From the Minerva. MUSINGS. Again the peaceful hour returns, and now And sad ones envy, what they please to call, My happiness. 'Tis well; for I would not That they should know the heart they long bave deem ed A flower, so worthless, that e'en grief disdained Like a kind friend who would provide a home IANTHE SCENES IN THE LIFE OF EDWARD LASCELLES, GENT. Whatever investigations the captain had instituted with regard to the individual with whom the fire originated, the result was entirely unknown, except to the parties concerned. That due enquiry had been made, we all felt assured; for the crime was one of a very serious nature, and not likely to be overlooked by such a strict disiplinarian as Capt. Morley. Nay, when the systematic arrangements of every thing on board, and the correct information the captain usually had of whatever passed in the ship, was considered, of war. board the Hesperus, a greater and more general favorite than another, it was Elkins. Civil and obliging to his superiors, kind and friendly to his equals, an excellent seaman, and always ready at the call of duty, he was respected and beloved both by officers and men During the war he had been engaged in the hottest of the fray, and bore many honourable wounds in testimony of his gallantry. Repeatedly had he led the van of his comrades in boarding the enemy; twice had he, by his prowess, and at great personal risk, saved the life of an officer; and on one occasion he swam to the admiral with despatches, when the iron shower of balls and grape fell so thick that no boat could be trusted on the water. The captain, having read before an uncovered audience the clause in the articles of war which related to the crime, folded up the paper, and with a tone of deep emotion addressed the unhappy man nearly in these words: "Richard Elkins! through your carelessness yesterday, the ship was nearly destroyed by fire; and your shipmates have only been saved from the most dreadful of deaths, by the merciful intercession of that Being before whose awful throne you had nearly hurried them. You have broken the articles of war, having, in direct opposition to orders, removed a lighted candle from the lanthern in which it was placed for safety, and fastened it to a beam, and left it burning in that situation when you went to supper, (4 o'clock, P. M.) In consequence of this act of disobedience and neglect on your part, the fire broke out in the boatswain's store-room. Is this the case, Sir, or is it not?" "It is, Sir!" "I therefore consider it my duty to punish you, as an example to the rest of the crew; and much do I regret that one who is in every respect so deserving a man should have incurred so severe a penalty.-Strip, Sir !" Without a syllable in his own defence, or a single plea for mercy he took off his coat and shirt, and his brawny wrists were tied to the gratings. One only appeal he made, but not in words it was merely an expressive glance of his eye, by which he seemed to request the intercession of his officers and comrades. The benevolent commander marked that glance and it was reflected back from his own countenance, as if he wished to second the appeal. But in vain; no one spoke, for all knew that the offence was too heinous to be forgiven. Friendship. "Concerning the man you call your friend, tell me will he weep with you in the hour of distress? Will he faithfully reprove you to your face, for actions, for which others are ridiculing or censuring you behind your back? Will he dare to stand forth in defence, when detraction is secretly aiming its deadly weapons at your reputation? Will he acknowledge you with the same cordiality and behave to you with the same friendly attention, in the company of your superiors in rank and fortune, as when the claims of pride or vanity do not interfere with those of friendship? If misfortunes and losses should oblige you to retire into a walk of private life, in which you cannot appear with the same distinctions, or entertain your friends with the same liberality as formerly, will he still think himself happy in your society, and instead of gradually with drawing himself from an unprofitable connexion, take pleasure in professing himself your riend and cheerfully assist you to support the burthen of your afflictions?