slowly across the fields, towards a wood near at hand. Impelled by curiosity the man followed, unseen, through wood and over water, till, at length, they entered a deep and romantic glen, not far from the village of Meadowholm. The silver moon was just peeping through the green and overhanging trees, and its tremulous rays, falling here and there on the bosom of the gently ineandering brook, on the dewy primrose and the graceful hyacinth, that grew along its margin, covered the bottom of the glen with a chequered light and shade. Here they halted, and anon the sound of softest music smote the ears of Henry and his unseen companion. The chiming of the brook, and the low breathing of the midnight breeze, seemed tuned into harmony with those delicious and ravishing notes which had an invincible influence over all those who came within the circle of their power unprepared. At length there appeared, under a hawthorn white with blossom, a beautiful maiden habited in a green tunic, with a wreath of blostom round her radiant brow. An unearthly light seemed to surround her and render her person visible, and to display her almost celestial loveliness. Her long golden hair floated over her shoulders of the purest white; her eyes of blue were imbued with the very spirit of fascination, and her form was so light that her small, delicately-shaped feet scarcely brushed the dew from the cup of the violet. She beckoned to Henry, and, just as the man was about to seize and detain him, they disappeared together. Alarmed for his own safety, he returned as quickly as possible; yet, so says the legend, he would certainly have been detained had he not possessed a charm sufficiently powerful to guard him against fairy influence. The ailment of Henry Morland now became sufficiently evident; he had wandered through the delicious groves and resplendent palaces of Fairy Land; his heart was given to a brighthaired inhabitant of another region, and his earthly destiny was sealed. Never more, after viewing that beautiful realm, could earthly scenes be anything but dull and irksome to him; and ever would his heart pine for the bright creature on whom it was set. During the summer, his frame grew still more infirm and attenuated; yet autumn still found him amongst the living; and often was he seen wandering by night through the naked woods, singing snatches of old ballad-lore of youths and maidens lured to fairy homes; anon he would pour forth some wild rhyme of his own, on the loveliness of the fairy girl in whom his heart delighted. Spring came, and, with it, some of the old emotions which thrilled his heart, when contemplating her beauties in boyhood's days, seemed partially revived; so much so that, sometimes, he was heard to pour forth a wild strain of regret in this wise: "Emblem of gladness they say art thou, For the burning throes of memory Are aye by thee renewed as now, Maiden of the lilied brow. "Once could I list to thy gladsome voice, Through deep old woods on the haunted stream; "Still smilest thou most gladsomely; "More dearly I love the storm-wind's howl; they are gone!' O there's blight on my heart, and a cloud on my brow, And the home of my childhood is drear to me now." But he was not destined to mourn very long over his lost happiness. One fine May morning, just as the sun rose above the eastern mountains, a peasant found him laid dead on a large square stone that stood in the middle of the Fairy Glen. The little stream was purling at his feet; the birds of morning were singing his requiem, and fragrance was gushing from the wild-flowers around him. Meet death-bed was his for one who died not as other men die; for, it is said, he only threw off his mortal covering to wander unrestrained through the bowers of Fairy Land. Many a spring and summer have passed, yet the story of Henry is not forgotten; and, so sayeth the legend, he may still be seen on certain nights of the year, restored to health and beauty, and riding on a milk-white steed by the side of his ladye-love, in the fairy procession. And often, too, it is said, may he be seen, clad in knightly costume, holding sweet converse with her near the place of their first meeting, when the nights are serene and the young May moon is shining above. Many a time have I sat and mused on the spot where his corpse was found-still called "Poor Harry's Stone;" and then I have said within myself, "There are those in the world at the present day sharing the fate of Henry Morland-ay, many more than it is conscious of; with one difference, however, for his heart's desire was realized, ours is mostly disappointed." Alas! how many of us, more especially during the years of our youth, have some Utopia of the heart-some bright Fairy Land, to which our affections are chained with golden fetters, but which the sharp sword of experience must one day divide! Different they will be, according as the cold calculations of prudence or the suggestions of a fervid imagination predominate; yet, in the least poetical, much more beautiful than the stern realities of the world afford. And well it is that it should be