'Twas early on a Sunday morn;
And so the maiden fair
Had put her very best dress on,
And decked herself for service,
With neat and comely care.

In pretty shame, with cheek on fire,
Before him did she stand,

He placed on her the golden tire,
The ringlet on her finger,
And pressed her little hand.

"My Helen sweet, my Helen dear,
The jest is over now;

What bride shall claim the pretty gear,
The jewelled gold-bright garland,
And little ring, but thou?

With gold and pearl and precious gem,

Hast thou grown up to be

As, sweet, thou shouldst have learnt from them-
The share of high honor,

In after days, with me."

A. PLATT.

The Last Hours of McCallum More..

eternity sleeping as sweetly as ever man did. But as for me-'

"And now the earl had risen from his bed, and had prepared himself for what was yet to be endured. He was first brought down the High Street to the Council House, where he was to remain during the short interval which was still to elapse before the execution. During that interval he asked for pen and ink and wrote to his wife. Dear heart, God is unchangeable. He hath always been good and gracious to me; and no place alters it. Forgive me all my faults; and now comfort thyself in him, in whom only true comfort is to be found. The Lord be with thee, bless and comfort thee, my dearest. Adieu.'

'It was now time to leave the Council House. The divines who attended the prisoner were not of his own persuasion; but he listened to them with civility, and exhorted them to caution their flocks against those doctrines which all Protestant churches unite in condemning. He mounted the scaffold where the rude old guillotine of Scotland, called the Maiden, awaited him, and addressed the people in a speech, tinctured with the peculiar phraseology of his sect, but breathing the spirit of serene piety. His enemies, he said, he forgave, as he hoped to be forgiven. Only a single acrimonious expression escaped

-“So effectually had religious faith and hope, co-operating with natural courage and equanimity, composed his (Argyle's) spirits, that on the very day on which he was to die, he dined with him. One of the Episcopal clergymen who atappetite, conversed with gayety at table, and after his last meal, lay down, as he was wont, to take a short slumber, in order that his body and mind might be in full vigor when he should mount the scaffold. At this time one of the lords of the council, who had probably been bred a Presbyterian, and had been seduced by interest to join in oppressing the Church of which he had once been a member, came to the castle with a message from his brethren, and demanded admittance to the earl. It was answered that the earl was asleep. The privy counsellor thought that this was a subterfuge, and insisted on entering. The

and

tended him went to the edge of the scaffold and called out in a loud voice, My Lord dies a Protestant.' 'Yes,' said the earl, stepping forward, and not only a Protestant, but with a heart-hatred of popery, of prelacy, and of all superstition.' He then embraced his friends, put into their hands some tokens of remembrance for his wife and children, kneeled down, laid his head on the block, prayed for a little space, and gave the signal to the executioner."

The above account of the closing scenes in the life of Argyle cannot, we think, be presented to

door of the cell was softly opened, and there lay Argyle on the bed, sleeping in his irons the placid sleep of infancy. The conscience of the when the interests of the Church were less those renegade smote him. He turned away sick at heart, ran out of the castle, and took refuge in of Christ, than of the State; when the prevailthe dwelling of a lady of his family who lived ing form of worship, upheld by the adherents of hard by. There he flung himself on a couch, the reigning power, was maintained, not out of love even to outward rites, still less to the spirit gave himself up to an agony of remorse and embodied in them, but from attachment to the shame. His kinswoman, alarmed by his looks and family whose accession to the throne had rendergroans, thought that he had been taken sick with sudden illness, and begged him to drink a cup ed allegiance to the Establishment a test of loyof sack. No, no,' he said, that will do me alty. no good.' She prayed him to tell her what had disturbed him. I have been,' he said, 'in Argyle's prison. I have seen him within an hour of

any contemplative mind without awakening in it

a deep interest in the character and fate of that

chieftain, the victim of intolerance in an age

6

• Macaulay's History of England. Vol. 1, p. 522.

