velocity of declamation. A worthy Glasgow | occasion, during the illness of the latter, to baillie, smarting under an adverse verdict ob- allude to him in the House of Commons; and tained by these facilities of speech, could find nothing so bitter to advance against the speaker as a calculation made with the help of Johnson's Dictionary, to the effect that Mr. Jeffrey, in the course of a few hours, had spoken the whole English language twice over!

he did this with so much beauty and delicacy, with such manly admiration of the genius and modest deference to the opinions of his great Tory friend, that Sir Robert Peel made a journey across the floor of the house to thank him cerdially for it.

In

But the Glasgow baillie made little impression The House of Commons nevertheless was on his fellow citizens; and from Glasgow came not his natural element, and when, in 1834, a the first public tribute to Jeffrey's now achieved vacancy in the Court of Session invited him tọ position, and legal as well as literary fame. He his due promotion, he gladly accepted the digwas elected Lord Rector of the University in nified and honorable office so nobly earned by 1821 and 1822. Some seven or eight years his labors and services. He was in his sixtypreviously he had married the accomplished lady second year at the time of his appointment, and who survives him, a grand-niece of the celebrated he continued for nearly sixteen years the chief Wilkes; and had purchased the lease of the ornament of the Court in which he sat. villa near Edinburgh which he occupied to the former days the judgment-seats in Scotland had time of his death, and whose romantic woods not been unused to the graces of literature: but and grounds will long be associated with his in Jeffrey these were combined with an acute name. At each step of his career a new dis- and profound knowledge of law less usual in tinction now awaited him, and with every new that connection; and also with such a charm of occasion his unflagging energies seemed to rise demeanor, such a play of fancy and wit sobered and expand. He never wrote with such mas-to the kindliest courtesies, such clear sagacity, terly success for his Review as when his whole perfect freedom from bias, consideration for all time appeared to be occupied with criminal differences of opinion; and integrity, independprosecutions, with contested elections, with ence, and broad comprehensiveness of view in journeyings from place to place, with examin- maintaining his own; that there has never been ings and cross-examinings, with speeches, ad- but one feeling as to his judicial career. Uni. dresses, exhortations, denunciations. In all con-versal veneration and respect attended it. The ditions and on all occasions, a very atmosphere speculative studies of his youth had done much of activity was around him. Even as he sat, apparently still, waiting to address a jury or amaze a witness, it made a slow man nervous to look at him. Such a flush of energy vibrated through that delicate frame, such rapid and never ceasing thought played on those thin lips, such restless flashes of light broke from those kindling eyes. You continued to look at him, till his very silence acted as a spell; and it ceased to be difficult to associate with his small but well-knit figure even the giant-like labors and exertions of this part of his astonishing

career.

At length, in 1829, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates; and thinking it unbecoming that the official head of a great law corporation should continue the editing of a party organ, he surrendered the management of the Edinburgh Review. In the year following, he took office with the Whigs as Lord Advocate, and replaced Sir James Scarlett in Lord Fitzwilliam's borough of Malton. In the next memorable year he contested his native city against a Dundas; not succeeding in his election, but dealing the last heavy blow to his opponent's sinking dynasty. Subsequently he took his seat as Member for Perth, introduced and carried the Scotch Reform bill, and in the December of 1832 was declared member for Edinburgh. He had some great sorrows at this time to check and alloy his triumphs. Probably no man had gone through a life of eager conflict and active antagonism with a heart so sensitive to the gentler emotions, and the deaths of Mackintosh and Scott affected him deeply. He had had

to soften all the asperities of his varied and vigorous life, and now, at its close, they gave to his judgments a large reflectiveness of tone, a moral beauty of feeling, and a philosophy of charity and good taste, which have left to his successors in that Court of Session no nobler models for imitation and example. Impatience of dullness would break from him, now and then; and the still busy activity of his mind might be seen as he rose often suddenly from his seat, and paced up and down before it; but in his charges or decisions nothing of this feeling was perceptible, except that lightness and grace of expression in which his youth seemed to linger to the last, and a quick sensibility to emotion and enjoyment which half concealed the ravages of time.