so. That desire planted in the human breast by an Allwise Providence, is an instinct directing us to the true and the beautiful. It is linked with the visions of the prophet, and the aspirations of the poet; and it is the parent of all that is great and good and noble, in thought and action, upon earth. Yet these sublime aspirations will often break the heart which hath nourished them; beautiful and heavenly though they be, yet, like the rosebud of summer, often do they contain a canker that ceaseth not to shed its blighting influence on the heart, till the stream of life is swallowed in the deep gulph of death. Well would it be if every aspiration of mankind-if individual happiness alone be considered-were so tempered by reason and reflection, that, when disappointment arrives, the heart may not pine and break like a tree beneath the scorching lightning. The less our desires deviate from the realities of earth, the less will be our suffering in the hour of disappointment. Yet the greater and nobler the mind, the apter is it to form, in imagination, for itself and all mankind, some bright and beautiful Utopia, the like of which earth has not seen since our first parents wandered together through the bowers of Eden. Yet, even in this cold world, the most beautiful portion of the dreams of the young enthusiast may yet be realized. What sayest thou of the hoary hair and tottering step? Had not the dream of thy youth of future times the picture of some bright creature, whom thou one day hopedst to clasp fondly to thy throbbing bosom, and exclaim-" In the prime of manhood I vow, that, with the permission of Heaven, we will wend together down the hill of life?" And didst thou find that but OUR a dream and deception? If so, thy retrospect of life must be dreary indeed. There are two beautiful things, which are as often associated as any other-Love and Moonlight: two which, at the first, may appear to have no affinity with each other; yet, methinks, there is no incongruity in this association. There is something so soft and hallowing in the calm, pure light of the moon, as it falls gently on the slumbering landscape; and we remember, as we view the clustering or isolated habitations of men, ail lonely and silent as the grave, how many a weary heart hath forgot its sorrows beneath the gentle influence of slumber; then are the ruder and more boisterous passions lulled to rest, and the heart is most open to the approaches of love. Beautiful it is to gaze into the floating eyes of her we love at such an hour; to feel her tremulous breath mingling with ours, her bosom heave and throb with our own, and the gentle pressure of her small white hand-betokening the depth of her affection. Then we seem translated from the world that slumbers beneath us, and to be joined in fellowship with the happy and immortal spirits that live in the wonderful stars that cluster round the path of the moon. Another of the visions of mankind shall yet be realized by many-the hope of heaven and immortality. A glorious boon it is, in this cold and perilous world, to be possessed of this innate and inextinguishable desire, and of the sure evidence we have that one day it may be fulfilled. It is this which forms the comfort and the stay of our weary existence. It whispers its soothing accents alike to the owner of a palace, and the dweller in a cottage; to the refined European and to the American savage, albeit corrupted strangely, as he mourns over the remnant of his tribe. What is there that the heart most ardently desires, that Heaven affordeth not? To the bereaved heart it restoreth the beloved ones of earth; to the weary it gives rest and peace; it giveth strength to the infirm, youth to the aged, and beauty to the deformed. It is this which maketh us, beneath the burden of affliction, to exclaim-" My God, Thy will be done!” and to wait patiently till the mysterious purpose of all evil shall be revealed to us. Reader, pardon these long comments; for methought that old fantastic tale was imbued with a deep significance. Banks of the Bain, CONSERVATORY. the authority of Nares's "Glossary" and Blount's " Glossographia," gives a more extended sense to the "peccadil," interpreting it to mean "the round hem, or the piece set about the edge or skirt of a garment, whether at top or bottom; also a kind of stiff collar, made in fashion of a band, that went about the neck and round about the shoulders:" hence the term wooden peccadilloes (the pillory) in Hudibras. The meaning of the word is sufficiently established; the difficulty is, how came it to be transferred to the house and neighbourhood? One author (Nightingale) disposes of it thus: "Piccadillo House was a sort of repository for ruffs." Another (Hone) is of opinion that "the celebrated ordinary near St. James's, called Piccadilly, might derive its name from the circumstance of its being the outmost or skirt-house situate at the hem of the town;" or that "it took its name from Hoggins, a tailor, who made a fortune by piccadils, and built this, with a few adjoining houses." Where all is conjecture, one more can do no harm; it may have been A WOMAN THEORETICALLY BENEVOLENT. popularly called the house to which the pecca--It is not to be wondered at, that she does not dilloes, the gallants wearing peccadilloes, resorted.