have adopted, the reading I delight in most, at present, is history and general politics."

Cooke looked up with a sidelong glance of peculiar meaning at the face of his young friend, and said:

"If that face and head of yours had chanced to have been placed upon a body that would have elevated the crown of it to the height of six feet, you might have been a statesman of eminence, or a hero -a leader of senates or of armies-at least on the stage!"

This touched a string in my hero's composition, which totally changed not alone the current of his ideas, but the very nature of them.

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Yes, sir," he replied, "I have compared my face with Kemble's; my nose is as prominent, my eye is as expressive, I have as great power over my features as he has; I have studied the profession of an actor as thoroughly as he has-but because, according to certain arbitrary rules, it is found that my face is too long for the height of my person, it is concluded that I cannot rise to the pitch of tragic dignity or give due effect to the poet's pathos."

"Did you ever try?" asked the tragedian.

"Yes, once."

"And what effect?"
"The fools laughed !"

"When you intended they should cry! Well, never mind, continue to make them laugh, and laugh with them-throw away the stilts-descend from the heights of Quebec, kick off the buskin, and go on with your story if you have any more of it."

So saying, the old man laid his head on his pillow, good-humouredly laughing, and composed himself to listen.

Zeb joined in the laugh and proceeded :

"Before I come to the usual windingup of a story-marriage-permit me to give you a sketch of a scene on board a steamboat in ascending the river to Montreal."

Anything but heroics."

"On entering the cabin of the boat, which was of a size and style perfectly magnificent, my attention was attracted to a man seated before a dressing-glass and preparing to shave himself. He talked almost without cessation, and with that peculiar manner and brogue which belongs to a raw Irish gentleman. He had borrowed the shaving-apparatus from the captain, probably to avoid the trouble of unpacking his own, and to him

(an untutored Yankee) he addressed his observations and questions; many of the latter were unanswerable, and many were very kindly answered by himself. He appeared to act and speak from the mere impulse of animal spirits, which rendered action necessary, and called up and combined ideas in such rapid succession that immediate and incessant utterance by words was the only, although inadequate, means of relief.

"Now, captain, that razor will split a hair wid as much ase as my hair-triggers will snuff a rushlight. I bought them of Popham, just by the Parliament-house. Damn the Union, I say; see how it cuts! Fait and it cuts, sure enough-see the claret-where did you buy dis razor, captain ?"

"In Cornhill, Boston."

"London; you mane London." "No, sir, Boston, Massachusetts." " Boston! That's in Canada-I know."

"In the States."

"I know, here in Canada-give me a towel-they say I must go to Montreal before I can get to Upper Canada-a piece of courtplaster-my regiment is there-if I go through Boston by the way, I will have a pair of dem razors, if it's only to blood myself."

The captain, seeing that I was amused by his odd companion, winked and touched his forehead with his finger. I smiled in reply. The captain evidently thought the Irishman mad.

"There, that's comme il faut," said Pat, as he tied an enormous cravat and adjusted the ends under his vest. "Don't you think so, captain?" And he slapped Jonathan on the shoulder..

You need n't fear the coming of any foe now," said the Yankee.

"What would you be at, man? Fear! -what's that? as Murphy said when he saw his face in a pail of water. Sir, I'm glad to see a gentleman on board," accosting me; "no disparagement at all to the captain, who is an excellent judge of razors. You are from England, sir?"

I bowed an affirmative, adding, "I have been in England, sir."

"And in the army?"

"I have not the honour."

"That's a misfortune, sure enough. O the army's the sphere for us pretty fellows! I would have sworn that you came out with the Duke of Richmond." I had not that honour."

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"See now, I knew it-captain, who's that? It's Jack Frothingham of the thirty-seventh. Tom Blazy!-my coat!

O, I forgot that I left Tom kilt at Liverpool, to come in the next ship!" and off he dashed to the other end of the cabin for his coat, and the next minute leaped on shore in pursuit of Jack Frothingham.

I now attended to my own affairs; the passengers arrived; the boat unmoored and proceeded up the river, and in the contemplation of the picturesque scenery which surrounded me as we passed the rocks and battlements of the town, and the bold and rugged heights which frown upon the stream of the St. Lawrence, I for a time lost sight of my friend the Irish gentleman, nor did anything occur that particularly attracted my attention to him until we arrived at the town of Three Rivers.

Off that place our moving palace stopped, and a boat came from the shore with some passengers. I had satisfied my curiosity by looking at the town from the deck, and had retired to the cabin. The steamboat recommenced stemming the current of the St. Lawrence, when suddenly the most hideous yells, mingled with curses and blasphemies, were heard on the deck. Those in the cabin rushed out, and we saw a man, in plain, dark habiliments, with a meagre, sallow countenance, and lank, black hair, using the most frantic action, and shouting to some men who were rowing a boat toward the shore; by turns he called upon them to come back-then on the captain to stop the steamboat, mixing his entreaties with the most horrible curses as he saw that the boatmen continued their progress to the land, and the steamboat bore him rapidly in the contrary direction.

