“Oh, you rogue, what would you give to have such a dream about Milton as I had about a week since? I dreamed that, being in a house in the city, and with much company, looking towards the lower end of the room from the upper end of it, I descried a figure, which I immediately knew to be Milton's. He was very gravely but very neatly attired in the fashion of his day, and had a countenance which filled me with those feelings that an affectionate child has for a beloved father; such, for instance, as Tom has for you. My first thought was wonder where he could have been concealed so many years; my second, a transport of joy to find him still alive; my third, another transport to find myself in his company; and my fourth, a resolution to accost him. I did so, and he received me with a complacence in which I saw equal sweetness and dignity. I spoke of his Paradise Lost as every man must who is worthy to speak of it at all, and told him a long story of the manner in which it affected me when I first discovered it, being at that time a school-boy. He answered me by a smile and a gentle inclination of his head. He then grasped my hand affectionately, and, with a smile that charmed me, said, 'Well, you for your part will do well also.' At last recollecting his great age (for I understood him to be two hundred years old), I feared that I might fatigue him by too much talking, I took my leave, and he took his, with an air of the most perfect good-breeding. His person, his features, his manner, were all so perfectly characteristic, that I am persuaded an apparition of him ⚫ could not represent him more completely." Who can read this, and resist the conclusion that judicious management of its author at an earlier period would have greatly lessened the miseries of his unhappy life, if it could not have altogether prevented them! Yet, "sad as Cowper's story is, it is not altogether mournful," says his admirable biographer, Southey; 'he had never to complain of injustice nor of injuries, nor even of neglect. Man had no part in bringing on his calamity, and to that very calamity which made him leave the herd' like a stricken deer' it was owing that the genius which had consecrated his name, which has made him the most popular poet of his age, and secures that popularity from fading away, was developed in retirement; it would have been blighted had he continued in the course for which he was trained up. He would not have found the way to fame unless he had missed the way to fortune. He might have been happier in his generation, but he could never have been so useful; with that generation his memory would have passed away, and he would have slept with his fathers, instead of living with those who are the glory of their country and the benefactors of their kind."*" MUTUAL INTERESTS OF ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Our of every hundred foreign vessels which enter the ports of the United States of America, above eighty are from the United Kingdom and its dependencies, the number in 1836 having been 3510 (544,774 tonnage), and from all other countries 611. Nearly 1000 vessels sail yearly direct from the United Kingdom to the United States, and about 800 arrive direct in our ports under their star-spangled banner. The ships from our shores are chiefly freighted with manufactured goods, and the aggregate value of their cargoes is about 9,000,000l. annually. In 1838 the United States took more than any other country of our woollens, linens, silks, hardwares and cutlery, wrought and unwrought iron and steel, and several other articles; and we send them. annually about one-sixth of our exported produce and manufactures. On the other hand we are the best customers for their domestic produce. Above six-tenths of their exports consist of cotton and tobacco, and in 1840 we took from them 453,000,000 bls. of the former and about 28,000,000 lbs. of the latter. We should take a still larger proportion of their agricultural produce, if the importation of breadstuffs were not prohibited except under conditions which render the demand uncertain. In 1740 the imports of New York from Great Britain were 72,390., and the exports amounted to 171,000.; but in 1836 the value of the imports in that city was estimated at 23,000,000l., of which, in that year, probably above 11,000,000l. consisted of British manufactures and commodities. A century ago these States, which now contain a population of sixteen millions, enjoying more abundantly than any other people the means of comfort and luxury, did not amount to one million; and in 1860 there can be little doubt that their numbers will exceed thirty millions, for the wild lands of the far west,' consisting of the most fertile soil in the world, admit of a vast increase of population; and until these lands are cultivated, the laws which limit the increase of the people in older countries will not be called into operation in the United States. These sixteen millions of our American brethren are already better customers for our