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vivors, and ere a year elapses, his merry smile and voice of gladness live but faintly in the memory. By the busy world his existence was unknown, and his absence is unfelt; the wonder rather is, -not that he is now no more, but that he should have ever been. And where art thou, young spirit of delight? Hast thou past away like a foambell on the waters ? or shall we meet with thee again wandering in the brightness of yonder golden planet?

On the whole, I am not sure that strawberries ought to be eaten when any one is with you. Although your companion be the dearest friend you have on earth, his presence is apt to generate a feeling of restraint, a consciousness that your attention is divided, a diffidence about betraying the unfathomable depth of your love for the fruit before you, a lurking uneasiness lest he should eat faster than yourself, or appropriate an undue share of the delicious cream; and this state of mind is invariably the prelude to a strong, though undivulged desire that the best friend you have in the world were at any distant part of the globe he might happen to have a liking for-Kamskatka or the South Sea Islands.

But oh the bliss of solitary fruition, when there is none to interrupt you-none to compete with you-none to express stupid amazement at the extent of your god-like appetite, or to bring

back your thoughts, by some silly and obtrusive remark, to the vulgar affairs of an unsubstantial world. Behold! the milky nectar is crimsoned by the roseate fruit! Heavens! what a flavour! and there is not another human being near to intrude upon the sacred intensity of your joy! Painter-poet-philosopher-is not the To Kaλov concentrated there? Happiness divided into equal portions by that silver spoon, glides gloriously down the throat!

"O, mortal man, who liveth here by toil,"

eat strawberries and cream! Eat, for June cometh but once a year! eat, for there is yet misery in store for thee! eat, for thy days are numbered! eat, as if thou wert eating immortal life! eat, eat, though thy next mouthful terminate in apoplexy!

My dream of strawberries hath passed away! The little red rotundities have been gathered from the surface of the globe, and man's insatiate maw has devoured them all! New hopes may arise, and new sources of pleasure may, perhaps, be discovered; the yellow gooseberry may glitter like an amber bead upon the bending branches, the ruby cherry may be plucked from the living bough, and its sunny side bruised into nectar by the willing teeth, the apple, tinted with the vermillion bloom of maiden beauty, may woo the eye,

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and tempt the silver knife, the golden pear, melting into lusciousness, soft as the lip, and sweet as the breath of her thou lovest most, may win for a time thy heart's idolatry, — the velvet peach or downy apricot, may lull thee into brief forgetfulness of all terrestrial woe,— the purple plum, or sunbeam coloured magnum bonum, may waft thy soul to heaven, — or, last of all, thy hothouse grapes, glowing in their bursting richness, may carry thee back to the world's prime, to the faun and dryad-haunted groves of Arcady, and lap thee in an elysium of poetry and music,— but still the remembrance of thy first love will be strong in thy heart. Pamper thy noble nature as thou wilt, with all the luxuries that summer yields, never, O! never will the innermost recesses of thy soul cease to be inhabited by an immortal reminiscence of "Strawberries and Cream!"

A TALE OF THE SEA.

"Alone, alone, all, all alone,

Alone on a wide, wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony !"

COLERIDGE.

I SAILED from the Thames in a merchant brig for Jamaica. I was the only passenger; and before I had been many days on board, it struck me that there was something odd both about the captain and crew. They had all bad expressions of countenance; and when I happened to be upon deck, I frequently observed that they collected in groups, and seemed to carry on in whispers a mysterious kind of conversation, with which I could not help thinking that I was myself in some way connected. The captain, in particular, was a darklooking man, with a very ugly meaning in his

large bright eyes. He seldom spoke, except in monosyllables, and then the tones of his voice almost startled me. He and I had beds in the same cabin; but I soon discovered that he never slept. Whenever I happened to look across from my own berth towards his, I could see, by the dim light of a lamp that hung from the roof and burned all night, his large eyes glaring full upon me, with a most unnatural kind of intelligence in them. Though not of a timid disposition, I confess I did not feel altogether comfortable. We had favourable winds, however, and ran across the Atlantic without any thing remarkable occurring.

On the evening of the twenty-fifth day, I was told that the land which we saw about fifteen miles to leeward, was that of the island of St. Domingo, and that, the breeze continuing, we might expect to reach Kingston in little more than eight-and-forty hours. I retired to rest between ten and eleven, with a lighter heart than I had felt for some time before; and with the prospect of so soon meeting several of my oldest and best friends, I speedily found myself locked in the embraces of slumber, and busily occupied in the ideal world of dreams.

Hour after hour past unnoticed by, and daylight was shining full into my cabin before I again opened my eyes. The sun had been long up, but was not visible. It was one of those calm grey

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