-When sickness shall call you to retire from the gay and busy scenes of the world, will he follow you into your gloomy retreat, listen with attention to The boatswain had taken off his coat preparatory to giving the first dozen-the cat was ready in his hand-the still figure of the master-at-arms stood by, prepared to record the stripes, and the captain paced to and fro upon the deck, chucking into the air a small bunch of keys-his common practice when he was agitated. After making several turns of the quarter-deck, he at length stopped, and every one expected that he was about to give the signal to commence. For a moment he stood gazing on the culprit; it was an interval of the most anxious suspense, and all eyes were eagerly fixed upon him. At last, turning to-your "tale of symptoms," and minister the wards the boatswain, he raised his hand gently upwards, and gave the unexpected orderCast him off!" (unbind him.) In an instant the bonds fell from the poor fellow's arms, and he stood, unshackled, and undisgraced, among of your mutual friendship in his heart, as a his comrades. "Elkins!" said the captain, "I cannot flog you; it is not twenty-four since God forgave us all; it is meet that I should forgive you. Pipe down Mr. Parsons!" Three rounds of such hearty cheers, as made the timbers of Old Hesperus ring again, succeeded this short, but truly eloquent address; and I believe I was not the only one on board who envied our noble-minded com mander the grateful applauses of the seer within his own dreast-an applause which, cer fainly, hemust have that day experienced. A gentleman, remarkable for having a great deal of lead in his forehead, called one morning on a counsellor, who asked "What news?" "Why," says the other. "I do not know; my head is confoundedly out of order this morning." "That is extraordinary news, indeed," says the counsellor. "What?-an extraordinary thing for a man to have the headache!" "No, sir," says he, "I do not say that; but for so simple a machine to be out of order is extraordinary indeed!" balm of consolation to your fainting spirit? And lastly, when death shall burst asunder every earthly tie, will he shed a tear upon your grave, and lodge the dear remembrance treasure never to be resigned? The man who will not do all this, may be your companion, your flatterer, your seducer; but, believe me, he is not your friend." Th following incredible account is taken from the Hamburgh Correspondent :-" The infant daughter of some peasants in the environs of Elsinore has excited universal atten tion by the wonderfully precocious development of her faculties. She is only two years old, but had been adopted by the captain of a ship; and it is to this circumstance that her peculiar inclination to the study of geography and astronomy is to be attributed. When scarcely thirteen months old, she could promptly point out on the map almost all the countries and remarkable places in the four quarters of the world. She could at any given time state the hour it was at Madeira, Copenhagen, Paris, and Pekin. At night she could name the planets and the principal stars as they appeared, without making a single mistake." The Orphan's Grief. Spring hath buds, and birds have bowers, Fade like babbles on the tide. Weary, way worn, pale and weeping, Dim and languid glows the eye, Death is o'er my bosom creepingWho would not desire to die? Heaven, I wait thy welcome coming, Yes, methinks my mother meets me, Spring hath buds, and birds have bowers, We find the following curious circumstance related in a late English paper :-"The Rector of St. Martin's parish was sent for to pray by a gentlmen of the name of Wright, who lodged in St. James street, Pamlico. A few days afterwards Mr. Wright's solicitor called on the rector to inform him that Mr. Wright was dead, and had made a codicil to his will, wherein he had left him £1000, and Mr. Abbott, the Speaker of the House of Commons, £2000, and all his personal property and estates, deer parks, fisheries, &c. to Lady Frances Bruce Brudenell, daughter of the Earl of Ailesbury.-Upon the rector's going to Lord Ailesbury's to inform her ladyship, the house steward informed him that she was married to Sir Henry Wilson, of Chelsea Park, but he would go to her ladyship and inform her of the matter. Lady Frances said she did not know any such person as Mr. Wright, but desired the steward to go to the rector to get the particulars, and say that she would wait on him the next day; she did so, and found, to her great astonishment, that the whole was true; she afterwards went to St. James street and saw Mr. Wright in his coffin; and she then recollected him as having been a great annoyance to her many years ago at the Opera House, where he had a box next to her's; he never spoke to her, but was continually watching her, look wherever she would, till at length she was under the necessity of requesting her friends to procure another box.The estates are from £20,000 to £30,000 a year. Lady Frances intends putting all her family in mourning out of respect." Consumption. A young lady in the last stage of consumption, was lately restored to health by the following extraordinary and accidental remedy. She had long been attended by the faculty, but derived no benefit from their perscriptions, and considered herself verging to the end of existance, when she retired during the summer to a vale in the country, with