may wring my heart, but never, never can I love the man | ror, had seized him by his uplifted arm, and seemed by who can steal upon the hours of confiding friendship, and use its language to afflict a helpless woman."

the wild intensity of her gaze, to endeavor to search his innermost soul, and know if this frightful tale were true. "Vittoria Nigreti, have I not this evening heard from Casting her from him, pale and horror-stricken, she your lips a declaration of love for the Yorkino, and of reeled back to her seat; and before Carrera had escapdislike, if not of hatred, for me? Have not the fair fea-ed from the garden, he heard scream after scream from tures of the heretic, won from you, in a few short months, the bower-and with the rejoicing, which none but a that favor which it has been the labor of my life to pur-fiend in mortal shape could know, he felt that he had chase? Would that the deep and hungry waters from rendered this innocent creature more miserable than himwhich I rescued you had rolled over us both, rather than self. Let us draw the curtain over this child of sorrow, I should have lived to hear the rames of Lamar and and return to Lamar. Carrera coupled in the same expression of love and disgust by those lips, which, even in their infant prattle, mingled the name of Carlos with those of your sainted mother, and your heroic father. You cannot deceive me, fickle girl."

that the shot had not been instantly fatal. He was cautiously removed to an adjoining chamber. Meanwhile the fury of the populace was excited beyond all control against his slayer, and every part of the city was searched with the view of inflicting upon him that summary justice, peculiar to the mob, which knows no mercy. We have seen how he escaped.

About six months after this occurrence, the friends of Pedraza in the different provinces, having entered into a combination to make yet another effort for his restoration, the leaders of that party had in many parts of the country already taken the field in arms, and were preparing to concentrate their forces on Mexico. Among the rest Carrera, whose fortunes were now desperate, was one of the most formidable enemies of the govern ment. Frequent and bloody engagements took place between divisions of the forces of the two parties in distant parts of the republic. Carrera, who now more than

When lights had been brought into the room in which he fell, he was found weltering in his blood, and apparently lifeless. But instead of that placid languor of expression which settles upon the features of those who have fallen by wounds of this kind, the physician in at"Carlos Carrera! I have betrayed the secret of my tendance at once discovered that the brow was contractaffections; and it has been most disingenuously obtained, as if with excruciating pain, and gave some promise ed-most cruelly used. Yes, I have laid open the innermost recesses of my heart, and you have read every thing that has long been stored and treasured therein. But tender as are my affections for another, gratitude for my deliverer has induced me to sacrifice them all, and to purchase peace with Carrera by a voluntary sacrifice of the only hopes of happiness which ever dawned upon my cheerless soul. Not even the rudeness I have suffered shall make me forget the debt I owe you. Yes, Carlos; I have loved another, but I offer up that love as a sacrifice of propitiation. Let me hope that when this sacrifice is made, I may still find in you the same affectionate friend. I am an orphan, I am alone in the world, and besides yourself, I have no other friend but my aged uncle, now hastening on the verge of the grave to meet my parents in another world. Be thou to me, then, Carrera, as a father--accept the sacrifice which I make, in the spirit in which it is offered. I can never love another, but I can venerate the virtues of my ear-ever felt the necessity of means to conduct his ambitious liest, best of friends. And when, in a few short weeks, I shall have entered the hallowed precincts of yonder convent, every aspiration which I breathe towards the fountain of mercy, shall bear on high my humble but fervent petitions for the happiness of my deliverer. Doing to engage the troops under his command. He renot frown thus darkly on me-pity, help, forgive the unprotected, the unhappy girl who kneels before you!" "Arise, maiden! I grow weary of the humility which is mingled with deception, of the professions of piety which would wed a heretic, and of the protestations of regard for one you have so lately dreaded to meet. have read the secret feelings of your heart, as expressed when you thought no listener was near, and I am not to be deceived by insincere and hollow declarations to my face. Yes, you will renounce the heretic Yorkino, until by some accident of war, my hateful life is ended, and the funeral of Carrera will be speedily followed by the nuptials of Lamar. Such are your thoughts. Offer up no prayers for me, gentle lady, in yonder chapel-let your affections accompany your prayer. Let your petitions be for the Yorkino--he needs your prayers, if your prayers can aught avail for him in his present abode. | inhabitants were frightened from their quiet slumbers I leave you for a season,-and that you may feel somewhat of the misery you have inflicted upon me, know, that Lamar lies green in his grave, and that the hand which is now upraised in triumph above you, is red with the sign of his death!"

