night we stood at eight. He raised his eyes (luminous in their seductive sweetness) to my agitated face. Can you?' said he, with peculiar meaning. I felt the gentle pressure of his foot on mine; our corns throbbed in unison. Can you?' he said again, and every lineament of his expressive countenance added the words 'resist me? I murmured No,' and fainted.

They said when I recovered, it was the weather. I said it was the nutmeg in the negus. How little did they suspect the truth! How little did they guess the deep mysterious meaning of that inquiry! He called next morning on his knees; I do not mean to say that he actually came in that position to the house-door, but that he went down upon those joints directly the servant had retired. He brought some verses in his hat, which he said were original, but which I have since found were Milton's. Likewise a little bottle labelled landanum; also a pistol and a sword-stick. He drew the latter, uncorked the former, and clicked the trigger of the pocket fire-arm. He had come, he said, to conquer or to die. He did not die. He wrested from me an avowal of my love, and let off the pistol out of a back window, previous to partaking of a slight repast.

'Faithless, inconstant man! How many ages seem to have elapsed since his unaccountable and perfidious disappearance! Could I still forgive him both that and the borrowed lucre that he promised to pay next week! Could I spurn him from my feet if he approached in penitence, and with a matrimonial object! Would the blandishing enchanter still weave his spells around me, or should I burst them all, and turn away in coldness! I dare not trust my weakness with the thought.

My brain is in a whirl again. You know his address, his occupations, his mode of life, are acquainted perhaps with his inmost thoughts. You are a humane and philanthropic character; reveal all you know-all; but especially the street and number of his lodgings.'

We commend to every reader Messrs. LEA AND BLANCHARD's edition of 'Master Humphrey's Clock,' as the earliest, best, and most correctly executed, and the only one that is accompanied by the original illustrations, which add greatly to the interest of the work.

THE GLORIOUS COMPANIONSHIP OF BOOKS. -How many unhappy wights there are in every community; rich men's sons, it may be, with their brains in their pockets; who are suffering the dyspeptic gnawings of ennui, without realizing the thousand sources at hand, from which they might draw enjoyment without weariness, and pleasure that knows no satiety! I have friends,' says a quaint old father, 'whose society is very delightful to me: they are persons of all countries and of all ages; distinguished in council, war, and in letters. Easy to live with, always at my command; they come at my call, and return when I desire them: they are never out of humor, and they answer all my questions with readiness. Some present in review before me the events of past ages; others reveal to me the secrets of nature; these teach me how to live, and those how to die; these dispel my melancholy by their mirth, and amuse me by their sallies of wit; and some there are, who prepare my soul to suffer every thing, to desire nothing, and to become thoroughly acquainted with itself. In a word, they open the door to all the arts and sciences. As a reward of such great services, they require only a little corner of my house, where they may be sheltered from the depredations of their enemies. In fine, I carry them with me into the fields, the silence of which suits them better than the business and tumult of cities.' Yes; books bring before us THE PAST, as if an human voice made itself audible through the mighty void of ages; communicating to the soul the sentiment of its own immortality, by showing that thought has outlived the ruins of empires. That place,' says FLETCHER:

'That place that does contain

My books, the best companions, is to me

A glorious court, where hourly I converse

With the old sages and philosophers;

And sometimes, for variety, I confer

With kings and emperors, and weigh their counsels,
Calling their victories, if unjustly got,
Unto a strict account, and in my fancy,
Deface their ill-placed statues.'

Sir JOHN HERSCHEL felt the true delights of reading, when he wrote to his friend in London: 'If I were to pray for a taste which should stand me in stead under every variety of circumstances, and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness to me through life, and a shield against its ills, however things might go amiss, and the world frown against me, it would be a taste for reading.'

'RECOLLECTIONS OF GOOD OLD ELIAS HICKS.'

