appeared less dejected than usual. Suddenly it became very dark; the low distant thunder was audible from the S. W. Dark clouds gathered in that quarter; and they waxed more and more dense, till they almost covered the horizon, and seemed but just suspended above us; and the wind, which had hitherto been N. E., was now perfectly lulled. The captain started up, in evident alarm, and hastily summoned the crew. In a moment the decks swarmed with men ; and bustle and activity succeeded the perfect stillness, which had prevailed but an instant before. The sailors shouted as they clung aloft to the yards; and those on deck responded. Blocks and slackened cordage clattered; and the sails flapped, and dashed heavily, as they hung in the brails. Something serious was evidently anticipated. The captain had his eyes steadily fixed on the quarter whence the ominous appearances gathered, and every gaze seemed to strengthen his apprehension. He beckoned to the mate, and muttered something to him in a low tone. The man turned pale as ashes, and exclaimed, "Good God! should it be so!" "Hush!" said the captain; 66 say nothing, but bear a hand, and make all snug, before it reaches us." I asked

him if he apprehended very bad weather? His abrupt and morose answer increased my uneasiness, and I descended to the quarter-deck. The boatswain was here, seeing to the battening down of the hatchways, and to him I repeated my question. This fellow, a Swede, I be lieve the most phlegmatic in the world, just raised his huge body from his stooping position, and turning a plug of tobacco in his cheek, growled out, "I believe it was a ta'am'd hurricane a brewing," went coolly on with his work. I had seen the terrible effects of these convulsions of nature on shore, and was aware they were not less fatal on the ocean; my heart sickened, and I gave up all on board as lost. 1 leant over the starboard-quarter, my eyes fixed on the terrible S. W. Presently a cloud, of a most extraordinary nature, arose above the horizon its colour was a dull gloomy red, and it seemed palpable to the touch; it appeared almost to reach the surface of the ocean, and to approach towards us. I looked at the captain: he had seen it; and the expression of his face was hopeless. "Captain Brown!" I exclaimed earnestly, "do you antici pate danger?" He made no reply, but mournfully shook his head, and continued his hurried walk athwart the break of the poop. The terrible phenomenon approached nearer and nearer; and we could

now hear the shrill howlings of the wind, and the breaking and boiling of the sea. A few men yet lingered in the rigging. Brown shouted to them to make haste. down; and the sound of his voice too plainly evinced the state of his mind-it was broken and mournful. The crew were fully aware of their dangerous situation; and they had clustered together on the main deck, in silent and stupid bewilderment! At last it reached us; and the maddened elements, lightning and rain, tempest and sea, seemed to have poured forth all their fury, for our annihilation! The ship whirled round and round-every timber and plank trembled

and the masts and yards creaked and bent like twigs. One huge sea struck her fore and aft for a space, ingulfing her beneath it. Then she rose, straining and quivering, to the summit of a mountainous wave; and again, with the swiftness of an arrow, plunged into the fearful hollow beneath. Thus, for a space, did she drive, totally ungovernable, at the mercy of the tempest. Meanwhile I had clung to the mizen-mast: my heart beat convulsively, and perfect consciousness forsook me. At length I felt the ship shooting, as it were, to the sky, and again hurled back. There was a fearful pause, followed by the mighty rushing of waters, by the crash of timber-and a wild shriek of agony and despair, arose even above the howlings of the tempest. The fore-mast and bowsprit both were gone, and had carried with them three unhappy wretches in their fall.

Poor Mrs. C. rushed up out of the ca bin, with her child in her arms; and wildly clinging to the captain, entreated him to save her. With difficulty we suc ceeded in soothing her; and at length placed her on the sofa, in the cuddy, almost insensible to every thing about her.

