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ordinary ships seeming quite like pleasureyachts by her side-could her full admeasurement be apprehended. Her length was three hundred and twenty-five feetquite a long journey from her transom to her bow, and requiring no ordinary human lungs, even in a calm, to make the voice reach from one to the other. The breadth of the ship was fifty-three feet, and the depth thirty-nine. She had four masts for the spreading of her mighty wings, and four decks for the strengthening of her sides and the covering of her merchandise. Her mainmast, which was forty-four inches in diameter, reached at its summit the distance of one hundred and thirty-one feet. It is a curious item to record the amount of the principal material entering into her construction :

"Timber of chestnut, and elm, and oak, And scatter'd here and there, with them, The knarred and crooked cedar knees, Brought from regions far away— From Pascagoula's sunny bay, And the banks of the roaring Roanoke!" Of hard pine, one million five hundred thousand feet entered into her immense mass; two thousand and fifty-six tons of white oak; three hundred and thirty-six and a half tons of iron; fifty-six of copper, exclusive of sheathing. Fifty thousand days' work were expended upon her hull, equivalent to the labor of one man for one hundred and thirty-seven years. Fifteen thousand six hundred and fifty-three yards of canvas were used for her sails. Her crew was composed of one hundred men and thirty boys. This mighty vessel also was Mr. M'Kay's sole adventure. Into her immense sides he poured his hardlyearned wealth without stint, while all others stood aloof, hesitating at the experiment. No ordinary interest was felt on its success. The bulletins issuing from time to time from the press were eagerly perused, and public curiosity had reached an unusual height before the vessel was completed. The island portion of the city, where it was towering up upon its stocks, was constantly visited by crowds, and the well-known courtesy of the builder was tested to its utmost by the constant inquiries of curious visitors :

"Day by day the vessel grew,

With timbers fashion'd strong and true,-
Stemson, and keelson, and sternson-knee,-
Till, framed with perfect symmetry,
A skeleton ship rose up to view!

And around the bows and along the side,
The heavy hammers and mallets plied,
Till after many a week, at length,
Wonderful to form, and strength
Sublime in its enormous bulk,
Loom'd aloft the shadowy hulk !"
But when the hour of launching arrived,
the harbor presented a most extraordinary
and sublime spectacle. Boats of every
their last capacity, sailed to and fro in
description, and steamboats, loaded to
the vicinity of the stately ship. Wharfs,
bridges, vessels, house-tops-every con-
venient spot overlooking in any degree
the object of general interest—were black
with spectators :—

"All is finish'd! and at length
Has come the bridal day
Of beauty and of strength.

To-day the vessel shall be launch'd!
With fleecy clouds the sky is blanch'd,

And o'er the bay

Slowly, in all his splendors dight,

The great sun rises to behold the sight." Quietly among the crowd of workmen and of personal friends, moved the presiding genius of the whole scene-the "master," who had with his own hand prepared

"The model of the vessel, That should laugh at all disaster, And with wave and whirlwind wrestle." Some expressed their fears lest the launch should not be successful. "Did he fear no accident?" they asked. "Was he sure all was right?" "Could he launch her?" He might have been pardoned for a little impatience. "Launch her!" said he; "I could place her upon the top of Bunker-Hill Monument, if it were necessary to do so." Never was a launch more successful-so sublime, so enrapturing. Let Longfellow utter it in his noble song :

"Then the master,

With a gesture of command,
Waved his hand;

And at the word,

Loud and sudden there was heard,
All around them and below,
The sound of hammers, blow on blow,
Knocking away the shores and spurs.
And see! she stirs !

She starts, she moves.-she seems to feel
The thrill of life along her keel,
And, spurning with her foot the ground,
With one exulting, joyous bound,
She leaps into the ocean's arms!
And lo! from the assembled crowd
There rose a shout, prolonged and loud,
That to the ocean seem'd to say,
'Take her, O bridegroom, old and gray;
Take her to thy protecting arms,
With all her youth and all her charms!"

