accents, only woo'd to ruin, and only professed to deceive. The worthy counsellor trusted that no injurious impressions would be made on the minds of the jury by the colour of his client

"'Tis not a set of features,

This tincture of the skin, that we admire."

She was black, it was true; so was the honoured wife of Moses, the most illustrious and inspired of prophets. Othello, the celebrated Moor of Venice, and the victorious general of her armies, was black, yet the lovely Desdemona saw "Othello's visage in his mind." In modern times, we might quote his sable majesty of Hayti, or, since that country had become a republic, the gallant Boyer. He could also refer to Rhio Rhio, king of the Sandwich Islands, his copper-coloured queen, and madame Poki, so hospitably received, and fed to death by their colleague the king of England-nay, the counsellor was well advised that the brave general Sucre, the hero of Ayacucho, was a dark mulatto. What, then, is colour in estimating the griefs of a forsaken and ill-treated female? She was poor, it was true, and in a humble sphere of life; but love levels all distinctions; the blind god was no judge, and no respecter of colours; his darts penetrated deep, not skin deep; his client, though black, was flesh and blood, and possessed affections, passions, resentments, and sensibilities; and in this case she confidently threw herself upon the generosity of a jury of freemen--of men of the north, as the friends of the northern president would say, of men who did not live in Missouri, and on sugar plantations; and from such his client expected just and liberal damages.

Phillis then advanced to the bar, to give her testimony. She was, as her counsel represented, truly made up of flesh and blood, being what is called a strapping wench, as black as the ace of spades. She was dressed in the low Dutch fashion, which has not varied for a century, linseywoolsey petticoats, very short, blue worsted stockings, leather shoes, with a massive pair of silver buckles, bead ear-rings, her woolly hair combed, and face sleek and greasy. There was no dejected 'haviour of visage"-no broken heart visible in her face she looked fat and comfortable, as if she had sustained no damage by the perfidy of her swain. Before she was sworn, the court called the defendant, who came from among the crowd, and stood respectfully before the bench. Cuff was a good-looking young fellow, with a tolerably smartish

dress, and appeared as if he had been in the metropolis taking lessons of perfidious lovers-he cast one or two cutting looks at Phillis, accompanied by a significant turn up of the nose, and now and then a contemptuous ejaculation of Eh!-Umph!Ough!-which did not disconcert the fair one in the least, she returning the compliment by placing her arms a-kimbo, and surveying her lover from head to foot. The court inquired of Cuff whether he had counsel? "No, massa, (he replied) I tell my own 'tory-you see massa 'Squire, I know de gentlemen of de jury berry velldere is massa Teerpenning, of Little 'Sophus, know him berry vell-I plough for him;-den dere is massa Traphagan, of our town-how he do massa ?-ah, dere massa Topper, vat prints de paper at Big 'Sophus -know him too;-dere is massa Peet Steenberg-know him too-he owe me little money :-I know 'em all massa 'Squire;

I did go to get massa Lucas to plead for me, but he gone to the Court of Error, at Albany;-Massa Sam Freer and massa Cockburn said they come to gib me good character, but I no see 'em here."

Cuff was ordered to stand aside, and Phillis was sworn.

Plaintiff said she did not know how old she was; believed she was sixteen; she looked nearer twenty-six; she lived with Hons Schoonmaker; was brought up in the family. She told her case as pathetically as possible :

"Massa 'Squire," said she, "I was gone up to massa Schoonmaker's lot, on Shaungum mountain, to pile brush; den Cuff, he vat stands dare, cum by vid de teem, he top his horses and say, 'How de do, Phillis?' or, as she gave it, probably in Dutch,' How gaud it mit you?" Hail goot,' said I; den massa he look at me berry hard, and say, Phillis, pose you meet me in the nite, ven de moon is up, near de barn, I got sumting to say-den I say, berry bell, Cuff, I vill-he vent up de mountain, and I vent home; ven I eat my supper and milk de cows, Í say to myself, Phillis, pose you go down to de barn, and hear vat Cuff has to say. Well, massa 'Squire, I go, dare was Cuff sure enough, he told heaps of tings all about love; call'd me Wenus and Jewpeter, and other tings vat he got out of de playhouse ven he vent down in the slope to New York, and he ax'd me if I'd marry him before de Dominie, Osterhaut, he vat preached in Milton, down 'pon Marlbro'.

say, Cuff, you make fun on me; he say no, By mine zeal, I vil marry you, Phillis ;' den he gib me dis here as earnest."-Phillis

Cuff admitted that he had made her a kind of promise, but it was conditional. "I told her, massa 'Squire, that she was a slave and a nigger, and she must wait till the year 27, then all would be free, cording to the new constitution; den she said, berry vell, I bill wait."

Phillis utterly denied the period of probation; it was, she said, to take place "ben he got de new corduroy breeches from Cripplely Coon, de tailor; he owe three and sixpence, and massa Coon won't let him hab 'em vidout de money: den Cuff he run away to Varsing; I send Coon Crook, de constable, and he find um at Shaudakin, and he bring him before you, massa.'

