nature and grace inspire, when their united voices chord within the bosom. A sarcastic observer of human weaknesses and foibles might have indulged in a sardonic grin at the doating attachment which they manifested towards their brother; he might have laughed his petty, nay, his spiteful, laugh, at the electric effect which the mention of his name produced upon them. Let these sneerers laugh away. They dwell but in the outer court of the temple of the feelings; they cannot enter its "holy of holies," and bow before nature in her sacred chamber; they know not "the untrodden ways beside the spring of love," neither can they taste of the cup which is full and overflowing with the pure waters of love and peace. If a stranger talked of the worth and talent of Erasmus, the full, dark eye of the younger sister would expand with a brilliancy as mild and radiant as ever streamed from under the eyelids of human being, and her countenance would lighten with a smile more glorious, more refreshing to the lover of unaffected simplicity, than the light of the harvest moon, when she walks in her brightness over the face of heaven. Isabella's temperament did not permit her changing feelings to appear so obvious in her manner; she was one of those who can control and conceal what is felt. Nevertheless, her pleasurable emotions were also easily excited when her brother's name was the theme of admiration, and there was no way in which a flatterer could sooner overcome her good sense than by dilating upon his accomplishments and virtues. And he was worthy. No brother could be more kind, more affectionate, more devoted; the simplest act of courtesy was rendered more courteous by its manner; in the very tone of his voice, as he regularly bade them "good night," before retiring to rest, there was a richness and a fulness which indicated fervour of affection. In their dwelling there was light and peace; and the two sisters would often embrace each other in the fulness of joy, thanking the God of mercy, who, though he had taken the parents away, had yet left them such a brother. happy threshold into a desolate and dreary abode; and the sisters A low, plaintive voice, soliciting charity, attracted the attention of Erasmus. It was a female's, whose countenance seemed to say, "Disease and poverty have worked their will with me! Even in this region of probation, suffering, the child of sin, hath blasted me with her touch!" He looked again, and there ap peared something in her look and manner very different from that of those shameless and wretched beings, whose souls are, as it were, petrified in their bodies. "Poor creature!" he thought, "thou hast, perhaps, been exposed to unavoidable misery, while all my suffering proceeds from myself!" At the impulse of the moment, he emptied into the beggar's hand the contents of his purse, which consisted of a little loose silver; and, as he walked away amid a shower of extravagant blessings, PRIDE whispered But Erasmus walked not in his uprightness. There met him the benediction of complacency in his ear. It grew upon him on his way, first, "the pride of life," then "the lust of the eye," insensibly that he had laid an acceptable offering on the altar of and behind them, masked, "false though fair," came "the lust universal charity, and that ALL goodness had not departed from of the flesh," and he bowed his head and worshipped them. him he looked up to heaven, and vowed to the great God that he If angels strike their golden harps, and chaunt anew the anthem of would no longer grieve him, but from henceforth walk in his ways, salvation over every child of mortality who passes from "death to and keep his statutes for evermore. Little did Erasmus dream life," how must they veil their faces in sorrow, when one returneth that he was, in effect, holding out, as it were, a bribe to the goodfrom life to death! The soul dies again; it becomes a fearfulness of God to return and take possession of his heart; and that it spectacle to men, and the body is its sepulchre; and the depraved might be said to him, as it was said to one of old, "Thy money and excited passions are worse than a Roman guard, to watch that perish with thee!" no friendly remembrance of God's love and mercy, no 66 repentance that needeth not to be repented of," may come to steal him away, in the vain hope that they are sleeping! Oh, ye who are yet in the freshness of your first love, may ye never have your feelings excoriated, may you never approach so near the fire of unhallowed passion as to be scorched by its power! They who are laid down in the tomb of the BACKSLIDER, are bound hand and foot in their grave-clothes, and are never again able to arise, until He pronounces the magic words, "Come forth!" and turning round to the Christian friends who are gazing with wonder and compassion, bids them, "Loose them, and let them go !"' Isabella and Helen marvelled exceedingly at the change in their brother's conduct, and their love blinded them as to its cause, until Isabella, who, though ignorant of the ways of the world, wås sharp and shrewd, discovered it. Formerly these children of affection knew each other's movements and occupations freely and unreservedly; all their