made, until now, the opera is the most pleasing of | chops" of the English Channel. For four days all the dramatic representations. she had been beating down from Plymouth, and on the fifth, at evening, she made her last tack

from the French coast.

officer of the deck, that he might make the light on the lee-beam, but, he stated, he thought it more than probable that he would pass it without seeing it. He then "turned in," as did most of the idlers, and the starboard watch.

About the beginning of the sixteenth century, madigrals were invented. These were spirited The watch was set at eight P. M.-The captain airs of an eccentric character, to which short came on deck soon after, and having ascertained amatory verses, called madigrals, were set. the bearing of Scilly, gave orders to keep the ship The gamut was invented by a Benedictine" full and by,' remarking at the same time to the monk, named Guy d'Aretinus, about the commencement of the eleventh century, under the following circumstances: While singing the first strophe of the hymn to St. John, he noticed the syllable now used by many composers, for designating various notes, thus-ut, re, mi, fa, sol la. The following is the strophe alluded to:Ut, queant laxis Resonare fibris Mira gestorum Famuli tuorum Solve polluti Labii reatum, Improvements have been made upon the original scale of Guy.

At a quarter past nine, P. M., the ship headed west by compass, when the call of "Light O!" was heard from the foretopsail-yard.

"Where away ?" asked the officer of the deck. "Three points on the lee bow," replied the lookout-man; which the unprofessional reader will readily understand to mean very nearly straight ahead. At this moment, the captain appeared and took the trumpet.

"Call all hands," was his immediate order.

"All hands!" whistled the boatswain, with the long shrill summons familiar to the ears of all who have ever been on board of a man-of-war.

"All hands," screamed the boatswain's mates; and ere the last echo died away all but the sick were upon deck.

The organ was first introduced into France in 757, and soon became universally used in the churches of western Europe. The introduction of time, and the dividing of music into bars, did not occur till about the commencement of the seventeenth century. The concerto was invented by Torrelli, and employed at first only five instruments. The solo was used in chanting from the Bay of Biscay; the gale, which had been The ship was staggering through a heavy swell in the Roman church at a very early period. From the first revival of the art in Europe, the blowing several days, had increased to a severity that was not to be made light of. The breakers, greatest composers have directed their powers to where Sir Cloudesley Shovel and his fleet were the construction of sacred melodies, and indeed destroyed in the days of Queen Anne, sang their it would seem that such themes were alone ade- song of death before, and the Dead-Man's Ledge quate to a full exercise of refined musical pow-replied in hoarser notes behind us. To go ahead ers. Of the great modern composers, Mozart was seemed to be death, and to attempt to go about less confined to this species of composition. His was sure destruction. secular airs have given him a fame that will flourThe first thing that caught the eye of the capish in all the greenness of youth as long as such to be carried throughont the evening-the haultain was the furled mainsail, which he had ordered melodies are esteemed, while the sublime sacred ing up of which contrary to the last order that he oratorios and anthems of Handel, Haydn, Beetho- had given on leaving the deck, had caused the ship ven, Pleyel and others, will thrill the bosoms of to fall off to leeward two points, and had thus led millions yet unborn with the most elevated of in- her into a position on a lee shore," upon which tellectual emotions. They form the splendid a strong gale was blowing her, in which the chance mausoleums wherein these great composers lie embalmed, which will defy the destroying finger of decay so long as there is a chord in the human soul that may be made to vibrate at the inspired touch of the muse of poetry.

[From the United States Magazine and Democratic Review,"
OLD IRONSIDES ON A LEE-SHORE.
BY AN EYE-WITNESS.

IT was at the close of a stormy day in the year 1835, when the gallant frigate Constitution, under the command of Captain Elliott-having on board the late Edward Livingston, late Minister at the Court of France, and his family, and manned by nearly five hundred souls-drew near to "the

of safety appeared to the stoutest nerves almost hopeless. That sole chance consisted in standing on, to carry us through the breakers of Scilly, or this destined to be the end of the gallant old ship, by a close graze along their outer ledge. Was consecrated by so many a prayer and blessing from the heart of a nation!

"Why is the mainsail up, when I ordered it set?" cried the captain in a tremendous voice.

"Finding that she pitched her bows under, I took it in under your general order, sir, that the officer of the deck should carry sail according to his discretion," replied the lieutenant in command.

"Heave the log," was the prompt command, to the master's mate. The log was thrown. "How fast does she go?" "Five knots and a half, sir." "Board the main tack, sir."

"She will not bear it," said the officer of the deck.

"Board the main tack," thundered the captain.ral fact-which I make not the slightest attempt "Keep her full and by, quartermaster."

"Ay! ay, sir!" The tack was boarded. "Haul aft the mainsheet," shouted the captain, and aft it went like the spreading of a sea bird's wing, giving the huge sail to the gale.

"Give her the lee helm when she goes into the sea, "cried the captain.

66

Ay! ay! sir! she has it," growled out the old sea-dog at the binnacle.

"Right your helm, keep her full and by." "Ay! ay! sir! full and by she is," was the prompt answer from the helm.

