and though I had never heard it before or afterwards pass from his lips, yet it was as if written with a sunbeam on my memory-Isabel Legard, the lovely and most loved!''-was his fervent exclamation, as he gaily quaffed the sparkling wine. Not daunted by that evidence of another being pre-eminent in his affections, I exultingly listened to his passionate eloquence, although I knew such would have been bestowed on any other, for it proceeded from an imagination bewildered and frenzied by other light than that of nature or reason. Knowing well the present was my hour, I used every blandishment of word and action-my design was crowned with success. Lester Clifford fell at my feet, pouring out protestations of offered love. I was arriving at, but had not exactly gained my object, the enchantment must be acted out by forging around him the chains of lawful wedlock-I therefore proposed an immediate and clandestine union, to which he insensibly agreed, and leaving the gay assembly, secretly, with no other witness but Frank Howard, repaired to a priest who quickly married us. From him I had the cunning foresight to procure the credentials with his signature, so as to provide against future emergencies. Thus far I had been successful, almost beyond my expectations, but I must confess, the result was very different from what I had so blindly anticipated. Never shall I forget the anguish and horror depicted in his face when he recovered from his delusion, and I confirmed his dream-like remem brances, by a full recital of what had passed, expressing at the same time, a well-feigned surprize, that he should dare to assert, he had acted as one bereft of reason. Then he defied me to produce other proof than my own false assertions, which I did, yet he still vowed disbelief and revenge, nor did he otherwise, until his friend confessed he was an astonished though not a suspicious witness; being aware of our mutual romance of feeling, and having been assigned to each other by confident rumors, he regarded it as an union resulting from these causes, but founded on love. Madness seemed impending o'er him, and after a day or so, notwithstanding my strict vigilance, I found he and Mr. Howard had left N. I then disclosed myself as an injured, deserted wife to my father, who immediately prosecuted a search after the two, but every attempt proved abortive, they were never heard of afterwards. In the course of time, misfortunes pressed heavily on us. My aunt died, leaving me a bare legacy, because of my rash marriage, and my father soon squandered that away, with his own small gains. Crime followed on crime, and at the peril of his life, we were forced to leave our country. America was fixed upon as our hiding place of retreat, and the fiendish wish of heaping misery on him who had so effectually baffled my designs, took possession of my every thought. I therefore resolved he should either acknowledge me as his lawful wife, or that his character and happiness should be blasted for ever, if he refused to relieve us from the grasping clutch of poverty. We arrived here, and after a weary search, at last traced him. I then heard all about his engagement to you. Prompted by dire revenge, and urged on by pinching want, I seized upon a fitting moment to dash his proud and fond hopes to the earth, as he had done mine. The effect of that moment's action, methinks the haughty Isabel Legard, though 'lovely and most loved,' has been made to feel." She then drew from her bosom a tightly tied package, and opening it, produced the fatal credentials of the hated marriage. As she did so, a low gutteral laugh issued from the old man's withered lips, and Guilo, with the face of a beautiful fury, standing before the proudly pale looking Isabel, might have been a picture worthy of the happiest touch of Raphael. "It is enough," said the latter, as she returned the paper with lofty calmness into the hands of the Italian. I owe you thanks, woman, though the motive which has induced the confession, is a disgrace to your sex, and a shame on human nature. As I obeyed your request, I conquered my feelings of repugnance at the recital of your guilt, I now hope you will listen to mine, which is, that this may be our last as well as our first interview." Isabel left the wretched couple, with their parting laugh of insulting derision echoing in her ear. "When once a woman's love becomes estranged There's not a high thing out of Heaven So felt Isabel, as with a desperate decision she prepared to write a few lines to Lester, for she feared the weakness of her love would triumph o'er her strongest resolutions were she again to trust herself in his presence. No guilty criminal e'er bent a more agonizing eye on his fatal verdict, than she did on those burning words of her last farewell. "Guilo Ludovic has revealed the whole, yes, the fearful whole--and it is useless to say we