little pleasures were in common, and an angry or a fretful look seldom veiled their countenances. Now, Erasmus threw over his outgoings and incomings an air of mystery and concealment, resisted kindly inquiry with petulance, and shut his heart to those rays of affection which once expanded its blossom-leaves, and gave them freshness and colouring. In the early moments of his backsliding, conscience occasionally smote him, and he would return to weep, and ask his sisters' forgiveness, and then go out to sin again! I once thought of tracing him in his downward course, and presenting it to the reader's eye; to show how gradually the conscience becomes "seared as with a hot iron," and to warn the young Christian of the danger of listening to the voice of the "charmer," when he would seduce him from the path of duty. But it is a delicate and a difficult thing to do. It is exceedingly difficult to describe scenes which border upon those things "of which it is a shame even to speak," without their having a tendency to injure a delicate mind, and to pain a tender conscience. Let me, therefore, touch them not. It is sufficient to know that a departure from purity turned that Returning home to seal with his sisters, by the sacrament of affectionate confession and forgiveness, the vow he had made to God, he was met by a few gay companions, with whom he had grown familiar. They urged him to accompany them in their walk, and he consented, determining to preserve a gravity of aspect and seriousness of conversation in consistency with the vow which he had made. But he found it extremely difficult so to do; and, ere he was aware, he was entrapped into a consent to dine with the party. Why need I attempt to describe what followed? Remember, reader, it was the Sabbath day, “holy of the Lord, and honourable ;" and marvel that a Christian man could spend such a day in such company. Erasmus felt himself sinking, and he drowned all thought in additional draughts of wine; and at last gambling was introduced, which absorbed every feeling of the soul. This was the guiltiest night that Erasmus had ever spent. The whole party rushed out about midnight, inflamed with liquor, to brawl and swagger in the streets, and enjoy what they esteemed mirth; and the poor fallen and degraded professor of Christianity sneaked after them, and, drunk as he was, trembling lest some one among those he met would recognise him. After rambling about till they were tired, they entered one of those private gambling-houses which so disgrace large cities; and here Erasmus met the fate of every novice in such scenes of iniquity. He was robbed, plundered, stripped; he sang, danced, and leaped, affected a careless air and gay attitude;-in fact, he did not need to affect, for he was delirious, mad, utterly mad; and the delirium did not terminate next day; for, with one or two wild associates, the debauch was prolonged, until nature, outraged and exhausted, suffered her perverter to fall prostrate on the earth. As he was passing through the horrible sensations which succeed a fit of drunkenness, his first thought was to put an end to his existence. Disgraced and beggared, he could not face his fellow man; and yet he dared to think of meeting the Hidden One of eternity in his own everlasting abiding-place! No, no! No self-murderer thinks of MEETING God. His idea is, (if pride and passion will permit an idea to be formed,) that he will escape into some remote corner of creation, and there hide himself from creature and from Creator. But another temptation entered the mind of Erasmus, and chased out the first. He had squandered his substance, and plunged himself in debt. With a fearful heart and a tremulous hand, he drew out a bill, to which he attached the name of a worthy man, who had been a friend of his father's, and was still a friend of the family. It was successful;— Erasmus received the money, and thus filled the measure of his iniquity by forgery! His debts were paid; but there remained a something behind which he could never redeem-a debt which he could never cancel. When his fever had cooled down, and he could look calmly at the situation in which he had placed himself, he shuddered with horror. A prison and a gibbet rose before his eyes; the gay, and amiable, and much-loved Erasmus become an object of pity or idle curiosity to a rude and gazing mob; and his sisters-he almost leaped at the thought-his sisters! oh, agony, agony! He saw the soft and fair-haired girl, ever his peculiar favourite, borne fainting away from the last parting scene, while she whose firm step and unquivering lip betokened strength of nerve and mental endurance, wrung his hand with that expression of unutterable woe which lodgeth within the silent sufferer's heart. And he heard the loud laugh of the scorners, as they assembled at the wassail board, and talked of hypocrisy, and imposition, and priestcraft, and Christianity, and blessed themselves in their folly; and he saw good men hanging their heads abashed, and sighing over the fearful fall of one who had given promise of becoming a cedar in Lebanon. Erasmus arose to fly for ever from his home, his country, and his friends. The stricken deer darts into the concealment