the part of the public. The law has now become established, that the audience with their tickets purchase the right to condemn as well as to praise.

While managers desire applause they must submit to censure; they have no right to complain when their efforts to please fail of success. Public opinion and public taste are the criterions of excellence, and there is no appeal. The stage may now take warning by the past, and learn an important truth from a favorite motto of the O. P.-ists :

Though thy mother says OLD SKINFLINT has more mortgages than he;

Thy lip's honey,
Bought with money
I-S-A-B-E-L!!

Montpelier, (Vt.)

A RIDE TO BONAVENTURE.

NEAR SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.

THE first thing I do when I arrive at a town of any considerable size, is to study the plan which usually hangs in every hotel, and obtain some general idea of the direction of the streets, and the locality of the important public buildings. The next thing I do is to mount a horse reputed for gentleness and sagacity, or who, at all events, can find the way back to his stall; and then I sally out in quest of adventures. If my memory should fail, I rely upon the extra intelligence hired for the day from the livery-stable; and it has happened to me more than once to discover in this way the truth of the maxim that Two heads are better than one.' In Savannah, where I am now writing, one hardly needs a clue of this kind. Any one who, in boyhood's years,' has watched the gradual growth of a bed-quilt under his mother's or sister's hands, and remembers the regularity with which the patches of green are interspersed with the patches of white, red and yellow, is perfectly qualified to appreciate all the mysteries of this beautiful city. The organ of order' must have been fully developed upon the head of its founder. It excels even Philadelphia in its regularity, for there is no such enormity as Dock-street, cutting decent parallelograms into triangles, and perplexing the mind of every traveller. But to do Philadelphia, which I love, no comparative injustice, let me send down and borrow the plan of the city for another scrutiny.

Well, here it is, spread out upon my bed, and covering nearly the whole counterpane. The original city is laid out with the most perfect regularity; but to accommodate the windings of the river, there was necessarily a little bend in the street which lies upon it; and here on the east is a road marked 'Thunderbolt,' which forces its way into the very heart of the suburbs. There are some twenty squares, well filled with trees, which in this spring weather are covered with an abundant foliage, the leaves looking as fresh and as green as if they had come from the country. Underneath, the Bermuda-grass grows vigorously, being protected by a railing and a peculiar gate, which prohibits the passage of every thing incapable of passing through a strait only one foot in the clear. I have seen ladies in all the glory of their flowing vestments within these enclosures, and I have also seen cows; but how they got in it is impossible for me to tell. There is always a difficulty about these green enclosures. The fathers of the city of course mean that every body should enjoy them, even boys with their shinny-sticks; and the delicate question is, how to regulate the terms of admission so as to exclude those who are unable properly to enjoy the privi

lege, and at the same time not to make the tariff bear too heavily upon the most beautiful objects in any place-the ladies.

However, that is not the subject which I took my pen in hand' to write about. The strange name, the ' Thunderbolt-road,' caught my eye upon the first glance at the map; and accordingly, after I had trotted awhile through the streets, and familiarized my eye pretty well with the prominent buildings, I struck off into this beautiful path,' as they say in this country. For a couple of miles it runs between fences and ditches, lined by the most magnificent trees. Within are gardens for the supply of the markets of the city. They appear to be highly productive, the soil being very rich, and well watered. Though early in spring, there seemed to be plenty of peas and ripe potatoes. It is hardly necessary to add, that they were cultivated by those most accomplished knights of the spade, the Patlanders.

I followed the road that seemed most travelled, and found myself in the midst of a beautiful grove of cedars, and soon before a house that occupied a picturesque position on the high bluff of the Savannah. The family appeared to be in a state of excitement. Little negroes were tearing back and forth between the garden-gate and the kitchen, and those of larger growth were thumping away upon tin-pans, iron-kettles, shovel-and-tongs, and various other instruments of discordant music. They seemed to be directing their attention to a cluster of trees, up to the branches of which they were gazing with as much earnestness as if they meant to magnetize them; but their wills were too much disturbed, for the branches waved in the gentle breeze very unconcernedly, while the countenances of the magnetizers were very much concerned indeed. Ancient Druids could not have looked with more appearance of devotion up to the solemn oaks, whence they expected aid, than did these sable aspi rants in this noisy and mysterious concert; and the priests of Baal could not have made more of a 'fuss generally' than was here produced by these extemporaneous drummers. They told me, De bees been swarming,' and all the noise was intended to charm them to remain. On me it had the effect of the reverse passes,' and I pursued my way along the river-bank. The shore is bold, and the table-land is at least eighty feet above the water. As I rode along I had a succession of beautiful views, very extensive, taking in many rice-plantations, with their broad canals and their whitewashed and comfortable-looking cabins glistening in the sun-light. But my attention was suddenly withdrawn from all other objects by finding myself in the midst of an avenue of live-oaks, one hundred yards long.

Exclamations on paper never look well. No quantity of marks of surprise (!!!) have any effect upon my feelings. My eyes usually glide over them without many thanks to the printer for his trouble. In fact, I doubt if any one, when quite alone, ever says 'oh!' or ah!' The physical effect of surprise is a quickening of the pulse, and an interruption of regular respiration for a moment, and

an effort to relieve one's-self by a long breath, which sometimes takes the shape of a long, low whistle. Now I have read as many descriptions of groves as any person I know, and supposed I had as good an idea of the original Gothic arch as could be obtained from trees planted by nature or art; but I confess I never imagined any thing which approached in beauty and impressiveness the avenues of oaks at Bonaventure. It will be impossible for any description that I can make to affect you as the sight must affect any one, who is at all impressible, when on the spot. After riding about for near an hour, I discovered that they had been planted by the hand of man, and were intended to surround a house, of which the ruins still remain. Standing in front of the house, you perceive that the rows before you, at the right hand and the left, and behind you, once formed the enclosure of a large square; beyond these, on every side except in the rear of the house, there are three other rows, quite perfect, forming three complete avenues, affording cool and shady walks at all times of the day. The centre rows are continued down to the river on one side, and toward the city on the other. A slight sketch will make this plain:

Behind the house there must have been a beautiful garden. The borders of the beds are made of 'tabby,' I think it is called, being a composition of lime, sand and shells, and they remain perfect to this hour. This beautiful place has not been inhabited for many years, and other trees have grown up among the live-oaks, producing an appearance of irregularity, which makes it difficult for a stranger to find out at once the details of the plan. These grounds have recently been purchased by the proprietor of the hotel, with the intention of laying them out for a cemetery. The surface of the earth is not so diversified as at Mount Auburn; but its solemn oaks, heavily draped with moss, give it a peculiar fitness for funereal purposes, which cannot elsewhere be obtained.

Mobile, Alabama.

L.