enterprise, determined to make yet another desperate effort to secure the person and the fortunes of Vittoria. He was now encamped in the vicinity of Oaxaca, and a large body of the enemy's forces was rapidly approach

solved to attack the convent to which Vittoria had now retired after the death of her uncle-which happened very shortly after her last interview with Carrera-with the double purpose of leading her away captive, and of seizing upon the treasures which it contained. The Isacking of these retreats of piety and learning had not been unfrequent of late, and the opposing troops which were hastening forward, made forced marches to anticipate his design, more with a view of depriving him of the means of carrying on his measures by the booty he would acquire, than from any motive of protection to the peaceful inmates. It was at the dead hour of night, that a select band, headed by Carrera in person, cautiously approached the enclosure of the convent, and speedily scaling the walls, fired the building in every direction, before the alarm was given. The terrified

by the shouts of the brutal soldiery, and hurried, half clad, from their solitary cells, to escape from the devouring flames, which were rapidly spreading around them.

In the midst of the bustle and confusion, two of the Before Carrera had closed, Vittoria, chilled with hor- inmates had been seized and hurried to a vehicle drawn

of the carriage. As soon as Carrera had fallen, his companions fled, and the driver, leaping from his seat, joined in the flight. In an instant, Lamar ordered one of his followers to take the reins, and drive rapidly to the town of Oaxaca, from which the troops of Carrera had now retreated. The frightened horses started off at full speed, and dashing over the body of Carrera, were soon out of sight. Lamar followed in pursuit of the flying enemy, whose retreat had now become a general rout.

"It was some years after this period," said father Clement-" about the year 1833 or '34, that I for the first time saw sister Agnes, formerly Vittoria Nigreti, one of the community of nuns at the Ursuline Convent, whose ruins now totter on the heights of Charlestown, near the city of Boston, in the United States. Finding that no retreat in Mexico was protected from the assaults of the

try during the civil feuds which desolated that unhappy republic, many of the nuns abandoned their native land and sought an asylum in the British provinces of North America. Vittoria, after her deliverance from Carrera, had remained sometime at the house of the parents of Isabella Mendez, in Oaxaca, whither the two had been driven after the battle of which we have spoken, and were restored in safety to their friends. Alone in the world, without a human being of whom she could claim protection, she resolved to accompany her companions of the convent to America, and seek that protection at the foot of the altars of her religion, which seemed to be denied to her in the world. She was alike ignorant of the fate of Carrera, and of the recovery of Lamar, and paid but little attention to the solemn assurances of Isabella, that the cry which escaped her from the window of the carriage, during the engagement at Oaxaca, was occasioned by the sight of these two men engaged in deadly strife. The deep attachment of Carrera to the institutions of his religion, forbade her to believe for an instant that he had been guilty of the sacrilegious as

