THE Conjurer sat at his books. The various utensils of his art were scattered around him,-a horoscope, globe, astrolabe and quadrant, and huge volumes of mysterious characters and an unknown tongue. He was an adept in the black art, shrewdly conversant with whatever might excite the superstition of the credulous, and usually made his calculations with a sagacity that baffled detection. The old man was poring over one of these tomes, when he raised his keen gray eye from the volume as the door opened, and a stranger presented himself. He was of small stature, attired in a rustic garb; his visage thin and wrinkled, and his little black eyes hardly separated by an attenuated apology for a nose. The intruder stood silent for a few moments, as

if hesitating how to address the man of forbidden knowledge. "He that would consult the stars," said the conjurer, "must view them in a mirror of silver; the book of fate is sealed to him who comes empty-handed."

At this hint the stranger drew from his pocket a well-worn purse of heart-case, and fingering the contents of the bag, deposited a few small coins in the palm of the conjurer.

"I would know," said he, " if there is money buried on the great island down the river ?"

He of the horoscope opened one of the huge volumes of mystery, and began slowly turning the leaves with great care. Apparently unsatisfied, he handled the astrolabe for a few moments, and at length fell to figuring with earnestness.

"There is gold there which may not be touched by mortal hands," said he, suspending his calculations; "it is the charmed treasure of the pirate."

66

"I dreamed it,-I dreamed it!" said the visiter, leaning towards the table and casting a furtive glance at the talisman ; "but is there no way, have you not power to disenchant it ?—where is it buried?"

The geomancer drew his wand over a cycle inscribed with the characters of the heavens, and again turned the leaves of the mysterious volume. At length he began muttering,-" Seventeen hundred and-Saturn ascendant,-Arcturus glares like a cresset, and Bootes is grim with blood. Enough!-there was murder when the chest was buried, and the spirit of the dead watches the gold."

There was a convulsive movement in the features of the stranger, and his little black eyes for a moment gleamed with an expression of horror. It soon gave way to the all-absorbing passion of his being. "But where is it buried?" he repeated.

"On the south end of the island. Some rods from the water stands an old elm alone. On the fifteenth day of the moon, at midnight, its shadow will fall directly on the iron chest. Measure five paces from the roots, and at the shadow of the junction of a great western limb with the trunk of the tree, dig for your life. You will see and hear

what might appall a bolder man, but speak never a word. The moment a human voice is heard, the spell is broken. If you succeed, there is enough to make you a nabob."

Another tribute was levied on the purse of the visiter, who took leave in the confidence of success.

There was a belief prevalent at that time, among many of the good people of New-England, that the noted Kidd had in one of his cruises ascended the Connecticut, and buried, on its numerous islands, immense treasures of his hoarded booty. This belief was strengthened by the confession of an old African, who declared, on his death bed, that he had been employed in the capacity of cook on board the piratical vessel; and whose incoherent answers to the eager interrogations of those who shrived him, confirmed sundry dark hints, he had thrown out previously. He even pointed out this island in question, as the repository of the treasures of a Spanish galleon he had seen plundered and burned; but whispered, with a shudder, that the deposite was guarded by the ghost of the butchered boatswain. The effects of this story on those who hasted to be rich were astonishing.

"Not a soul

But felt a fever of the mad."

Many were the adventurers who haunted this new El Dorado, and fearful were the perils they were reported to have encountered in their search for the unhallowed hoard. The substance of the present legend formed the subject of a fire-side tale, which the writer in his boyhood heard of a long winter evening recounted by the identical hero of the adventure, and who was introduced to the reader in his interview with the conjurer. The latter was none other than the celebrated necromancer, Ballou; and the old gentleman never concluded the story, without remarking, with great solemnity, that shortly after this event, he of the familiar spirit died suddenly in his bed, agreeably to a prediction of his own, when apparently in perfect health, not six hours previous.