-Knight's London. A printer's widow in Germany, while a new edition of the Bible was printing at her house, one night took an opportunity of stealing into the office, to alter that sentence of subjection to her husband, pronounced upon Eve in Genesis, chap. 3, v. 16. She took out the two first letters of the word Herr, and substituted Na in their place, thus altering the sentence from " and he shall be thy LORD" (Herr), to " and he shall be thy FooL." (Narr). It is said her life paid for this intentional erratum; and that some secreted copies of this edition have been bought up at enormous prices.-From D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature. A BASTILE SECRET.-Dec. 10, 1722.-The oldest prisoner in the Bastile died a few days since. He had been there thirty-five years. He had been arrested in the dress of a jacobin, and was suspected of having wished to poison M. de Louvois; but there was no proof against him. When interrogated, he replied in a jargon which none of the king's interpreters for foreign languages could make out; so that no one has ever known his name, or country, or what he was about in his jacobin's dress; and thus he has passed five-and-thirty years, without books or papers.-Historical and Anecdotical Journal of the Reign of Louis XV.; by E. J. F. Barbier. CURIOUS ERRATA. Of all literary blunders, none equalled that of the edition of the Vulgate, by Sixtus V. His Holiness carefully superintended every sheet as it passed through the press; and, to the amazement of the world, the work remained without a rival-it swarmed with errata! A multitude of scraps were printed to paste over the erroneous passages, in order to give the true text. The book makes a whimsical appearance with these patches; and the heretics exulted in this demonstration of papal infallibility! The copies were called in, and violent attempts made to suppress it; a few still remain for the raptures of the biblical collectors. Not long ago, the bible of Sixtus V. fetched above sixty guineas-not too much for a mere book of blunders! The world was highly amused at the bull of the editorial Pope prefixed to the first volume, which excommunicates all printers who in reprinting the work should make any alteration in the text! In the version of the Epistles of St. Paul into the Ethiopic language, which proved to be full of errors, the editors allege a good-humoured reason "They who printed the work could not read, and we could not print; they helped us, and we helped them, as the blind helps the blind." EPITAPH ON A YOUNG GIRL. As gold, unmix'd with baser ore, do all that is expected of her. To be enabled to do so, nature should have supplied her with three hands. It is impossible, that stintedly furnished as she is, she could accomplish the great purposes of her heart; she is not prepared for so enlarged a charity. Such in truth is her benevolence, that she would have occasion for the constant employment of three hands: but having only two, and these always engaged, one in holding the petition of the poor, the other in wiping away the tears which flow for their distresses, and not having a third to put into her pocket for their relief, she is thus rendered incapable of administering to their wants.J. P. Curran. SELF-IMPORTANCE.-" Once travelling through ——shire, I called upon a gentleman residing near one of the finest waterfalls in that county. As time was of some value, I could only partake of a slight repast, which my host prolonged by giving a history of the progress he had lately made in draining some meadows. An opportunity at length occurring, I ventured to hint that I should wish to be directed to the waterfall. Oh! the waterfall! ah! true-there is a waterfall; but, my dear sir, it is almost at the bottom of the valley. Surely you would not attempt to go there, among the long grass and briars. Never mind the waterfall. Take a walk with me, and I will show you something that is really worth seeing, and where you will be in no danger of falling over a precipice.' With that he led me into his garden. There,' said he, there is a garden I planted and gravelled myself. There you may rove about as much as you please.' But, sir, I have travelled several miles to see the waterfall; and, unless'-Oh! the waterfall! anybody can see the waterfall! the commonest fellow in the country can do that. But,' pausing with all the solemnity of dignified anger, I do assure you, sir, very few can have an opportunity of seeing my garden."" -Readings for Railways, by Leigh Hunt. LITERATURE. THE PARLOUR LIBRARY. (Simms and M'Intyre. If we mistake not, the publishers of the Parlour Library were the first to introduce monthly volumes of standard fiction, at a price which almost literally places them within reach of all classes. For this many grateful thanks are due; and the same judgment which ruled their early selections presides still. Two recent numbers include Mr. James's popular novels, "Mary of Burgundy," and "The Robber,' works which yield in striking interest to none of his productions. poetry deserving the name themselves. Their little cheap miscellany includes tales, essays, articles on popular subjects, &c. THE PUBLIC GOOD is a monthly work, avowedly intended to support the Early Closing Movement. As such, we need scarcely add that it has our warmest sympathy. It appears to be most ably conducted, and the numbers before us contain articles which would not disgrace periodicals of much higher pretensions. Miscellaneous articles on social and semi-political questions, are interspersed with notices of sci THE LOOKER-ON. Edited by Fritz and ence, lighter essays, and tales. Thus there Liolet.