?"

"How fast does she go
"Eight knots and a half, sir.'
"How bears the light ?"

"Nearly a beam, sir.""

"Keep her away half a point." "How fast does she go?"

"Nine knots, sir."

"Steady, so!" returned the captain.

66 Steady," "answered the helmsman, and all was the silence of the grave upon that crowded deck, except the howling of the storm-for a space of time that seemed to my imagination almost an age.

It was a trying hour with us-unless we could carry sail so as to go at the rate of nine knots an hour, we must of necessity dash upon Scilly, and who ever touched those rocks and lived during a storm? The sea ran very high, the rain fell in sheets, the sky was one black curtain, illumined only by the faint light which was to mark our deliverance, or stand a monument of our destruction. The wind had got above whistling, it came in puffs, that flattened the waves, and made our our old frigate settle to her bearings, while everything on board seemed cracking into pieces. At this moment the carpenter reported that the left bolt of the weather fore-shroud had drawn.

to embellish. As we galloped on-for I can compare our vessel's leaping to nothing else—the rocks seemed very near us. Dark as was the night, the white foam scowled round their black heads, while the spray fell over us, and the thunder of the dashing surge sounded like the awful knell that the ocean was singing for the victims it was eager to ingulf.

At length the light bore upon our quarter, and the broad Atlantic rolled its white caps before us. During this time all were silent, each officer and man was at his post, and the bearing and countenance of the captain seemed to give encouragement to every person on board. With but a bare possibility of saving the ship and those on board, he placed his reliance upon his nautical skill and courage, and by carrying the mainsail when in any other situation it would have been considered a suicidal act, he weathered the lee-shore, and saved the Constitution.

The mainsail was now hauled up, by light hearts and strong hands, the jib and spanker taken in, and from the light of Scilly the gallant vessel, under close reefed topsails and main trysails, took her departure and danced merrily over the deep toward the United States.

"Pipe down," said the captain to the first lieutenant, "and splice the main-brace."—" Pipe down," echoed the first-lieutenant to the boatswain. "Pipe down," whistled the boatswain to the crew, and "pipe down," it was.

Soon the "Jack of the Dust" held his levee on the main gun-deck, and the weather-beaten tars, as they gathered about the grog_tub, and luxuriated upon a full allowance of Old Rye, forgot all their perils and fatigue.

"How near the rocks did we go," said I to one of the master's mates the next morning. He made no reply, but taking down his chart, showed "Get on the luffs, and set them all on the me a pencil-line, between the outside shoal and the weather shrouds. Keep her at small helm, quar-Lighthouse Island, which must have been a small termaster, and ease her in the sea," were the or- strait for a fisherman to run his smack through ders of the captain. in good weather by daylight.

The luffs were soon put upon the weather shrouds, which of course relieved the chains and channels, but many an anxious eye was turned toward the remaining bolts, for upon them depended the masts, and upon the masts depended the safety of the ship-for with one foot of canvass less she could not live fifteen minutes.

For what is the noble and dear old frigate preserved?

I went upon deck; the sea was calm, a gentle breeze was swelling our canvass from mainsail to royal, the isles of Scilly had sank in the eastern waters, and the clouds of the dying storm were rolling off in broken masses to the northward and westward, like the flying columns of a beaten army.

Onward plunged the overladen frigate, and at every surge she seemed bent upon making the deep the sailor's grave, and her live oak sides, his I have been in many a gale of wind, and have coffin of glory. She had been fitted out at Bos- passed through scenes of great danger: but nevton when the thermometer was below zero. Her er, before or since, have I experienced an hour shrouds of course therefore slackened at every so terrific, as that when the Constitution was lastrain, and her unwieldly masts (for she had those boring, with the lives of five hundred men hangdesigned for the frigate Cumberland, a much lar- ing on a single small iron-bolt to weather Scilly, ger ship,) seemed ready to jump out of her. And on the night of the eleventh of May, 1835. now, while all was apprehension, another bolt drew!-and then another!-until at last, our NOTE. During the gale, Mrs. Livingston inquired of the whole stay was placed upon a single bolt less than captain, if we were not in great danger, to which he replied as a man's wrist in circumference. Still the good soon as we had passed Scilly, "You are as safe as you would iron clung to the solid wood, and bore us along- be in the aisle of a church." It is singular that the frigate Bosside the breakers, though in a most fearful prox-ped a similar danger while employed in carrying out to France ton, Captain M'Neal, about the close of the Revolution, escaimity to them. This thrilling incident has never, Chancellor Livingston, a relative of Edward, and also MinisI believe, been noticed in public, but it is the lite-ter to the Court of St. Cloud. He likewise had his wife on

