That one who once was gladly welcomed there But I can bear it, though the sacred past Ere yet its holy flame had ceased to burn Or dimmed its brightness by the flight of years. In arranging these characters, we have usually treated them in order of time; but after the completion of this article, we found, on looking over our list of authors, that we had omitted the name of EDWARD RUSHTON, whose abilities as a writer justly entitle him to a place among the poets, as the extract subjoined will show. He was a native of Liverpool, and lost his sight in 1774, in his nineteenth year, while on a slaving voy age to the coast of Africa. It is, however, due to his memory to record, that when he beheld the horrors of this disgraceful traffic, he expressed his sentiments in very strong and pointed language, with the boldness and integrity which characterized his every action; and though in a subordinate situation, he went so far that it was thought necessary to threaten him with the irons if he did not desist. The first occupation worthy of note in which he engaged after his return to England, was the editing of a newspaper called the "Herald." But finding his views too liberal and magnanimous for the times, and the engagement not very lucrative, he exchanged it for that of a bookseller, a branch of business more M* congen al with his habits and taste than any other that presented itself. A few years subsequent to the loss of his sight, he had married, and now his capital consisted of a wife, five children, and thirty guineas. But by incessant toil and frugal management, he soon rendered his circumstances more easy, and found time to indulge his fondness for reading, and to exercise his talents in composition. With the exception of two letters on the subject of negro slavery, one addressed to President Washington, and the other to Thomas Paine, his productions are all in verse. a poet, he seems to have possessed considerable merit. Throughout all his writings the reader is charmed with the display of rich and glowing imagination, and a lively conception of the beautiful. His poems, which first appeared in the periodicals of the day, were afterwards collected by his friends, and compiled in one volume, at London, in 1814. As FROM HIS LASS OF LIVERPOOL. Where cocoas lift their tufted heads, And moves with soft and wanton ease. And I have kept my bosom cool, The softest tints the conch displays, And Sam, who calls me love-sick fool, SECTION II. BLIND MUSICIANS. THERE is a world to which night brings no gloom, no sadness, no impediments; fills no yawning chasm, and hides from the traveler no pitfall. It is the world of sound. Silence is its night, the only darkness of which the blind have any knowledge. In it'every attribute of nature has a voice; the beautiful, the grand, the sublime, have each a language, and to one whose heart is in tune, every sound has a peculiar significance. In the voice of the flood, the thunder and the earthquake, Omnipotence is heard, and deeper and stronger emotions seem to agitate the feelings, than those which are awakened by the appearance of the dashing water, the gathering storm, the sweeping tempest, or the lightning's flash. Sound fills the soul, while light fills the eye only. The brightest glance that morning ever threw over this beautiful earth, was but a reflected beam of heaven's ineffable glory; but sound is a living echo of that voice that spake and the world stood fast, that commanded and holy stars came forth from the depths of night. "As the visible world, with all its pleasing varieties of form, its endless combinations, and beautiful blendings of light and shade, is to the soul that is permitted to look out upon it, and feel its refining, nay, its regenerating influences, so is the world of sound to him who is denied the contemplation of these beauties." "In the varied stream of warbling melody," as it winds its way in graceful meanderings to the deep recesses of his soul, "or of rich and boundless harmony, as it swells and rolls its pompous tide around him," he finds a solace and a compensation for the absent joys of sight. Consequently, the educated blind musician becomes enthusiastic in his admiration of the science and art of music. Secluded ever from the joys of vision, he seeks for consolation here. Oft, in the pensive musings of his active mind, when lonely and retired, he contemplates the excellence of music, and seeks the sources of its powerful charms. He runs through the nice gradations and minute divisions of its scale, and fancies an unlimited extent, in gravity and acuteness, beyond the reach of all perception; thence he traverses the rich and devious maze of combinations which result from harmony, and all its complicated evolutions-the soft and loud, the mingling light and shade of music-the swelling and decreasing tones, which form the aerial tracery and fading tints of just perspective-all are to him the pody, color, strength and outline, which compose the vivid picture his imagination has created. He ponders next upon the various sounds produced in nature, from the soft and balmy whisper of the vernal breeze to the loud pealings of the deep-toned thunder, heard amid the wailings of the fiercely raging storm. Lost in the tumult of his strong emotions, he exclaims, "What is there in the wide creation so sublime, magnificent, or beautiful, as sound?" In the lives of those eminent blind, who have in different ages distinguished themselves in the science and practice of music, the truth and justice of the foregoing remarks are fully exemplified. FRANCISCUS SALINAS, professor of music at the University of Salamanca, and created Abbot of St. Pauciato della Rocca Salignas, in the kingdom of Naples, by Pope Paul IV., was one of the most remarkable musical geniuses of which any age can boast. He was the author of an elaborate treatise, in seven books, on his favorite science, under the title of "De Musica," which held a preeminence for many centuries, and was, perhaps, one of the most profound and erudite works ever produced on this subject, in any language or country. Franciscus Salinas was born in the year 1513. His blindness from birth probably early lead him to the study of music, and during his youth nearly the whole of his time was employed in singing and playing the organ. When but a lad, he acquired a knowledge of the Latin language, from a young lady, to whom he gave lessons in music in re |