among the Tyrolese peasants, and in the Swiss | author of the Seasons was brought up on the Lidvallies. We do not know what the reality might del, or the manses where Armstrong, Robertson, be, but the Swiss are a very interesting people Mickle, the translator of the Lusiad, and Withviewed through the imagination. But of all peo- erspoon, were reared, and the kirks where Lople the Scotch, perhaps, are the most remarkable gan, Horne and Blair, the author of the Grave, in keeping the Sabbath, from the Highlands to officiated. the Tweed. The only regular poem ever written The imagination often takes delight in the about the sacred day, was by James Grahame, morning scenes of this world, when objects wore who was born near Glasgow in 1765, and who their first gloss. What mind can be so destitute was first a lawyer and then a minister. He of taste as never to have thought of the first sevsketched out and filled up in his poem a Scottish enth after the six days in which Creation had Sunday, weaving round about it the scenery been finished up to its last embellishments? The which Burns has depicted with a bolder, but not pencil of the imagination is here powerless and with so soft a pencil. The scenery of Scotland falls away from the grasp even of the most skildiffers from that of England in many obvious ful delineator.

66

points. Its wildness is certainly one of those How sweet was the dawn of that day when points, unless the lake country be an exception, the Creator's eye beheld the wonder he had and we admit the latter to be highly romantic. reared-an orb which had just started on its Nor do we know where more justice has been eventful race. Were there mountains near done to it, than by Dr. Arnold, who was master Eden, then the hues of light which painted them of the Rugby School in Warwickshire, and who on the seventh day must have been enchanting cultivated a little spot in Westmoreland, called to the eye of the first man beneath the flowering Fox How. Fox How became to him a kind of almond tree on the lawn of Eden. All was still studio, from the interior of which he took a more in that garden. Still when the sun arose-still exact likeness of the country than Southey or at his meridian-and still at twilight, save when Wordsworth. But when we cross the Tweed, the lion romped in his crown of flowers, or the we come in contact with stone kirks and man-play of the tiger drew smiles from his keeper, or ses-with friths and locks-with a profusion of when the lama darted aside to browse, or when hawthorn glens and harebell dales-with moun- the rivers dashed together in melodious concert, tains, braes and burns over which the breath of or when the wings of celestial visitants rustled the Muses has been richly blown. In connec- at the gates and those visitants left their purple tion with such objects Grahame has treated his stoles and their unclasped sandals before the forsubject. It is a poem far before his Birds of bidden tree, and their diadems sparkling among Scotland," and superior to Byron's Hebrew Mel- the amaranths around the tree of Life. There odies, or Tom Moore's sacred pieces. We can- is poetry in the beginning of the world: but not forgive Byron for his attack on the author of where are the poets? Shall we speak of Bythe "Sabbath," in his celebrated satire. It was ron's Cain, or Moore's Loves of the Angels, one well for him to wrestle down Lord Brougham the bard of skepticism and the other of wine? and draw a few drops from Lord Jeffrey's blood No, we will speak of Gesner, because, though not and break Southey's neck: but to assault one of great he was good, and of Montgomery's "World our favorite poets was a mortal sin. Here was before the Flood," because in all the charming a lowly pastor who lived in a country parish, of productions of its author, he is on the side of kind feelings to the hedger and the herb woman, virtue, of philanthropy and good will to his race. who went out of the tread-mill of his profession He is not so flashy as Moore, for Moore looks at to fling the sound of his lute over the Sabbath, things through a sensual prism, while Montgomand yet Lord George attacks him with relentless ery has always employed a chastened kaleidomercy. He might just as well have bruised a scope.* And in this connection we would speak violet because it was meek, or shot at a harebell of Milton, did not the builder of Paradise Lost and thus wasted his fire when hunting after ravenous wolves.

demand a chapter instead of a sentence. His mind was like some vast cathedral wherein his strains could rise to celestial devotion, or fall away to the lowlier homage of earth, intermingling with the storm of melody the brief sonnet

But to leave this episode, and get back to our theme. Our imagination has quite as of ten been occupied with the Scottish manses, as with the rectories of England. We have and the inspiring hymn. wished to send as on magnetic wires our Sabbath feelings to old Caledonia, and to receive in return cards on which Scottish objects are pic

In that Sabbath reverie, which the writer is

* One of the most interesting hours the writer has ever

tured. To a person of simple tastes it is enter-spent, was in conversation with Joseph Gales, senior, who taining to look at the Ednam manse, where the was well acquainted with Montgomery.