must part for ever. Seek not me again, for the evil your ungenerous silence hath already wrought, would be enhanced by any futile extenuation. But I forgive you, Lester, although the ruins of my love now lay around me, more crushed and crumbling, than those of a timeworn battlement; yet I humbly trust that a Higher power will enable me to henceforth centre my affections and faith on one not of man's low, fallen state. It is by His hand the veil of my arrogant self-security hath been rent asunder, and my past sinful course of pride and passion is now vividly sketched before my repentant vision. Now that I bid you farewell, Lester, I pray you too may bow yourself a suppliant for his forgiveness, which is far more necessary and essential, than that of ISABEL LEGARD'S." Isabel returned to the quiet of her own dear home in H, wearing still the same calm face of outward quiet. Her sudden rejection of Lester Clifford, when their union was so near, excited many unfavorable suspicions; but to none did she offer any defence of his or her own conduct. Accustomed always to shape out her own peculiar course of action, she as usual met with no opposition in that one of entire seclusion to which she then seemed devoted. Isabel was truly changed, a change in the eye of her watchful mother, most pleasing and happy, for she saw it was one wrought by divine grace, though its cause was unrevealed. Lester never wrote one word in answer. Not long afterwards, she heard he had suddenly left the city, but no one knew whither, and as the most important events throughout the past, have ever become subject to the dashing spray of oblivion's wave, so was that of Isabel and Lester's love. In stern silence she had hushed within her own bosom, every vain regret or painful remembrance, and none to have gazed on her face, still stamped with beauty, though head mover in all the choir and prayer meetings, fully instructed in every mystery of religious learning; and in fine, is regarded the good abbess of old maids. Is my information astonishing and pleasant to you?" added Frank significantly, twinkling his cunning eye at his attentive listener. A sad smile played o'er the altered face of Lester as he answered: its vivacious brightness had yielded to a more gentle and " Isabel now moves. She has joined the church, is voted subdued expression, would ever doubt that all was not as it should be. If when radiant in all her youthful brilliancy, Isabel had won the love of so many, how much more fervently loved and wooed was she for her unobtrusive piety and endearing gentleness; but to every offer of marriage she listened with no other feeling than that of womanly sympathy. Often did she dwell on the fortune teller's prophecy-but it was not with her former sinful and presumptuous belief,-for such had been conquered by omnipotent power, and humbly did she bow to that destiny which Heaven alone perceives. "Perfectly so-and now that I can breathe freely from the dread incubus of suspense, I will tell you what has passed during the long interval of my absence. You know when I parted from you, it was with the despera tion of one who little cared to what wind of misfortune his life's shattered bark was committed; and thus for a long time I continued to feel as I roved from place to place, seeking rest for my weary soul, but finding none, until even the cold gloom of the grave was eagerly desired, as securing to me the boon I so craved,-happy forgetfulness of the past. I know not what aroused me to that pitch of resolution by which I became myself again, it was to visit that hated spot, N, and probe the mystery of the Ludovic's escape from their country. Great was the sacrifice of my sensitiveness in so doing, but I seemed and felt as if following my destiny-one whose misery could scarcely receive another additional stroke. Happy for me that I thus acted, for there I learned how I was cajoled, and how much more duped my dupers were. You remember Guilo's old lover, Pedro Bezza, whom she treated with so much disdain? from him I gained my information. I found him shock Five years had glided from the measure of Time, the monotony of which we must skip over to pause upon those subsequent events resulting from the germ of the past. Frank Howard, having spent a day of hard application at his laborious profession, seated himself, after stirring up his waning fire, in his study, to enjoy the quiet contemplation of a still Autumnal twilight. His buoyant spirit had become somewhat crushed in the toil and warfare of a cold selfish world. The careless recklesness of his nature had gradually become sobered. Having no grave mentorial Lester ever near to guide and watch o'er his erratic inclinations, imperious necessity had therefore compelled him to grasp tight the reins of prudence and to act upon his own footing. Instinctively his mind reverted to the hopeless love of Lester