The testimony here closed..

The court charged the jury, that although the testimony was not conclusive, nor the injury very apparent, yet the court was not warranted in taking the case out of the nands of the jury. A promise had evidently been made, and had been broken; some differences existed as to the period when the matrimonial contract was to have been fulfilled, and it was equally true and honourable, as the court observed, that in 1827 slavery was to cease in the state, and that fact might have warranted the defendant in the postponement; but of this there was no positive proof, and as the parties could neither read nor write, the presents might be construed into a marriage promise. The court could see no reason why these humble Africans should not, in imitation of their betters, in such cases, appeal to a jury for damages; but it was advisable not to make those damages more enormous than circumstances warranted, yet sufficient to act as a lesson to those coloured gentry, in their attempts to imitate fashionable infidelity.

The jury brought in a verdict of "Ten dollars, and costs, for the plaintiff."

The defendant not being able to pay, was committed to Kingston jail, a martyr to his own folly, and an example to all others in like cases offending.

I have more smiles, and fewer tears;
But tears are now restrain'd for shame:
Task-work the smiles my lip now wears,
That once like rain and sunshine came.
Where is the sweet credulity,

Happy in that fond trust it bore,
Which never dream'd the time would be
When it could hope and trust no more?
Affection, springing warmly forth-

Light word, light laugh, and lighter care;
Life's afternoon is little worth-

The dew and warmth of morning air.

I would not live again love's hour;
But fain I would again recall
The feelings which upheld its power-
The truth, the hope, that made it thrall.

I would renounce the worldliness,

Now too much with my heart and me;
In one trust more, in one doubt less,

How much of happiness would be !—
Vainer than vain! Why should I ask
Life's sweet but most deceiving part?
Alas! the bloom upon the cheek
Long, long outlives that of the heart.

L. E. L.-Monthly Magazine.

TIMBER IN BOGS.

It is stated in the second report of the commissioners on the bogs of Ireland, that three distinct growths of timber, covered by three distinct masses of bog, are discovered on examination. But whether these morasses were at first formed by the destruction of whole forests, or merely by the stagnation of water in places where its current was choked by the fall of a few trees, and by accumulations of branches and leaves, carried down from the surrounding hills, is a question.

Professor Davy is of opinion, that in many places where forests had grown undisturbed, the trees on the outside of the woods grew stronger than the rest, from their exposure to the air and sun; and that, when mankind attempted to establish themselves near these forests, they cut down the large trees on their borders, which opened the internal part, where the trees were weak and slender, to the influence of the wind, which, as is commonly to be seen in such circumstances, had immediate power to sweep down the whole of the internal parts of the forest. The large timber obstructed the passage of vegetable recrement, and of earth falling towards the rivers; the weak timber, in the internal part of the forest after it had fallen, soon decayed, and became the food of future vegetation.

Mr. Kirwan observes, that whatever trees are found in bogs, though the wood may be perfectly sound, the bark of the timber has uniformly disappeared, and the decomposi tion of this bark forms a considerable part of the nutritive substance of morasses. Notwithstanding this circumstance, tanning is not to be obtained in analysing bogs; their antiseptic quality is however indisputable, for animal and vegetable substances are frequently found at a great depth in bogs, without their seeming to have suffered any decay; these substances cannot have been deposited in them at a very remote period, because their form and texture is such as were common a few centuries ago. In 1786 there were found, seventeen feet below the surface of a bog in Mr. Kirwan's district, a woollen coat of coarse, but even, network, exactly in the form of what is now called a spencer; a razor, with a wooden handle, some iron heads of arrows, and large wooden bowls, some only half made, were also found, with the remains of turning tools: these were obviously the wreck of a workshop, which was probably situated on the borders of a forest. The coat was presented by him to the Antiquarian Society. These circumstances countenance the supposition, that the encroachments of men upon forests destroyed the first barriers against the force of the wind, and that afterwards, according to sir H. Davy's suggestion, the trees of weaker growth, which had not room to expand, or air and sunshine to promote their increase, soon gave way to the elements.

MODES OF SALUTATION. Greenlanders have none, and laugh at the idea of one person being inferior to another.

Islanders near the Philippines take a person's hand or foot, and rub it over their face.

Laplanders apply their noses strongly against the person they salute.

In New Guinea, they place leaves upon the head of those they salute.

In the Straits of the Sound they raise the left foot of the person saluted, pass it gently over the right leg, and thence over the face.

The inhabitants of the Philippines bend very low, placing their hands on their cheeks, and raise one foot in the air, with the knee bent.

An Ethiopian takes the robe of another and ties it about him, so as to leave his friend almost naked.

The Japanese take off a slipper, and the people of Arracan their sandals, in the street, and their stockings in the house, when they salute.

Two Negro kings on the coast of Africa, salute by snapping the middle finger three times.

