This is a highly-finished figure, if we may apply the epithet to the low rascal, with his low profession. He stands erect, in a singing attitude, his mouth more than half open, bawl ing aloud, 'Here's to budgets, bags, and wallets! Here's to all the wandering train! In his right hand he holds the mirth-inspiring bicker, which has lent to his phiz an air of ridicule, scoff, and raillery, and to his eye a tip of the wink,' which seems to be directed to his 'twa Deborahs,' as they sit on each side, listening with deep satisfaction, impatient for the chorus.' His dulcineas are only in model. This, we believe, is the largest group ever attempted by any sculptor,-nay, we are informed that it is the largest upon record, save one." These are thy judges, oh Israel! We do not hesitate to say, that if Mr Greenshields' works express but onehalf of what is here attributed to them, more disgusting sins against good taste were never perpetrated. It would be a waste of time to enter into an exposure of the ignorance and vulgarity evinced by the critic. It only remains to say, that, being ourselves no artists, we have not been influenced, in making these remarks, by any esprit du corps; and, that we are not animated by personal feelings, we trust the tone of our article will sufficiently establish. We only wish to raise our voice against a senseless and tasteless fashion which seems to be spreading. We think the cultivation of a nation's taste a matter of sufficient importance to be struggled for, even ethe sacrifice of a few men of misdirected talent. Our object is, to serve the artist as long as he conducts himself in a manner worthy of his high vocation,—and, still more, to preserve art itself "against all hands deadly." LETTERS FROM THE WEST. No. VI. You cannot, in happier Edinburgh, conceive how utterly destitute we have for months been of every thing in the shape of amusement. Were it not for the liveliness of the JOURNAL, even Saturday evenings would be dull here, although of old consecrate to 'merriment, if not to high jinks. The gloomy state of trade is partly the occasion of this; but is not altogether accountable for our sins of stupidity, for, in busy periods of trade we have not time to be amused, although, during its stagnation, we may lack the heart to laugh. I suspect we must, in the spirit of an early and excellent article in Blackwood, put it down to the "backwardness of the season;" for, when sunshine has sanctioned any show, there have been plenty of people ready to turn out to look at it. Even the Western Cricket Club have had no lack of fair spectators to" rain influence" on them, when they had no rain of another kind,—a somewhat rare circumstance. They are a race, I think, that could astonish the athlete under the especial guardianship of the Revue Encyclopedique, or even those of the Highland Club. Indeed, I am not sure but some of them would even aspire to plucking a laurel from the crown of a Six Feet Club man. They affect, however, a modest diffidence in not challenging your Edinburgh Cricket Club, which is the senior of theirs; but they are not the less sure that they would beat them, and allege that they only wait a challenge for fifty sovereigns for a Kirk o' Shotts "Spring Meeting!" Verb. sap. Some of them, in sober seriousness, are burly fellows. Is it not a curious thing, that even in the sternest and most stalwart sports, gentlemen of the same nerve and muscle always are over-matches for clowns? Is it their tact that occasions this superiority, or is it that a certain delicacy of touch is necessary to enable a man to measure the amount of effort required to achieve any purpose? This superiority was never more shown than in rowing at our late Regatta, which was really a splendid affair, and more than enough to cancel reproach for a month's dulness. It was quite impossible to conceive that there could be a finer day for the purpose; and it served --- to increase the gay appearance of the Admiral's yacht, the many-coloured dresses of the rowing clubs, Corsair and others, and the divers hues of the skiffs they propelled, like arrows up the arrowy stream; and, above all, the fifty thousand people who were spectators of a sight so novel here, where, till recently, no boat save the deadhouse one, and no barge except a dyer's, ever were seen above our bridges. The dinner--for dinner was more than a mere matter of course after five hours of exertion in the bracing air— was well attended, well cooked, well eaten, and, if we may judge from the good-humour of the speakers at it, well digested. Mr May, the croupier, after unwearied personal exertions to promote the enjoyment of the day, opened his purse with a noble liberality towards establishing such a holiday annually. His