A detail of the great events accompanying the rise and fall of empires, is, we conceive, but part of the province of the historian; the mind desires to look beneath into the character of those by whom these great events were wrought out,

to follow causes to their effects, and to trace amid | firm the faith of him who, bound with fetters, the tumultuous tide of affairs the hidden under-shortly to be unloosed only that he might tread current by which society is borne along.

the road to the scaffold, yet lay down and slumbered tranquilly and peacefully as an infaut. Perhaps visions of childhood's days came thronging in among the dreams of that last slumber, and he again basked in the sunlight of life's morning hours, forgetting the kaleidoscopic scenes which succeeding years brought before his view, and his own transformation from the head of a powerful and attached clan, to the doomed prisoner of a Crown to which he might not own allegiance.

But especially is it interesting to the religious mind, whatever peculiar views it may have embraced, to mark,-in an age of persecution for opinion's sake, in a land whose fair fields were still reddened by the glare of martyr-fires, where the struggle for truth was the struggle between life and death, the steady adherence to conviction, which neither exile could subdue, nor the sure prospect of torture and death overcome. It is not a question of mere conformity or nonconformity to established opinions; there has ever been Or perhaps the past came no longer before the heard in the heart of man a voice speaking from gaze of one who was so shortly to pass beyond a higher than an earthly throne, and in a tone more the reach of earthly cares and sorrows; but incommanding than that of earthly potentate, and stead, visioned glories such as eye hath not seen which from earliest ages, when the "seed of the nor ear heard, may have dawned upon his soul :church" was scattered far and wide, has ech-no scaffold rose up between with its horrid appaoed the Apostle's defence,--"we ought to obey ratus of destruction, but a tranquil and holy rest God rather than man." The voice of conscience stole upon the waiting spirit-"for so He giveth in the soul has, in all times, prompted individuals, his Beloved sleep." exposed to different influences, and consequently embracing different tenets, to contend earnestly for that faith which they considered to have been delivered to the saints, and to seal their devotion, when called upon to do so, with their

The touching letter of Argyle to his wife contains still further testimony to the undiminished confidence which he felt in the love of that Master whom he served-"God is unchangeable. He hath always been good and gracious to me; and blood. no place alters it." And so he found it to the All honor to such men! We may or we may end. His sins against his Maker (among which not agree with them upon the points for which he included having at one time, through a misthey yielded up their dearest hopes on earth, taken sense of loyalty, employed his influence sooner than peril their hopes of heaven; but we cannot even in this land of toleration, and after the lapse of centuries, look back upon the records of their fidelity and perseverance and not call their names with a feeling of veneration. We The chronicler has characterized as acrimonimay even contend against the errors which they held dear as truths, but let us render all justice to the affection with which they clung to what they had received as sacred, ascending trustfully the scaffold sooner than retract one iota of what they had proclaimed.

"Deal gently, kindly, with the thoughts that guide
The weakest brother straying from thy side:
If right, they bid thee tremble for thine own,
If wrong, the verdict is for God alone."

How firm a support reliance upon convictions of duty can afford; how truly in faith alone consists that victory which overcometh the world, is well exemplified in the contrast afforded by Argyle, "sleeping sweetly within an hour of eternity," and the faithless peer who, traitor to himself, if not to his country, was unable to bear the sight of the slumbering prisoner, and whose unfinished sentence tells a more impressive tale of a heart turned from its early allegiance, wearing out an aimless life, embittered by self-accusation, than written volumes could have done.

Calm indeed must have been the conscience,

against the Covenanters) and the faults which he had committed against his king had been long ago repented of, and the listening crowd around the scaffold heard his forgiveness of his enemies.

ous his expression "dying in heart-hatred of popery, of prelacy, and of all superstition;" but to us, though attached to the doctrines and worship of that church which the state power in England has established and allied with itself, these words of the Duke but seem to breathe a steady adherence to what he conceived right, and detestation of principles which the stern code that he acknowledged had denounced as erroneous. We hear no rebuke of individuals: he had just declared his forgiveness of his enemies, yet with his dying breath he bore testimony against those systems which he considered as subversive of the liberties of upright men.