-(Sherwood.) is variety, though a certain tone pervades the whole work, showing unity of purpose. We perceive the proprietors have offered prizes for the best story, essay, and poem, on given (John subjects. We do not ordinarily notice the cheap serials which are constantly being announced, and which usually after a brief existence die off, making way for other similar ephemera. But the three we have named have a sterling character about them which demands attention. We know not who Fritz and Liolet may be, but they have taste and judgment, `and can write THE WORKING MAN'S FRIEND fully bears out its title. The wonder is, how it can be published for the money. It includes articles on household economy, and instructive and entertaining papers on a variety of subjects. We are glad to find in its pages "The Ragged Schools" treated of by a popular author, and hope her appeal to the wealthy may meet with a re sponse. MUS I C. NOVELLO'S PART-SONG BOOK. Edited by Edwin George Monk, Mus. Bac. Oxon, &c. (Novello). This work promises to be one of the most agreeable and valuable additions to musical literature which we have seen for some time past its editor is evidently a man of zealous, earnest, and capacious intellect; and he has a warm and high feeling for what is true and great in the Art of Music. The results of his labours and talent cannot fail to be most acceptable to all genuine lovers of harmony. The "Part-Song Book" is published monthly at a low price, which will no doubt insure it a very large circulation: the paper is thick and good, and the printing clear and bold. The contents are, however, the grand object; and on this part of the subject we cannot do better than quote the judicious and well-expressed preface; the promises it makes are very ably fulfilled in the first number : "In the present day a knowledge and love of Music are increasing so much amongst us, that England appears to be returning to her condition near three centuries since, when every social meeting was cheered by the practised skill of its members, and when a gentleman was held to be but imperfectly educated who could not take his part at sight' in a madrigal. 6 "The enormous demand for vocal music thus created, and which is every day increasing, has hitherto been met, almost exclusively, by the exhumation of the madrigals which delighted our forefathers, and by the reproduction of the glees of a more recent age. Beautiful as many of these compositions are, and becoming as it may be for us affectionately to use such stores of harmony, yet it is believed that new vocal music, written in a style at once masculine and correct, will be welcomed, as by the domestic circle and the choral society. as well by those concerned in the education of youth original compositions of this character; in supplying "In the present Work it is proposed to publish which the Editor will be assisted by several able and accepted writers, who have kindly afforded him their valuable co-operation. "There is also a class of music sung with excellent effect in Germany, which is not represented by either the madrigals, glees, or ballads, now in use amongst ourselves-namely, bold choral melodies of little previous study in the singers. These, too, so marked and emphatic a character, as to require linked as they are with spirit-stirring words, can scarcely fail to ensure an animated and simultaneous execution. It is intended to select some of the most striking of these German choruses and part-songs, for insertion in the present Collection; for which purpose they will be carefully fitted with appropriate English words, either original or otherwise. "But it has a further object. The words of too many of old English madrigals and part-songs betray a painful want of refinement; and, when graver objections than this do not lie against them, are often intolerable from their unmeaning frivolity. Hence it is thought that many persons might gladly avail themselves of a Collection of concerted pieces, the words of which should be, not only inoffensive, but calculated to encourage a vigorous and cheerful, tone of mind, equally removed from coarseness and sentimentality. In all adaptations, then, of fresh words to old music, which may be inserted in this work, the principle here involved will be closely adhered to. "With these views Novello's Part-Song Book' has been undertaken. Its aim, briefly, is to supply the deficiency before alluded to, by placing within the reach of all classes a Collection of vocal music, attractive and yet solid in character; which, while broad, bold, and interesting, shall still be pure and classical, and such as a scientific musician need not hesitate to place in the hands of a pupil. "The contents of the Work may be classified thus:-1st. Original songs, in two or more parts. 