and that of Isabel's, so early blighted, and many a curse he heaped upon the wily intrigues of Guilo Ludovic, as he remem bered that fatal error which had been their bane of hap-ingly crippled; at first he did not know me, but when piness. Having bestowed a few hearty wishes that the drug had been in reality a poisonous one, by some lucky chance mixed into her own cup, so that the world was freed from such a malignant spirit-the door opened, and a person entered, whom the darkness of the hour prevented him from recognizing. But when a well known voice pronounced "Frank Howard"-immediately he sprung forward and grasping the hand of the dusty, worn out looking man, joyfully exclaimed, "Lester Clifford, and is it indeed you, my old friendwhen did you arrive? where did you drop from? Who would have thought of so apropos a visit-for I was just digesting you in comfortable reflection. Sit down, and for mercy's sake enlighten me." I announced my name, he seized my hand, thanking Heaven he was permitted to see one whom he could so essentially serve. A short while,' continued he'after you left N-, I became the husband of Guilo, but not until I had disclosed my knowledge of what passed on the night of the gala. I had long known her to be initiated in the arts of her grandmother, and when, unobserved, I saw her mix a powder in the wine you drank, I suspected foul play-determining, therefore, to act out the spy, I followed you-heard her propose a clandestine union-and witnessed your strange delirium of acquiescence. Knowing the priest she named, was absent, by bribe, I procured his robe and cowl, officiated in his stead, putting a false signature to the marriage credentials. When apprized of your elopement, I could not refrain from offering her my hand; surely my reason must have been dethroned by the magic of her beauty alone, but so it was, and I ardently desired to possess one so long loved, hoping, under my influence, she would be guided back to her better nature. I was contemptuously rejected, and then I threatened her with a public There was a grave and ominous expression in Frank's disclosure-the dreadful punishment which the laws of face as he replied to the eager queries of Lester. our country inflicts on those accused of such crimes, "Douglas Aubery told me yesterday, rather astonishing|| alarmed her, and she became my wife. But I soon news, namely, that the fashionable and gifted Miss found it were as vain to change the deadly serpent, as Legard had become a regularly initiated nun-but, she whom I had taken on my bosom-my passionate (seeing Lester grow pale with apprehension of his real love degenerated into the direst hate. Ludovic commeaning,) stop-not installed in the hated walls of amitted some horrible murder-his life was forfeited, and convent, my constant fellow-but as a sister of charity, Guilo, in the abandonment of grief, promised amendment dispensing blessings in the wide circle of humanity, if I would assist him in his escape. I did so, but in a few These questions were asked with the rapid exuberance of joy, and Lester as warmly returning Frank's greeting, began: "Yes, thank God! I see you once more, and that too, as free as the air of Heaven. But, before I proceed to gratify your curiosity, tell me something, my dear Frank, about Isabel. Is she still living, and yet single?" 238 That blissful moment came; it was one in which there seemed to crowd a life of tranquil happiness. How beautifully Isabel's bridal morn broke in the east"There was no mist upon the deep blue sky, And the clear dew was on the blushing bosom Of crimson roses, in a holy rest." Soon the chime of merry bells broke the calm stillness of the balmy air, the doors of the old gothic church joyous-looking children of charity were wreathing garwere thrown open-on its smooth green-sward, the ped just then in H—, he would immediately have conjectured some great holiday was enacting, for soon there issued from the church a throng of gay and happy faces, and when the crowd passed without the low iron casting a garland before the pathway of a pale but gate, the children formed into a procession, each one serene-looking lady, leaning on the arm of a tall and handsome gentleman, in whose face there seemed to melt a thousand thoughts of present bliss, "Made more pure days she, too was missing, leaving a letter, announcing || heart lifted up to that Being in deep thankfulness for the her intention to seek out Lester Clifford. Although not outpouring of his spiritual and earthly blessings, did her lawful husband-it was not thus well known to him, Isabel await the coming of Lester Clifford. consequently, he would be compelled to give her, at least, a support. When it became known that I had aided Ludovic in his flight, my property was confisca ted, and receiving a dangerous wound in an affair of honor, I was prevented from immediately following the