not without examples of a ready belief of whatever is tension with unsuspecting credulity, and scientific men miraculous. Here we have the two first men of their are to be found engaged in eager investigations into the day, disputing for the hundredth time whether cheat is mysteries of the art, with less zeal for the exposure of a distinct plant, or springs from an injured grain of impostors, than for the establishment of so valuable wheat. The old chief justice maintained the latter, and a discovery on the surest foundations. Human foreof that opinion most certainly was Lord Bacon.* There sight cannot anticipate, indeed, the mighty wonders it we have a venerable old man, whose gray locks strag- is yet to work, and the countless blessings it is to gle scantily over his scalp, sitting with his elbow rested shower upon our race. It will accomplish with so on a table, with a glass tumbler before him. He holds much facility what now costs both labor and time; for it between his finger and his thumb, a simple thread, to shames the telegraph in its operations, and leaves even which is appended a small key, so held as to be within steam itself at a countless distance in the rear. Cogthe mouth of the glass. What is he about? He is nate with the lightning, the magnetic influence can exhibiting his key clock !!† He verily believes that from "put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes." Of some secret cause, some influence emanating from his what use, then, are the wonders of the telegraph or the hand, or some wonderful correspondence between the yet greater wonders of our express mails, when a sleeping glass and the key, this simple apparatus will strike the girl, under the manipulations of a magnetizer, can see hour of the day with unerring accuracy. No argument what is going on in the extremities of the "empire," can overthrow his convictions, and yet he is among the and give you the news of the very moment in the most most venerable and respectable of men, and fills his distant corners of the earth? For we have no reason elevated station with dignity and ability. I have heard to doubt, that if this new Pythian priestess can, in the be derived the hint from Lord Bacon's works. After a infancy of the art, discern in her visions what is going diligent search through the Instauratio Magna, the on in Philadelphia, while she is sleeping quietly in Sylva Sylvarum, and the Novum Organum, which New-York, her visual ray will soon be so improved as form together that wonderful omnium gatherum of wis- to enable her to discern what is passing in the remotest dom and of notions, I at length met with the passage kingdoms of the world. Such wonderful results lead which gave rise to this curious conceit. [see vol. 2, p. 64.] to the suspicion that this most valuable discovery must No man, indeed, was ever more full of such conceits have been well known to the ancients, and was the true than was the great stickler for the theory of the antag- secret of the oracle at Delphi and the vaticinations of onizing principles of radical heat and radical moisture, the cave of Trophonius. Be this as it may, the magBut let us not jeer this greatest of philosophers, whose netic lady bids fair to render altogether superfluous the noble genius gleamed through the darkness of the age espionage of courts, and the use of spies in the camp in which he lived. It shed its bright rays over every of an enemy. What movement of an army could be inscience, and laid the foundations of that analytical scrutable to a secretary who had been duly magnetised, philosophy, which in our times has led to such wonder- or to a general who had had the benefit of the passes of ful results. Let us rather reproach ourselves for still the operator; when a girl fast asleep, can see through a clinging to the nonsense and the impudence of charla- millstone at a glance, and discern without difficulty the tanism, in spite of the wise lessons we have imbibed interior of a dwelling a hundred miles removed? And from his philosophy. Let us lift up our eyes in amazethen what an acquisition to science! that an ignorant ment at the countenance given by the intelligent among female, who, when awake, hardly knows that there ourselves to the grossest of impostures. In this boasted is such a thing as what Mrs. Ramsbottom calls the era we have had Redheffer's perpetual motion as a fair "abominable* region," and who cannot tell the liver set-off against the elixir of life and the philosopher's from the spleen, should all at once be initiated in her stone of former times. We have also the Quarterly sleep, into the mysteries of nosology and pathology Review, gravely publishing a narrative of the wonder- and physiology, and all the secrets of the materia ful performances of an Egyptian magician, through medica; and without seeing or touching a patient, whose incantations an untutored boy can call up the should be able to judge of his disease, and prescribe spectres of the dead, as the witch of Endor brought the proper remedy for its cure! Verily this is a woninto the presence of the trembling Saul, the awe-inspi- derful science, and entitles its professors to an eminent ring image of the departed prophet. And we are exaltation. It is true that it is somewhat partial in its gravely told by the accomplished editor how far above influences, and uncertain in its operations. It requires suspicion is the source from which this wonderful story FAITH and WEAK NERVES† to ensure the success of an is derived; as though he yielded credence himself, to experiment; and it is said that in the recent exhibitions the miracles of this magician of the land of necro- in a certain city, even the intimation by a visiter, in an mancy. Again; at this moment, animal magnetism, | audible voice, of a design to apply a red-hot poker to though exploded fifty years ago, as an impudent impos- the nose of the sleeping patient, had a very marvellous ture, is revived both in Europe and America, with reno-effect upon the profoundness of his slumbers. Whether vated zeal, and received with obvious favor by many of this was occasioned by the disturbing influence that iron the illuminati. Exhibition rooms are crowded with gaping spectators, who swallow every monstrous pre