up on the outside of the wall, when the driver, lashing his horses, drove off at a fearful speed. Carrera, with about forty horsemen, leaving his men to complete the work of ruin at the convent, accompanied this band which followed closely the carriage. Meanwhile the troops of Carrera in the town had been surprised by a detachment of the enemy's forces, and the shouts of the combatants in the streets of Oaxaca gave back a fearful echo to the outcry of the plunderers of the convent. Giving some hasty directions to the driver of the carriage, Carrera, who saw his troops sorely pressed, and already giving way before their assailants, placed himself at the head of the little squadron, and charged at the top of their speed upon the front ranks of his enemies. This sudden and unexpected reinforcement, restored, for a moment, the confidence of his soldiery, and arrested the force of the enemy's assault. But another division having advanced to the relief of the assail-armed bands which scoured the whole face of the counants, the retreat was renewed. Carrera still fought gallantly at the head of his troops, and disputed every foot of ground, until he saw a squadron file off under the command of a daring leader, and wheeling to the right at the end of the street, beyond which the battle now raged, at once struck off at full speed in the direction of the carriage he had just left. Leaving the main battle to its fate, he once again placed himself at the head of the squadron he had just brought into action, and by a nearer and more direct course sprang forward to the rescue. The two squadrons were nearly equal in number and equipments, but Carrera having overtaken the carriage first, and formed his men around it, gave to his opponents the advantage of the charge. They came down upon their enemies with a resistless shock, and bursting into their ranks, overthrew horse and rider, and committed a ruinous slaughter. All discipline was now at an end, and each one fought to the best advantage. The sword of Carrera waved like a firebrand on high, as it gleamed with the reflected light from the blazing ruins of the convent, and did dreadful execution wherever it fell. The strife was now most deadly im-sault upon the convent; and she had been too firmly mediately in front of the carriage, and Carrera pressing forward had nearly dropped his sword from his grasp, and reeled in his saddle as he saw, pressing forward towards him in the hottest of the fight, the tall form of Lamar. But his was not a spirit which could quail for any length of time before any apparition. He seemed, however, by no means anxious to seek the contest with this supposed tenant of the grave. But Lamar had now cut his way almost to the very door of the vehicle-his foes were yielding before him, and Carrera finding that his prize was about to be wrested from him, sprang forward to defend it. Arm to arm, hand to hand, impelled with all the feelings which can give quickness to the vision, strength to the body, and skill in the contest, did they assail each other. The other combatants fell back from their terrific blows-each seemed animated with more than human force, and to be inspired with more than human motion. In the midst of this deadly strug-mingled with her purer and holier thoughts. gle, the blind of the carriage window next to the combatants suddenly fell, the head of a female appeared, and a loud shriek, seemed to have attracted the attention of Carrera for an instant, and his horse veering at the same moment, he was thrown from his guard, and the sword of Lamar descending upon his unprotected head, he was felled to the earth, immediately in front of the horses

convinced of the death of Lamar by the hands of the former, to credit Isabella's report. It was in this city," said father Clement, "that renouncing all earthly feelings, she knelt before the altar in the chapel of the sisterhood, and took those solemn vows, which have never been broken with impunity. A deep melancholy had settled upon her mind, and affected her spirits-and with a view to her relief, a change of scene and climate was recommended, and she was sent to aid those of the order, who were engaged in the instruction of youth at Mount Benedict. Her spirits gradually revived, and the native ardor of her character impelled her to devote herself earnestly to the prosecution of those studies which might render her eminently useful in her vocation. Yet in the midst of the most disinterested labors of charity, her mind would frequently dwell upon the past, and regrets for the untimely fate of Lamar not unfrequently

About this time, from some cause which I have never been able to explore, a feeling of hostility to all the institutions of our holy religion seemed to pervade the lower classes of the people in the vicinity of Boston; and the freezing apathy and indifference of those whose education and station in life lifted them above these vulgar prejudices, soon led to a frightful catastrophe. In

timations had been received from various quarters that violence was openly threatened. But never dreaming that the descendants of the Pilgrim fathers, who had fled from the persecutions of the old world, and who had borne over the sea of waters the emblems of their religion, and had sought in this unfrequented land an asylum for the free indulgence of their opinions, would surpass even their oppressors in ruthless fanaticism, the good sisters of Mount Benedict, relying upon the protection of the civil authorities, and upon the sacred rights of their sex among a refined and christian people, quietly pursued the even tenor of the way.

she derived it. Should she meet Lamar that evening? Alas, my son, when the affections are divided between heaven and earth-when we would serve God and Mammon, the erring tendency of our nature always gives the victory to the evil one. She did meet Lamar, and from that moment sister Agnes looked impatiently for the moment which was to liberate her, but to bring ruin and dismay to the other inhabitants. Although she might have withdrawn without interruption from the convent upon declaring her desire to do so, a mode of retirement less mortifying to her pride was about to present itself.

