nect us with the months, which, at present, are passing with the rapid stream of time. Many are there, as I before remarked, devoted to one and all, but, to me, Autumn is especially endearing. Not even does the old cathedral, a wreck to time and the hurricanes of persecution, excite intenser feelings of that sad grandeur, which so well befit the contemplative mind in lone moments.

Johnson, it is true, repined at the October blast, and sought solace in his cup. The stigma of one poet, is however happily counterbalanced, by the soothing strain of Thomson, from whom the following beautiful lines escape.

"Oh bear me then to vast embowering shades,
"To twilight groves, and visionary vales;
"To weeping grottos, and prophetic glooms;
"Where angel forms athwart the solemn dusk,
66 Tremendous sweep, or seem to sweep along;
"And voices more than human, through the void
"Deep sounding, seize th'enthusiastic ear."

SODALIS.

SAY, shall I T

TO T

my grateful accents raise,
And tune my tongue to sounding words of praise?
Paint first thy form, where strength unites with grace,
And the whole soul beams from thy comely face;
Where every charm in lofty triumph sits,
Scorns poor defect, and to no fault submits;
In lively colours then pourtray thy mind,
Paint thee endearing, unaffected, kind;

So pure of heart, thou might'st with safety show
Thy inmost bosom to the basest foe;"

Of judgment sure, impartial and refined,
To wit that's clear and penetrating joined;
Thy hand and heart still open to thy friend,
Glad to oblige, unwilling to offend;
Forgiving others, to thyself severe;
Though earnest, easy, , yet sincere ;

While neither form nor mind one grace can want,
Without an angel, and within a saint?--

Ah no! in Sirius' hot and sultry reign,
The winter's snow shall clothe the scorching plain;
First healing plants on hills no more shall grow,
And rolling rivers shall forget to flow;

In India first shall icy mountains shine,
And in bleak Norway bud the tender vine,
Ere I so meanly prostitute my lays,

As dare to flatter, when I should not praise;
Ere vanity, through me, should stretch her sway,
And add one wretch to those who now obey.-

Be this my prayer: O gracious Maker hear,
And to my words lend thou a listening ear,
These give my friend: a length of happy years,
By storms unruffled and unstained by tears;
Give gentlest manners, and give spotless truth,
Give age's prudence with the fire of youth;
Give all that dignifies the manly mind,
Obedient passions, and a will resigned;
Give quick affections, kindled into flame,
At virtue's or his honored country's name,
Give conscious honor's quick instinctive sense,
And smiles unforced, with easy confidence:
And when with age, unknown to sorrows, blest,
He willing leaves the world, a sated guest;
May his pure soul depart without a groan,
And shine superior in the world unknown.

J.C.F.

RAIMONDO, OR THE YOUNG BANDIT.

СНАР. І.

RAIMONDO had retired to his chamber, but not to his bed.. By the bright light of the moon, he was perusing an account of the exploits of various Banditti. Interesting as the narratives were, they engrossed not his undivided attention. Something else was uppermost in his mind, which, ever and anon, abstracted his attention, and engaged his thoughts. He would read-then think-then read again-then stop on a sudden and listen, as if he heard the sound of footsteps ;-then would he throw himself on his bed, weary of waiting. But sleep

fled from his eyelids. If they closed, it was but for a moment, and he instantly started up, as if summoned to perform some more than ordinary undertaking. All was silent: the rest of the family were buried in deep sleep; the clock had just struck the eleventh hour. Raimondo was standing by his window, lost in thought, with his book of Banditti-tales before him, when a tap at the outside of the window broke his meditation. For one whole minute he stood-bewilderedracked with conflicting thoughts, nor answered he the visitor that awaited him without. The fatal moment had arrived, and all his former resolutions began to fail him his soul seemed unmanned at the prospect of what he was about to undertake. So Cæsar, when he reached the bank of the Rubicon, halted, and for awhile hesitated to set a traitor's foot upon the sacred soil of Rome; but the traitor's heart prevailed, and he marched boldly forward to enslave his country.