It was supposed that this noble ship would make her first voyage to California; but her vast capacities were finally filled for Liverpool, and no ordinary national pride was felt in view of the impression which she would make upon the merchants and masters of England, when she should reach their ports, under the command of her gallant captain, late of The Sovereign of the Seas. But this voyage she never sailed. She was ingloriously burned at the wharf in New-York, when chafing upon her fastenings, all ready for the sea. What will be her fate, or future transformation, remains yet to be seen. But not a "smell of fire" passed over her builder's hopes and plans. A large ship, second only to herself, The Champion of the Seas, was in the process of construction, and has since been launched and sent to the English firm by whom she was ordered a model and an illustration of American skill. The reputation earned by these ships has brought into Mr. M'Kay's hands a vast amount of European orders; and his yards are now pressed to their utmost power to execute them. He has himself planned, and is rapidly constructing, a new line of packet-ships, to run between Boston and different European ports. The vessels will be of the first class; and we can readily imagine how popular a line, both for passengers and freight this must be, prepared at this hour of the maturest experience of the builder, combining every advantage that human invention has secured to the marine art; elegant in accommodations, fleet as the wind, and as strong as timber, iron, and copper can render them. During the past ten years, a fleet of ships, some forty or more, any one of which would be a reputation for a man, has been issuing from the yards of Mr. M'Kay—all of them marked with the genius of their builder, and defending his fame in every successive trip.

It is an interesting fact, that not one of his ships has ever put into a port in distress, or cost the underwriters a dollar for repairs, in consequence of any defect in its construction.

In the prime of his manhood, with an abundant capital, a rich experience, and the spur of extraordinary previous success, it is a safe prophecy that, if his life is spared, wonderful advances will yet be secured in the naval art, and the wind will

yet be a powerful competitor with steam in the carrying business upon the high

seas.

It is grateful to record, what may already have been inferred, that in private life, and as a citizen, our great builder illustrates all the genial and generous traits of character that belong to, and adorn the true Christian gentleman. Success, then, to his noble enterprises! And may he long live to give wings to a commerce, which, if sanctified by the gospel, will become the evangelizer of the world. the present condition of the world, commerce, in its great arena of navigation, is among the chief means of civilization and progress. Such a genius as Mr. M'Kay's is of more value to the race than that of the great soldier, or even the great statesman; we take pleasure, therefore, in paying this tribute to his merits.

[For the National Magazine.] SING WITH THE HARP.

BY J. G. LYONS.

In

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LUTHER CARRIED OFF BY HIS FRIENDS ON HIS RETURN,

1521.

While all is indignation and rage at Worms, that the daring offender should EITHER Spaniard nor Roman was have been allowed to escape, the time is

German nation, so strong in the faith; German fidelity and noble princely care had prepared for him a secret asylum.

"But because Luther had been outlawed by the emperor, and excommunicated by the pope, God inspired the wise Elector of Saxony to give orders, through confidential and trustworthy persons, to take prisoner for a time the outlawed and excommunicated Luther, as the pious servant of God, Obadiah, the teacher of King Ahab, kept one hundred priests for a time concealed in a cavern, and fed them, while the Queen Jezebel sought their life. Our doctor consented to this step at the anxious desire of good people."-Mathe

sius.

enemies from the heights of the castle of Wartburg. Happy and safe in his dungeon, he can return to his flute, sing his German psalms, translate his Bible, and thunder at the devil and the pope quite at his ease. "The report gains ground," writes Luther, "that I have been made prisoner by friends sent from Franconia;" and, at another time, "I fancy it was supposed that Luther had been killed, or condemned to utter silence, in order that the public mind might relapse under that sophistical tyranny which I am so hated for having begun to undermine." However, Luther took care to let it be known that he was still alive. He writes to Spalatin: "I should not be sorry if this letter were

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lost by some adroit neglect on your part, and should fall into our enemies' hands. . . . The priests and monks who played off their pranks while I was at large, have become so alarmed since I have been a prisoner, that they begin to soften the preposterous tales they have propagated about me. They can no longer bear up against the pressure of the increasing crowd, and yet see no avenue by which to escape. See you not the arm of the Almighty of Jacob in all that he works, while we are silent and rest in patience and in prayer! Is not the saying of Moses herein verified, Vos tacebitis, et Dominus pugnabit pro vobis, The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace?'

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Captain Berlepsch and Burkard Hund, Lord of Altenstein, with their servants, stopped Luther's carriage in a hollow way near the castle of Altenstein, in the direction of Waltershausen, and carried him off.

His companion, Amsdorf, had to

proceed alone, Luther's younger brother having fled, alarmed at sight of the approaching horsemen.

LUTHER BEGINS HIS TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE AT THE WARTBURG.

THE heroic monk has suddenly vanished from the busy market-places of the world; we find him in the quiet chamber of a Thuringian castle disguised as Master George, absorbed in the study of that volume which, since the dark days of Erfurt, had become the shining star of his life. This book was now to speak in the German tongue to German hearts; such was Luther's resolution, and his labor in his Patmos.

"While our doctor was kept quite secretly at Wartburg, he was not idle, but pursued dayly his studies and his prayers, and devoted himself to the Greek and Hebrew Bibles, and wrote many consolatory letters to his friends."-Mathesius.

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