of the forest, and wots not that the arrow is in its side: we may change country and climate-we cannot change the heart! His preparations, however, did not escape the notice of Isabella, and some vague expressions which escaped him roused all her suspicions. With her accustomed promptitude and energy, she questioned his meaning, and besought him, if there remained in his heart one spark of affection, to tell her what he was about to do. The appeal was rendered irresistible by the younger sister clasping him in her arms, and declaring that where he went there she would go, and where he died there she would die: he disengaged himself from her grasp, confessed his crime, and with a maniac look exclaimed he must fly from them, from happiness, and from God, a wanderer and a vagabond upon the face of the earth! A scream burst from Helen; but she was recalled to her recollection by the authoritative air of Isabella, who never opened her lips, nor uttered any exclamation either of wonder or of sorrow. The support of the family was derived from a legacy, which was paid yearly, but which was to cease at a certain definite period. In addition to this, three equal sums of money had been deposited in the national bank, in their respective names, under the verbal condition that they should touch nothing but the interest until they were severally settled in life. Erasmus had already squandered his own, and the bill which he had forged amounted to more than what belonged to both his sisters. He saw at once what was meant by Isabella, and in passionate language declared he never would consent to beggar them, as well as himself. The tone in which she bade him hold his peace confounded him: she quietly gathered her mantle about her, commanded him to accompany her, and procured the money and the bill ere the forenoon had passed over their heads! On returning home, she walked deliberately up to the fire, and threw the cause of their terror and alarm into it, and, as she watched it blazing, a long convulsive sob escaped her, and a few tears trickled down her cheek. Not so Helen. She had remained at home in all the torturing misery of suspense and doubt; and, when she actually saw the fatal document burning, she looked alternately at brother and sister, and then ran about the room in an hysterical exuberance of joy. Then beholding Erasmus with his head reclined upon a table, and hearing his groans, she ran towards him, and kissed him again and again, telling him, "All is right, all is right!" The girls had destroyed their only means of independence as to worldly prospects-but they never thought of that they thought of their brother. But this prompt and energetic deed, and the temporal sacrifice of those noble-minded creatures, doubtless saved a brother from disgrace, and disentangled his soul from the snares of the destroyer. His future conduct showed that, though the fine gold had become dim, it was the precious metal still; for, with heart humbled to the very dust, he returned to the path of duty. A series of self-denials, and of kind devoted attachment, proved his gratitude to his sisters-what could repay them?-but all their cheerfulness could never remove the melancholy which the remembrance of his fall had settled down upon his spirit. In spite even of himself, it marred his future usefulness, for he became like one whose nervous system is destroyed, trembling at every step with excessive cautiousness. NATIONAL SONGS.* WE are not going to write an essay on National Songs,-albeit, many excellent things have been said, and doubtless many more might be said, on that fascinating and not unimportant subject. We have been too much delighted with those before us to think of those of other lands; nay, we cannot turn to those of other times, when we are full of Samuel Lover's modern "Songs of the Superstitions of Ireland." Many of them are already as "familiar in our mouths as household words ;"-we cannot pass along the street without encountering "Rory O'More;" but the marriage of music to immortal verse is a union more advantageous to the former than the latter. Music, whilst it may make poor verses tolerable, takes from us the power of that undivided attention which good poetry deserves, and many a beauty is dimmed by its harmonious companion. But we have been gratified in perusing the little volume of Songs and Ballads recently published by Mr. Lover. We give one, which, though illustrative of a German, not an Irish superstition, is a gem. "There is a German superstition, that, when a sudden silence takes place in a company, an angel at that moment makes a circuit among them, and the first person who breaks the silence is supposed to have been touched by the wing of the passing seraph. For the purposes of poetry, I thought two persons preferable to many in illustrating this very beautiful superstition. "WHEN, by the evening's quiet light, There sit two silent lovers, "Thus, a musing minstrel stray'd With a bard's devotion: "I have loved thee well and long, With hope of Heaven's own making! But a true heart's speaking : I will love thee still untired!' "Silence o'er the maiden fell, Her beauty lovelier making; It came like sunshine o'er his heart! • Songs and Ballads, by Samuel Lover. 