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knowledge in the art of extermination-riding on hippogriffsdefended with impenetrable armor-armed with concentrated sunbeams, and provided with vast engines, to hurl enormous moon-stones: in short, let us suppose them, if our vanity will permit the supposition, as superior to us in knowledge, and consequently in power, as the Europeans were to the Indians, when they first discovered them. All this is very possible; it is only our self-sufficiency that makes us think otherwise; and I warrant the poor savages, before they had any knowledge of the white men, armed in all the terrors of glittering steel and tremendous gunpowder, were as perfectly convinced that they themselves were the wisest, the most virtuous, powerful, and perfect of created beings, as are at this present moment, the lordly inhabitants of old England, the volatile populace of France, or even the self-satisfied citizens of this most enlightened republic.

Let us suppose, moreover, that the ærial voyagers, finding this planet to be nothing but a howling wilderness, inhabited by us poor savages and wild beasts, shall take formal possession of it in the name of his most gracious and philosophic excellency, the man in the moon. Finding, however, that their numbers are incompetent to hold it in complete subjection, on account of the ferocious barbarity of its inhabitants; they shall take our worthy President, the King of England, the Emperor of Hayti, the mighty Bonaparte, and the great King of Bantam, and returning to their native planet, shall carry them to court, as were the Indian chiefs led about as spectacles in the courts of Europe.

Then making such obeisance as the etiquette of the court requires, they shall address the puissant man in the moon, in, as near as I can conjecture, the following terms:

"Most serene and mighty Potentate, whose dominions extend as far as eye can reach, who rideth on the Great Bear, useth the sun as a looking-glass, and maintaineth unrivaled control over tides, madmen, and sea-crabs: we, thy liege subjects, have just returned from a voyage of discovery, in the course of which we have landed and taken possession of that obscure, little, dirty planet which thou beholdest rolling at a distance. The five uncouth monsters which we have brought into this august presence, were once very important chiefs among their fellow-savages, who are a race of beings totally destitute of the common attributes of humanity; and differing in every thing from the inhabitants of the moon, inasmuch as

they carry their heads upon their shoulders, instead of under their arms-have two eyes instead of one-are utterly destitute of tails, and of a variety of unseemly complexions, particularly of a horrible whiteness-instead of pea-green.

"We have, moreover, found these miserable savages sunk into a state of the utmost ignorance and depravity. In a word, they have scarcely a gleam of true philosophy among them, but are, in fact, utter heretics, ignoramuses, and barbarians. Taking compassion, therefore, on the sad condition of these sublunary wretches, we have endeavored, while we remained on their planet, to introduce among them the light of reason—and the comforts of the moon. We have treated them to mouthfuls of moonshine, and draughts of nitrous oxyde, which they swallowed with incredible voracity, particularly the females; and we have likewise endeavored to instil into them the precepts of lunar philosophy. We have insisted upon their renouncing the contemptible shackles of religion and common sense, and adoring the profound, omnipotent, and all-perfect energy, and the ecstatic, immutable, immovable perfection. But such was the unparalleled obstinacy of these wretched savages, that they persisted in cleaving to their wives, and adhering to their religion, and absolutely set at nought the sublime doctrines of the moonnay, among other abominable heresies, they even went so far as blasphemously to declare, that this ineffable planet was made of nothing more nor less than green cheese!"

At these words, the great man in the moon (being a very profound philosopher,) shall fall into a terrible passion, and possessing equal authority over things that do not belong to him, as did whilome his holiness the Pope, shall forthwith issue a formidable bull, specifying "That, whereas a certain crew of lunatics have lately discovered, and taken possession of a newly discovered planet called the earth-and that whereas it is inhabited by none but a race of two-legged animals, that carry their heads on their shoulders instead of under their arms; cannot talk the lunatic language; have two eyes instead of one; are destitute of tails, and of a horrible whiteness, instead of peagreen-therefore, and for a variety of other excellent reasons, they are considered incapable of possessing any property in the planet they infest, and the right and title to it are confirmed to its original discoverers.-And furthermore, the colonists who are now about to depart to the aforesaid planet, are authorized and commanded to use every means to convert these infidel

savages from the darkness of christianity, and make them thorough and absolute lunatics."