the intention to wait in solitude the hour of approaching dissolution. While in that situation, it was her custom to rise as early as her malady would permit, and contemplate the beauties of nature, and the wonderful works of God from her chamber window, from which she observed a dog belonging to the house, with scarcely any flesh on his bones, constantly go and lick the dew of a camomile bed in the garden; in doing which the animal was noticed to alter his appearance, to recover strength, and finally looked plump and well. The singularity of the circumstance was impressed strongly on the lady's mind, and induced her to try what effect might be produced from following the dog's example. She accordingly procured the dew from the same bed of camomile, drank a small quantity each morning, and after continuing it for some time, experienced some relief; her appetite became regular, she found a return of spirits, and in the end was completely cured. THE PRINCE OF ANANIABOO.- When he was in England, walking out in St. James' Park, in the afternoon he observed one of his acquaintances driving in his phaton, with four horses. The prince burst into a violent fit of laughter, and being asked the occasion of his mirth, he exclaimed, "Vat de divvel, has dat fellow eat so much dinner, dat it now takes four horses to carry him!-I rode out with him this morning, and he was then so light that one little horse run away with him. He must be either a great fool or a great glutton." Another time his friends insisted on his going to the play. He went, but was soon tired, and returned to his companions." Well, prince," said they "what did you see?" "Vat did I see?-I did see some men playing de fiddle, and some men playing de fool." PHRENOLOGY.-Not long since a gentleman found a large turnip in his field of the resemblance and features of the human head. Struck with the curiosity, he took a cast from it, and sent it to a phrenologist stating that it was taken from the head of Baron Pompolino, a distinguished Hanoverian, and requesting, his opinion. After having examined it, he de TO KISS OR NOT TO KISS?-When a female member of the British royal family holds a levee, it is customary for her to kiss the ladies of the nobility, and no others. It happeued that the lady of the Lord Justice Clerk was on one occasion among the number of those presented to the late Princess Amelia, who, as is well konown, was very deaf." "Stand by for my Lady Justice Clerk," said the man in wait-clared that there was an unusual prominence, man of acute ing. Meanwhile some meddling person whis- which denoted that he was a pered him that his announcement was incor- mind and quick perception. This opinion he rect, the lady being a commoner. By this transmitted to the owner of the cast, requestime the kiss preliminary was about to be ting as a particular favor, that he might see performed, when out bawled the man of office, the head. To this he politely replied, “He through, a speaking trumpet, “ Don't kiss her, should feel a pleasure in complying with his madam-she's not a lady !" request; but he was very sorry to say, he and his family had eaten it the day before ' with a fine leg of mutton."-Scrap Book. MIND YOUR FIGURES.-A clergyman in Scotland desired his hearers never to call one another liars;-but when any one said the thing that was not true they ought to whistle. One Sunday he preached a sermon on the loaves and fishes; and being at a loss how to explain it, he said the loaves were not like those now-a-days; they were as big as some of the hills in Scotland! He had scarcely pro nounced these words when he heard a loud whistle. "Wha is that" said he, "ca's me a liar?" "It is I, Willy MacDonald, the baker." "Well Willy, what objection have ye to what I ha' told you?" "None, mass John, only I want to know what sort of ovens they had to bake those loaves in." HOW TO MULTIPLY COURAGE.-A gentleman passing through a certain street a few days since, spied a little fellow busily employed in inflicting rather heavy blows on his pate, just behind the ears with a brick bat. Being desirous of knowing what sin so young a child hadcommitted, which required a penance so extraordinary, he asked the boy why he was pounding his head so violently. "Oh sir," said the lad earnestly, while the big tears chased each other down his cheeks, "that great Bill Smith called me a liar yesterday, and I'm trying to raise the bump of combativeness, so as to give him a real good licking tomorrow."-N. Y. Journal. A gentleman employed an Irishman to trim a number of fruit trees. Pat went out in the morning, and on returning at noon, was asked whether he had completed his work. No, was his reply, but he had cut them all down, and was going to trim them in the afternoon! THE WITTY SHEPHERD.