-A communication thus entitled, was received too late for the present number. It shall have an early place, if the writer will allow us to suppress one or two passages, which, while they are not material to the completeness of the subject matter, might yet afford cause of offence. We have only one 'recollection' of Elias Hicks, but that is indelible. On a gloomy Sabbath afternoon in November, several years ago, he spoke in Friends' Meeting, in the City of Brotherly Love; and the 'spirit and love of God shed abroad in the heart' was the main theme of his discourse. It was practical, simple, affecting; and when he had concluded, and the words he had uttered were working out their purposes of good in the hearts of his numerous hearers, who were 'bathed in stillness,' he rose and delivered the following prayer: 'Gracious and adorable GoD, in the riches of thy mercy, deign to look down upon thy poor creature man. Be pleased, O Lord, to bless and sanctify this opportunity to all present, if consistent with thy holy will. Thou knowest, gracious God, that we of ourselves can do nothing. We are clothed in weakness. Thou knowest that the work is thine, and that the power is thine. Graciously condescend to strengthen us, and quicken us to come unto thee; to draw near unto thee, and cast down our crowns at thy footstool. Strengthen the weak and disconsolate soul; lift up the head that is ready to hang down, and confirm the feeble knee. Help us more and more to draw together; to turn unto Thee with thanksgiving and glory, who remains to be God over all, blessed for ever and evermore.' There was a dignity in the aspect of ELIAS HICKS, not unlike that of WASHINGTON, whom, in one or two important features, he closely resembled. Erect he stood, as a statue, whith his thin, soft white hair, noble forehead, and face of calm benevolence; seeming not so much to speak, as 'to be spoken from.' He was very aged. It was evident that 'life, like a spent steed, was panting toward the goal;' and this circumstance greatly enhanced the irresistible pathos of the patriarch's matter and manner, which can never be forgotten by any who were present. As we walked forth from that noiseless assembly, and took our homeward way, we called to mind, and feelingly echoed, ELIA's exclamation: 'Oh, when the spirit is sore fretted, even tired to sickness, of the janglings and nonsense-noises of the world, what a balm and a solace it is, to go and seat yourself for a quiet half hour, upon some undisputed corner of a bench, among the gentle Quakers!' It is now Friends' Yearly Meeting in this city; 'troops of the shining ones' whiten the easterly streets of the metropolis; and 'the world's people' have an opportunity to test, as we have tested, the faithfulness of LAMB's sketch, and the daily beauty of the walk and conversation of 'the gentle Quakers.'

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JUDGE LAW'S ADDRESS. -Our cordial thanks are due to Judge Law, for a copy of his excellent 'Address, delivered before the Vincennes Historical and Antiquarian Society,' in February last. It describes the early settlement, the rise and progress, of Vincennes ; a nucleus from which have arisen three great States, embracing a population five times as large as that of the parent State Virginia, at the treaty of peace, in '83;' and is replete with interesting facts, many of which are entirely new. Such, especially, are the spirited records from a manuscript journal of the memorable campaign in which Col. GEORGE R. CLARK captured Vincennes from Governor HAMILTON. The incidents connected with this successful exploit, and which we remember to have once heard narrated by a near relative, have scarcely their parallel for impudence, and determined bravery. Hemmed in on one side by ice and water; with a fortified post bristling with artillery in front; with but one hundred and seventy American and Creole soldiers, half famished and indifferently armed, Colonel CLARK, acting the victor instead of the van. quished, sent to the British commander of a well supplied and strongly-fortified post, the following laconic letter. Previously, however, it should be premised, he had addressed a communication to the inhabitants of Post-Vincennes, informing them ' of his determi

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nation to take their fort the ensuing night; but being unwilling to surprise them, he warned them to remain still in their houses, under penalty of 'severe punishment :'

'SIR: In order to save yourself from the impending storm that now threatens you, I order you immediately to surrender yourself, with all your garrison, stores, etc., etc. For if I am obliged to storm, you may depend on such treatment as is justly due to a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any kind, or any papers or letters that are in your possession, or hurting one house in town. For by Heavens, if you do, there shall be no mercy shown you!