At last day beamed; and the hopeless state of our ship was but too visible. The hurricane indeed had broken, but the wind, though it continued to one point, blew with the most fearful violence: we had no sail set, and she rolled, gunnel under, in the trough of the sea. At length, several waves successively struck her, and dashed over every part; the hatches were driven in, and the decks below were deluged in torrents; last the water burst upwards again, carrying every thing before it, from the waist to the forecastle. The ship now seemed rapidly settling down; the decks were knee deep in water-horror was in every face, despair in every bosom : Vainly did we stretch our eyes, to cater if possible, an approaching sail; but nothing could we see but water-water—

till at

water! The crew, as the only place of safety (for the decks, from the waist forward, were torn up,) had collected on the quarter-deck, holding on by the staunchions and bulwarks, to save themselves from the furious seas, that almost momentarily broke over them. At length one of the men suggested, as a means of delaying at least the catastrophe that seemed inevitable, that the main and mizen-masts should be cut away: but then who would be hardy enough to put the suggestion into execution? Alas! every arm was unnerved, every heart paralyzed! "A few minutes more!" uttered the captain; and the words seemed to fall from him almost unconsciously. "O God!" he exclaimed vehemently and is there no one among you who will make an effort to save her? He seized a hatchet, and sprung over the side, into the starboard main chains, exclaiming, “Let him that would preserve himself, follow me!" Urged either by shame, or the hope of saving themselves, two or three obeyed the summons: the rigging was tut away-the masts without any support, creaked and nodded--the ship, struck by a great sea, lurched fearfully -again righted suddenly—and the masts were gone.

It was noon; and since day-break, or a little after, had we been in a manner water-logged; clinging, or lashed, to the wreck the furious sea every moment washing over us. Near to me sat Mrs. C., one arm clasped around her pale child, the other passed through a ring-bolt: her long hair matted together, hung wildly about her neck, and over her features; and her white dress, heavy with water, clung to her spare, emaciated figure. The ship now became weaker and weaker, and the sea began to make greater inroads. From the main-mast forward, she was already under water; and further aft, but a few inches remained above the surface. We could hear the washing of the cargo in the hold-and now she began to break up forward! One boat yet remained little injured-a cutter, on the larboard quarter. She was lowered, and instantly twenty men crowded into her. The captain, and a few more, refused to leave the ship." The boat is too crowded he would trust in his Maker: but this unhappy lady, save her if possible," he said. The child was taken from the arms of its unconscious mother, and placed in the boat; and a generous fellow had lifted her in his arms, and was about to step into the boat, when a huge billow, from the fore part of the ship, came rushing furiously towards her, bore her away on its summit from alongside

-a receding one dashed her impetuously back against the ship's counter she struck! Then arose a shriek and a cry

there was a struggling in the raging sea and all perished! The hapless Mrs. C. had just enough of perception to be sensible of her child's fate; and she sprung, with a thrilling cry-" My son! my child!"-from the seaman's arms, into that wild sea; and, as if in mockery, it dashed and tossed her from billow to billow, for a space, and then closed over her for ever!

And there we clung to the wreck, myself and the wretched remnant of the crew, in the calm hopelessness of utter despair; watching the slow, gradual approach of the waters that were to be our grave! A man close beside me, exhausted, let go his grasp; and he floated, life not yet extinct, from side to side, and vainly stretched out his hands, to regain his hold-his features were distorted with the agony of his mind. I could not look upon him-I closed my eyes, and, as I thought in death!

Of what followed I have but a confused recollection. I remember something weighty falling across me. I opened my eyes-it was a mutilated corse! and the bloody, disfigured features were in cold contact with mine! And even in that awful moment I shuddered, and endeavoured in vain to rid myself of my loathsome burden. And now I heard a shout, and an exclamation of joy-" A sail! a sail !"-but I had not strength to lift myself. Presently, I felt myself loosened from the lashings with which I had bound myself to the deck. I was lifted in the arms of some one!-From hence all was a blank!