If such was the public estimation of this great and amiable man, to the very termination of his useful life, what language should describe the charm of his influence in his private and domestic circle? The affectionate pride with which every citizen of Edinburgh regarded him rose here to a kind of idolatry. For here the whole man was known-his kind heart, his open hand, his genial talk, his ready sympathy, his generous encouragement and assistance to all that needed

it. The first passion of his life was its last, and never was the love of literature so bright within him as at the brink of the grave. What dims and deadens the impressibility of most men, had rendered his not only more acute and fresh, but more tributary to calm satisfaction, and pure enjoyment. He did not live merely in the past as age is wont to do, but drew delight from

His

[From Bentley's Miscellany.]

every present manifestation of worth or genius, from whatever quarter it addressed him. vivid pleasure where his interest was awakened, DR. JOHNSON: HIS RELIGIOUS life,

his alacrity and eagerness of appreciation, the fervor of his encouragement and praise, have animated the hopes and relieved the toil alike of the successful and the unsuccessful, who can not hope, through whatever checkered future may await them, to find a more generous critic, a more profound adviser, a more indulgent friend. The present year opened upon Francis Jeffrey with all hopeful promise. He had mastered a severe illness, and resumed his duties with his accustomed cheerfulness; private circumstances had more than ordinarily interested him in his old Review; and the memory of past friends, giving yet greater strength to the affection that surrounded him, was busy at his heart. "God bless you!" he wrote to Sydney Smith's widow on the night of the 18th of January; "I am very old, and have many infirmities; but I am tenacious of old friendships, and find much of my present enjoyments in the recollections of the past." He sat in Court the next day, and on the Monday and Tuesday of the following week, with his faculties and attention unimpaired. On the Wednesday he had a slight attack of bronchitis; on Friday, symptoms of danger appeared; and on Saturday he died, peacefully and without pain. Few men had completed with such consummate success the work appointed them in this world; few men had passed away to a better with more assured hopes of their reward. The recollection of his virtues sanctifies his fame; and his genius will never cease to awaken the gratitude, respect, and pride of his countrymen.

THE

HAIL AND FAREWELL!

METAL IN SEA-WATER.

French savans, MM. Malaguti, Derocher, and Sarzeaud, announce that they have detected in the waters of the ocean the presence of copper, lead, and silver. The water examined appears to have been taken some leagues off the coast of St. Malo, and the fucoidal plants of that district are also found to contain silver. The F. serratus and the F. ceramoides yielded ashes containing 1-100,000th, while the water of the sea contained but little more than 1-100,000,000th. They state also that they find silver in sea-salt, in ordinary muriatic acid, and in the soda of commerce; and that they have examined the rock-salt of Lorraine, in which also they discover this metal. Beyond this, pursuing their researches on terrestrial plants, they have obtained such indications as leave no doubt of the existence of silver in vegetable tissues. Lead is said to be always found in the ashes of marine plants, usually about an 18-100,000th part, and invariably a trace of copper. Should these results be confirmed by further examination, we shall have advanced considerably toward a knowledge of the phenomena of the formation of mineral veins.-Athenæum.

AND HIS DEATH.

THE title is a captivating one, and will allure

tents of the volume, which brings under our observation the religious opinions of scores upon scores of other men, and is enriched with numerous anecdotes of the contemporaries of the great lexicographer. The book, indeed, may be considered as a condensation of all that was known and recorded of Dr. Johnson's practice and experience of religion from his youth to his death; of its powerful influence over him through many years of his life-of the nature of his faith, and of its fruits in his works; but there is added to this so much that is excellent of other peoplethe life of the soul is seen in so many other characters-so many subjects are introduced that are more or less intimately connected with that to which the title refers, and all are so admirably blended together, and interwoven with the excellent remarks of the author, as to justify us in saying of the book, that it is one of the most edifying and really useful we have for years past met with.

It has often been our lot to see the sneers of beardless boys at the mention of religion, and to hear the titter of the empty-headed when piety was spoken of, and we always then thought of the profound awe with which the mighty mind of Dr. Johnson was impressed by such subjects

of his deep humiliation of soul when he reflected upon his duties and responsibilities-and of his solemn and reverential manner when religion became the topic of discourse, or the subject of his thoughts. His intellect, one of the grandest that was ever given to man, humbled itself to the very dust before the Giver; the very superiority of his mental powers over those of other men, made him at feel himself the less in his own sight, when he reflected from whom he had his being, and to whom he must render an account of the use he made of the vast intellectual powers he possessed.

But the religion of Dr. Johnson consisted not in deep feeling only, nor in much talking nor professing, but was especially distinguished by its practical benevolence: when he possessed but two-pence, one penny was always at the service of any one who had nothing at all; his poor house was an asylum for the poor, a home for the destitute: there, for months and years together, he sheltered and supported the needy and the blind, at a time when his utmost efforts could do no more than provide bare support for them and himself. Those whom he loved not he would serve those whom he esteemed not he would give to, and labor for, and devote the best powers of his pen to help and to benefit.

