gentlest maid, that the border, famed as it is for beauty, ever boasted?' formers, caused them amongst others to be who should have been the meteor beauty for]] not of noble lineage? But far beyond all suspected. The master of Nithsdale was all to gaze on, had with evident exertion these, art thou not mated to the loveliest and denounced as a principal in the infernal plot; | contrived to sit through the banquet; her deep dejection could not be concealed; and while all beside were waiting for the dance, Barbara had left the hall. And there lies my sorrow Hal.' Strange, Harry, it may be, but, alas! it is too true,'-returned young Selby with a bitter sigh. I am lost in wonder exclaimed his friend and cousin. 'Look down the corridor, and be certain there be no listener near.' Wyndham obeyed and replied, We are safe from intrusion; none can approach, but I shall see them. Whoever comes hither must cross yon stream of light, and it will reveal him to us.-Speak George; speak freely to your kinsman. 'Harry,' returned Selby, I know your and a journey solely undertaken for pleasure, was tortured into a political embassy to the court of Spain, to require for the conspira tors countenance and assistance from abroad. Where was the bride? In vain the eyes That Selby's young bride should not feel of many sought her through the spacious unpleasant consequences from this burst of chamber. The ball was stayed; the lady national indignation which the attrocious de- inquired for, and her maid presently returned signs of the popish party so justly drew forth, with an apology from her mistress, excusing, would be impossible. All who surrounded under the plea of indisposition, her temporaher were uncompromising followers of the ry absence from the company. The baron reformers, and were, from old prejudice and knitted his dark brows in anger; and took late disclosures, deeply incensed against his son aside. What passed was brief, and every disciple of the church of Rome. Bar-in a whisper. A red flush colored young bara had been taught to consider protestant Selby's cheek, and bowing to his father, he hostility to her faith as implacable; and con- left the hall. The lord of the mansion waved cious of the enormity of the recent plot, his hand, the music played a merry air; and with the sensibility of a soft and fearful na- the dance commenced. ture, she fancied that she perceived an abated If the mission on which George Selby love for me, and can I mark mine better, than ardor in George Selby's love, and read went, had been to induce his fair lady to re-by opening to you those secret sorrows that distrust in looks that were never turned upon join the company, it failed; for he returned shall be hidden from all else, even my her but in kindness. Even the homage her alone. His look was agitated, and his man-father?' Alas! that I should have lived to charms elicited from her husband's kinsmanner uansually excited. He stopped but for a make the sad confession. Barbara loves not! was mistaken; and general attentions were, short time in the hall, beckoned a favorite or if she does her love is for another!' as she imagined, used only to hide concealed kinsman to follow, and turning down a dark Wyndham started as if a dagger pierced dislike. corridor, entered a recess at the extremity.him. Lord Nithsdale had been residing for some whose remoteness from the scene of merri- 'Hold George; for God's sake; hold! time in the ancient dwelling of the Maxwells,ment, permitted an unreserved conversation Art thou mad, or doting? By Heavens ! the castle of Carlaverock; and the incle-to pass between his cousin and himself. had any tongue but thine breathed such a mency of the season for inany weeks pre- 'George,' said the latter, what has dis-thought; so damning to the reputation of my vented Barbara from having any communica-turbed you thus ? believe me, others beside gentle kinswoman; I would have stabbed tion with her father's isolated home. Nothing me have noticed it. Rouse thee, man. Our him! beyond eral rumor had reached her customary festival, and the noble company If, Hal, thou canst feel this, marvel not respecting the pre She heard that mans who have met to share our twelfth night that my check de blamutrudy and my heart pricated had been brought to revelry, demand a merrier mood than thine.'agonized beyond what thou or any other can justice, and Bard alty of their treason. 