aged to be conveyed to us from above by John,-whom, by the way, I would name as an excellent guide as well as a reputable boy,—we descended to the extreme depth of the ravine, and, with certain heroic ladies, who somehow dared the perils of the path, we gazed from this place upon the sheet of water, falling from a height of more than two hundred and fifty feet. This is a matter of which Niagara would not speak lightly; and there is wanting only a heavy fall of water to make this spot not only magnificent, for that it is now, but terribly sublime. Mountains ascend and overshadow it; crags and precipices project themselves in menacing assemblage all about, as though frowning over a ruin which they are only waiting some fiat to make yet more appalling. Nature has hewed out a resting place for man, where he may linger, and gaze, and admire! Below him she awakens her thunder, and darts her lightning; above him she lifts still loftier summits, and round him she flings her spray and her rainbows' The St. Lawrence.-N P. WILLIS. It was a beautiful night. The light lay sleeping on the St. Lawrence like a white mist. The boat, on whose deck our acquaintances were promenading, was threading the serpentine channel of the "Thousand Isles," more like winding through a wilderness than following the passage of a great river. The many thousand islands clustered in this part of the St. Lawrence seem to realize the mad girl's dream when she visited the stars, and found them "Only green islands, sown thick in the sky." Nothing can be more like fairy land than sailing among them on a summer's evening. They vary in size, from a quarter of a mile in circumference, to a spot just large enough for one solitary tree, and are at different dis tances, from a bowshot to a gallant leap, from each other The universal formation is a rock, of horizontal stratum; and the river, though spread into a lake by innumerable divisions, is almost embowered by the luxuriant vegetation which covers them. There is every where sufficient depth for the boat to run directly alongside; and with the rapidity and quietness of her motion, and the near neighbourhood of the trees which may almost be touched, the illusion of aerial carriage over land is, at first, almost perfect. The passage through the more intricate parts of the channel is, if possible, still more beautiful. You shoot into narrow passes, where you could spring on shore on either side, catching, as you advance, hasty views to the right and left, through long vistas of islands, or, running round a projecting point of rock or woodland, open into an apparent lake, and, darting rapidly across, seem running right on shore as you enter a narrow strait in pursuit of the channel. It is the finest ground in the world for the "magic of moonlight." The water is clear, and, on the night we speak of, was a perfect mirror. Every star was repeated. The foliage of the islands was softened into indistinctness, and they lay in the water, with their well defined shadows hanging darkly beneath them, as distinctly as clouds in the sky, and apparently as moveable. In more terrestrial company than the lady Viola's, our hero might have fancied himself in the regions of upper air; but, as he leaned over the taffrail, and listened to the sweetest voice that ever melted into moonlight, and watched the shadows of the dipping trees as the approach of the boat broke them, one by one, he would have thought twice before he had said that he was sailing on a fresh water river in the good steam boat "Queenston." "I have seen an End of all Perfection.”— I HAVE seen a man in the glory of his days and the pride of his strength. He was built like the tall cedar that lifts its head above the forest trees; like the strong oak that strikes its root deeply into the earth. He feared no danger; he felt no sickness; he wondered that any should groan or sigh at pain. His mind was vigorous, like his body: he was perplexed at no intricacy; he was daunted at no head against this sea, under that rag Barnstable, gloomily; addressing the with folded arms, and an air of cool resig ing his body on the verge of the quarterbooner was plunging medly into waves her in their bosos; "the poor little afrightened child, as she meets the y, and shook his head, before he an kept the head of the main-mast un ht have got an offing, and fetched to ale; but, as it is, sir, mortal man can't dward she sets bodily in to land, and hers in less than an hour, unlem Ged shall cease to blow." ope left us, but to anchor; our grand ber up." commander, and replied, solemnly, nce of manner, that long experienes in moments of great dangerwas bent to our heaviest anche, it home, though nothing but her it. A north-easter in the German low itself out; nor shall we get the il the sun falls over the land. Then, for the winds do often seem to rever heavens too much to blow their might duty to ourselves and the country," go, get the two bowers splined, and to a hawser; we'll back our two a veer to the better end of two hundred it may yet bring her up. See all the g, and cutting away the mastthing but a naked hull to whatie over." was nothing but the wind, we might yet sink behind them hills," said the cockit hemp can stand the main of a craft alf the time, to her feet in the no difficulty; into hidden things he searched, and what was crooked he made plain. He went forth fearlessly upon the face of the mighty deep; he surveyed the nations of the earth; he measured the distances of the stars, and called them by their names; he gloried in the extent of his knowledge, in the vigour of his understanding, and strove to search even into what the Almighty had concealed And when I looked on him I said, "What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving how express and admirable' in action . how like an angel! in apprehension how like a God!” I returned his look was no more lofty, nor his step proud; his broken frame was like some ruined tower; his hairs were white and scattered; and his eye gazed vacantly upon what was passing around him. The vigour of his - intellect was wasted, and of all that he had gained by study, nothing remained. He feared when there was no danger, and when there was no sorrow he wept. His memory was decayed and treacherous, and showed him only broken images of the glory that was departed. His house was to him like a strange land, and his friends were counted as his enemies; and he thought himself strong and healthful while his foot tottered on the verge of the grave. He said of his son-" He is my brother;" of his daughter, "I know her not ;" and he inquired what was his own name. And one who supported his last steps, and ministered to his many wants, said to me, as I looked on the melancholy scene, "Let thine heart receive instruction, for thou hast seen an end of all earthly perfection." I have seen a beautiful female treading the first stages of youth, and entering joyfully into the pleasures of life. The glance of her eye was variable and sweet, and on her cheek trembled something like the first blush of the morning; her lips moved, and there was harmony; and when she floated in the dance, her light form, like the aspen, seemed to move with every breeze. I returned, but she was not in the dance; I sought her in the gay circle of her companions, but I found her Her eye sparkled not there-the music of her voice was silent-she rejoiced on earth no more. I saw a train, sable and slow-paced, who bore sadly to an opened grave not. |