12mo, London, 1839. Chapman and Hall. MISSIONARY AND MERCANTILE VOYAGE TO We have just met with two very interesting volumes, recently published in America, containing accounts of two expeditions sent out by the American house of Oliphant and Co., merchants at Canton, with the purpose of ascertaining what could be done to open up a commercial and religious intercourse for the United States flag with Japan and the Malaysian archipelago, one chief object being to ascertain the probability of success in establishing Christian missions in either of these countries. It appears that, although the firm are not the recognised agents of the American government, yet, in the voyage to the archipelago, they evidently acted in concert with it; since, in the instructions delivered to the captain. he is informed that any additions he might make to nautical knowledge by surveys, &c., would be appreciated not only by themselves, but by their government and he is also authorised to promise that a consul should be sent to the capital of Borneo (Berni), if desired by the sultan. This method of employing private houses in the establishment of trade, and the extension of Christianity, would seem not to be without its advantages;—it is a mode of communication which appears most likely to prevent any jealousy of the interference of a foreign power, and to establish a free and amicable intercourse. There is, however, no intimation that the plan was successful in the present instance; but in regard to the whole of the commercial part of the expedition we are left very much in the dark, the information given being chiefly confined to the results of the inquiries made with the view of establishing missionary posts, and notices of the natural productions of the places visited. We will, in the first place, advert to the voyage of the ship Morrison to Japan, which, although not the first in order of time, holds the first place in the volumes before us, and was undertaken whilst the Himmaleh was yet at sea. In the early part of the year 1837 it singularly happened, that no less than three parties of shipwrecked Japanese were assembled together at Canton. One of these had been thrown on shore on the North-west coast of America, near the river Oregon, and had been rescued from the hands of the Indians by the superintendant of the Hudson's Bay Company, who had sent them to China, where they were received under the roof of Mr. Gutzlaff, the celebrated Danish missionary. This party was three in number. A second, consisting of six, had been cast away on the island of Hainan, and had been brought thence to Canton, under the immediate care of the Hong merchants. The third party, consisting of four, arrived at Macao from Manilla, and found a home with their countrymen at the house of Mr. Gutzlaff. Their account of themselves was, "that they had left a port in Satsuma more than two years before for Nagasaki; that they had been driven by a typhoon on the northern shores of Luzonia, one of the Philippine islands, and that they were there seized by men of black skin and curly hair, who carried them into the interior." There was nothing improbable in this story, it being well known that Japanese junks have been wrecked before on the same coast, and that there still exists a negro, or Papuan race, in the forests and inaccessible interior of that beautiful island. These men contrived to escape from their savage captors, and, reaching the Spanish settlement at Manilla, were conveyed to Macao. The presence of these men suggested the idea of attempting to open an American trade with Japan, by an expedition undertaken for the return of his subjects to the emperor. The Americans had never had any trade with Japan, and might therefore plead that they were not included in the prohibition, by which the European nations formerly trading to Japan were interdicted. To show that their intentions were purely peaceful, the vessel was disarmed, and Mrs. King, the wife of one of the partners of the firm, who went as supercargo, consented to accompany her husband. It was a matter of debate whether any Japanese translation of the Scriptures, and other religious works, should be taken; but it was at length determined that nothing of the sort should be carried, from the fear of alarming the religious scruples of the people; it was considered that, since religious disputes had been the cause of the original banishment of the Europeans, it would be most prudent to establish a commercial intimacy on a sure footing, before venturing on the subject of religious intercourse. * The claims of Japan and Malaysia upon Christendom, exhibited in notes of voyages made in 1837, from Canton, in the ship Morrison and brig Himmaleh, under the direction of the owners. 2 vols. 12mo. New York, French: London, Wiley and Putnam. 