'Not always fall of leaf, nor ever spring, Not endless night, nor yet eternal day, The saddest birds a season find to sing, The roughest storm a calm may soon allay; Thus with succeeding turns God tempereth all That Man may hope to rise and fear to fall."" "It is very sweet," said Miriam. " Will you read it again?" Edith did so; and as she pronounced the last line, she heard voices and steps outside the ruin. "They are coming, Miriam," she said rising. "Tell me truly, are you strong enough to see them?" "Yes, I want to see them. Is your husband with them?" "Yes. See! here he comes!" It was truly a beautiful sight, that gay marriage group standing within the area of the old turret. David came first, leading his sister Martha. Mr. Underwood and Mr. Shepherd came next. The others stood aloof at first, till assured by Edith that Miriam was able to see and shake hands with them all. Then came the two brides in their soft white dresses, their flower-wreaths and veils; tears were in their eyes, and their voices were hushed as they knelt down by Miriam and looked half fearfully into those large eyes which had been sightless so long. 66 "That is Philip with her, is it not?" asked Miriam, gravely. Yes, I am sure it is. You are all right; I think he is very handsome." "He is very like his aunt Miriam," said David cheerfully. After a few more words and kind looks had been exchanged, David made a signal for every one to retire. "There! That is quite enough gaiety and excitement for one day, my dear Miriam," he said, flinging himself on the grass beside her couch and taking her hand. "Ah! The pulse is disturbed of course. Now shut your eyes and lie quite still till I come back to carry you up-stairs-I, or Philip. You are not to speak a word to Edith for five minutes, and you are to drink whatever I send you. I wish I might stay with you both, here in this dear old place, where," he added in a lower tone, "I have prayed daily for your restoration, dearest Miriam, and that God would give me grace to be worthy of your friendship and my wife's love." "God has heard you, David, my oldest friend. Give me your hand-yours too, Edith. Now let me make a marriage after my own heart, this day. Will you love each other as long as ye both shall live, nor ever let one thought of Miriam Grey come like a shadow betwixt you?" Miriam spoke with an earnest voice. "We will," they both replied, fixing their eyes on hers, with an expression of perfect love and trust. She pressed both their hands to her lips. They went away as she desired. When they returned, she was sleeping peacefully with clasped hands, as if in prayer. From that day, Miriam Grey began to gain strength; and from that day may be dated the commencement of a new bond of love between her and David Underwood. To him she has become dearer than a sister, and he is to her more than any brother could be. There is a secret sanctity and strength in their affection; but stronger and more devoted than their friendship for each other is their love of Edith. It is the strongest feeling in the heart of each. Ten years have passed since the remarkable visit of "the Strange Gentleman" to the Grange at Milford. During that time, many changes have taken place there; but I have no more to relate concerning the fortune or character of its present owner, David Underwood. THE MAIDEN'S TOWER, CONSTANTINOPLE. EVERY traveller who has visited the capital city of the Ottoman empire, speaks in admiring terms of its exceeding beauty of situation and picturesque appearance. The connecting link, as it were, between Europe and Asia, it stands upon a gently sloping promontory secured by narrow seas, and stretching out in a triangular form towards the Asiatic continent. The area of this triangle is occupied by elevations, some of which are sufficiently high to be called hills, and on these are placed several of the most important edifices, such as the Seraglio, or Palace of the Sultan, the great Mosque of Santa Sophia, the lofty dome of the Osmanich Mosque, and the still loftier dome of that of Solyman the Magnificent. Fanned by the breezes which are wafted from the Bosphorus, the sea of Marmora, and the Thracian plains, and watered internally by numerous fountains and streams of waters, its inhabitants enjoy a pure and healthy atmosphere, save what the habitual uncleanliness of the lower classes creates. It is not a little remarkable that almost the first city ever founded by a Christian monarch and a Roman, should have outlived every trace of its earliest religious creed, and of the refined taste of the cultivated people from whom it sprung. It may fairly be presumed, that when Constantine rebuilt the metropolis of the eastern portion of the Roman empire, and enriched it with the treasures of art gathered from every quarter of the world, where his own legions and those of his predecessors had proved victorious, the edifices wherein those treasures were placed, and those which became the homes of the emperor and his followers, would have shown some resemblance to those they had quitted in Italy. If this were so originally, all traces of the fact have long been lost; indeed, history informs us that though Constantine despoiled the whole empire of statues, pictures, bas-reliefs, | at all in it, and certainly it is a far pleasanter one,marbles, and bronzes, in order to decorate Constanti-that the serpent, by whom the Sultan lost his jewel, nople, and make it a second Rome, the architecture was a young Persian prince, who had been attracted of his new city was as inferior to that of the old, as to the tower by the fame of the lady's matchless its situation was superior to that on the banks of the beauty, and, having effected an interview with her, dark and troubled Tiber. And now, whatever of classic won her heart, and found opportunity and means of elegance and beauty was originally reflected in the bearing her triumphantly away from her home on the waters of the Bosphorus, has given place to painted waters. Kiosques, fanciful domes, and spiral minarets. We seek in vain for a single fragment of those noble edifices, which, it may fairly be presumed, once stood in the seven-hilled city of the eastern world," as the writers of the time used to speak of Constantinople, in contradistinction to the "seven-hilled city of the western empire." 