it is gone. And where will ye be my hearers, when your lives have passed away like that dark cloud? Oh, my dear friends, I see thousands sitting attentive, with their eyes fixed on the poor, unworthy preacher. In a few days, we shall all meet at the judgment-seat of Christ. We shall form a part of that vast assembly which will gather before his throne; and every eye will behold the Judge. With a voice whose call you must abide and answer, he will inquire whether on earth ye strove to enter in at the strait gate-whether you were supremely devoted to Godwhether your hearts were absorbed in him. My blood runs cold when I think how many of you will then seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Oh, what plea can you make before the Judge of the whole earth? Can you say it has been your whole endeavour to mortify the flesh with its affections and lusts? that your life has been one long effort to do the will of God? No! you must answer, I made myself easy in the world, by flattering myself that all would end well; but I have deceived my own soul, and am lost. "You, O false and hollow christian, of what avail will it be that you have done many things-that you have read much in the sacred word—that you have made long prayers-that you have attended religious duties, and appeared holy in the eyes of men? What will all this be, if instead of loving Him supremely, you have been supposing you should exalt yourself in heaven, by acts really polluted and unholy?

"And you, rich man, wherefore do you hoard your silver? Wherefore count the price you have received for him whom you every day crucify, in your love of gain? Why, that when you are too poor to buy a drop of cold water, your beloved son may be rolled to hell in his chariot pillowed and cushioned about him." His eye gradually lighted up, as he proceeded, till towards the close, it seemed to sparkle with celestial fire.

"Oh, sinners!" he exclaimed, "by all your hopes of happiness, I beseech you to repent. Let not the wrath of God be awakened. Let not the fires of eternity be kindled against you. See there!" said he, pointing to the lightning, which played on the corner of the pulpit-""T is a glance from the angry eye of Jehovah! Hark!" continued he, raising his finger in a listening attitude, as the distant thunder grew louder and louder, and broke in one tremendous crash over the building. "It was the voice of the Almighty, as he passed by in his anger!"

As the sound died away, he covered his face with his hands, and knelt beside his pulpit, apparently lost in inward and intense prayer. The storm passed rapidly by, and the sun, bursting forth in his might, threw across the heavens a magnificent arch of peace. Rising, and pointing to the beautiful object, he exclaimed, "Look

upon the rainbow; and praise him that made it. Very beautiful it is in the brightness thereof. It compasseth the heavens about with glory; and the hands of the Most High have bended it."

The effect was astonishing. Even Somerville shaded his eyes when he pointed to the lightning, and knelt as he listened to the approaching thunder;-while the deep sensibility of Grace, and the thoughtless vivacity of Lucretia, yielded to the powerful excitement, in an unrestrained burst of tears.

"Who could resist such eloquence?" said Lucretia, as they mingled with the departing throng.

Foreign Scenes and Travelling Recreations. By JOHN HOWISON, Esq. Author of "Sketches of Upper Canada." 2 vols. 12mo. Edinburgh and London. 1825.

THIS is an amusing book, written on the thrifty principle, that nothing should be lost. It is a collection of little adventures and excursions-the important reflections which a fit of sea-sickness may excite, meditations on boarding-house keepers, and the philosophy of fitting out for a few days' voyage. There is a good deal of novelty in the East Indian scenery, and pleasantry of style throughout; and it will stand in great demand in hotel and steam-boat libraries. These volumes will be to be found in the cabin of every Havre packet for the next three trips, duly wrapped up in strong paper, with all the dogs-ears and annotations of a circulating popularity. It is a very satisfactory book to readers of light attention, and if it gets transformed to the cheaper style of a Philadelphia reprint, will be largely drawn upon by the provincial newspapers. The author, who has a most magnanimous dislike of us poor Americans, will be well battered by our zealous daily journalists, in many a thick defence, and sharp retort, and we should not be surprised if the East India Company, in whose service he is, should come in for a little abuse reflective. With these claims on our attention, we must give Mr Howison a page or two.

The first Recreation is smartly denominated "Life at Sea," and carefully sets forth the wondrous impositions cffected by rival packet owners, and the dreadful inflictions of a few days on board ship. It is surprising, however, how far every thing is compensated in this life. There is no more active deity than Nemesis in the Pantheon. It is pleasant to see "Foreign Scenes," we mean both the things and the book that describes them, yet it is un

pleasant to be shut up to the same scene of uniform dulness for a month together, and the book is too long by a volume and a half; it is very pleasant to sit on the deck of a fine American packet ship, hanging on a fair breeze of six knots, and quite unpleasant to be fixed to your birth, in a storm, when she is scudding before a heavy gale, "with but one plank between you and destruction.” It is excellent to meet with pleasant men and lovely women at sea, for more intimacy and friendship can be gained with them. thus, than in a century ashore; while the passengers, au contraire, whom Mr Howison describes as quarrelsome, cowardly, or vulgar, are dreadful inflictions, and lead one almost to the murderous remark, so often made at sea, that "the sooner they go over the standing part of the main sheet, the better,"-which a lawyer would call a dangerous adminiculum of evidence, to prove the speaker an accessory before the fact of homicide. The phosphorescence of the sea, which Mr Howison wonders at, is very beautiful, he very dull for wondering at it, instead of admiring it,and the latitude he was in necessarily very high, if he could not, as he avers, find the phosphorescent substance on taking it in; whereas, the iron colour of the water, under the clouds of an approaching squall, is dreadful, and the "taking it in," which usually follows in great abundance, still worse; sailors are not to be blamed for being superstitious, if they cannot get higher wages and better education; and, in reverse, Mr Howison, of the East India Company's service, has no right to believe, in the story of a stormy "petrel's" having caused a man's death, nor of the spectre of an ordinary seaman's being employed in stowing the foretopsail, seeing that this is nonsense too dull for ridicule. And so much for Life at Sea.

