in that admirable character the representation of a great class of his own countrymen.

Besides, we have our antiquities, and our monuments of past ages, scattered, like fallen columns, thick over the continent. We have no damp crumbling monasteries and castles, around which old legends linger (generally fictions invented by lovers of the marvellous), through whose desolate halls you can hear only the sepulchral voices of pale vergers and withered monks, "counting their beads and pattering prayer;" but we have the ruins of old empires, over which the dust of antiquity gathered long before Julius Cæsar landed on the shores of Britain-ruins still to be seen.

The races which have preceded us raised their tumuli and dug out mountain caves. They erected vast fortifications against their enemies, and temples to their gods; and the remains of these works are still seen by the traveller. We have, too, those wide grassy plains, for which "the speech of England has no name"-the Prairies

"The gardens of the desert these,

The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,"

And we have the sublimity of the wilderness, from which the "hand of nature never has been lifted."

steamer.

I remember, some years ago, when passing up the Mississippi in company with an educated young Englishman, frequently scaring the wild deer on the banks by the noise of our "I would by far," said he, "see this spectacle," (as the animals dashed away into the forest), "than the fairest scene in the Old World." We sometimes sailed fifty miles without seeing a sign of civilization; all around us were the repose and grandeur of solemn nature. "We cannot enjoy this in England," said he. "We have our parks and our deer; but they are not the wild, free creatures we see here, who can roam through your parks for thousands of miles."

The magnificence of our scenery is confessed by all; but Europeans have often alleged it as a grand defect, that we are without those associations of the past which mingle with our contemplation of the scenery of the Old World: no Shakspeare is buried on the banks of one of our streams; we have no gray towers, or

castles, or convent bells. Still a thousand wild, beautiful legends are told of the early settlers on our frontiers; and the great struggle for freedom has sanctified many a spot;" but, above all, liberty dwells in the hearts of our people.

In walking through the narrow and filthy lanes of the large manufacturing towns in England, I have seen thousands of pale, hungry, ragged children, flocking to the mills, while it was yet early morning; and that numerous class not yet able to work; and I could not but contrast these unfortunate children, compelled to labour through childhood and youth, to old age (if, indeed, they did not meet the better lot to die while young), with the cheerful boys and girls of New-England, who rise from their long, healthful sleep, with free hearts, and wander away with full stomachs to the district school-house.

I only wish my countrymen would feel more grateful for the inestimable blessings of their own free land. I am every day more and more deeply impressed with the belief, that there has never yet been an age or a country

in which such high facilities were afforded for accomplishing the great objects of human existence; for making life so valuable.

It would be strange, indeed, if America had not many good poets; but still stranger, if she had one great one.> *

Pardon, sir, so long a letter, and accept assurances of regard from

Your faithful servant,

C. EDWARDS LESTER.

* The day before I left London I called to see Campbell for the last time. We passed an hour together in his library. He was as cheerful and as kind as ever. "For your sake, I am glad you are going home," he said; "for my own, I am sorry; for you have made a bright spot in Campbell's life. But how can you have stayed away from home so long? Oh! what a word that is! Home!

be

"Here is a copy of the illustrated edition of my poems; take it with you; and if, with your Gertrude, you ever go again to the Valley of Wyoming, it may a pleasure to her to hear you say, 'Campbell gave me this!' Farewell, sir; and God bless you with a safe and prosperous voyage." He shook my hand heartily, and we parted at the door.

SIR,

To the Hon. John C. Calhoun.

WELL knowing that you never fail to be interested in anything that relates to the prosperity of the American people, I have thought you would pardon me for addressing you a letter on the probable influence of the commerce of British India upon the staple productions of the South. I know this is a question which more directly concerns the Southern States than the rest of the Union, but I trust I feel as deep an interest in that portion of the country as in any other. I desire to see the great states of the South, under a wise and humane policy, develop their mighty resources and become, as they may, one of the fairest, most desirable, and opulent portions of the confederacy. So long as our Union continues, and may Heaven preserve it through all coming time, we cannot separate the interests of