the next reign that could be considered an unfortunate reign, was inaugurated by the same evil omens. The day selected for the coronation (in 1685) was a day memorable for England-it was St. George's day, the 23rd of April, and entitled, even on a separate account, to be held a sacred day as the birthday of Shakspeare in 1564, and his deathday in 1616. The king saved a sum of £60,000 by cutting off the ordinary cavalcade from the Tower of London to Westminster. Even this was imprudent. It is well known that, amongst the lowest class of the English, there is an obstinate prejudice (though unsanctioned by law) with respect to the obligation imposed by the ceremony of coronation. So long as this ceremony is delayed, or mutilated, they fancy that their obedience is a matter of mere prudence, liable to be enforced by arms, but not consecrated either by law or by religion. The change made by James was, therefore, highly imprudent; shorn of its antique traditionary usages, the yoke of conscience was lightened at a moment when it required a double ratification. Neither was it called for on motives of economy, for James was unusually rich. This voluntary arrangement was, therefore, a bad beginning; but the accidental omens were worse. They are thus reported by Blennerhassett, (History of England to the end of George I., vol. iv. p. 1760, printed at Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 1751.) "The crown, being too little for the king's head, was often in a tottering condition, and like to fall off." Even this was observed attentively by spectators of the most opposite feelings. But there was another simultaneous omen, which affected the Protestant enthusiasts, and the superstitious, whether Catholic or Protestant, still more alarmingly. "The same day the king's arms, pompously painted in the great altar window of a London church, suddenly fell down without apparent cause, and broke to pieces, whilst the rest of the window remained standing." Blennerhassett mutters the dark terrors which possessed himself and others. "These," says he, "were reckoned ill omens to the king."

In France, as the dreadful criminality of the French sovereigns through the seventeenth century began to tell powerfully, and reproduce itself in the miseries and tumults of the French populace through the eighteenth century, it is interesting to note the omens which unfolded themselves at intervals. A volume might be written upon them. The French Bourbons renewed the picture of that fatal house which, in Thebes, offered to the Grecian observers the spectacle of dire

auguries, emerging from darkness through three generations, à plusieurs reprises. Everybody knows the fatal pollution of the marriage pomps on the reception of Marie Antoinette in Paris; the numbers who perished are still spoken of obscurely as to the amount, and with shuddering awe for the unparalleled horrors standing in the background of the fatal reignhorrors.

"That, hush'd in grim repose, await their evening prey."

But in the life of Goethe is mentioned dowy) omen in the pictorial decorations of a still more portentous (though more shathe arras which adorned the pavilion on the French frontier: the first objects which met the Austrian Archduchess, on being hailed as Dauphiness, was a succession of the most tragic groups from the most awful section of the Grecian theatre. The next alliance of the same kind between the same great empires, in the persons of Napoleon and the Archduchess Marie Louisa, was overshadowed by the same unhappy omens, and, as we all remember, with the same unhappy results, within a brief period of five years.

Spirit of Discovery.

THE NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.

(Concluded from page 64.)

THE strong wind that had forbidden our advance, gave wings to our retreat. The same night (August 20) we landed, once more, at Cape Britannia, and next morning recrossed the inlet, direct to Point Pechell, with a heavy sea. On the 22nd we explored a long narrow bay, on the west side of Point Ogle, which extends to the parallel of latitude. The north wind blew roughly, with sharp frost; and next day we got no farther than Point Richardson. From thence we crossed over, on the 24th, to what had, from the Continent, appeared like two islands, but which we rightly conjectured to form part of the southern shore of Boothia, or, to speak with greater precision, of that land on which stands Cape Felix of Capt. James Ross. This shore we had the satisfaction of tracing for about sixty miles, till it turned up to the north, in lat. 68. 41. 16. N., long. 98. 22. W., only fifty-seven miles from Ross's Pillow, the dip of the needle was 89. 28. 45. N., the magnetic pole bearing N.N.E., distant ninety miles. The variation, as shewn by both the azimuth compass and the horizontal bar needle, was 45 degrees east. The objects seen on this coast are easily enumerated. A low, uninteresting, limestone tract, abounding,

nevertheless, in rein-deer, musk oxen, and old native encampments. To the westward a good deal of ice appeared, and vast numbers of snow-geese pass high overhead, in long triangular flights, bound for milder skies.