"Boarding-Houses" are a great crux to the refined Mr Howison. He states, among other inconveniences in those of Havana, that if a man won't come home to dinner, it is ruled by the landlord, that he lose it altogether; and if he does not return to the hotel within a certain hour of the evening, he runs the risk of being shut out all night. This he considers a proof "of the ferocity of manner in the Spanish West Indies." Besides, the master of the boarding-house "boldly contradicts any thing his guests advance, if he differs from them in opinion!" This is truly savage, and if the great South American expedition should take Cuba, they ought to provide in the first constitutional act, that no man shall lose his dinner and bed by not going where they are to be found; and firm restriction should be put on all difference of opinion between landlords and travellers. In this hor

rible state of boarding-houses, the intelligent writer asserts, that people of respectability leave them in a few days, disgusted, as we suppose, with keeping good hours, and being contradicted at table, and their place is occupied by "American shipmasters." And now comes a little picture of American character, for which we make our best bow to the East Indian.

The captain of an American trader will probably occupy another part of the table, and display the characteristics of his countrymen, by his vanity, love of argument, indulgence in rhodomontade, and jealous anxiety to secure national respect. The person who occupies the next chair, may be a merchant of New Orleans, who will talk incessantly of gaming, drinking, adultery, and duel-fighting, and attempt to bully into submission those who presume to dissent from his opinion, or to doubt the accuracy of what he believes to be true.

This last Louisianian must be a thorn to the landlord, who, Mr Howison states, is so fond of contradicting; and the other, who was so anxious to get national respect, must have come poorly off with the author. There are, however, a great many respectable people in the United States, we can assure Mr Howison, in spite of the company he has principally kept, with the class of West India coasters. We take a Deal and Dover smuggler, on the other hand, to be more suited to his favourite models of character; and having had a very unwilling personal acquaintance with some of his countrymen of this class, we recommend it to him, while cultivating their society, to be as heavily armed and as lightly cashed as convenient. This boasting trait of national vanity is a ridiculous thing, and justly so to Mr Howison, who probably believes that one Englishman can beat three Frenchmen, and takes as proofs the embarkation at Corunna, the attack on New Orleans, and Napoleon's surprise of the English on the 17th June. Of English extraction ourselves, we have the utmost regard for their invincibility, but should hesitate before we proved our hereditary claim to it by making an onslaught on three cuirassiers of the French guard at once. All this, however, is nothing to "Havana," which makes the third of Mr Howison's tracts. The following is rather a sprightly picture, which, however, we imagine oftener appears, in the manner described, among Mr Howison's acquaintance than in a higher sphere of society.

The most interesting and most frequented public amusements in Havana are balls, which take place during religious festivals.

On such occasions, it is customary for two or more individuals who have large houses in the vicinity of the church where the feast is celebrated, to throw them open for the reception of genteel company, none of whom pay for any thing, except when they of light and music. ** This occasionally takes place under the call for refreshments; the profits of which defray the expenses roofs of very wealthy and respectable families; while persons of inferior rank in the neighbourhood usually adopt the same plan, and allow their houses to become a place of resort for the lower classes of society.

On entering the place where the ball was held, I found myself in a large saloon, the lower end of which was occupied by card tables. Crowds of people stood around these. Large piles of dollars and doubloons lay exposed to view on the table that first attracted my attention, and the person who presided made a distribution of each once or twice a minute. * * The person that next attracted my attention, was a young foreigner, whose behaviour showed that he had not been accustomed to resort to "public gaming-houses. (The most wealthy and respectable roofs in Havana!") * Many of them wore blue surtouts and boots, and some carried umbrellas, and smoked cigars, and all had an air of dishabille and awkwardness about them that ill befitted a ballroom.

Now if this is a picture of the most "wealthy," "creditable,” and reputable society in Havana, we are sorry on one account, and content on another, seeing that our countrymen in the coasting-trade abovementioned by Mr Howison, seem to have chosen, with national acuteness, the better part, in fixing themselves in the hotels. For where the richest and most respectable of the society keep "public gaming-houses,"-pay for their lights and music by selling cigars and spirits,-wear "their umbrellas and surtouts" in a ball-room, in which they amuse themselves by "smoking;" and are plainly set down as, on such occasions, "all" very awkward and slovenly; we prefer the boarding-house decidedly of the less refined, as the more comfortable gite. But we incline to suspect, that Mr Howison mistook a temporary sailors' booth at a fair, for the house of one of the most "respectable, wealthy, and creditable families" in Havana. The custom of gaming for a livelihood is certainly very good breeding in some parts of Europe; but without pretending to any acquaintance with West Indian manners, the account of the author himself bears sufficient marks of his own weakness and credulity to destroy its value as a description of the real state of its best society. It is surprising, how unfortunate our English