He says, vol. 1, p. 469, speaking of the diseases of grain, "Another disease is the putting forth wild oats (obviously our cheat) into which corn oftentimes doth degenerate."

†This incident is taken from real life.

.

"Abdominal."

"Men are to be admonished," says Lord Bacon, "that they do not give place and credit to those operations, because they succeed many times; for the cause of the success is oft to be truly ascribed unto the force of affection and imagination upon the body agent; and therefore these things work best on weak minds and spirits; as those of women, sick persons, superstitious and fearful persons, children and young creatures."

VOL. IV.-37

opinion “that the anointing of the weapon that maketh the wound will heal the wound itself."*

Such a mass of absurdities cannot fail to excite our laughter in these days of light and scrutiny. Yet are we sure that the hobbies of modern practitioners will not be equally derided when we shall be in our graves? The liver and the nerves, the mucous membrane, and the spinal marrow, the heart and the brain, all of which have had the ascendant in their turns, may very possibly soon give way to some new theory, which the enthusiasts in pathological anatomy may elaborate from their minute investigations. Already have the visions of glory which filled the dreams of Lavater been dis

must naturally have over the magnetic current, or by the natural repulsion of the tip of the nose for the white heat of a poker, I must leave to others to determine. I can only say that I learn no attempt was made at a repetition of the scientific experiment in a town where there was so little faith and such iron nerves, accompanied by an obvious disposition to make the actual cautery the test of truth. The experimenter and his familiar, it is said, precipitately took leave, and departed to pursue their investigations on some more propitious theatre. Much regret was felt at this premature retreat, as an opportunity would have been afforded by a few day's delay, of greatly advancing the cause of benevolence, as well as of science, by subjecting to the mag-pelled by the greater glories of phrenology and the sucnetic influence some unfortunate children who have been blind from their birth, and on whom the blessing of sight could doubtless have been conferred, for the time being at least, by this great catholicon of the 19th century.

It were well, indeed, if in more important concerns the versatility of the human character was not as conspicuous as in the lighter matters which we have been passing in review. But unhappily it is otherwise, Graveora manent. The oscillations in religion and the

