regularly-he subscribes to six public charities, he goes to church with all his family on a Sunday—he is in bed at twelve o'clock. Well, well, all that's very proper; but is Mr. Warm a good father, a good friend, an active citizen? or is he not avaricious, does he not love scandal, is not his heart cold, is he not vindictive, is he not unjust, is he not unfeeling? Lord, sir, I believe he may be all that? but what then? every body allows Mr. Warm is a most respectable man.Bulwer.

SEASONABLE DITTIES.

BY THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY.

The Month of October is Bad!

THE month of October is bad

As the month of September can be;

"Oh, there's not in the wide world a beau to be had;" Some are shooting, and some are at sea!

A lonely life woman endures,

Deserted for pointers or yachts;

taken from the water, on which it was floating, about one-third of it above the surface. Numerous accounts have been given of its nature and origin. It has been said that it grows in the intestines of the spermaceti whale. It is true, that it is often found in the whale, but generally in those that are poor and unhealthy. The whalers, I find, have a general impression that it originates there from the feeding of the whale on certain fish, called squids. The Orientals, however, had no such idea of its origin; they considered it as a sea mushroom, which, growing on the bottom of the sea, was by time or accident rooted up, and, coming to the surface, grew harder by partial exposure to the sun. Öthers say that it grows on the rocks, and is washed off in storms and driven near the islands, where it is picked up by the natives. Some suppose it is wax, or a honeycomb, which, by dropping into the sea, un

Mad for cruises or gunpowder plots!

Sir Charles leaves his mate Hymeneal,
To sail with the mate of his yawl!

Of an amateur sailor the true beau ideal,
Blue shirt, jacket, backy, and all!

Of quicksands hid under the tide

He dreams as he lies in his berth;

Once he thought of no quicksands save those wont to glide

Through Time's glass in a season of mirth! His cab for a cabin neglected

(The gig that he has is a boat !)

The nobleman seaman would blush if detected
In wearing a gentleman's coat!

His books, lest his lingo should fail, are
The maritime novels alone;
Chamier's clever "Life of a Sailor,"

Or Marriott's matchless "King's Own."
For no prima donna he cares,

He gives up his box and his stall;
And all recollection of Malibran's airs
Is very soon lost in a squall!
"Oh, her form is divine!" he may cry,
But the form that he means is a ship's!
And e'eu Taglioni unnoticed trips by,
Superseded by nautical trips!

When snug in Cowes' harbour he's brave,
And he sings as he paces the deck,
And feeling a mere Lilliputian wave,
He recklessly laughs at a wreck.

But at Cherbourg, when tempests assail,
He wishes he never had sail'd;

And if he should happen to weather the gale,
He'll take care he is never re-galed.

New Monthly Magazine.

AMBER.

[IN the Narrative of a Voyage, published at New York, we find the following interesting account of amber, written by the wife of the Voyager, at New Guinea.]

While here, my husband purchased several pieces of ambergris of the natives. I examined this wonderful substance very attentively. Its colour is a darkish yellow, resembling very closely a mass of bees' wax. It had insects and beaks of birds in it, and burned very clear, as much so as bees' wax. When rubbed, it emits a perfume generally much admired.

It was

tend that it is a bituminous matter, that comes from the bottom of the sea. There are not a few who think that it is the excrement of certain fish; but the poets of the East say, that it is a gum from the tears of certain consecrated sea-birds.

"Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber

That ever the sorrowing sea-bird hath wept, And many a shell in whose hollow-wreathed chamber We Peris of ocean by moonlight have slept."

Whatever may be its origin or creation, it certainly has for many centuries been held in high estimation as a perfume and for ornaments, and its use has generally been confined to the rich and powerful. Large pieces of it have lately been found, and when we consider the purposes for which it has been used-particularly as a perfume-the price of it is astonishing. My husband, who has been much in these seas, and often made it a matter of traffic, is of opinion that the natives of these islands have a correct idea of the substance; viz. that it is made by an insect at the bottom of the sea, and accumulates for years; and that sea-birds devour it when within their reach, which accounts for their bills being found in it. The birds, being attracted by its glutinous qualities, strike their beaks too deep to extricate themselves, and their bodies decay, while the bony parts of their beaks remain. The sperm-whale is a swallow it; and this, perhaps, is one mode ravenous animal, and he may root it up and by which the God of nature intended that the leviathan of the ocean should be destroyed. That it is formed in the whale, seems unnait is found in the most abundance, do not tural in many respects; the places, too, where abound in sperm-whales, and I have never read that it was found in any other kind of whales.

THIS picturesque Castle is situated on a level plain on the east side of the debouche of the river Nith, about eight miles from Dumfries, the capital of the south-western Province of Scotland. It is considered the finest specimen of castellated architecture to be found in that country; and though in ruins, it is, in parts, wonderfully entire. Mr. Macdiarmid tells us that "it formed the favourite residence of the lords of the marches, and the key to the whole vale of Nith, excepting when the enemy, at the risk of rousing the warders of meaner towers, deviated far from the beaten tract, and swept round the base of the Tinwald Hills, where a forest covered the sunniest slopes in the district, (now waving to their tops with the staff of life,) and the whole antlered tribe cropped the sward around oaks that during a century and more had tempered the summer's heat and the winter's cold."

The form of Caerlaveroc is triangular; the outer front wall is massive; the inner court rising to three stories of 120 feet on each side, containing a suite of apartments, VOL XXII.