"To Gov. HAMILTON.'

'G. R. CLARK.'

Well may Judge LAW doubt whether, since the days of the Swedish Charles XII., such a cartel, under such circumstances, was ever sent to an antagonist. It breathes the very spirit of that gallant counterpart, who said to his soldiers, 'If I advance, follow me; if I fall, avenge me; if I flinch, kill me! The result was, that after a little wordy blustering, Gov. HAMILTON surrendered himself and garrison prisoners at discretion; and in less than eighteen hours, the British troops marched out, and the Americans entered the fort; and in place of the cross of Saint George, the stars and stripes waved above the ramparts.

THE LATE REV. JOHN OWEN COLTON. pastor of the Chapel-street Church, New-Haven, at the early age of thirty years, has been anThe recent death of the late Rev. JOHN OWEN COLTON, nounced in the public journals. The deceased was a near relative of the editor of this Magazine, to which his pen has sometimes successfully contributed. A brief tribute to the memory of a christian, a scholar, and a kinsman, will be pardoned, it is believed, by the general reader. Mr. CoLTON entered Yale College at the early age of eighteen, and in 1832 graduated with the highest honors of his class. In 1834, he became a member of the Yale Theological Seminary, and was licensed to preach in the following June. After supplying, at intervals, the pulpits of the North and Centre churches, of New-Haven, he was ordained pastor over the Chapel-street Church, and ministered to that congregation, with brief intermission, until his death. The funeral honors which were paid to his memory by his large congregation, his brother clergymen of the city and surrounding country, and by the faculty of Yale College, sufficiently attest the high estimation in which he was held by all who knew him. For scrupulous integrity, high aims, and comprehensive plans; for decision of character, unyielding perseverance, and energy of purpose and action, we have never known Mr. COLTON's superior. He held deservedly the character of a thorough, refined, and elegant scholar, distinguished alike in every branch of college study. He was a true friend, an affectionate son, and the kindest of brothers, as many fraternal hearts will bear witness. As a preacher, he is represented to have been 'comprehensive, consistent, and thorough in his views of divine truth, and in the exhibition of it, clear, definite, and practical, pointed and pungent.' ... But he has gone! From the high duties of a christian teacher; from wide spreading interests, projects, hopes, dear affections, DEATH, the pale messenger, has beckoned him silently away! Yet for him it was better to depart. Having fulfilled his appointed lot, he has gone to reap the rewards of a well-spent life.

THE DAGUERREOTYPE: PERISCOPIC LENS. This beautiful instrument, destined, ultimately, we believe, to be the companion of every man of taste, particularly in his travels, is manufactured in its perfection in this city by J. G. WOLF, Number 40 Chatham-street. Mr. WOLF is the pupil of the celebrated German optician, FRAUNHAFER, and possesses, as we learn, all the skill and science of his master. He has recently made improvements in the Daguerreotype, by means of which accurate miniature-likenesses of living subjects may be taken, which has not been so successfully accomplished before. We had the pleasure to see, a few days since, some beautiful specimens of photogenic engraving, from the life, by this wonderful instrument. Mr. WOLF has also introduced into this country the meniscus or periscopic lens, of the new-moon shape, for remedying the defect of vision in near-sighted persons. A friend of ours, who uses this form of glass, has expressed to us his great satisfaction with it, and his decided preference of it over every other kind. Being constructed in perfect harmony with the acknowledged laws of optics, it gives natural ease to the eye, and enables those whose vision is the most defective, to enjoy the most perfect sight, without perceiving any constraint or confusion in directing the line of vision through any part of the lens.