'Alas!' replied the youth, with a deep imagine.' In deference to his lady's faith, George Sel- sigh, Alas!' Harry, I am very wretched; 'But,' exclaimed Wyndham passionately ; by, with the tact of gentle breeding seldom and I cannot with so sad a heart put on a why these dreadful doubts? What George, alluded to a subject which he knew must pain smiling countenance.' can have produced this sad and horrible susher feelings, and Barbara was perfectly unconAnd what thus chafes you, George, and picion? She; Barbara Maxwell! She ; scious that suspicion had fallen on any of at such an ill-timed season?' inquired his whose angel looks are only emblems of her her proud name. She grieved that men kinsman. If it be not a secret'— professing her religion, could have imagined purity. By my soul's hope, the thing is Secrets I have none from thee Harry utterly incredible! George, my friend, my a design so desperately wicked, and by their Friends from infancy like us—' crimes brought obloquy and shame on the Why, yes, George,' returned Wyndham; unoffending members of their own faith. few brothers love each other better. My When it was asserted that Ralph Maxwell mother lived only to give me birth; my fath-thy bosom !' was connected with the conspiracy, George er was slain six months after, and I was thus Selby behaved as a brave man should, and left an orphan. I was nursed in the same stoutly maintained the innocence of his ab-chamber that thou wert, in boyhood the same sent relative. His devotion to his bride was teacher schooled us; we played at the same tender and respectful, and such as her birth games; and when we grew up, and went and beauty demanded; and though he observ-together to the wars, one tent covered us, ed with pain a striking alteration in her manner, never for a moment did he permit his own regard to appear unabated. and on the same field we rode our first charge On the twelfth night, according to the ancient usage of the Selbys, all that was distin-friendly ministry? guished in the north of Cumberland had And yet George, surely thou shouldst assembled in the castle hall. Noble as was be happy if ever man was. Hast thou not won the feasting and light the revelry, one cir-an honorable reputation? Hast thou no cumstance clouded the general joy. She before thee a rich inheritance? Art thou brother, banish the idle phantasies. The blessed sun is not more stainless, than the sweet and guiltless beauty who sleeps upon Oh! that I could but think so! Listen to me Harry; Listen, for I will tell thee all. Thou knowest that in creeds we differ; and ere Barbara consented to wed me, fearful she might be influenced in the exercise of her religion, she stipulated that she should be permitted to worship Heaven as she pleased. I pledged a knight's word that in this her will should be undisputed; and I have kept that promise faithfully. Lest in a household like ours, where all are ardent Protestants, any thing should interrupt her in the performance of her religious duty, I fitted for her use the oratory my grandame used, before the blessed reformation turned our house from idle ceremonies to the true faith. elicited, she blushed and trembled like a guilty | Barbara Maxwell's. Go my kinsman. I'll There Barbara's devotions were secured thing. But last night; damnation and he go before you and announce that your lady's from intrusion; none but herself had access struck his forehead wildly with his hand. indisposition is so far abated, as to enable to that suite of chambers; she alone keeps Even to you, loved and trusted as a broth her to meet your father's guests again. the key, and when she would meditate or er, I can hardly mention it. Last night an Believe me, the tidings will be welcome.' pray, no eye save that which looks on all. uneasy thought had kept me waking, while watches her secret orisons.' Barbara was slumbering at my side. The chamber lamp beamed out with uncommon brilliancy, and I could not but regard with a husband's pride, the angel form that rested on my arm. She was dreaming. I saw her face flushed with pleasure; she pressed me to her bosom, laid her lips to mine; kissed me with ardor; and murmured, "Welcome, my beloved; thrice welcome. How could you remain so long away? Come to my heart my love;" and O God! the name she named was not-mine !' "Twas right, George,' exclaimed Selby's kinsman. Need I tell how much I hate that idolatrous communion; but till it please Heaven to point out that path, and clear that film away which papal delusions have cast over Barbara's reason, as a true knight and lover, thou must protect her in the free exercise of what she thinks religious worship. I have done so, Harry, and so will I continue doing. But to proceed. For a time, if ever man knew happiness, I found it in Barbara's arms. She trusted to the creed in which she had been so artfully schooled; but though her views were false, there was in all she thought and did such fervid