The Superiors of the convent had received in the course of this day so many intimations of the designs of their enemies, had been so earnestly entreated by their friends to withdraw before the attack commenced, that they became seriously alarmed. Still they resolved to evince no distrust, either in the intelligence or virtue of a free people, or in the disposition and power of the civil authorities to protect them. Group after group of strange faces began to assemble towards nightfall in the vicinity of the grounds-insolent and blasphemous threats occasionally reached their ears and in the course of four or five hours more, the street was filled with a dense crowd of human beings, many of whom were disguised. What a contrast did the interior of this doomed house of refuge and piety present to the scene without. Profanity, insolence, indecency, bigotry, intolerance, fanaticism and riot held their midnight revels in the street by the light of blazing torches; while within, the terror-stricken inmates of the convent clustered around their Superior in the silent chapel, were pouring forth on their knees, to their Heavenly Father, their fervent prayers, that he would turn away from

Charles Lamar had now returned to this country, and having learned that Vittoria, under the name of sister Agnes, had taken the veil, and was now an inmate of the convent of Mount Benedict, resolved to inform her of the approaching storm, and to exert all his powers of persuasion to induce her to renounce her calling, and to leave the institution. His visit to Mexico had confirmed the early prejudices of his life against these religious orders. The party to which he belonged in that country had demanded the expulsion of the Spanish residents, the demolition of all monastic institutions, and the confiscation of all their treasured wealth. Actuated by such sentiments, it is not to be supposed that they were modified when he discovered that the walls of the convent of Mount Benedict separated him from the object of his ardent affections. He consequently exerted himself to disseminate widely all rumors prejudicial to the institution, and actively fomented the growing discontent. When all things seemed ripe for immediate action, and the blow was only suspended to make the necessary arrangements for a united and concerted effort, he found means to convey a letter to sister Agnes, informing her of the time the attack would be made, and entreat-them the wrath of their pursuers,-and that He, who ing her to grant him an interview that evening in the garden of the convent. He related to her the result of his duel with Carrera-his recovery after a tedious and painful confinement-the subsequent defeat and death of his rival--and his despair, when he learned upon his return from the expedition in which he was then engaged, that Vittoria was one of the prisoners of Carrera whom he rescued in the carriage, and that she had de-fice to Heaven! parted for North America; that he had himself returned to this country as soon as he could with propriety leave Mexico, and was now afflicted to find that she was one of the objects of popular resentment. He concluded by stating, that in the event of her being unable to grant him the desired interview, if, when the convent was as-powers of darkness, hurried them to the wildest exsailed, she would escape into the garden, he would be present with sufficient force to rescue and protect her, and bear her whithersoever she pleased.

had proclaimed himself the father of the fatherless, and the protector of the orphan, would preserve his children. There they were, bent down to the earth in meek submission to His holy will, a group of helpless and sorrowing beings, who would have moved even a heart of stone to pity. But the fanatic knows no mercy-he celebrates the orgies of hell, and offers them up a sacri

The storm had burst-the enclosures were torn downthe work of destruction and spoil commenced-the wild boars had broken into the vineyard,-the spirit of the abyss seemed to be abroad, and all the dark and malig nant feelings which degrade man to a level with the

cesses. Furniture was dashed to pieces, windows were broken, the privacy of chambers insulted, and at length a general cry rang long and loud around, to fire the building. The torches were instantly applied, and the whole building was soon wrapped in one eddying sheet of flames.