Be this as it may, our hero returned home with the bewildered feelings of one who has suddenly drawn a capital prize. The almanac was daily consulted with the eagerness of one who would fain move forward the shadow on the dial; and the long weary days, which intervened before the appointed time, were eked out in the sickness of hope deferred. He would occasionally kill a lingering hour by projecting princely improvements on his little farm, which lay meanwhile like the garden of the sluggard; the conjurer's talisman, like the wand of Prospero, seemed at a stroke to have converted his humble tenement into the dwelling of a prince; and air-castles swam before his heated imagination in all the gorgeousness of romance. But it was in his dreams, which " spoke like Sybils of the future," that he revelled in the full fruition of a more than oriental sumptuousness,-a boundlessness of wealth that would have beggared the kings of the genii. Chests of gold and silver, mines of caverned riches, avalanches of jewels tumbling around him, gnomes and goblins, a whole cosmorama of Sinbad fantasies mocked his slumbers, till the good woman at his side, in innocent ignorance of the latter day glory that awaited her,

deemed him, as he lay tossing around, the prey of some fearful and damning secret. He had as yet lisped the revelation in no mortal ear, sensible as he was that a participation in the hazard of the adventure would induce a participation in the spoil. Besides, his mind had hitherto been so absorbed in the disposal of the anticipated prize, that he had scarcely bestowed a thought on the means by which it was to be obtained. But as the appointed day drew nigh, difficulties began to present themselves which filled him with misgivings. His unassisted efforts might prove insufficient for the removal of the ponderous treasure; and he could not conceal from himself that a companion of flesh and blood would, to say the least, be very convenient in an adventure which might call for the interposition of an incorporeal agency. Gladly would he have availed himself of the cooperation of the partner of his wordly thrift; but the injunction of the conjurer that not a word should be spoken,―alack! "Ichabod" was written on the very face of it. From this dilemma we leave the good man to extricate himself; premising at the same time that his nearest neighbor was an elderly bachelor brother, whose heir presumptive he flattered himself to be; and who, in case of his enlisting his services, would still, as the saying is, retain the property in the family.

It was now the green depth of summer, and the broad banks and meadows of the Connecticut were teeming with the luxuriance of vegetation. As yet, steam-boats were in the womb of futurity, and the light water-craft with which the followers of the adventurous Ledyard navigated this beautiful river, had but recently given place to the lumbering batteau of the merchant. Ever and anon, as its huge sail hung lazily flapping over the dark waters, the rude song of the boatmen might be heard as he wrought at the oar, swelling out among the numerous coves and inlets which bordered its margin, or answered in echoes, faintly multiplied among the mountains beyond. Even this was of so rare occurrence as to attract attention; and the honest rustic on the banks, as it swept along, would lean for a moment on the implement of his labor, to dream of distant voyages, shipwrecks, and the perils of the water. The shout and merry laugh of childhood was heard among the clustering elms that bordered the stream; and the pattering of little feet came across the water from the smooth line of beaten sand along its margin. But there was one who gazed on all this with a vacant eye, he was revelling in the immateriality of a world of his own creation. He called to a little urchin who was clambering the thick vines with a group of his fellows, and muttered, as he parted the flaxen curls from his forehead, to-morrow-and the young rogue will be the son of a nabob.”

It was late in the brilliant evening ensuing, that a small boat might be seen to push from the shore, and shoot noiselessly across the river in the direction of the island. The moon was near her zenith, and a long line of light gleamed across the water, broken only by the ripples that circled around the stern of the little craft, or followed dancing in her wake. Approaching the island, it drew up in the shadow of a small cove, and two dark forms stepped on shore; landing a spade, mattock, and bar, and an old queen's arms, which might have been loaded with a silver bullet. Making the boat fast, they cautiously

ascended the bank, and deposited their implements at the foot of an old elm, which threw the shadow of its spreading branches far around over the smooth sod. The younger of the men appeared by far the most active, alternately consulting an old time-piece, which he continually drew from his pocket in anxious restlessness, and throwing fearful glances among the bosky thickets at hand, which lay motionless as death. The lonely stillness of this wild spot at this "witching time of night," the air of mystery thrown over their conversation, which, like the mutes of an eastern seraglio, they carried on only by signs, were all befitting some unholy deed, while

"The setting of the eye and cheek, proclaimed

A matter from them."

