^Jortv
HUMAN LIFE.
L.n t lias aMioxisand charms
A tlio’isand (Ircams of bliss;
Hope, Frieiulship, I.ovc, thy bosom warms,—
A gleam of mercy this:
But soon that sun-lit hour is past,
And Hope flits shivering from the blast.
Life lias a thousand ills,—
A thousand anxious foars;
Clouds gather on the sunny hills
And doubts dissolve in tears:
But Hope comes sn.iling through the atoim--
A ra\nb»w round her angel-fom.
tifc has r. thousand joys,
Youth fondly dreams for ever;
But night draws on—Ycutii droops and s»ghs
“ Will day return ?—Oh never !”
Swift as a breath, light breaks the gloom,
.And Gladness smiles on Sorrow’s tomb.
’Tis but a change at best,
Upon Life’s busy shore,—
A httle toil, a little rest,
And all its cares are o’er.
Then seal’d, immutable, thy state,—
i'ix’d—an irrevocable fute !
it is a dream!—But know
Death’s cold hand breaks that slumber;
And who shall tell, if bliss or woe
Those countless moments luimLev ’
^t is beyond un angel’s k'. n
To picrce the rcil tliat ris^i then’
Life is a narrow sea,
But who its bounds may tell ?
Its VI- wkss dep'lis- Eternity,—
Its limits—Heaven or Hell!
\ point—a moment,—on it h:tng
TInutter’dbliss—exhaustlfss pang!
'Ti^ thine;—but moments past.
Nor pra>ers nor tears recal;
£’en while thou readest, light and fast
Tim’s noiseless footsteps fall;
And o’er Life’s golden sands he flie?.
His pHth serene as evening skies.
Health basks upon thy brow,—
But Death’s cold victims see ;
Soon thou must lie as they do now,
And others gaze on thee,
Wlicn Life, and Hope’s gay visions seem
To them as bright as once thy dream.
I'rom out life’s rosc-wreath’d bow’r
Thou glistenest gaily forth,
And all is bright,—a sunny hour
On sky, and sea, and earth ;
But darkness cotncth, and the gloom
1^0 beam can pierce—a rayless tomb !
Oh, where thy spirit, when
Friends round thy couch are weeping,
Borne on an angel’s pinion then,
From where that dust is sleeping;
Deatli solves the question !—Ere it comc, pre
pare.
None find their pardon, or repentance there !
V!ccncl to him and his Linlly. It hr»p-
jrarfcti*.
Mixing tojjCther profit and di light.
Erom Kome in the Nineteenth Century.
CONVKN’rS.
The French sujipressed all convents
of men, without exccptiort. 'I'hey sciz
eel iij)ou their revenues, took possessiou
of their ancient habitations, invested as
Xuany ol" their tonsured lieads with tin
military cap and featliers, as could be
madg to submit to them, and shipped ofT
thost' who refused to renounce their
vows, to imprisonment in ('orsica and
Sardinia. That the poor and the old,
“,vho had passetl thfeir peaceful lives in
the cloistcr, and p;ivon to their convcnt
the little stipend that was to secure sup
port to their latter years, must hare
suffereil severely, when thus deprived
of all, there can be no doubt. In the
same siu.Mmary manner, all the nunner
ies in Home, exccplinp; two, were sup
pressed ; but how( ver wise might have
been their gfa iual abolition, thenii{)ro-
priety of turiiing out at once so many
secluded, and in most cases, destitute
and harndess females, cannot be doubt
ed. But .since they liad been suppress
ed, and all the evil consequences once
iocurred, I caimot but lament that they
should have been a?i;ain restored. The
monastic orders, and the inquisition,
were simultaneously reinstated, after the
decline and fall ol Bonaparte.
The convents of men are nests of vice,
hvpocrisy, and abominaton, and are, for
the most part, filled with younj; sturdy
bc»2::u'S. I counted upwards of fifty
convents lor men, and live-and-tliirty
fur w’omcn, in Romo and its vicinity,
and probably some vrcre left unrecord
ed.
