LITTLE GIPSY JANE.

BALLAD.

WRITTEN BY EDWARD FITZBALL; COMPOSED BY CHARLES W. GLOVER.

I'm a merry gipsy maid,

From my tent in yonder glade,
Selling ballads is my trade;
Fortunes too I tell ;

For village maids I've comfort bland,
Of sweethearts who complain:

You have only just to cross the hand
Of little Gipsy Jane.

With the lark I greet the morn,

When the dew is on the rye;

With the milkmaid, 'neath the thorn,
Stealthily am I;

For her I've tales of house and land,

And husbands rich to gain;

She has but just to cross the hand
Of little Gipsy Jane.

Tra, la, la.

Tra, la, la.

BUY MY ORANGES.

COMPOSED BY AUBER.

Buy my oranges, sparkling oranges,
See! my golden fruit divine;

They've a perfume and a charming flavour,
Which far surpasses the rose or vine.

Noflow'r that blows can boast such fragrance,

When first awaking into bloom;

No fruit that grows can match their beauty
They're bright amid the darkest gloom.

Buy my oranges, sparkling oranges,
Deign for once my fruit to try,

Buy my oranges.

Ripe and tempting, see them glowing,
Oh! taste and prove them ere you buy ;
Cool and refreshing to the weary,
Is their juicy draught divine;

Take them and I will pray each blessing,
Lovely lady, may be thine.

Buy my oranges.

THE FORGER; A FRAGMENT.

BY JOHN CHARLES HALL.

ALL was ready. His wife was clasped in his arms, his little child clinging to his knee, nothing broke the death-like silence, save now and then a convulsive sob, faintly announced that they were in the condemned cell! "Mary, I must leave thee-here Henry, darling, kiss thy unhappy father. Wife, child, I must leave you, farewell! farewell!" and wiping the tears from his eyes, said, "I am ready," and hastily walked from his dungeon to the press-room; the necessary preparations were made, and Henry was on the way to

the place of execution.

This was the first criminal I had ever seen. I looked earnestly into his face, and expected to see a countenance indicating a person capable of commiting the most horrid deeds-but no, simplicity and ignorance were the leading features!! There was likewise a kind of horror, occasioned, no doubt, by the fear of what he was about to suffer. "What has he done?" I asked, "his looks do not bespeak the criminal; what, pray, can be his crime?" "Forgery!" was the cry of the multitude. No one seemed to care what he had done, each seemed eager to arrive at the best place for seeing the exit of the unfortunate criminal. But this would not satisfy me. I wished to know his history, a gentleman related it simply as follows:

"He was a farmer and lived a laborious but happy life; at length several bad seasons came, one after the other; his corn was parched in the spring, his scanty crops spoiled by the continued rains at reaping time, and he became greatly in arrear with his rent, notwithstanding every exertion to prevent it. The steward came again and again, but no money could he get, and like the rest of the tribe, never inquired or asked the cause; if a tenant be in arrear that is sufficientbad seasons and the pressing wants of a young wife and family are beneath their consideration. The rental-book must ever be the only guide in matters of this kind, and when the debit side in that journal amounted to a much greater sum than the credit, the inference was, the fellow must either find a sufficient security, or his horses, carts, furniture, his all!-yes, the bed from under him, must be sold, and himself, wife, and helpless family, turned into the street, without a roof to shelter them from the winds, the heat by day, or the cold by night, the canopy of heaven alone for their covering, the earth for a pillow, not even one penny is left to buy them bread.

"This alternative was hinted to the poor man; he had only one person in the world who would be considered a sufficient security,

upon whom he placed any reliance; he mentioned him to the agent, who said he would take him, and gave him a bill for his friend to sign. He went to this friend; and, guess the poor fellow's state of mind-that friend would not run the risk. What was next to be done? both himself and wife at that moment, from the disappointments and fatigue they had so long endured, were in a very weakly state, and incapable of exertion. If everything were sold, and themselves unable to work, how could they and their children live. The thought was dreadful, but if the sale were delayed, the next harvest promised to be a very abundant one, and all would be well, themselves and children happy. After in vain trying numbers of people who refused to be his surety, after figuring to his imagination the miserable situation in which his poor infants would be, were his whole property seized, and himself and wife, from their bad state of health unable to provide for them; knowing that if the bill were accepted, he would be able, before it became due, to sell as much of his crop as would be more than sufficient to take it up. After considering the little communication that existed, and the great distance between the agent and the person he had proposed as a security to him, what did the poor unfortunate do? Alas! in an evil hour he put this person's name to the deed, altering his usual manner of writing as much as he was able; he could do no more; never having seen this person write, whose signature he was forging, he could not make it in the least resemble his with an aching heart he sent this to the agent. The fraud was soon detected, he was seized, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death."