manufactures than France and Germany with a population of seventy millions, and as the latter countries are approaching or have reached a state in which the progress of manufactures is more strikingly displayed than that of agriculture, they are becoming our rivals, while in the United States industry is most profitably employed in developing the resources of agriculture, and we, by our advancement in non-agricultural industry and arts, may materially assist them in the rapid creation of wealth from the cultivation of the soil. No policy can be truer to the best interests of both countries than that which tends to encourage their mutual commercial dependence; but strong as are the ties which unite them, their intercourse might be on a still grander scale. The following facts show the proportions in which their commercial interests are blended:-1, In 1821 the proportion which the trade with England bore to the whole foreign trade of the United States was 35 per cent., and in 1835 it was 41 per cent. 2, The proportion which the trade with the United States bore to the whole foreign trade of England was 17 per cent. in 1821, and 22 per cent in 1835. In 1805 the proportion was 28 per cent., but in the interval our aggregate trade with all other countries had increased in a greater ratio than that with the United States. 3, The proportion of British to American shipping which entered the ports of the United States averaged 9 per cent. annually from 1822 to 1830, but from 1831 to 1836 the average was 35 per cent. The suspension of friendly relations between these two great countries has recently been a topic of discussion, Could anything be more absurd and wicked than a war between them? Whatever political misunderstandings may have arisen, let them be settled by the calm decision of reasonable men in both countries, and not by a senseless destruction of property and resources, which, after exhausting the strength of both parties, would probably still leave the subject of quarrel a bone of contention. We trust that both in England and America the silent influence of the friends of peace will put down the noisy clamour of what is called the war party,' which appears to consist of only a small number of braggadocios. Those who shelter lend to traitors, Traitors are themselves, I trow; And as such I now impeach ye, And as such I curse ye now. Cursed be your wives and children! Cursed be your babes unborn! Cursed be your youth, your aged— All that joy, and all that mourn! Cursed eke be your forefathers, That they gave ye life and breath! Cursed be the bread, the water, Which such traitors nourisheth! Cursed be men, women, children! Cursed be the great, the small! Cursed be the dead, the livingAll within Zamora's wall! Lo! I come to prove ye traitorsReady stand I on this plain Five to meet in single combat, As it is the wont in Spain.' Out then spake the Count Gonzalo— Ye shall hear what he did say :'What wrong have our infants done ye? What our babes unborn, I pray? Wherefore curse ye thus our women? Why our aged and our dead? Wherefore curse our cattle? wherefore All our fountains and our bread? Know that for this foul impeachment Thou must battle do with five?' Answer made he, Ye are traitors All who in Zamora live!" " Then said Don Arias, "Would I had never been born, if it be in truth as thou sayest; nevertheless, I accept thy challenge, to prove that it is not so." Then, turning to the citizens, he said, "Men of great honour and esteem, if there be among ye any who hath had aught to do with this treachery, let him speak out and confess it, and I will straightway quit this land, and go in exile to Africa, that I may not be conquered in battle as a traitor and a villain.' With one voice all replied, "Fire consume us, Count Gonzalo, Of this deed had privity. Dolfos only is the traitor; None but he the king did slay. God will be thy shield and stay.'" Though the Infanta with tears besought Don Arias to regard his hoary head, and forego so perilous an emprise, he insisted that he and his four sons should accept the challenge, “because he had been called a traitor." "Deem it little worth, my lady, That I go forth to the strife; Oweth wealth, and fame, and life.' The combat which ensued brings to mind the description given by Sir Walter Scott, in his Fair Maid of Perth,' of old Torquil and his sons in the battle between the Highland clans Chattan and Quhele. We must not, however, omit to notice a romance which describes the knighting of Pedro, one of the sons of Don Arias, previous to the battle. It tells us that after he had watched his arms before the altar, mass was sung by the bishop, who also blessed each piece of armour ere it was donned, and that the young squire was then dubbed by his father, who added some knightly counsel: Rise a knight, son of my bosom ! A knight of noble race thou art; That God make thee all thou shouldst be, Is the fond wish of my heart. True and upright be to all men ; Traitors shun thou and despise ; Of thy friends be thou the