of thirteen or fourteen, which was merely done for the sake of regularity, for little tumult was to be apprehended under such circumstances. Clothes were also wanting, particularly for the poorer sort of people, which were also received by little and little, in the same manner. At first it was curious to see half the people dressed in other men's clothes. The neighbouring countries behaved with the greatest humanity towards the poor sufferers, as soon as any tolerable communication could be opened.

I might relate many individual interesting circumstances, but will not lengthen this letter too much. All this happened in February, I think, and lumps of ice were still found lying about in June. There was another church, in a higher part of the town, which had been much exposed, but not carried away. Some weeks after the great flood, a lump of ice was still found lying in the pulpit (supported by other masses from below,) of such a size, that by no mode of human contrivance it appeared possible to have brought it in through any of the doors or windows.

I have only related to you the misfortunes of one small town, but it is well known how much devastation was committed in that calamitous year along the whole banks of the Rhine, and yet, such is the attachment of men to their native soil, that, soon after this event, people began to rebuild houses on the same spots where they had before been washed away. It is true, the gap which this new branch of the river had made was dammed up as soon as the great waters had subsided; but what security was there against another such scene from some different quarter?

This observation, however, is very general. The inhabitants of Etna and Vesuvius begin to rebuild houses on the fresh lava, before it is even cold.

THE ROSE IN JANUARY.

A German Tale.

I HAD the good fortune to become acquainted in his old age with the celebrated Wieland, and to be often adınitted to his table. It was there that, animated by a flask of Rhenish, he loved to recount the anecdotes of his youth, and with a gaiety and naïveté which rendered them extremely interesting. His age-his learning-his celebrity-no longer threw us to a distance, and we laughed with him as joyously as he himself laughed in relating the little adventure which I now attempt to relate. It had a chief influence on his life, and it was that which he was fondest of retracing, and retraced with most poignancy. I can well remember his very words; but there are still wanting the expression of his fine countenance-his hair white as snow, gracefully curling round his head; his blue eye, somewhat faded by years, yet still announcing his genius and depth of thought; his brow touched with the lines of reflection, but open, elevated, and of a distinguished character; his smile full of benevolence and candour. "I was handsome enough," he used sometimes to say to usand no one who looked at him could doubt it; "but I was not amiable, for a savant rarely is," he would add laughingly, and this every one doubted; so to prove it, he recounted the little history that follows:

"I was not quite thirty," said he to us, "when I obtained the chair of philosophical professor in this college in the most flattering manner: I need not tell you that my amour propre was gratified by a distinction rare enough at my age. I certainly had worked for it formerly; but at the moment it came to me, another species of philosophy occupied me much more deeply, and I would have given more to know what passed in one heart, than to have had power to analyse those of all mankind. I was passionately in love; and you all know, I hope, that when love takes possession of a young head, adieu to every thing else; there is no room

for any other thought. My table was covered with folios of all colours, quires of paper of all sizes, journals of all species, catalogues of books, in short, of all that one finds on a professor's table: but of the whole circle of science I had for some time studied only the article Rose, whether in the Encyclopædia, the botanical books, or all the gardeners' calendars that I could meet with. You shall learn presently what led me to this study, and why it was that my window was always open, even during the coldest days. All this was connected with the passion by which I was possessed, and which was become my sole and continual thought. I could not well say at this moment how my lectures and courses got on, but this I know, that more than once I have said 'Amelia,' instead of philosophy.'

