here embodied.

The lake of Thun is more than seventeen hundred feet above the level of the sea, while the Niesen, Moine, Riger, and Jungfrau mountains lift their snowy heads thirteen thousand feet and more amid the clouds. All that is picturesque and fair in Alpine scenery seems The river Aar, which runs below the spot whence this view is taken, descending from the Finster-Aarhorn, rolls along the base of the glaciers, collecting all their tributary waters, and distributing them among the lakes of Thun and Brienta. It afterwards pursues a course somewhat circuitous to the Rhine on the German frontier. I must now bid adieu to the Cosmorama.

In perambulating from one exhibition to another, of panoramas, dioramas, and cosmoramas; of architecture, statuary, painting, science, and literature-the thought intrudes itself, Oh that all who have talent, all who excel among mankind, would bear in mind whence their powers were derived, and would humbly adore the Giver of all good for the endowments with which he has favoured them in this world, and the revelation of his mercy through the Redeemer!

It was a desire of this kind that moved the spirit of Kirke White to fling upon his paper the following beautiful, though somewhat florid thoughts:

"Oh! I would walk

A weary journey to the farthest verge
Of the big world, to kiss that good man's hand
Who, in the blaze of wisdom and of art,
Preserves a lowly mind, and to his God,
Feeling the sense of his own littleness,
Is as a child in meek simplicity!
What is the pomp of learning? the parade
Of letters and of tongues? Even as the mists
Of the grey morn before the rising sun,

That pass away and perish. Earthly things
Are but the transient pageants of an hour;
And earthly pride is like the passing flower
That springs to fall, and blossoms but to die

3

THE DOCKS.

THERE are in London many institutions and exhibitions which do little more than communicate pleasure to those who visit them, or promote the advancement of particular branches in arts and sciences. There are others more closely connected with our common comforts, our every day luxuries, and, indeed, with our very existence as a great nation. Among these latter, the Docks occupy a high place. In a national and individual point of view, they are of incalculable importance.

What a night on the globe would prevail,

How forlorn each blank region would be,
Did the canvass no more catch the gale,
Nor the keel cleave the fathomless sea.

When, for a moment, we consider that not less than four thousand ships are employed in bringing the products of other countries into the port of London, and in bearing away thence the manufactures and merchandize of England; that fifteen thousand cargoes enter the port every year, and that there are seldom less than two thousand vessels in the Docks and the river, to say nothing of three thousand barges and small craft occupied in lading and unlading: when we think of these things, and at the same time call to mind that more than two thousand boats and wherries enable at least eight thou

sand watermen to pick up a living in plying them; that four thousand labourers find employment in lading and unlading the ships; and that twelve thousand revenue officers are required to discharge the duties of the port and the river, we cannot but regard the Docks with interest as well as curiosity.

The East India Docks are at Blackwall; the West India Docks lie across the neck of the Isle of Dogs, between Limehouse and Blackwall; the London Docks are at Wapping; and St. Katharine's Docks lie between Wapping and the Tower. I'visited them all years ago, and walking over the same ground again today, brings many things to my mind, which for some time have escaped my memory. How often the things of earth remind us of friends who are in heaven? How often do inanimate objects around us cry aloud to us "What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?" “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," Psa. lxxxix. 48; Gen. iii. 19.

As a stranger approaches the Docks, he will have many indications of their locality. A solitary, chopfallen sailor walks along slowly, with his hands in the pockets of his trowers. He has had his frolic, he has 'spent his money, and has "got no ship." Half-a-dozen blue jackets, some with canvass caps, and others with new black hats on their heads, not over steady in their appearance, pass on with a rolling walk, and enter the public house at the corner. I have just come by a sailor, exhibiting a painting of a shipwreck. There he is with a copper coin in his pocket, which a minute ago was in mine. He has lost both his legs, and would, no doubt, give me a full, true, and particular account of his birth, parentage, education, and misfortune, were I

to require it at his hands. Where is the heart that has not its tale of sorrow?

Though we to day sweet peace possess,

It soon may be withdrawn ;

Some change may plunge us in distress
Before to-morrow's dawn.

Half-an-hour ago, as I turned along the street by the side of the India house, at least twenty seamen in their holiday clothes stood congregated together on one side of the street, while a man, in a Scotch dress, playing on the bag-pipes, paraded backwards and forwards before them on the other. Another man, a complete Highlander in face, figure, dress, and activity, was dancing the Highland fling, with an unwonted degree of vigor, and apparent lightheartedness, while the delighted tars showered upon him their bounty with liberal hands. Some of these seamen were as fine looking men as any in the world.

'

The principal entrance to the East India Docks is at Poplar, where buildings have been erected for the accommodation of those employed in the several warehouses and in the quays. I have just been on board a vessel bound for the Mauritius. The dock for loading outwards is more than seven hundred feet long; and that for unloading inwards double that length, by a breadth of five hundred feet. The warehouses and quays are very spacious. It is a busy scene, when an East India fleet arrives with its produce of tea, coffee, silk, wool, cotton, indigo, saltpetre, mace, nutmegs, cam phor, elephants' teeth, muslins, and other commodities.

The stranger desirous to see all that is, interesting in the Docks of the metropolis, should not omit, when at Blackwall, to visit what is said to be the largest private dock in Europe. On one of the quays, blubber is land

ed from Greenland ships. On another are powerful cranes for landing anchors and guns; and on a third a machine for masting and dismasting vessels with more than usual despatch. How comparatively feeble is man, until the powers of his mind are called into action! He invents machinery, and then goes forth with more than the strength of a giant.

Before the establishment of the Marine Police, in 1798, the robberies which took place on the river were very frequent, and sometimes very extensive. plunder is to be had, plunderers will be found.

Where

When we reflect on the valuable cargoes with which ships are freighted from the East and West, and on the daring characters that abound in large cities and seaports, it will not excite wonder, that so long as vessels remained in an unprotected state, continual attempts should be made to plunder them. To such a pitch of audacity has pillage been carried on in the river, that a vessel has been known to be boarded, during the night, by a desperate gang, her anchor weighed, and both anchor and cable borne away in presence of the captain, in spite of all his attempts to prevent it. As on land there are thieves of all grades, from the reckless highwayman and burglar, to the fearful and wily pickpocket, so on the water, there were spoilers of all kinds, ready to rob on a large or small scale, from a cargo, to a cocoanut or a nutmeg. The river pirate boldly took, by open force, his share of the booty. The night plunderer bribed the watchmen on board, and by their connivance, bore away in his boat all that he could conveniently remove. The light horseman, on good terms with the mates of ships and revenue officers, opened hogsheads of sugar and other produce, plundering them with im