I afterwards found that this person had come on board with the intention of returning in the row-boat, but being out of the way at the time when the steamboat resumed her course, the boatmen either intentionally, or forgetting him, pushed off and left him on board. Upon finding that he was on his way to Montreal, travelling from home against his will, he seemed suddenly to have changed from a mild, placid, low-spoken, modest man, to an infuriated, bawling demoniac, and in this situation and character, I, and the Hibernian, first saw him. The Irishman at first looked on him with surprise, and then with an expression of delight; and so thoroughly was be engrossed by the appearance, the screams and the mingled oaths and curses of the strange being before him, that he was perfectly silent, for the first time since he came on board.

The captain, after some time, succeeded in pacifying the unwilling traveller, by stating that he could not touch at Three Rivers on account of the draught of his vessel, and as the boatmen had refused to return, he was forced to continue his way; but that he would take him free of cost to Montreal, and return him to Three Rivers when he again came down. No sooner had this arrangement been proposed, than all the fury of the sufferer vanished--his face became tranquil, his dull, lack-lustre black eye, motionless, and his whole appearance and deportment sunk into a listless sheepishness.

The Irishman now appeared very busy in making inquiries of the Yankee captain, and as they approached me, I heard Jonathan say, "Chaplain to one of the provincial regiments."

"Blood and tunder ! cried Pat, "what a devil of a clargyman! well, but he can cry aloud and spare not,' sure enough. But is he a priest? Fait, and he labours in his calling. I tought I had seen some roaring chaplains at home, but this Yankee preacher bates dem all hollow at a halloo !"

"He is not a Yankee," said the captain, "he is a Canadian.”

"And is it not all one? Sure he is an American. And what sect may he be of?"

Chaplain to one of his majesty's Canadian regiments of militia. By his hearty cursing, I guess he's a church

man.

"Dat's true! but what has the church to do on the St. Lawrence? Where has he gone? O, I see him tossing off a glass of brandy there at the bar. I must become better acquainted wid a man of his sacred character."

I lost sight of my men until dinner. This meal was magnificently served up; every variety of fish, flesh, and fowl being displayed in porcelain and plate upon a table of very great length, at the head of which sat the captain, and near him the military Hibernian, with a bottle of Madeira at his hand. I had taken my seat near the foot of the table and entrance of the cabin. We were seated before the chaplain, so called, entered, and with a clownish vacancy of manner, took his seat nearly opposite to me. I knew not whether the Yankee captain was quizzing the Irishman, or whether the man in question might not be some unhappy creature who had once been of moderate capacity, but who had degraded himself to the state of stupidity in which

I saw him, by the use of ardent spirits. He sat perfectly isolated, and appeared to see nothing but the viands on his plate. I had called my attention from him, as from an object only to be contemplated with pain, when, by chance looking up, I saw one of the waiters present a bottle of Madeira to him, and heard the Hibernian in a loud, sharp voice cry from the head of the table, "Will your riverence do me the honour to take a glass of wine wid me?"

The Canadian took the bottle, filled his glass, looked sheepishly toward the challenger with a momentary glance, and swallowed the wine without appearing to taste it.

This ceremony was several times repeated, and always with the ludicrous appellation of "riverence" emphasized with great apparent gravity by the officer; who, as will appear by the sequel, was determined to indulge his love of wine, frolic, and fun, by having a bout with his "riverence."

I retired, leaving the revellers to their sport, which was no longer sport to me. I have often observed, that to a person who does not take his glass as the bottle circulates, those sallies which set the table in a roar, appear very inadequate to the effect produced.

After my first sleep, and, as I supposed, after midnight, I heard two persons come into the cabin, and immediately perceived that one was the chaplain, in a state of loquacious inebriety. His companion repeatedly endeavoured to quiet him with, "Hush, hush-the passengers are asleep."

"Curse the passengers! Steward, you are a good fellow; but that Irishman is a scoundrel; he put brandy into my glass. I'm not drunk. Let's go back and have some more-hiccup-oysters." "Hush-no, no-go to bed; this is your berth."

"Help me off with my coat. Steward, you are a good fellow; but curse that Irishman-so-that will do. If ever I meet that impertinent——"

"Hush-there-go to sleep."

The steward made his exit. All this passed in the dark. The chaplain was in a lower berth, near the entrance of the cabin, and not far from the stove, which was kept in operation all night. I lay in an upper berth, some feet farther from the door.

The chaplain, instead of sleeping, indulged himself and amused me, by uttering aloud the thoughts suggested by the disjoined train of images which his situa

tion, his excitement, and his recollection of recent circumstances caused to pass through the magic-lantern of his imagination.