Whilst engaged in taking observations, our men constructed another durable memorial of our discoveries, which was saluted in the usual manner. Then, recrossing the Strait, on the 25th, we resumed, for some time, our outward route, only keeping more along the seaward verge of the islands, so as to shape a straighter course. The weather, from being threatening and unsettled, soon became unequivocally

severe.

On the 29th of August, a severe snowstorm began, that lasted for seven days, during four of which we were fixed to a single spot by the violence of the northwest gales, while the frost was so keen that the pools among the rocks on which we lay, became solid enough to bear up a man. A more moderate interval succeeded this fierce outbreak. Quitting the Continent again, at the large river already mentioned, we struck N.N.W. for an extensive island, twenty-two miles off, which we coasted (N.W) for twenty miles; and, shortly before sunset, on the 6th of September, stood out from thence, due north, for the nearest point of Victoria Land, which proved equally distant.

We have never seen anything more brilliant than the phosphoric gleaming of the waves, when darkness set in. The boats seemed to cleave a flood of molten silver, and the spray dashed from their bows, before the fresh breeze fell back, like showers of diamonds, into the deep. It was a cold night, and when we at last made the land, cliffs, faced with eternal ice, obliged us to run on for a couple of leagues, before we could take the shore with safety. The coast of Victoria Land, which we explored for upwards of 150 miles, is incomparably the boldest we have met with in these seas. Often, near the shore, no bottom could be found within thirty-five fathoms of line, and the cornelian blue colour of the water everywhere indicated its profound depth. There are several noble bays, the largest of which, north-west of Cape Alexander, is twenty miles wide, and equally deep, backed by snow-clad mountains. It attains to 69 degrees 40 minutes north, the highest latitude of this voyage. At length we reached the extreme point seen by Mr. Simpson from Cape Franklin, in 1838, where the coast of this large country begins again to bend northward of west, Cape Barron Wing, by computation S.S.W., distant fifty miles. On the 10th of September we crossed this

magnificent Strait, with a strong E.S.E., or side-wind, and a rough sea, in which our gallant boats, old and worn-out as they were, acquitted themselves beyond our most sanguine hopes.

Our return from Cape Barron was miserably retarded by furious north-west winds and severe stress of weather. Winter permanently set in on the 15th of September, and, next day, to the undisguised joy of the whole party, we re-entered the Coppermine River, after by far the longest voyage ever performed in boats on the Polar Sea. Leaving one of our little craft, together with the remains of the pemican, (which, through age and long exposure, was become quite mouldy,) and various other articles, as a prize for the first Esquimaux who may visit the Bloody Fall, we ascended the river with our double crew in four days; abandoned our tents, and everything but absolute necessaries; crossed the barren ground, up to the knees in snow, having unluckily left our snowshoes on the coast; and safely reached St. Confidence, at dusk, on the 24th. The fisheries had failed worse than ever, and we had good reason to congratulate ourselves on not being doomed to pass a third winter within the arctic circle.

After settling with the Indians, liberally rewarding the most deserving, and supplying all with ammunition gratuitously, we took our departure on the evening of the 26th, to go into inland batteaus-one belonging to the Expedition, the other came from Fort Simpson sixteen days before our arrival.

Our passage of Great Bear Lake was most boisterous and inclement. In crossing the body of the lake, and other considerable traverses, our boats, with everything in them, and even the very clothes on our backs, became converted into shapeless masses and concretions of ice. It was high time for us to escape from Great Bear Lake; for the temperature, which was at 4 degrees below Zero when we landed at the head of the river, on the evening of the 4th October, fell 10 degrees below it in the course of the night; and next day we descended the rapid stream in the very midst of the driving ice. On entering the Mackenzie, we experienced a temporary mitigation of this excessive cold; but we should most assuredly have stuck fast above Fort Norman, had not the northern gales again rose in their strength, and, while they shattered and dispersed the rapidly-forming ice, enabled us to stem the current under close-reefed sails. At noon, on the 14th of October, after forcing our way, with no small risk, through the torrent of ice poured out by the river of the mountains, we reached this

place, and were cordially welcomed by our valuable friend, Chief Trader M'Pherson, who had, for some time, given up all hopes of our arrival.

Most of our people are still afflicted with acute pains and swellings in the limbs, caused by the cold and exposure; and are assured, by Mr. M'Pherson, that he has never known or heard of so early and rigorous a commencement of winter in Mackenzie's River. On the other hand, so fine a spring as 1839 seldom visits these frozen regions; and to this favouring circumstance, under Providence, ought our signal success to be partially ascribed.