PARK THEATRE.- Mr. KEAN has, during the past month, closed his last engagement in this country; performing, mean time, in all his favorite characters. Mr. KEAN has been peculiarly unfortunate in this second visit to America; first, in the illness which indisposed him to exertion in his profession on his arrival; then in the destruction of the theatre where his engagement was made; and, finally, for the reason which he appropriately gave in his parting address; viz. the general prostration of commercial affairs in this country. The New-York public have, however, had a fair opportunity of judging of this actor's powers; and during his last engagement, especially, they seem to have improved it. We take it upon ourselves to say, that as an actor Mr. KEAN has not been fairly judged on this side of the water. In passing criticism upon CHARLES KEAN, the remembrance of the acting of his lamented father should not be suffered to come into a comparison Audiences were, however, continually judging him by this high standard. If the elder KEAN, instead of having, in the course of nature, retired altogether, had but for the time absented himself from the stage, and instead of his son, had now reappeared, with only the capacity which his son possesses, these precise comparisons might with justice be applied to him; but to blame CHARLES KEAN, even in the first years of his practice, because he does not equal his father in his prime, is beyond measure unjust. But thus has he been judged. In his performance of Gloster, a character which EDMUND KEAN made more popular than perhaps any other of the bard's creations, Charles was applauded only in so far as he was able to imitate his father. The fiendish chuckle which was peculiar to the elder KEAN, had only to be repeated by bis son, to draw down thunders of applause from a truly discriminating pit, while the quiet and natural acting of the scene went for naught, It was a remark — which was constantly repeated at the theatre during CHARLES KEAN's performance of his father's great characters of some sagacious crític or other, to his neighbor, when any particular point was made, or attempted to be made, by the actor : 'I say, Bob, do you remember how old Kean did that? To which the reminiscent Bob would reply: Yes, yes; he was the boy; Charley don't begin with the old-'un! Many who have written of CHARLES KEAN have measured out to him equal justice, and criticized him as sensibly.

In our poor judgment, Mr. CHARLES KEAN, from some cause or other, did not always do HIMSELF justice. There was at times an apparent carelessness in his acting, and before full houses too, for which it is difficult to account. Perhaps, being aware of this unfair system of criticizing his performances, and knowing that it was impossible for him to come up at once to the high standard by which he was to be measured, he lost heart, and did not even make those fair exertions, which, when made, would only be spoken of as being so many grades below those of the great original. The conceptions of all the characters in which we have seen Mr. KEAN, although none of them entirely new, were all such as a man of his education, experience, and judgment, would be supposed to follow, or create. Unlike many promising and ambitious aspirants of the present day, he seemed willing to put faith in the judgment of his great predecessors, and to believe that he was not the only person who had read SHAKSPEARE correctly.

[Audiences are too apt to applaud the violent passages of a scene on the stage or rather, the loud and violent performance of them; to let slip by, without approbation, and often without remark, the subdued and quiet expression of feeling They are not content with a gentle summer rain; they must have a tempest, with a crash of thunder, and a flash or two of lightning in it. [CHARLES KEAN, we think, found out this secret before he left us; else one would be at a loss to account for the violence with which he executed some scenes, where, by the very nature of the place, and the occasion, the greatest quiet would seem to be appropriate. For instance, in 'Macbeth,' in the scene immediately following the murder, where, meeting Lady Macbeth, and looking upon his bloody hands, the first horrors of the damning deed seem gathering in his soul. The object of these two personages, at this crisis, is secrecy. They fear the slightest real sound, and are startled at imaginary ones:

Now, although the king is dead, Banquo is not; nor Malcolm, nor Donalbain. They are supposed to be sleeping in their chambers, and not far from the room at present occupied by their host and hostess. Common sense, then, would seem to teach the most perfect hush and silence to the two, who, the deed committed, stand there with bloody hands. Mr. KEAN, on the contrary, gave

this scene mostly at the top of his voice, and thereby outraged propriety most abominably, and drew down three rounds of applause. We have also observed an affectation in this actor's deli-, very, which savors more of the gentleman of the drawing-room, thau of the artist, anxious to make the tone of every word expressive of the present feeling of the character. This, however, is a fault which Mr. KEAN's own good'sepse will soon remedy and thereby render himself still less obnoxious to the blame of those ature tritics who firin that whatever is the character he endeaors to represent, they see and hear not the fictitious personage, Unt, Mr. KEAN only, in propria persona. We cannot forego a word of praise to Miss S, CUSHMAN, who is a decided acquisition to the Park company. Her performance of 'Ophelia' was a very touching and beautiful rendering of SHAKSPEARE'S picture of the 'poor demented maiden.'