fugitive Guilo. My mental anguish greatly accelerated that of my body, and it was a long time ere I recovered —when I did, I was a cripple for life-bowed thus to the earth by various misfortunes, I despaired of ever convincing you of the deception so successfully palmed upon you.' Pedro Bezza then procured for me a legally writ-lands of freshly-gathered flowers. Had a stranger stopten charge of Ludovic's guilt, which was duly signed by many witnesses in N, and resolving justice should not be cheated of her rights, even if I had to spill my last drop of blood in hunting out the villain, I came hither with all the speed of steam, and now can you tell what has become of Guilo, or her wretched old father?" But Frank could not, upon that subject, satisfy his friend; it had been two years since he had seen her, and deciding on the morrow to commence their search after the Italians, they both soon ceased to think of nought but the happy change in the tide of friendship and love, Frank enjoying the former's gushing overflow, and By early discipline of light and shade." Lester revelling in the sweet anticipations of the latter. Then arose the cry of "Long live our benefactress, and The next day they sallied out on the pursuit, and first happy be her union," as the little band ranged on each examined the house Frank had last known them inhabit-side to receive a parting kiss from the bride, who, with ing, but it was tenanted by others, who knew nothing of them; every place was probable persons or foreigners of their custe resorted to, was visited, but no trace, could they find of their movements; still the search was continued with unabated eagerness for several days. One evening as they had just turned into a by-street, the quick eye of Lester espied a female, whose air and gait he suspected, and screening themselves behind a lamp. post, caught a glimpse of her face; it was indeed Guilo, who entered a miserable dwelling near, where they soon followed her. Frank left Lester to procure some aid of the police, and returning with several lusty-looking street officers, they ascended to the highest story, then forcing open a door Lester had seen her carefuly close, stood in the presence of four or five men, drinking around a table, Guilo acting as attendant. Ludovic was apprehended not for the criminal deeds done in his own country, but for many others equally horrible, which he had committed, and Guilo being his accessary, they were both surrendered into the hands of vigorous justice. swimming eyes, spoke to them words of affection, and breathed to each one a charge not to forget their former teacher, when loving and obeying another. As Lester Clifford gazed, at that moment, upon the beautiful, subdued expression of Isabel's face, he felt that the past was fully requited, and turning to Frank, who was whispering something into Emma Clifford's ear, that sent a rosy blush to her soft round cheek. "For the first time," said he, "I regard with pleasure that hated indiscretion, believing that many blessings oft are wrought by dark and evil incident," * * "Mamma," said Alice Clifford, a fair flaxen haired girl, to a lady who had just ceased speaking to a little group seated around her "tell us what became of Guilo Ludovic." "Yes," added a proud, noble-looking youth, some ten or twelve years old, "I would like to hear the wicked creature at last had met with her just dues from the hand of my father, too." "Oh, no, Lester," replied a gentle girl about his own age, "I am sure, dear good Mr. Clifford would not have pursued her with unmanly vengeance, for were we not to forgive our enemies, we could not sincerely utter our nightly prayer." That night, in the fullness of joy, Lester despatched a minute account of the whole discovery, to Isabel Legard, and having in person briefly related the same to Alice and Douglas, prepared to speedily follow his document. Isabel was not aware of the still existing strength of that affection she had so long endeavored to subdue,|| You say right, Isabel Aubery," said the mild, beuntil all barrier to its indulgence was removed by Les-nevolent lady, "and may you all remember when you ter's communication. Again was her whole being roused, but there were feelings chastening and mingling with that one great passion, which formerly had so entirely submerged all others. With a sparkling eye, ever and anon humid with tears of pious gratitude, and a repeat that beautiful expression-our Saviour taught his disciples, to examine your heart ere you take it upon yourself in approaching your Heavenly parent. No, Lester, my son, your father forgave the wretched girl the misery she had caused him, and soon after, Ludo vic's execution, she was missing. I have no doubt she has long since fallen a victim to her own evil passions, for although we made every effort to reclaim her during her father's long confinement, yet she seemed