quin's friends, overheard the whole conversation, and immediately carried to the consuls the information he had obtained. Orders were given to seize the conspirators, and bring them before the tribunal, or place of judgment. The consuls were seated; the prisoners entered; and Brutus, the deliverer of his country, beheld his own sons among the guilty persons who had designed to bring back the proud king Tarquin, and probably would have caused the death of their own father. We can only suppose they had no clear ideas respecting the providence of God, and were ignorant that, sooner or later, he will punish the wicked.

The law condemned that man to die, who should attempt to restore kingly government. Brutus himself had made that cruel law, and justice required him to observe it. The young men being

accused, had nothing to plead in their own defence, but waited for their sentence in silence and anguish. The other judges who were present, felt for the dreadful situation of the judge and criminals.

Collatinus wept, and Valerius could not repress his compassion. Brutus alone appeared unmoved. With a stern look, and with a tone of voice that marked his determination, he demanded of his sons whether they could make any defence. This question he repeated three times, and received no reply. Brutus then turned to the executioner: "It is now your part," said he, 66 to perform the rest." Having spoken these words, he sat down with an air of resolute dignity; nor could the imploring looks of the people, or his own feelings as a father, alter his determination.

The unfortunate youths were behead

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To reach it, we had to ascend a long flight of stairs, fastened to the side of the ship. We soon found ourselves on board, and

VISIT TO THE INDEPENDENCE.

As July is the month in which we celebrate our national Independence, I suppose many of my readers will expect me to say something on that subject. But no, not a word about that just now. I have said a great deal about it in former volumes. What I am going to talk about now is a visit to the United States' ship Independence which lately sailed from Boston.

In the early part of May last, while this ship lay in Boston harbor, about half a mile from Long Wharf, and was getting ready for sea, I made a visit to her. I was carried out from the wharf in a small boat, and a friend went with

me.

When we came alongside of the ship, a soldier who was walking on deck bid us stand off to sea, and not approach the vessel unless we had business. I told the boatman we wished to see Lieut. Payne, the officer of the deck. Upon this we were permitted to go on board. The upper deck, to which we were obliged to ascend, was nearly twenty feet above the surface of the wa

1

easily obtained permission Payne to go where we

The ship Independence was once a 74 gun ship, but she has had her upper deck cut down, and is now a frigate. She mounts 60 large guns, thirty-two pounders as they are called; thirty of which are on each side, fifteen above, and fifteen below; for the vessel has two decks.

up

The Independence is manned and regulated by about 600 men ; and contains every thing necessary for their accommodation. While we were there, most of the sailors were employed on the per deck in getting on board water for the voyage. In doing it, every thing was as orderly and regular as clock work. The officers seemed kind and friendly, but very rigid and exact; and the least disobedience of orders would probably have been punished with severity. A friend informs me that when he went on board this ship, a few days before I did, ten or twelve of the sailors were handcuffed.

No parlor could be kept neater than are the decks of this ship. They are washed and scoured carefully every day. Equally neat are the cabins, and all the furniture for cooking, eating, &c.

The ship was commanded by Commodore Nicolson. She was going on a cruise of three years to the coast of

Brazil, but was first going to St. Petersburg in Russia to carry out Mr. Dallas, our national minister, and his family, who are going to reside there.

We did not see Mr. Dallas, nor the Commodore. They were both probably on shore. We were, however, permitted to visit their rooms and see their furniture. You would be surprised to find so much elegance and even splendor on board a "man-of-war."

The commodore's rooms were on the upper deck, near the stern. They consisted of two cabins, and several sleeping rooms and other smaller apartments. The partitions between the rooms, as well as between the whole and the main deck, were made of very costly materials. In time of battle, these partitions and all the furniture, they told us, are taken up and put in the hold; or, as the sailors the deck is cleared for acsay, tion.

Mr. Dallas's rooms were exactly underneath the Commodore's, on the second deck. They were nearly as large, and as splendid. The furniture was very costly. Among the rest was a costly piano forte. There were also many portraits and paintings around the sides of the room; and in one of the closets a library. In short, you would almost forget, while viewing the whole, that you were not on the land, in some costly and expensive hotel, like the Tremont House.

I spoke of the guns, and said they were thirty-two pounders; but I suppose

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some of you did not fully know what I meant, as most of you are landsmen, and never even saw a ship of war in your whole lives. I will therefore be a little more particular.

A thirty-two pounder means a piece of artillery which is usually loaded with a ball weighing thirty-two pounds. A gun of this sort is, I think, nearly ten feet long, and in some places more than a foot in diameter. The hollow is just large enough for the balls already spoken of, which are as large as the head of a very small child.

Each gun or piece of artillery is mounted on a small but strong carriage, so that it may be moved, if necessary, from the place where it stands. 1 believe, however, it is not very common to move them. They stand so that a few feet of the muzzle extends out of the sides of the ship through a square hole called a port-hole. When you approach the ship, it looks rather frightful to see so many of these big guns pointed out at you. To the carriage which supports each gun, numerous ropes are fastened of amazing strength and attached to the sides of the vessel. Their use is to prevent the carriage from running backward, when it is discharged, in time of action.

The ammunition of a man of war is chiefly kept in the hold. The hold is what you would perhaps call the cellar. It is below all the rest of the apartments, in the very bottom of the ship. There are what you would call three stories to

"A Slip-shod Philosopher!" you will say; "what is that?" I do not wonder you ask the question; and I will try to answer it.

When I was quite a small boy, I had a strong desire to be something different from common boys. I could not bear the thought of coming into the world and passing through it merely to walk, eat, drink and sleep, as I early learned that many people did. I wanted to make the world better by living in it. I wanted to have the satisfaction, when I went down to the grave, of believing that I had done a little good.

How could I accomplish this? I was a farmer's boy. I must do, I found, as the boys of other farmers did. My father wanted me to work. So work I did, on the farm, till I was twenty years

old or more.

But I am getting a little before my story. An aged friend, who had observed that I was of a thoughtful turn of mind, said to me one day, "You must be a philosoper." This made my heart beat very swiftly. But what was a philosopher? And how could I become one? I had read of Dr. Franklin, and found that he was called a philosopher. I knew that electricity, with him, was a prominent and favorite study, and I thought that to be a philosopher I must be an electrician. So I studied electricity. But this did not make me a philosopher. I heard of Sir Isaac Newton and other mathematicians; and I now imbibed the idea that a mathematician was a philosopher. ed man and great mathematician, and must hence be a philosopher, so I thought,

Dr. B. was a learn