LINES, Written on the Anniversary of my Twenty-ninth Birthday. Oh! once, when life was new, the hours Cast o'er my path, a few fresh flowers, Once my heart, like the air, was light, And heavy clouds my young eyes shaded. Still, though in premature decay, Like northern springs, where day is bright, MY FIRST ESSAY. (A ROMANCE.) P. W. The storm was raging with a violence which had never been surpassed; trees were torn from their roots by the fury of the wind, and huge oaks, which had stood the stormy conflict for ages, perished by the avenging thunderbolt; the lightning gleamed with terrific brightness, and enlightened with its broad flame-which spread from horizon to horizon every object, however minute. And then too the awful, the tremendous peals of thunder (the dread. artillery of Heaven) were so close, and continued for so long, that heightened by the echoes of the surrounding mountains, it seemed one continued war. The rain fell in torrents, and the whole fury of the storm united, seemed to threaten annihilation to the world. In one of the highest turrets of the Castle of Hogandorff lay the grey-haired Seneschal, Gondibert. The turret shook by each. pealing gust of wind, and he in vain endeavoured to compose himself to sleep. As he tossed from side to side of his uneasy couch, the portraits of the grim warriors which hung around his apartment seemed by the reflection of the lightning to be stepping from their frames. For the greater part of that evening had he been listening with greedy ear to the terrific tales which were in remembrance of crimes and deeds which had been perpetrated in the Castle. Spectres were said to walk its galleries, and numberless were the instances R in which the domestics had been disturbed by noises and groans, sufficient to appal the soul of the stoutest among them. The Seneschal's memory recalled all these tales with terrific minuteness to his mind; and, as his heart shook within him, with anguished terror, he inwardly directed a prayer to the Virgin for protection. The storm was now gradually decreasing, and a horrid calm ensued-between each peal of thunder, was silence, even more terrific than the loudest roaring of the tempest. Sudden in one of these pauses, the Castle clock sullenly tolled the hour of midnight-immediately on the bell ceasing, a most tremendous peal of thunder shook the Castle to its foundation, and in the pause which ensued, the trembling Seneschal distinctly heard the stifled moans of some one in deep suffering-his hair stood erect, a cold sweat exuded itself from his body, and sitting up, he listened attentively for a renewal of the sounds-nought was heard for a few minutes but the hoarse murmurings of the distant tempest, which was now gradually dying away. All being again still, he was about to lay his tired body on the couch, when he heard the murmuring of voices, and a faint laugh, which sounded in his ears like the hoarse deep murmuring of a demon. Though dismayed, the Seneschal was not deficient in courage, and he arose to discover from whence the noise proceeded. His taper had long since died away-he felt with trembling hand for his sword, which had been often tried, and had proved a faithful friend; with cautious steps he groped his way to the turret window, which he silently opened. The clouds were driving before the wind, and the moon was faintly, very faintly shining through the misty vault of Heaven, by its pale reflection he was enabled indistinctly to observe four men, wrapped in cloaks, who seemed to have been engaged in some dark deed. One remark, and one only did he hear, which sounded to him like the knell of death-the foremost of the four exclaimed "Good sooth Hubert, many a night have we passed in scenes of blood, but none did I ever share in, like this." Gondibert's limbs shook-his blood turned cold-he essayed to move, but his limbs refused their office-he wished to call aloud, but his tongue clung to the roof of his mouth, and he stood at the window,gazing as fixedly on the murderers, as if he were a figure of stone. The ruffians seemed intent on concealing whoever had fallen beneath their murderous hands in a large sack, which could be discerned but with difficulty. Gondibert thought within himself what course he should pursue he determined upon leaving his room, ringing the alarm bell, which would arouse the peasants of the neighbouring village, but then even the villains might escape. While engaged thus in thought, the moon suddenly shone forth with the utmost brilliancy, revealing every thing as clear as if it were the noon day's sun. Gondibert looked down on the mysterious group again, and beheld-oh, heavens! he started with agonizing passion-his hands trembled with rage-his frame was convulsed -his eyes nearly started from their sockets-he stamped upon the floor-rushed from his room into the extensive gallery which led to the domestic's chambers, and called impetuously-help, help, Sebastian-Rufo-haste to the court-yard, for the infernal villains have robbed the hen-roost-have wrung the necks of all the fowls, and are now putting them in a bag." J. H. M. DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD.. NAPOLEON AND FREDERICK. FREDERICK. How is it, Napoleon, that since your arrival in the shades, we have never conversed on those important events in which we were each engaged on earth. I have often met you, but you seemed to shun me. NAPOLEON. You are mistaken. I have never done so. But when I indulge in society,I prefer that of the ancients to the moderns. I have but just now parted from Cæsar. FREDERICK. Allow me to thank you in the name of the moderns for the compliment you pay them. Your preference of the Romans as your