VOL. XV-29

THE POET TO HIS WIFE.

BY REV. JOHN C. M'CABE.

When my soul was darkened over with sorrow's shadowy
I met thee first, my gentle one, amid a heartless crowd,

cloud;

And thy soft and lute-like breathings came so sweetly on

trying to recall, he could not help indulging a few
reflections on subjects a little serious. Abel's
crook and the rod of the Hebrew legislator, and
the manna which pattered all night on tents once
planted in Arabia's deserts, and the wand of
Joshua, came up as well as Jubal's lyre. Greece
is covered all over with a classic mantle; but
over the face of Palestine Heaven has thrown a
mantle on which many moral pictures have been
wrought out in threads of all beautiful colors.
There is Tabor's cone-and there are the heights
of Carmel-and the bulky cedars of Lebanon-They
and the purple rocks of Calvary, celebrated by
Pope and Bishop Heber and a hundred travellers,
and of which Tasso sung in noble verse.
there are the blue waters of Gennesareth and
the reeds of the Jordan. And there are olive
trees under which a great pilgrim used once to
pause, and fig trees from which he pulled the
fruit. There too lived some Sabbath poets, to
whom we need not refer.

And We met again, my gentle one, where music's power was
felt,

And songs of touching melody made sternest natures melt;
But one sweet voice above the rest,-its calm and silvery
I knew, my loved, my gentle one-could only be thine

tone,

own.

ing on,

In quest of some sweet sister star, which from its sphere

had gone;

In our reverie we could not help casting out a We stood beneath the calm blue sky-the stars were marchthought to those good men who, in their different corners, are telling of the Sabbath to many who never heard that word before; but let us not become theological here. It may be poetical to think of the Persian's robe, and of the scimitar of the Turk, and of the Arab's sandals, but it is not so to think of the half-closed eyelids of the New Hollanders,

And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders.

After ruminating in this way, about twilight, my Ringwood grounds looked very sweet, dressed out in the bloom of apple and peach tree orchards. The sight recalled to mind the descriptive poetry of Mrs. Hemans and the fact that this noble woman always liked the Sabbath. Among the bold mountains of Wales she sung the sacred day; and when dying among the shamrocks of the Emerald Isle, she indited to her amanuensis the lines with which we shall conclude

How many groups this hour are bending

Through England's primrose meadow-paths their way
Tow'rds spire and tower, midst shadowy elms ascending,
Whence the sweet chimes proclaim the hallowed day.

I may not tread

With them those pathways-to the feverish bed
Of sickness bound-yet O my God I bless
Thy mercy that with Sabbath peace hath filled
My chastened heart.

Ringwood Cottage, Va.

I

wooed thee in that hour, love, while all that far off sky, So blue, so bright, so beautiful, was mirrored in thine eye.

Our prayers for earth's wide brotherhood,-'twas all we had order to get over a bar. This canal is said to be to give

That men might turn from folly's ways, and in His service live.

the largest in the world, and is indeed a stupendous work! We witnessed the passage of a vessel of considerable magnitude, and were told that a short while previous, a man-of-war, mountWe're passing on—we're passing on-I do not grieve to going one hundred and twenty guns, had been car

I know we shall be happy there-His volume tells me so !

With thee, and others, dearly loved, in that blest world of ried through the enormous locks with ease and

bliss,

I know I'll find a recompense for all I've lost in this.