"I will not undertake," continued father Clement, "to afflict you with the narrative of the conflicting feel ings of sister Agnes as she afterwards related them to me, upon the receipt of this letter. Joy and sorrow, At this moment father Bennet, who sometimes visited hope and despair, hysterical bursts of laughter and the convent in the discharge of his holy functions, apweeping, religious duties and worldly affections, render-peared among the kneeling sisters, and moved with tened her by turns the happiest and most wretched of mor- derness at their affliction, could scarcely repress his feeltals. She threw herself at one moment upon her couchings, as he beheld them even in their humble confidence and wept long and bitterly, at another she would kneel before the image of the Virgin, and pray for light to guide her through this perilous path. She felt it to be her duty to communicate this intelligence to her Superior, and yet if she did, she must disclose the source whence

in Heaven, kneeling before his altar, awaiting his will for their preservation or ruin. There they knelt like lambs for the sacrifice and meet victims they were, for they were without stain or blemish.

Arise, daughters of affliction !" said the father; "the

Being whom you invoke has departed from this house, [ the consummation of his happiness by their union, and there is no mercy here. Let us take up our sick, though she made no effort to conceal her attachment to and depart." him. Do not imagine, however, it was without a strugThe dense volume of ascending smoke hung like a gle that she withdrew her heart from the duties of her dark mantle around the increasing flame, until the blaz-vocation, and surrendered up all her affections to her ing roof and rafters tumbling in with a frightful crash, lover. She had taken the veil under the mistaken imthe towering flames surmounted every obstruction, and pression that Lamar had fallen in the duel with Carrerose upon the evening skies one huge and burning bea- ra, and that she had no other refuge from the persecutcon, affrighting far and wide the populous country ing addresses of the latter. Indeed she had not known around! How awfully sublime was this scene! The the extent of her love for Lamar until she was informed light of the blazing pile was reflected on the broad bo- of his death; and in her holiest vigils in the cell of her som of the bay, and from every turret and spire of the convent, she wept over his untimely fate, and breathed neighboring towns. The rioters, assembled in large a ritual for his departed spirit. groups in the streets, their dusky visages burnished by the brightening flame-the crashing of falling timbers, was mingled with shouts of exultation as floor after floor gave way—and around were scattered the fragments of goods and furniture, which had been thrown out while the building was burning, as if this desperate band, not satisfied with the consuming ruin of the flames, carried | on their destructive labors at the same time. Far in the distance, the Monument of the illustrious dead, who died in the purchase of their country's rights, reared its unfinished head on a neighboring height, gilded with the light which it reflected far abroad over the land. In another direction, unprotected, uncovered, and unsheltered, the pale and terrified sisters, with their Superior at their head, turned their backs, like Lot and his family of old, upon their blazing home, and meekly pursued their way amid the insults, obscene scoffing, or cold indifference of the frequent passers by. In another direction, a band of these incendiaries had invaded the house of the dead-coffined bodies were exposed-the cerements of the dead were disturbed, as if they were searching amid these sacred recesses with the ferocity of howling hyenas, for some hidden morsel of slander, with which to blacken the name, after they had destroyed the property, of an unoffending sisterhood of pious women. "I admire, my son," said father Clement, with a sorrowful voice, "I admire the free institutions of your country, but the future reader of your history can only preserve his respect for your people, by supposing that this night of horrors had been interpolated into the narrative, and that it belonged to another age and to another people, long before the diffusion of free principles of government, and the light of civilization and refinement. Posterity will close their ears incredulously, and carry back this deed of darkness to the gloomiest ages of intolerance among free-booters and vandals. The blackened walls of that convent still look forth upon the pale and distant Monument of your infant glory, and I trust will stand until the public councils of that State shall by some formal declaration denounce the deed.

