cient resource against the wearing bitterness | her long pent-up concentrated suffering by of her spirit. Truly "it is not good for man to be alone," when the solitude is peopled only by such phantoms as those that crowded round Esther's hearth; and worst of all it is for any human creature to abdicate the duties, hopes, labors, and sympathies that God in mercy gives to every one of us, however barren his lot. We all grow better or worse as we get on in life, softer or harder. Esther Eyre got worse and harder. Of all the relics of the past, Esther had reserved but one-her wedding dress. It seemed strange that among the souvenirs connected with that past, that which of all others was calculated the most to recall the agonizing pain and mortification of her life should be the sole one to be preserved. But it was done with that very intention. As she took it off on the day which was to have been her bridal one, she made a silent vow to keep it preciously as a memorial of that suffering, and the hatred to which it had given rise; so that if ever a day came when the recollection of what she had undergone should soften in her heart, a look at it should steel her again. In the little black trunk, in which her hands had that day placed it, it now lay; and oftennot that there was any need to revive the cankering bitterness of her soul-she would, when alone, unlock the box and gaze at the poor, crushed, yellow garment, once so fresh and pure, and muse and bitterly philosophize over it. This was generally at night; for her nights were often sleepless, and when the vexed spirit refused to let the body rest, she would rise from her bed, open the trunk, look long at its contents; then closing it, and restoring the key to its usual place under her pillow, return to her weary couch to brood over her wrongs and her sufferings till daylight. pouring it out, not in the hope of gaining pity or sympathy, but as a relief to the bitter burning hatred and vengeance that devoured her. For years she had heard nothing of him; she knew not if he were alive or dead; she had no possible means of communicating with him, or of obtaining information concerning him; but the passionate desire for this supreme occasion worked in her a superstitious conviction that it would be brought about, and to it she looked daily with strengthening assurance. And this was the only hope and aim she had given to her existence. "And you shall see how the devil spends The fire God gave for other ends." The drowsy clock had slowly struck eleven when Esther left the hushed and quiet little room to go to her bedroom, which adjoined it. The white window-curtains had been left open, and the moonbeams lay still and spectre-like on the bed. She opened the lattice and looked out. Though the season was different, the aspect of the night was strangely like that of the one, when, upwards of twenty years ago, she had last parted with James Stowell; there was the same repose, the same pure light; and while she gazed with hard dry eyes, a breeze brought the same perfume of new-mown hay, of which the second crop was ripening. "Love me forever! her parting words that night, how strangely had they come before her again this very day! Did all this mean any thing? Perhaps so. and near daylight when she fell into a deep It was past twelve when she went to bed, slumber. From this a faint noise, yet more, a vague consciousness of some unusual presence, disturbed her, and, without moving, she opened And this was the life she had led for her eyes; they fell on the figure of a man, years, and the life she looked to leading, whose back was to her, and who was without change or break or improvement or stealthily engaged in forcing the lock of the mitigation, till the day should come, might little trunk that contained the wedding it be far or near, that would call her away, dress. she gave no thought whither. Latterly, however, a new thought had dawned upon her, a feverish desire, vague in form, intense in degree, to see her former lover, accuse him of his perfidy, and relieve Her nerves were hard, and she saw all the dangers and all the requirements of the position at once; so she lay motionless, watching him, and striving to regulate her breathing so that he might not become con scious of her waking, assured that when he perceived what were the contents of the box, he would, if not disturbed, retire without injuring her. At last the lock yielded, and the lid was opened; the man paused, evidently disappointed; then silently raising the dress, he began to search underneath it. Nothing! He rose from his knees, and turned towards the bed. The pale light of the night-lamp fell on both their faces as their eyes met, and they recognized each other. Like a vengeful spectre, Esther rose in her bed, her face ghastly, her teeth gleaming from between her strained lips, livid circles round her glaring eyes. A wild choking yell interrupted ber speech, as Stowell, seizing her throat, forced her down on the bed, crushing the pillow over her head, till sound and movement had en"Then the time has come for our meet-tirely ceased. Then he removed them, and ing!" she said. "Traitor, robber! truly saw the blackened visage with its starting you have worked out your destiny! O, I eyeballs 'glaring up at him, but fixed and have thirsted, craved, yearned for this mo- sightless. ment; and now it has come, I cannot find A few weeks later, the county-papers anwords to convey one-tenth part of the hatred, nounced the execution of James Stowell, with the loathing I have for you! It was not an account of his career, for the wilful murenough that you had robbed my youth of der of Mrs. Esther Eyre, an elderly lady of love, hope, peace, home, happiness; that you somewhat eccentric habits, who had long retrod my pride under foot; that you made me sided at Linley, -shire, under an assumed a by-word in my own place; that you turned name; the adoption of which could only be every wholesome feeling in me into venom; accounted for by her general singularity of that you drove me forth from hearth and deportment, there being nothing to conceal kindred; this could not suffice you; but in her perfectly tranquil and blameless life. now you come, a midnight thief and house COATING IRON WITH COPPER.