:

Raimondo had been trained to virtue; he had aspired even to the sacred office of the priesthood. When at College, studying for that purpose, his assiduity in his studies, and his virtuous and irreproachable conduct, for some time gained him the admiration and good will of his companions and superiors: but temptation came. A foolish pride made him ape the manners of other boys who were neither so well disposed, nor destined to the same holy office as himself. To gain their countenance and friendship, he became their lackey; he joined them in all their mischievous projects. Some of them, finding him a ready tool, devised schemes of mischief, in which they dared not take a part, and set him to execute them; and then laughed at his fool-hardiness, for buying their friendship, or rather their contempt at so dear a price. His career of sycophancy was short; for his altered conduct soon obliged his superiors to expel him from the College. After his return home he was eyed by a band of Banditti, who infested the neighbourhood, and being judged by them well calculated both in body and mind for their purpose, they laid

snares to entrap him. After a little manœuvring, and after alluring him to the commission of vice, in order to render him callous to all better feelings and early impressions, they made overtures to him, and he consented to join their party. According to agreement, he was that night to assist them in an attack upon the residence of a rich Signore, and for that end, one of that band of desperadoes, had now arrived to summon him.

Then arose in his soul, an agonizing conflict, such as he had never before experienced. He had often had struggles, but never one like this. Though his heart had been perverted, he had not made vice a profession. A fond father and a loving sister still thought him the innocent youth he had been, when first he had left them, to qualify himself for a state of life, which their pious ambition made them long to see him embrace. They knew not that he had been expelled from College he had succeeded in preventing all information of the matter from reaching them. He had feigned compliance with his religious duties to deceive them as to the state of his soul. And now the moment had arrived, in which he was to throw off the veil and to reveal to them the sad secret, that all their hopes were in vain, and that instead of being to his family a consolation and an honor, he was about to bring upon it the greatest of disgraces and afflictions. His broken-hearted parent and his disappointed sister, stamped their presence and their wretched state so forcibly upon his mind, that for a while he wavered, and almost resolved to rush from the danger, and to run to the arms of his fond parent, and lay open before him all the mysteries of wickedness, that were buried in his bosom. But his heart was too irrevocably wed to vice; its charms had gained too strong a hold upon him: he struggled—struggled fiercely—but the struggle was short; he threw off the troublesome counsellor, conscience, and the urgent demands of nature and affection, and trampling upon them, manned his heart anew for his career of wickedness,

and ashamed that he had hesitated, he hastened to unbar the casement, and quickly descended by the folding ladder, by which his visitor had ascended.

For a short time he and his companion walked on in silence; they were soon joined by others of their body, and each was informed of the part he was to take in the attack. Raimondo joined heart and hand in the cause: he had imbibed a taste for this reckless kind of life, and having once embarked in it, he resolved to pursue it to death. His frame of body was strong and robust; he was active and ready in his movements; his well-nerved arm could deal an unerring and deadly blow, which it were almost impossible to resist. His mind too corresponded with his body; no danger could daunt him; with headlong impetuosity, he trampled on every difficulty, and his soul had scarce ever known the powers of fear. He was now eager to learn from the outlaws, their mode of action, and sought to be foremost in every peril. They had well read his nature, and therefore they readily granted him the object of his desires. He was appointed to accompany the leader, whose post was ever in the thickest of the fight.

They now neared the mansion of the Signore, which it was their intention that night to plunder. It was in a secluded spot, at the foot of the Apennines. Those mountains protected it from the western winds; the northern blast was warded off by a branch that stretched out from them. A few cottages were at a short distance, but no other dwellings within several miles. The Banditti, as they arrived in separate detachments, assembled at an appointed place, till their whole party had come up. The leader having given all necessary orders, they issued from their covert, and silently approached the devoted mansion.