In consequence of this benevolent bull, our philosophic benefactors go to work with hearty zeal. They seize upon our fertile territories, scourge us from our rightful possessions, relieve us from our wives, and when we are unreasonable enough to complain, they will turn upon us and say, Miserable barbarians! ungrateful wretches! have we not come thousands of miles to improve your worthless planet? have, we not fed you with moonshine? have we not intoxicated you with nitrous oxyde? does not our moon give you light every night, and have you the baseness to murmur, when we claim a pitiful return for all these benefits? But finding that we not only persist in absolute contempt of their reasoning, and disbelief in their philosophy, but even go so far as daringly to defend our property, their patience shall be exhausted, and they shall resort to their superior powers of argument; hunt us with hippogriffs, transfix us with concentrated sun-beams, demolish our cities with moon-stones; until having, by main force, converted us to the true faith, they shall graciously permit us to exist in the torrid deserts of Arabia, or the frozen regions of Lapland, there to enjoy the blessings of civilization, and the charms of lunar philosophy, in much the same manner as the reformed and enlightened savages of this country are kindly suffered to inhabit the inhospitable forests of the north, or the impenetrable wilderness of South America.

MODERN IMPROVEMENTS.-HALLECK.

We owe the ancients something. You have read
Their works, no doubt-at least, in a translation;
Yet there was argument in what he said,
I scorn equivocation or evasion,
And own, it must, in candor, be confest,
They were an ignorant set of men at best.

'T was their misfortune to be born too soon
By centuries, and in the wrong place too;
They never saw a steam-boat, or balloon,
Velocipede, or Quarterly Review;

Or wore a pair of Bach's black satin breeches,
Or read an almanac, or C-n's speeches.

In short, in every thing we far outshine 'em-
Art, science, taste, and talent; and a stroll
Thro' this enlightened city would refine 'em

More than ten years' hard study of the whole
Their genius has produced of rich and rare—
God bless the corporation and the mayor!

And on our city-hall a justice stands;

A neater form was never made of board;
Holding majestically in her hands

A pair of steelyards and a wooden sword,
And looking down with complaisant civility-
Emblem of dignity and durability.

VISION.

THE MAYFLOWER.-E. EVERETT,

Methinks I see it now, that one solitary, adventurous vessel, the Mayflower of a forlorn hope, freighted with the prospects of a future state, and bound across the unknown sea. I behold it pursuing, with a thousand misgivings, the uncertain, the tedious voyage. Suns rise and set, and weeks and months pass, and winter surprises them on the deep, but brings them not the sight of the wished for shore. I see them now scantily supplied with provisions, crowded almost to suffocation in their ill-stored prison, delayed by calms, pursuing a circuitous route; and now driven in fury before the raging tempest, on the high and giddy waves. The awful voice of the storm howls through the rigging. The laboring masts seem straining from their base; the dismal sound of the pumps is heard ;-the ship leaps, as it were, madly, from billow to billow;-the ocean breaks, and settles with engulphing floods over the floating

deck, and beats with deadening weight against the staggered vessel. I see them, escaped from these perils, pursuing their all but desperate undertaking, and landed at last, after a five months' passage, on the ice-clad rocks of Plymouth,—weak and weary from the voyage-poorly armed, scantily provisioned, depending on the charity of their ship-master for a draught of beer on board, drinking nothing but water on shore,—without shelter,—without means,―surrounded by hostile tribes. Shut now the volume of history, and tell me, on any principle of human probability, what shall be the fate of this handful of adventurers.

ELIJAH AT MOUNT HOREB.-KRUMMACHER,

Just

"Go forth," it had been said to Elijah, "and stand upon the mount before the Lord." The prophet hears it, and leaves his cave and no sooner is he gone forth, than signs occur, which announce to him the approach of the Almighty. The sacred historian here, indeed, depicts in simple language a most sublime scene. The first sign was a tremendous wind. before, probably, the deepest silence had prevailed throughout this dreary wilderness. Suddenly all is in the most dreadful uproar about him. The mountain-tempest breaks forth, and the bursting rocks thunder as if the four winds, having been confined there, had in an instant broken from their prisons to fight together. The clouds are driven about in the sky like squadrons of combatants rushing to the conflict. The sandy desert is like a raging sea tossing its curling billows to the sky. Sinai is agitated, as if the terrors of the law-giving were renewing around it. The prophet feels the majesty of Jehovah; it is awful and appalling. It is not a feeling of peace, and of the Lord's blissful nearness, which possesses Elijah's soul in this tremendous scene; it is rather a feeling of distressing distance; "a strong wind went before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind."

The terrors of an earthquake next ensue. The very foundations of the hills shake and are removed. The mountains and the rocks, which were rent by the mighty wind, threaten now to fall upon one another. Hills sink down and valleys rise; chasms yawn and horrible depths unfold, as if the earth was removed out of its place. The prophet, surrounded by the ruins of

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