cessful theories of Gall and Spurzeim. Those who can laugh at lord Bacon and his fanciful notions, will yet gravely descant upon the developments of the brain as indicated by the skull, and pronounce ex cathedra that the subject of examination is according to the principles Let us pass from animal magnetism to medicine. of their art, a saint or a Scapin, a philosopher or a fool. Fifty years ago a dose of calomel was shunned as a Nay more: not only do we learn from the ingenious poison, and tartar emetic was looked upon with an German the position of every passion and every talent almost holy abhorrence. Since that time they have in the map of the human brain, but we are now promised been dignified as the Samson and Goliah of the ma- by the naturalist Geoffroy St. Hilaire, a series of meteria medica, and are exhibited without scruple, by the moirs on the functions and situation of the soul itself. He ignorant as well as the initiated. The former has been states that he has no hesitation in treating on this subindulged in to an excess against which all are now ject;-that he feels strong in his own powers, and means ready to exclaim. I was once much amused at a prac- first of all to examine the nature of the spiritus corporeus tical joke upon its extravagant use. In passing through of St. Augustin!! In truth there seems no measure or a village, I saw a flour barrel standing at an apothe-limit to the whimsies of the human mind, nor any rea cary's door, with the word “Calomel" in very large cap-sonable hope that with all the advantage of the wisdom itals marked upon its side. In amaze, I drew up my of other times we shall ever be any wiser than those sulky, and asked an explanation. It turned out to who have gone before us. be a piece of humor of the young apothecary, in ridicule of the preposterous extent to which the doses of this medicine were carried among the customers of his master. A humorous gentleman of the same place declared that in a severe illness he had taken so many pills,-not all calomel, it is true,—that when he sneezed they flew all over the room. But this passion has passed away, and we are getting back to what our forefathers thought to be a wholesome horror of mercury, and a wise confidence in nature, as the only true doctor. The science of medicine is, perhaps, above all others most remarkable for its oscillations. The medicaments in vogue at various times, are quite amusing. Lord Bacon's works are full of those of his day, many of which he very confidently recommends. Among others, he advises "a trial of two kinds of bracelets, for comforting the heart and spirits, one to be made of the trochisk (or cake) of vipers, and the other of snakes; for, since they do great good inwards, especially for pestilent agues, it is like they will be effectual outwards." He tells us too, that "the moss which groweth upon the skull of a dead man, unburied, will staunch blood potently;" a quality which it has in common with the "blood-stone," and "the stone taken out of the toad's head," which is "very efficient, as the toad loveth shade and coolness;" and what is very wonderful, he gives in detail an account of the "English ambassador's lady at Paris, helping him away with" (i. e. curing) "a hundred warts within five weeks, by rubbing them once with a bit of bacon skin, which she afterwards nailed up to a post in the sun." Nevertheless, he seems somewhat skeptical about the " constantly received and avouched"

I have in my possession a folio volume translated from the French, and purporting to have been written by the physician of the King of France, about 170 years ago. It is a treatise on pharmacy, materia medica and the practice of medicine, and exhibits of course the most approved state of the science at that day. Truly it is a curiosity. The recipes resemble Lord Bacon's. The filings of a dead man's skull are the prescribed remedy for epilepsy and madness, and distilled vipers, the specific for the bite of every species of rabid or venomous animal; provided, always, the patient has not been bitten above the teeth, for in that case the poison is inevitably fatal. Hartshorn is also a great panacea with this grave doctor. He tells us it is extracted from the horn of the elk, the swiftest of all animals, whom the hunters can never take unless they find him sick; and even then they must be very adroit, for if the animal discovers them, he puts his hind foot to his left ear, which cures him in an instant, and he flies beyond the reach of his pursuers!! Such was the profound ignorance and ridiculous credulity of this grave medecin, who was doubtless looked up to in his own times as a miracle of sagacity and wisdom. In what light his successors of the present day will be regarded by their successors a hundred years hence, time must develope. But if we may conjecture, from the diversities already prevailing among the Sangrados and Brunonians, the Broussaists and the Old School, the Thompries and practice of them all, will be remembered only as subsonians and Homocpathists, we should prophesy, that the thenjects for ridicule in some Literary Messenger of the day, while some new system will, in its turn, be the hobby of the profes sion, and prevail until it has immolated its hecatomb, as others

have done before it.

+ Eclectic Journal of Medicine, vol. I. 395.

radical changes in political opinion, are as remarkable, though not quite so rapid, as the revolutions of fashion in the cut of a coat or the maxims of etiquette. Take religion: its state and condition how surprisingly different at different times!! Let us go back somewhat more than a century. In the 46th number of Addison's Spectator of the date of April 1717, we have the following letter illustrative of the state of things at that day.