"Montreal-how much money-sixand-eightpence-it will cost-no-passage free-hang the boatmen-six-andeightpence-can't buy Susy the-confound the oysters-that cursed Irishman O, how sick!" After a variety of sameness in complaining and consoling himself, and complaining again, Irish officer entered with a candle, and, as gay as ever, passed to the farther end of the cabin.

the

Very soon I heard, "The scoundrel cheat me, by putting brandy in my glass--the Irish scoundrel! "

"What's that you say? Hold your pace, you blackguard." All was quiet. The Irishman appeared to have taken possession of his berth, and the light was extinguished.

"Curse that Irishman! to cheat me! the Irish scoundrel! "

"Hold your pace, you blackguard! I've as pretty a pair of hair- triggers here as ever a gentleman put a finger to, and I have a bit of shillelah to boot; and you shall have the one to-night, and the other in the morning, if I hear a word from your ugly mouth."

This would quiet the Canadian for a time, and then a repetition would take place, until the officer appeared to have fallen asleep. The Canadian's ejaculations now were confined to notes of distress, calls for a light, and for assistance from the steward. At length, I heard him leave his unquiet place of non-repose, and as he groped about, he exclaimed, "As dark as Beelzebub-how shall I get out? Steward! steward! a light! Deuse take the Irishman! I wish you were both at the bottom!" and as he finished this sentence with a tone of bitterness, he exclaimed in an altered tone, "Oh, heavens! how hot it is!" and I immediately knew that he had come in contact with the stove, and perhaps imagined that he felt the heat of the place he wished to consign his tormentors to the heat of the stove, however, seemed to cool him, and he soon after found his way to the deck. I fell asleep, and heard no more of my men until next morning, when they met in good fellowship; the young Hibernian looked flushed and wilder than ever; his reverence, the Canadian chaplain, even more stupid and wo-begone.

NOTES OF A READER.

A VISIT TO NIAGARA.

[We take the following amusing sketch from Mr. Power's "Impressions of America." Our readers we suppose have not forgotten the "Tough Yarn about Patygony, &c. &c." that emanated from his pen, and will not be disappointed in his new work, which abounds with humour and interest].

"I felt interested with Buffalo, and promised myself much pleasure from a visit to the country occupied by a branch of the Seneca tribe in its neighbourhood; but Niagara was now within a few hours -the great object of the journey was almost in sight. I was for ever fancying that I heard the sound of the Thunderwater' booming on the breeze; so, with a restlessness and anxiety not to be suppressed, I got into the coach on the day after my arrival at the capital of the lakes, and was in a short time set down on the bank of the swift river Niagara, at the ferry, which is some four miles from Buffalo. From the ferry-house the eternal mist caused by the great fall may be plainly seen curling like a vast body of light smoke, and shooting occasionally in spiral columns high above the tree-tops; but not a sound told of its immediate neighbourhood.

"Never let any impatient man set out for Niagara in one of these coaches; a railroad would hardly keep pace with one's eagerness, and here were we crawling at the rate of four miles per hour.

I fancied that the last three miles would never be accomplished; and often wished internally, as I beat the devil's tattoo upon the footboard of the coach-box, that I had bought, or borrowed, or stolen a horse at Chippewa, and galloped to the wonder alone and silently.

"At length the hotel came in view, and I knew that the rapid was close at hand.

666 'Now, sir, look out!' quietly said the driver.

"I almost determined upon shutting my eyes or turning away my head; but I do not think it would have been within the compass of my will so to have governed them; for even at this distant moment, as I write, I find my pen move too slow to keep pace with the recollections of the impatience which I seek to record.

"A very few minutes after we were

released from the confinement of the coach, saw myself and companions upon the Table-rock; and soon after we were submitted to the equipment provided by a man resident upon the spot for persons who choose to penetrate beneath the great fall, and whose advertisement assured us that the gratification of curiosity was unattended with either inconvenience or danger, as water-proof dresses were kept in readiness, together with an experienced guide. proof dress given to me I found still wet through; and, on the arrival of the experienced guide, I was not a little surprised to hear the fellow, after a long stare in my face, exclaim

The water

"Och, blur' 'an 'oons! Mr. Power, sure it's not yer honour that's come all this way from home!'

"An explanation took place; when I found that our guide, whom I had seen some two years before as a helper in the stable of my hospitable friend Smith Barry, at Foaty, was this summer promoted to the office of 'conductor,' as he styled himself, under the water-fall.

a

"And a most whimsical 'conductor' he proved. His cautions, and 'divil fears!' and 'not a ha'porth a danger!' must have been mighty assuring to the timid or nervous, if any such ever make this experiment, which although pefectly safe, is not a little startling.