given up to the most reprobate hardness. We have never heard of her since. You have listened, my children, to the early life of your parents, and now, Lester, 'tis for you to remember how much unhappiness and disquiet may result from a youthful error, as did in your father's case, likewise for you, my daughter, to reflect how much humiliating subjection and severe tuition your mother's arrogant pride was forced to undergo, and, oh! let the fiery ordeal of her heart warn you against all sinful infi delity and arraignment of the justice of Providence, all self-reliance-all impulses of misguided passion-ever bearing in mind that the strongest may fall in his boasted strength for humbly must we all own "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Original. TO A BRUNETTE.* BY H. T. TUCKERMAN. THOSE eyes! those eyes replete with soul! I feel its brilliant magic still, And more than all, that haunting glance To wake, as with Promethean spark, The looks of love those circles small, Fate's horoscopes, express, With what intensity they speak, Though fraught with gentleness! Lucid and sparkling, warm and bright, Yet liquid, mild and deep, As if Love's touch distilled a tear, But was too blest to weep. Am I bewildered by the glow Of their too kindly gaze, Or read I right what fancy paints Oh, wouldst thou leave the sunny shore For a free domain, a chilly clime, * Written in Sicily. Child of the South, the maidens there, Thy child-like trust, and thy truthful grace, Where the sky is oft serene, And the earth is ever green;- With Nature's freshest glory. 'Twere cruel to take thee from thy home, Bird of the southern sky; Thine eye would dim, thy warble cease, Thy blithesome spirit die. Our tie was such as pilgrims weave, We knew it could not last, Yet sought it, as if ne'er its joy Could mingle with the past. We part-and the future will bring to me A different lot from thine, And henceforth I must think of thee As of another shrine, At which I've knelt upon life's path, Thy song no more will bathe my heart And ne'er again on the crowded walk, And to thy balcony no more Will stray my eager glance, But oft at the hour of eventide, Thy dark and glowing eyes FEAR. SUCH as are in immediate fear of losing their estates, of banishment, or of slavery, live in perpetual anguish, and lose all appetite and repose; whereas, such as are actually poor slaves and exiles, oftentimes live as merrily as men in a better condition; and so many people, who, impatient of the perpetual alarms of fear, have hanged and drowned themselves, give us sufficiently to understand, that it is more importunate and insupportable than death itself.-Montaigue. Original. THE WHITE PINE. BY I. M'LELLAN, JR. "Look at yon royal pine,' said the Indian. 'Such trees as that will grow but once in any soil. They are the production only of Nature in her prime; and as one of her doomed children, that must soon pass away, I would fain linger near them, with my people, until the last is gone.' "—Hoffman's Greyslaer. Look on the noble pine! As in the golden flush of eve And in the blowing west-wind heave. From each majestic limb in air, In all his pomp of steel and gold, With flowing scarf, and gleaming brand, And o'er him the gay banner's fold! A hundred years ago it stood And with the howling tempest strove, The stately monarch of the grove. Or, with the war-axe and the knife, Or, haply at the soft eve-fall,. When all the dim woods slept around, Stretched on the turf, would list the call Of childhood sporting o'er the ground. Then would the Indian drum be beat, And songs of love or war be heard, While with the tread of dancing feet, The soft and verdurous grass was stirred. And when the flame Of the red council-fire was lit, The swarthy warrior's thither came, In stern debate to sit. And while the war-pipe's vapor rolled Fain would I linger 'till yon pinę Will from the forest haunts be thrust. And soon the white moss of decay Upon the mouldering pine will lay, 'Till the green sod on which it fell In a few years will o'er it swell, I hear upon the eastern gale The white-man's coming step resound; Upon the streams I catch his sail, Gliding amid the woods profound, And on the vast, unfathomed lake, His fleets their rapid voyage make. He comes! he comes! nor waste, nor hill, He scales the Rocky Mountain chain, Nor stops 'till he shall hear the roar And moss and thistles climb the wall. And soon the latest of his race Original. HOW SHOULD WE APPROACH THE LORD. How shall we sinners come before Our blessed Saviour's dazzling throne; Or how acceptably adore The great redeeming God we own? Shall fatlings on his altar burn, Or oil in bounteous rivers flow? Or shall we burst the tenderest tie Ah! no-a humble, contrite heart, With evil loves and false desires. By the pure precepts of his word; To act with truth and love combined, And humbly imitate the Lord. SAMUEL WOODWORTH. |