SONNETS BY HENRY ELLISON. THE STARS. : The stars come forth, a silent hymn of praise THOUGHT. What is the Warrior's sword compared with thee? WORLD-MUSIC. There is a music which I love to hear Fill the wide world, His temple, far and near! Have entered in at last, and with them sing WHOM TO PLEASE. True men and upright, of whate'er degree, With sweating brow, or crown upon your head, True sons of your great Father, missionéd To do his work of love, to bind and free, AN ANSWER. A foolish dreamer! well, e'en be it so- Could it a sense procure ye, though it were TO KEATS. Thou art the truest poet, Keats, for thou His life's least details, when his name has grown It gathered, that attends not a King's throne! HOW TO SEEK TRUTH. My whole heart, with all feelings deep, intense, But not so is it with the works of Man On these I boldly lay my hand, on creeds THE PURPOSE OF A LIFE. E'en in my boyish days, ere yet a cloud To make it brighter, when away 't was swept Aye, even then I made a boyish vow, To him who wears upon his head the crown SELF GREATNESS. The beggar's staff has often wider sway AMBITION. Glory enough 'twere for the greatest man To write what men should in their mouths still have, And scope perdurable, that since began The world high mention of mankind still crave : HOPES OF THE FUTURE. We do not work our wonders with the sword, His power to achieve all victorie; ON SOME FLOWERS ABOUT A COTTAGE. Oh sight beyond all others passing-dear! ON SEEING A POOR MAN TO WHOM I HAD Has had, and caught the voice poetical GIVEN CLOTHING. I met the old man now so warmly clad The face, which they with smiles might make so glad, Which speaks through all her lovely works so clear. MEANS OF CIVILIZATION. With things of little cost, of every day, As common as kind words and gentle looks, And daily greetings, and familiar books, That teach us wisdom while it seems but play : With means at hand still by life's daily way, As natural as flowers by the brooks, As pleasant as field-paths thro' sylvan nooks, And so cheap that the poorest can defray and rival of France. The celebrated Dr. Price of London, and the still more distinguished Priestley The expense thereof: with these and things like these, of Birmingham, spoke out boldly in defence of the We work our wonders by the fireside : Our magic-charms, the kiss of love and peace; Our magic-circles, small at first, but wide Enough at last to grasp the world with ease, Homes, where God, as in temples, doth reside! THE HEART'S PLACES OF WORSHIP. How many shrines, for its affections there Far richer than we since through gold have grown, THE SCOTTISH REFORMERS. BY JOHN G. WHITTIER. I have just been conversing with an aged gentleman, who has called my attention to the details furnished by late British papers, of the laying of the corner-stone of a monument in honor of the political reformers, who were banished in 1793 to the convict-colony of Botany Bay. My friend was in Edinburgh at the end of their trial; and, although quite young at that period, distinctly remembers their appearance, and the circumstances preceding their arrest. I know not that I can occupy a leisure evening better, than in compiling a brief account of the character and fate of these men, whose names even are unknown to the present generation in this country. great principles of the Revolution. A London club of reformers, reckoning among its members such men as Sir William Jones, Earl Grey, Samuel Whitebread and Sir James Mackintosh, was established for the purpose of disseminating democratic appeals and arguments throughout the United Kingdom. In Scotland an auxiliary society was formed, under the name of Friends of the People." Thomas Muir, young in years, yet an elder in the Scottish kirk, a successful advocate at the bar, talented, affable, eloquent, and distinguished for the purity of his life, and his enthusiasm in the cause of Freedom, was its principal originator. In the 12th month of 1792, a Convention of Reformers was held at Edinburgh. The government became alarmed, and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Muir. He escaped to France, but soon after, venturing to return to his native land, was recognized and imprisoned. He was tried upon the charge of lending books of republican tendency, and reading an address from Theobald Wolf Tone and the United Irishmen before the society of which he was a member. He defended himself in a long and eloquent address, which concluded in the following noble and manly strain. "What, then, has been my crime? Not the lending to a relation a copy of Thomas Paine's worksnot the giving away to another a few numbers of an innocent and constitutional publication-but my crime is for having dared to be, according to the measure of my feeble abilities, a strenuous and an active advocate for an equal representation of the people in the House of the People-for having dared to accomplish a measure, by legal means, which was to diminish the weight of their taxes, and to put an end to the profusion of their blood. Gentlemen, from my infancy to this moment, I have devoted myself to the cause of the people. It is a good cause-it shall ultimately prevail-it shall finally triumph." He was sentenced to transportation for fourteen years, and was removed to the Edinburgh jail, from thence to the hulks, and lastly to the transport ship, containing eighty-three convicts, which conveyed him to Botany Bay. The impulse of the French Revolution was not confined by geographical boundaries. Flashing hope into the dark places of the earth, far down among The next victim was Palmer, a learned and highthe poor and long oppressed, or startling the oppres-ly accomplished Unitarian minister in Dundee. He sor in his guarded chambers, like that mountain of was greatly beloved and respected as a polished genfire which fell into the sea at the sound of the Apo-tleman and sincere friend of the people. He was calyptic trumpet, it agitated the world. The arguments of Condorcet, the battle-words of Mirabeau, the indomitable zeal of