Now I resign the poet's shell, I sweep the lyre no more!
A nobler, higher aim is mine, the Muse's reign is o'er !
God's work, not mine,—God's cause, not mine,-call for my
efforts now,

My faith is pledged, and up on high, is writ the solemn

And now, though God despises not the precious gift of song,
And Poetry's a holy thing, though often "warped to wrong;"
Still the dear lays of early life, I would not, cannot sing,
The strain is o'er, its echoes dead, and crushed the min-
strel string.

Smithfield, Virginia, 1849.

safety.

At Berkslow we endeavored to procure a boat or a carriage to convey us to Broeck, but failed in each attempt, so nothing daunted though much disappointed and somewhat fatigued, we even determined to continue our journey on foot rather than turn back, and a rough and tough time we had of it! Broeck is several miles from Amsterdam, but alas! for us, we made a mistake in the road and thereby nearly doubled the distance. The path lay over an unfinished causeway composed of loose stones-these hurt our feet,—then the wind rose and assailed our bonnets and faces with the usual blustering rudeness of Old Boreas and his attendant gusts from the North Sea. Yet on, on we trudged with a patience and perseverance quite equal to those of the phlegmatic race through whose country we were thus toiling. At length we attained the object of our labors and quickly discerned that it was well worth the difficulties we had surmounted in getting to it. Such a peculiar! such a queer kind of a town or village we never had beheld in the course of our perigrinations, either in Europe or America, and it is surprising that no description of it has been given in any of the various narratives of Three queer Villages and other things in Holland. travellers through Holland which I have read. Indeed, we should not have known of its existWe were sojourning for a week in Amster-ence and its proximity to Amsterdam, but for the dam; the season was the fall of the year and the loquacity of our " Maitre d'Hotel," who was weather generally cold and misty ; but one morning, when it was clear and exhilirating, proposed an excursion to the country, and after debating whither we should wend our way, we decided on visiting the villages of Berkslow and Broeck, and sat out accordingly.

Reminiscences of A Traveller.

No. VIII.

what "Mrs. Malaprop" would designate as a good-natured and talkative "sort of a person.” He told us, besides, of many other things deserving the attention of "Lookers on in Holland."

Broeck is remarkable, (even in Holland where every place is neat,) for its perfect neatness and Crossing the water in a row-boat and landing tranquillity. No drawing-room could be more at the toll-house, we thence proceeded on foot to exquisitely clean than its nicely-paved alleys, for Berkslow. The houses which constitute this I cannot term them streets, they are so very, very little town are painted of divers colors-blue, narrow! They are not more than four or five red, pink, green, yellow, brown and lilach! and a feet wide, I should think, with the exception of few are painted black, thus varying from one ex- the main street, which is tolerably spacious, and treme to another, that is from being of all colors, like the others, paved with glazed and shining becoming of no color at all. The general ap- tiles, daily sprinkled with sand, probably for two pearance of the place, reminded us of Burling-purposes, to prevent one from slipping and for ton in the State of New Jersey.

the sake of tidiness. Not a vehicle of any kind We passed en route the Grand Canal of Hol- is suffered to be brought into the town, nor an land, which unites the river Wye with the Zuy-animal permitted to enter it, unless some of the der Zee, and was cut for the purpose of allow-feathered tribe may chance to alight there in the ing vessels of the largest size to reach Amster-course of an aerial excursion. In one of the dam without discharging a portion of their car-streets, we observed a small flock of crows peckgoes, which they were formerly obliged to do, in ing about quite as much at their ease as if in a

wilderness, nor did they evince the least fear or we had been perambulating, slipped, unperceived concern at our passing very near them; yet they by us, into a closet in the rear of the cottage and were not domesticated, and had alighted merely put in motion a small wheel connected with the for a short time, for in less than half-an-hour, wooden figures, by a spring ingeniously contrithey were again on the wing towards some other ved and concealed. spot.

No sooner was this spring touched than the old crone began to spin with all her might, and the old man with equal energy to wind his reel and puff smoke from a pipe he held in his mouth. Where the smoke came from, and how it was produced, Heaven knows!—we did not discover-but cheerily it curled away.

