cheek was flushed, and his sunken eye appeared as if lighted up with some unearthly fire. He commenced abruptly, and his deep tones came forth like a voice from the sepulchre. Every breath was hushed every eye turned strainingly toward him.

These eyes have seen a vision!-these ears have heard voices which are not of earth! Listen to the words from Heaven let the commands of the holy apostle be obeyed. Your toils are passedyour miseries ye shall experience no more. Yes, blessed saint!' he continued, spreading abroad his hands, and raising his eyes toward Heaven, 'thou didst in the night visions reveal to me that in a vault beneath this sacred edifice lies buried the spear-head which pierced the Saviour's side. Methought, my friends, he did place his finger on the very spot. And to me, yea to me, unworthy of so great a revelation, these were the blessed words he uttered: For your crimes', he said, 'ye have been punished. The sword without and the famine within, these have been your penance. The wrath of Heaven is now passed away like a cloud from the face of earth. Cause the sacred weapon to be disinterred-cause it to be borne before your hosts - sally forth bravely upon the infidel, and your enemies shall melt before you; yea, victory and abundance shall be yours!'

He sat down, and buried his face in his hands. The multitude, with a sudden impulse, arose, and the vaulted roof shook as it echoed to the shout of thousands, 'God wills it! God wills it!'

The leaders immediately took measures to avail themselves of the enthusiasm thus excited. The lance-head, whether pretended or real, we pause not to inquire, was dug up, and every preparation was made for the desperate sally, which was appointed to take place on the second morning succeeding the day on which the lance was discovered. In the meantime, it was determined to send a merciful embassy to the Emir and the Sultaun, to warn them that the wrath of Heaven was upon them, and to bid them depart, while it was yet in their power.

O'er Inez' brow she gaily threw
A stream of roses wet with dew:
Lilies and violets mingling there,
With the dark tresses of her hair-
Some rolling down, fell on her breast,
And some upon her lap found rest;
Some drooping lay upon the ground
Their fragrance filled the air around.
Encircled thus was Inez seen,

Of flowers the guarding fairy queen.
Delighted with the rich display,
The gay girl laughed, and danced away.

Inez was left alone - she smiled
At Meta's laughing frolic wild,
Then gently swept the flowrets by,
And sank once more in reverie;

'Twas strange indeed to one so young,
Such earnest contemplation clung;
But 'twas her nature, ever prone
To muse with her own heart alone.

The moon that, robed in silver, rides on high
Is beautiful- the stars that tread the sky
In golden majesty: the clouds that play
In the rich sunset's blazing purple ray,

POEM.

The thousand-tinted flowers that deck the earth,
The bird whose life is music from his birth,
Are each and all most beautiful but far
More exquisite than these than cloud, than star,
More wonderful in form and hue, the brow
Of thought the spirit-speaking eye, the glow
Of hope, that feeling which bepaints the cheek
Of the young maiden with a rainbow streak,
And that first freshness of glad youthful hearts,
Which gentlest hues to heaven and earth imparts,
Which in gay dreams forgets the fever, strife,
And tints with moonlight ray the stream of life.

And such was Inez: there she sate
Calm, still, and thoughtfully sedate;
With raven locks and large dark eye
That spoke her soul so thrillingly.

With chiselled features, high-arched brow,
Which leaned upon her small hand now;
Her cheek was as the lily pale,

But ever and anon the gale,

Or some light passing thought would come,
Tinting it with the rose's bloom:

And ever a soft dimpling smile

Would flit around her lips the while.

And Meta- she had sprung away
To watch the wood-birds at their play,
To hear their song as on it floats,
And echo back their own wild notes.
All lightness, witchery, and ease;
The fawn that trembles at the breeze
Was not more timid - nor the lark,
That hails the morning's first bright spark,
More full of joy. Her laugh, gay, low,
Which from her very heart would flow
Her step, that lightly touched the ground,
Had music in each faëry sound.

THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.

THE rapid strides which our young and vigorous country is making in internal improvement, is a subject of just exultation to ourselves, and admiration to the world. However sceptical some may pretend to be as to the development of the physical and intellectual powers of man in the new world, none will deny that here the improvement of his physical condition is pushed forward with more energy, and the natural evils by which he is surrounded are overcome and banished with more zeal, rapidity, and success, than in any other quarter of the globe. We will not stop to inquire, whether the highest display and most useful employment of the human intellect are to be found in abstract disquisitions, and poetical or philosophical contemplations, or in the practical application of the great leading principles of nature and of truth to the amelioration of the condition of our species. Both are undoubtedly appropriate fields for the exertion of mind, and the happiest result would be produced by their combined operation. It might be expected, however, that the latter would command the precedence in a new country, where the obstacles that nature interposes to the convenient habitation of civilized man are first to be overcome, and a certain degree of exertion is necessary, to raise any class of men above the

