bear properly upon this enterprise, a degree of surety and despatch which has not yet been realized, is sure to be attained. Whether such an attempt be justifiable at this time, in view of the false position in which the American merchants and engineers have been placed by the recent investments of British capital in ocean steamers, and by the unwise legislation of our own government, is a question admitting of more doubt. This remark is applied to the new steam-boat law; more especially to that odious provision, which makes the owners of American steam vessels liable, in case of accident, for all the property on board their vessels, in violation of the first principles of justice, which deem a man innocent till he is proved guily.

ODE то THE CZAR.

'He has ravaged six hundred young women from their homes in Poland to distribute among the soldiery.'

'Odii immortales! ubinam gentium sumus?'

AND SO 'tis o'er; and Poland, torn

And bleeding, bows to thee;
Thou hast thy guerdon in the scorn,
The curses of the free!

And men shall say, in other times,
Thou wast Napoleon in thy crimes,

But nothing more could be;
Fore-doomed to ape those acts alone,
The exile scorned or dared not own!

And then this last! It were a deed
A Nero's name would blot;

By worse than Rome's worst son decreed,
It shall not be forgot.
Thy fame will be, the ruthless foe,
Whose every breath was human wo,

Till thrones and time are not;
The first, the last, the worst to claim
An immortality of shame!

The Grecian, with the earth at ban,
Wept for a world to win;
But mourned, for he was still a man,
The plague-spot dark within:
The Thunderer, melted by the spell,
Wept at the distant evening bell

Of his own young Brienne:
But thou!-the fiend hath blasted thee
From all of human sympathy.

GERMAN PAPER.

The earthquake charge, the freeman's prayer
A nation in its last despair,

These crowd thy reeking train;
Till even Ruin checks her way,
And waves her ghastly arm to stay.

The father tearless grieves his son,
The warrior mourns his bride;
The mother clasps her little one,

For she has nought beside;
The famished boy, of lordly birth,
Stands weeping by the smouldering hearth,
Where all his race have died.
And Poland wails, in widowed wo,
Her martyred sons, her ruthless foe,

And Europe heard her last, wild shriek,
Nor answered to the call;

The Austrian whet his vulture beak,

And fevered for her fall;
And Prussia shouted in her glee,
And England, traitress to the free!

Was harloting with Gaul;
Gods! did the Corsican but reign,
How would they leap to arms again!

But all in vain; his eagle wing

Low in the dust is laid!
The children of the thunder-king

Have sheathed his lightning blade!
And since he fell, their land hath been
The plaything of whate'er was mean,
Betraying and betrayed!

By Europe chained, then vainly free,
The slaves, the dupes of tyranny.

Yet there are mourners o'er thy grave;
Oh Poland, shall it be?

And nations mock the bold and brave,
With such hypocrisy !
But it is well; from out thy tomb
Their ruin, Phoenix-like, shall come,

And Europe yet be free.
Nor kings nor traitors barter then
The eternal heritage of men.

HANS CARVEL.

BY THE AUTHOR OF 'THE KUSHOW PROPERTY,' THE LATE JOHNNY MARSDEN,' ETC.

WHEN Old HANS CARVEL departed this life, at a very advanced age, (may his bones rest in peace !) he bequeathed to his only son, Hans, a well-cultivated farm, and the ancient homestead of the family. To these he superadded God's blessing on him, and some salutary directions for his future conduct in life, as namely: 'Fear God-speed the plough - marry a wife - curb the tongue.' Having inculcated these essential principles in the character of every good husbandman, and honest yeoman, he said no more, but being perfectly willing to go,' threw back his hoary head, and sank like a patriarch to his slumbers. And now Hans, finding himself deprived of the paternal counsel, and put in jeopardy of the world, carefully stored away this legacy of good advice, and went about his business as usual. He plodded industriously, as his fathers had done, ploughed the paternal soil, and although the earth did not always yield an equal abundance, he never wanted a sufficiency of good things, and a contented heart to enjoy them. Although the mansion, a homely tenement, built a hundred years ago, in the style of that period, might be looked upon with an insolent sneer, by some of your imposing modern structures, it was none the less comfortable for all that, affording a sufficient covert from the storm, and shelter from the tempest. It had a quiet air, and a variety of appearances without, gave evidence of thrift and hospitality within. There it stood, and appeared likely to stand, with the gable end to the street, a dog, grisly and blind with age, reclining on the sunny porch, gourds and wooden trenchers, and milk-strainers, aud strings of apples put out to dry, a washing-tub on a barrel, and cats and dogs, and chickens walking right into the kitchen. Any one will agree, that this was too pleasant a place to live alone in. So Hans thought, and having acquitted his conscience on other points, he determined to get married, and obey the dying injunction of his father. He was not very difficult to please, looking neither for riches nor beauty. He considered a prudent woman a mine of wealth to her husband, and for the latter quality, his ideas of it were founded wholly in utility. A very short search made him acquainted with one whom he considered qualified to render him happy, and he courted her, to the best of his abilities, for three weeks; when he mustered up courage, and asked her in plain terms to accede to his proposals. She replied, with a modest refinement, that she did n't care if she did.' This soft confession was decisive, and the dominie being forthwith called, brought the matter to a happy termination. There was some little merry-making and jollity afterward, and then the household affairs went on as if nothing had happened. None of your long and expensive journeys to mountain-houses, and mineral fountains, suffocating to death on the dusty roads, and coppering your complexion with im pregnated waters. This first false step too frequently leads to a habit of gadding, never afterward recovered from. The more Hans