cup is to be called "The Mayflower Cup." I hope it will soon be "the Lord Provost's" also. The in It is well such manly sports are in fashion. fluence of the money prizes, too, on our seamen on the coast, may produce a skill even equal to that of the real boatmen. Already, in the Cardross ferrymen, it has. Equal courage they never wanted. Yet, four years ago, after rowing awhile at Eton, I could not get enough subscribed to build a gig, and now there are a dozen on the Clyde. Such is fashion. Amid the lack of amusement of which I complain in Glasgow, we, i. e. les disemployés, have much reason to be grateful to the proprietors of the rival newsrooms-the orientalists and occidentalists; for they positively vie in soliciting us to make use of these fine apartments, and all their library conveniences, simply for the honour of our presence. Their rival claims split the city into two factions; and really impartial men like myself, who live, as well as think, midway between their extremes, don't know well how to act. I fear, however, we shall fall into less demand; for one of the rival houses will go down—which I need hardly say. To preserve the balance of power, the best scheme I have heard is, to turn the eastern one into a theatre. An excellent letter, on the necessity of having a well-conducted place of amusement in the centre of the city, which appeared in the Chronicle, has drawn attention to this. Meanwhile Seymour, with truly astonishing energy, has, in a few weeks, transferred the old and ugly Riding School, at the opposite extreme of the town, into a " Royal Theatre," which he opened last Friday with Kean, who, it is whispered, is his partner in this new and bold speculation. The credit of great energy in overcoming difficulties cannot be denied to Seymour. His wisdom in placing his house almost out of town is another matter. However, good acting drew the citizens of London even to Goodman's Fields, and may those of Glasgow to York Street. One of his corps, a Mr M'Carthy, has published an extraordinary example of what a man, evidently of some talent in composition, will write in a terrible passion. It is in reply to a biting article, modelled on the Acris and Cerberus style of sprightly but severe impartiality-using the actual cautery where the sore is gangrenous-that recently appeared, "On the Public Amusements of Glasgow." The Irishman's respond is as curious a specimen of blackguardism as ever was heard in "the liberties of Dublin." THE DRAMA. We are not among the admirers of Madame Vestris. She is a neat, smart chambermaid, and looks very nice in a male dress, especially as all her male dresses are faites à ravir: but beyond this, we have little praise to bestow. One thing, no doubt, must be taken into account,-that time is telling tales upon her. They say a lady's age is a delicate subject; but with public characters, such as Madame Vestris, we do not feel the necessity of being over and above scrupulous. The London critics (by the by, they sometimes affect to sneer at the Scotch critics, amazing condescension which she has been graciously pleased to show towards the Scotch publi though, with one or two exceptions, we do not think there is a regular dramatic critic in all London worthy of the name,) the London critics, we say, rave about the elegance A miscellaneous remark or two. Murray's dress as of Vestris' form, and the beauty of her features; nay, it Billy Lackaday is "quite a landscape." We would not is confessedly upon these that a good deal of her popular- give the patch behind for any money. Stanley's tailor, ity depends. We do not pretend to know what they in " Giovanni in London," is the completest thing of the may have been, but at present, sooth to say, only indiffer- sort we have seen. His Irishman, in the " Invincibles," ent traces of them remain. We, of course, grant that is also exquisite. In his own line of parts he may go aVestris has a pretty enough little figure, and that her eye starring to London whenever he pleases; they have nois soft and rather intelligent; but we look for more in a body like him there. But he would be a terrible loss to star so long held up to us as of the first magnitude. Ves- us were he to leave us. Mrs Stanley played Eugenia, in tris is aware of this; and that we may not be disappoint- "Sweethearts and Wives," the other evening, very sweeted, she stuffs herself out, and paints herself up, in a style ly and prettily. It is a great pity that a person of so which may make "the unskilful laugh, but must make much good sense and cleverness as she is, should not get the judicious grieve." Her costume altogether, from top the better of a taint of affectation in her style of speaking, to toe, from her highest ringlet to the point of her shoe, which mars every thing she does. Why does she not alis as much a piece of art as the costume of a wax doll. ways talk in her own natural tones, without clipping and The great test of a fine woman is to see her in dishabille. twisting her words into what she thinks fine English ?