"Sir, I am one of those unhappy men that are plagued with a gospel gossip, so common among the dissenters. Lectures in the morning, church meetings at noon and preparation sermons at night, take up so much of her time, it is very rare she knows what we have for dinner, unless when the preachers are to be at it. If at any time I have her company alone, she is a mere sermon pop-gun repeating and discharging texts, proofs and applications so perpetually, that the noise in my head will not let me sleep till towards morning. The misery of my case is great, and great numbers of such sufferers plead for your pity and speedy relief, otherwise we must expect in a little time to be lectured, preached and prayed into want, unless the happiness of being sooner talked to death prevent it. Yours, &c. R. G."

new philosophy sedulously sought to obliterate every
trace of its existence, by the abolition of institutions
which had prevailed for twenty centuries. The sabbath
was changed into the decade, and the surplus of five
days, which were thus left in the year, were called in
the republican calendar the sans cullottidès! The conta-
gion of infidelity spread far beyond the limits of the
new republic. It was smuggled into the American
States, with the extravagancies of Jacobin principles,
which received too ready an admission from the vota-
ries of rational liberty among us.
The effect was
correspondent. The religious institutions of the land
withered at the touch of that great pollution. Reli-
gion was not only neglected but mocked at and des-
pised; and though the benign spirit of our institutions
forbade persecution in its most odious forms, yet the
bigotry of skepticism—not more tolerant than the big-
otry of the fanatic, looked with contempt and contumely
on the scanty few, who still were followers of the cross,
and faithful to their divine master through good and
evil repute. Again a change has come over the face
of things. The reign of skepticism has been short,
and religion has once more resumed her sway. The
pendulum has made a complete vibration, and we are
now, as in the days of Addison, in danger of falling into
the opposite extreme of "gospel gossiping."

Who would not think that this letter was written in
these our own times, which exhibit occasionally, at
what are called "revivals," the same inveterate spirit I tremble to think that these mutations in human
of church going and "gospel gossips ?" And yet how affairs are destined sooner or later to sap our politi-
numerous have been the ebbs and flows of fanaticism cal institutions. The fluctuations of opinion on the
and even of "pure religion and undefiled," since the subject of forms of government already begin to show
day when Addison, the gifted champion of christianity, themselves among us. Not only are there those who,
thought it necessary to chastise the excesses of its vo- weary of the Union, would willingly go back to the
taries by his ingenious and amusing satire. I remember wretched system of independent states, or throw them-
well the decorous solemnities of the church more than selves upon the protection of a feeble confederacy, but
fifty years ago and the respectful deference which was there are others in whom fretfulness at the triumph of
paid to all its ministers. I remember well the punc-political adversaries inspires a doubt of the success
tuality with which upon my knees at the lap of a of our experiment in representative democracy, and
sainted mother, my hands were lifted up, morning and prompts a secret sigh for institutions like those of the
evening, to the giver of all good, in my little prayers. father land. These you may occasionally hear gloomily
Then came the tempest of the French revolution. It suggesting that a people never can be happy under a
swept away religion as with a besom.* It struck government like this, and that our rights would be more
down the ancient monarchy with all its appendages, secure and our prosperity less interrupted under the
and the ecclesiastical state, which clung to it like a pa- rule of Nicholas or Napoleon, or the gentle reign of the
rasitical plant, went with it. But as sometimes hap- young Victoria. God forbid that our cycle should as to
pens in the convulsions of a revolution, the destruc- this matter be very speedily accomplished. But the
tion of abuses involved the eradication of much that versatility of public opinion leaves no room for much
was sacred and most worthy of veneration. Reli- confidence in the permanence of our institutions. Of
gion itself fell into disrepute, and the apostles of the this versatility, daily evidence is afforded. Take a single
instance. The sentiment has now become familiar that
*It must not be forgotten, however, that the poison of infidelity
was long circulating through Europe before its signal triumph a slave population is the happiest in the world, and that
in the French Revolution. To mention the names of Voltaire, the existence of slavery is neither a moral nor political
D'Alembert, Condorcet and Jean Jaques Rousseau, and of Hume, evil. Compare this growing sentiment with the opi-
Helvetius and other disciples of the same school, is scarcely nions of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, or
Becessary. But there is one not so generally known who far
surpassed them all in the boldness of his blasphemies. I allude James Madison and George Wythe, and their disciples.
to the Baron D'Holbach, a German writer, of whom Voltaire Compare it with the sentiments boldly, though indis-
thus speaks in a letter to D'Alembert: "I have just read "Good creetly advanced, about five years ago in the General
Sense. There is more than good sense in that work. It is Assembly of Virginia; and we shall see at once how
terrible." And D'Alembert echoes back the remark: "I think little confidence can be placed in the steadfastness of
as you do in regard to 'Good Sense,' which appears to me a
much more terrible book than The System of Nature." our principles. Whether wrong then or now, is imma-
What, reader, think you must be the character of that work, the terial to the matter in hand. The change itself estab-
hardihood and blasphemies of which were terrible even to Vol- lishes the position for which alone we contend. It sus-
taire and D'Alembert? And yet, believe me, it is far worse than tains the charge of fickleness and versatility, and with
fear of greater changes, perplexes and confounds us.
The human mind, emancipated in this happy country
from every fetter, riots in its liberty and runs into ex-