piety, that, if innocent adoration be pleasing to the Deity, hers must have been acceptable. Once, and once only, I stole unguardedly upon her pri vacy. Ay-Gillian, say to your mistress that I shall be with her presently; and thou, Hal, excuse my absence as thou best canst.' He said, and hastened to his wife's apartment, while his kinsman rejoined the merry company, and intimated that the Border flower,' as Barbara was called, might be presently expected. But where went Barbara Maxwell? When she left the hall she hastened to her own chamber, and summoned her attendant. Gillian presented her mistress with a light, placed a basket in her hand and then took He shuddered in an agony of passion-post in the passage, while her lady proceeded both remained silent for some moments, unSelby recovered, and continued : til to the oratory. 'Twas a strange time for You marked her bearing at the banquet; and when, by my father's request, I sought her chamber, to entreat she would return to the company, her maid, the daughter of her She was kneeling before the altar of nurse, in whom she reposes boundless conthe Virgin Mother. I approached in silence;fidence, told me in evident confusion, that and, unconscious that any one was listening, her mistress had retired to the oratory, and I overheard her supplications. The orison begged she might not be disturbed. What, that passed her rosy lips was for my present Harry, can all this mean? Is it a fitting and eternal happiness; and so innocent but season for telling beads, when the noblest in ardently was the petition offered up, that I the land have come to my father's hall for knelt beside her and united my prayers with mirth and revelry? Yes, I might pardon hers. Was it wrong? What though the readily this ill-timed devotion; but oh, God! Virgin smiled upon us, it was not the sense- how can I excuse that guilty kiss-how ex-itor less canvass on which the Florentine had tennate that damning exclamation! poured the magic touches of his pencil that I In vain for a while did Wyndham strive to worshipped. No; it was to him alone who calm the excited feelings of his unhappy had power that I bent my knee. We rose. kinsman. By degrees Selby's violence softShe flung her arms around me, and as sheened down, and he was composing himself to kissed me murmured, George, though our rejoin his father's guests, when Wyndham creeds may differ, surely, lord of my love! touched his arm, and pointed to a female our hearts are one!' figure which crossed the light, and hastened towards the place they had conversed in. It is Barbara's attendant,' he whispered, And can a doubt touching the love of such a woman cross thy mind, George?' Alas! my friend, what an alteration have a few weeks made. From the time that infernal conspiracy was discovered, I have remark-the recess, the kinsman heard her mutter. ed her to become thoughtful and depressed. Fancying that she feared I should imbibe a prejudice against popery, that might even extend itself to her, I endeavored by renewed attentions to prove that my love was un- What would you with me Gillian ?' changeable. She seemed to feel my kind Where can he be? They said he passed this corridor. Hist! Master of Selby!' and she raised her voice. Who calls?' said George Selby, advancing. You here, master! and in the dark too! 'Your business, Gillian ?' ness wept upon my bosom, and thanked me || No wonder I have sought you vainly ? • Her devotional exercises were redoubled, and yesterday she was for several hours se It is to say that my lady is desirous to return. She feels her spirits lighter and only wants you, Master of Selby, to conduct her to the hall.' a Hist, Ralph wake-'tis I-'tis Barbara.' The stranger sprang up, clasped the fair visto his heart, and kissed her again and again. Why hast thou left the hall!' he said. I half repent that I chose this place for shelter. Thou wilt be missed, my sister, and thy absence will pain thy gallant husband, and possibly occasion surprise if not beget displeasure. And didst thou think, dear Ralph, that I would leave thee here in darkness, and without food, while I was gaily feasting! Oh, no-I fancied the tables would never be drawn; and my impatience, I am sure, was far too marked to pass unnoticed. Come, Ralph, let's see what Gillian has provided,' and she lighted a lamp that hung from the ceiling while the Master of Nithsdale quickly unclosed the basket. Ah! blessings on thee Gillian. Look Barbara, what fare the gipsy has lighted on. A pastry that would tempt a Monk; and two flasks, Rhenish and Burgundy, if 1 judge rightly from the color. If this he hardship, as you called it, may my visitations never be more severe. Why, in the next room there is a pallet fit for a cardinal's repose. Well I'll to supper, and do thou return. Do, dearest sister, thy absence will seem remarkable.' 