Fill not all your fragrant cells,

Lest I might lack my wonted pleasure,
Stings not lips, of bliss the wells,

Whence you and I derive our treasure.*

His epigrams we must say in justice, have not the witty, cutting sarcasm of Martial. The subjects are various, upon bad poets, bad doctors, the incurableness of love, upon pictures, complimentary verses to his friends, like those prefixed to old English books, whether fortune is blind, upon the vanity of human life. One of the pleasantest in the tripping style of the Basia is addressed to Charinus upon his ugly wife; so milk-white, so rosy, so polished, modest, gentle, that, says the poet, if Jove were to grant me three such, I would willingly give him two of them to take away the other.

A book of Odes he has left, and full of elegance and polish, and poetic feeling, all must allow. The descriptions are fresh, and the moral of all sad, that admixture which in the Epicurean Horace charms even joyous, careless, satcheled school-boys-it is the plaintive sweetness of Celtic music pitched in the minor key.

ON THE DEPARTURE OF SPRING.

The Spring hath fled with lightsome brow;
The Daulian bird repenting

Of Itus' death, on topmost bough

No longer sits lamenting;

But stills her song of woe and wrong.

The wearied shepherd seeks the shade,

His fleecy charge are drooping,

How lovely now the tall tree's aid,

To those beneath it trooping;

For summer's tide is in her pride.

The seasons fleet thus fast away,
And nought remains us surely,
But flying time makes all a prey,
And strikes existence rudely;
With rugged hand, so God's command.
Alas, how bright were human lot,
Beneath a spring sun ever,

Wintry clouds should gather not,

And flowers should wither never

In Summer glow, or Winter snow.
Beneath such, pleasure-drooping skies,
Live parted pious spirits;

Their year a spring for ever flies.
A spring that hath no limits.
No flaming star, from fiery car

Burns fiercely on their laurelled brows;
No hail-darts stormy quiver;

No wintry wind its ashes throws
O'er purple mead and river,

To chill delight, where all is bright.

* The 7th Basium appears to have been imitated in that glorious song of Ben John

son's in Volpoue, commencing

Kiss me sweet, the wary lover

Can your favours keep and cover.

ON VIEWING A DANCE.

Dione saw I not in ivory shell,

Skimming amid the tangles of the dance;
Where youths were raptured with the spell
Of maidens' loving glance.

One midst the train of virgins sure I mark;
With softest step the flowery ground she greets;
How bent like circles of the morning lark,
To her each eye soft fleets.

Oh, like a purple rose in milken tides

Creeps the warm blush upon her soft white check;
Her yellow hair upon her brow thus glides,
As gilt bands ivory streak.

Now here, now there, with flying limbs she turns;
And some loved youth's dear hand just touches;
She swims the ground, and swims the air that burns
With purple love's soft gushes.

Alone her pleasing fetters all absolved,

She wanders; and her eye's warm glance is flying;
To him, and then to him her path's resolved,
Her thoughtless mazes flying.

Oh happy earth, I envy thee thy bliss,

If thou canst feel those steps. Oh make me air,
That she through face and breast and aye may kiss

And I thy transports share.

Of his funereal poems we would translate an epitaph on that just and great man, Sir Thomas More, who, tenacious of his religious liberty, died to virtue aud to truth a noble martyr.

EPITAPH ON THOMAS MORE.

Stranger.-Whose is the headless trunk that lieth here;
Like withered rose in dust prostrate the head,
Its silvery honours trailed in gore are spread?
Citizen. That head was Thomas More's-that head revere,
Whose cruel fate makes virtue drop a tear.
Stranger.-What goddesses are they with aspect dread

Surround the mournful relics of the dead;

And strike the steady soul with trembling fear?
Citizen.-One goddess with unwavering eye-firm Truth,
Stands linked in hand with Faith sacred and just,
With stern face Nemesis, her sword of truth
Dims not its edge though dinting in the dust.
Of these, the one and other brought to doom,
The last, the avenger guards his honoured tomb.

The youthful poet soon followed the aged philosopher, struck down by disease as unpitying as a tyrant. His loves lie immature, stopped in the very prelude, the opening blossoms of his fancy, for a moment scented the air til death chilled them, and all that remains of Johannes Secundus are a few murmurs of adoration to the supreme beauty-a few soft downy feathered doves of thought that helped to draw the car of Venus and great Cupid; and his features full of friendly tenderness, and eyes where the partial hand of Scorellus has copied a lovely melancholy presagient of early dissolution.