"His directions, when we arrived at the point where the mist, pent in beneath the overhanging rock, makes it impossible to distinguish anything, and where the rush of the air is so violent as to render respiration for a few seconds almost impracticable-were inimitable.

666

'Now, yer honour!" he shouted in my ear-for we moved in Indian file— whisper the next gentleman to follow you smart; and for the love o' God! shoulder the rock close, stoop yer heads, and shut fast yer eyes, or you wont be able to see an inch!"

"I repeated my orders verbatim, though the cutting wind made it difficult to open one's mouth.

"Now thin, yer honour,' he cried, cowering down as he spoke, 'do as you see me do; hould yer breath, and scurry after like divils!'

"With the last word away he bolted, and was lost to view in an instant. I repeated his instructions however to the next in file, and scurried after.

"This rather difficult point passed, I came upon my countryman waiting for us within the edge of the curve described by this falling ocean; he grasped

my wrist firmly as I emerged from the dense drift, and shouted in my ear,

"Luk up, sir, at the green sea that's rowlin' over uz! Murder! but iv it only was to take a shlope in on us!'

"Here we could see and breathe with perfect ease; and even the ludicrous gestures and odd remarks of my poetical countryman could not wholly rob the scene of its striking grandeur.

"I next passed beyond my guide, as he stood on tiptoe against the rock upon a ledge of which we trod, and under his directions attained that limit beyond which the foot of man never pressed. I sat for one moment on the Termination Rock, and then followed my guide back to my companions, when together we once more 'scurried' into day.

"Isn't it a noble sight intirely? Caps the world for grandness any way, that's sartain !'

"I need hardly say that in this opinion we all joined loudly; but Mr. Conductor was not yet done with us-he had now to give us a taste of his larnin'.

"I wish ye'd take notice, sir;' said he, pointing across the river with an air of authority and look of infinite wisdom. Only take a luk at the falls, an' you'll see that Shakspeare is out altogether about the description.'

"How's that, Pat?' inquired I, although not a little taken aback by the authority so gravely quoted by my critical friend.

"Why, sir, Shakspeare first of all says that there's two falls; now, ye may see wid yer own eyes that it's one river sure, and one fall, only for the shtrip o' rock that makes af id.'

"This I admitted was evident; while Pat gravely went on.

6

"Thin agin, only look here, sir; Shakspeare says, The cloud-cap tower;' why, if he'd ever taken the trouble to luk at it, he'd seen better than that; an' if he wasn't a fool-which I am sure he wasn't, bein' a grand poet-he'd know that the clouds never can rise to cap the tower, by reason that it stands above the fall, and that the current for ever sets down.'

"Again I agreed with him, excusing Shakspeare's discrepancies on the score of his never having a proper guide to explain these matters.

"I don't know who at all showed him the place,' gravely responded Pat; 'but it's my belief he never was in id at all, at all, though the gintleman that toud me a heap more about it swears for sartin that he was.'

"This last remark, and the important air with which the doubt was conveyed, proved too much for my risible faculties, already suffering some restraint, and I fairly roared out in concert with my companion, who had been for some time convulsed with laughter.

"Whoever first instructed the 'conductor' on this point of critical history deserves well of the visitors so long as the present subject remains here to com. municate the knowledge; indeed, I trust, before he is drowned in the Niagara, or burned up with the whiskey required, as he says, 'to keep the could out of the shtomach,' the present possessor of this curiosity in literature will bequeath it to his successor, so that it may be handed down in its integrity to all future visitors.

"Next morning at an early hour, I revisited the Termination Roek,' I next wandered down the stream, and had a delightful bathe in it. Accompanied by a friend, I was pulled in a skiff as close to the fall as possible, and, in short, performed duly all the observances that have been suggested and practised by curiosity or idleness; but, in all these, I found no sensation equal to a long, quiet contemplation of the mass entire, not as viewed from the balconies of the hotel, but from some rocky point or wooded shade, where house and fence and man and all his petty doings were shut out, and the eye left calmly to gaze upon the awful scene, and the rapt mind to raise its thoughts to Him who loosed this eternal flood, and guides it harmless as the petty brook."

EXCERPTS FROM JEAN PAUL.

ANTICIPATIONS OF FUTURITY.

Man is more exalted than his dwellingplace; his look is upward, and the wings of his soul are poised for flight, and when the sixty minutes which we call sixty years, have struck her last, he soars upward, and kindles as he rises, and the ashes of his earthly covering fall away, and the purified soul arrives on high, free from the stain of earth and sin-but here, amidst the darkness of life, he only sees the mountain-tops of the world to come, glittering in the light of a sun which never rises upon him; as the dweller at the pole, in the long night which no sun illumines, sees a bright twilight tinge his distant mountains, and thinks of the long summer that is coming, when his sun shall never set.

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