She came, but with a look that gave me pain,

For, though bright sunbeams sparkled after rain,
Though every brood came round, half run, half fly,
I knew her anguish by her altered eye;

And strove with all my power, where'er she came,
To sooth her grief yet gave it not a name.
At length a few sad bitter tears she shed,
And on both hands reclined her aching head.
'Twas then my time the conqueror to prove-
I summon'd all my rhetorie, all my love.-

* Jennet, you must not think to pass through life
Without its sorrows, and without its strife;
Good, dutiful, and worthy, as you are,
You must have griefs, and you must learn to bear.'
Thus I went on, trite moral truths to string—
All chaff, mere chaff, where love has spread his wing:
She cared not, listen'd not, nor seem'd to know
What was my aim, but wiped her burning brow,
Where sat more eloquence and living power
Than language could embody in an hour.
With soften'd tone I mention'd Alfred's name,
His wealth, our poverty, and that sad blame
Which would have weigh'd me down, had I not told
The secret which I dare not keep for gold,
Of Alfred's love, o'erheard the other morn,
The gardener, and the woodbine, and the thorn;
And added, "Though the lady sends you home,
You are but young, child, and a day may come-'
• She has not sent me home,' the girl replied,
And rose with sobs of passion from my side:
⚫ She has not sent me home, dear father, no ;
She gives me leave to tarry or to go:
She has not blamed me, yet she weeps no less,
And every tear but adds to my distress;
I am the cause-thus all that she has done
Will bring the death or misery of her son.'"

But at last all difficulties are removed, and the pretty, innocent and affectionate Jennet is wedded to her Blind Lover, and we have no doubt makes an excellent wife, and found him an excellent husband, notwithstanding the dictum of the lady with the strong understanding in the London stagecoach. The poem concludes thus:

Down the green slopè before us, glowing warm, Came Alfred, tugging at his mother's arm ; Willing she seem'd, but he still led the wayShe had not walk'd so fast for many a day; His hand was lifted, and his brow was bare, For now no clustering ringlets wanton'd there ; He threw them back in anger and in spleen, And shouted Jennet!' o'er the dasied green. Boyish impatience strove with manly grace, In every line and feature of his face; His claim appear'd resistless as his choice; And when he caught the sound of Jennet's voice, And when with spotless soul he clasp'd the maid, My heart exulted, while my breath was staid.— Jennet, we must not part! return again; What have I done to merit all this pain?Dear mother, share my fortune with the poor, Jennet is mine, and shall be-say no more.— Bowman, you know not what a friend I'll be ; 3 ATHENEUM VOL. 12.

Give me your daughter, Bowman, give her me.Jennet, what will my days be if you go?

A dreary darkness, and a life of woe;
My dearest love, come home, and do not cry;
You are my day-light, Jennet-I shall die."
To such appeals all prompt replies are cold,
And stately prudence suaps her cobweb hold.
Had the good widow tried, or wish'd to speak,
This was a bond she could not, dared not break:
Their hearts (you never saw their likeness never)
Were join'd, indissolubly join'd for ever.
Why need I tell how soon our tears were dried--
How Jennet blush'd-how Alfred with a stride
Bore off his prize, and fancied every charm,
And clipp'd against his ribs her trembling arm-
How mute we seniors stood-our power all gone!
Completely conquer'd, Love the day had won,
And the young vagrant triumph'd in our plight,
And shook his roguish plumes, and laugh'd outright.
Yet, by my life and hopes, I would not part
With this sweet recollection from my heart;
I would not now forget that tender scene,
To wear a crown, or make my girl a queen.
Why need be told how pass'd the months along,
How sped the summer's walk, the winter's song:
How the foil'd suitor all his hopes gave up,
How Providence with rapture fill'd their cup?
No dark regrets, no tragic scenes to prove,
The gardener was too old to die for love.
A thousand incidents I cast aside,

To tell but one-I gave away the bride-
Gave the dear youth what kings could not have giv'r;
Then bless'd them both, and put my trust in Heav'n.
There the old neighbours laugh'd the night away,
Who talk of Jennet's wedding to this day.

And could you but have seen the modest grace,
The half-hid smiles that play'd in Jennet's face,
Or mark'd the bridegroom's bounding heart o'erflow,
You might have wept for joy, as I could now;

I speak from memory of days long past :-
Though 'tis a father's tale, I've done at last.

A number of anonymous poets then recite their verses, such as "The Soldier's Wife," "Love in a Shower,"

--and

one composition which we should like to have heard as the title is a taking one,"Lines to Aggravation." Just as the party are thinking of breaking up, they are suddenly delighted by a bright and beautiful apparition.