bulwark- Firm in trial, bold in peril, Mighty in the battle-field. But as long as in the combat He doth lance or sword oppose, Spare thou neither thrusts nor slashes, Be not niggard of thy blows."" The "fond wishes" of the old Count were, alas! soon disappointed, for on the first encounter with Don Diego Ordoñez, Pedro Arias was slain. Such was also the fate of his two brothers Diego and Hernan, but the latter, when mortally wounded, struck Don Diego's charger, which, furious with pain carried his rider out of the lists, so that the umpires declared it to be a drawn battle. Bravely did the old Count bear up against his heavy loss, as is shown by a short but beautiful romance which describes the funeral procession of one of his In the midst of a troop of three hundred horsemen was borne the corpse, in a wooden coffin: "Five score noble damsels wail him, sons. Of his kindred every one; Some an uncle, some a cousin, Some bewail a brother gone. But the fair Urraca Hernando, Deepest is her grief, I ween." This was probably his true love, or it might have been the Infanta herself, who was his foster-sister. "How well," says the romance, "doth the old Arias Gonzalo comfort them!" "Wherefore weep ye thus, my damsels? But he died before Zamora, It does not appear that Arias Gonzalo or his sons were in any way guilty of the treacherous murder of the king Don Sancho. Suspicion would rather attach to the Infanta Urraca, who, according to the Chronicle, had promised Bellido Dolfos whatever he might ask, if he would cause the siege to be raised. On the ultimate fate of this miscreant, further than that he was imprisoned by Don Arias, both Chronicle and romances are wholly silent. THE SPRING FAIR AT PESTH, HUNGARY. As I happened to be at Pesth during the great spring fair, I was not only provided with ample materials for amusement, but an opportunity of seeing the motley population of natives and strangers which are usually attracted on this occasion; for though the Magyars, who have given their name to Hungary, are the greatest landed proprietors, and hold the reins of government, yet they are inferior in numerical force to the Sclavointo at least half a dozen separate tribes, each speaking a different nians (or Totoks), the original inhabitants. These are divided patois; and if to them we add the colonies of Germans, Wallachians, Greeks, Armenians, French, Italians, Jews, and Gipsies, speaking their own languages, and retaining their national man mers, customs, and religions, we may term Hungary a miniature | beneath the piazzas, or in the numerous barks on the river, with picture of Europe. no other covering save the canopy of Heaven and their own sheep-skin mantles: he will also, still more to his surprise, behold them anointing their persons with lard, in order to protect themselves during the day from the effect of heat, and the bites of vermin and insects. In wonder all philosophy began; in wonder it ends; and admiration fills up the interspace. But the first wonder is the offspring of ignorance; the last is the parent of adoration. My first lounge was through the fair, which afforded as many groups for the painter as for the observer of life and manners. The Babel-like confusion of tongues was endless; and the costume and appearance of the motley tribes could not have been equalled in variety by any other fair in Europe, or even by the most entertaining maskers that ever trod the Piazza San Marco, or the Corso at Rome; because here each performed his natural character. The most prominent figures in the group were ever the proud Magyars, particularly those just arrived from the pro-Coleridge. vinces. The dress of some of these noblemen was indeed singular, consisting of a tight sheep-skin coat, or mantle, the woolly side inwards; while the other was gaudily embroidered all over with the gayest flowers of the parterre, in coloured silk, among which the tulip was ever the most prominent. Those whose wealth permitted it, were to be seen habited in their halfmilitary, half-civil costume; and you might in truth fancy from their haughty demeanour, that you were beholding a feudal lord of our own country of the middle ages, as, mounted on their fiery steeds, and armed with sword and pistols, they galloped through the parting multitude, upon whom, when the slightest interruption occurred, they glanced with scorn and contempt. Cottages of Bengal.-The cottage of Bengal, with its trim curved thatched roof and cane walls, is the best looking in India. Those of Hindoostan are tiled, and built of clay or unburnt bricks; and though equally convenient, have less neatness of appearance. The mud or stone huts and terraced roofs of the Deccan village look as if they were mere uncovered ruins, and are the least pleasing to the eye of any. Farther south, though the material is the same, the execution is much better; and the walls, being painted in broad perpendicular streaks of white and red, have an appearance of neatness and cleanness.