The Cadmus, from Java to Liverpool, had seen us; and bore down just in time to save from the Albatross, myself and four others. In half an hour she was no longer visible !-Literary Magnet.

SONNET.

WRITTEN IN SOUTH AFRICA.

O, CAPE of storms' although thy front be dark,
And bleak thy naked cliffs and cheerless vales,
And perilous thy fierce and faithless gales
To staunchest mariner and stoutest bark;
And, though along thy coasts with grief I mark
The servile and the slave, with him who wails
An exile's lot,-and blush to bear thy tales
Of sin and sorrow, and oppression stark :-
Yet, spite of physical and moral ill,
And, after all I've seen and suffer'd here,
There are strong links that bind me to thee still,
And render even thy rocks and deserts dear:
Here dwell kind hearts, which time nor place
can chill,

Loved kindred, and congenial friends sincere.
Oriental Herald,

whatever has been sung of the fields of Enna; showing at a distance like a pertect flood of lilac, and tempting every merry little heart, and many graver ones also, to go out and gather.

The blossom of fruit-trees presents a splendid scene: in the 'early part of the month, gardens and orchards being covered with a snowy profusion of plum-bloom; and the blackthorn and wild plum wreathe their sprays with such pure and clustering flowers, that they gleam in hedges and the shadowy depths of woods, as if their boughs radiated with sunshine. In the latter part of the month, the sweet and blushing blossoms of apples, and of the wilding, fill up the succession, harmonizing delightfully with the tender green of the expanding leaves, and continuing through part of May, recalling early recollections, and delightful thoughts of our "youthful days."

*

Now the arrival of the migratory birds, and the sweet, though monotonous note of the cuckoo, announce the return of Spring, and all nature wears a cheerful aspect. Now the angler seeks his covert nook; the lover of nature is up with the sun, and resumes his walks over hill, dale, and valley. The Spring-the joyous Spring is come,-but we must not dilate on its beauties at greater length at this moment. Our engraving and these few remarks are offered now; and we trust enough has been said by way of notice, until the coming month, when the "shining May," with its ripeness, and matu rity, and joyousness will be a theme for more obvious and general remark. Time's Telescope.

STANZAS.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "AHAB,"

(For the Mirror.)

THE lark and the thrush are both singing aloud, The one from the bush, and the one from the cloud;

So sweetly their notes on the wind float along,
That were I not sad, I could join in their song;
But I am no nightingale, taking a part

In the concert of joy, with a thorn in my heart;
So silent 1 wander, and heed not the strain,
For once it gave pleasure, but now it gives pain.

Alas! for the days, when with gladness I heard The brook's gentle murmur, the song of the bird;

How changeful is man, but a season has fled, And my heart to its once-cherish'd feeling is dead.

That stream now flows smoothly, tho' frozen so

long;

That bird so late silent, now bursts into song; But for me the stream flows, and the bird sings

in vain,

For my once happy feeling will come not again. S. J.

AMONG the singular characters which nature sometimes produces, and which display a diversity from mankind in general, few have been more remarkable than Richard Robert Jones, of Aberdaron, in Carnarvonshire, who, although an excellent linguist, is, in almost every other respect, an idiot. From what cause he imbibed a taste for the acquisition of languages, is not known. Born of humble parents, he had few advantages of educa tion; and it was not until he was nine years of age, that he was enabled to read the Bible in his native language. He then attempted to acquire the English, but found it very difficult.

At the age of fifteen, Richard began to study the Latin, by the assistance of a boy in the parish-school, and by getting into the school-room while the boys were absent, and using their books. When nineteen years of age, he purchased a Greek grammar, and soon was enabled to read that language.

In some excursions from his native place, which the severity of his father, on account of his indolence, induced him to make, he procured some classical elementary works, and attracted the notice of the Bishop of Bangor, who took him into his house, where he remained but a short time. During a temporary residence at Anglesea, he became acquainted with some French refugees, who supplied him with a grammar of that language, or