Stream, whose marge thy foot hath pressed, Charming all who met thy gaze;

Stream, whose course thine eye hath blessedBear to thee in mute amaze,

One more drop-a tear of mine

Pearl of heart! to mix with thine.

III.

Mary, Mary! Star of ocean!

Sun of day! and moon of night! Bends my soul in mute devotion;

Bless me with thine own sweet light; Mountains rise between us now;

Torrents rush, and rivers flow.

Love, and joy, and hope, and faith,
Mingle sweet as is their wont,
Through my life, and through my death,
In the soul's eternal font;

All take wing and fondly flee;

All are wafted, love, to thee.

THE OLD FORDS.

The Prince Palatine and himself with Major King, thinking to go over the Weser in a coach, the water being deep, and not fordable, he saved himself by the help of a willow.

HOWELL.

In the wide, diversified, and interesting range of rural life, there is scarcely a single object to be met with but what is entitled not only to attention, as marking the scene presented around in all its variety, but as awakening associations which, in many instances, extend to the early period of our history, to days, when those many improvements, that distinguish the times in which we live, were never even dreamt of, much less carried into execution-improvements which are changing the face of the country, and in many cases, the habits, the feelings, and the transactions of its inhabitants, and working out, as instanced particularly in the railway system, that wonderful application of science and skill

which seems to defy the influence of space and the power of time, and to tie even the most distant districts absolutely and marvellously together. Amongst these comparatively trivial, but, at the same time, time-honoured objects which engage the attention, the lover of a country life will not, under any circumstances, be disposed to disregard the Old Fords-the spots which, time out of mind, have been used for the purpose of saving time and space by generations now sleeping with their forefathers.

The memory of the Old Fords is older than that of the Old Ferry-much older than that of the oldest bridge; for, although the Old Fords may still exist in those localities, which are not distinguished for a superabundance of population, they have been crossed, from time immemorial, and, probably, will continue to be so crossed, even as long as the locomotive engine has got a steam-whistle, a piston-rod, a blast-pipe, or a driving-wheel. The Old Ford, indeed, is entitled to respect from its antiquity. It awakens recollections, upon which the mind is disposed to dwell with peculiar interest. It is associated with the memory of days, when the hardy yeoman proceeded to market, with the partner of his days seated on a pillion placed behind the saddle

a custom now wholly extinct, if not wholly forgotten.* It speaks of those habits connected with rural life and rural occupations, which present a striking contrast to the practices and habits of the present day. It has, indeed, been said, that it is extremely questionable, whether, with the present march of improvement, by creating wants which were totally unknown to, and consequently unfelt in former and far more simple days, and augmenting desires which are difficult of gratificationwhether more real happiness is enjoyed at the present artificial time, with all its heartless frivolities and unmeaning and unnecessary fashions, than at the period, when the hum of the spinning wheel was heard in the farm-house, and those several occupations employed the time and engaged the attention of its inmates which are now wholly extinct, and, in many instances, nearly obliterated. No such thing! The employment of the spinning wheel would be an absurdity now, when the steam-engine can

* In most villages, there are yet to be found a few stone steps attached to the old houses of the first class, or to the garden walls, called "horse-steps." It was by these that the farmer's wife, or "the dame," perched herself upon the pillion behind her "good man."

drive its million of spindles and reduce the cost to a point totally unattainable by any other means. "The Hyrcanian deserts, and the vasty wilds

Of wide Arabia, are as thoroughfares now."

The rivers in the north of England present a striking contrast to those of the south. In the northern parts of the kingdom, the banks are high and precipitous; in the southern, comparatively low, sloping, in many instances, to the very edge of the stream. These present a gulphy and more dangerous appearance: the other, an aspect more pleasing and less fraught with peril. The fords of the larger character are formed in the most convenient localities of the more important rivers, which are moved by the operation of the tide-places considerably inland, where the tide has nearly exhausted its power, where it never rises to what may be deemed a good height, and where, at low water, the stream is so shallow as to admit a passage across on horseback with perfect safety. In many—indeed, in nearly all the localities in question, and of the character just described, modern science and skill, administering to the wants, supplying the necessities, and contributing to the conveniences connected especially

* Merchant of Venice.