66 It is scarcely necessary to inform the reader, that Constantinople stands on the European coast of the Bosphorus; opposite to it, on the Asiatic coast, scarcely a quarter of an hour's row in a boat, stands Scutari, a very populous town in itself, though considered a suburb of the European capital. Like the latter, it is built on the slope of a hill; it is also distinguished by its fine mosques and magnificent burialgrounds planted with majestic cypresses. Many of the wealthier Turks are buried here, under the impression, derived from an ancient tradition, that one day or another their race will be driven out of Europe. "Not an arrow's flight," writes Miss Pardoe, in her work entitled "The Bosphorus," "from the quay of Scutari, stands The Maiden's Tower,' a small and picturesque castle, built upon so diminutive a rock, that its foundations cover the whole surface, and give to the edifice an appearance of floating upon the waves." To judge from the appearance of the "Maiden's Tower," as it stands prominently forward in the pretty little vignette engraving, it must be a charming place of occasional rendezvous and quiet enjoyment, when the sun-light falls upon the shining waters at its feet, and upon the hanging gardens of Scutari and the lofty domes on the opposite shore; but one would almost as soon think of "pitching our tent" in the Eddystone Lighthouse, as to make so misanthropic-looking an edifice our dwelling-place in all seasons and in all weathers, even to share it with the most beautiful Houri that ever walked in the rose gardens of the Prophet's paradise, or sat in the bowers of Amberabad. BARTHOLD GEORGE NIEBUHR.' NIEBUHR's services to historical literature are so well known and appreciated, that it is presumed the present publication, containing an outline of his life, and large selections from his correspondence, will be warmly and thankfully accepted by the cultivated public. The outward history and inward culture of such a man must be necessarily interesting, and that in a degree far exceeding the attraction which apperListless, and outwardly imperturbable as seems the tains to an ordinary biography. As far as we can modern Turk, when he sits cross-legged smoking his judge, the work seems ably and honestly compiled; hookah, with a face of gravity that nothing can soften it being confessedly founded upon a German prointo a smile of cheerfulness, there is sometimes a duction, edited by Madame Hensler, Niebuhr's sistertouch of romance to be found in his disposition, in-law; but several additional letters have been mingled with superstition and a belief in old legends; added, and a considerable amount of further inforof the latter, the Maiden's Tower" forms one sub-mation has been woven into, or appended to, the ject, which Miss Pardoe narrates in the volume just referred to:-A certain Sultan, whose name has been lost, had an only child, a very beautiful girl; she was growing into womanhood, when the father consulted a celebrated astronomer as to her future destiny. The man of mysteries prophesied that, in her eighteenth year, she was to become the victim of a serpent. Alarmed at so terrible a prospect, the Sultan erected the aforesaid tower, and immured his daughter in it, that by isolating her from the world around, and almost from the very earth itself, he might avert the impending calamity. But who can contend against his destiny? Death reached the fair captive in a basket of new figs from Smyrna, in which a small asp lay hid; and she was found, on her eigh teenth birthday, dead upon the sofa, with the fruit beside her the reptile had fastened itself upon her bosom, from which she was unable to remove it. Another version of the story, however, is,—and it is far more likely to be the true one, if there is any truth, biographical sections. Altogether, we believe, it is the fullest and most complete account of Niebuhr and his pursuits that has hitherto been published in a single book: and it seems to us that the record is one of exalted interest and value, a record full of just and noble teachings, such as may serve alike the uses of the matured scholar, the struggling and ambitious student, the man of the world, the conscientious politician, and indeed, to some extent, of all varieties of thinking and active persons. The quality in Niebuhr with which we are most impressed, is not his greatness, for except in regard to acquired scholarship he cannot, perhaps, be reckoned a great man,-not his greatness, we say, but his truthfulness. Perfect honesty is his grandest and most commanding characteristic. Whatever may be the matter of speculation, he desires to With (1)The Life and Letters of Barthold George Niebuhr. and Professors Brandis and Loebell. 