'I cannot leave thee, Ralph; for there is a mystery in this concealment that has made George,' said Wyndham, in a low voice, go instantly. Notwithstanding all your cluded in her oratory. To a casual obser- doubts, I'll pawn my life upon her love. vation which her long absence inadvertently || Never could evil heart inhabit a form like me truly wretched.' 'Hush-I'll tell it thee to-morrow.' 'Now, Ralph; be it now; if thou lovest me.' Well if it must be so, our supper and story shall proceed together. Draw that cork, Barbara; 'tis not the first time thou wert my Hebe, girl-girl-Ah! girl no longer. Pardon me honored dame-I cry, thy mercy. My next visit mayhap will dub me uncle.' Hush, thou malapert. Come, do not trifle with me. If you knew how miserable I am and have been, you would without delay remove my doubtings.' Well, well, Barbara, it must be done. Sit down. Wilt thou not pledge me? Right Rhenish as ever crossed the sea. Thou must drink Barbara; else, as you know, I may be drugged, unless I insist upon that security.' How teasing, thou trifling boy. I'll poison thee to-morrow, if I be kept in suspense a moment longer.' 'Well, girl, the tale is simple-but I would rather thou wouldst stay for it till morning.' 'Not one moment, Ralph. 'Tis no light event that obliges the Master of Nithsdale to hide him in his sister's chamber, when his peers are feasting beneath the same roof-tree.' Come, thou knowest where to pinch me, Barbara; and how to stir the hot blood of the Maxwells-"Tis idle to conceal aught from thee now. Fill me another goblet, and I will satisfy thy questioning.' He supped the wine she gave him and then continued: 'Residing in England, thou hast heard. no doubt much concerning that villanous conspiracy?' Oh, yes-and deeply has it grieved me. Those, Ralph, who are opposed to our religion, will brand us all with the obloquy, that horrible design has raised against a whole cominunity.' ton. this. 'What a Maxwell should. I despatched || would whisper, that the power of the father servants for my tried friends, Hay and Se- had screened the offending of the son. Did They will be here the third day from I permit thy husband to know that I was We will ride post to London. I'll returned, and his kindred espouse my quarreach the presence of James-Ay, though I rel, would it not be said that the loyalty of stab the doorkeeper-fling down my glove the house of Selby had saved the master of before his royal feet, and call on the villain Nithsdale from the consequences of his that defamed me to obey the challenge, and treason? No; let two days pass. My fight me to the death.' trusty friends will answer my call. I will Thou, Ralph-thou, cognizant of that burst upon my enemies unawares and ere murderous scheine?' they dream that I have ventured on the sea, I will knock at the palace gate, proclaim the traitor has returned, and were the slanderer proud Buckingham himself, if hand and rapier fail not, wash off the stain upon my honor with the blood of him who coupled treason with the name of Ralph of Nithsdale.' And must I leave thee in this solitude and thy spirit chafed thus ?' · Ay; Barbara. They had it that I was a foreign agent. By Heaven! I nearly lose all temper, to think that such a felon charge should have whispered against one of the house of Nithsdale. What though we have held our father's faith, when has our loyalty been impeachable? I look to the motto of our arms. When once, our fealty slighted and our services forgotten, in his extremity 'Oh,-go, my sister. Farewell till morna king sent to our ill used ancestors for sup-ing'-and with a playful effort he led the fair one port; when the royal cause was almost hope to the door, bade her a kind adieu, and the next less, and others had refused to arm, or sent moment was the lonely occupant of the oratoan evasive reply-what was the answer of our ry, and left to his meditations for the night. grandsire? I am ready! But come, [Concluded in our next.] Barbara, you must away.-Remember, my love, that a stronger tie than sisterly regard now binds thee.' Ralph-why remain here? Come among thy equals boldly, and proclaim your innocence. I will bring my husband here. My life on it, George Selby will maintain his brother's honor against any who dare insinuate aught against it.' For the Rural Repository. A Blighted Genius. There is an order, Of mortals on the earth, who do become Old in their youth, and die ere middle age, Without the violence of warlike death.