Ah! me: nor yonder seest the death-shaft I didn't much marvel at that, gieaming, For we all know friend Broadbrim's pugnacity; Nor the cold 'shrowded arms outstretched for And a man who won't take off his hat thee? Still! nay, within thee, elements of sorrow, From deepest founts of thought and sense upwelling, May strangle hope; nor grief have cause to bor row One molten sigh-too vast its own o'erswelling. Learn to be still! Thou need'st, with tireless asking, By day, by night, that blessing to compel ; Need'st more than Summer fly, in sunshine basking, Needs where its winter-stricken ghost may dwell. Yet, ask in faith. Against the ill thou dreadest Folding her wing beside thee; what thou pleadest, Be still! how fearfully soever blended Thy day with dark, like twilight's fleckered bars; For God will make thy deepest midnight splendid, With all his sapphire wealth of quenchless stars. Be still! the wild wave's mightiest undulation, Harass and chafe, so God's life dwells in thee. Peace! heart: this boiling strife of will and Discharges quick the sediment of ill;- THE SOLEMN STATESMAN. I wonder that the Honorable Member for Aylesbury does not blush with shame when he brings such an accusation (of levity) against me.-Lord Palmerston. Oh wad kind Heaven the giftie gie us My faults I've undoubtedly had To accuse me of "scandalous levity." The Reverend Mr. John Bright (Roars of laughter) but lately pitched into me. For being too giddy and light, Bringing home my "original sin" to me. Ri fol de rol tol de rol, etc. Would be guilty of any audacity. Ri fol de rol tol de rol, etc. But when Layard obligingly acts With his very choice band of performers, He says I'm too fond of a jest, That I'm full of my "quips and my quid- And that those who once loved me the best I'm sure you'll agree this is fudge, WATCH, MOTHER! MOTHER! Watch the little feet Mother! watch the little hand Picking berries by the way, Tossing up the fragrant hay. Mother! watch the little tongue By the happy, joyous child. Mother! watch the little heart Beating soft and warm for you; Keep, O keep that young heart true. Sowing good and precious seed; From Fraser's Magazine. AN ASCENT OF MONT BLANC. the homage which is their due; but how much less expected the disappointment which overwhelms you, when first you are confronted with some great giant of the Alps! who you know is a giant, but whose proportions seem to the eye at least, as compared with previous expectation, unaccountably dwarfed. Let us beg of those who have the experiment yet to try, to reserve their judgment. One sense will be found to correct another, till they will be fain to confess, not that the giant was such a dwarf, but that their eyes were the eyes of such pigmies, that they were unable at once to see the giant in all his gigantic immensity. EVERY traveller (we would use the diminutive of tourist, but the epithet implies to our fancy, more a difference of kind than of degree,) has seen Mont Blanc. Those who have not been able to go to the mountain, have had the mountain by various arts transported to them. Poets have hymned it, travellers have described it, scribblers have scribbled about it, and lastly, the brush of an accomplished painter, and the pen, as well as the oral commentary, of an unwearied favorite of the public, have familiarly introduced the least enter- Before, then, approaching more closely the prising amongst us to the least trodden reces- giant whom we are about to visit, let us dwell ses of that thrilling region of thick-ribbed for a moment on somewhat that is going on at ice," the immediate court of the "Sovran his feet. We shall thus, perhaps, become a Blanc." And yet, after all, less interesting little more at our ease beneath his tremendous scenes have been more frequently described, shadow-I say advisedly beneath his shadowwithout satiating the reader; certainly more for the point on the Lake of Geneva from distant have been far less sparingly explored. which we shall presently start, though fifty Age has not much to do with the merits of a miles away from his foot, is still literally and poem, and why should distance be indispens- unmetaphorically not without the skirts of his able to the enchantment of a journey? Again, reflected outline. Many reasons combine to as to the novelty of the thing, or rather its make the region of the Alps especially fitted want of novelty; we much question whether, for holiday relaxation. It is easily and cheapafter all, the description of places familiar to ly accessible, and offers an almost infinite vaus have not for many a charm at least equal riety of enjoyment. The change of scene, the to that belonging to a description of the un- outdoor life and exercise, the exhilarating atknown. The unknown is wonderful, but sure-mosphere-at higher elevations it is almost inly not only the unknown. A great majority toxicating-restore, if impaired, and