The sportsman was the only inactive one of

The houses of Broeck, like the houses of Berkslow, are of many colors, and each one has a certain door next the street, which is never opened except on the occurrence of a wedding, or a funeral in the family. At all other times the entrance is through the back doors of the dwellings, and by these may be seen, whenever there has been a fall of rain, or snow, a pair the company-perhaps he was too tired after a or pairs of wooden slippers, intended for the use of all comers, who, to avoid soiling the floors within, put off their wet shoes and leave them without, and in place of them wear the sabots. They are never in much demand, for there is little sociability or visiting among the people of the place we were told that they rarely left their homes even in fine weather; and in our ramble through the village, we did not encounter more than ten or twelve persons.

hunting excursion to move-for as we found him, so we left him, listlessly resting upon his gun.

Around the cottage was a bright array of pewter plates and dishes and some copper kettles and pans. You could almost see your face in their polished sides and surfaces; and the shelves upon which they stood were as clean and white as deal boards could be scoured.

By-the-by, I have omitted in speaking of the automatons above, to mention the most ingenious and wonderful thing in their constructionviz: that their heads and eyes moved, and it was really diverting to observe their motions and

Near the centre of the town was a pretty lake, upon the borders of which several storks were feeding. These birds are held in veneration in Holland as well as in Germany-it is deemed sacrilegious to kill them and considered a favora-glances. ble omen by the superstitious if they take up their On the way back to Amsterdam we stopped quarters in the chimney, or on the roof of a house. at several farm houses to see the arrangement of One cause of their being so valued and preserv-the cow-stables, which had been represented as ed is that they destroy venomous insects and rep-remarkably neat and clean, and verily there was tiles and the eggs of serpents. Their usual re- no exaggeration in the account. A description sort is the stable yard. of one may suffice for all, as they were very sim

We visited a beautiful garden, the property of ilar in every respect. a wealthy "Mynheer" named Bakker. Besides A long low building was divided on one side flowers and shrubs, trees and rivulets, statues and into fifteen or twenty stalls, in each stall was an miniature bridges, a pigeon and summer-house open window above a trough filled with hay, or a la Chinoise, and a green-house teeming with other food. Each cow was haltered and fastengeraniums in full blossom, it contained a rustic ed to a post, and so thoroughly curried and rubcottage which was quite a curiosity, not merely bed, that her skin was sleek and shining, and from its completeness without, but for its con- we remarked that with few exceptions, all the tents. It was a picturesque thing with a low cows we saw were black and spotted with white. thatched roof and a single apartment furnished When the cold is severe a woolen cover is girted in the usual style of such dwellings. In it, on to keep them warm. The floors of the stalls three automatons, or wooden figures, were were planked and there were pipes for conveyseated on rush-bottom chairs-an old woman ing water and cleansing them several times a with a spinning-wheel before her, an old man holding a reel, and a sportsman with a gun. On the side of the building opposite the Each was painted, dressed and arranged so nat- stalls, was a range of doors communicating with urally, and was so life-like in appearance, that the various apartments of the family and with on seeing them unexpectedly, we involuntarily the dairy, than which nothing could be more started and for a moment believed we had intru- complete. Its capacious basins of cream and ded upon the domestic privacy of a living group. milk, and golden-hued pots of butter, were temptScarcely had we recovered from this surprise ing to behold! The main passage of the house, when another was given us. While we were and I believe the only one, was this space bebusy in examining the automatons, our cicerone, tween the stalls and doors described, but it was who was the gardener of the earthly paradise not in the least disagreeable—such perfect clean

day.

T

On these farms large quantities of excellent butter and cheese are made, the sale of which contributes mainly to the support of their thrifty

liness and order prevailed throughout the whole ly spectators. The coffin and hearse were peestablishment. culiarly shaped and decorated-the first was perfectly flat on the top and widened gradually from the foot to the head. There were three coffins in one grave, placed one above another! A bystander told us that after a certain period allowed for the decomposition of the body, the bones of the dead were taken from the earth and deposited in a room over a church and when that was full the bones were again removed to a ship kept for the purpose and carried out to sea!

owners.

