Eugenio felt the king of terror's near approach, and, grasping Zelma's hand in his, implored that she would cease to grieve for him. - Still, dear Zelma! may your presence gladden the valley, and innocence and peace Recluse amid the close-embowering woods. As in the hollow breast of Appenine, wild; So flourish'd blooming, and unseen by all, Eugenio's compassion at first attached him to this helpless pair. He used to till their little garden; he furnished them with every assistance which his not affluent means afforded-and in the evening, after they had finished their employ, he used to accompany the beauteous maid and heraged mother, in a walk round the delightful groves that surrounded their lowly dwellings. But as the beauteous maid grew towards womanhood, her opening charms made deep impressions upon young Euge. nio's heart. It is unnecessary to say that Zelma's heart soon became sensible of his worth, and that their love was mutual. Their fortunes smiled, friends approved; the day, the hour, was fixed to make them. one. The altar was prepared, and Hymen was lighting his torch, when, O sad state of sublunary bliss! Eu genio felt the pangs of sickness seize on all his frame, and the most fatal symptoms of approaching death: no power could force his faithful Zelma from the bed-side, where, changed and dying, her Eugenio lay. He asked for a little box, in which was deposited his potrait. This,' said be, accept, Zelma; it will remind you of me when I am no more, you be happy, happy in your duty to your aged mother! - Adieu, Zelma! I must depart: I go to that region of bliss where we shall meet, never to depart.' And ere the word 'farewell!' was ended, Eugenio's spotless soul was fled. Zelma led her drooping mother to Eugenio's grave, accompanied by his poor aged parents; while all the village-youths and maids mourned his loss, and laid his cold remains decently in the earth. • There scatter'd oft, the earliest of the year, By hands unseen, are show'rs of vi'lets found; there, The red-breast loves to build and warble And little footsteps lightly print the ground." Each morn and eve was Zelma found near her Eugenio's grave, nor could any one force her from it. Her good mother often tried to alleviate her sorrows. Why, Zelma, weep your days in gloomy sorrow? all will not recall him from his grave.' Alas! his memory was too deeply engraven on her mind for this to erase it. It was impossible; she knew that, whilst the vital blaze of life animated her frame, it must there remain, and that death, and death alone, could obliterate it. Her sorrows brought on a violent delirium, which shortly dismissed her afflicted spirit to follow that of MOST of the flowers introduced into our gardens, and now cultivated either on account of their beauty or their fragrance, have been improved from plants which grow wild, and which ignorance denominates weeds. The greater part of them came, however, from distant countries, where they grow in as great perfection as in our's without the assistance of man. Though we often find mention of flowers in the works of the Greeks and the Romans, it appears that they were contented with those only which grew in their neighbourhood. The modern taste for flowers came from Persia to Constantinople, and was imported thence to Europe, for the first time, in the sixteenth century. Clusius, and his friends, in particular, contributed very much to excite this taste; and the new plants, brought from both the Indies, tended to increase it. That period, also, produced some skilful gardeners, who carried on a considerable trade in the roots and seeds of flowers. As this taste for flow. ers prevails more at the present than it has, perhaps, at any former period, a hint respecting some of the objects of it may not prove disagreeable. The Tube-rose was brought to Europe before 1594, by Simon de Tover, a Spanish physician. The Genoese now send the roots to England, Holland, and Germany. The Auricula, Primula Auricula, grows wild among the long moss covered with snow, on the confines of Switzerland. We do not know who first transplanted it from its native soil. Pluche says only that some roots were plucked by Walloon merchants, and carried to Brussels. The Fritillaria Meleagris was first observed in some parts of France, Hungary, Italy, and other warm countries. Noel Cappernon, of Orleans, gave it the name of Fritillaria, because the red or reddishbrown spots of the flower form regular squares, like that of a chessboard. It was called Meleagris by Dodoneus, because the feathers of that fowl are variegated almost in the same manner. The roots of the magnificent Crown Imperial, Fritillaria Imperialis, were brought from Persia to Constantinople, carried thence to Vienna, and so dispersed over Europe. African and French marygolde, Tegetes erecta, and patula, were, according to Dodoneus, brought from Africa to Europe, at