of discretion; and chancing to meet at the port of Alexandria in Egypt, they took it into their heads-these naughty boys-that they would drink a bowl of punch on the top of "Pompey's Pillar. This pillar had often served them for a signal at sea. It was composed of red granite beautifully polished, and, standing 114 feet high, overtopped the town. But how to get up? They sent for a kite, to be sure; and the men, women, and children of Alexandria, wondering what they were going to do with it, followed the toy in crowds. The kite was flown over the pillar, and with such nicety, that when it fell on the other side the string lodged upon the beautiful °Corinthian capital. By this means they were able to draw over the pillar a two inch rope, by which one of the youngsters "swarmed" to the top. The rope was now in a very little while converted into a sort of rûde shroud, and the rest of the party followed, and actually drank their punch on a spot which, seen from the surface of the earth, did not appear to be capable of holding more than one man. By means of this exploit it was ascertained that a statue had once stood upon the column-and a statue of colossal dimensions it must have been to be properly seen at such a height. But for the rest-if we except the carvings of sundry initials on the top-the result was only the knocking down of one of the volutes of the capital, for boys are always doing mischief; and this was carried to England by one of the skippers, in order to execute the commission of a lady, who, with the true iconoclasm of her country, had asked him to be so kind as to bring her a piece of Pompey's Pillar. Again, who is Steeple Jack? He is a little, spare creature who flies his kite over steeples when there is anything to do to them, and lodging a cord on the apex, contrives by its means to reach the top without the trouble of scaffolding. No fragility, no displacement of stones, no leaning from the perpendicular, frightens Steeple Jack. He is as bold as his namesake, Jack-the-Giant-Killer, and does as wonderful things. At 'Dunfermline, not long ago, when the top of the spire was in so crazy a state that the people in the street gave it a wide berth as they passed, he swung himself up without hesitation, and set everything to rights. At the moment we write, his cord is seen stretched from the tall, slim, and elegant spire of the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh, which is to receive, through his agency, a lightning conductor; and Jack only waits the subsidence of a gale of wind to glide up that filmy rope like a spider. He is altogether a strange boy, Steeple Jack. Nobody knows where he roosts upon the earth, if he roost anywhere at all. The last time there was occasion for his services, this advertisement appeared in the Scotsman : 'Steeple Jack is wanted at such a place immediately"—and immediately Steeple Jack became visible. In 1827 the child's toy was put to a very remarkable use by one Master George Pocock. This clever little fellow observed that his kite sometimes gave him a very strong pull, and it occurred to him that if made large enough it might be able to pull something else. In fact, he at length yoked a pair of large kites to a carriage, and traveled in it from Bristol to London, distancing in grand style every other conveyance on the road. A twelve foot kite, it appears, in a moderate breeze, has a one-man power of draught, and when the wind is brisker, a force equal to 200 lbs. The force in a rather high wind is as the squares of the lengths; and two kites of fifteen and twelve feet respectively, fastened one above the other, will draw a carriage and four or five passengers at the rate of twenty miles an hour. But George's invention went beyond the simple idea. He had an extra line which enabled him to vary the angle of the surface of his kites with the horizon, so as to make his aèrial horses go fast or slow as he chose; and side lines to vary the direction of the force, till it came almost to right angles with the direction of the wind. His kites were made of varnished linen, and might be folded up into small compass. The same principle was successfully applied by a nautical lad of the name of Dansey to the purpose of 'saving vessels in a gale of wind on "the dread lee shore." His kite was of light canvas. Upon the whole, it must be admitted, we think, that this is a somewhat in'teresting child's toy. But has the kite a future? Will its powers exhibit new developments, or has it already reached its pride of place? If a twelve feet kite has the force of a man, would it take many more feet to lift a man into the air? And supposing the man to be in a strong cage of net work, with bamboo ribs, and a seat of the same material, would he have a greater difficulty in governing his aerial coursers by means of the Pocock cords than if he were flashing along the road from Bristol to London? Mind, we do not say that this is possible: we merely ask for the sake of information; and if any little boy will favor us with his opinion, we shall take it very kind. But enough, for a time, of a child's toy. ANONYMOUS. CXCVI.-THE BELLS. HEAR the sledges with the bells Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! In the icy air of night! While the stars that over-sprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. Hear the mellow wedding bells, What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it dwells On the Future! how it tells Of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! Hear the loud alarum bells Brazen bells! What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! In the startled ear of night How they scream out their affright! Too much horrified to speak, They can only shriek, shriek, Out of tune, In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, With a desperate desire, Now-now to sit or never, By the side of the pale-faced moon. Oh, the bells, bells, bells! What a tale their terror tells How they clang, and clash, and roar! On the bosom of the palpitating air! Yet the ear it fully knows By the twanging, And the clanging, How the danger ebbs and flows; Yet the ear distinctly tells, In the jangling, And the wrangling, How the danger sinks and swells, By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells- Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, In the clamor and the clangor of the bells! Hear the tolling of the bells Iron bells! What a world of solemn thought their monody compels ! In the silence of the night, How we shiver with affright At the melancholy menace of their tone! For every sound that floats From the rust within their throats With the pean of the bells! Keeping time, time, time, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells- To the moaning and the groaning of the bells. E. A. °POE. CXCVII.-THE VASTNESS OF THE UNIVERSE. THE aspect of the world, even without any of the peculiar lights which science throws upon it, is fitted to give us an idea of the greatness of the power by which it is directed and governed, far exceeding any notions of power and greatness which are suggested by any other contemplation. The number of human beings who surround us- -the various conditions requisite for their life, nutrition, well-being, all fulfilled; the way in which these conditions are modified, as we pass in thought to other countries, by climate, temperament, habit; the vast amount of the human population of the globe thus made up; yet man himself but one among almost endless tribes of animals; the forest, the field, the desert, the air, the ocean, all teeming with creatures whose bodily wants are as carefully provided for as his; the sun, the clouds, the winds, all attending, as it were, on these organized beings; a host of beneficent energies, unwearied by time and succession, pervading every corner of the earth; this spectacle cannot but give the contemplator a lofty and magnificent conception of the Author of so vast a work, of the Ruler of so wide and rich an empire, of the Provider for so many and |