-Mr. Elphinstone's History of India. is made in Hainault and Brabant, for the purpose of being worked Value of Thread for Lace.-The exquisitely fine thread which into lace, has occasionally attained a value almost incredible. A thousand to fifteen hundred francs is no unusual price for it by the pound; but some has actually been spun by hand of so exquisite a texture as to be sold at the rate of ten thousand francs, or upwards of 400%., for a single pound weight. Schools have been established to teach both the netting of the lace and draw Among crowds of Jews, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Tyrolians, Germans, Sclavonians, Italians, and Hungarian peasants, were groups of gipsies, their black matted locks shading their wild sunburnt countenances, exhibiting their dancing-dogs, bears, and monkeys, or playing a lively tune for the amusement of the surrounding multitude, these itinerants being the popular musicians of Hungary. In another part of the fair, mountebanks on elevated platforms were relating the exploits of the famous robber Schrubar in the great forest of Bakony; or the ravages committed by the dreadful monster, half-serpent, half-flying dragon, that lately rose out of the Balaton Lake, together with the mosting of designs by which to work it; and the trade at the present veritable history of the reappearance of the renowned Merman, has ever been known before, even in the most palmy days of the moment is stated to be in a more flourishing condition than it who had inhabited, for the last two years, his own extensive do- Netherlands.-Mr. Emerson Tennent's Belgium. main, the Hansag marshes. All these astonishing marvels, besides hundreds of others, were listened to by the peasants not only with attentive ears, but open mouths, and were illustrated by paintings as large as life, depicting the extraordinary wonders, executed in a style which set all imitation at defiance. The nice conduct of a clouded cane,-" that the great thoroughfare through which men now move “intent on high designs" should be a field for football :— Game of Football, in Holborn or the Strand.-If the mob round the pillory was safely passed, there was another mob often to be encountered. Rushing along Cheapside, or Covent GarBread, cakes, cheeses, vegetables, &c. were heaped on high in den, or by the Maypole in the Strand, came the football players. the streets, with the owners of each separate pile squatted in the It is scarcely conceivable, when London had settled into civilimidst. The savoury odour of frying sausages attracted some zation, little more than a century ago-when we had our famed gourmands; whilst others feasted on the lighter refreshments of Augustan age of Addisons and Popes-when laced coats, and pastry which the accomplished cuisiniers were preparing for their flowing wigs, and silver buckles ventured into the streets, and gratification. But the popular viand was evidently the cray- the beau prided himself on fish, which all ranks, however otherwise engaged, were incessantly consuming; nor did they in this manifest any deficiency in goût, as the flavour of the little dainties was really excellent, and I have rarely seen them exceeded in size. Indeed, to thread the mazes of this great Hungarian fair, so as to obtain a view of its rarities, was an undertaking of no little difficulty, on account of the immense pyramids of wool, hides, tobacco, and other raw This is no poetical fiction. It was the same immediately after materials, which ever stood in the way; and as these articles the Restoration. D'Avenant's Frenchman thus complains of the were most tempting bates to the cupidity of the Jewish traders, streets of London :-"I would now make a safe retreat, but that they might constantly be seen making use of all their cajoling methinks I am stopped by one of your heroic games, called eloquence, while prevailing upon the artless peasant to dispose football; which I conceive (under your favour) not very conve of his wares at a price little more than nominal. When, how-niently civil in the streets, especially in such irregular and narever, the case was reversed, and the gaudy merchandise of the Jew and Armenian traders induced the peasant to become a purchaser, the balance of trade was considerably against him. But, perhaps, of all the groups over which my eye wandered, none more strongly arrested my attention than the Saxon colonists: these were attired in the same costume in which their ancestors, some centuries gone by, had emigrated from their father-land, their blue eyes and heavy quiet countenances forming a striking contrast to the vivid glances of the half-Asiatic people around them. Nor were their moral traits less distinctly defined; for the prudent German, well knowing he was in the society of some of the most accomplished pickpockets on the Continent, wisely determined that they should not prey upon him; he did not once remove his hand from his pocket, while his good woman never failed to keep watch behind, attended by her little ones, who, on the approach of the half-wild