The cry of distress, the appeal of the afflicted, was irresistible with him-no matter whatever else pressed upon him—whatever literary calls were urging him-or however great the need of the daily toil for the daily bread-all was

was once a child, and he strolled about a good deal, and thought of a number of things. He had a sister, who was a child too, and his constant companion. These two used But there were many angels who did not go to wonder all day long. They wondered at the with them, and among them one he knew. The beauty of the flowers; they wondered at the patient face that once had lain upon the bed height and blueness of the sky; they wondered was glorified and radiant, but his heart found at the depth of the bright water; they wonder-out his sister among all the host. ed at the goodness and the power of God who made the lovely world.

And he said, "Nay, but his maiden daughter."

About the year 1837, Longfellow, being ea gaged in making the tour of Europe, selected Heidelberg for a permanent winter residence. There his wife was attacked with an illness, which ultimately proved fatal. It so happened, however, that some time afterward there came to the same romantic place a young lady of con

And the man who had been the child saw his daughter, newly lost to him, a celestial creature among those three, and he said, "My daughter's head is on my sister's bosom, and her arm is round my mother's neck, and at her feet there is the baby of old time, and I can bear the part-siderable personal attractions. The poet's heart ing from her, God be praised!" And the star was shining.

Thus the child came to be an old man, and his once smooth face was wrinkled, and his steps were slow and feeble, and his back was bent. And one night as he lay upon his bed, his children standing round, he cried, as he had cried so long ago,

"I see the star!"

They whispered one another, "He is dying." And he said, "I am. My age is falling from me like a garment, and I move toward the star as a child. And O, my Father, now I thank thee that it has so often opened, to receive those dear ones who await me !"

was touched-he became attached to her; bit the beauty of sixteen did not sympathize with the poet of six-and-thirty, and Longfellow returned to America, having lost his heart as well as his wife. The young lady, also an American, returned home shortly afterward. Their residences, it turned out, were contiguous, and the poet availed himself of the opportunity of prosecuting his addresses, which he did for a considerable time with no better success than at first. Thus foiled, he set himself resolutely down, and instead, like Petrarch, of laying siege to the heart of his mistress through the medium of sonnets, he resolved to write a whole book; a book which would achieve the double object of

And the star was shining; and it shines upon gaining her affections, and of establishing his his grave.

LONGFELLOW.

THE
HE muse of Mr. Longfellow owes little or
none of her success to those great national
sources of inspiration which are most likely to
influence an ardent poetic temperament. The
grand old woods—the magnificent mountain and
forest scenery-the mighty rivers-the trackless
savannahs-all those stupendous and varied fea-
tures of that great country, with which, from
his boyhood, he must have been familiar, it might
be thought would have stamped some of these
characteristics upon his poetry. Such, however,
has not been the case. Of lofty images and

own fame. "Hyperion" was the result. His labor and his constancy were not thrown away: they met their due reward. The lady gave him her hand as well as her heart; and they now reside together at Cambridge, in the same house which Washington made his head-quarters when he was first appointed to the command of the American armies. These interesting facts were communicated to us by a very intelligent American gentleman whom we had the pleasure of meeting in the same place which was the scene of the poet's early disappointment and sorrow -Dublin University Magazine.

THE CHAPEL BY THE SHORE.

grand conceptions we meet with few, if any, BY the shore, a plot of ground

traces. But brimful of life, of love, and of truth, the stream of his song flows on with a tender and touching simplicity, and a gentle music, which we have not met with since the days of our own Moore. Like him, too, the genius of Mr. Longfellow is essentially lyric; and if he has failed to derive inspiration from the grand features of his own country, he has been no unsuccessful student of the great works of the German masters of song. We could almost fancy, while reading his exquisite ballad of the "Beleaguered City," that Goethe, Schiller, or Uhland was before us; and yet, we must by no means be understood to insinuate that he is a mere copyist-quite the contrary. He has become so thoroughly imbued with the spirit of these exquisite models, that he has contrived to produce pieces marked with an individuality of their own, and noways behind them in point of poetical merit. In this regard he affords another illustration of the truth of the proposition, that the legendary lore and traditions of other countries have been very serviceable toward the formation of American literature.

Clips a ruined chapel round,
Buttressed with a grassy mound:

Where Day, and Night, and Day go by
And bring no touch of human sound.
Washing of the lonely seas-
Shaking of the guardian trees-
Piping of the salted breeze-

Day, and Night, and Day go by,
To the endless tune of these.
Or when, as winds and waters keep
A hush more dead than any sleep,
Still morns to stiller evenings creep,

And Day, and Night, and Day go by,
Here the stillness is most deep.
And the ruins, lapsed again
Into Nature's wide domain,
Sow themselves with seed and grain,

As Day, and Night, and Day go by,
And hoard June's sun and April's rain.
Here fresh funeral tears were shed;
And now the graves are also dead :
And suckers from the ash-tree spread,

As Day, and Night, and Day go by, And stars move calmly overhead.