October, 30. The state of the ice at length enables us to despatch carriers to Great Slave Lake. In the meantime, Governor Simpson's highly valued letter of 17th June, which unfortunately missed us on our way hither, has cast up overland.

We rejoice in having anticipated the Russian Expedition, and secured to our country and the company the indisputable honour of discovering the North-West Passage, which has been an object of search to all maritime nations for three centuries.

When our Expedition was planned at Norway House, in 1836, it was confidently expected that Sir George Back would have achieved the survey of the Gulf of Boothia with the Terror's boats, and that our meeting at the mouth of the Great Fish River would have left no blank in the geography of Northern America. That officer's failure, the exhaustion of our men and means, and the necessity of a new wintering ground, render a fresh Expedition indispensable for the examination of the Gulf of Boothia, the circuit of which, to the Strait of the Fury and Hecla, according to the Esquimaux accounts, cannot be less than 400 or 500 miles.

It only remains for us to recommend to your Honours' approbation the plan proposed by Mr. Simpson to perfect this interesting service, which, as he has no wish to avail himself of the leave of absence granted by Governor Simpson, he is prepared to follow up whenever the limited means required are placed at his disposal. We have the honour to be,

Honourable Sirs,

Your most obedient humble servants, PETER W. DEASE. THOMAS SIMPSON.

Varieties.

Eccentricity. The world considers eccentricity in great things, genius; in small things, folly.

Silk in France.-In forty-three departments of France, the annual value of the cultivation of the mulberry-tree, the production of silkworms, and the manufacture of silk dependent upon it, is 42,000,000 francs.

New Houses of Parliament.-The stone has been brought, by canal, from the Duke of Newcastle's quarries at Mansfield Woodhouse: it is of a buff colour; the beds vary from one foot and a half to three feet in thickness; and blocks of ten tons weight will be required.

Railway Speed.-In some recent trips upon the Great Western Railway, the maximum speed was fifty-eight miles per hour.

Sedans.-The Duchesses of Gloucester and Hamilton are stated, in the Observer, to be the only persons who still retain this antiquated mode of conveyance; "although the superbly-mounted chair to this day maintains its place in the halls of the old families of our nobility."

Actors' Salaries.-In the year 1778, the celebrated Mrs. Abingdon, Reddish, and Tom King subscribed £5. 10s. per annum to the Drury Lane Theatrical Fund; the sums paid being regulated by the salaries received, each of which was eight pounds per week.-Observer.

New Dye.-M. Boutin has obtained a new acid, from the root of the aloe, by the action of nitric acid, which has a beautiful red colour, and is found to be of great utility to dyers.-Literary Gazette: Paris Letter.

The Earl of Dudley.-Every one who was acquainted with this very accomplished person, must have been struck with the quickness of his fancy, and the readiness and variety of his knowledge. His reason was vigorous and disciplined; his judgment discriminate; his political views temperate and sagacious; his taste was delicate, and formed from the highest models; and his memory, which seemed very retentive and faithful, was stored with happy illustrations, and chosen passages from the best writers. His general conversation was light, unaffected, and elegant; but, in argument, and when that argument was on a subject of weight, he was serious and energetic, and pressed his reasonings with precision and force, and sometimes with great earnestness and animation.-[From a delightful paper on Lord Dudley's Letters, in the Gentleman's Magazine, evidently from an accomplished hand.]

Incomprehensibility. The orthodox Buddhist text is, the Buddhas are incomprehensible, their doctrines are incomprehensible, and the magnitude of the fruits of faith, to those who have faith in these incomprehensibles, is also incomprehensible.

Feeding Vanity.- Is the great man you would conciliate a coxcomb?-go to him in a waistcoat like his own. "Imitation is the sincerest flattery."

Tunnels.-The first subaqueous tunnel is believed to be that mentioned by Strabo, made at Babylon under the Euphrates, 1,500 feet long, and twelve feet high.

Gas from Horse-flesh.-Death is no longer synonymous with putting out the light; for the gas obtained from a dead horse has been found to give light for 411 hours, at the cost of one guinea!

State of Trade.-Rhubarb and senna are quite drugs, but there is a consumption of brimstone for matches; many having lately been made.

Dress.-The most graceful principle of dress is neatness, the most vulgar, is preciseness.

James I. was wont to chase country gentlemen from his court with this maxim: "Ships which look big in a river, look very little when at sea."Quarterly Review.

The Times newspaper of April 9th contained, 750 advertisements. These, at an average of seven shillings each, will return £262:10s.