The brief li’;-.tory of a nun formerly if
the ponrent of Si. Sylvestro, was I’elat-
fd to me by one n! the sistns, anil is
quite a Tomance. iler name was Sasso
I’crrato : she was lelt an (uphon and an
heiress in her infancy, and j>lared in the
CO^^•entby her uncle, who was hrr^uar-
dii'H. with the intetition of inducing hot
'O talic the veil, that her fortune might
pcncd, liowpver, that ato'neof the j^rand
])rocessions of the Virgiti, which the
nuns were assembled to behold, the
Sasso Ferrato saw, and was seen by the
captain of the guards, stationed at the
convent, a younj^er son of the Ginstin-
iani family, and a brother of one of her
youthful companions in the convent.
Ilis visits to his sister become frequent,
and Sasso P’crrato c;enerally contrived
to accompany her friend on these occa
sions. They became desperately in
love, but the cruel uncle refused his
consent, and by arts which intimidated
the young and inexperienced mind of
Sasso Ferrato, by pow’erful interests
which rendered the complaints of her
lover vain, and by his authority as
representative of her parents, he suc
ceeded in obliging her to take the veil.
She lived only two years afierwanls.
Ilei’ lover became a maniac, and after
being confined some t^me, continued
during the remaitiing years of his life to
roam alxjut the neigl.liourhootl of the
city, though harmless in his actions, his
hair and beard growing wild, bis dress
neglected, and his manneis gloomy and
ferocious.
The most severe of the female monas
tic orders, is that t>f Santa Theresa, in
which its unfortunate votaries are doom
ed to unceasing midnight vigils, and
daily fasts , topenai\ce, austerity, and
mortification; while all intercouser with
their friends, all indulgence ul the sweet
affections of nature, are as sedulously
interdicted, as if they were crimes ol
thr blacUestdye. It is the a;reat merit
of their lives, that death is continually
before their eyes—continually piesent
to their thoughts—like a man that
should stand rooted before a clocli, and
inse in its contemplation, the interven
ing momerits. But to all intents and pur
poses, to all tliK iluties, pleasures, and
hopes of life, they are as completely
deatl, as if the grave had closed over
them.
Tliere is in Rome a convent called
the Sepolto Vivo, in which are buried
contumacious, or fanatic nuns, from
all convents—females condemned by
the Inquisition for too little, or too much
religion—and wives and daughters,
whose husbands and fathers have the
means to prove that they deserve, or
the interest to procure the order for,
such punishment. Instances have oc
curred, where resistance to the will of
a parent, or causeless jealousy conceived
by the husband, have been followed by
this horrible vengeance. What may pass
within its walls can never be known ;
none but its victims enter it, and none
of them ever return. They see no hu
man beings excepting once a year,
when, in the presence of the abbess,
they may have an inte;jcourse with
their father or mother*; but they must
not tell the secrets of their prison house.
They hear no tidings of the world that
surrounds them, nor even know when
their dearest friends are removed by
death.
rOLOSSKUM.
Crossing over to the other side, be
neath the broken and deAjced triumph
al arch of Titus, fast tottering to its fall,
but beautiful even in decay, we beheld
the grandest remains of antiquity in the
world—the majestic ruins of the migh
ty Colosseum. No relic of former
greatness—no monument of human
power—no memorial of ages that are
fled, ever Sj)oke so forcibly to the heart,
or awakened feelings, so poweiful and
unutter:d)lu. The art of the painter, or
the strains of the poet might avail in
some degree to give a faint idea of the
Colosseum—but can description give
you any thought of its lofty majesty and
ruined grandeur ? Ilow convey to your
mind tlu? sense of its beautiful propor
a sniull segment is the oxlc rp.al elevation
[ reservca entire. In the inside the
l estruction is nioie complete. 1 he niar-
i)le seats are all torn away ; the steps
and vomitories are overthrown, and the
sloping walls and broken arches which
once supported them, are overgrown
with every wild and^mplancholy v/eed,
waving in all the luxuriance of desola
tion. We asrendcd by a temporary
wooden staircase, to the highest prac
ticable point of the edifice—traversed
the circling corridors, and caught
through the opening arches glimpses
of the scatLered rums, the dark pine
trees, and purple liills of the distant
country. We looked down on the vast
grass grown arena ; its loneliness and
silence were only broken by son»e
Capuchin friars kneeling before the re
presentations of our Saviour’s last suf
ferings, and muttering their oft repeated
prayers as they told their beads.