2nd. Such specimens of the 'madrigalian age' (and, occasionally, of the school which succeeded it), as, from their intrinsic merit, or comparative rarity, it may be desirable to introduce. The latter will ap pear, if possible, with their original words; or, if these should be objectionable, with others' newly adapted to the music. 3rd. Part-songs and choruses from the German. "The words will be selected, as far as possible, from the English poets; but the Editor will be compelled to have recourse, occasionally, to original sources, for songs adapted to the various Seasons, Sports, and Occupations of life-these being subjects which have but rarely received poetical treatment. It is proper to state, in reference to some of these, liness and expressiveness, than to any aim after literary merit. Such must be regarded in connection with the music to which they are united, and from which they should never be sundered. that words will be chosen, more with a view to live "The songs will be printed in the most complete form; and the vocal score will be entire without the pianoforte part, which is added, chiefly, for facilitating the study of the voice-parts. In all cases in which the pianoforte part is, in a strict sense, an Accompaniment, added to enhance the effect of the composition, it will be printed in a larger character -uniform with the Vocal score. "The difficulties attending the execution of a Work which is, to such an extent, an original one, cannot but be numerous: it is only hoped that they out-number its defects. However it is now offered to all that love or learne musick,' with the hope that it may prove a healthy impulse to an art that unites corporal with intellectual pleasure, by a species of enjoyment which gratifies sense without weakening reason; and which, therefore, the Great may cultivate without debasement, and the Good enjoy without depravation.'" One very important feature of this scheme is a monthly prize of eight guineas, to be given for the best musical composition to words proposed by the proprietors. The words of the first prize-song," entitled "A Harvest Song," are published in the number before us, but it would be scarcely fair to extract them here: those readers who feel curious to see them may easily procure the work in which they are given. A publication so thoroughly complete in its aim, and masterly in its execution, deserves our most cordial approval and recommendation. 66 "PRYTHEE, SWEETHEART, BE NOT SO SAD." The words by Folkestone Williams, Esq.; the music composed by Fanny H. Henslowe. (Chappell.)—This is really a charming ballad, quite out of the common-place unmeaning class of new songs which cumber music stands, and yet more, we suspect, the publishers' shelves. The words, supposed to be an address to Sir Walter Raleigh from his wife, imitate the quaint Elizabethan style very successfully, and they are wedded to a melody which takes the ear by surprise from its sweetness and freshness. Though sung by Mr. Sims Reeves, it is not beyond the compass of ordinary amateurs; and if Prythee, Sweetheart" meet with its deserts, ere long it will be an established drawing-room favourite. BLANCH OF DEVAN'S SONG. Words by Sir Walter Scott. The music composed by Emiline Lamb; arranged by Pio Cianchettini. (Addison and Co.)-This song is very different from the preceding one; nevertheless it has merits of its own. It is a melancholy and pathetic strain, depending for effect greatly on the feeling and execution of the performer; it has the capability of being rendered with expression, and sung by a cultivated vocalist will be likely to please. AMUSEMENTS OF THE HAYMARKET. At the Haymarket, under Mr. Webster's management, the campaign is carried on right gallantly. "Much Ado about Nothing" was commanded by her Majesty on the 11th instant, has been since performed to crowded audiences three times a-week, and will probably run through the season. To this success the talents and popularity of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean, backed as they are by the whole force of a wellselected and most efficient company, have un MONTH. questionably much contributed; yet we doubt if either of them are, so to speak, in their true element, when the one plays Benedict_and_the other Beatrice. But two amongst the manygifted artists at present on the London boards can, in our opinion, adequately reproduce the bright originals of the companion pictures sketched by Shakespeare for his Sicilian portrait gallery. We of course allude to Mr. Davenport and Mrs. Mowatt. Since Charles Kemble left the stage, Mr. Davenport alone has been his representative in Mercutio, Leon, Fal |