LONDON: Published by GEORGE BERGER, Holywell Street, Strand. Printed by WHITEHEAD & Co. 76, Fleet Street, where all Communications for the Editor may be addressed.

RAMBLES IN NORTH WALES. FEW of the historical sites in this ro

mantic country equal, in interest, the localities associated with Owen Glyndwr, the renowned and formidable opponent of Henry IV. Of these sites, the most celebrated is Corwen, (the White Choir,) a small market-town on the London and Holyhead road, situated at the foot of the Berwyn mountains, on the bank of the Dee.* The memory of Owen is revered here, and through the neighbouring country, which was the scene of his domestic life; his hospitable mansion having stood at no great distance from the town. Not a vestige of it now exists; but the site is marked by a clump of fir-trees, on the left of the Llangollen road, about three miles from Corwen.

The Church, represented upon the preceding page, possesses several antiquarian attractions. Beneath an arch, on the north side of the altar, is an ancient coffin-lid, in high preservation, bearing the following inscription: "Hic jacet Jorwerth Sulien, vicarius de Coryaen: ora pro eo." In the wall is shewn the doorway through which Owen Glyndwr went whenever he attended divine worship; and the stone which now forms the lintel of the doorway leading to his seat, is said to retain the mark of his dagger, (half an inch in depth,) which he once threw at it.

In the churchyard, westward of the tower, is the shaft of a cross, fixed in a circular stone; and the name of Corwen is traced, by some antiquaries, to Corvaen, derived from the cross: cor signifying a circle, and maen, which is changed into vaen when joined with cór, is "The stone, or cross, in the circle."

Upon the Berwyn mountains, overhanging the churchyard, is a rocky recess, which bears the name of Glyndwr's Chair; whence Owen is said to have viewed nearly forty square miles of his own land. The prospect is very enchanting; the rich and delightful vale of Corwen expanding to

view with the Dee in the centre.

At Rhûg, within a mile and a half of Corwen, and the elegant seat of Colonel Vaughan, the true hospitality of Owen is kept up in the ancient Welsh style. At this mansion, likewise, are shewn several accredited relics of Owen; as a dagger, knife, and fork, all in one sheath, but

each having a distinct compartment, richly ornamented with silver, which Glyndwr usually carried. The knife and fork are rather slender. The dagger is seventeen inches long, twelve of which constitute the blade, which tapers to a point. At the end of the handle is his arms, consisting of a lion rampant, and three fleurs de lis, curiously engraved. The principal part of the handle is inlaid with black and yellow wood, banded with silver; and the shield at the top of the blade is of the same metal, curiously wrought, but not much larger in circumference than a piece. The knife and fork must necessarily be sheathed first, which the shield covers; consequently the dagger must be drawn first.

THE GEM OF THE WILD.

BY MISS VANDENHoff.

crown

THE one little spot in the sand desert dreary,
Where green boughs are glancing, (as emeralds
gleam
In a bed of bright gold,) for wanderers weary

To 'scape, 'neath their shadow, the sun's scorching beam

That one smiling spot, with its cool flowing waters, Is called, by the Arabs, "The Gem of the Wild." Thus, Ella, (thou fairest 'mong Eva's fair daughters,) Though doomed, from thy beauty, to wander exiled, To bear in my bosom the sharp sting whose anguish Is softened by naught but the mem'ry of thee, Though doomed through this cold world all lonely to languish,

Thy love is "The Gem of the Wild," sweet, to me!

THE FLOWER-WOMAN OF PARIS. "Non semper idem floribus est honos Vernis."

HORACE. The flowers of spring are not always brilliant.

SUCH is the sense of this line from Horace, which might be translated thus: All persons do not attach the same value to flowers. I have seen the time when to

purchase a bouquet was to me a matter of the highest importance; I found it a source of such delightful ideas, such flattering promises, and such sweet rewards. I was an excellent customer, during the whole year, to the flower-girls; they were always sure of seeing me on certain holidays, particularly days of mourning.

I never liked the ancient custom of wearing bouquets at the side, having one lection of flowers, put together without half of a fine bosom hidden under a colchoice, and disposed without grace. These bouquets of etiquette are not now in use, except at the three solemnities - marriage, baptism, and the guéte a l'église. fashionable, now, at the promenade, the theatre, and in riding, to carry in the hand a bouquet of roses, heliotrope, violets, or pinks, (the only flowers whose perfume is in harmony with the nerves of our

It is