the time when the emperor Charles V. carried his arms against Tunis. These plants grow indigenous in South America, and were known to botanists before that period by the name of Caryophyllus Indicus, from which is derived the French appellation, Eillet d'Inde, Indian Pink. Codrus calls them, from their native country, Tunacetum Peruvianum.. Of the numerous genus of Ranunculus florists have obtained a thousand different kinds: their varieties are infinite, and increase every summer. The most valuable of them, however, are brought from the Levant . This flower was in the highest repute during the reign of Mahomet IV. His grand vizer Cara Mustapha, well known for his hatred against the Christians, and the siege of Vienna, in 1683, wishing to turn the sultan's thoughts to some milder amusement than that of the chase, for which he had a strong passion, diverted his attention to flowers; and as he remarked that the emperor preferred the ranunculus to all others, he wrote to the different pashas throughout the whole empire to send him roots of the most beautiful kinds. The pashas of Candia, Cyprus, Aleppo, and Rhodes, paid most regard to this request, and the elegant flowers which they transmitted to court were shut up in the seraglio, as offerings to the voluptuousness of the sultan; till some of them, by means of money, were at length freed from their imprisonment. The ambassadors from the European courts made it their business to procure roots of as many different kinds as they could, which they sent to their respective sovereigns. On the POTATOE, and the Time (From a Communication by Sir Joseph Banks, SIR Joseph Banks states that the The potatoe now in use (the solanum tuberosum), was brought into England by the colonists sent out by sir Walter Raleigh, under queen Elizabeth's patent. Mr. Thomas Heriot, a mathematician, was on board the first fleet which returned to England on the twenty-seventh of July 1586, when the potatoe was probably first brought over; for Mr. Heriot, in an account which he published of the nature and properties of the soil of the country examined, which is printed in De Bry's Collection of Voyages, vol. I. under the article roots, describes the potatoe by the name openawk (by which they were called in Virginia), as 'round roots, some as large as walnuts, and others much larger, which grew in damp soil, many hanging together as if fixed ropes, which are good food either boiled or roasted.' Gerard, in his Herbal, published 1597, gives a figure of the potatoe, under the name of potatoe of Virginia. In the manuscript minutes of the Royal Society, December thirteenth, 1693, sir Robert Southwell, then president, informed the fellows, that his grandfather brought potatoes into Ireland, who first had them trom sir Walter Raleigh. From which it appears, that this root, shortly after its arrival in England, must have been sent to Ireland by sir Robert Southwell's ancestor, where it was cultivated as food long before its value was known in England; for Gerard, in 1597, recommends the roots as a delicate dish, not as a common food. The potator, however, came into Europe at an earlier period by another channel. Clusius, who resided at Vienna at that time, receiv ed this root, in 1598, from the governor of Mons, in Hainaut, who had it the year before from one of the attendants of the pope's legate, under the name of Taratoufli, and learned from him that in Italy, where is was then in use, no one certainly knew whether it came from Spain or from America. Peter Ceica, in his chronicle, printed in 1553, mentions, in the tenth chapter, that the inhabitants of Quito used for food, besides mays, a tuberous root which they called papas, and this Clusius supposes to be the plant he received from Flanders; which conjecture is confirmed by the accounts of other travellers. From these details it appears probable, that potatoes were first brought into Europe from the mountainous parts of Quito; and as the Spaniards were sole possessors of that country, there can be little doubt that they were first brought to Spain; but as it would take some time to bring them into use in that country, and afterwards to make the Italians so well acquainted with them as to give them a name, there is every reason to believe they had been several years in Europe before they had been sent to Clusius. In South America the root is called papas, and in Virginia openauk. The name of potatoe was therefore evidently applied to it here from its similarity to the battatu, or white potatoe; and was distinguished by the appellative of Virginia potatoe till the year 1640, if not longer. Some authors have asserted that sir Francis Drake first discovered potatoes in the South Seas, and others that they were introduced into England by sir John Hawkins; but in both instances the plant alluded to is evidently the sweet potatoe, which was used in England