Lamar, in consequence of the disturbances along the frontier, in which he was actively engaged on the American shore, urged Vittoria to fix an early day for their nuptials, lest open hostilities, which seemed to impend, should separate them. She resisted all his entreaties, until he informed her that hostilities had already commenced in Canada, and that he was about to engage in a perilous enterprise, from which he might never return. He did not ask her to leave her friends, or to accompany him at that time, but he only desired to have a claim to protect her amid the scenes of violence which seemed to menace the province. In an evil moment she consented, and from that time her peace of mind was gone forever. Although Vittoria was ardently attached to Lamaralthough her love for him had become a part of her existence, and she felt that she only lived for him, yet no sooner had the fatal promise been made, than she drooped like the bruised lily of the vale, and hung down her head in anguish and bitterness of spirit. Religion, stronger than love, was enthroned in her heart-the vows which she had taken, her tender conscience constantly rung in her ears; and she, who had consecrated herself to Heaven, had consented to become the earthly bride of a fellow mortal. She seemed to seek for alleviation to her sufferings in the fervor of her piety-but still the fatal promise recurred, and the day would speedily arrive when Lamar would return to claim her hand. It was then that she commenced singing those tender hymns to the Virgin, some of which filled your heart with sympathy this morning in the Hotel Dieu. She became pensive and abstracted; and often in the early evening, when the stars were newly lit in the skies, she would walk forth alone along the banks of the river, and listen to the sound of the mighty cataract of waters, whose thunders had resounded amid the solitudes of the forest from the beginning of time. The eve of the day fixed for their nuptials had arrived, and on the wings of love Lamar was hastening to meet her; but when he reached the frontier, the state of feeling was such, on the opposite shores, that it was dangerous, if not impossible, to pass

But let us turn from those smouldering ruins to seek sis-over uninterrupted. He therefore remained at Schlosser, ter Agnes. True to her appointment, and without seeking on the American shore, awaiting an opportunity to cross, the blessing of heaven on her purpose, she had changed and was suddenly aroused at night by an alarm that the her dress and left the burning building before the other British troops had attacked and were cutting out the inmates, and throwing herself under the protection of steamer Caroline from the landing. Lamar, was hurried into a coach, which drove off instantly on the great northern road. She was carried by her request to the residence of a distant relative of her father, who had been an early settler in the province, and had continued to reside near Chippewa, on the Canada shore. In a few weeks Lamar called upon her, but she could not be prevailed upon to name a day for

All the sympathies of Lamar's heart were with the oppressed Canadians in their struggle-the same love of adventure, and the same enthusiastic devotion to the cause of freedom, which had made him an active partisan in Mexico, impelled him to aid the insurgents in the British provinces. He was only awaiting an orga nized opposition to the government, to offer his services

thinking of the sublime attitude of the vision on the stern of the boat, she still exclaims, with the cross in her hand, "BEAUTIFUL-OH! BEAUTIFUL!"

Such, my son, is the melancholy history of the doomed vestal of the Hotel Dieu. Let us trust that the sufferings she has undergone will at length appease the demands of offended justice-and that before her spirit wings its flight to another world, a ray of mercy may fall upon her darkened soul, and she may look with a clear vision upon the emblem of her faith, and turn with undivided hope and love to Him who died upon it, that she might live. Verily, she has been a vessel of afflictions, and a creature of love. Peace to her disturbed spirit!"

Such was the outline of the narrative of father Clement. It has been imperfectly remembered, and rudely told in these pages. But often in the silent vigils of the night, does the venerable form of the good father appear before me, relating the fortunes of this stricken one, with the tender feelings of a parent for the sufferings of his afflicted child. And oftener stil!, do the words of the doomed one, herself, fall meltingly upon my soul"BEAUTIFUL-OH! BEAUTIFUL!"

"BIRD OF MY HEART!"

BY PARK BENJAMIN.