your imagination, even thus aided, can suggest. D'Holbach was

born at Heidelshiem in 1723 and died in 1789. He lived principally in Paris, and was a member of the academies of Petersburg, Berlin, &c.

longer they have lasted and the more generally they have prevailed, the more we cherish them. We are afraid to put men to live and trade each on his own private stock of reason, because we suspect that the stock in each man is small, and that the individuals would do better to avail themselves of the general bank and capital of nations and ages. Many of our men of speculation, instead of exploding general prejudices, employ their sagacity to discover the latent wisdom which prevails in them. If they find what they seek, and they seldom fail, they think it more wise to continue the prejudice, with the reason involved, than to cast away the coat of prejudice and leave nothing but the naked reason; because prejudice with its reason has a motive to give action to that reason and an affec tion which will give it permanence. Prejudice is of ready application in emergency; it previously engages the mind in a steady course of wisdom and virtue, and does not leave the man hesitating in the moment of decision, skeptical, puzzled, and unresolved. Prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice his duty becomes a part of his nature."-If I cannot concur in carrying these opinions to the extent to which Mr.

tremes. The trammels of prejudice having been thrown all our old prejudices, we cherish them to a very conaside, we look to the benign light of reason alone to di-siderable degree, and, to take more shame to ourselves, rect our pursuit of truth. But unhappily the mists of we cherish them because they are prejudices; and the passion and the ignes fatui of theoretic notions, entice us from the paths of true wisdom, and we wander backwards and forwards in the trackless regions of boundless speculation. The inevitable consequence is, that all principles are unsettled and all opinions unstable. There is nothing sure, nothing sacred, nothing immutable among us. We have no axioms (in politics, at least,) which may not be contested, no postulates which may not be denied. The great problem yet to be solved by the statesmen of the country, is to give steadfastness to opinions and stability to principle; to correct that perpetual tendency to change which gives some fitness to the comparison of a republic to a vessel that is tossed upon the unquiet waves of the never resting ocean. This problem can only be solved through the agency of education; not in the learning of the schools alone, or in the acquisition of a wretched smattering in ancient tongues, but in the great lessons of wisdom and virtue also. We must, in this respect at least, take our model from the ancient philosophers. Our youth must be taught things as well as words. The schools of ethics must devote themselves less to the metaphysics of the science, than to the great and practical principles of true wisdom. The pulpit, instead of being confined to the mysteries of theology and the discussion of intricate | Burke would carry them, there are yet some prejudices points of doctrine, must condescend to instruct their flocks in the great duties of life. They must mingle with the lessons of christianity, the inculcation of the beauty of virtue and the temporal as well as eternal advantages of a pure and sublime morality. That, after all, is the only foundation upon which political philosophy can firmly rest. The principles of right and wrong are ingrained in the nature of things. They are as eternal and immutable as the heavens from which they emanate. What rests upon them will be steadfast and enduring, instead of undergoing that perpetual vacillation which is fated to every institution built upon the principles of "adulterated metaphysics."

that I would anxiously cherish in the bosoms of the rising generation; I speak of our prejudices in favor of our free institutions and of that union which under heaven is their surest guarantee.