THE COMMERCIAL LEAGUE OF THE HANSE-TOWNS.

THE vast political, moral, and intellectual changes, which originate in commercial actions, and spring from extended maritime operations, are eminently worthy the attentive observation of every enlightened mind, and are calculated to awaken a noble pride in the hearts of those who compose the mercantile portion of community.

The early history of society is replete with evidences, that point out the numerous benefits which have resulted to every state from intercourse with distant nations; while, upon its more modern pages, shines forth the chronicle of those great advantages which commerce showers upon mankind.

From its infant struggles upon the continent of the east, where barbarism in all its shapes prevailed, hindering its advancement, and beating to the earth the barriers by which its founders sought to insure its protection, until, increasing in size and strength, it stretched forth its mighty arms and clasped a western world in its embrace, we see it throwing benign influences wherever its prevalence is experienced, and bountifully bestowing wealth, power, and greatness, upon the empires of the earth.

In looking back upon the ancient countries of the world, and marking the character, the pursuits, and the intellectual advancement of their inhabitants, the superiority evinced in these respects by that portion engaged in commerce, and who were bound together by its interests, is powerfully striking. Different cities, however distant from each other, and with whatever dissimilarity there existed to distinguish their religious, their civil, and their political institutions, and with all the variety of habits and customs, language and colour, which prevailed, seemed, even in the earlier periods of the world, to be connected together by the chain of common and mutual interest which commercial intercourse had forged; and to be encircled by one broad, entire, and universal band, enclosing them in terms of the closest alliance.

In glancing at the city of Tyre as it existed in its ancient unrivalled splendour, when styled Queen of the Sea, the riches of all nations rolled in upon it in glittering profusion; the industrious, patient, laborious, and intelligent character of its people, stands out in bold and bright relief from the barbarism and intellectual darkness which distinguished most of the nations around it; and within its walls could then be found foreign merchants, whom the courtesy and kindness of its inhabitants had invited from almost every portion of the globe, and whose interests were carefully and studiously protected and fostered by the wisest and most politic system of maritime laws which the age presented. In the midst of the wealth, power, and grandeur which the commerce of this great city had reared, we see a band of its citizens emerge from the ponderous gates that guarded its rich treasures from the fierce nations by which it was surrounded, and impelled by the spirit of foreign adventure, which the vast commercial relations of their native city had created, expatriate themselves from their kindred and homes, and launch forth upon their pathless course; and after marking out the foundation of another mighty city, build up its glorious pile, until the name of Carthage was heralded throughout the world for its might in war, its strict undeviating good faith in peace, the wisdom of its internal government, and the just and permanent principles upon which its political institutions were founded, and as the grand centre of trade for half the nations of

the earth. Its extended commerce bestowed upon its inhabitants the most princely wealth, and those enjoying the highest and most honorable stations in its government, were proud of being engaged in foreign trade, forming, as it did, the great pillars upon which rested its glory and power. Its fleets swayed the empire and sovereignty of the sea, and even the mighty Rome, after a bloody and doubtful struggle of more than forty years in humbling the haughty rival which, begirt in wonderful strength, had dared to dispute its unlimited superiority, was compelled to deprive Carthage of its commerce, ere its power could be subdued and conquered.

The map of more modern nations presents numerous cities, whose commerce, like that of those we have mentioned, has encircled them around with the barriers of strength and safety, has filled them with the glittering riches of distant lands, distinguishing their inhabitants for superiority of intelligence and intellectual refinement, and causing them to be feared and respected throughout the half barbarous empires by which they were surrounded. The powerful aid which commerce has afforded in redeeming mankind from barbarism and ignorance, in freeing them from the chains of despotism and tyranny, and in alleviating their moral and social condition, is exemplified upon almost every page of history to which we turn, and is so familiar to the minds of the present age as to render its detail here unnecessary, and even uninteresting, besides being foreign to the object which we now have in contemplation. Our present purpose, is to unroll from the records of by-gone ages, and spread out to view, the history of a commercial confederacy which was formed in the north of Europe in the early part of the twelfth century, at a period when most of the nations inhabiting the eastern world were sunk in gloomy ignorance, dark and fearful barbarism, and slavish superstition.