What solitude and desertion ! hat
a change iVom the day that litus dedi
cated it by the slaughter of five thou
sand wild beasts, and the savage com
bats of gladiators ; when Roman galleys
rode in its ample arena in the counter
feit confusion of a mock naval fight,
and when a hundred thousand voices
rent the air at once, with shouts of ac
clamation ! On that wide arena, often
deep w’ith blood, w'cre only to be seen
the symbols and the worship of a reli
gion then unknown, but which has ban
ished from the earth those fiend-like
sjiorts and barbarous sacrifices that dis
graced human nature.
IMPF.niAL ROME.
The following day we ascended to
the loftv summit of tin* tow'cr ot the
Capitol—What a prnspect ’burst upon
our view ! To the north—the east —
and even to the west, the modern City,
extends ; but to the south, ancient Rome
reigns alone, the time stricken mistress
of the w orld, saiily seated on her de
serted hills, amidst thf ruined trophies
of her fame,* and the mouhlering monu
ments of her power, silently mourning
the fall of her gi eat ness : on her solitude
mine; ‘V.e visits the first people in
Sackatoo, and they nevor allow him to
go away without giving him a few Geo-
Pa nuts, or money to buy them.’ In
compliance with this hint, I requested
forty cowries to he given to the tellow,
with strict orders never to cross my
Ihreshold. Sidi Sheikh now related to
me a professional anecdote ol my unin
vited visitor. Being brother of the ex
ecutioner of the Yacoba, of which place
he was a native, he appplied to the Gov
ernor for his brother’s sitiiation, boast-
of superior adroitness in the family
vocation. The Governor coolly re
marked, ‘ We will try go fetch your
brother’s head !’ He instantly went
... quest of his brother, and finding him
seated at the door of his house, vv’ithout
noise or warning he struck oft his head
with a sword, at one blow ; then carry-
ingthebteeding head to the Governor, &.
claiming the rew’ard of such transcend
ent atrocity, he was appointed to the
V'acant ofljce. The Sultan being after-
w’ards in want of an expert headsnun,
sent for him to Sackatoo, whore, a sliort
time after his arrival, he had to ofl'iciate
at the execution of 2000 Tuarisks, who,
'n conjunction with the rebels ot Goober,
had attempted to plunder the country,
but wofc ail made prisoners ; th;s event
hai)pened about forty yejirs ago. I may
here add, that the capital punishments
inflicted in Soudan, are beheading, im
paling, and crucifixion ; the first being
reserved for Mahometans, and the other
two practised on Pagans. I W’as told,
as a matter of curiosity, that wretches
(ifi the cross generally linger three days,
before death puts an end to their sufl'er-
ings.”
The old Count de Segur. w’ho was re
ceived a member of the Cincinnati, re
lates the following anecdote—
“A Colonel greatly distinguished by
his birth, an excellent officer. I)ut whose
education had been neglected, and w'ho
made himself remarked for some very
ludicrous grammatical crors in speak-
said to mr, when I was named a
‘‘You did; wcJl, &iul might net ihl.
-ack as well have contained hay as pota^
tors p”~Neaw, sur, it codna be hay,
h* could hardly carry it.”