--Heaven forbid that we should ever see Vestris before she Williams is going to turn out but a poor addition to the had made her morning toilet! Some people may think company: but M'Gregor, who has returned to us after this is not legitimate criticism, but they are wrong. We some years' absence, is a smart fellow, and will be useful. wish to show that Vestris is altogether a piece of art, We are glad to see that Taylor shows a good example to nursed in the hot-bed of London, and that they, conse- the supernumeraries in his picturesque matiner of dressquently, who look for the free fresh graces of nature, (and ing inferior parts. Mr Larkin is not a first-rate singer ; where should they be found, if not in woman?) will be why has not an opportunity been given us of ascertain woefully disappointed. There is a total want of hearting the extent of Mr Hart's voice ?Is Miss Fairbrother about her style of acting, which continually annoys us. to continue to dance to us?-Has Mrs Renaud no claim She goes through her parts carelessly, easily, elegantly; to be put upon the retired list of the Theatrical Fund? but she never utters a word that she seems to feel, and consequently they slip out of the memories of her audience, as the flickering of a lambent light upon a dead wall. She does well enough with the Londoners, who see every thing at a distance-who are thrown into convulsions by the twist of Liston's nose, and who applaud to the echo all the Cockney trash about a blue bonnet or a bit of tartan, that is palmed upon them as a Scotch song; but here we look closer into the affair, —we are accustomed to cabinet acting-to the quiet deep humour of Murray, or the refined grace of Mrs Siddons, and we consequently cannot get into raptures with Vestris' immense developement à posteriori, (her dress-maker knows something about it,) or the two blotches of rouge upon her cheeks, or the very peculiar ruby tint of her lips, or her French curls, or the somewhat remarkable expression of her teeth. Nevertheless, as we said before, she is a smart chambermaid, and a dashing enough looking manikin, when she wears breeches, and "to this conclusion must we come, Horatio." She sings also, and sings well too; but then her songs are all of that light, unimpressive kind, which please and are forgotten, such as, "Love was once a little boy," "What can poor maidens do?" "Love and Reason," or "The Banners of Blue," the words of which are pure Cockney, beginning— “Strike up, strike up, Scottish minstrels so gay!" Things such as these are all the trifles of an hour; they come as shadows, and so depart. They are well enough in their way; and we should not be so angry with them as we are, were it not that people make so mighty a fuss about them, whilst it is our humour to call them by their right names. Old Cerberus. ORIGINAL POETRY. THE NEGLECTED WIFE. By Mrs Embury,* of New York. Beloved one, beloved one, when on thy brightening cheek Will yet arrive, when peace shall shed o'er both her pity.. ing power. Beloved one, beloved one, whene'er thy soft caress once more, O'er all my life's pale, wither'd flowers, their freshening Beloved one, beloved one, I know thou lov'st me not, 1 I know thou'st learn'd to look almost with loathing on my face But may not years of deathless love those bitter thoughts Beloved one, beloved one, may not the perfect truth, wake? Vestris has a younger sister, ycleped Miss Bartalozzi, rather pleasant to the eye, being a tolerably well-arranged piece of flesh and blood; but the poor girl appears to be eaten up with conceit and affectation. Her style of singing and acting is as if she were conferring the greatest honour in the world on the audience; and on the night of her first appearance, because there was a slight noise in the house, she chose to take the pet (pretty dear!) and would not go on, forsooth, with her part. She seems to think herself a singer, too, but she squalls abominably; and as for her acting, it is the most heartless mummery we ever witnessed.. We have no particular desire, there- This lady is considered by her friends in the United States as fore, to see a great deal more of Mademoiselle Bartalozzi; the Mrs Hemans of America. We are glad to have it in our power we are quite willing to decline any farther exertion of that to introduce her now, for the first time, to the Scottish reader. Ed. Lit. Jour. Beloved one, beloved one, oh! wilt thou ne'er forget Forgive me that thou canst not love; and, if