S

sculptured by no unskilful hand, where warrior wassailers lingered of yore, and the highest of the land heard the trumpet sounded in war, and the dulcimer in peace; behind stood the great banqueting-hall, flanked by two superb towers, extending 90 feet along the base of the triangle. Around, fosse after fosse, stretched their lines of circumvallation, fed by a marsh, itself a protection in times of danger; the Wardlaw Hill, at no great distance, overlooked alike the land and the sea, keeping the garrison on the alert, and the apparatus of death in constant view.

The situation is beautiful, and commands a varied and extensive prospect. Opposite is the coast of merry England, bulwarked by' the lofty Cumberland mountains, which may be numbered and named when the sky is clear; to the left stretches a broad and fertile vale, watered by the Solway to within a short distance of the walls of Carlisle; to the right, the shores of Galloway, including New Abbey and Criffel; and beyond, a lengthened section of iron-bound coast, which, as Mr. Skene remarks, "presents a succession of rugged

629.J

cliffs, rising at times to a fearful height, and again sinking into small, sandy bays, or narrow creeks, through which some brook makes its way to the shore; while from the sea may be seen the dark throats of caverns, by which the rocks are perforated, and of which some only are accessible to man, either from above or below."

In a wood, at the distance of a few hundred yards, Mr. Macdiarmid has traced the site of an old castle, a structure said to have been every way inferior to the ruin in the annexed Engraving. The original Castle, according to some authorities, was known in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, and founded so early as the sixth century. It was frequently besieged, taken, and as often repaired, until the edifice in the Cut was built, at a heavy expense, sometime in the beginning of the fifteenth century. All authorities agree in stating that its situation and importance as a stronghold exposed it to many a formidable attack, until finally reduced by Oliver Cromwell-the last and greatest achievement of the kind he effected. About two years ago, a farmer discovered a ball, weighing 4lbs., that had been unearthed by the plough, near a clump of trees; this remained for a considerable time in Mr. Macdiarmid's possession, and was given to Mr. Monteath of Closeburn, by whom it was presented to the Antiquarian Society of Scotland. This ball appears to have been formed of malleable iron-before, Mr. Macdiarmid presumes, cast metal was known-and to preserve its rotundity, had been cased with lead, to the thickness of more than half an inch. Probability favours the idea that it formed part of the imperfect ordnance wielded by Oliver Cromwell, while the uneven and jagged surface leaves little doubt as to the use of the lead. The Castle, on this occasion, was gallantly defended by its loyal proprietor, the Earl of Nithisdale, (to whose descendants, by the female side, it still belongs,) and was at last reluctantly surrendered in compliance with the commands of Charles I. Of the "plenishing" of the building, a curious inventory is preserved in Grose's Antiquities. Eighty-six beds in all are enumerated; five of them were so sumptuous, that they were valued at 1107. sterling each, with forty carpets and a library of books, estimated as worth more than 2007. sterling.

The most formidable siege the old castle of Caerlaveroc ever sustained, was that conducted under the personal inspection of Edward I. of England. The particulars are preserved in a metrical romance in the French language, to which Grose repeatedly refers, and which, Mr. Skene informs us, was lately edited by a learned English antiquary. "A most formidable enumeration is given of the whole warlike array, not only of England, but of the French dominions then dependent on the English Crown, as mustered under the

walls of Caerlaveroc,-which, nevertheless, for two days, sustained and repelled incessant attacks with the aid of battering machines, of successive divisions of that army, which relieved each other in the fatigues and dangers of the assault; and, when finally forced to surrender, the Castle, to the surprise of the assailants, was found to contain not more than sixty defendants."

The modern history of Caerlaveroc, (like that of most castles,) is comparatively uninteresting. At one period, the building was completely open; but it is now inclosed by an iron gate, and preserved with great care. Ivy growing from stems of the girth of trees, which have perforated walls of amazing thickness, covers one side of the building, rooks inhabit the turrets above; and the fosse, which is still deep and wide, in place of reflecting the armour of mailed warriors, affords a safe retreat to generation after generation of geese, which have become so familiar from usage, that they scarcely cackle on the appearance of strangers. In the year 1827, when the present proprietor, William Constable Maxwell, Esq., attained majority, the tenant of Caerlaveroc, and other friends, with the Rev. Dr. M'Morine at their head, dined in the ancient hall, overcanopied by the clear, blue sky, and tastefully fitted up for the occasion. Many impressive speeches were delivered, pointing to "the dark postern of things long elapsed;" and no one who_beheld the venerable chairman, and reflected on the cause-the bond of love, not the tocsin of war-t

-that had drawn, in place of serfs, so many independent yeomen together, could avoid contrasting past with present times, and rejoicing in the diffusion of feelings, sentiments, and principles, which have brought every mind, like every acre, under cultivation, enabling the meanest peasant to sit under the shadow of his own roof-tree, none daring to make him afraid; and rendering a sheeling, ramparted by law and morality alone, more impregnable than the Castle of Caerlaveroc.

We have abridged these graphic details from A Picture of Dumfries and its Environs, published during the last year, from the very competent pen of John Macdiarmid, Esq., author of Sketches of Nature.

The original of the annexed Engraving is one of Mr. Turner's splendid illustrations of the handsome edition of the poetical works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. which is now in course of publication, uniformly with the economical edition of the Waverley Novels, issued in monthly volumes. The volume to which the engraving is prefixed, is the fourth of the Poetical Works, containing the third part of the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and the ballad illustrated by the view of the Castle is "The Murder of Caerlaveroc. Never before published. By Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq." The Engraving