“Well, but I suppose horses do ea»
hay with you “ Neaw, sur, they duni
na eat hay wi’mr, for I dunna eat hay.”
These answers produced the niost vio-
lent roars of laughter, in which the Court
jo'ined, and the unfortunate coun&fl. ut
terly abashed, was obliged to desist from
an examination in which he evidently had
the worst. English paper.
Harvard College is the oldest and may
with propriety be styled the parent lUera-
ary institution of our country. It
founded in 1638, and was endowed with
a legacy, by the Rev. John Harvard of
Charlestown, of £778 17 2 sterling, bc-
inp one half of his estate. In acknowl-
tfdgement of> his magnificence it bears
his name. Degrees were first conferred '
in 1642, in 1650 it was chartered. The
professorship of divinity and mathema
tics and natural philosophy were founded
in 1762 by Mr. Thomas Hollis of Lon
don. The professorship of Hebrew was
established by Thomas Hancock, Esq.
in 1765. Other professorships have since
been established and generally endowcil
by individuals. From the fouudinf of
iherollei^e to the yt-.ir 179‘1-, three tliuus-
and rhree hundred and niiiety-nini* youii^^
poi suns received its honuurs, of whom
10/9 became ministers of the gospt I,
Boston Patriot.
There is in the U. St aes more nominal
nobility than ary country in the world ex
hibits of legitimate creation. Ever) (Jo-
vernor is Eirel/encc; *'very jud‘?e, s« I'^ior,
uni! rcj-rescrt-i'.ive is Ilonornble ; and eve
ry justice of pi^ ice is i:!stin^uishcd by
the riiivalious title rf Enquire.—These
frivolities should 'ie carffullv discourufj-
ed, and the danf'-Tou-i assumptions by
evorv real friend of liberty. «ppcs« d.—.
T!ifv are the first rcbes in which a lepub-
lie advances to aristocracy, thence to
monarchy, and from monarchy tooppres-
■iion and extravagance.
frriinshnn''s U. Sinter.
the habitations of man have not dared Ij m
to intrude : no n.onun.ont, of his exis-' commander of Smnt La.nre, and Chtva-
teiice appear, aeccptinp sue!, as connect; “f
l,im with elerr.ilv. A few decaying
convents and churches, are tlie inlf three of them, Sa.nt Lou,s, ba.nt We,
modern buildings that meet the eye
and Saint Cinnatus. But as to the last
From the.'Capitol on which wc stand, i
I . .... I /M1>« iX It
we behold her hills heaped with ruin
and shaded with
where the
y i deuce our American friends could have
tL dS pin;;nd tv’.' “P-’. And yet he had himself
the wide waste of theCampaKmai'f'^"'" America, and received the or-
der like the other onicers.
press
—the plain of Latium—the far distant
windings of the yellow Tiber—the | ^ ” ~ “
grass grown Forum at our feet, with its 1 ^ correspondent of the London “Eu-
shattered porticoes, its fallen columns, j ropean Magazine,” who furnishes an ac-
overthrowMi temples, and its triumphal; count of the principal American painters,
arches fast mouldering to lfC»y-the | n,is story.
‘■vrnll r\t i A m f £k. h rM 1 cn tKo
“ I will give you a pleasant anecdote
of Sully. A husband wishin"^ to sur
prise a beloved wife on her birth day.
Palatine Hill, over.«pread with the ruin
of Imperial palaces—the lofty vaults of
the Temple of Peace—the broken frag-
tions, its simplicity, its harnxjiiy, and
its gr;uuifnr ; of the regular gradations
of iJorie, Ionic, and Corinthia.i orders,
that support its graceful ranges of (^re-
eian Arcades; of the rich luu's with
which lime have overspread its ma.s.sy
walls. It stands alone m its solitary
gtandeur ; far from modern Rome, her
streets, her ehurchcs, her [)alaces ; and
her population surioiinded only with the
ruins of the imperial city ; above it ris'^
os the Palatine Hill, overshadowed by
aged tvergreen.'i, and covered with the
frowning ruins of the palace of the Ca>
sars. On one sid" the triumphal arcii
of Constantine still stands in nndimin-
ished beauty, atlonic'd w'ith the .sjinils
and trophies of bettor times. At its
southern base, extends’ the long line
of the vit/ /riuiujj/ialis', crossed with
the lofty arches that once bore the
Claudian waters to Nero's golden house.