my hope is vain, May Heaven, in pitying mercy, soon unloose thy heavy chain! SONG. TUNE" Maggie Lauder." By Captain Charles Gray, of the Royal Marines. THOUGH Boreas bauld, that carl auld, And throw his mantle o'er us; Though no a bird can now be heard Whate'er betide, the ingle side Can mak' the winter simmer! Though cauldrife souls hate reeking bowls, The hie hill taps, like baxters' baps, Maks trav'lers tramp the quicker; Bess, beet the fire-come big it higher, AN EXTEMPORE TO BESSY. LET puling poets vaunt their flame For Mary or for Fanny, My heart contains one only nameA name more dear than any; And if you ask that name from me, 'Tis not Jane, Anne, nor Jessie; It is a name worth all the three, What could it be but Bessy? Gods! if you saw her hazel eye, Her teeth like rows of pearl, You'd own, I guess, with many a sigh, That she might match an earl; And if you saw her raven hair, So ringlety and tressy, I'll stake my honour you would swear No earl could match with Bessy. The number that her charms have slain I'm sure no wonder were she vain, Those thousands would seem very few, Yet little does she think, I ween, She knows not that she walks a queen, O! would to heaven that she were mine, I'll cut my throat from ear to ear, H. G. B. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT AND VARIETIES. We understand that a new edition of the late Archdeacon Daubeny's celebrated work, The Guide to the Church, is in preparation. It will be published in November, in two volumes, and the profits will be applied to the Pantonian Theological Professorship in Edinburgh belonging to the Scottish Episcopal Church. A Memoir of the Author, by his son, Colonel Daubeny, of Bath, and a portrait, will be prefixed to this edition, which is in a state of very considerable forwardness. In a few days will be published, Dr Calamy's Historical Account of his own Life, with some Reflections upon the Times in which he lived, from 1671 to 1731. The work announced under the title of "Stories of Waterloo" is on the eve of publication, The Novel called Herbert Milton has been translated into German, by Mr Richards, formerly a Lieutenant in the Hanoverian service; and the same gentleman is now employed on Devereux, having already given Pelham and The Disowned a German dress. These translations are said to be popular in Germany. There will shortly appear an Account of Captain Mignan's Pedestrian Journey in Southern Mesopotamia, Ul Jezira, and the Arabian Irak. For some years past, the Captain has commanded the bodyguard of the East India Company resident in Turkish Arabia, and is the first and only Englishman that ever performed a tour on foot through these unfrequented countries, under the assumed garb and character of a Turkish officer, in the service of his Highness the Pasha of Bagdad. This indefatigable young traveller has traversed a great part of Arabia, Susiana, Chaldea, Assyria, Adiabene, and the whole of ancient Babylonia. Mr and Mrs Lockhart are still on a visit to Sir Walter Scott, at Abbotsford. Mr L. has just finished his new edition of The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, for writing which, it is said, Murray has given him five hundred guineas, WILLS OF SHAKSPEARE, MILTON, AND NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. -The last wills and testaments of the three greatest men of modern ages are tied up in one sheet of foolscap, and may be seen together at Doctors'-Commons. In the will of the bard of Avon is an interlineation in his own handwriting;-"I give unto my wife my brown best bed with the furniture." It is proved by William Bryde, 22d July, 1616. The will of the minstrel of Paradise is a nuncupative one, taken by his daughter, the great poet being blind,, The will of Napoleon is signed in a bold style of handwriting; the codicil, on the contrary, written shortly before his death, exhibits the then weak state of his body. FINE ARTS.-Campbell's colossal Equestrian Statue of the Earl of Hopetoun may be seen at the Rooms of the Royal Institution. The place does not do it full justice, for its proportions are calculated for an elevated situation. There is something fine and noble in the expression of the whole group. The neck and legs of the horse are beautiful. The outline drawing from Macdonald's statues, litho graphed by Forrester, which we announced some time ago, has been put into our hands. It is no compliment to Lander to say that it conveys a perfect notion of the group, which is all it aims at; but we have been induced again to notice it in justice to the lithographer He has succeeded in giving a sharper and clearer outline than we have ever before seen in a lithographic drawing.