gipsy, timidly covered their flaxen heads in the many folds of mamma's cumbrous petticoat. I would, above all things, recommend every traveller who may visit Pesth during the spring fair, not to leave it without taking a morning's ramble through the town. He will then see thousands of men, women, and children lying about the streets, "The prentice quits his shop to join the crew; row roads as Crooked Lane. Yet it argues your courage, much like your military pastime of throwing at cocks. But your mettle would be more magnified (since you have long allowed those two valiant exercises in the streets) to draw your archers from Finsbury, and during high market let them shoot at butts in Cheapside." It was the same in the days of Elizabeth. To this game went the sturdy apprentices, with all the train of idlers in a motley population; and, when their blood was up, as it generally was in this exercise, which Stubbes calls "a bloody and murthering practice, rather than a fellowly sport or pastime," they had little heed to the passengers in the streets, whether they were passing by RAILWAY RAMBLES. THE RAVENSBOURNE RIVER. [Source of the Ravensbourne.] WEET, fresh, and balmy as are the breezes, fair the skies, and tender the foliage of the youngest and gentlest of the seasons, Spring, yet how few of us seem to appreciate its peculiar loveliness; how few of us hurry forth to enjoy it where alone it can be enjoyed, by the green fields and hedgerows, or on the glorious heaths now revelling in all the splendour of the golden blossoms of the furze. The proverbial uncertainty of the season is probably the chief cause of its being so neglected; in fact, it must be owned that Spring is sometimes little better than a name with us: to-day it is summer, come before its time; to-morrow winter, still lingering when we thought we had fairly got rid of him for another year. But the less of the real spring we have, the more surely should we enjoy it when it is ours. Then let us not lose this bright morning, which seems to promise a beautiful day, but, leaving the town "buried in smoke and sleep," "Wander o'er the dewy fields, Where freshness breathes, and dash the trembling drops From the bent bush, as through the verdant maze Of sweetbriar hedges we pursue our walk." The Ravensbourne rises on Keston Common, near the border of Surrey, and flows northward past the town of Bromley and the village of Lewisham, and between the towns of Greenwich and Deptford, into the Thames. It turns several mills, and supplies Greenwich and Deptford with water by means of waterworks. It is navigable for nearly a mile up to Deptford Bridge for lighters and other small craft. The whole length of the Ravensbourne is about ten miles. The head of the Ravensbourne shall be our starting-point; its course from thence to the Thames at Deptford, our course: from Deptford we can return to the great town again by the Greenwich Railway, for we propose in these Rambles to use that magnificent mode of locomotion in whatever way may be most convenient to us, or to those who, interested in the scenes described, or the associations with which these scenes are connected, may honour us by personally wandering through the same routes. We therefore make no apology for commencing with a ramble to the railway before-mentioned, or in leaving the Elephant and Castle by the older, slower, but more picturesque conveyance. So the Tunbridge Wells coach sets us down by one of the lodge gates of Holwood Park, thirteen miles from London; from thence a road leads to Keston Cross, where there is a well-known inn, standing, it is supposed, on the site of some old cross, and which, with its host and ostler, has been commemorated by Hone in some of the rambles about London described in his 'Table-Book." At Keston Cross we turn to the left, and pass along a road bordered by wild-looking park plantations, where the graceful and feathery birch is seen rising to a considerable height, its slender stems frosted as it were with silver. At a short distance, the road, which has been gradually rising, opens upon a heath spreading away to a considerable distance on the right; on the left is Holwood Park, with the beautiful lodge, and in front the summit of the eminence known as Holwood Hill. Just at the foot of this hill the heath opens into a long hollow, where first we find the source of the Ravensbourne, and then three large artificial ponds formed by its waters. Beyond the latter its stream is so small as to be imperceptible to the eye as it flows through some broad meadows partially screened by plantations. Among the other features of this beautiful place, we must not omit to notice one of those picturesque objects, so characteristic of an English landscape, the windmill on the heath on our left, and the distant hills, yet bathed in the purple light of the morning, of Norwood and Forest Hill, beside which the great metropolitan dome may be often seen in front, and Shooter's Hill, Chiselhurst, &c. to the right. The history or tradition |