Behind it a{>peared the ilark ridge of
the Celian jNIount, covercd v.ith the
majestic remanis of ruined acjiieducts,
moulderingwalls,and substructions, the
very purpose oi which i?i unknown.
We walked round the vast eircl,- of the
Amp!nl!’''JU.rc'. In im) j^iirt has it been
complete]} L.-oken tlirougb, and in onlv
ments of the upper story of the baliis of
Titus, the lonely tottered ruin of Miner-i
va Wedica in the distance—the Eigjutic'
circle of the Colos-.eum—the ' Celian | home and put up, whi e the wife
aMount, crowned With the deep sha.le ofl 'y''* l?>'t before it was half done,
the w'lfe paid him a visit by stealth.—
“ Pray, Mr. Sully,” said she, “could
you not contrive, think you, to make a
portrait of me by such a day, (Sully star
ed,) for that is my birth day,' and I
should like of all things to surprise my
husband.” “ WMiy-a-a,” said Sully,
seeing that she had no idea of the trick;
“ I cio believe that I could : and if you
w'ill manage to draw your husband away
the night before, I will have the picture
hung up for you, and all ready to re
ceive you in the morning.” “Delight
ful said she. To work he went, tficre-
fore, and so closely was he run, that
Cypress, the ^broken arches of mighty
aqueducts, and the crumbling walls of
splendid temples—the massive ruins of
the baths of Caracalla, frowning in
gloomy grandeur on the slope of tlie
further summit of the Aventine—the
gray sepulchral Pyramid ofCaius Costius
—the Tower of Cecilia Metelia—and
far beyond, the long black line of the
Via Appia, marked by mouldering and
forgotten tombs—and ruined acjueducts
stretching over the deserted plain, in
Majestic loneliness, to the woody hills
which terminate the view. Such was
the prospect that extended before us to
the south. It vvas Imperial Rome.
WALLS OF HOMK.
The walls are now coinj)Uted to form
a circuit of about fourteen n)iles, and
comjjrise an immense extent of unpeo
pled land. 'I'he stranger may wandor
lor liouis and miles within the walls-of
this great capital, in solitude and silence
as unbroken as if ho moic in a desert.
He will pass alonj; iintf(^„deM loaiis,
and hy abaiidoned natj.v.ifions ; he- w'ill
see no life within tiieir gates ; no human
beinj/J will greet iurn, and no voice wi!!
answer to his call, (h er a wide extent
of Rome to the south, her hills aie des
olate. On the north and in the piairi of
the Campus Martins alone ther- is life
and motion.
«-7;i t-^frnan Kxccutioner.—Ca|)tain
Clapj)crton gives the fol!(nvi;ig account
ofa;i interview with the executioner of
Sackatoo :—“I was sitting (says the au
thor) in tile shade before my door, with
Sidi Sheikh, the Sultan’s fighi, when an
ill-looking wretch, with a fiond-like
grin on his countenance, came and plac
ed himself directly before me. I ask
ed Sidi Sheikh w'ho he was? He an
swered, with great composure, ‘ the ex
ecutioner.’ I instantly ordered my ser
vant to turn him out. ‘13c patu'ni,’
said vSidi Sheikh; laying his hand upon
oncc or twice he had to let the husband
out one door on tip-toe. Well, the por
traits were finished : they were
like. The night befo:-o the b
arrived, and Sully finding both jiarties
away, each being ieroyed away by th.e
other^ hung them up,’(i!ie pictures, not
the parties,) in their sujierb frames, just
where tiny required to be hung. The
resteftlic story we may as well skip,
foi V.ho shall describe the surprise of
h(,m, w'hen the W’ife got up early, and
both keeping theircountenancestoa mir-
;ic!c, ar.d each feigning an excuse to
to lend the other into the room where
the portraits hurgside by side.”