An affectionate interview with some friends

who were present during that trying hour then took place, kindly remembrances were expressed of the absent loved ones, and the lofty soul which strove to bear with calmness these heart-rending struggles once more composed itself in prayer

"One prayer! what mercy taught us prayer! As dews On drooping herbs, as sleep tired life renews,

As dreams that lead and lap our hearts in Heaven,
Prayer to the soul-dew, sleep, and dream-is given."
The words of that supplication went up before
the mercy-seat, and ere its echoes had died away displayed in discovering how to bear testimony

there, the liberated spirit of Argyle was among

those around the Throne.

Boston, Mass.

M. F. D.

THE ARTIST'S EVENING SONG.

FROM THE GERMAN OF GOETHE.

O that the wild creative might,

That through my soul is flushing,

In one fair form could spring to light,
Out of my fingers gushing!

I only stammer in my zeal,

And trembling yet essay thee;
Still Nature, thee, I know, I feel,
And thus must 1 portray thee.

Reflected I, for many years,

My soul unclosed its powers,
As when in barren wastes, appears
A well-spring decked with flowers.

Nature, I yearn thine own to be,

Thee, true and lovely feeling,
A joyous fountain still to me,
Through thousand channels stealing.

And now my art, my soul's high prize,
Light on my mind is pouring,
And soon these flutt'ring thoughts shall rise,
Through boundless ages soaring.

Staunton, Va.

C. C. L.

MR. VATTEMARE.

"Aut agitur in scenis, aut acta refertur.-Non tamen intus
Digna geri promes in scenam: multaque tolles,
Ez oculis; quæ mox narret facundia præsens."

Hor. Ar. Poet.

them with surprise, no less by their value and variety, than as proofs of the talent and good conduct which alone could have elicited them. Indeed, the utmost ingenuity seems to have been to the grandeur and magnificence of the plan,

and the disinterested labors of its inventor. Nor have these testimonials been bestowed alone by the great and noble of the earth—they, indeed, have offered of their abundance-but the poor, also, of their penury.

"Te pauper ambit solicitâ prece,
Ruris colonus, te domina æquoris."

The emperor of half the world sends his jewelled and costly offering; the working man, the fruit of his self-denial and toil. The mitred Roman or Episcopal bishop unites with the rigid Calvinist and the simple-minded Quaker in a common eulogy. The legislator lifts up his voice in the council chamber, and then, with the eloquent fervor of a disciplined and experienced mind, commits his thoughts to a more durable record, and there his offering lies, and by its side the more touching tribute of woman's admiration for disinterested and laborious effort. Here is the direct business-like letter of the merchant, and the more aspiring brief-like testimonial of the lawyer. Youth writes with a heart overflowing with enthusiasm at a scheme which realizes more than his excited imagination had ever conceived; the ordinary expressions of congratulation and panegyric are all too formal and cold for his burning zeal; in his eyes, instead of the laborious pioneer in a new, but rich and promising department of philanthropic enterprise, Mr. Vattemare appears exalted above the failings of humanity, a benificent visitor from a purer region, a star like that which shone upon the shepherds of old, when the voices of innumerable angels chanted in the mid-heaven: "Peace on earth, good will to men." With such feelings, is it wonderful that difficulties vanish, and melt away like the dew? He considers the prize of victory as already won-he sees the productions of science and art already scattered over all lands, and man united into one great brotherhood-and his heart glows with gratitude and admiration, as he pours forth his feelings in a eulogy which shrinks from the cool criticism of experience and reality.