heighten of those who have recounted the experiences when possessed, the great condition of enjoyof an ascent of Mont Blanc, have been so busy ment, physical health; and if other than phywith the details of the difficulties encountered, sical causes are in question, there, if at all, of the configuration of the mountain itself, of the exile from his country may hope to be exthe particular views to be surveyed from it, iled from himself. So universally indeed is that they have allowed themselves scanty room this allowed, that all nations, however else wherein to convey to others even a few of the they may differ, instinctively rush to spend impressions produced on themselves by what their summer holidays together about the they saw. As such a coloring may heighten Alps. Even the most thorough-going Yankee the effect of their pictures, we will not entire- (and many such you will find-regular Barnly suppress all those emotions, without men- ums), who writes in every traveller's book, tion of which to relate an ascent of Mont Blanc" America is the best country in the worldis but to tell half the truth. When standing amen!" will, in one instance, and one alone, too with us on the summit, most of our guides 'bate his uncompromising claims to universal seem (perhaps wisely) to have been thorough- superiority, and condescend to balance nicely ly infected with its silence. This silence we shall endeavor (perhaps not so wisely) to break. For our station there is not as that of one who stands "silent upon a peak in Darien, and stares at the Pacific," but it is the ancient centre around which have revolved, and still revolve, the energies of the world of man. Those who are familiar with mountainous regions know well with what difficulty, by what gradation of steps, as it were, their eye was schooled till it could appreciate height. breadth, distance aright. Travellers tell of their disappointment at the first sight, even of a colossal church-dome, or of a world-old pyramid, of which all the time they knew the real proportions, honoring them mentally with the respective merits of Mont Blanc, or Mount Blank, as he prefers to call it, and Niagara! though what in the world they have in common, whereby they may be compared, is certainly at first sight difficult for any wit but that of the 'cute Yankee to realize. But if it be true that all nations delight in the Alps of Switzerland and Savoy, it is especially true with regard to the Englishman. He finds himself at home while visiting a people by government and disposition liberal as his own. He may be as eccentric as John Bull sometimes will be, and yet keep out of quod; he may penetrate into the wildest solitudes, with no inducement comprehensive to police authorities for doing so, yet the Government will should have been foolish enough to have preferred our own more laborious preparations. not coerce him as a revolutionist, nor the ingly suspended high in air, was perfectly mopeople suspect him of searching " under their tionless. We instinctively knew that before glaciers' for hid treasure! He may even car- our eyes was none other than the subject of ry about theodolites, cameras, or any other many of our speculations, the monarch of the odd-looking philosophical apparatus, without Alps himself. being shunned by the peasants as an ArchiWe felt that his spell was upon us, that we mago, or imprisoned (as a friend of mine, so could not but obey it. As I have said before, provided, actually was at Odessa) on the we were now literally within his shadow, or charge of having in his possession an infernal rather within the dazzling reflection, and from machine. Many ludicrous anecdotes must oc- that moment we were never without its range cur to every one, showing that in this respect till we found ourselves above it, and were travellers in other countries by no means en-casting our own puny shadows down upon joy the immunity which their continual inter- him! That day we commenced a rigorous course with every nation of Europe has in- course of training, and got into excellent con- : duced Switzerland and Savoy so freely to con- dition. The process was perhaps laborious, cede. In short, each may, unmolested, follow but not, therefore, otherwise than delightful; his peculiar bent. There is magnificent scen- in fact, if any one had offered us some of that ery, unrivalled in the world, for all. The bo- wonderful cocoa-leaf which The Chemistry of tanist, the geologist, the disciple of science, Common Life tells us enables you at once, and the votary of art, each has a fruitful, yet without one pant of the breath, or one tremnot too-extended a field; if to study mankind ble of the knees, in very rivalry of Commobe your object, in the valley, I will answer for dore Rogers-that "exceedingly brave man"it, you will find some choice specimens of tra- to skip up perpendicular mountains, and with velling