin, which wards off the threatening thunderbolt, to protect him when the dark cloud rises, and leave him unscathed and safe when Ezekiel's roll of lamentations, and mourning, and woe should spread itself over his dwelling place. But there is no such thing. Neither has man's ingenuity invented, nor God's goodness promised an exemption from adversity and affliction in this life. No, not to his own beloved ones. It pleased him to make even the Captain of our salvation perfect through suffering, and it still pleases him thus to teach his creatures that this world is not their continuing place. Else might they never be ready to exclaim, as did Job when trouble came, I would not live always. ours. we are in the habit of regarding as evidences of wealth, we read his history with less interest, and feel for him less sympathy, than would otherwise be the case. Oxen, and camels, and sheep were the same in that day as real estate, and bank stock, and specie, or its equivalent, are in We shall see the severity of the blow if we fancy to ourselves our wealthiest neighbor receiving in one hour the news that, without fault of his own, he has been stripped of all his possessions. By the knavery of men, and by judgments from Heaven, by fraud, by tempest, by fire, by lightning, the rich man of yesterday is now a hopeless, homeless bankrupt. An hour since at the pinnacle, now at the base. Just in proportion to the height he had attained is the depth of his fall, and the severity of the blow. Nor need we draw on the imagination to illustrate the subject. From Job's day to ours, in the reality of every-day life, among farmers, and manufacturers, and merchants, even among those who were born in the ranks of the aristocracy, who never knew toil, nor what it is to have a wish ungratified, there have been, and are, and always will be, living illustrations of God's own truth: Riches make to themselves wings and fly away. Not in vain, though, alas! too generally unheeded, is the exhortation of the apostle, Trust not in uncertain riches. This sudden plunge from wealth to poverty, from the height of prosperity to the depth of adversity, was, however, a small item in the afflictions of the man of Uz. On the same day that he received intelligence of his loss of worldly goods another messenger appears with still heavier tid But to pursue the narrative. On one of those occasions to which I have adverted, a feast at the house of his eldest son, at which were present all his children, the father himself remaining at home, a messenger comes to him with evil tidings. Abrupt was his entrance, and without preface the announcement. The Sabeans have fallen upon the oxen, and having murdered thy servants, have carried them all off, and I only am escaped alone to tellings. Thy children, Job, thy sons and thee. While he was yet speaking another enters: The fire of God is fallen from heaven, says he, meaning probably the lightning, and had burned up the sheep and servants, and consumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Scarcely had this bearer of evil tidings delivered his message when a third enters. The Chaldeans, says he, made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Thus was he stripped at once of all his wealth, reduced suddenly to poverty. Possibly, from the fact that his possessions were so different from those which daughters, are all dead. Dead, too, by a sudden and terrible visitation. In the midst of their revelry and merry-making, without warning, or a moment's space for preparation, they have passed into the eternal world, and thou art childless. Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their elder brother's house, and behold there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon them, and they are dead. Like Aaron's rod which swallowed up the rest, so these tidings completely bury and overwhelm the news brought by the preceding messengers. What was wealth, his sheep, and camels, and oxen, to his sons and daughters? to those whom he calls his glory and the crown of his head? To have prolonged the life of one child, even for a season, to have had the privilege of ministering by his bedside in the agony of dissolving nature, to have had the mournful satisfaction of catching his parting breath, and to have given the last farewell to the departing spirit, as she plumed her wing for the flight into the unknown world; even this had been cheaply purchased by a large share of that for which the world looked upon him with envy. To have saved one of them from this sudden stroke, this untimely death, he would doubtless freely have parted with his possessions, and deemed himself a gainer by the loss. In this bereavement we can all sympathize with him. Very few of us have been hurled from the height of prosperity, and though we may have met with worldly losses, they have been comparatively trifling. But the visitations of death, and the departure of relatives and friends, the sundering of the ties that bind us together in bonds of affection and love, these we understand in all their bitterness. Scarcely one but has felt that desolation of spirit, that overpowering heaviness of soul which the last messenger leaves as his memento to the living, when the loved one, a child, a brother, or a sister, a husband, a wife, a parent, passes slowly through the dark valley. We feel, then, O death, that thou art terrible! "The pall, the knell, the grave, the bier, And all we know, or dream, or fear Of agony are thine." I see the patriarch, musing in his lonely house upon the goodness of his God. His children are at their elder brother's. It is, perhaps, a birthday festival. He is probably reckoning up his worldly possessions, and meditating upon their division among his sons and daughters, when he shall have passed away to a better inheritance reserved in heaven for him. From his calm eye there beams forth the unmistakable evidence of a conscience at peace with God, with himself, and with all mankind. There is no premonitory sadness at his soul. No cloud is rising there to portend the severity of the tempest that is about to beat upon his head. The messengers of evil tidings enter one after the other in quick succession. He has scarcely time to reflect upon the news | they bring, or to question them relative to the truth of their statements. He has heard it all. He is penniless. The richest man in all the east is a pauper. Still he has his children. His mind for a moment reverts to his sons and daughters, his glory and crown. He had thought but now of leaving to them his wealth; alas, he will go to them! They will not suffer him to want in his old age. The thought was momentary. It was a drop of sweetness in his bitter cup. It is dashed away. Another comes : "His brow, like to a title page, Foretells a tragic volume; the whiteness ye But he has told it. The iron has entered into the old man's soul. Now let us listen to his wailing lamentation. See there; he hath rent his mantle; he has fallen upon the ground. Come nearer, gently; let us not roughly intrude upon his grief, but we may listen to him as he gives utterance to the emotions of his soul. Heard I aright? Yes; it is written here, as taken from his lips: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Call that a lamentation? Is it the utterance of overwhelming grief? Sounds it like the melancholy wailing of despair? O no! it is the voice of calm submission, of hope, and trust, and confidence in God. Indeed, with a little transposition it might be made the utterance of grateful thanksgiving for benefits received. The Lord took away, and the Lord hath given; blessed be the name of the Lord. So near akin is the language of submission in affliction to the language of rejoicing for blessings conferred. It is proper here to advert to the fact, and to spend a few moments in considering and explaining it, that Satan, the arch enemy of God and man, is represented by the sacred writer as the agent who inflicted upon Job the calamities he endured. When the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan, it is said, came also among them. By this, and the questionings of the Almighty, the replies of Satan, and the permission given him to harass and afflict Job, we are to understand that God reigns supreme alike over men, and angels, and fallen spirits; that it is only by His permission that our enemy tempts and tries the children of |