-The successful competitor for the statue of the Duke of York will not be announced till January. In order that the judges may be the better enabled to make up their minds, the models and sketches have been deposited meanwhile in a cellar! In Paris, when such competitions take place, the works of the competitors are publicly exhibited; but we suppose that our judges are not so confident as the Parisians in their power to remain uninfluenced by the small talk of small critics. Fraser and Edmonstone visited Edinburgh the other day: and a greater than both-WILKIE-is here just now. He has been making an excellent speech at the Lord Provost's inaugural dinner. LITERARY CRITICISM. The Borderers, a Tale. By the Author of "The Spy," "The Red Rover," "The Prairie," &c. In three volumes, 8vo. Pp. 299, 311, & 316. London. Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. 1829. THE materials out of which Mr Cooper has constructed this work, are not so new to his readers on this side of the Atlantic as those of which his novels have generally consisted. À sketch-feeble enough, it is true-of the history of King Philip, is to be found in Washington Irving's Sketch Book; the destruction of an out-settlement of Europeans, in which there was an Indian captive and a child, has already been described by Cooper's fair countrywoman, the amiable author of "Hope Lessly;" and the attack of a frontier village, with the interposition of one of the fugitive judges of Charles I., lured from his hiding-place by the danger of his countrymen, is a legend which Sir Walter Scott has put into the mouth of Major Bridgenorth. These, with the opportunities which they afford of contrasting Indian character with that of the white intruders, or of pourtraying the effect of converse with Europeans upon the mind of the natives, and of domiciliation in a wigwam upon a child of civilization, will go nigh to exhaust the contents of "The Wept of Wishton-wish." But, as Mr Cooper has wrought up his materials after his own fashion, it will be fair to give an outline of his story, and some specimens of his way of telling it, before indulging in further remark upon it. Captain Mark Heathcote, a strict but conscientious Puritan, laid aside his sword at an early period of those civil wars which terminated in the temporary abolition of monarchy in England, and crossed the Atlantic with his family. But even in the non-conforming province of Massachusetts, he felt his peculiar notions restrained by the presence of divines, and resolved, at an advanced age, to remove his habitation farther into the forest, there to worship God entirely according to his own notions. After a pretty diffuse retrospective detail of these events, the author begins his story in good earnest, by introducing us to the old man and his family at their settlement of Wishton-Wish, so called after an American bird, the first that the new-comers saw in the valley. Mark is riding home from his harvest field when he encounters a traveller, on a sorely jaded horse, who entreated food and shelter. In a newly-planted colony such things are readily granted. PRICE 6d. wished to be left alone with the stranger, removed from On the night of the stranger's visit, an Indian boy had been taken prisoner, and had been kept on the settlement by Mark, in hopes that intercourse with his family might prove a means of civilizing and converting him to Christianity. Mr Cooper paints in a quiet and touching manner the boy's loneliness among strangers, and his yearnings after his native haunts: "Instead of joining in the play of the other children, thê young captive would stand aloof, and regard their sports often passed hours in gazing at those boundless forests in with a vacant eye; or, drawing near to the palisadoes, he which he first drew breath, and which probably contained all that was most prized in the estimation of his simple judgment. Ruth, touched to the heart by this silent but expressive exhibition of suffering, endeavoured in vain to win his confidence, with a view of enticing him into employments that might serve to relieve his care. The resolute of his origin. He appeared to comprehend the kind inten but still quiet boy would not be lured into a forgetfulness tions of his gentle mistress, and frequently he even suffered himself to be led by the mother into the centre of her own joyous and merry offspring; but it was only to look upon their amusements with his former cold air, and to return, at the first opportunity, to his beloved site at the pickets. consciousness of the nature of the discourse of which he was Still there were singular and even mysterious evidences of occasionally an auditor, that would have betrayed greater familiarity with the language and opinions of the inhabitants of the valley, than his known origin and his