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Again I looked towards the unhappy man, he was still on his way to the place of execution. It was now mid-day, the sun just breaking from a cloud, shone with the most radiant splendour, and with his rays gilded the lofty spires of the town of Nottingham. It was a lovely spring-tide morning, the wild flowers looked so beautiful, their heads bathed in pearly dew-drops, which, like so many gems, glittered in the sparkling sun beams. The feathery songsters warbled their notes from every tree, all nature wore a joyful aspect, while the poor unhappy creature ever and anon cast back a lingering, longing look upon this scene, that seemed to say, "Farewell ye trees, ye glades, ye limpid streams, farewell; soon this eye that looks upon ye will be glassy cold, inanimate ;" and then, with resignation turning his eyes towards heaven, turned away from what he was no longer permitted to enjoy. At length he was upon the scaffold, and apparently engaged in prayer. Once more I gazed upon him, a mixture of passions appeared to operate strongly within him. I might be mistaken, but I fancied I perceived in his countenance that horror with which one must naturally be possessed at bidding this world an eternal farewell. I imagined I beheld him suffering the most corroding anguish, at the thought of the dreadful situation in which he was leaving his wife and children; and I likewise thought I observed at times a

glimpse of joy breaking through this dismal gloom, at the idea of departing immediately from a world of pain and misery, to that state where for ever his happiness would be complete. But at this moment my reverie was interrupted, the fatal handkerchief fell, and the forger was launched into eternity.

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The crowd had now all departed, and hastening to the foot of the scaffold, I saw a poor old man claiming the body; it was given to him; but never shall I forget the agony he evidently suffered, he embraced the corpse, called him by name. But the eye had lost its lustre, the tongue was now for ever silent; and

by some friends to the home of the father, the home where he had been reared with care, affection, and anxiety, nay, even now lay scattered here and there his playthings. The hobby-horse, the top, the little whip, every thing recalled to the old man the happy hours when he was wont to gaze delighted at his darling boy, as he sat on the seat by the cottage, and smoked his pipe-can we then wondethat he exclaimed in bitterness of spirit, My poor, lost boy-executed, yes, hung, and for what?"

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Two days afterwards I was mounting my horse to resume my rambles. I heard the church bell tolling, I saw a group of mourners pass along the street, and sending my horse back to the stable, followed them to the churchyard. I heard the hollow sound of the dust falling upon the coffin; the earth closed; the green sod now covers the mortal remains of the forger. I dropped a tear upon his grave. Reader! yes, fair, lovely reader! will you not also water the lowly bed of the victim of a law now happily repealed.

A SPRING MORNING.

I SAW Joy bounding on the green sward bright,
When flowers rose dew-dropped in the early light;
Pleasure, her many-coloured scarf entwin'd,
And gave its flutterings to the waken'd wind;
And Youth, scarce stayed he then his vest to don,
Scarce drew his gallant-feathered beaver on,
Ere the wood-echo mocked him on his way,
Shouting his welcome to the risen day;

And Beauty, as she walked, the world adorning,

Told all young hearts that Hope was born of morning.

T. C.

THE CONVICT'S AFTER CAREER.

COLONEL Mundy, in his highly amusing and important work, "Our Antipodes," amongst other effective sketches, hits off very graphically the frequent career of the transport, from a state of abject pauper crime to that of wealth and independence. He says:

"He offends against his country's laws, and is 'sent out,' is assigned to service, gets his ticket-of-leave, finally his conditional or free pardon; or becomes free by servitude of his sentence. He takes a public-house, dabbling meanwhile in various other money-making pursuits. He buys up cattle when the market is down, when their value might be reckoned by shillings, and sells them when ten or twelve pounds may be their price. He lends money on good security, and at usurious interest. He builds, buys, and sells houses. In the height of this prosperity, his house-rental alone brings him in 120. a-week: for, liking quick returns, he counts his income hebdomadally. He purchases shares in a great banking establishment, well known although not openly designated as the Emancipist's Bank, a most safe and respectable house, (the writer having banked there himself). He possesses huge storehouses in the city, a beautiful villa in the suburb. Gorgeous is the only term I can apply to his furniture,' remarked to me a high functionary who had rented the house of an old hand' for a period, but whom the wealthy owner had turned out at the close of the lease. He drives a splendid equipage, flashing with silver harness and new varnished panels, and a fast trotting pair of bays, with which he takes pleasure in passing and dusting the government officers and other less opulent respectables on their way to church. The above isno fanciful portrait. It is from nature.

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"But amongst this class of offenders there are not wanting instances of an entire change of character, accompanied by the most astonishing display of high principle and determination. The following is adduced as affording a satisfactory example in connection with the curious position of wealthy emancipated erown prisoners.

"John was not only transported for a heinous offence, but while under probation had the character of the most incorrigible of the chain-gang he belonged to. Every kind of severity and indignity was heaped upon his obdurate spirit. He was sent to a neighbouring gang, when he was worked and thrashed like a donkey, for his back was scored with frequent and severe applications of the cat.' He was whipped at the cart's tail through the streets of Sydney. Cockatoo Island, the conviet black hole of New South Wales, was only too good for him, and he was drafted as irreclaimable to that Pandemonium of the Pacific, North Island.

"Yet he reformed-who shall say through what agency? Perhaps the devil was whipped out of him. Perhaps reflection cast the foul

N. S. VOL. XXXV.

E