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"My father entered into the everlasting

May the great God of heaven and earth bless and preserve you. I trust in the blood of Christ. Be always religious; fear and love God. You may go; you can be of no service to me here.""

ing stroke from the Duke, it was my opinion | side, and preserved a memorandum of his that our Ministers would conclude the set- last hours. tling the peace of this unhappy country. And the forming a system for preventing life of God, trusting, hoping, and believing proceedings so dangerous and destructive through the blood of Christ, eternal life and for the future, required the most mature happiness. When I first saw my father on deliberation. I must confess I had vanity the bed of death, his blessing and prayer to enough to imagine, that I should have been me was- My dear John, you have just called upon for my sentiments on that sub-come in time to see your poor father die. ject, as my zeal ought to have been unsus- May the great God of heaven and earth pected, and as the consideration of it was ever bless and preserve you! You have delicate, and to my thinking, of very great come to a very poor fortune, partly through consequence. If I had not known more my own extravagance, and the oppression than most people of the complexion of the of power. I am sure you will forgive me, country, I could not have performed half because what I did was with a good intenthe service that such of our leaders as are tion. I know you to be an honest-hearted in tolerable good humor with me, affect to lad-Andrew Mitchell loves you affectiontell me, they believe I did. But to my ately-my heart bleeds for poor John Steel great convenience, though not much to the-I recommend him to you. There is but satisfaction of my mind, the undertakers one thing I repent me of in my whole life for quieting and for keeping quiet this part-not to have taken better care of you. of the Island, have not given me the trouble of answering them any question; neither have they dropt the least signification, that my attendance is wanted, where those things are to be consulted about. This, dear Andrew, is my present situa- And thus he died, according to the unition; and as the duty of my office required versal opinion, of a broken heart. A deep my attendance in this place (unless it had, melancholy laid him prostrate; he was under the Royal sign-manual, been dis- unable to endure the outrages which he had pensed with), you would not at all wonder no influence to prevent. His was not one at my being where I now am. What may of those minds which sink in self-estihappen when the term is over, and when mation, to the level to which the world has my duty no longer requires my attendance reduced them, and accommodate themselves in this place, I cannot exactly say. I know with equanimity to their fortune. how little likely advice obtruded is to pre-liberal for his own interest, and too sensivail; and yet I am not certain that the tive for his own happiness, he became the same sort of zeal, flowing from the same principles that led me northwards after the last summer session, may not lead southwards after this. I am sensible the opposition I may now meet with is more formidable, and less likely to be got the better of by my puny influence, than that of the Highlanders appeared to me to be last year. But if, upon summing up all considerations, when I have some more leisure than I possess at present, it shall appear to me to be my duty to move towards you, I certainly shall march."

He did not long survive this. His death took place in December, 1747, at the comparatively early age of 62. A few weeks before he died, he wrote his son, advising him "to go to London, where I believe I may have some friends yet. They will tell the King that his faithful servant Duncan Forbes has left you a very poor man. Farewell." His son hurried to his bed

Too

victim of an exquisite sensibility, under the calumnies of malice and the judgments of ignorance; and the struggle ended, as in kindred natures it has often done, in entire dereliction of himself and despondency at last.

It is difficult to speak of such a man as Forbes, without ascending to extravagance and hyperbole. If he was not one of the flaming constellations which has shot to its station in the heavens, he was, at least, one of the few of the departed great, that will live in Scottish history. Of such, we have only four or five in all; and in ranking the patriot of the 18th, with the two great Reformers of the 16th centuries, and with the heroes of the war of Independence, we do no injustice to their glorious memory. has the same claim, in his patriotic labors, to our gratitude and applause. There was no apathy with him, dead to all feeling but what was personal; and while, like all men,

He

he could bear another's misfortunes very much like a Christian, he differed from most men in this, that he never rested till he had relieved them; nor, under the mask of sentiment, did he allow interest or vanity to speak. Though loving retirement, he did not court it at the expense of duty; and as soon as he had taken and comprehended the dimensions of his country's wants, he urged forward with an energy that never slackened till the day he died, that country's regeneration.