1839. Even the Dutch, who enjoy a privileged trade at the single port of Nagasaki, are strictly prohibited from any propagation, or even mention, of religion; although the Japanese are quite aware that theirs is widely different from the Roman Catholic, at which they conceived so great a disgust. This voyage ended in complete disappointment. After touching at Napakiang, the port of Loo-Choo, to take up Mr. Gutzlaff, who met them there in the English frigate Raleigh, the Morrison proceeded to the bay of Yeddo, the residence of the emperor, which was preferred to Nagasaki, as it was feared that the Dutch influence there might be prejudicial. Dropping anchor off Cosima, at the entrance of the harbour, they were boarded by some of the natives, and the despatches which had been prepared, explaining the motives of the visit, were forwarded; but no other answer was returned, save a smart cannonade the next morning, from which they had great difficulty in escaping. When they had got clear they began to consider what next should be done, as the Japanese declined any proposition to put them ashore, except by permission of the authorities; as they said, even if they succeeded in reaching their own homes, they would be immediately inquired after and punished for returning in an illegal manner. They recommended that an attempt should be made at Kagósima, the chief port of Satsuma, the southern division of the island of Kiusiu,-and the residence of one of the most powerful and least dependent of the feudal princes. On their arrival off the port the Japanese were sent ashore at their own request, as they entertained an idea that their ill success at Yeddo was partly owing to their having been kept out of sight. They were received with many expressions of kindness and commiseration by the inhabitants, and on their return on board, brought one of the village officers with them. A packet for the prince was intrusted to this dignitary, who promised to forward it immediately. Two of the Japanese returned with him, and their account of their adventures was taken officially by the village authorities, and promised to be forwarded, together with the packet handed over by Mr. King. A pilot was furnished, who led them to an anchorage, and soon after a boat came from the village, to announce that a high officer would be sent on the following day, and that meantime they should be carried to a safer anchorage. When this announcement was made, the packet which had been sent on shore was returned unopened, and unhappily in a way which made it impossible for Mr. King to refuse to receive it, i. e. without his knowing it." The particular manner in which this return was effected we are not informed of, but as its return was unknown, Mr. King determined to wait till some answer was received. In the course of the following day "one coarse rude man, with two sabres (the distinguishing mark of a man in office), remarked, in the afternoon, that we should not be taken to a better anchorage, and that if we wished to trade we must go to Nagasaki. Mr. Gutzlaff was also told that there were serious disturbances, famines, insurrections, &c., in the country, and even at the capital; and that Osaca, the third city of the empire, had been burned, by order of the government, or of one of the contending parties; circumstances that might possibly have influenced the people in their reception of the Americans. The day passed over, and no demonstrations of hostility were made, but no official communications were received. A slight warning was given early next morning by a fisherman, who pulled alongside, and told them they had better go off,-apparently from the impulse of kind feeling. Soon after, cannon were brought down and placed on all the heights; but the operation was not immediately perceived, as everything going on was concealed by screens of striped cloths, such as are said by Golownin to be stretched, on great occasions, in front of the Japanese fortresses. A brisk fire was soon opened, and the Morrison was obliged again to beat a hasty retreat. Considering it now useless to make any other attempt at landing his unfortunate charge, Mr. King directed his course homewards, and the Morrison reached Macao, without any further mischance or any occurrence of particular interest. The shipwrecked Japanese were afterwards provided for in different services in China. Mr. King, considering that, after the repulse of the Morrison, no new private American expedition has any chance of gaining a footing in Japan, and that it is an object of importance that such should be obtained, proposes that, in case a remonstrance made by a small armed squadron should be disregarded, that one of two Japanese that they are powerless against European coercion, if it modes should be adopted, for the purpose of proving to the be exerted against them. The first, is to intercept and turn back the supplies of rice and fish brought in junks to Yeddo: a project only objectionable from the misery it would cause to the people from the fault of their rulers. The other is to place a strong guard at Kagósima, the southernmost port of Japan, and then proceed to Loo-Choo, and the other islands at present in subjection to Japan, and declare them independent: a measure which Mr. King considers as likely to be productive of the happiest results, and to lead to a free communication with, and the great improvement of, all these islands, which are at present in a very impoverished condition, the effect of tyranny and oppression. We have been brief in our notice of this voyage, which is chiefly curious