-A proud parson and his man riding over a common saw a Shepherd tending his flock; and having a new coat on, the parson asked him in a haughty tone who gave him that coat. "The same," said the shepherd, "That clothed you -the parish." The parson, nettled at this, rode on, murmuring a little way, and then bade his man go back and ask the Shepherd if he would not come and live with him for he wanted a fool. The man accordingly delivered his master's message to the Shepherd. “Why, are you going away?" said the Shepherd."No," answered the other. "Then you may tell your master," replied the shepherd, "that his living cannot maintain three of us." HOW TO GET OVER A DIFFICULTY.-A gentleman whose name was called Smith, in a certain town in Massachusetts, not long since was so enraptured with the charactor of the present Vice President of the United States, that he resolved to name his next son Van Buren Smith. But the next happening to to prove a daughter, he was not a little puzzled-but at length happily concluded to drop the V, and the young lady is now An Buren Smith. THE MAGNOLIA, IS PUBLISHED EVERY OTHER SATURDAY, BY P. DEAN CARRIQUE, Hudson, N. Y., at One Dollar per annum, in advance. Persons acting as Agents, on forwarding Five Dolları shall receive six copies, and in the same proportion for all they may obtain. All letters and communications must come postage paid to receive attention. VOL. I. OR, LITERARY TABLET. Published Semi-Monthly, at One Dollar Per Annum, in Advance. HUDSON, JUNE 28, 1834. From the Knickerbocker. Death of the First-Born. By Willis Gaylord Clark. Young Mother, he is gone! His dimpled cheek no more will touch thy breast; Float from his lips, to thine all fondly press'd; His was the morning hour;' And he hath passed in beauty from the day; ¡ Torn, in its sweetness, from the parent spray : Never, on earth, again Will his rich accents charm thy listening ear, Breathing at even tide, serene and clear; And from thy yearning heart, Whose inmost core was warm with love for him, And those kind eyes with many tears be dim- Yet, mourner! while the day, Rolls like the darkness of a funeral by, And Hope forbids one ray To stream athwart the grief-discolored sky;' 'Tis from the Better Land! There, bathed in radiance that around them springs, As with the quiring cherubim, he sings; Mother, thy child is blest: And though his presence may be lost to thee, And missed, a sweet load from thy parent knee; The Temple of Butterflies. The Chevalier de Boufflers, whom Delile characterized as "the honor of knighthood and the flower of troubadours,” the erotic poet, the agreeable novelist, so long the delight of the salons of Paris, was by turns an abbot, a color el of husssars, a painter, an academician, a legislator, and, under all these charac No. 20. ters, the most gay, careless and witty of French cavaliers. I was long acquainted with this highly-gifted man. I saw him in 1780, at the beautiful estate of Chanteloup, near Amboise, wither the duke de Choiseul, then an exile from the court, attracted many of the most distinguished men of France, whether for birth or merit. It was the focus of the most brilliant wits and beauties of the day. The duchess de Choiseul, whose memory is still cherished on the lovely banks of the Loire, had a friendship for the chevalier de Boufflers which did her honor; he was her companion in her walks, in the chase, and still more frequently in her visits to the cottages of the peasantry, to whom this accomplished and excellent woman constantly administered comfort and assistance. Madame de Choiseul, who was in her youth intimate with Buffon, had imbibed from that celebrated man a strong taste for the observation of natural objects. Her library contained a complete selection of natural historians, ancient and modern. This delightful and exhaustless study had inspired Madame de Choiseul with a new and fanciful idea. Opposite to the windows of her own room she had erected a temple of gauze of antique form, and sheltered by an ample roof; during the summer she amused herself with collecting in this airy palace all the most beautiful butterflies of the country. The duchess alone had a key of the temple of butterflies, which was peopled by the assiduity of village girls of the neighborhood. They strove, by presenting to her continually some new species, to obtain the privilege of speaking to their beloved patroness, and they were sure to receive a reward propotioned to the beauty and rarity of their offerings. Boufflers was frequently a witness to the duchess's assiduous cares about her favorite temple. 66 "Chevalier," said she to him with a smile, "I run no risk in introducing you among ny butterflies; they will take you for one of themselves, and will not be frightened." On one occasion, when Madame de Choiseul was compelled by illness to keep her room for some weeks, she gave the key of her temple to 22 |