At a la'p Saliord Sessions, a man was
put to the bar, cliargcd with stealing a
sack hill of potatoes ; the principal wit
ness a;^:iiiist him was a country lad, a-
bout 14 ytars of age, w ho had seen the
jjrison carrying theark on his slioulder.
\V l)cn ilie counsel lo»' the prosecution
had finished his examination, the oppo
site counsel arose, and the following con-
versation tuck place :
“ \V ell, my lad, and so you’remcmbcr
this day, when the potatoes arc said to
have been stolen ?”—“ Neaw, sur, it
wurna this day, it wur thnt day.
“Well, wt'll, that day, if jou will have
it so; and you say you saw the prisoner
I .iirying the sack on jjiy shuulJer?”—
“Yes. sur, I did.”
A GOOD CONSCIKNCE.
Dr. South, in one of his sermons,
says Addison, having shown the vir
tue of a good conscience in supporting;
a man under the greatest trials and dif
ficulties of life, concludes with repre
senting its force and effjcacy in the hour
of death.
The third and last instance, in
which, above all others, this confidencc
towards God does most eminently siiow
and exert itself, is at the timeofdecth,
which surely gives the grand opportu
nity of trying both the strength and
worth of every principle. When a.
man shall be just about to quit the stag(>
of this world, to put off his mortality,,
and to deliver up his last accounts to
God; at which sad time his memory
shall serve him for little else, but to ter
rify him with a frightful review’ ot liis
past life, and his former extravagances
stripped of all their j)leasure, but main-
ing I heir guilt : wdir.t is it then that cais
promise him a fair p.i^sage into the c-
ther world, or a comfortable appearanca
before his dreadful Judge ivhen li“ is
there ? not all the friends and interest?,
all the riches and honours under heaven,
can sj)eak so much as a word for hin^,
or one word of comfort to him in that
condition ; they may possibly reproach,
but they cannot relieve him.
‘ No ; at this disconsolate time, when
they busy tempter shall be more than
usually apt to vex and trouble him, a.nd
the pains of a dying body to hinder aw’
discompose him, and the settlement O'
wordly affairs to disturb and coni imn
^ w’ord, all things conspn'
i very make his sick-bed grievous and uiH'.
rthdav can then stand up
ail these ruins, and .speak life in t! ’
midst of death, but a cicar
‘And the testimony of •
make the comforts of heavn; ■! sis.! '!
upon his w’cary head, like a rei.'
dew’, or shower ujion a |)archeu groiiu
It shall give him some lively earnosl
and secret anticipations of his ajipi oai -
"'"jo.''’
the body undauntedly, and hit up
head with confidence before saints aiV'
angels. Surely comfort, which it con
veys at this season, is something ‘-■Pn'
than the capacities of mortality,
and unspeakable, and not t.) be 'Jnc.tr
stood till it comes to bo fcU.
‘And now, who W’ould not q-; t ■ ■
the {Measures, and trash, and t!i’'-
which arc apt to captivate t!ie lieart c
man, and pursue the greatest rigours ol
piety, and austerities of a good lih’>
purcliHse to himself such a cnnscienc*»
as, at the hour of death, v. hen jdl i'*''
friendship in the \vor!d shall !'id
(lieu, and the whole creation tfrn
back upon him, shall dismiss the sou.»
and close his eyes with that blessed sor-
tenre, “ \N cll done thou good and t«il
•
ful servant, enter
thy Lord r”
thou into tr