long, overloaded, intertwisted and inextricable series of sentences, running round and round like the lines in the puzzle, which children call the walls of Troy. At first he seemed to utter something which sounded like an apologetical exordium, for his not being prepared to address so numerous and respectable an assembly; out of which modest introduction, without coming to any conclusion, he got afloat on the drift of his unintelligible argument, or convoluted rigmarole, his object being, as he intimated with violent gesticulations, "to enunciate to his audience didactic precepts, calculated to evolve their energies for those aptitudes which were now ineffectual." And then he talked about soirées, races and operas; coaches, carriages and curricles; houses, horses and harnesses; diamonds, damask and drapery; fandangos, fêtes and failures. He said that large three-story houses were better than small two-story ones. That a man who could ride in a glass coach with four fat horses, was better off than one who had nothing to carry him but his own two legs: and he dwelt much on some subjects thought very mystical at that day, though now familiar to every broker's apprentice, such as buying charters, flying kites, and raising the wind. On these things he expatiated at great length, and with many repetitions. He also stated, that high duties were good things, because honest men might make a living by evading them. During the latter part of these observations, Dr. Magraw disappeared from the post he had long occupied with immoveable gravity and silence. All at once, as the preacher was winding up one of his longest expectorations, or rather sliding out of it for want of breath, the doctor appeared behind him, seized him by the nape of his neck, and held him up, shaking like a scarecrow in the wind, quite off from the edge of the rock, displaying the nether part of the creature's figure more particularly than its proprietor seemed to have wished. The surplice, flying all abroad, discovered a little pair of red breeches, ending in a knotty pair of knees; while the crooked shanks below, in the black silk stockings, terminated in two stumpy, hoof-like, clubbed knobs, cased in a pair of black velvet bags, which figured and flourished about lustily, as the doctor kept their owner suspended. After holding him awhile in this manner, while he screamed and hallooed and begged and kicked and lost his cocked hat, he set him down again on his feet or hind paws, griping him in the same place with his left hand, and belabouring him with his huge orange walking stick, every thwack of which resounded as if the effect of its application must have been peculiarly uncomfortable to the patient. Still brandishing this about his ears, he asked, "Are you not the same tattling devil, that told the oracle in old times, what Croesus was about when he was cooking turtle soup after a bad receipt?" And he gave him a whack to enforce his attention to the question. "Yes, my lord;" said the preacher in a small voice. "Are you not the prying, impertinent devil of Livonia, that told the German ambassador to Sweden, what clothes his wife had on, and what she was doing?" "Yes, your highness," whined the goblin, as a couple of buffets made all his members rattle. "And are you not the same poor, miserable devil, that in Rabelais' time, when the great devils were raising storms to destroy armadas, was blowing a whirlwind in a parsley bed?” "I am, indeed, your excellency;" here he got a whack that made him whimper like a whipt spaniel. "And are you not the same helpless and contemptible devil, that Paracelsus carried about in the hilt of his sword, in the shape of a bluebottle fly?" "Alas! yes, your high mightiness!" and he got a kick to boot, with strappadoes nowise desirable. "And are you not the same foolish devil, that troubled the people of Maçon, by thumping behind the wainscoats, singing filthy songs, and frightening the little children, and then was decoyed by the Prior of St. Deny's into an empty Burgundy bottle, where you were corked up, and soused into holy water?" "Oh yes, your Majesty!" screamed the tormented spirit, as a terrible knock half demolished his wig, and discovered a crooked corneous projection, growing behind a pricked up, hairy ear. "And are you not the abominably impudent devil, that, for two years, has been frightening my friend, the Rev. Mr. Wesley, scratching behind the children's beds, and making plates rattle on the dresser, and ringing all the bells?" "Oh dear, yes, I and the rats," faintly replied the almost exanimate catechumen. "And now you have come here, have youyou paltry, sneaking, despicable devil-to stuff nonsense into the heads of my poor people of New-York, and teach them, before their time comes, how to lie, and cheat, and have lotteries and banks, and to shave and smuggle?" Here he suddenly took hold of him by what seemed an extraordinary excrescence from behind, hitherto concealed by his surplice, took out of his own pocket a little book with a green cover and gilt edges, which he put to the poor devil's nose, saying, "Now, Sir, I will give you a dose that will last you half a century," and then he whirled him about, and dashed him down, and a crack was heard, and a light flashed before the eyes of the spectators, like that produced by the galvanic battery, and the devil vanished, and a smell like that of phosphorus was perceptible, and the enormous rock of the pulpit was split from the top to the bottom, as it remains to this day. The sailors uttered a shout of horror and fear, the cow rung her bell, the jackass yelled as if he was mourning for all his relations, the macaws and parrots squalled, the monkey whooped, the dogs howled, the mules and cows uplifted a wail, and the two black ferrymen in red jackets sent up a guttural, hysterical, hoarse, demoniac laugh from their deep diaphragms, more appalling than all the other noises together." The poetry of this little volume is of a high order. We were particularly struck with the stanzas 'On the Close of Autumn,' as possessing a beauty and pathos we rarely find equalled. The Serenade,' which is illustrated by a beautiful engraving by Ellis, from a design by Morse, is very pretty. The following sonnet on 'Tell in chains," accompanied by an engraving by Durand, from Inman's splendid picture, is spirited and worthy the subject. "CHAINS may subdue the feeble spirit-but thee That creed is written on the untrampled snow, Thundered by torrents which no power can hold, And breathed by winds that through the free heaven blow. The bitter cup they mingled, strengthened thee The lines written on the Banks of the Hudson, must close our extracts: "COOL shades and dews are round my way, And silence of the early day. Midst the dark hills that watch his bed, From shrubs that fringe his mountain wall; The music of the Sabbath bells. All, save this little nook of land, Seems a blue void above, below, Through which the white clouds come and go; Loveliest of lovely things are they Is prized beyond the sculptured flower; River in this sweet hour thou hast And I to seek the crowd of men." The manner in which the work is executed, is highly creditable to our American artists. The engravings, though few in number, are all much above mediocrity. The one of Tell, we think, will not suffer by a comparison with the best specimens of English artists. In the hopes of again seeing Mr. Herbert twelve months hence, we, for the present, take leave of him, with the assurance, that as an annual visiter, many will be prepared to greet him, and give him a welcome proportioned to his merits. NOTE. To the article "Geometry and the Calculus," at the end of the demonstration of Euclid's axiom, (page 133) add,-"The demonstration of Euclid's 12th axiom, will also follow immediately from the axiom which we have laid down, and prop. 28, b. i. of the Elements." 15, " 49, " The note, page 47, ERRATA. 10, for avo, read ovo. 6, for formed, read founded. 26, for we could, read he would. 23, for has added, read has been added. referring to Milton's Areopagitica, has exchanged places with the note, page 48, referring to Lowth's Lecture. |