reflected on his marriage, the more he had reason to be pleased with the object of his choice. She, it is true, rather had the upper hand' in the family, but in other respects, she was every thing his heart could desire, and gave him many a sound lesson in marketing. Hans was stingy, but she was stingier than Hans. If he put seven radishes into a bunch, she took out one, in order to make the number even, and to give a more trim appearance to the same. If he parcelled out the asparagus too bountifully for their customers, she withdrew enough spears to reduce the bunches to a reasonable size. Thus she perpetually repressed a vicious propensity which he had, of giving good measure, and of treading on the line of honesty. When he came home from market, she demanded his purse, with an executive air, being already possessed of the sword of power, separated the coin from the bank notes, and both from the shin-plasters, rating him merrily for having any thing to do with the latter, and then jingling the pieces severally into the foot of a long stocking, placed them for safekeeping in her pet bank of deposite.

Years passed sluggishly away, without any thing material to interrupt his happiness, until a circumstance occurred, which suddenly altered his prospects, and produced a new era in the life of Hans Carvel. Two speculators came along, and wanted to buy his farm. This proposal took him all aghast. It was unexpected, and with that credulity natural to ignorance, he concluded that they wanted to cheat him. The consequence was, they could do nothing with him. He was immoveable. They argued, they reasoned, they made liberal offers. They might as well have planted the sea-shore with salt. The Messrs. Snipkins had very foolishly considered themselves sure of their bargain. In the fertility of their imaginations, they had already pulled down the old house about his ears,' run an avenue through the orchard, and parcelled the land out on either side into innumerable lots. So now their airy castles tumbled to the ground, their schemes were frustrated, they fairly knocked their heads together with vexation, and going away, damned him up and down. The moment they had gone out, Hans finding the ground clear, took time for reflection, and gathering together his scattered ideas, began to think solemnly of the matter. He conned over all that had been said, considered the price offered for his land so much greater than he had ever dreamed of,' and ere he laid his cap that night on the pillow, resolved to abide by the offer. When the speculators came again, to make a fresh effort, he treated them more considerately than at first, told them that he did not want to sell,' and at any rate, could not think of their former proposal. At this first dawn of hope, the Messrs. Snipkins tipped each other the wink, and feeling their way softly as they went, after a long parley, succeeded in closing in with him for one third more. But an unseen difficulty soon arose, which made their ground still very ticklish. The bill having met the concurrence of Hans, must needs pass through the other branch of the legislature, and receive the sanction of Mrs. Carvel. Here it came very near being thrown under the table; for some of the neighbors had been ploughing' with Hans' heifer,' and discovering what was on foot, exhorted Mrs. Carvel to have nothing at all to do with the matShe therefore refused point blank to sign the papers, and when

ter.

ever the subject was alluded to, shot out her lips, turned her nose heavenward, and put on the ugliest look imaginable. This difficulty was, however, got over, she being prevailed on, not by any persuasion, (for that only made things worse,) but by the prospect of so much ready money, and was at last not only willing to sign off,' but to acknowledge that she had done so without bodily fear, or compulsion. The bargain was clenched. Mr. Snooks, the lawyer, executed the necessary deeds and papers, and the old homestead passed from the Carvel family for ever. Hans did not close the negotiation without self-reproaches, and a slight ripple of emotion stirred his heart, as he relinquished the abode of his fathers. He could not with indifference turn from a spot so hallowed for its age and associations, where he had been born, and passed the days of his childhood and of his youth, and grown up to man's estate. It is impossible to break away from old attachments, be they of what kind soever, without doing violence to our nature. It is not father and mother, brethren and sisters, merely, which make up a home; it is place likewise; the old mansion, the pleasant nooks and corners, the fireside, and all those familiar objects which are indissolubly connected with them. How pleasantly do all these mingle together, when we are absent, making it sweet to remember them, and persuading us, how convincingly, that there is no place like home.' And now Hans felt all that affection for the old places which had hitherto lain as a dormant principle within him, awake into being. He reproached himself again and again, and sitting for the last time within the ample jambs of the kitchen fire-place, leaned his head upon his hands, and indulged in a pensive melancholy. It was now too late; the estate had passed from him; he did not know before how much he loved it. Thus, thus do we wring our hands, and weep over the dead, whom perhaps we have loved too coldly while living.