-BYRON. GENIUS is an exceedingly tender plant. It will blossom only where the fostering breezes of care and the kind hand of indulgence, He has already done it nobly. In a com- nourish it. How many a one, that, could it pany some days since, my name was coupled have arrived at maturity, would have produced with the traitors. Boldly did thy lord assert abundance of such fruits, has been doomed me to be innocent, and flung his glove upon to fade, in the very spring-time of its budthe floor for any to take up, who would ven-ding, by the cold winds of neglect, or the ture to question my loyalty. Barbara, thou hast chosen well, and Selby shall be to me a brother; ay-in love as well as in law. But thou must go-nay, not another minute.Banish that fearful look. Away then in thy brightest smiles-and teil thy husband that in the court of England's king there is no beauty can match the border flower." . killing frosts of adversity. And who has not wept for the fragility of this lovely flower? Who has not sighed when contemplating the sad fate of a Kirke White, a Chatterton, a Burns or a Brainard?-Perhaps a solitary tear may be shed by some child of sympathy as his eye glances over these pages, and he reads the melancholy doom of one whose history they contain. Leander Grosvenor was a genius. Like thousands of that often ill-fated class of beings, he was of humble origin, and des 'True, girl, and there lies the cause of my temporary concealment. I was, as you well know, traveling for improvement. I heard abroad a strange story of the detected plot. It was, as I then believed, a wild and exaggerated rumor. I posted homeward, and Oh-thou wouldst coax me by gross landed on the coast some sixty miles from flattery. Answer one question more, and 1|| this. Judge my astonishment, when there I will leave thee till to-morrow. Why wait the saw a printed proclamation, and, among coming of thy friends, and hide thee for many names, a reward offered for my appre-|| another hour? Are not the houses of Niths-tined to feel the mildew of poverty and mishension as one of the chief conspirators!' Barbara Maxwell sprang from her chair. For thee Ralph! Thy name enrolled among a gang of murderers? Didst thou tear down the lying paper, and cudgel to death the villain who had dared to affix it!' dale and Selby united? Hast thou not No, Barbara-the heir of Carlaverock has been foully wronged, and he alone shall assert his injured honor and wipe the stain I did neither, Barbara. The paper re-away. Did I need assistance was not my mains untorn; and it would have been poor father's hall nearer than this of Selby? Did vengeance for the Master of Nithsdale, to|| I need allies, is there a Maxwell in the border beat the beadle's brains out; if he had such.' Go on, Ralph. What didst thou, in God's name?' that would hold back to right me; ay, even fortune on his youthful brow. But with the true spirit of perseverence, he early resolved to surmount all difficulties, press forward and reach the goal of eminence. Nature had bestowed upon him her choicest boon, a mind noble and lofty-susceptible of the warmest emotions of sensibility. In return for this her kind favor, he proffered her his affections. His love for her was of the purest kind, unadulterated and unwavering, and like a faithful worshipper, he knelt at her shrine, and there poured forth the glowing tiful hour of evening, 6 sentiments of his keenly sensitive spirit. ardent. Indeed, his thirst for knowledge of || During the first two years of Leander's His ardent soul delighted to drink in her all kinds was unsurpassable and unquencha- collegiate course, nothing of quiet moment in every word—her every breath. Her language ble and though his advantages for obtaining his history transpired. I learned from comwas to him the sweetest music, and every it, when quite young, were exceedingly limit-munications which I frequently received from strain, as it vibrated on the chords of his ed, still he did not despond, but grasped him, that his thirst for knowledge was unabaheart, lit a smile of pleasure on his counte- every gem that came within his reach, and ted, that his health remained' good' that, by nance, and sent a thrill of ecstacy though his carefully deposited it in his little cabinet of manual labor, more or less he continued whole frame. The sighing fount and the scientific minerals. His taste for learning square with the world,' and I am quomellow-toned breeze of morn; the murmur-was developed at an early age, but till his six-ting his phrases in sight of his classmates.' ing whisper of eve, the doleful voice of mid-teenth year his privileges for an education, He had now passed the freshman and sanight, and the uoonday lays of the feathered