"When in an instant every eye was drawn
To one bright object on the upper lawn:
A fair procession from the mansion came,
Unknown its purport, and unknown its aim.
No gar could refrain, no tongue could cease,
It seem'd an embassy of love and peace.
Ncarer and nearer still approach the train-
Age in the van transform'd to youth again.
Sir Ambrose gazed, and scarce believed his eyes ;
"Twas magic, memory, love, and blank surprise;
For there his venerable lady wore
The very dress which, sixty years before,
Had sparkled on her sunshine bridal morn--
Had spackled, ay, beneath this very thorn!
Her hair was snowy white, o'er which was seen-

Emblem of what her bridal cheeks had been--
A twin red rose--no other ornament
Had pride suggested, or false feeling lent;
She came to grace the triumph of her lord,
And pay him honours at his festive board.
Nine ruddy lasses follow'd where she stepp'd;
White were their virgin robes, that lightly swept
The downy grass; in every laughing eye
Cupid had skulk'd, and written “Victory."
What heart on earth its homage could refuse?
Each tripp'd, unconsciously, a blushing Muse.
A slender chaplet of fresh blossoms bound
Their clustering ringlets in a magic round.
And, as they slowly moved across the green,
Each in her beauty seem'd a May-day queen.
The first a wreath bore in her outstretch'd hand,
The rest a single rose upon a wand;

Their steps were measured to that grassy throne
Where, watching them, Sir Ambrose sat alone.
They stopp'd,--when she, the foremost of the row,
Curtsied, and placed the wreath upon his brow:
The rest, in order pacing by his bower,
In the loop'd wreath left each her single flower,-

Sunday, July 25.

THIS day, while sailing thro' strage gling ice, one of the men on the quarter-deck observed, at a few yards distance, a silver bear and her two young cubs. The captain immediately ordered the jolly-boat to be lowered, and muskets, pistols, cutlasses, &c. to be got in readiness. All things being prepared, Mr. Fidler, Mr. Cockerell, the first mate, with one or two more, set out in pursuit of them. We were all leaning over the deck, waiting with the greatest anxiety for the interesting scene that we expected to witness. They had not got many yards from the vessel, when I beheld a very affecting sight: the mother, observing their approach, and aware of their intention, set up a most doleful cry, and presently clasped her two young ones within her two fore-paws. First she would look at one, then at another, and again resume her piteous cry. Perceiving the men to approach still nearer, she got

them on her back, and dived under wa

ter to a considerable distance; when exhausted, she made to the ice for shel

ter. This she did several successive

times. The gentlemen who went out for the purpose of shooting her, were so justly affected at the sight, that they humanely returned to the ship without discharging their muskets. Still, however, the poor bear apprehended danger. After getting on a detached piece of ice, she again clasped her young ones with the greatest tenderness, and continued her heart-melting cries! In about ten minutes, another party,* not subject to the same correct sensibility as the former, went in pursuit of her. Immediately on observing this, she again took her young on her back; one time, getting under water, at another, escaping to the ice for refuge. When party had got within a short dis

the

*It might be added, of monsters in the shape of men, or human savages!-EDITOR.

tance of her, they all fired. The mother, however, had covered her young cubs so effectually, that she alone was wounded; one of the balls entered her chest. The scene that followed was, if possible, still more affecting than that we had already witnessed.

Though mortally wounded, she retained within her fond embraces her tender young. It looked as though the iron grasp of death could not tear asunder those ties of affection which bound her to them. Still she would fondly gaze at one, then at another, occasionally renewing her piteous cries, which had now become much more feeble. But the purple current of life was ebbing fast through the wound: her sides heaved-her eye became glassy and dimshe looked at her young ones-gave a convulsive sob-laid down her head, and expired !

After this, they had no difficulty in taking the young cubs. They in vain, however, endeavoured to loose them from their parent's embraces. Even while dragging her up the side of the vessel, they still kept their hold. When they had got her on board, she was immediately skinned. When the skin was removed they put it into the cage which had been prepared for the young cubs. As they roared most hideously from the time they were torn from the mother, we were in hopes that this might pacify them; and it did so it was no sooner introduced, than they laid their heads down on it, and growled in a very affecting manner. When any one attempted to touch it, they roared very loud, and appeared much more irritable than usual. They were brought home, and sold in London at a very high price.‡

On examining the wound, I found the ball had passed through the arch of the aorta, and had lodged in the intercostal muscles of the opposite side I cut out the parts, and immersed them in a bottle filled with spirits; but one of the crew, an unfortunate Irishman, got hold of it in some way or other, and being fonder of whiskey than morbid anatomy, drank the fluid in which I had them preserved, and thus spoiled my preparation.