as an additional instance of the persevering adherence of the Japanese government (for the people seem well inclined to strangers) in their singular line of policy. It appears very clear that unless some mode of coercion be adopted, it is not likely to be abandoned; but it is a question whether the trouble and expense of forcing a trade would remunerate the American, or any other government; since Japan is by no means a rich country, and her principal export consists of copper, which can be procured elsewhere. The commercial advantages to be obtained from a safe and free communication with the islands of the Malaysian archipelago, rich beyond estimation in all the productions of the East, are infinitely greater; and the voyage of the Himmaleh, undertaken by the same house (Messrs. Oliphant and Co.) in the preceding year, and not completed when the Morrison set sail, had that object in view, and was especially directed to missionary purposes. The Rev. E. Steevens, a gentleman attached to the American mission, and highly esteemed for his talents and character, joined the expedition, and, on his lamented death at Singapore, his place was supplied by the Rev. James T. Dickenson, also a member of the American mission. G. T. Lay, Esq., "an accomplished Englishman, who had served under Captain Beechey as naturalist to the expedition of the Blossom in 1825 to 1828, and had lately come out as agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society," also accompanied this expedition. It is from his pen that the account of the Himmaleh proceeds; but, although of exceeding interest, it does not trace the whole progress of the voyage*. In explanation of this it is stated in the preface, that "circumstances out of the control of the owners have prevented them from adding to Mr. Lay's missionary and scientific notes any of a commercial or nautical character, and consequently there is less of value to communicate than was anticipated in the outset of the attempt.' The object of the voyage, as stated in the instructions given to the captain, were to proceed to Singapore, and there take in an investment for trade at Borneo, the chief city of that island, Berni, being regarded as the port of destination. An examination of the coasts of Borneo was recommended, and the captain was at liberty to examine Celebes, and any other places which time would permit, their return being necessary by the spring. The death of Mr. Steevens at Singapore caused some delay, and the Himmaleh did not leave that place till the 30th of January, when their course was directed immediately to Macassar, which they reached on the 10th of February, and from whence they did not depart till the 6th of March, in consequence of the death of some of the seamen, and the difficulty of supplying their places with Javanese seamen. This place, which is a Dutch settlement, is situated at the south-west of Celebes. Its inhabitants, a Malay race, have some distinctive marks, which point them out as a different tribe from the Bugis, the inhabitants of the Bay of Bouin (many of whom are, however, to be found in Macassar), and the other tribes, who inhabit the different parts of the island. Here, as at other Dutch colonies, the policy has been, and still is, to check all native improvement, and to reduce the people as low as possible, by discouraging their trade; and hence the Macassars, who formerly were a people of some consequence, and carried on an active commerce with their neighbours, are now reduced to insignificance. Here, and at the other places touched at on the route to Borneo, Mr. Lay and his companion, Mr. Dickenson, made good use of their time in excursions into the country, and procured some interesting information, chiefly as to The remarks on the meteorology, music, and natural history, of the countries visited, appended, are very valuable: they are written in a delightful manner, and in the true spirit of philosophical inquiry. We regret that they are so short. We can here only thus briefly refer to them, but cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of making a few extracts from them in some succeeding Numbers, soil and climate; but at Macassar alone did they meet with any encouragement in the distribution of books. They had several in the Bugis' dialect, which was read without much difficulty by the Macassars, and great eagerness was manifested to obtain them. Our limits will not allow us to dwell on each point of the voyage, and we must hasten on to Borneo, the most important object, and the most interesting, because least known. After touching at Ternate, a small island near Iololo, one of the Moluccas, on which there is a Dutch settlement, and where Mr. Lay made an arduous ascent to the crater of a volcano, and at Zamboanga, a Spanish settlement on the southern side of Mindanao, the Himmaleh proceeded to Berni. This place is one of the few of any consequence among all the archipelago which is not under foreign domination. It is peopled by Malays, who are governed by a sultan, who in his turn is governed by his minister; and a very amusing account of the audience-chamber is given by Mr. Lay, which we shall transcribe. "A levee was an amusing sight. On one hand