St. Just, the iron energy of Danton, the caustic wit of Camille Desmoulins and Gaudet, and the sweet eloquence of Vergniaud, found echoes in all lands; and nowhere more readily than in Great Britain, the ancient foe charged with circulating a republican tract, and was sentenced to seven years' transportation. But the friends of the people were not quelled by this summary punishment of two of their devoted leaders. In the 10th month, 1793, delegates were called together from various towns in Scotland, as well as from Birmingham, Sheffield, and other places Skirving and several others were immediately arrested. They were tried in the 1st month, 1794, and sentenced, as Muir and Palmer had previously been, to transportation. Their conduct throughout was worthy of their great and holy cause. Gerrald's defence was that of Freedom rather than his own. Forgetting himself, he spoke out manfully and earnestly for the poor, the oppressed, the overtaxed and starving millions of his countrymen. That some idea may be formed of this noble plea for Liberty, I give an extract from the concluding paragraphs: in England. Gerrald and Margarot were sent up by |ing around, over which tossed the flaring flambeaux the London society. After a brief sitting, the Con- of the sheriff's train. Gerrald, who was already vention was dispersed by the public authorities. Its under arrest, as he descended, spoke aloud: "Behold sessions were opened and closed with prayer, and the funeral torches of Liberty!" the speeches of its members manifested the pious enthusiasm of the old Cameroneans and Parliament men of the times of Cromwell. Many of the dissenting clergy were present. William Skirving, the most determined of the band, had heen educated for the ministry, and was a sincerely religious man; while Joseph Gerrald—young, brilliant, and beauti. ful in his life and character-came up to join the puritans of Scotland in his sober garb, with his long hair falling over his shoulders, in primitive simplicity. When the Sheriff entered the hall to disperse the friends of liberty, Gerrald knelt in prayer. His remarkable words were taken down by a reporter on the spot. There is nothing in modern history to compare with this supplication, unless it be that of Sir Henry Vane, a kindred martyr, at the foot of the scaffold, just before his execution. Gerrald's language was as follows; and under the circumstances it is no marvel that his auditors ascribed to him superhuman power. It is the prayer of universal humanity, which God will yet hear and answer. "O thou Governor of the Universe! we rejoice that, at all times and in all circumstances, we have liberty to approach Thy throne; and that we are assured, that no sacrifice is more acceptable to Thee, than that which is made for the relief of the oppressed. In this moment of trial and persecution, we pray that Thou wouldst be our defender, our counsellor, and our guide. O, be Thou a pillar of fire to us, as Thou wast to our fathers of old, to enlighten and direct us; and to our enemies a pillar of cloud, and darkness, and confusion. "Thou art thyself the great patron of liberty. Thy service is perfect freedom. Prosper, we beseech Thee, every endeavor which we make to promote Thy cause, for we consider the cause of truth, or every cause which tends to promote the happiness of thy creatures, as Thy cause. «True religion, like all free governments, appeals to the understanding for its support, and not to the sword. All systems, whether civil or moral, can only be durable in proportion as they are founded on truth, and calculated to promote the GOOD OF MANKIND. This will account to us why governments suited to the great energies of man have always outlived the perishable things which despotism has erected. Yes! this will account to us why the stream of time, which is continually washing away the dissoluble fabrics of superstitions and impostures, passes, without injury, by the adamant of Christianity. "Those who are versed in the history of their country, in the history of the human race, must know that rigorous state prosecutions have always preceded the era of convulsion; and this era, I fear, will be accelerated by the folly and madness of our rulers. If the people are discontented, the proper mode of quieting their discontent is, not by instituting rigorous and sanguinary prosecutions, but by redressing their wrongs, and conciliating their affections. Courts of justice, indeed, may be called in to the aid of ministerial vengeance; but if once the purity of their proceedings is suspected, they will cease to be objects of reverence to the nation; they will degenerate into empty and expensive vexatious oppression. Whatever may become of me, my principles will last for ever. Individuals may perish; but truth is eternal. The rude blasts of tyranny may blow from every quarter; but freedom is that hardy plant which will survive the tempest, and strike an everlasting root into the most unfavorable soil. "O Thou merciful Father of mankind, enable us for Thy name's sake to endure persecution with for-pageantry, and become the partial instruments of titude; and may we believe that all trials and tribulations of life, which we endure, shall work together for good of them that love Thee; and grant that the greater the evil, and the longer it may be continued, the greater good, in thy holy and adorable providence, may be produced therefrom. And this we beg, not for our own merits, but through the merits of Him who is hereafter to judge the world in righteousness and mercy." He ceased. The sheriff, who had been temporarily overawed by the extraordinary scene, enforced his warrant, and the meeting was broken up. The delegates descended to the street in silence-Arthur's seat and Salisbury crags glooming in the distance and night—an immense and agitated multitude wait "Gentlemen, I am in your hands. About my life I feel not the slightest anxiety; if it would promote the cause, I would cheerfully make the sacrifice; for, if I perish on an occasion like the present, out