extended not beyond a common district phomore years, and entered the junior, when songster-all were alike listened to with school. in one of his epistles he spoke of his declinmute and inexpressible joy. His father, being poor, as well in intellec-ing state of health. Although this was the He loved to wander, at the calm and beau-tual treasures as in the wealth of mammón, first time he had mentioned it, yet I had could not so much as many realize the value before heard from other correspondence at the of learning, nor be so sensible of the long-same college, that he was subject to frequent ings his son had for it; consequently Lean- and often extremely violent turns of the headder (being the oldest boy) was kept at home ache. This he had carefully concealed, not to assist in tilling a few paternal acres' till only from me, but his parents, fearing doubthe had arrived at the age of fifteen. His less lest he should be obliged to relinquish father then, seeing he had a much greater his studies. But a short time passed, when relish for cultivating his mind than the soul, the sad news came that a dreadful and, to consented to let him attend a public school, many it was thought a fatal malady had siezso Leander immediately, and with much joy, ed him. He still, however, continued his entered an academy in an adjoining state, mental labors, unwilling to quit them even at where, for two years he applied himself to his the chilling command of disease. At last, studies with a diligence and an ardor that few towards the close of the junior year, with a have equaled-nor ever surpassed. Al- reluctant heart, and many deep sighs of though he was obliged to labor physically regret, he closed his books, bid an affectionfrom two to four hours each day to assist in ate adieu to his numerous and beloved school defraying his expences yet during the time companions, and casting a longing lingerhe was there, he made such advancement in ing look behind,' as he passed, perhaps as he science, that, were I to enumerate the vari- thought for the last time through the portals ous books, English, Latin and Greek, through of science, he retired to his youthful home, which he studied (and being his classmate to seek amid its soul-reviving scenes, and most of the time I easily could do it) I his dear relatives and friends, a balm for his should, I fear, stagger at once the belief of sickening heart. But all these could not the credulous reader, and conduct him or cheer him. Every thing looked dark and her, in the path of doubt through the remain-dreary to his desponding mind. His once der of my story. Ergo, suffice it to say that bright and budding germs of future emihe was always at the head of his class, and nence, were blasted, and not a gleam of hope that at the end of two years, he came from illumined the beclouded sky of his soul. the academic halls to enter those of a col. lege-the brightest scholar among those who had toiled with him in the classic fields. Where the maze of some bewildered stream To deep, untrodden groves his footsteps led,' and there muse on the volume of creation, spread out before him; and as he gazed on those bright luminaries every where suspended from the portals of the sky, or on the lovely moon as she steadily pursued her way over the silver-paved streets of the celestial city; while I say he beheld all these, and as the deep-toned music of night reverberated through the chambers of his transported heart lost in the boundless regions of imagination, he would sink upon the bosom of earth, there to repose, and enjoy the paradisaical dreams of fancy, till perchance, the golden beams of Phoebus, peeping through the lattice of Aurora shone fully upón him. Again, he loved at morn or noon-tide hour, to climb some lofty mountain, and view the lovely landscape that, on every side, met bis enraptured vision. Beneath him lay perhaps the vernal plain over which were gamboling the sprightly lamb and the nimble fawn, or the far off lake allured his eye, on whose tranquil bosom were seen the light canoe and the bounding skiff, gliding serenely along to the sweet numbers of a thousand warblers. Then he turned to scan the distant mountains, rising in regular succession one above another, seemingly as if for a stairway upon which to ascend into the sky.