At length, measuring a few paces from the tree, and once more eyeing all around with cautious scrutiny, they commenced digging in its shadow. At this moment an object appeared rounding an angle of the shore below, and in an instant a vessel of war under full sail rushed by the island. Not a soul was discoverable on the deck of the phantom ship, but ever and anon, as it boomed sullenly onward, loud shrieks and the crash of swords came mingling with shouts of demoniac laughter, the losel song of carousal, and the fierce oaths of the bucanier. The money digger rested on his spade, and passed his hand athwart his eyes to convince himself of the reality of the vision ;—all had vanished, and he saw only the brazen clasps of the family bible glittering in the moon-beams, which his companion was hugging in an agony of terror. A breathless pause ensued, while their hearts palpitated in audible throbs. Anon, as they resumed their labors, a whale-boat appeared slowly bearing down on the island without sail or Not a voice or sound was heard from that shadowy crew,-the the headless helmsman stood at his post with the fixedness of a corse, and his companions were ranged along the bows, with the blood still spouting from each ghastly trunk At this moment the elder of the worthies sunk his bar in the sand, and struck the lid of the iron treasure chest with a jar. The presence of mind, which had bridled his tongue in spite of the demon visitations, now forsook him in the moment of success. "There it is, by heaven!" he exclaimed, leaping up in an ecstacy. "And there it is!" screamed the other, hurling his mattock full at his brother's head in the frenzy of one whose hopes are blasted at a breath.

oar.

There was a low rumbling beneath their feet, and the ponderous mass passed slowly from under them as the spectral boat gradually melted into moonlight.

Z.

REFORM.

AN opinion has of late been advanced, on very high authority, that the action of governments is becoming less important, and that of individuals more so. We suspect this is an error. It would perhaps be nearer the truth to say, that the agency of individuals in the government is becoming less important, and that of the community more so. Governments are becoming more popular; public opinion is gaining more strength. Less therefore depends, in any form of government, on the caprices of the individuals who compose it, and a greater deference is required from the governors to the wishes and opinions of the subjects of their government. But, for this very reason, and after these conditions have been complied with, government is not weaker but stronger. It has gained, by all the force of that public opinion, which has been gratified by the mode, in which the government is constituted and carried on. It is strong, because it is popular, and as long as it is popular; stronger than a government, nominally more absolute, exerted over a discontented and disaffected community.

No government is so strong, as a party; we mean, no where is the will of a government obeyed so implicitly, as the will of the recognized organs of a well-drilled party. A republican government, within its sphere, is more powerful than a monarchy. General Jackson has much more personal power than Charles X. who, after the round of official observance was gone through,-after the courtiers had bowed, and the guards had presented arms,-had really no power at all.

But it has become necessary to governments, to act in conformity with the interests and opinions of the people. This is the great change, which has taken place, and is still proceeding. This is the great reform bill of the age, introduced not by kings and ministers, but by those mighty causes of improvement, which have been in action since the revival of letters, but have received their greatest development within the last seventy years.

Governments were formerly organized on the pretence of promoting the welfare of the people. Some body,-certain privileged orders,-inheriting the power of government from generation to generation, were supposed to have a call of Providence to govern; and they were consequently presumed to have the disinterested wish to govern, not for their own sakes, but for the good of the people. It was further supposed, that the people did not know so well what was for their welfare, as these rulers did, who were understood to be inspired with supernatural wisdom, to fit them for the discharge of their high functions. This was the theory and practice of the governments; and to make the state of facts, as far as possible, support this theory and practice, the people were kept as ignorant as possible, and their interests as far as possible identified with the preservation of the ascendancy of the privileged orders. There was no public opinion therefore on the part of the mass.

The great vice of the existing governments is, that they are organized on the old plan; with much of the old machinery, while the