ADAM O'BRIEN.

GARULUS.

About the year 18-, I left the valley of the Shenandoah, on an excursion over the Alleghany range of mountains, which I had never traversed before that time. It was early in the month of May, and the broad and fertile lands of the garden of Virginia were putting on their rich verdure, and the forests had un

I shall conclude my "rambles" by a short quotation from Edmund Burke, though his political speculations are in very bad odor with us. In his splendid declamations in defence of antiquated error, there is never-folded their leaves, and the whole air was redolent with theless intermingled much profound wisdom, which our the blossoms of our flowering locust. As 1 ascended prejudices against him and his opinions ought not to the steep and rugged road from the mouth of Savage lead us to disregard. Though he may cherish too far to the Backbone, vegetation gradually disappeared, and the growth of our prejudices, it behooves us to take every bud was as closely locked up on the summit as in care that in attempting to eradicate them, we do not the middle of winter. The view, though unobstructed root out also our most valuable principles. Let us not by foliage, was not, however, as extensive as my fancy destroy the wheat in pulling up the tares. Let us be had suggested, and far less imposing than many mouncareful, while we disabuse the mind of pernicious pre-tain prospects with which I was familiar. On the right, judices, to fill their place with the sound and well reflected opinions of wise and virtuous men: let us "engage the mind in a steady course of wisdom and of virtue," and fill it with good principles "of ready application in the emergency," so that the man may not "be left hesitating in the moment of decision, skeptical, puzzled, and unresolved." "You see, sir," It is the most stupendous chasm I have ever seen, and says Mr. Burke,* "that in this enlightened age I am bold enough to confess that we are generally men of untaught feelings; that instead of casting away

Vol. III. 106, 107.

however, you see, in your ascent, the vast cleft in the great Alleghany, through which, the Crab-tree and Deep creek pour their waters, forming with the rills that tumble from the mountain sides, the Savage river, which I had just passed. In the distance this cleft or gap looks as regular as the chop of the woodman's axe.

is one of the greatest curiosities of our mountain country. It is not universally known that the most western waters of old Cohongaronta (for that was one of the Indian names of the Potomac) rise on the western side of the great Backbone; so that the lofty ridge of the

though the scanty gray locks which were scattered on
his scalp bore evidence of his great age, yet his brawny
shoulders and muscular frame seemed to contradict
their testimony. He wore a hunting shirt dyed with
arnotto according to the fashion of the country, and his
dress otherwise corresponded with this indication of his
condition in life. The old lady who was giving him
his supper was herself nearly eighty years of age, and
was engaged in conversation when I entered. The
first sentence I heard was from her lips.

"And how old are you now, sir ?" said she.
"Ninety-three, madam," said he.
The answer startled me.

"Ninety-three," said I, "and where do you live?"
"In Kanawha, sir."