you might see the minister, in person a small man, sitting with a demure countenance at a most respectful distance, and now and then uttering some expressions in a subdued and plaintive strain: on the other, the sultan, with a proud stare mingled with a wild anxiety, who felt these soft words to be severe strictures upon his behaviour, coming, too, from a man who expected that they should not only be felt, but be considered as cautions for regulating his conduct in future. He resembled an animal with one foot in a trap, who would fain change his uneasy position with no less cost than the loss of a limb. The minister, to whom we have referred more than once, is the chief executive officer in the state. The distinction between him and the sultan was very concisely made by a brother of the latter in conversation with myself and fellowtraveller one evening. The one speaks, and the other acts.' The entire control and management of all public matters are placed in the hands of the latter, who, from the advantage of such a situation when a man of talent, like Muda Hasim, can enact his own pleasure, and so leave the sultan a mere pompous title, surrounded, indeed, with the habiliments of war and majesty, but destitute of any real power or authority." ་ The inhabitants are Mahomedans, but their observance of their religion is very lax. Their form of government, as is general among the Malays, is feudal; and, as each chief prides himself on having a number of his retainers residing round him for keeping up a numerous harem, each "great house" is surrounded by a cluster of little ones, which gives a very irregular appearance to this aqueous city; for, as it is very customary with the Malays, a great part of the buildings are erected on piles, over the shallow parts of the bay, and this not from want of room on shore, but from choice. The sovereign is elective; but he must belong to one particular family, and this mode of succession is, as is natural, often productive of serious disturbances. The soil is rich and productive, but ill cultivated; pepper, upland rice, and pines, are grown on the upland hills, and a good trade once set on foot would doubtless soon change the face of the island, and increase its products to an immense extent. The fine river on which the city stands affords very great facility for communication with the interior of this important island, which is three times the size of Great Britain, and the introduction of Christianity would, as must always be the case, tend materially to humanize the society. Here are no strong Mohamedan prejudices to overcome, since, although the religion is professed, it is but little reverenced. The abolition of polygamy would stand most in the way of the success of the missionary. It was, however, encouraging to find that no opposition was made to the introduction of the Scriptures; but, on the contrary, a desire to possess them evinced, even by the prime minister, Muda Hasim, who is represented as a man quite in advance of his countrymen, and exceedingly desirous of improving the condition of his countrymen, and introducing among them the knowledge of European inventions. But a sudden stop was put to the landing of a single copy of the Scriptures, or any other Malay book, by the captain, who was of opinion that, although they might be well received then, yet that the consequence would be, that "he should have his throat cut if he came that way another year." This is the only intimation we have that the trade at Berni was of a sufficiently encouraging nature to render a second visit advisable; but that a considerable and very profitable commerce may be carried on by vessels properly manned and armed is very certain: the resources of these islands are not yet made available to one-tenth of the extent a comparatively small regular inter- THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY. -- "Queen of fresh Flowers, Whom vernal stars obey, Bring thy genial ray : In Nature's greenest livery drest, "Mark how we meet thee At dawn of dewy day! With our roundelay! While all the goodly things that be "Flocks on the mountains, And birds upon their spray, Tree, turf, and fountains, All hold holiday; And Love-the life of living things, Love waves his torch, and claps his wings, And loud and wide thy praises sings, Thou MERRY MONTH OF MAY!" BISHOP HEBER. passing glory crowned," walks forth in his strength and brightness through the fields of air, and takes his meridian stand in the deepblue vault of heaven; and while his radiant beams illumine the wide concave of the sky, "the light clouds sublime, spread thin and fleecy white," float gaily in his rays, and set off in vivid contrast the tint and beauty of the "summer heaven's delicious blue" and the purity of the glowing transparent ether. Light airs and gentle zephyrs skim over the meadows and fields, woods and hills, all mantled in green and decked with blossom, diffusing in soft eddies the breathing fragrance of the vegetable kingdom. The rivers and streams roll joyously on in their channelled course, through enamelled plains or craggy dells, with their rising trout and salmon, and sailing May-flies; the lakes reflecting, in "modest pride," and with dimpling