as he is in society. He is gone; and I am glad to be relieved from so painful a subject of reflection.

How have my thoughts wandered! The dancers are gone, or going; the musicians are nodding as they scrape; the decorations of the walls decorate the floor. The lights are fast dropping into darkness; every thing looks tired, dusty and heated. Let me be gone.

What a contrast, to come out into the clear morning air! Lights are glinimering here and there from the windows of the retiring dancers. They are casting aside their soiled dresses and ornaments, which seem to defy the pettish attempts of their drowsy fingers to unloose them; while they think upon the events of the night the night of anticipated pleasure, which, whether enjoyed or not, is over. Would that I knew how many, as, weary and exhausted, they fling themselves on their couches, can say with truth that it has been a night of happiness.

TRANSCENDENTAL MURMURINGS,

From an Over-Soul, or Soul Turned Over.

RACKED with wild thoughts that made me gritty,
I wandered up and down the city,

A singing of a doleful ditty.

Of shapes all dainty, dumb and dim,
That through Imagination swim,
With solemn, low unearthly hymn;

Of askings, doubtings, questionings,
Problems which stir the soul's deep springs,
And deaden Faith's aspiring wings;

Of minds that in inaction rust,

Of Falsehood's feast and Virtue's crust,
Of Tailors who refuse to trust.

Then Love my fancy's fuel fed

The cream o'er Life's skim-milk that 's spread, Buttering the soul's unbolted bread;

The silver light whose glancing motion
Sparkles the heave of Passion's ocean,
And radiance sheds on Thought's commotion;

A light that falls without a stain,

Through the dim lattice of the brain,
And drives the poet half insane.

"Young man!" said one who heard my song, "I think you go it rather strong,

Thus ringing Pleasure's dinner gong :

Tell me how Sorrow came to pat
Your shoulder, and take off your fat,

And I'll put ninepence in the hat "

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

MONUMENT TO STEPHEN DAYE.-On the twenty-sixth of July last, a meeting of Printers was held at the Tremont Temple, to devise measures for erecting a monument to the memory of Stephen Daye, the first printer in this country, whose remains now lie interred in the Old Cambridge burying ground, without a stone to designate their location. An Association, to which the carrying out of the proposed design was entrusted, was organized, on a plan drawn up by a committee appointed at a preliminary meeting. The officers of the Association consist of a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer, and seven Trustees; and we have confidence that the gentlemen appointed to fill these offices will perform their duties in the most efficient manner. The expense of the monument is to be provided for by subscriptions of three dollars from master printers, one dollar from journeymen, and fifty cents from apprentices. The credit of the first movement in this affair belongs to Mr. George Livermore, of Cambridge. At his instance the first meeting in reference to the subject was called, by the Hon. J. T. Buckingham, who was afterwards chosen President of the Association above mentioned.

According to Mr. Thomas's History of Printing in America, Mr. Daye was born in London, and there served an apprenticeship to a printer. He emigrated to this country in 1638. The press which he here superintended was sent over by the Rev. Jesse Glover, a non-conformist minister in England, who became responsible for his passage-money, and for whom he was under agreement to work at the locksmith's trade, (which it appears he then followed,) for the payment of the same. Mr. Glover died on his passage to America, and the press was entrusted to Mr. Daye, who set it up in Cambridge, (it is said, in one of the College buildings,) in 1639, "by direction of the magistrates and elders, and under the superintendence of President Dunstan." He was the only printer in New England for

nearly ten years, and doubtless the first English printer in America. The Spaniards had previously set up a press in Mexico.

The first things printed by Daye were the "Freeman's Oath,” and an Almanac calculated for New England. The first book was "The Psalms in Metre," an octavo of three hundred pages, which, it may be worth observing, was not a reprint of English authorship, but an original American production.

Mr. Daye's pecuniary affairs were never very prosperous. In 1641, the General Court made him a grant of three hundred acres of land, in consideration of his being the first to "sett upon printing," which he obtained only after much difficulty and delay. He resigned the management of the press about 1649, and died December 22, 1668, at the age of about fifty-eight years.

FIRST PUBLICATION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— According to the conditions of the Smithsonian bequest, which require the Institution to promote the dissemination of useful knowledge, it has recently obtained and published a work on the highly interesting subject of American Archæology, being an account of researches lately made into the antiquities of this country, by Mr. E. G. Squier and Mr. E. H. Davis. These researches, which embrace surveys of more than one hundred of the remarkable mounds scattered through the Valley of the Mississippi, are the most extensive and thorough of the kind ever yet made. They resulted in the discovery of vast numbers of ancient utensils and works of art, among which are said to be several highly finished sculptures of the human head. These relics are illustrated by a large number of lithographic and wood engravings. The work having been referred for examination to the American Ethnological Society, was recommended, by a committee appointed to report upon it, as "not only new and interesting, but as an eminently valuable addition to our stock of knowledge upon a subject little understood, but in which is felt a deep and constantly increasing interest, both in our country and abroad;" and therefore highly deserving of publication un_ der the auspices of the Institution.

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.-The Annual Meeting of this Society was held at Brunswick, on the first of September last. It was well attended, and exhibited much interest. The design of the Society is the collection and preservation of all memorials of the early history of the State; and it is already in possession of rare and valuable documents. Its publishing committee have been authorized to issue a circular to every town in the State, requesting aid in the collection of materials of this kind. The contributions which such societies, established in each of the States, might furnish towards the elucidation of American history, would be invaluable.

MEETING OF STUDENTS.-A meeting of the students of the Mount Pleasant Classical Institution-a school for the preparation of youth for College, which formerly flourished in Amherst, Mass., but which was discontinued about fifteen years sincewas held on the eighteenth of August last, on the grounds formerly occupied by the Institution. But few of the large number which had received instruction there were present on this occasion; but the greater part of those who were absent were heard from, and a number of interesting letters were read. It was gratifying to learn that the greater portion of the pupils had become respectable and useful members of society. Among the number were the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and Henry Van Lennep, now a Missionary to Smyrna, his native place. Mr. D. H. Howard, to whom we are indebted for valuable aid in conducting this Magazine, was also a pupil of this school.

On separating, it was voted to hold a similar meeting at the same place, in ten years from the present time.

MEXICAN PEONS.-Although, as it is well known, the Mexican Constitution prohibits slavery, there still exists in that country a large class of individuals, styled peons, who are in a condition hardly differing from that of slaves. A man comes into this condition either by being sold for his debts, or by voluntary contract to obtain a desired sum of money, to be repaid by personal service, at a stipulated price per month. The peon is in many respects as fully under the power of his master as an American slave, and is also subject to the lash. The la