Like the Reformers of the 16th century, we find him always practical-never lost among dreams, and broken thoughts, and wild imaginations; but, under the guidance of a shrewd, experienced sagacity, he unquestionably did more for the land of his birth, than all the Scotsmen, of every rank, in the whole century in which he lived. The eulogy of Thomson, who knew him well, has consecrated the name of one, who with talents to conduct, to persuade, and to command, never forgot his high mission as an apostle of humanity.

"Thee, Forbes, too, whom every worth attends,
As truth sincere, as weeping friendship kind;
Thee truly generous and in silence great,
Thy country feels through her reviving arts,
Plann'd by thy wisdom, by thy soul inform'd,
And seldom has she known a friend like thee."

Or take the better delineation by the great

master of character:

"His life was gentle, and the elements

So mix'd in him, that nature might stand up
And say to all the world, this was a man."

In his most prosperous days, when he was the correspondent of the great statesmen and lawyers of the South, and swaying the whole influence of Government in Scotland, he was as natural and true-hearted as when a young lad on his father's hills. To the baser passions he was a strangerwithout servility as without avarice; and even the ambition of fame he little cared for. It was not for that he labored. We question if he once thought of self, in the long life of self-sacrifice he lived. It would be unjust to say less than this; it would be difficult to inflict more praise than he deserved, or to express the extent of our obligation in language too eulogistic. Vigorous measures, promptitude of decision and of action, a determined will and clear perspicacity, he united to a nature gentle and lovable, considerate with regard to human frailty, and generous in its estimate of

human motive. The finest hair casts a shadow, and he had his failings, like all men; but his generous aspirations, and his labors of a lifetime, will excuse errors arising from too profound sensibility, warmth of heart, and passionate enthusiasm for what promised prosperity to his country.

Such is the man of whom it may be said, that antiquity can offer nothing more touching than his death, or modern times more honorable than his life. Nothing more illustrates the inborn loftiness of his character, than the magnanimity with which he was inspired, amid his own fallen fortunes and ruined hopes, at the long train of proscriptions, beneath which he despaired of any resurrection of his country's prosperity and independence. It would have saved him at least one pang, had he lived a few years longer, to behold how, out of the arbitrary doings of a ruthless soldiery, liberty arose; how prosperity sprang from conquest, and a nation was saved even in being subdued.

Yet, after all, how dim is the reputation of this lawyer statesman even in the country which his virtues adorned. His fame yields to that of the poor poets whom he cherished. His friend Thomson, and even Allan Ramsay, can boast a wider celebrity. It has thus ever been the case with those ries. How obscure, for example, is the whose labors are spent upon contemporafame of Pitt, or Fox, or Mansfield, or Thurlow, when compared with that of the contemporary writers who have left enduring memorials of their genius-Gibbon, Hume, Goldsmith, or Burke. Any book, therefore, to preserve such men "against the tooth of time and razure of oblivion," would be a service to mankind. Even as it was, the knowledge of Forbes's history was becoming known to others than a few readers of the Scots Magazine, or a few black letter lawyers. The passing traveller now pays a visit to Culloden Moor, for other purposes than to get melancholy on its reminiscences; and what the Roman orator has eloquently said, as to the localities of Athenian patriotism, is coming true of one, of whom even the rugged Warburton could thus speak-" I knew and venerated the man; one of the greatest that ever Scotland bred, as a judge, a patriot, and a Christian."

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Aн, happy childhood! I look back to thee
With joy unspeakable. Through all the pain
And sufferance of thought's infinity

Have thy bright visions hovered o'er my brain,
Like pictures in the firmament of Heaven.
And in the horrid sloughs of wild despair,
And in the darkness that to doubt is given,

Then Faith shall come, and lead thee by the hand
Into the temple of thy holy sorrow;

And thou again, a little child, shalt stand
And worship evermore, without a morrow.
The Godlike Martyr on his cross shall be
The great Exemplar of thy life and aim,
The type of conquering humanity,

And thou shalt dwell in him, and he in thee, the

same.