companions has not escaped my observation. May I ask to what circumstance it is owing? NAPOLEON. The similarity of our views. They aimed at universal conquest, and my endeavours to subjugate Europe could not have failed, if successful, to render me nearly as complete a master of the rest of the world. FREDERICK. You attribute to them motives, by which they were neveractuated. Their immense empire was the result of the courage and talent of numerous individuals, operating by slow degrees through the lapse of time; and their conquests were as often the consequence of a successful repulse of aggression, as of the encroachments of unprincipled ambition; .those who commenced the fabric never dreamed of the extent to which it was destined to attain. NAPOLEON. Nevertheless, I must maintain, that the conquests which I made FREDERICK. Pardon me if I say, that I am still to learn that you made any. How ! NAPOLEON. FREDERICK. You were nearly as uniformly successful as any Commander in defeating those opposed to you, but the fruits of your victories vanished even in your own time, and when you embarked for Elba, not an inch of all those countries you overran, and fancied you possessed, remained to France.-I had a hard struggle for it I admit, but I permanently added Silesia to the kingdom of Prussia, and I did the same with great part of Poland without firing a shot. NAPOLEON. I see you can afford me no approbation as a statesman, and in truth, since I have had time to reflect on my former actions, and have heard them canvassed by men who, like you, were above concealing their opinions, I have began to entertain some doubts of my abilities as one myself-but as a warrior, I think I may still fearlessly challenge your good opinion; in that character in one point I may defy the records of time from the earliest period to equal me. Indeed! FREDERICK. NAPOLEON. No army of modern times, could withstand that which I led into Russia, and as for those of ancient, although there is one recorded, probably fabulously, as more numerous, yet the superiority of our modern materiel, particularly in artillery, could they have been opposed, must have ensured their being put "hors de combat" in a quarter of an hour. 66 FREDERICK. To speak en guerrie" no army ever took the field which could accomplish the same destruction in a given space of time as that to which you allude. NAPOLEON. That I think, you must allow. FREDERICK. It cannot be denied. Yet these immense masses are liable to objections, which, in a military point of view are as important as unavoidable; not to mention the difficulty of supplying them with provisions, it is almost impossible to combine the operations of such multitudes, with the precision so indispensable in war, and if a reverse take place, to remedy error, or restore order, is beyond the power of man. NAPOLEON. You refer to my disastrous retreat, but surely the unexampled severity of the weather FREDERICK. You must not tell me of that. If it had been as favourable as on your entry, your destruction would have been inevitable, although not perhaps to the extent which actually occurred. You were repulsed in your attempt to retreat by the south through the provinces of the Ukraine, where, in an untouched country, your Commissariat could have found ample resources, and the Russians having succeeded in forcing you to retrograde through the devastated country in which all was consumed and destroyed in your advance, your batallions would have been thinned by famine nearly as much as by the weather. NAPOLEON. I might have drawn them into a general engagement, in which their total defeat might have enabled me to spread my columns over a greater extent of country, and so availed myself of means do not seem disposed to allow. you FREDERICK. you They had too much wisdom to give you that chance. But violated in that expedition one of the most important, although self-evident rules of strategy, in seperating yourself from the base of your operations, for the trifling one you created in Poland was not worthy the name. NAPOLEON. I have sometimes regretted that I did not restore the independence of Poland, instead of cresting a Grand Duchy of Warsaw, but I was deterred by the dread of Austria and Prussia, who were incensed even by what I ventured to do, and who might have interposed between me and France with fatal effect. FREDERICK. Without referring to the events of your career for proof, I must own the chief defect in your military character has always appeared to me that all your calculations were founded on the presumption of success,and that you were never prepared with the means to remedythe consequences of disaster. NAPOLEON. I certainly never coveted the fame which is to be acquired by the conduct of a retreat. FREDERICK. Yet none has been more permanent than what has been attained by skilful ones, the instances of which I need not remind you; and, if I may speak of my own experience, no victory I ever obtained cost me the exertion and risk of my endeavours to retire in tolerable order before Daun at Hochkirken; but I must dismiss the subject of war, to tax you with a deed, which, as I am one of the irritable tribe of authors, you will find it very difficult to satisfy me on. I mean the execution of Palm, the Printer. I could more readily forgive you the death of ten thousand men in the field. NAPOLEON. And I could have borne such a loss with less uneasiness than I experienced from him. But he was more dangerous than you perhaps imagine, in his attempt to rouse the Germans to resistance, and it was necessary to strike a terror into his brethren of the Press, or I should have had that nest of hornets, which I always held in |