we love, and fain would bless? This dispensation, I believe, has been blessed to me. It has led me to cultivate a greater spirituality of feeling, to cherish the spirit of the gospel, and to resolve to lead a life of more exemplary piety. S. L*** The Reply will be in our next No. Written for the first page of a Young Lady's MAY this Book, while it claims as it due, As a register faithful and true The memorials of friendship receive; Nor the flatterer's pen ever know, May it serve to alleviate woe, Let it raise the emotions of joy, Go! and borrow thy lustre and hue T. I. J. ACCOUNT OF AN EARTHQUAKE IN CHILI, An Extract. On the fourth of November, 1822, the town of Copiapo, in S. Lat. 27° 10', was visited by a severe shock, which damaged many houses; this was followed, the next day, by a much more violent earthquake, which nearly destroyed the town, and did considerable injury to the town of Coquimbo, in S. Lat. 29° 50′. The great earthquake on the night of the 19th of November, 1822, was felt over the whole surface of the country, from the mountains to the sea, and from one extremity to the other. Its force seems to have diminished in a pretty exact proportion to its distance from Valparaiso. Its effects are thus described by an Englishman, residing at Concon, near the mouth of the river named in the maps "Rio Quillota." Concon is about fifteen miles N. N. E. of Valparaiso, as the crow flies. "At half past ten, on the night of the 19th of November, I felt the first oscillation. I was writing at the time; starting from my chair, I paused for an instant, expecting the shock would subside, as others had done; but the falling of glasses from the sideboard, the cracking of the timbers, and the rattling of the tiles from the roof, fully apprized the whole family of their danger, and all ran out of the house. The house was violently agitated, and was falling to pieces; but freed from the apprehension of being buried in the ruins, my attention was forcibly drawn to the phenomena, which I endeavoured to observe as accurately as possible. Scarcely, however, was this resolution taken, and before the first shock had entirely subsided, a second and much more violent one succeeded; this was accompanied by noise, which appeared to be deep seated in the earth, perpendicularly to the spot on which we stood. The duration of this shock was about two minutes; it was succeeded by a third, also accompanied by noise, less loud than that which accompanied the preceding shock. The shock was less violent than either of the two former shocks, and of less duration. These shocks occupied about five minutes of time. Shocks at intervals, of four or five minutes, continued for nearly an hour, after which they become less frequent during the remainder of the night, and of very different intensities, some being rather severe, and others hardly perceptible. The three principal shocks may be said to constitute the earthquake. "At the commencement of the earthquake, the atmosphere was, as is usual at this time of the year in this country, quite free from clouds, the moon and stars shone with splendour; there was no atmospheric indication of change of any sort, either before or after the earthquake. Some persons say they saw an unusual light in the horizon to the southward, but I, who was expecting some change, and was prepared to observe any that might have occurred, saw none whatever. "During the earthquake the ground rose and fell with great violence, and with almost inconceivable rapidity. There was certainly no undulatory motion, though many unobserving and unreflecting persons suppose this to have been the case. I had a strong suspicion at the time, since confirmed by observation of its effects, that there was a powerful horizontal motion, but as I could not perceive it as coming from any particular point, I concluded at the time that I was mistaken. The circumstances which make me now conclude there was a horizontal motion, are observations I have since made in many places, in which walls, and even houses, have been partially twisted round, and from the fissures round the roots of the largest trees. At Quintero, ten miles to the northward of Concon, are several large palmtrees; three of these standing so as to form an equilateral triangle, lashed one another like willow rods, and beat or shook off many of their branches. The motion of these trees seems to have been horizontal and circular, since each of them cleared a space in the ground round its stem, several inches wide, and this was the case also with other large trees in different places. "The sensation we experienced during the earth quake, was probably the same we should have felt had we been conscious that a mine had been sprung beneath us, and was about to blow us all into the air. "On examination next morning, at daylight, I found the earth full of fissures, some of them very small, while others were from two to three feet wide. In many places sand had been forced up, and had formed small hillocks. In the most recently formed alluvial soil near the river, water and sand had been forced up together, there being many large truncated cones of clean washed sand, each of which had a hollow in the centre, like the crater of a volcano. The same phenomenon was observed in several places; in other places, large quantities of soft mud had been forced up, and spread itself over the surface of the land.". IMPORTANCE OF THE SCRIPTURES. An Extract. Having our minds filled with these thoughts of the primeval divinity of revealed Wisdom when she dwelt in the bosom of God, and was of his eternal self a part, long before he prepared the heavens or set a compass upon the face of the deep; revolving also how by the space of four thousand years every faculty of mute Nature did solemn obeisance to this daughter of the divine mind, whenever he pleased to commission her forth to the help of mortals; and further meditating upon the delights which she had of old with the sons of men, the height of heavenly temper to which she raised them, and the offspring of magnanimous deeds which these two-the wisdom of God, and the soul of man-did engender between themselves--meditating, I say, upon these mighty topics, our soul is smitten with grief and shame to remark how, in this latter day, she hath fallen from her high estate; and fallen along with her the great and noble character of men. Or if there be still a few names, as of the Missionary MARTYN, to emulate the saints of old-how to the commonalty of Christians her oracles have fallen into a household commonness, and her visits into a cheap familiarity; while by the multitude she is mistaken for a minister of terror sent to oppress poor mortals with moping melancholy, and inflict a wound upon the happiness of human kind! For there is now no express stirring up of faculties to meditate her high and heavenly strains-there is no formal sequestration of the mind from all other concerns on purpose for her special entertainment-there is no pause of solemn seeking and solemn waiting for a spiritual frame, before entering and listening to the voice of the Almighty's wisdom. Who feels the sublime dignity there is in a saying fresh descended from the porch of heaven? Who feels the awful weight there is in the least iota that hath dropped from the lips of God? Who feels the thrilling fear or trembling hope there is in words whereon the eternal destinies of himself do hang ? Who feels the swelling tide of gratitude within his breast, for redemption, and salvation coming, instead of flat despair and everlasting retribution? Finally, who, in perusing the word of God, is captivated through all his faculties, and transported through all his emotions, and through all his energies of action wound up? Why, 10 say the best, it is done as other duties are wont to be done and, having reached the rank of a daily, formal duty, the perusal of the Word hath reached its noblest place. Yea, that which is the guide and spur of all duty, the necessary aliament of Christian life, the first and the last of Christian knowledge and Christian feeling, hath, to speak the best, degenerated in these days to stand rank and file among those duties whereof it is parent, preserver, and commander. And, to speak not the best but the fair and common truth, this book, the offspring of the divine mind, and the perfection of heavenly wisdom, is permitted to lie from day to day, perhaps from week to week, unheeded and unperused; never welcome to our happy, healthy, and energetic moods; admitted, if admitted at all, in seasons of sickness, feeblemindedness, and disabling sorrow. Yea, that which was sent to be a spirit of ceaseless joy and hope, |