And 'mid the twilight gloom of those lone isles,
In meditation wrapped, thine eyes shall see
All heavenly secrets; and the dusky piles

Thy golden glory rushing, has burst through the air, Of pillared arches, with their imagery

And kindled with fresh flames the altar fire,
Long dead as ashes in my weary heart.
Ah, happy childhood! Thou canst not expire;
Thy glorious dreams and images are part
Of God's invisible, eternal life.

Strange, mystic, wonderful, and wise art thou,
If man could find thee out amid his strife,

And read thy burning eyes, and thine immortal
brow.

Ah, happy childhood! Thou art ever free
From the sad plight of unproductive years;
Thy temple is the cloistered canopy;
Thy anthems are the music of the spheres;

And thy young soul goes forth in storm and shine,
Nor doubts the deep religion;-but reposes,
With sweet and holy truthfulness divine,

In every marvellous truth which nature's book dis-
closes.

No more!-I sing no more of childhood's dreams,
Far reaching in the infinite profound;
Its wild, deep insight of eternal themes,
And purity which makes earth holy ground.
And now, poor child, another lore is taught,
And worldly reasonings stupify thy brain.
From wrapt unconsciousness thou wak'st to thought
Whose fiery presence burns thy being like a pain.

And thou must pass through many trying states;
Through fires baptismal ere thou come to bliss;
Through gloomy realms, inhabited by fates,
And lurid darkness where the tempter is.
And doubt and agony thy soul shall tear,
In the great shadow of the vale of death;
And thou shalt dwell in dungeons of despair,

Till hope unlock the bars, and give thy spirit
breath.

Symbolical, shall flame like vivid speech.
And man's great destiny shall be revealed
In visions, which no intellect can reach,

And which, save Sorrow's worshippers, to all are
sealed.

From Lowe's Magazine.

OLD FRIENDS.

O! MIGHTY is the spell that lies

In having shared life's spring-time weather;
The heart has some deep melodies
Old friends alone can sing together.

And all the charms of April hours,
Of sunny joys, and transient tears,
Linger, like dew on early flowers,
Round friendships of life's morning years.

We may have other, holier ties-
We may be severed far and wide;
(And dearer, deeper sympathies,
For all, and each, may Heaven provide !)

But still the sealed up, sweet spring,-
The fountain of life's freshness gone,
Where Hope first bathed her rainbow wing,-
Can flow for early friends alone.

And still when bows the suppliant knee
To blend beloved names in prayer,
The sweet, sad voice of memory
Whispers of early loved ones there.

295

From Jerrold's Magazine.
HYMN TO THE SPRING.

BY JOHN HAMILTON DAVIS.

SWEET prime of Spring!
Delicious freshness in thy earliest breath
Fills all the earth, as, after Winter's death,
On fleet and dewy wing

Thy myriad beauties rise,
Chequered with a thousand dyes,

In wood and vale, from morn to eve, Where lovely nymphs unseen, their flowery garlands weave.

Sweet, lulling Spring!

Thrice welcome art thou in thy leafy stole,
Thrilling with ecstasy the expectant soul,
When many zephyrs bring

Thy incense-odors rare

Sweet perfumes on thy balmy air,
Offerings of the flowers to thee,

Hight Queen of all their hosts-fair-zoned majesty.
Returning Spring!

Of old, they worshipped thee where fountains well

Amid the groves, and Naiads syllable

In dulcet murmuring

Thine ever-gladdening name;

And flowery-kirtled maidens came
To bend them lowly at thy shrine,

When, to the soul of man, thy beauty showed divine.

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THERE'S ONE COMING.

BY EDWARD YOUL.

I HAVE seen an infant born,
With clear light in his eyes like morn;
He won my heart-he is so mild;
He is very strong for so young a child.

He cries,-I have sent my heralds before
The Press and the Railroad, and fifty more;
And all will know me when I come,
Though I wave no banner, and beat no drum.

The king awaketh out of his sleep;
The priest hath started from slumber deep;
The rich man taketh his hoarded wealth,
And giveth it wings, for his soul's health.

And all men look for-they know not what;
But poor men look for a better lot;
And each prepareth, as he can,
For the child that is almost a man.