-Such were the beautiful and grand prospects that he as our calling would henceforth be different, every where beheld-prospects that filled his soul with the most joyous and sublime emotions and with awful veneration for the all-glorious architect of the universe. Nature was to him, an unsealed book over whose delightful and instructive pages he loved at all times tó pore. Every line contained a lesson upon which he could ruminate from day to day without ever becoming wearied or satiated and each word seemed to speak to him in the language of wisdom. He 'Found tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermous in stones, and good in every thing.' But the book of nature was not his only study, and though he worshipped it to a degree almost bordering upon idolatry yet his desire for others was nearly equally I had intended, on his leaving the seminary, A few months glided away while he remained in this dismal state. At length he began seemingly to recover. His disease appeared to relax its frightful grasp, his spirits began to revive, and at times he would and consequently we should be separated, take his book and attempt to study, but it that he should spend the few intervening would be only for a few moments. A dizziweeks before he entered college, with me at ness would almost instantly commenced in my father's or in ruralizing through his native his head, and a weakness pervade his whole New England, the land so replete with en- constitution. He could not study, and what chanting, and delightfully picturesque scenery.should he do! Physicians were, from time But no: much as his heart would have leaped to time, consulted, who, finding all medicine at such a pleasing recreation, bis scanty funds unavailing, at last advised him to travel, to would not allow it. All vacations he must visit the salt water-yea, cross it. But how devote to some lucrative vocation, so imme-could he do this? Allowing his health would diately after leaving the academy he com- permit his funds would not. The latter diffimenced a school in vocal music. This inno-culty however was soon removed by the kindcent calling he pursued till the time of commencement at the college where he intended to enter, which I attended with him and at the close of which I left, and soon after entered into the mercantile business. ness of a few opulent neighbors, and feeble as he was, Leander was now fully determined on taking a voyage to Europe. When about to depart, he came to the place where I then resided, which was a seaport town, and from which he intended to embark. I had not seen him for nearly two years, and only once since he entered college. Alas! what a change in his appearance! His high and once fresh looking forehead, now wore a fading, yellowish hue; his protuberant temples, that once stood out with manly front, were fallen in; and his eyes, no longer glow O! who with nature does not sympathise? Sad as may be the feelings produced, I ing with their wonted fiery luster, were love to commune with her even in the gloomsunken and dim, enveloped by a glassy mem-est mood. There is a pleasure, if I may so brane. Such was the appearance of Lean-express it, in weeping with the afflicted; and der, as I gave him the parting hand, and he he who can behold nature sorrowing, and not embarked for the sunny climes of our father-himself feel a kindred emotion-I pity. But to my story. land. lemnity stole insensibly, as it were, over me, ||proached and again read. Alas! it was too causing me to weep with nature for the fading true! it was indeed the kind, the affectionate of her sweet charms. Leander, the friend of my youth, the partaker of its juvenile sports; my associate in every thing that pertains to early life. He with whom I had sported beside the simpling fount, and gamboled over the flower-crowned fields; with whom I had plucked the early daisy, and listened to the merry carol of the woodland throng; with whom I had watched the blossoming and fading beauties of creation-had gazed with delight on the opening charms of Spring and sighed at the glooury appearance of Autumn; with whom I had Soon after he landed on the opposite Heedlessly straying, I knew not whither, I climbed the high hill and the majestic mounshores of the Atlantic, I received a line from at length found myself, in the sacred enclos-tain, viewing with transport the multitude of him, stating the particulars of his voyage,ure of a rural cemetery and as the empress fair objects upon which our eager vision restwhich was quick and pleasant, and the favor- of night, was now riding near the zenith, and ed; with whom I had drank at the fountain able influence it had on his health, concluding shining with resplendent lustre, I was ena- of classic lore-had, hand in hand, ascended by informing me where to direct an answer. bled to define, distinctly every thing about me. the rugged cliffs of science.