absolute withdrawal from communication could give reason to ex pect. This important and inexplicable fact was proved by the frequent and meaning glances of his dark when aught was uttered in his hearing that affected, ev so rehaughty gleamings of ferocity that escaped him, when Eben motely, his own condition; and once or twice, by the Dudley was heard to vaunt the prowess of the white men in their encounters with the original owners of the country." a The winter passed tranquilly over the heads of the inhabitants of Wish-ton-Wish. They began to take an interest in their Indian boy, and many were the devices suggested by the good-natured yeomen for securing his return, with a view to admit of his joining in their hunting expeditions. At last, on a day when the spring was soon expected, the old Puritan declared that the boy might now be allowed to accompany them, for he was assured that he would return. The hunting party were late of coming back; and when they did come, the Indian was not with them. While they were discoursing of his disappearance, and of a portent which had present ed itself to one of their number, the conch-shell, which lonists to be aware that it was the chief of the pale-faces holding communion with his God. Partly in awe, and ger who, on his fortet proved to be the stran- partly in doubt of what might be the conséquences of so distance, and silently watched had departed so mysteriously, and with him the Indian boy. The stranger demanded a conference apart with old Mark, which was The roof of the block rekindled, and by the light that just ended when the conch again sounded, at first feebly, shone through the loops, it was but too evident the interior then with a more confirmed note, as if it had been an was in a blaze. Once or twice smothered sounds came out echo of the stranger's summons. A party proceeded to of the place, as if suppressed shrieks were escaping the fe the postern, but no answer was returned to their chal- males; but they ceased so suddenly as to leave doubts among the auditors whether it were more than the deception of lenge. One of them remained in ambush, but no one their own excited fancies. The savages had witnessed many appeared, nor was the summons repeated. Towards a similar scene of human suffering, but never one before in morning, as the whole family were assembled, debating which death was received with so unmoved a calmness. what might be the meaning of this disturbance, the conch The serenity that reigned in the blazing block communicawas again heard, and again, as formerly, at first with a ted to them a feeling of awe, and when the pile came, a feeble, then with a stronger blast. The stranger under- tumbling and blackened mass of ruins, to the earth, they took to join the ambush this time. He had ensconced avoided the place, like men that dreaded the vengeance of a himself, along with one of the farm-servants in one of Deity, who knew how to infuse so deep a sentiment of rethe out-houses, when, after a very interesting scene, it signation in the breasts of his worshippers. souse, lo emr was found that the Indians were in the neighbourhood, The family had not, however, all perished in this fiery and a hot rencontre was the result. They were worsted, destruction. Those of them who had found shelter in however, and in conformity to their mode of warfare, the block, took refuge, when all their efforts proved unwhen discomfited in a first attack, kept themselves quiet availing, in the exhausted well; and as soon as the Ina while. The stranger employed the interval in seek-dians had withdrawn, they issued from their confinement, ing to elicit some information from a captive, who, on and set about burying their dead, and re-edifying their its being discovered that he belonged to the tribe of the dwellings, with all the deep religious trust, and stub besiegers, was sent as an envoy to enquire their inten-born perseverance of their sect. tions and cause of quarrel. He brought back for answer The story now passes over several years in silence, and a bundle of arrows, wrapt in the skin of a rattlesnake. when we again get sight of Wish-ton-Wish and its inha It being now evident to those in the house that their ut-bitants, we find both considerably altered. The clearing ter destruction was contemplated, the men betook them-has been extended wide and broad into the forest; where selves to the outer defences. In a short time the attack once the solitary mansion of Mark Heathcote stood, there was renewed; the Indians pressed on with ferocity; the is now a gentleman's residence, and a populous village, Europeans defended themselves with dogged resolution. with its church, and that indispensable appendage of a The besiegers applied fire to the