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PROGRESS OF THE BRITISH NATION. It is only pieces of calico per week was the utmost a handfrom the commencement of the present century that loom weaver could produce; but the steam-loom anything like correct population returns have been weaver of the present day produces, with an asreceived. The increase in the first half of last cen-sistant, twenty-two such pieces in the same space tury was omitting fractions-not more than 17 per of time. The article of bobbin-net employs nearly cent.; in the second half it rose to 52 per cent. The number added to the population of the kingdom from 1801 to 1841, was 10,700,000, but in 1846, this had risen to 12,000,000; nearly as much as the whole number of inhabitants in 1811. This increase is in a ratio 3 to 1 greater than that of France, which country doubles her population but once in a century, while England doubles hers in fifty years.

In 1801, the number of marriages was 67,288; in 1840, 115,548. The number of houses in the first year of the century was 1,467,870, but in 1841 it had increased to 2,753,295, or nearly double in the space of forty years; the yearly value at the latter period was L.23,386,401, in 1815 it amounted to L.14,290,889. To meet the wants of the rapidly increasing population, an addition of house accommodation to the amount of L.10,000,000, and 1,000,000 tons of shipping, are required annually. With an increasing population we have a decreasing rate of mortality. In 1700, 1 in 39 died; in 1800, 1 in 47.

The number of persons employed in agriculture has diminished, and in manufactures increased. Where formerly the labor of seven families was required to produce a certain amount of food, the same quantity is now raised by five. Between the years 1811 and 1831, the agricultural class increased 7 per cent., and the trading and manufacturing class 34 per cent.

The greatest progress is seen in manufactures: the exports of woollen goods, which in 1829 were between four and five millions, now exceed L.8,000,000 annually. Between the years 1835 and 1839, one hundred and thirty-two woollen and worsted factories were built in addition to those already existing, and the increase of operatives in those branches of industry for the same period was 15,137. It is well known that the population of some of the Yorkshire towns, the principal seat of the woollen trade, has more than doubled since the commencement of the century.

In 1801, 54,203,433 pounds of cotton were imported; but so unparalleled has been the increase in this branch of trade, that the quantity entered in 1844 was 554,196,602 pounds. In the same year the value of cotton goods exported was L.25,805,348, having increased from L.16,516,748 in 1820. Two

two hundred thousand persons in its manufacture, at an annual expenditure in wages of L.2,500,000. The linen trade of Ireland has shared in the general expansion; the value of linen goods exported having advanced in the first quarter of the century from L.34,000,000 to L.55,000,000.

The progress of steam navigation is striking. In 1814, the United Kingdom and colonies owned but two steam vessels; in 1815, they had 10; in 1820, 43; in 1830, 315; and in 1844, 988. Scotland, which took the lead in steam navigation, has ever since shown a large proportional list of vessels. Of the above 988, England had 679, Scotland 137, Ireland 81, Guernsey, &c., 3; and the colonies 88. The total burden was 125,675 tons. The number of steam vessels in all the world besides, is stated in another table at 719, of which the United States had 261, and France 119. It thus appears that Scotland has more steam vessels than all France.

The diminution in the number of capital punishments is perhaps the most hopeful indication of moral progress. Not more than twenty-five years ago, it was not at all uncommon to hang one hundred criminals in the course of twelve months. From 1805 to 1825 there were one thousand six hundred and fourteen executions; from 1825 to 1845 six hundred and twenty-six. Of the latter, one hundred and eleven have been hanged in the last ten years-less than the number executed in

1813 alone.

GERMAN SINGING FESTIVAL-It may not be amiss to inform those who in the ensuing summer intend to visit Germany, that in the month of July a great Sänger Fest-singing-festival-is to be held at Ratisbon. A similar one took place a year or two ago at Wurzburg. It is a custom in Germany for the inhabitants of the different towns to form what they call a Lieder Kränz; a club, or society, of those possessing good voices and some knowledge of music. They meet together on certain days of the week to practise their songs; and when a certain number have been thoroughly studied, an evening is appointed for a concert, to which their friends and their families are invited. We have never heard anything finer than the choruses of male voices, the quartetts and quintetts, sung on such occasions. But to return to the Ratis

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