The inhabitants of Carmene, when they would show a particular attachment, breathe a vein, and present the blood to their friend as a beverage.

If the Chinese meet, after a long separation, they fall on their knees, bend their face to the earth two or three times, and use many other affected modes. They have also a kind of ritual, or "academy of compliments," by which they regulate the number of bows, genuflections, and words to be spoken upon any occasion. Ambassadors practise these ceremonies forty days before they appear at court.

In Otaheite, they rub their noses together.

The Dutch, who are considered as great eaters, have a morning salutation, common amongst all ranks, "Smaakelyk eeten?”"May you eat a hearty dinner." Another is, "Hoe vaart awe."-" How do you sail?" adopted, no doubt, in the early periods of the republic, when they were all

navigators and fishermen.

The usual salutation at Cairo is, "How do you sweat?" a dry hot skin being a sure indication of a destructive ephemeral fever. Some author has observed, in contrasting the haughty Spaniard with the frivolous Frenchman, that the proud, steady gait and inflexible solemnity of the former, were expressed in his mode of salutation, "Come esta?"-" How do you stand?" whilst the "Comment vous portez-vous ? "How do you carry yourself?" was equally expressive of the gay motion and incessant action of the latter.

The common salutation in the southern provinces of China, amongst the lower orders, is, "Ya fan?"-"Have you eaten your rice?"

In Africa, a young woman, an intended bride, brought a little water in a calabash, and kneeling down before her lover, desired him to wash his hands; when he had done this, the girl, with a tear of joy sparkling in her eyes, drank the water; this was considered as the greatest proof she could give of her fidelity and attachment.

Omniana.

POETRY.

For the Table Book.

The poesy of the earth, sea, air, and sky,

Though death is powerful in course of time
With wars and battlements, will never die,
But triumph in the silence of sublime
Survival. Frost, like tyranny, might climb
The nurseling germs of favourite haunts; the roots
Will grow hereafter. Terror on the deep

Is by the calm subdu'd, that Beauty e'en might creep
On moonlight waves to coral rest. The fruits
Blush in the winds, and from the branches leap
To mossy
beds existing in the ground.

Stars swim unseen, through solar hemispheres, Yet in the floods of night, how brightly round -The zone of poesy, they reflect the rolling years.

A BAD SIGN.

P.

During a late calling out of the North Somerset yeomanry, at Bath, the service of livened by a visit from his sweetheart; one of them, a "Batcome boy," was enafter escorting her over the city, and being fatigued with showing her what she had

loudly at the door of a house in the Crescent, against which a hatchment was placed, and on the appearance of the powdered butler, boldly ordered "two glasses it." The man, staring, informed him he of scalded wine, as hot as thee canst make could have no scalded wine there-'twas no public-house.

"ne'er zeed in all her life," he knocked

"Then dose thee head,"

replied Somerset, "what'st hang out thik there zign var."

INSCRIPTION

FOR A TOMB TO THE MEMORY OF CAPTAIN HEWITSON, OF THE SHIP, TOWN OF UL

VERSTON.

By James Montgomery, Esq.

Weep for a seaman, honest and sincere,
Not cast away, but brought to anchor here;

Storms had o'erwhelin'd him, but the conscious ware
Repented, and resign'd him to the grave:
In harbour, safe from shipwreck, now he lies,
Till Time's last signal blazes through the skies;

Refitted in a moment, then shall he
Sail from this port on an eternal sea.

He only who is "noseless himself" will deem this a trifling article. My prime minister of pleasure is my snuff-box. The office grew out of my "liking a pinch, now and then," and carrying a bit of snuff, screwed up in paper, wherewith, some two or three times a day, I delighted to treat myself to a sensation, and a sneeze. Had I kept a journal of my snuff-taking business from that time, it would have been as instructive as "the life of that learned antiquary, Elias Ashmole, Esq., drawn up by himself by way of diary;" in submitting which to the world, its pains-taking editor says, that such works "let us into the secret history of the affairs of their several times, discover the springs of motion, and display inany valuable, though minute circumstances, overlooked or unknown to our general historians; and, to conclude all, satiate our largest curiosity." A comparative view of the important annals of Mr. Ashmole, and some reminiscent incidents VOL. I.-7.

of my snuff-taking, I reserve for my autobiography.

To manifest the necessity of my present brief undertaking, I beg to state, that I still remain under the disappointment of drawings, complained of in the former sheet. I resorted on this, as on all difficult occasions, to a pinch of snuff; and, having previously resolved on taking "the first thing that came uppermost," for an engraving and a topic, my hand first fell on the top of my snuff-box. If the reader be angry because I have told the truth, it is no more than I expect; for, in nine cases out of ten, a preference is given to a pretence, though privily known to be a falsehood by those to whom it is offered.

As soon as I wear out one snuff-box I get another-a silver one, and I, parted company long ago. My customary boxes have been papier-maché, plain black: for if I had any figure on the lid it was suspected to be some hidden device;

an