CHAPTER XIV.

“Meanwhile, we kneel down at the same throne of grace, We breathe up the same daily prayer ;

We march the same road, to the same happy place,
The same Spirit guiding us there.

With aims so exalted, and trust so secure,

All else is in lovely accord,

All holy, all happy, all peaceful and pure,
O, who would not love in the Lord!"

*

LYTE's Poems.

SEATED on the thymy slope of a gentle eminence, which commanded a view of the surrounding lovely country, now rendered more beautiful by "the deep and glowing hues of autumn," the happy party remained engaged in pleasant converse, till the setting sun reminded them that they must commence their return homewards.

It was one of those glorious autumnal sunsets to which no poet's pen, no painter's pencil, could render justice, and they gazed awhile in silent rapture; but on resuming the discourse, they naturally fell into a discussion on the comparative beauties of sunsets at sea and sunsets on land: on the advantages and disadvantages of long twilights or short twilights; and, though in the sweet interchange of thought, a remarkable union of sentiment and opinions usually prevailed among them, preserving the conversation from "the clash of argument and jar of words;" it did not want an animated "No,"

"To brush the surface and to make it flow."

One

One was convinced that, however beautiful the effect might be of the setting sun at sea, the variety of hues with which it tinges the glowing landscape must be more enchanting. praised the "twilight walks among the dews," another preferred the long evening with a book; one spoke of the charms of open windows and

doors, with the balmy breeze wafting odours

around; another exclaimed,

"Now stir the fire and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
So would I welcome peaceful evening in.”

"I certainly," said Frederick, "was at first disappointed in the appearance of the heavens, on a star-light night, in the southern hemisphere; it appeared to me that our northern skies were much more brilliant on a clear frosty night; and the constellations more beautiful and numerous than those of the southern climes but when evening after evening I saw the planet Venus, not star-like, but in full orbed beauty, like a small but more brilliant moon, casting a long line of reflected light upon the waters, I could quite understand the enthusiasm of the astronomer, who could think the long and tedious voyage well repaid by so beautiful a sight. But I am just now reminded, that I have forgotten in my histories of the Mauritius to mention a singular fact, perculiar, I believe,

to that island. Ships at sea, when three or four hundred miles distant, can be seen with the naked eye."

"Oh, Frederick!" exclaimed Annie, "a traveller's tale, a traveller's tale!"

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Nay, it is a fact, I assure you. One day when I was walking with Ernest in Port Louis, a singular-looking old man, mounted on a mule, approached. He was dressed in an oldfashioned looking naval uniform coat, with a large cocked hat on. Ernest saluted him with Well, Monsieur Fillofay, are there any ships in sight?'' Yes, sir, one which will be in, I dare say, in three days. She is a fine large vessel.' When we had passed on, I asked Ernest If the old gentleman were mad? '—“ He was thought so at one time,' he replied, and his assertions doubted; but when, after various predictions that of the British fleet, for instance, when assembling to attack the island, and of vessels, which he said, were becalmed, and which it was proved after they came into

port by their log-books, had really been becalmed at the distance he described them, people were compelled to believe him. It was then supposed to be some peculiar power of vision in the old man himself; and Napoleon Buonaparte, I have been told, sent for him to France, hoping to turn his far-seeing faculties to account, but he could see in France no further than others. It has been supposed by some to be occasioned by the purity of the atmosphere of the Mauritius. If so, why should not the same phenomenon be observed at Bourbon, which is itself visible from the Mauritius? Besides, the reflected images of the vessels, for he sees them inverted in the sky, are only seen at sunrise. Is it not likely the exact situation of the island may have something to say to the reflection? for reflection it is. Monsieur Fillofay can and has conveyed his knowledge to others, who can also behold the images, which he from habit, has learned minutely to describe, as also what distance they are yet