Alleghany does not in this spot divide the eastern and Passing Kingwood, the county-town of Preston, the western waters from each other. The dividing ridge evening brought me to Gandy's, far famed as being the is a small mountain which does not exceed five hundred worst house on the road. But unfortunately there is no feet in height, and forms by its semicircular shape a sort missing it. He who luxuriates one night at Armof cove, behind the great mountain, within which the strong's, was always destined inevitably to all sorts of waters gather that make the Savage river. They then discomfort at Gandy's. It is situated at the eastern pour themselves through the mighty gap which some base of Laurel Hill, which seems to say to the wearied convulsion has opened for them, the sides of which can- traveller, with more success and less presumption, than not be less than 2,000 feet in height. After dwelling Canute to the ocean-"Thus far shalt thou go and no for some time on this stupendous object, I descended | further." Accordingly I resigned myself to my fate and into the glades, whose beautiful natural meadows, inter-entered the uncomfortable "Place to rest at for travelspersed with small hillocks, covered with clumps of lers." As I walked into the apartment and drew my trees free from undergrowth, were in striking contrast to chair near the fire, my eye was attracted by an aged the rugged scenery of the frowning mountain. The soil man, who was eating his very frugal meal at a table, is, however, cold, and the seasons as backward as on almost as long as the side of the house, to which it the highest pinnacle of the Alleghany. The conse-seemed attached as a fixture. His back was to me, and quence is, that population is very scanty, though the Country is often covered with beautiful herds of cattle, which are driven from Hampshire, Hardy and other counties, in the spring, to range in those abundant pastures during the heats of summer. Pursuing my way through the continuous meadows to the little Yough, I found myself at sunset in comfortable quarters at old Armstrong's, with a good fire, which the cool evenings made agreeable; and strong coffee, good tea, exquisite venison and fine trout to regale me. Next morning I resumed my march with little hope of such another inn. In a dozen miles I left the glades, and ascended Briary or Cheat mountain, the view from which is not less magnificent than that from the Warm Spring rock. At its foot, on the western side, roll the waters of the Cheat, the largest branch of the Monongahela, bordered by some fertile low grounds, and forming where the road crosses the river a beautiful farm called the Dunkard's bottom. I paused on the bank of this noble stream, not with admiration only, but with doubt about crossing it I heard at the inn that it was fordable, but as I was also told a man had been drowned there only half an hour before, and as I knew how reckless of danger backwoodsmen are, I was still hesitating. Just then a horseman appeared on the opposite bank. Though distant three hundred yards, I could discover that he was a stout, fat man, on a very small and weak horse, riding on a large bag, and his bridle reins, as I afterwards found, were made of a strong tow string. He plunged in and the water was in an instant up to the My curiosity was very much excited by this account root of his horse's tail. He laid himself back pretty of himself, from the lips of a patriarch bordering on a much at his ease, and left his little horse to feel his way hundred years of age, and not less so by the plain and among the huge stones that render that ford one of the simple good manners of the venerable old man. So as worst in Virginia. He stemmed the torrent success- soon as our scanty and uninviting meal was ended, I fully, and at length reached the shore. "Good God, took the liberty of asking the name and somewhat of friend,” said I, “how could you venture across this tor- the history of this pilgrim through life's weary way, rent on that little horse with your weight, and that large who at more than fourscore and ten years was still bag full of oats?" "Lord bless you, sir," said he, "I did struggling in the humble walks of life; still pursuing not care nothing at all about it. You see, sir, I knows with unextinguished zeal some phantom-some hopethis here river as well as my own cabin. You must some glowworm fire, and still looking to earth as to his know I was the ferryman here many a day, and many home, instead of pointing for it, like Anaxagoras, to the a time I have swum it when it wur higher nor it is now. skies. What hope-what object could have tempted So if I had got a ducking, I could ha' got out slick | him so far from home? Was it that he could say in the enough." As I had no fancy, however, for such a navi-pathetic language which even Burns could envy,

gation, and had not been trained to the dauntless habits of our hardy highlanders, who fear nothing, and always "go ahead," whatever stands in the way, I quietly wended my way to the ferry, where I passed dry shod, and escaped a cold bath at the expense of a ninepence.

"In Kanawha! why that is one hundred and fifty miles from here."

"Yes, sir."

"And how did you get here?"

"I walked."

"And how far do you walk in a day over these mountains ?"

"About twenty-five miles, sir," said he.

I was much surprised, but here suspended my examination. The old lady recommenced hers. "And how old is your youngest child, sir," said she. "A year last April, madam," said he. "And how old is your eldest?" said I. "Sixty-four years old," said he.*

"Na'e hame ha'e I, the minstrel said,

Sad party strife o'erturned my ha',
And lonely at the eve of life,

I wander thro' a wreath of snaw"?

The above detail, as well as what follows, is literally true.