Books have been presented by hundreds, and rings, medals, crosses, portraits. Tributes there are, voluntary and well earned tributes of admiThe numerous testimonials which Mr. Vatte-ration and sympathy, which Mr. Vattemare has mare has received from the most eminent per- received from the first poets of the day, as well sonages of the age, must have struck those who as from many an unknown, though not uninhave had the good fortune to see even a tithe of spired follower of the Muse. Artists of all na

specimen is written in a free, bold hand, and is not better executed than many which may be met with. It expresses gratitude to the powers of Christendom for their aid in recovering the independence of Greece, and the appointment of a king to aid the Greeks in arriving at their former glory.

tions have employed their best powers in the tory,—the language of the ancient Greeks. The cause, happy in being allowed to contribute to the World's Album, and of extending their own renown, or at least their name, to the ends of the earth. A thousand productions from a thousand different pencils, have already been pressed into the service, as the first fruits of the glorious harvest which art, united and purified by the communication and free intercourse of her followers A few lines of Arabic come next, on repenthroughout the world, will, one day or other, pourtance and the fear of God; a distich on fidelity into the common treasury, for the common bene- to promises, and another describing ignorance as fit of the race. the most dangerous of all maladies.

From the mass of testimonials - thus various The fourth specimen is in ancient Hebrew, a and valuable, there is one which is worthy of language which, like the Slavenski and ancient particular notice, as the most singular contri- Greek, can scarcely be said to be spoken in the bution ever made to a private individual, or to Russian empire, or any where else, although once the cause of science. It consists of a collection spoken, not only in Palestine, but in Phœnecia, of autographs, nineteen in number, and written Syria, Arabia, and Ethiopia. It is written in in nineteen different languages, by as many per-square characters, without points, and is sursons, natives of the different portions of the Rus-rounded by a border of bluish red. sian dominions, where these languages are in There is also given a specimen of the Geruse. This unique collection was presented to man language, such as is used by the Jews in Mr. Vattemare, at St. Petersburg, in 1834, by Russia, said to be, in most respects, the same as Count Néselrode, then Chancellor of the Rus- the language used by the English Jews in their sian empire, and Prime Minister of Foreign Af-commercial affairs. The following is a transla fairs. By the aid of a French translation, we tion of the paragraph, which no Christian can propose to give a slight sketch of these various specimens to the readers of the Messenger who may not have had an opportunity of seeing the originals, although all the interest arising from the beautiful execution, the singularity and variety of the different and uncouth characters of the languages must necessarily be lost by a mere description.

"Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem,
Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus."

read without interest; happily for humanity, and for forlorn, but not forsaken Israel, the picture here drawn is, in the main, correct:

"The Jews scattered throughout the western and southern provinces of Russia, enjoy the protection of an enlightened government. They exercise freely the worship of their fathers, and engage without molestation, in commerce, and other branches of industry, which offer them the means of subsistence and of advancing their interests."

Next in order come several specimens of Persian-the language of gentle affections, of love, bright eyes and flowers that never fade. Blessings and thanks be to those who are opening up

transplanting to the cold North its fragrant and magnificent shrubs, to perfume and adorn

The collection begins with the nineteenth Psalm, in the Slavenski language, said by the learned, to have been the literary language of to the English public its concealed riches, and Russia, until the beginning of the last century. The manuscript is in imitation of print, and the initial letter of each verse is red. The characters are, many of them, like those of the Greek, and not a few like those of the English alphabet, some of them in appearance identical. The whole is surrounded by a bordering of paint like gold-leaf.

The second is a specimen of that wonderful language which has attracted the reverence and admiration of all ages, ancient and modern, for its plastic power, and fitness to express, with ease and fidelity, alike the most delicate and almost unappreciable shades and distinctions of philosophic thought-the light graces of fancy-the scorching irresistible torrent of patriotic eloquence, and the high and sober dignity of his

The sober gardens of our English song,
Not bare before, and naked to the view,
Nor fruitless; but with modest beauty deck'd,
"The tufted crow-toe and pale jessamine,
"The white pink, and the pansy streaked with jet,

"The glowing violet,

"The musk-rose, and the well attired wood-hine, "With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head." And flowers of a thousand thousand hues.

The Persian language, at least that of it which