immediate wants of their physical condition. In these efforts for advancing their civilization and improvement, the American people have peculiar advantage. They have the benefit of the moral and philosophical researches and discoveries of the old world, without the embarrassment of prejudices transmitted from the dark ages, and the shackles of institutions, customs and opinions, cast off there, to be sure, by the few, but still worn by the mass, rendering the truths of philosophy of but little practical benefit to the human family, and confining their influence chiefly to the small circle of refined and privileged beings, whom the favors of fortune have almost elevated into a superior species. In the new world, a great truth is appreciated, felt and acted upon at once, by the whole community; in the old, if understood at all by any considerable portion of society, it is regarded as a subject fit merely for the abstract contemplation of the few, and dangerous to be thought of by the many, or if attempted to be carried into practical use, it must force its way most generally through deluges of blood. Here any important principle in human polity is freely canvassed, and has to contend only with public opinion; there its agitation is forbidden, and it must come in contact with the despotic will of an individual, or the self-interest of a class; here, any great public measure, having for its object the general good, has to contend only with conflicting local interests, or the question of its utility; there, it has, in addition, to combat the vis inertia of the popular mass, weighed down by prejudices, traditions and customs, deep-rooted and inveterate, inspiring a dread of innovation, and creating a distrust of any improvement which had not been tried by their ancestors. Here, modifications are adopted in the form of the government by the voice of the majority, without popular violence; there, the slightest alteration proposed, is the symptom of a revolution. France has waded through seas of blood in search of improvement, and how little has been effected! Millions have been crushed in the attempt to push the car of state out of the ruts of old opinions. In whatever direction we turn our eyes, throughout the old world, we perceive the same state of things. England advances faster than any other country, except our own; and yet how encumbered is she still with the institutions, customs, and prejudices of other and less enlightened times! Much as she has done for literature, for science, for religion, for morals, for the elevation and refinement of our species, how little has she improved the condition, and advanced the happiness, of the mass of the people! How little has she done toward removing the gloomy pall of popular ignorance, besotted superstition, and degrading prejudice, which overhangs the nation, flaunting its dark folds exultingly in the face of pitying Nature! In the United States, the whole energy of the human intellect is devoted to developing the resources of the country, and improving the condition of the people. Hence, in proportion to our population and wealth, we have more works of general utility than any other people: and hence the engrossing interest that is felt for the improvement of our political institutions a matter closely connected with the prosperity of any nation. The difference in the manifestation of this energy, here and elsewhere, consists in this: that here, it embraces the whole people, without distinction of rank, class, or order, and carries all forward with the same noble impulses, and in the same great exertions. Hence we may account for the vigor, zeal,

If the

and spirit, with which any system found to bear favorably upon the public weal, such, for instance, as that of internal improvements, is urged forward by the American people. It interests all classes, it unites all hearts, it combines all efforts. It is discussed in all the newspapers, talked of in every village, and comprehended and understood by the humblest freeholder, who feels that he has an interest in the general prosperity. We may add, too, that it conflicts with no old prejudices; it comes in collision with no false systems and opinions; it harrows up no old associations. Its march is onward as majestic as the forests that bow their tops beneath its influences, and as irresistible as the winds that howl among their falling branches! Having for its object the improvement of man's physical condition, and the removal of the natural evils that surround him, with which his moral and intellectual advancement is more closely allied than is generally understood, it unfolds the practical use of genuine philosophy, and contains the essence of true benevolence. If half the intellect which has been wasted in the debates of the schools, and metaphysical controversy, had been devoted to the conception, development and maturing of systems, adapted to promote the public good, to unfold the resources of the country, to awaken its productive industry, and to facilitate interchange of commodities, and intercourse from different parts, how much might the improvement of mankind have been advanced! - how much more truly might the purposes of philanthropy have been subserved! ingenuity which was expended in the disputes of the stoics and epicureans about the summum bonum, and other abstract questions, had been employed in devising some practical scheme of human improvement, and some feasible method of vanquishing physical evils, can it be believed that the ingenious ancients would have remained so ignorant as they were of many of the simplest remedies against such evils? Would their dwellings have been destitute of chimneys or glass? Would thousands of talents have been thrown away in the construction of aqueducts, from ignorance of a simple and obvious principle in hydrostatics? Would commerce have been compelled to hug the shores of the Mediterranean? Would manufactures have known no better instrument than the distaff? Would the material universe have remained a sealed book, and its simplest laws a mystery? Would the mind of Socrates have satisfied itself with a few syllogisms, and the eloquence of Cicero have been employed to uphold a superstition as gross as it was unnatural and ridiculous? And in less enlightened, though scarcely less ingenious times, during the reign of monkish supremacy, while the human mind continued under the baleful influence of the Platonic and Aristotlelian philosophy, and Christianity itself had become corrupted by it, would the logic of Duns Scotus, under other influences, have been gravely employed in proving that the difference between Peter and John consists in the Peterity of the former, and the Johnnity of the latter, and the whole learned world been agitated by the discussion of questions too ridiculous to excite any thing but the smile of contempt ?

It is true that the old world has shaken off these puerilities; that the Baconian philosophy has restored science to her dignity, and placed the temple of knowledge upon the firm basis of observation and experience. Successful war has there been made upon idola fori, or 'idols of the market-place,' as Lord Bacon quaintly denominates the errors and pre