of my ashes will arise a flame to consume the tyrants and oppressors of my country." None of the Edinburgh reformers, as I understand from my informant, lived to return to their native triumph of the oppressor is but for a season; and that even in this world a lie cannot live for ever. Well and truly did George Fox say in his last days: "THE TRUTH IS ABOVE ALL!" Will it be said, however, that this tribute comes too late? That it cannot solace those brave hearts, which, slowly broken by the long agony of colonial servitude, are now cold in strangê graves? It is, indeed, a striking illustration of the truth that he who would benefit his fellow-man must " walk by land. They perished, one after another, undertthe, severe discipline of colonial servitude. The na ure of this seemingly lenient punishment is not always understood in this country. Judging from accounts given of it by returning convicts, (not always perhaps reliable authority) it has few redeeming features, even as contrasted with the worst condition of negro slavery. The convicts are brought to the barracks in long lines, and the farmers and sheep owners from the country walk round among them to select for purchase such as may suit their pur-faith;" sowing his seed in the morning, and in the poses-examine them as a horse dealer would a evening withholding not his hand, knowing only this, horse-compel them to run, hold up their legs and that in God's good time the harvest shall spring up arms, strike them on their chest and back to prove and ripen, if not for himself yet for others, who, as their soundness in breath and lungs-and, if the scru- they bind the full sheaves and gather in the heavy tiny is satisfactory, purchase them, and take them clusters, may perchance remember him with gratito their respective plantations and sheep-farms. In tude, and set up stones of memorial on the fields of some of the remoter districts even the grave, the his toil and sacrifices. We may regret that in this common refuge of the weary and suffering, is clothed stage of the spirit's life, the sincere and self-denying with unwonted attributes of terror, and repugnance. worker is not always permitted to partake of the No prayer is breathed over it; none of the rites of fruits of his toil, or receive the honors of a benereverence and religion make holy the convict's buri-factor. We hear his good evil-spoken of, and his al-the scream of the wild fowl and the wash of noblest sacrifices counted as nought,-we see him waves on a strange coast, are his only requiem, not only assailed by the wicked, but discountenanced and shunned by the timidly good, followed on his hot and dusty pathway by the execrations of the hounding mob, and the contemptuous pity of the worldly-wise and prudent; and, when at last the horizon of Time shuts down between him and ourselves, and the places which have known him know him no more for ever, we are almost ready to say with the regal voluptuary of old: "This also is vanity and a great evil; for what hath a man of all his labor and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath labored under the sun?" But is this the end? Has God's universe no wider limits than the circle of the blue wall which shuts in our nestling Years have passed, and the generation which knew the persecuted reformers has given place to another. And now, half a century after William Skirving, as he rose to receive his sentence, declared to his judges YOU MAY CONDEMN US AS FELONS, BUT YOUR SENTENCE SHALL YET BE REVERSED BY THE PEOPLE"-the names of these men are once more familiar to British lips. The sentence has been reversed the prophecy of Skirving has become history. On the 21st of the 8th month last, the corner stone of a monument to the memory of the Scottish martyrs, for which subscriptions had been received from such men as Lord Holland, the Dukes of Bedford and Norfolk, and the Earls of Essex and Leices-place? Has Life's infancy only been provided for; ter-was laid with imposing ceremonies, in the beautiful burial-place of Calton Hill, Edinburgh, by the veteran reformer and tribune of the people, Joseph Hume, M. P. After delivering an appropriate address, the aged Radical closed the impressive scene by reading the soul-inspiring prayer of Joseph Gerrald. At the banquet which afterwards took place, and which was presided over by John Dunlop, Esq., addresses were made by the President, and Dr. Ritchie, well known to American abolitionists for their zeal in the cause of the slave, and by Wil-onward and is lost to our sight, but under its new liam Skirving of Kirkaldy, son of the martyr. The Complete Suffrage Association of Edinburgh, to the number of five hundred, walked in procession to Calton Hill, and in the open air proclaimed unmolested the very principles for which the martyrs of the past century had suffered. The account of this tribute to the memory of departed worth, cannot fail to awaken in generous hearts emotions of gratitude towards Him who has thus signally vindicated His truth, showing that the and beyond this poor nursery-chamber of Time is there no playground for the soul's youth, no broad fields for its manhood?-Perchance could we but lift the curtains of the narrow pin-fold wherein we dwell, we might see that our poor friend and bro. ther whose fate we have thus deplored, has by no means lost the reward of his labors, but that in new fields of duty he is cheered even by the tardy recogtion of the value of his services in the old. The continuity of life is never broken; the river flows horizon it carries the same waters which it gathered under ours; and its unseen valleys are made glad by the offerings which are borne down to them from the Past, flowers, perchance, the germs of which its own waves had planted on the banks of Time.Who shall say that the mournful and repentant love with which the benefactors of our race are at length regarded, may not be to them in their new condition of being, sweet and grateful as the perfume of long forgotten flowers; or that our harvest hymns |