Mrs, FITZWILLIAM, with, her usual spirit, has also completed a short engagement, and at her Benefit introduced a new two-act plece, entitled the Ladies' Club, which was received with approbation. A more sprightly actress than this lady never trode the Park boards. She has all the vivacity and tact of the VESTRIS, with a dash of sly humor which reminds us strongly of our old favorite, Mrs. KEELEY, whom, in more than one respect, she strongly resembles. Mrs. FITZWILLIAM was so perfect in her art when we first saw her, that we expended all our terms of praise in extolling her then; and as she could not improve, we can now, in consequence, say nothing new in the latory line. May she remain thus, in omne œvum.'

C.

FANS ELSSLER.- Thus far our correspondent. It becomes our duty, and it certainly is a pleaSure to render a brief tribute to the professional gifts of one of the most accomplished female daucers that ever appeared upon the Park boards. Without altogether realizing that'the eyes of Europare are upon us, as a nation, to see whether or not we appreciate FANNY ELSSLER'S powers, and indeed throat any of the exuberant enthusiasm which has been so widely felt or feigned, in this town, conning our fair artiste, we can yet see and feel that she accomplishes her remarkable professoal triumphs with an ease and a grace that have never been equalled on this side the Atlantic, It.Is needless to add that a constant succession of orowded houses attests her popularity, after that substantial node, which was doubtless the load-star that attracted her steps toward our benighted shores.

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BONERY THEATRE MR. RANGER. -The appearance of Mr. RANGER at this theatre, in his own play of "The Artist's Wife, affords us an opportunity to say a few words of this gentleman's literary and professional aequirements. We have had the pleasure to peruse three or four of the plays from his own pen, in which he appeared with such eminent success in Boston; and we have no hesitation in saying, that these productions, as various in character as his professional rôle, are not less indebted for their popularity to their own distinctive literary and dramatic merits, than to the remarkably effective and natural personations of the actor-author. An undoubting reliance ›uper NATURE alone for his effects — upon simple, unhackneyed sentiment and feeling — in both the departments of which we have spoken, is the great secret of Mr. RANGER'S complete success In each. One is apt to ask himself, with the tear on his cheek, when the gentle CLERMONT comes stargeting to his chair, in the Artist's Wife,' after finding that his spouse has eloped with another, Why Bat, after all, that without clap-trap, without tearing any one passion to tatters, we are so powerfully affected? At some future period we may hope to essay a more detailed consideration of, Mr. RANGER's literary and professional performances. At present, we are compelled to content yourselves with bearing this inperfect timony to his various merits; which are heightened, let us add, for the honor of the profession, By los character as a man and a gentleman.

MR. WILSON LECTURES ON SCOTTot The course of Jectures upon the Songs of Scotland, recently delivered by Mr. W the distinguished operatic artist, at Clinton Hall, aud repeated at the Stuyvesant Instituese well attended by delighted auditories. Nothing could he more pleasing than this union of Merary and musical attractions; and Mr. WILSON, in his thischarge of divided duty w new laurels at the hands of his hearers. By the line these pages shall have reached our most distant readers, Mr. WILSON will be on the seas, eturning to England, and his native Scotland. We cannot resist The occasion, therefore, to say, that while the professional career of our friend in this country has been one of constant popularity and success, he has, at the same time, acquired troops of friends in the best circles of American society, by his unspotted private character, and an exercise of the parent,qualities of a highminded gentleman. Very cordially do we desire for, Mr., Wroy, Messant voyage homeward; and we cannot but indulge the hope, that in the fulness of time, we may once more welcome him, professionally, and socially, among his many friends and admirers on this side the water.