wave, the wooded islands studding their bosom, and the cottages, woods, and mountains, stretching close along their shores; while the "birds on every bough," or passing on hasty wing of business through the air, the lowing herds of ranging cattle, and the shrill, intermitted, or drowsy notes of the insect tribes, make a mingled harmony to the ear. Even Man, laden with his thousand woes, real and imaginary, and endowed with his conscious " 'knowledge of good and evil,' feels the spirit of life animate his inmost heart, and speaks the joy he feels, "where nothing strikes his eye but sights of bliss." The month of May was the third of the year of Romulus, and the fifth of that of Numa and Julius Cæsar, as it remains at present. Its name existed at a period long anterior to the time of the foundation of Rome, as the majus or great month, from the vigour of nature at this season, but was adopted and confirmed by Romulus in compliment to the majores, or elders, who formed the senators of his council; in the same manner as the subsequent month of June was named Junius, in allusion to the juniores or younger subjects, who formed the warriors of his army. Others suppose it to have been originally derived from the goddess Maia, the mother of Mercury, or of Maia, the bona dea (or good goddess, that is, mother Earth), to whom sacrifices were offered on the first of May. By our Saxon ancestors it was termed the tri-milchi month, or month in which the cows could be milked three times a day, from the luxuriancy of the tender juicy grass. The Germans of the present day denominate it the Wonne-Monat, or month of delight and joy. The ancients characterised it as "adorning the earth with flowers,' 'chequering the fields with varied grass,' ," and designate it as the green and verdant, the flowery and vernal, the showery and stormy, the dewy and fruitful, the bland and luxuriant, the pleasant and WHEN the opening Spring, "with dewy fingers cold," has shed grateful the joyous, sprightly, and festive month of May; and its morning-light of hope on the coming year, and the succeeding from the prevalence of sunshine, regarded it as sacred to Apollo. sunshine and showers of chequered April have prepared the breathing earth for the renewal of its vegetation, then comes the The English poets and people generally, seem to agree in conferring on it the epithet of "MERRY," though Milton, in the exuberance consummation of the spring in all its rich freshness, and the of his feeling, hesitates not to term it the "jolly" May; and in MONTH OF MAY opens wide its portals of clear and glorious light, associating the name and remembrance of this happy month with inviting every created being throughout the wide universe of God's dominions to rejoice and be glad. "Rise up, my love, my fair every object connected with the season: thus we have our " May" or May-blossom, May-ings, May-games, May-poles, May-queen, one, and come away. For, lo! the winter is past, the rain is over May-lily, May-wort, May-weed, May-flower, May-apple, May-fly, and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the sing- and May-butter, besides many others. The ancient painters ing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our represented May as a youth of lovely countenance, arrayed in a land." As the winter has passed from the face of nature, so robe of white and green, embroidered with flowers, having on his the winter of the soul has gone from man, and the primeval air of head a garland of white and damask roses, with a lute in one Eden seems again to breathe around him, and all creation to glow hand, and a nightingale perched on the fore-finger of the other. again divinely with the Spirit of the Most High; and, as that Less fancifully classic, but with a simpler dignity of genuine feeling "happy seat" of our first parents was dimmed and marred in its and pure love of nature, our own ancestors have represented May purity by sin and disobedience, so the soul of man, redeemed from as the loveliest of their village maidens, and have "rifled all the the curse, looks fondly to its restoration to innocence and happi-breathing spring" to deck her with garlands and flowers, as their ness in the paradise of "eternal spring" beyond the skies.* May is the spring-time of hope and promise-the rainbow of the reviving year. Campbell, in his address to that "triumphal arch" of the sky, says— "When o'er the green undeluged earth, Heaven's covenant thou didst shine, And the mental eye, surrounded at this season with every cheering Opens through the gates of Death !" The glorious Sun-the " god of gladness," "of this great world both eye and soul,"-now assumes his dominion, and, "with sur See Moxon's beautiful Sonnet on Spring. Queen of May. May is the season when nature assumes her new livery for the year. With what beauty, truth, and pathos, does the patriotic Burns depict the native charms of this season, in allusion to the captivity and hard fate of Mary Queen of Scots, who, in this month, was brought to England as a prisoner of state! "Now Nature hangs her mantle green On every blooming tree, "Now lav'rocks wake the merry morn, The merle in his noon-tide bower, "Now blooms the lily on the bank, |