humanity, and travelling, we know, the same unfailing alacrity to skip down again develops character; if solitude and a senti-if, I say, any one had made us an offer of mental journey be rather your aim, you have this truly royal viaticum, this breath-giving, but to step aside from the beaten track, and, muscle-bracing vegetable, I do believe we believe me, you will not fail to find it "with death and morning on the silver horns." But if while travelling here you would most enjoy But let us away forthwith, whether in a diyourself, you must, besides entering into these rect line through the Chablais which is less more refined pleasures, not be too fastidious known than it deserves to be, or by the more to appreciate the often noisy and sometimes usual routes, to Chamouni, the only side from even vulgar merriment of the holiday cock- which the summit of Mont Blanc is accessible. ney, who has exchanged-and who would Our first view of the valley (if that may be grudge him, for who has earned leisure and called a view wherein nothing is to be seen) recreation better than he ? the smoke and was far from encouraging. Four days of toil of cities, to breathe for a moment the pure, thunder and lightning gave us ample time to free air of the Alps, and to screw his city legs engage our guides, to procure alpen-stocks, with acrobatic exertions. Well, in the sum-green spectacles, green veils, gaiters, fur mer of 1851, with the rest of the holiday gloves, shoes with angular nails to bite the ice, world, I found myself one of a party beneath to get very impatient at the obstinacy of the the Alps. Our head-quarters were fixed near Lausanne, in the midst of that region of Italian coloring and of Alpine outline, well fit to be the dreamland of Rousseau, and to inspire that host of writers of all countries, and of our own not least, whose names shed such lustre on the banks of the Lake of Geneva. One day three of us were pulling, for our usual afternoon's bathe, some five or six miles to the west, when a sudden exclamation from our Coxswain directed all eyes to the south; and there, beyond those eight or nine miles of glorious blue which form the widest expanse of the lake, high over the gigantic mountain-wall which limits to the north the province of Sa- panions. voy, and behind which peak after peak pierces Well, we were about to leave, when sudthe sky-beyond and above all these one spirit-denly the weather changed, and all was prelike shape of dazzling white," mystic, wonder-paration once more. Despondency was gone. ful," riveted our gaze. It might have been Bottles of wine, loaves of bread, cheeses, waxmistaken at first for a cloud, but it was bright- candles, mutton and veal, beef and fowls, choer than the brightest cloud, and, though seem-colate, prunes, raisins, acid drops, and a hun weather, and, finally, to make up our minds to give up the idea and retrace our steps. We had been informed that a M. Smith was also waiting to make the ascent, and we at once proposed, of course, to make a joint expedition; but I suppose that the garçon read in our faces a total, and certainly not inexcusable, ignorance as to who M. Smith might be; so, to make the matter " perfectly intelligible to the meanest comprehension," he added, "You know M. Smith of London." The more than ever mysterious gentleman at length proved to be Mr. Albert Smith, and, as may be well imagined, the most acceptable of com dred other articles, necessary and unnecessary, | are at an immense level above the sea, and were crammed into portable packets. One the snow line (the only other standard by day was given to allow the weather to settle. which the eye can judge) rises so much higher We employed it in ascending the Brevent, the in these American and Asiatic ranges, that well-known mountain range of an elevation the actual measurement from its commenceof 8500, opposite to Mont Blanc. No near ment to the summit of the mountains is in view of Mont Blanc is more striking than that very few cases greater than that of the snows obtained from this frequented point. As you of Mont Blanc. With regard to nobleness of ascend the Brevent, its range, opposite, seems outline, all are agreed that the European ever to become higher and higher. The mag- range is unapproachable. I believe myself nificent needles, and domes, and the glaciers that such mountains as Mont Blanc would lose dividing them—those "fine wild torrents fierce- nothing of their vastness even were they to ly glad" - become gradually manifest in lose some two or three thousand feet of their their real immensity. The very different as- actual height, at least to any except the most pect of the converse of this view will have to practised eye. be mentioned in its proper place. With a glass could be traced the whole route of the morrow. One line of ascent alone can lead to the summit with a slight, but dangerous, possible