Much to our comfort and satisfaction we succeeded in obtaining a boat after leaving Broeck. This was pulled along by a man upon the shore, and as it glided upon the surface of the canal we were quite astonished at the immense numbers of wild geese which clamored above, and someThe hearse resembled a flat-sided narrow times even fluttered around us. We were also coach; it was surmounted with a ghastly escutchstruck with the grotesque costume of the country eon, consisting of a sculptured death's-head and women who passed us. Some of them wore cross bones entwined with laurel leaves-over full plaited chintz petticoats and short gowns with the door behind was a large hour glass between tight sleeves, round and flat crowned caps with a pair of Death's wings. The driver was clad stiff-fluted borders to garnish the face, but not so in black and wore what seemed to me the usual much over it as to conceal a pair of large and badge of public menial office in Holland, a cocked heavy gold earrings. Several who seemed of a hat-the horses were black and covered with palls higher grade than the ordinary class, had their that almost touched the ground. . . . . . . . . foreheads decorated with gilt or golden bandeaus Our next aquatic excursion from Amsterdam, set with brilliant stones and secured to their caps was to the village of Saardam, famed for shipby a clasp on each side of the head. The wo-building and wind-mills, of which a goodly nummen of Holland, like those of Germany, (I al- ber were whirling away when we arrived, as lude to the lower classes) are great drudges. briskly as in the days of the pilgrimage and periWe met one driving a cart loaded with cheeses grinations of the Knight of La Mancha and his and two others toiling with a wheel-barrow quite pursy squire. overstocked with vegetables of divers kinds; one The weather was cold and misty, but we were pushed it along while her companion dragged it snugly wafted on a small steamer that plied daily by a rope attached to the back of it, but it seemed between Amsterdam and the little haven we very hard work and they made slow progress. sought. The inhabitants of Saardam are said to We reached Amsterdam at sun-set, and on have boasted that if given only two months noapproaching the tower, a sound of music, as it tice they could build a ship for every week in the were from the clouds, saluted our ears!-the year-fifty-two ships in twelve months!! What clocks were chiming a tune, as all the clocks of a task! But it was neither their ships nor their Holland do before they strike the hour. On the wind-mills that allured us to their village, but a way to our lodgings we saw two men clad in simple rude hut, a venerable relic of departed deep-mourning surtout coats, with streamers of greatness-in plainer terms, it was the hut in black cloth bound with black satin ribbon attach- which the Czar of Russia, Peter the Great, reed to their backs—they wore cocked hats with sided during two years, for the purpose of studyflowing crape bands, and their shoes were adorn- ing and practising the art of ship-building, to ed with enormous silver buckles-their appear-which he was prompted by his unquenchable thirst ance was so strange that we could not help en- for universal knowledge. Here, in disguise, and quiring of a passenger in the street what was under the assumed name of Michaelhoff, he sedutheir vocation, and were informed they were ously labored with common workmen until he bearers of funeral invitations. A few days after- had acquired the information and skill he desired wards we had an opportunity of witnessing a to possess.

funeral and a heartless scene it was! Four men I am no friend to despots, however dazzling thus equipped "in mockery of woe" one might and fascinating their mental qualities and attaintruly say, walked after the hearse in company ments may be, and my recollections of some ocwith eight others in mourning; but no sooner currences and traits mentioned in the annals of was the coffin deposited in the grave, than all of the renowned Czar, as I stood within his lowly them jumped into the hearse and rode off as rap-habitation, were not by any means of a pleasing idly and merrily as if on a party of pleasure. nature.

The remaining persons who formed the proces- I thought of his furious and ungovernable fits sion, quitted the cemetery with almost as much of passion-the cruel punishments he caused to levity-there were only a few females present, be inflicted, and sometimes even assisted in perand they, like myself, stood aloof and were mere-sonally! of his unkind treatment and unjust re