Bird of my heart,—come, sing to me

to the Patriot army. And perhaps too, he was restrain- | sonification of the two passions of her soul, and ever ed by his love for Vittoria, with whom he desired to consummate his union before they should be separated by open hostilities. But this insolent invasion of the soil of his native country by an armed force, fired his soul, and hastily arming himself, he hurried through the darkness of the night to repel the invaders. But little more is known of the short, but desperate struggle that ensued, than the result. Lamar was seen to spring on board the steamer; by the flash of the fire-arms he was observed in the midst of the struggle; but before further aid could arrive, the boat was towed out by the captors into the middle of the stream, and having been set on fire, was abandoned in the midst of the waters, to float onward, until it was consumed. It was a sublime spectacle that burning boat. Herself blazing in the darkness of the night-the foliage of the forest trees on the bank was beautifully lit up as she drifted by-and the waters around her reflecting the mass of flames, she seemed to float in a sea of fire. Onward she went-that boat without a guide-the flames ascending higher and higher, like a mighty holocaust of fire, sent forth to appease the angry spirit of the water-god, whose voice thundered in the cataract below. Pale as the lily, that loves the margin of the brook, sat Vittoria on the shore, as this vision of light passed before her eyes. She started from her seat; and in admiration of the moment, stretching forth her arms towards the vessel, she looked like some priestess placed upon the spot to bless the offering to the mighty god, as it descended. Onward swept the boat, faster and faster, as she approached the precipice-now whirling around in the eddies which prevail near the fall-and at length, having arrived at the verge of the steep precipice, she plunged headlong downwards, and the waters continued to tumble and thunder in solitude and darkness. Lamar was never afterwards heard of-and whether he was thrown from the deck in the struggle, or whether among the wounded and the slain he was borne onward on this fiery bier to a watery grave, none can tell! The sad tidings soon reached Vittoria-but she was spared-in mercy, spared the wretchedness they were calculated to inflict. Her reason had been shaken on its throne, by her exposure during that night and the remorse she had suffered. She was found in her room on the evening of her bridal day, dressed in her bridal garments, singing her hymn to the Virgin, weeping at intervals, and occasionally, with the crucifix in her hand, exclaiming, as you heard her this day, "Beautiful-oh! beautiful!" I learned from one of the family," said father Clement, "that she must have lost her reason in the excitement and paroxysm of her feelings, when the blazing boat passed her, that in her deranged imagination, she thought she beheld Lamar standing erect on the stern of the boat as she passed, arrayed in his bridal suit, with the sign of her faith stretched forth in one hand, and beckoning to her with the other to follow him. And straining her mind's eye to behold him to the last, as that light went down amid the whirl of waters, her reason followed her loved one into the fathomless abyss. But as the whole life of this ill fated girl had been divided between piety to Heaven and love for a fellow mortal, so, amid the ruins of her mind, she has blended her betrothed husband with her heavenly Redeemer, and with a heart overflowing with love for this strange per

The dear, old tunes of early hours,
And, as thou sing'st, I'll weave for thee

A nest of Summer's sweetest flowers:
There shalt thou sleep, if on my breast
Thou find'st a less congenial rest,
There shalt thou sleep, if by my side
Thy beauteous plumes thou wilt not hide!
Bird of my heart,-in distant climes

I've strayed since last thy notes I heard ;
And, after Vesper's solemn chimes,

I've listened to the Evening bird;
That songstress strange, who only sings
When Night unfolds her sable wings-
But ah! than thine a fainter tale
Was warbled by the nightingale!-

Bird of my heart,-thy lightest tone

Lulls all my senses to repose;
So sings the Eastern charmer lone,

So droops to sleep the captive rose !
Come, sing-and to my soul entice
A pictured dream of Paradise ;
For in that dream I shall not see
A Houri, angel, saint, like thee!
Bird of my heart,-come sing to me

The song it thrills my heart to hear,
And as thou sing'st, I'll fancy thee
The spirit of some starry sphere ;-
For Music, poets call divine
And once she made her secret thine,
And, touching her melodious shell,
Hung on thy lips her magic spell!