-What then I immediately wrote, according to his direc- For awhile L busied myself in carefully stepping must have been my feelings when I thus untions, and impatiently waited for another let- from stone to stone, and perusing the various expectedly beheld his tombstone! No pen ter in return; but before I had time to hear epitaphs engraven upon them. Each told the can describe them-no imagination conceive from him again, I was called on business to aage of the person over whose grave it was them. southern emporium, and ere I returned, had myself occasion to visit England. It was with no small degree of pleasure that started, as I hoped to meet Leander, and give him a happy surprisal. placed, and occasionally the virtuous qualities of the deceased were enumerated. But what attracted my attention most was the contrast in their ages. Here reposed one who had gone down to the tomb ripe with years; I landed in the British Isle, in the month whose locks had become white with the snow of September, and soon learned that Lean- of many winters, and who was ready for der had taken a tour through the north of the harvest ere the sickle of Death cut him England intending, ere he returned, to visit down. There lay one who had been hurried Scotland, and spend a few weeks, at least, in from the theatre of life just as he had enterrambling through its, romantic regions, its ed the stage of manhood. Strong, healthy 'bonnie glens' and heathy braes.' Hav-and robust, boasting of vigor and night, in the ing transacted, with much haste, the little business I had to do, I started in search of him, eager also to behold the land renowned for deeds of chivalry and sons of song, the birth-place of Scott and Burns. But the precise course he had taken, I could not trace, and my searchings, after him, seemed destined to prove fruitless. เ midst of his exultations, an unseen hand I The innumerable caravan, that moves Thus, in deciphering the names on the scalptured marble,' and in deep meditation, busied myself-I know not how long. At last, when about to leave the churchyard, my eye rested on a small stone in one corner of it, beneath which was a newly made grave, and on which was the following: But why continue my story longer? The earthly career of Leander Grosvenor was o'er; his short journey of life was finished and he had gone, a blighted genius, in the primrose morn of existence, to a lonely grave in a stranger-land. J. C. Dracut, Ms. MISCELLANY. From the Methuen Falls Gazette. Imagination. The mind can make Substance, and people planets of its own BYRON. IMAGINATION is the talisman of life. It enables us to create Paradises, and people them with every thing that is pure and lovely, where we may dwell for a while uncontaminated by the noxious vapors of this sublunary scene. It is to imagination that the poet owes his numbers. He goes forth among the beauties of nature, muses upon them till the fire of his inspiration is roused to a blaze almost quenchless; fancy then assumes her placid sway, filling his bosom with ecstacy, while imagination forms upon the camera obscura of his mind, an Eden of bliss, where all is fairy-like and poetical.-Then burst forth the spontaneous sentiments of his soul in dulcorated strains, such as would sweeten the acid feelings of the frigid sons of reality, and kindle the embers of joy in the Iceland regions of their heart. Another stone tells of one who died at the very dawn of existence, who fled from earth It was now towards the close of the sober ere the breath of sin had polluted its vestal month of October, when, on a beautiful even-cheek or the mildew of sorrow had withered ing, I wandered forth to enjoy for awhile, the the roses of delight that luxuriously blossomsweet converse of nature, or hold commun-ed on its tender bosom. ion with the airy beings of my own mind. Every thing around wore a sad and gloomy appearance, according well with the melan choly feelings that ever fill my bosom at that mournful season of the year. Nature no longer presented the laughing phiz of May or the smiling aspect of June, but was arrayed in a funeral-like shroud, apparently weeping for the departure of those her cheerful daughters. Instead of the jocund measures of the linnet and mavis, that lately were chanted so briskly at the gloaming hour, were Imagination touches with magic wand the now heard nought but the doleful wailings of child of contemplation, and the archives of the autumnal gale, sighing amid the sear and recollection are instantly thrown open, the falling leaves; and as the saddening moans I started back with surprise, and doubting gay scenes of childhood rise up before his struck upon my ear, a feeling of awful so-whether my eyes did not deceive me, I ap-intellectual vision, in all the bright and beau- In Memory of An American youth and a Genius, |