When all the business and papers connected with this important transaction were cleared away, and left a little breathing time, Hans Carvel reviewed his worldly prospects, cast up his accounts with an accurate eye, and at last wrought out the glorious conclusion that he was- independent. This word must not be understood in the enlarged sense which the extravagance of the present day would give to it. Perhaps the rich and the luxurious would smile at the independence of Hans Carvel. Some persons depend so much upon the world, that it requires a vast sum to place them above it. His wants, on the contrary, were limited, and with strict frugality, he deemed his interest sufficient to meet them; he should be able to make both ends meet,' without having recourse to labor, or in more grandiloquent phrase, to live on his money.' One day as he passed by the old domains, rubbing his hands, and chuckling over his late bargain, he espied red flags put up in different directions, and several important personages striding backward and forward, with measured steps. These preparations seemed ominous. Vague apprehensions came over him, and a terrible suspicion that after all he had been overreached. While he stood thus musing against a fence, a 'd-d goodnatured friend' passed that way, and having smilingly given him the time of the day, led him into the secret that Messrs. Snipkins, the speculators, had parted with that property at a large advance. Hans

said nothing, although his nether jaw dropped perceptibly. E ery one knows what sort of a feeling repentance is, when it comes too late. He went home, groaned all night upon his pillow, and loaded himself with new reproaches. As he before considered what he had gained, he now counted his losses, called the speculators all hard names, and accused them of taking the bread out of his mouth. He, like a hard-working hind, had tugged all his life at the stubborn glebe, enduring the burden and heat of the day,' while they came in at the eleventh hour to enjoy the golden harvest. His neighbors were not slow in aggravating his distress. They taunted him before his face, and they upbraided him behind his back. 'What a natural-born fool,' said they, 'is Hans Carvel. Had he only waited a little longer, he might have taken the tide at its flood, and possessed the money now pocketed by strangers. They looked at him in a deprecating manner, wagging their heads, and hinting that he was old enough to have his eye-teeth cut. What,' said they, if old Hans could rise out of his grave, and see these strange doings, the house torn down, and not one stone upon another, the cider-presses moved off, the orchard cut down, the land slashed up. And if'‘And if — and if,' replied Hans the younger, with admirable serenity, 'you will have a little patience, neighbours, we shall see what we shall see.' It so happened, that in a short time he achieved a complete triumph over these cavillers. For the old farm, having passed through a great number of hands, and got beyond its intrinsic value, when a revulsion took place, naturally reverted to its former owners, and the Messrs Snipkins, who had speculated largely in lands, broke all to pieces. Hans was secure, and with this catastrophe his temper recovered its equilibrium.

He now removed to a small tenement, for which he paid more than it was worth, and considering how suddenly he had been thrown from his appropriate sphere, led a tolerable contented life. A garden afforded him light employment, which was just large enough to raise a few cabbages, and to contain a pig-stye to rear his winter pork. He was independent, and already got reputation as a man of substance. The knowing ones pointed him out in that short monosyllabic way which means a good deal, whispering that he was a rich old fellow, who lived on his money.' Thus being fairly settled down in a new capacity, having no fields to plough, no seed to sow, no cattle to feed, no fences to mend, he had on hand more precious time than he knew what to do with. Those idle and talkative propensities which had been before checked by the necessity of earning his daily bread, found full occasion for exercise, and he became one of the most inveterate and really troublesome bores, ever inflicted on a community. Those who have nothing to do, are apt to fancy all others in the same category.' Hans might be said to eat the bread of idleness.' He rose betimes in the morning, wrought a half an hour in his garden, ate his breakfast, and then sallied forth to bestow himself on his neighbors. He sauntered leisurely and pleasantly about, sat a little here, a little there, and chatted sociably at the corner of a street or over a stile. His mode of operating differed from that of the common herd of bores. He was not one of those who hold you with tender violence by the button hole, nor secure you