The great attachment which the shebear has for her young, is well known to the American hunter. No danger can induce her to abandon them. Even when they are

When detached from its young, how very different is the character of the polar bear from that I have just described. It is then a most formidable animal, being apparently the natural lord of those frozen regions. Every other animal shudders at his approach, considering it as the signal for immediate destruction. The seals either retire to their submarine dwellings, or conceal themselves in the crevices of the ice-islands; while the bear, stalking along with solemn majesty, "faces the breeze, raises his head, and snuffs the passing scent, whereby he discovers the nearest route to his odorous banquet." A favourite poet, with great truth and beauty, thus describes the march of this formidable animal:—

"There, through the piny forest half absorbed,
Rough tenant of those shades, the shapeless bear,
With dangling ice, all horrid, stalks forlorn ;
Slow-paced, and sourer as the storms increase,
He makes his bed beneath the inclement drift,
And with stern patience, scorning weak complaint,
Hardens his heart against assailing want."

They who are possessed of such uncommon strength, and defend themselves when beset, with such extraordinary obstinacy, that even the natives of the country never venture to attack them but in parties of eight or ten, and even then are often defeated with the loss of one or more of their number. Though to a skilful rifleman the danger is very much diminished, the bear is still an animal of tremendous strength and fierceness, as will appear from the following adventure.-Captain Lewis tells us, that one evening the men in the hindmost of the canoes discovered a large silver bear lying in the open grounds, about 300 paces from the riv

er.

Six of them, all good hunters, set out to attack him, and concealing themselves by a small eminence, came unperceived within forty paces of him. Four of them now fired, and each lodg

sufficiently grown to be able to climb a tree, her anxiety for their safety is but little diminished. At that time, if hunted, her first care is to make her young climb to a place of safety. If they shew any reluctance, she beats them, and having succeeded, turns fearlessly on her pursuers. Perhaps, in the animal economy, maternal affection is almost always commensurate with the helplessness of the young.-See Bradbury's Travels in America.

ed a ball in his body; two of them directly through the lungs. The justlyenraged animal sprung up, and ran open-mouthed at them. As he came near, the two hunters who had reserved their fire gave him two wounds, one of which breaking his shoulder, retarded his motion for a moment; but before they could reload he was so near that they were obliged to run to the river, and before they reached it he had almost overtaken them. Two jumped into the canoe, the other four separated, and concealing themselves in the willows, fired as fast as each could load. They struck him several times, but they only exasperated him; and he at last pursued two of them so closely, that they jumped down a perpendicular bank of twenty feet into the river; the bear sprang after them, and was within a few feet of the hindmost, when one of the hunters on shore shot him in the head, and killed him. They dragged him to the shore, and found that eight balls had passed through his body in different directions.

Barentz, in his voyage in search of a north-east passage to China, had melancholy proofs of the ferocity of these animals in the island of Nova Zembla, where they attacked his men, seizing them in their mouths, carrying them off, and devouring them in sight of their comrades. "On the 6th of September," observes this interesting writer, "some sailors again landed to seek for a certain sort of stone, a species of diamond, of which a sufficient quantity is also found in the Isle of Slates. During this search, two of the sailors, sleeping by one another, a white bear, very lean, approached them softly, and seized one by the nape of the neck. The sailor, not knowing what it was, cried out, Who has seized me thus behind?' His companion, having raised his head, said, Holloa! my dear friend, it is a bear!' and immediately rising, ran a way. The bear bit the unfortunate man in several parts of the head, and having quite mangled it, sucked the blood. The rest of the persons who were on shore, to the number of twenty, immediately ran with their firelocks and pikes, and found the bear devouring the body. On seeing the men, he

ran towards them with incredible fury, threw himself upon one of them, carried him away, and tore him to pieces, which so terrified them that they all fled. Those who remained in the vessel, seeing them thus flee, and return towards the shore, jumped into the boats, and rowed with all their force to receive them. When they had landed, and beheld this lamentable spectacle, they encouraged the others to return with them to the combat, that all together they might attack this ferocious animal. Three of them advanced a little, the bear still continuing to devour his prey, without being at all disturbed at the sight of thirty men so near him. The two pilots having fired three times without hitting the animal, the purser advanced a little further, and shot the bear in the head, close by the eye, which did not cause him to quit his prey; but holding the body always by the neck, which he was devouring, carried it away as yet almost quite entire. Nevertheless, they then perceived that he began to totter; and the purser going towards him, with a Scotchman, they gave him several sabre wounds, without his abandoning his prey. At length the pilot Geyser,having given him a violent blow with the butt-end of his firelock on the muzzle, which brought him to the ground, the purser leaped upon him, and cut his throat. The two bodies, half-devoured, were interred in the Isle of Slates, and the skin of the bear was carried to Amsterdam.”

Frequently they attack, and even attempt to board armed vessels, at a great distance from the shore, and are sometimes repelled with great difficulty. While on land they prey on foxes, hares, martins, and young birds; they also eat various kinds of berries, which they may chance to find while ranging through the trackless desert. During these excursions they not unfrequently enter the habitations of the natives, and carry off one of the party. Mr. Howes, one of the inland governors, mentioned to me, that one evening he and his companions were sitting in their wigwam enjoying a social hour after a hard day's hunting, when, on a sudden, they found one of their party to disappear. A white bear had, in fact, carried him off