2 vols. Chapman & Hall. Essays on his Character and Influence." By the Chevalier Bunsen, NIEBUHR, learn the truth of it: to this end all ease is to be sacrificed, all labour cheerfully and vigorously undergone. Such a patience in research, such a gigantic faculty for investigation, as he brings with him to his tasks, can scarcely elsewhere be witnessed. And these he employs with the sternest singleness of purpose, his sole aim being to eliminate clearness from confusion, to detach the true from the merely traditionary or problematical. His main service in relation to history has been destructive: with his single arm he cleared away whole forests of mythical error and absurdity; but, after indicating the foundations for the future shrines and temples of historical art, he left the ground to be built upon by others. Yet the work he did was an excellent and needful one; and the temper and spirit with which he We wrought commands the frankest admiration. invite you, therefore, to some slight review of his life and labours; drawn, as you will understand, from the volumes now before us. year 375 up in the garden. A very considerable collection of seals and coins was made for them, from which on Sundays they were allowed, as a treat, to take casts, and they eagerly studied heraldry in connexion with these. . . . In summer he would help his son to build fortifications in the garden according to the rules of military art, which he afterwards taught the boy and his companions to attack and defend, likewise according to rule. In winter he used to collect other children at his house in the evenings, and then set them to dance while he played for them on the violin. The Christmas festivals were seasons of unbounded enjoyment to Niebuhr in his childish years." Afterwards, when he had grown up to manhood, he writes, with a keen remembrance of these joys:-" A many-coloured tissue of bright memories floats over me from those times. . . With all of them there is associated a peculiar charm of eager outstretched expectation and dazzling surprise, succeeded by a vehement feeling of delight occupation, and gratitude." 66 Evidently, this father Niebuhr was a very excellent, Under such Barthold George Niebuhr was born at Copenhagen, on the 27th of August, 1776. He was the son of sensible, and fatherly sort of man. the distinguished traveller, Carsten Niebuhr, who training and attention as his, it was natural that the appears to have fallen in love for the first time in the children should grow up amiable, intelligent, and wellfortieth of his and to have married a young behaved. The boy, indeed, soon gave indication of age, orphan girl, with whom, relinquishing all notion of a extraordinary capabilities. As early as his fourth or he early distinguished journey which he had previously planned into the fifth year he began to receive instruction in reading, interior of Africa, he set up his household in the writing, and arithmetic; Danish capital. A few years after his marriage he himself by his quickness, ready apprehension and sure obtained his discharge from the military service, to retention of what he learned, and, according to his which he had hitherto belonged, and received the sister's account, he soon got before her. He had appointment of Land-schreiber, or secretary, to the always finished the tasks that were set them sooner To than she had, and then would roguishly dance round province of South Dithmarsh in Holstein. Meldorf, its chief town, he removed with his family | her, singing, in 1778; and it was here, among a primitive and homely population, that the young Niebuhr passed his childhood and the first years of his youth. His parents appear to have paid great attention to the training and education of their children; but the frequent indisposition of Madame Niebuhr, with whom the marsh-air of the country did not agree, and the occasional ill-health of Barthold from ague and other causes, somewhat interrupted the otherwise Yet, regular and happy tenor of his childhood. upon the whole, he and his sister (two years older than himself) led a very pleasant and cheerful life, 'romping about with their playfellows in a spacious house, or in large court-yards and gardens." When the boy was about five years old, he took great delight in watching the building of a new house, which was then being erected for his father. "The elder Niebuhr was his own architect, and the child soon learnt to draw plans by watching his father at work, and asking him questions; he was constantly at his side during the progress of the building, and long afterwards retained an intelligent recollection of the proceedings of the workmen." Meanwhile, the worthy father was never weary of providing both his children with suitable occupations and entertainments. | "He had a skittle-ground made in the large courtyard, and in the winter a Russian mountain was put 'Rest is sweet when work is done."" Though both girl and boy had other teachers, their father himself attended very closely to their education. The son says, "He instructed both of us in geography, and used to relate stories to us from history; he taught me English and French, at all events much better than I could have learnt them from any instructor the place afforded, and also a little mathematics, in which he would have gone further had he not been discouraged by the want of liking and talent in myself." Not without some paternal satisfaction and comNiebuhr placency did the father write to his brother-in-law, Eckhardt, in December 1782, when young was only six years old :-" Barthold has begun to-day to learn the Greek alphabet, and shall now proceed to write German in Greek characters." Somewhat later, writing to the same person, he says, "he studied the Greek alphabet only for a single day, and had no further trouble with it; he did it with little help from The boy gets on wonderfully. Boje says he me. does not know his equal; but he requires to be managed in a peculiar way. . . . He is no longer so passionate with his sister; but if he stumbles in the least in repeating his lessons, or if his scribblings are alluded to, he fires up instantly. He cannot bear to be praised for them, because he believes that he does |