deviation, to which we shall later allude, and this fact, with others analogous, forcibly called to my mind Milton's description of the Eastern Gate" of Paradise : It was a rock Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds. Indeed the parallel might be continued still further; for while watching, with this description in my memory, the troops of clouds of a thousand glorious hues still wheeling round the summit-dome, it was not difficult to indulge in the dreamy reverie, that the eye beheld not clouds, but the angelic cohorts, warding there, At last the morning fatal to grouse, most propitious to us, arrived. At half-past seven our arrangements were complete, breakfast with the guides duly solemnized, and we were off. Our caravan as it wound along the course of the Arve, towards the point at which the ascent begins, presented an appearance extremely picturesque. Sixteen guides, four to each amateur, and as many porters engaged to go as far as our night's bivouac, with the necessary comforts, formed our body-guard. Poles, hatchets, the ladder, the green veils flying from our caps, gave us a very businessappearance. I hope that we were at least as much impressed with the dignity of our position as was the magna comitans caterva. Albert Smith was perched magnificently on a mule, determining to save his legs as far as the mule would or could consent to go. We, the rest, advanced humbly on our feet, being constanly checked in our pace by the omnipotent guides, who were constantly quoting" Rickeybockey's" favorite proverb of Piano, sana, lontano. De Saussure had so ordained, and the traditions of Mont Blanc in this case of Blanc himself. most wise import alter not more than Mont -and nigh at hand Celestial armory, shields, helms, and spears, Hung high, with diamond flaming and with gold. The only obvious way to give those who At the "Village of the Pilgrims," one of may not have seen it any idea of the appear- the great buttresses of the mountain descends ance of the Mont Blanc chain from this point, into the Vale of Chamouni. Up this buttress is to suggest to them to watch the next wall lay our first ascent. The region of enchantof clouds, which rises from the horizon into a ment had commenced. On our left hand, in clear blue sky above. There is the same ap- a deep ravine, fell the glacier-fed "Waterfall pearance in both of massy black foundations, of the Pilgrims;" striking against a rock, it rising into brilliant peaks and pinnacles, or shoots up again (or rather shot, for the narounded into shining domes; indeed, so much tural rock is now in its place no more, alike are these mountains and such clouds, whatever art may have done to supply that you may often in the Alps (as most per- nature) into a faultless arch, the beauty sons will remember) mistake one for the other. of which when spanned by a brightning The height of Mont Blanc above the sea is foam-bow" is perfectly indescribable. To our 15,744 feet; above Chamouni about 3000 feet right, the scene was still more unreal and less. It has been said that these mountains fairy-like. Above and through a forest of are the most magnificent in the world; and so gloomy pines, the lofty ice-spikes of the Glathey are for although, as Forbes has pointed out, the height of some of the Cordilleras above the sea is much more considerable, and parts of the Himalayas exceed even 25,000 feet, still the plateaux from which they rise 66 cier des Bossons were seen to glitter and sparkle in the sun. This ice-stream occupies the ravine now to our right, and these gleaming spires are the pyramids which it tosses up in such fantastic prodigality before its final RUSSIAN TORPEDOES, about nine or ten feet below the surface, so that the FROM a Correspondent of The Times, dated quietly over them, and, now we know what they only vessels they could hurt, the gunboats, float off Cronstadt 21 June. are, they have been disarmed of all their dread. mander-in-Chief was examining one of the fuseBut they prove dangerous playthings; the Comtubes that was supposed to be spoilt, for it was full of mud and water, when he accidentally touched the lever, and it exploded in his hands, scattering the mud into the faces of all present, and literally throwing dirt into their eyes, but doing no hurt. From the Transcript. This morning each ship commenced sweep: ing for the infernal machines, and before night gathered in a capital harvest of them. The way in which the sweeping is done is this,-two boats take between them a long rope, which is sunk to the depth of 10 or 12 feet by means of weights, and held suspended at that depth by lines attach ed to small casks, which float on the surface at intervals of 40 or 50 yards; the boats then separate as far as the rope will allow them, and pull in parallel lines until one of the casks stops behind, which tells them, as a fishing float tells readers whatever they may choose