"It was the name of my beauty-in fact, of the beauty of the University, Mademoiselle de Belmont. Her father, a distinguished officer, had died on the field of battle. She occupied with her mother a large and handsome house in the street in which I lived, on the same side, and a few doors distant. This mother, wise and prudent, obliged by circumstances to inhabit a city filled with young students from all parts, and having so charming a daughter, never suffered her a moment from her sight, either in or out of doors. But the good lady passionately loved company and cards; and to reconcile her tastes with her duties, she carried Amelia with her to all the assemblies of dowagers, professors' wives, canonesses, &c. &c., where the poor girl ennuyed herself to death with hemming or knitting beside her mother's card-table. But you ought to have been informed, that no student, indeed no man under fifty, was admitted. I had then but little chance of conveying my sentiments to Amelia. I am sure, however, that any other `than myself would have discovered this chance, but I was a perfect novice in gallantry; and, until the moment when I imbibed this passion from Amelia's beautiful dark eyes, mine, having been always fixed upon Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, &c., understood nothing at all of the language of the heart. It was at an old lady's, to whom

I was introduced, that I became acquainted with Amelia; my destiny led me to her house on the evening of her assembly; she received me-I saw Mademoiselle de Belmont, and from that instant her image was engraven in lines of fire on my heart. The mother frowned at the sight of a well-looking young man: but my timid, grave, and perhaps somewhat pedantic air, re-assured her. There were a few other young persons-daughters and nieces of the lady of the mansion; it was summer -they obtained permission to walk in the garden, under the windows of the saloon, and the eyes of their mammas. I followed them; and, without daring to address a word to my fair one, caught each that fell from her lips.

"Her conversation appeared to me as charming as her person; she spoke on different subjects with intelligence above her years. In making some pleasant remarks on the defects of men in general, she observed, that what she most dreaded was violence of temper,' Naturally of a calm disposition, I was wishing to boast of it; but not having the courage, I at last entered into her idea, and said so much against passion, that I could not well be suspected of an inclination to it. I was recompensed by an approving smile; it emboldened me, and I began to talk much better than I thought myself capable of doing before so many handsome women : she appeared to listen with pleasure; but when they came to the chapter of fashions, I had no more to say-it was an unknown language; neither did she appear versed in it.

Then succeeded observations on the flowers in the garden; I knew little more of this than of the fashions, but I might likewise have my particular taste; and to decide, I waited to learn that of Amelia: she declared for the rose, and grew animated in the eulogy of her chosen flower. From that moment it became for me the queen of flowers. 'Amelia,' said a pretty, little, laughing Espiegle, how many of your favourites are condemned to death this winter?' 'Not one,' replied she; 'I renounce them-their education is too troublesome, and too ungrateful a task, and I begin to think I know nothing about it."

" I assumed sufficient resolution to ask the explanation of this question and answer: she gave it to me:You have just learned that I am passionately fond of roses; it is an hereditary taste; my mother is still fonder of them than I am. Since I was able to think of any thing, I have had the greatest wish to offer her a rose-tree in blow (as a new year's gift) on the first of January; I have never succeeded. Every year I have put a quantity of rose-trees into vases; the greater number perished; and I have never been able to offer one rose to my mother.' So little did I know of the culture of flowers, as to be perfectly ignorant that it was possible to have roses in winter; but from the mo ment I understood that it might be, without a miracle, and that incessant attention only was necessary, I promised myself, that this year the first of January should not pass without Amelia's offering her mother a rose-tree in blow. We returned to the saloon :-so close was I on the watch, that I heard her ask my name in a whisper. Her companion answered, I know him only by reputation; they say he is an author, and so learned, that he is already a professor. I should never have guessed it,' said Amelia; he seems neither vain nor pedantic.' How thankful was I for this reputation! Next morning I went to a gardener, and ordered fifty rose-trees of different months to be put in vases. It must be singular ill fortune,' thought I, if, among this number, one at least does not flower.' On leaving the gardener I went to my bookseller's-purchased some works on flowers, and returned home full of hope. I intended to accompany my rose-tree with a fine letter, in which I should request to be permitted to visit Madame de Belmont, in order to teach her daughter the art of having roses in winter; the agreeable lesson, and the charming scholar, were to me much pleasanter themes than those of my philosophical lectures. I built on all this the prettiest romance possible; my milk pail had not yet got on so far as Perrette's; she held it on her head; and my rose was not yet transplanted into its vase, but I saw it all in blow. In the meantime, I was happy