At the time we mention, commercial enterprises were extremely hazardous, and the cultivation of peaceful pursuits entirely neglected. War was the element in which men lived, and the sword the arbiter, and mailed warriors the tribunal to which they appealed. Safety, without power and might to win and guard it, was unknown; and quiet and security, unless girt about with strength and steel, were not enjoyed. Surrounded by such dangerous materials, it became necessary for those desirous of engaging in employments whose ultimate return would be wealth, to devise some means by which a protection in its enjoyment could be secured; and a powerful confederacy, cemented by the bond of common interest, seemed the only mode by which it could be accomplished. Influenced by such considerations, Hamburgh and Lubec, according to some authorities, and Bremen and Amsterdam, according to others, were the first who entered into a league with each other for their common safety, and for protection from the fierce nations by which they were encircled. These cities carried on a small commerce which, even at this early period, impressed the uncultivated, yet eager minds of their inhabitants, with an idea of the riches which its more universal extension would bestow upon them; and grasping the hand of friendship which each held out, a solemn engagement of a close political alliance was made between them. Numerous other cities soon joined in the League, and the concentration of well organized naval and military power which it presented, formed a terrible scourge to the pirates of the northern seas, against whom its force was directed, and aided greatly in subduing and punishing the barbarian hordes which had so long devastated the surrounding countries.

The associated cities were not confined to those situated upon the sea-coasts,

but those in the interior, which were indebted to them for supplies of commodities, emanating from the industry of more civilized and enlightened lands, looking upon the confederacy as a bulwark of strength, and as furnishing a magazine of war which would be hurled against every aggressor that should invade its rights, were eagerly desirous of connecting themselves with it; until swelling the circle within which they were contained, before the end of the thirteenth century it embraced every considerable city in all those vast territories extending from Livonia to Holland.

The commerce in which the cities composing the League were engaged rapidly increased, their ships returned from distant climes heavily freighted with the rich treasures and costly luxuries which a more advanced refinement in the arts had created, and every succeeding year, as it rolled on, marked an increased internal prosperity in their condition, and chronicled their continued external influence upon the surrounding nations.

The su

The mighty influence exercised by this great confederacy soon attracted the attention of all Europe. The monarchs around saw with wonder and astonishment the vast strides with which it was advancing towards the consummation of unrivalled power, and its political organization seemed new and strange to those accustomed to govern by the exercise of unlimited despotism and tyranny. No crowned head controlled its movements, no single mind directed its actions. Its vast and complicated interests were managed with the utmost simplicity, and the great results which flowed from its operations were produced by a combination of wisdom, emanating from a senate of the cities composing it, instead of being subjected to the capricious will of a single imperial lord. preme legislative authority of the entire League, was vested in deputies chosen from the different cities and towns of which it was composed, who assembled in one great congress, where were proposed and discussed all those important measures which were adopted by this high deliberative body for the government and protection of the mighty interests which it controlled. All questions which were calculated to unsettle and disturb the harmonious relation existing among the different members of the confederacy, were submitted to the consideration of the congress, where the dignity and wisdom that prevailed, never failed to insure their satisfactory settlement and amicable adjustment.

It was here, also, that the nature of the intercourse between the League and the adjacent powers was marked out and defined, and its foreign policy settled and determined. Vast negotiations with the surrounding sovereigns of Europe were carried on by means of this great assembly, which met once in three years, and oftener whenever the occasion called for their united deliberation and action. The city of Lubec was considered the capital of the League, and here the meetings were usually held, although no place was absolutely fixed upon for the sitting of the congress. The letters of convocation specified the principal subjects which would be brought under consideration, and were sent to the different cities comprised within the bounds of the confederacy, for the purpose of apprizing them of all those great questions which were likely to be deemed of paramount interest; and an opportunity was thus presented of selecting such deputies as were most distinguished for wisdom, sagacity, and statesman-like views, upon the emergencies to be presented. The professions or employments of individuals chosen to this station did not constitute the requisites by which their competency was determined. The merchants were by far the most numerous, but lawyers, artists, and even clergymen, were