David found the armor too cumbrous, and laying it aside, he took his shepherd's staff, the sling which he used as a defence against the approach of wild beasts, and selected five pebble-stones from a brook hard by as ammunition. Thus pro

of that age, and those of the present who inhabit and a bear once attacked his flocks, and that he the same section of the world, Persons then as smote and slew both, and rescued the lambs they now, were raised from the lowest to the highest had stolen. He also expressed his conviction political stations by the caprice of temporal or that Omnipotence would give him strength; and spiritual rulers, and at once received the implicit Saul at length "put his armor upon him," and obedience and homage of the whole people. Like with trembling heart bade him go fight the Philthe kings of Europe previous to the Reformation, istine. who bowed to the supremacy of the pope, the kings, and preceding them the judges among the Jews, were subject to the direction, in a great measure, of the prophets and priests, who held an intermediate place between the civil and religious interests of the people. Thus, when Israel wish-vided, he marched boldly to the plain, where each ed for a change in government, and demanded a king, we find the prophet Samuel anointing Saul, and a short time previous to his death, we find the same prophet going into the family of a shepherd, and anointing a stripling of fifteen years the successor to the reigning monarch.

army looked upon his temerity with astonishment. Seeing an individual approaching from the ranks of the Israelites, Goliath went out to meet him, but when he came near, and saw that he was but a beardless youth, and unarmed, he was greatly enraged, for he deemed himself insulted and mocked. "Am I a dog," cried he to David,

the youth to slay him. David prepared his sling with a stone, and when at a proper distance, he hurled the pebble with unerring aim, which sank deep into the forehead of the giant warrior, and he fell upon the ground. To make victory certain, the brave youth took the mighty sword from the warrior's sheath, and cut off his head. Seeing their champion destroyed, the Philistines turned

great slaughter and the loss of much spoils.

This is the first notice we have of David. Shortly after, during the violent war that raged" that thou comest to me with stones?" And by between the Israelites and their immediate neigh- Dagon and his other gods the angry Philistine bors, the Philistines, David was sent to the camp cursed the son of Jesse. He threatened him with with some necessaries for his brethren who were annihilation, and told him he would give his flesh there. Having been left at home in attendance to vultures and wild beasts. But the heart of Daupon the flocks, his brethren addressed him vid quailed not, and he defied him to combat. harshly, and reproached him with a neglect of More enraged at this defiance, he strode toward his trust. Yet he bore their reproaches with patience, and lingered about the camp till he saw the two armies drawn up in battle array, each upon a hill on opposite sides of a valley. Such manœuvres had taken place for several consecutive days, and several times a giant warrior by the name of Goliath, belonging to the Philistine army, had come out upon the plain and defied any one of the Israelites to meet him in single and fled, and were pursued by the Israelites with combat. Young David marked the insolence of the mighty champion, and regretted the fear of David took the head of Goliath, and conveyed his countrymen whenever he made his appear- it as a trophy to Jerusalem. The news of his exance. A secret voice bade him go forth to meet ploits went before him, and as he approached the the terrible adversary. He openly expressed his imperial city, matrons and maidens went forth conviction that the warrior might be vanquished, with tabrets, and dancing, and with joy. They and his words were told to King Saul. The mon-strewed flowers in his way, and sang the praises arch, anxious to try every experiment to encour-of the young hero, saying, "Saul hath slain his age his people and avert the calamity of a defeat, sent for the youth and questioned him concerning his origin, his prowess and his strength, and the meaning of the words he had spoken concerning the armed warrior of the enemy. David told the king not to fear Goliath, and at once offered to go himself, a beardless youth as he was, to meet the insolent challenger. Saul replied to this bold proposition that he was not able to perform such a deed, because of the disparity of the two. But the young hero felt a confidence in the arm that upheld his, and to convince Saul that he did lack personal courage, he told him how that a

thousands, and David his ten thousands." The king hearing these things, became jealous of David's fame, and fearing that the sceptre might depart from him and his family, to the hand of the victor, he contrived plans for the young man's destruction, and among others, offered David his daughter in marriage, if he would bring as a dowry, a trophy of victory from the Philistines.

This exploit of David is very similar to that of the hero in a Bedouinee poem, called "Antar." It is thus: Antar, fond of solitude, used to delight in attending flocks, and in wandernoting about the desert. One day, when the sun poured down his lion hot vertical rays, he climbed up among the cool branches of a tree, from whence he could overlook his flock. While there, a wolf came out of a thicket, caught a lamb, and dispersed the whole flock. Antar pursued him with his staff, killed him, filled his scrip with his head and legs, and returned to his pasture. This event occurred 1063 years before Christ.

* We find in Roman history a similar account of two warriors from the opposing armies (Romans and Latins) meeting and deciding the victory by single combat.

The enterprise was so very hazardous, that Saul | may make more manure in the summer than in the felt confident that David would be slain, and thus winter, whereas by the old way he does not make his wicked designs be accomplished. But the half as much. The matter in the hog-yard will same hand that upheld him against the lion and decompose much faster in warm weather than in the bear, and the champion of the enemy, sustain-cold, and it is necessary to add soil, &c. the faster; and to assist the hogs in dry weather, I turn ed him now, and he returned to Saul with his a spout from the pump and saturate the whole bed trophy, and claimed and received the hand of his with water, which is of great service in warm dry beloved in marriage. weather. Shelled corn occasionally thrown in with the soil, will encourage the hogs and prevent their digging too much in one place.