out-houses, which lay at frontier settlement, a large defensible building. Many of some distance round the palisadoes, and in a few mo- old Heathcote's hirelings have become householders, and ments they were in a flame. Still the war continued, influential men in their little community. The Pa till the heat, the flashing of the flames, and arrows tipt triarch himself has grown older, and the lapse of years with fire, succeeded in spreading the conflagration to the has begun to tell its tale even on his son. But the most dwelling-house and its defences. The family of the marked difference is on the bereaved mother, whose sorHeathcotes betook themselves to the blockhouse, a kind row for her daughter's loss, formerly mentioned as ha of citadel, the basement story of which was built with ving been captured when a child by the Indians, has paled stone, the upper one, like all the rest of the buildings, of her cheek and dimmed her eye. Her wasted form serves, wood. Owing to the hurry of the moment, and the si- like the scorched and blackened ruin in their neighbours! multaneous irruption of the Indians, a grandchild of the hood, to keep alive the fearful past in the bosom of happier captain, and a half-witted boy who was carrying her, fell days. One Sabbath morning, an inhabitant of the village, behind, and were captured. The Indians strove to ex-who had been on the outlook, brought to Heathcote a Eu tend the burning to the blockhouse ropean, who had adopted the dress and customs of the In"At this trying moment the appalling ery was heard in dians. One of the females recognised in the changeling the block, that the well had failed. The buckets ascended her brother, the same half-witted lad who had been taken as empty as they went down, and they were thrown aside captive on the night of the burning of Wish-ton-Wish. as no longer useful. The savages seemed to comprehend The mother's hopes to learn something of her child's fate their advantage, for they profited by the confusion that succeeded among the assailed to feed the slumbering fires. The were again excited; but in vain, for the weak intellects of flames kindled fiercely, and in less than a minute they be the youth had been so engrossed and confused with the came too violent to be subdued. They were soon seen play-associations of his forest life, that no blandishments could ing on the planks of the floor above. The subtle element flashed from point to point, and it was not long ere it was stealing up the outer side of the heated block itself. recall the remembrance of his boyish days. As ineffectual were all attempts to discover what had brought him back. The time arrived for the community to meet together "The savages now knew that conquest was sure. Yells and whoopings proclaimed the fierce delight with which in a new church which they had built, but the service of they witnessed the certainty of their victory. Still there the day was doomed to receive a fearful interruptioni was something portentous in the death-like silence with While it was proceeding, the mysterious stranger entered. which the victims within the block awaited their fate. The the building, and called upon the men to stand to their whole exterior of the building was already wrapped in arms, for the Indians were upon them; a summons flames, and yet no show of further resistance, no petition which was soon enforced by the whoops of the savages for merey, issued from its bosom. The unnatural and frightful stillness that reigned within was gradually.com rising on all sides from under the arches of the forest. municated to those without. The cries and shouts of tri- Under the command of this extraordinary man, to whom umph ceased, and the crackling of the flames or the falling all yielded an involuntary obedience, the villagers divided of timber in the adjoining buildings alone disturbed the aw-themselves into three parties, two of which hastened to ful calm. At length a solitary voice was heard in the block. oppose the enemy, while the third proceeded to the rescue Its tones were deep, solemn, and imploring. The fierce of the Heathcotes. This last division was defeated; and beings who surrounded the glowing pile bent forward to old Heathcote, his son, and grandson, with the stranger, listen, for their quick faculties caught the first sounds that taken prisoners. A dispute arose between the allied were audible. It was Mark Heathcote pouring out his spirit in prayer. The petition was fervent, but steady leaders of the Indians, Metacom, (the King Philip of and though uttered in words that were unintelligible to Washington Irving, and Conanchet, the young Sachem those without, they knew enough of the practices of the co- of the Narragansets, the same who had, when a boy, been |