as a delicacy long before the introduction of our potatoes. The sweet potatoe was imported in considerable quantities from Spain and the Canaries, and was supposed to possess the power of restoring decayed vigour. The kissing comfits which Shakspeare mentions in the Merry Wives of Windsor, and other confections of similar imaginary qualities, with which our ancestors were duped, were principally made of these and eringo roots. The sweet potatoes themselves were sold by itinerant dealers, chiefly in the neighbourhood of the Royal Exchange, to those who had faith in their alleged properties. The allusions to this opinion are very frequent in the plays of that age, of which there is a remarkable instance in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. To this we shall add, that as there was an early and frequent intercourse between Spain and Galway in Ireland, there is some reason to conjecture that the potatoe had been introduced into Ireland directly from Spain, at a very early period. THE FASHIONABLE AUNT. She blooms in the winter of her days, Like the Glastonbury thorn!' I HAVE before given an account of my dearly beloved aunt as an economist, and the good-natured creature took the rub very kindly: 1 therefore venture again to display her, as a person of taste and fashion. This rara avis is now at the tender age of fifty-five, and has such an inordinate desire of appearing fashionable; yet in every other affair she is very mean, except in the de coration of her miserable, decayed, own dear self: in her dress she is particularly nouvelle; she always sports the newest fashions; she dis. plays the Trafalgar hat, the petticoat la garniture a la Chine, and short enough to shew her beautiful little tiny foot and genteel ancle: the bearskin graces her rather round shoulders; while her withered hands are concealed by a fashionable pair of kid gloves. I had almost forgot the velvet pelisse, which truly hides a multitude of faults. To view her either in the rear, right, or left, to be sure, she is passable; but in front she is really rather a piece of polished antiquity. Now some of her sex are so exquisitely skilful, that, give them but a good pair of eyes, and they will make bosom, lips, cheeks, and eye-brows, by their own industry: she sports nothing of this sort, though I think it would well become her; and as I have a profound regard for the old lady, I really think of giving her a gentle hint: I will send her, some brushes, washes, soaps, lotions, rose and other waters, perfumes, pomatums, rouge, and every other unguent I can think of to beautify her tender features: as she has nothing agreeable in her conduct, an addition to her appearance may not be amiss. Oh! were it possible to fill up the cavities of her wrinkled cheeks, her fashionable aquiline nose would add beauty beyond expression to her dark rolling, bewitching eyes; whilst her mouse-coloured ringlets would at intervals conceal the brightness, as passing clouds obscure the brightness of the sun. Oh! could I but see my dear, my beautiful aunt, in this celestial habit, she would appear a modern Alcesta. But, alas! s! then what would she be but a model; in APPEARANCE every thing, in REALITY nothing! But yet, in this garb, could I but see her viewing herself, I am satisfied her glass would remind her of the following lines; ANECDOTE OF BARON, the French dramatic Writer and Actor. A FEW days before Baron's co medy of 'The Brothers' was intend. ed for representation, M. de Roque. laure said to the author Baron, when, will you show me your new piece? You know I have heard of it. I have invited three ladies who are lovers of literature to dine with me; come and join us. Bring the Brothers with you, and gratify us by reading it. I am curious to compare it with the Adelphi of Terence.' Baron accepted the invitation, and went the following day to M. de Roquelaure's hotel, where he found two countesses and a marchioness, who expressed a polite impatience to hear him read his comedy. Notwithstanding this, they sat a longer time than is usual; and when they got up from dinner, the ladies called for cards. How! cards!' cried M. de Roquelaure, with surprise; you forget that Baron has come on purpose to read his new comedy. No, no, monsieur,' replied one of the countesses, we do not forget it. Whilst we play, Baron may read his piece, and thus we shall kill two Grace was in all her steps, heav'n in her birds with one stone. At these words, In all her gestures dignity and love.' eye, As the good creature has many qualities (I don't say good), if this delineation should not offend her, it is likely I may, at a future period, give another description. 1 trust the author jumped up and hastened to the door; then, turning to the company, he said - My piece was not written to be read to gamblers!' - M. Poinsinet has dramatised this incident in his comedy of The Circle, |