to send to this [WE should be glad to receive from any of our the angler, that they have caught something; good man. He thankfully acknowledged what the two boats then approach each other, keeping we forwarded some years ago. ED. LIV. AGE.] the rope taut, then haul it in carefully, and up comes the machine. The Exmouth found the THE CASE OF THOMAS DICK, LL. D. Some first, the Nile the second, and then the catching months ago we published a statement that the became so numerous that in some instances two Aberdeen Ministry of Great Britain, upon apat a time were hauled up; they were first sup- plication of the friends of the distinguished Dr. posed to be only the buoys to the machine, but I Thomas Dick for aid from the Royal Literary am sorry to say Admiral Seymour proved them Fund, granted that scholar the munificent sum to be the machine itself in a most unpleasant of ten pound sterling. One of our subscribers, manner. He was examining one of them on the upon reading this report, wrote to the venerable poop of the Exmouth, and incautiously tapped a author and enclosed a bill of exchange for ten little bit of iron which projected from its side, pounds, as a token of respect from a citizen of saying, "this must be the way they are explod- the United States. We have before us the reed," when, bang! the thing went off, and every-ply of Dr. Dick, in which he acknowledges the body round was scattered on the deck. Admi- reception of the remittance above named, and ral Seymour was so injured in the eyes that for expresses his gratitude for the kindness and libsome time it was thought he would lose the erality evinced by his Boston correspondent. The sight of both, but I am very glad to say he can truth of the report of the paltry pittance given see a little out of both to-day, and no fear is en- by the British Government in this case, is thus tertained now of either. Lieutenant Lewis, R. confirmed by the testimony of the recipient. M., was severely wounded in the knee joint, and Many of the English papers have properly referbadly burnt in the hands and arms; the signal-red to this transaction in terms of indignation. man, who was holding the machine in his hands, We would mention to those of our readers was severely burnt down the front of the body who have perused the works of Dr. Dick, and and legs; and Mr. Peirce, flag lieutenant, had are somewhat interested in his personal history, his whiskers burnt off and his face singed, and that we have the highest authority for the fol every one near was more or less burnt. It was lowing statement. During the past thirty years a wonderful escape for them all. Each machine Dr. Dick has sold the copyright of his works as consists of a cone of galvanized iron, 16 inches in they were published. They have yielded him diameter at the base and 20 inches from base to but a comparatively small sum, and while the apex, and is divided into three chambers; the Doctor is not in absolute needy circumstances, one near the base being largest, and containing he has never had much money at command. air, causes it to float with the base uppermost. During the past eight or ten years he has had five In the center of this chamber is another, which orphans to maintain, whose parents died within holds a tube with a fuse in it, and an apparatus thirteen days of each other. One of these perfor firing it. This consists of two little iron rods, sons now carries on the business of dressmaking which move in guides, and are kept projected in Edinburgh. Another of the number has taught over the side of the base by springs, which press an infant school in Leith, but within a year has them outwards. When anything pushes either been compelled to abandon it on account of failof these rods inwards it strikes against a lever, ing health. We mention these facts in the hope which moves like a pendulum, in the fuse-tube, that they may meet the eye of the admirers of and the lower end of the lever breaks or bends a the author of the" Christian Philosopher," "Sidsmall leaden tube, containing a combustible com- erial Heavens," "Philosophy of Religion," "Espound, which is set on fire by coming in contact say on Covetousness," etc. It is now about twenwith some sulphuric acid held in a capillary tube, ty-eight years since an American edition of the which is broken at the same time, and so fires work first named above appeared. It is too much the fuse, which communicates with the powder to hope that the declining years of this noble contained in the chamber at the apex of the cone, Christian man may be cheered by the reception and which holds about 9lb or 10lb. At the extreme of other letters with funds enclosed, from his apex is a brass ring, to which is attached a rope trans-atlantic friends? His post office address is and some pieces of granite, which moors them "Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, Scotland." |