-A highly in- | so prepared is placed in a furnace heated to the teresting series of experiments on the process patented by Mr. Tytherleigh, for coating iron with copper or brass, was recently made at the Electro-plate works of Mr. Heeley of Birming ham. proper degree, and after remaining in the fire for about ten seconds, is withdrawn and permitted to cool, the short space of time mentioned being amply sufficient to insure the union of the metals. Iron thus coated has been subjected to the severest tests in annealing, rolling, and planishing, and has successively endured them all, the brass being so firmly united to the iron that nothing short of actually filing it down is able to effect a separation. By using a furnace with doors on opposite sides, and by the adoption of proper machinery, sheets of any size may be thus coated, and the process may be successfully performed on both sides of the sheet Hitherto it has been easy enough to deposit copper upon iron, but until Mr. Tytherleigh's discovery, the combination of the two metals has not been so completely achieved as to permit of the iron, when coated, being rolled into any required thickness, or stamped into the innumerable forms occurring in the various stages of manufacture. The principle of the process adopted under this patent is analagous to that of soldering, the difference being that the gran- at the same time. ulated metal used in soldering is spread over the The advantages of such an invention are obsurface of the iron, instead of being merely ap-vious. The innumerable articles now made of plied to the edges which the workman desires brass and copper may in future be made of iron to unite. Supposing, for example, that it is in-covered with either of those metals. Strength, tended to coat a sheet of iron with brass, the lightness, and cheapness are amongst the prinpatentee prepares the iron by what is techni- cipal advantages derivable from the use of the cally called "pickling," or cleansing it. He new material; and in addition, the danger aristhen spreads evenly over the surface the com-ing from oxidation in the case of iron may be mon brass solder, and over this he spreads a entirely obviated. quantity of borax to act as a flux. The sheet From The Spectator. HIGH LIFE AT HOME. WHEN the American frigate Merrimac was in Southampton Water, she was visited by the Earl of Hardwicke and his family; and in return for the hospitality of the officers he invited them to his house. One of those officers sent to his friends an account of the doings at Lord Hardwicke's house, and the letter has found its way into the Journal, a paper published at Washington in North Carolina. Some passages will give the reader a lively idea of its character. and, trying to catch some one, fell over his daughter's lap on the floor, when two or three of the girls caught him by the legs and dragged his Lordship, roaring with laughter, as we all were, on his back into the middle of the floor. Yet they are perfectly respectful, but appear on a perfect equality with each other. In fact, the English are a great people." If foreign countries are a contemporary posterity, they take all the advantage of their privileges. Railways and steamers have given them a power of coming close to us which posterity could never enjoy; and the consequence is, that we have memoirs in our own days, and sketches of private life, which are seldom vouchsafed to the public during lifetime. The English public knows man's buff, and dragged along the floor on "We sat down to table at half-past seven o'clock. These are always epaulette and sword occasions. Lord Hardwicke's family consists of his Countess, his eldest son (about eighteen or twenty, and Lord Royston by courtesy), three of the finest-looking daughters Lord Hardwicke well, as one of the most reyou ever saw, and several younger sons. spectable conservatives in the House of Lords; The daughters-Lady Elizabeth, Lady Mary, a gallant officer himself, an authority in and Lady Agnita-are surpassingly beauti-naval matters, a gentleman rather wronged ful; such development, such rosy cheeks, by the rigid application of that mechanical laughing eyes, and unaffected manners, you rule for retirement which is the substitute rarely see combined. They take a great for justice and good sense in the distribution deal of out-door exercise; and came aboard the Merrimac in a heavy rain, with Irish of employments; a sort of German silver thicker-soled shoes than you or I ever wore, justice. In debates, we have known him as and cloaks and dresses almost impervious to a man in earnest, businesslike, and, if tinged wet. They steer their father's yacht, walk, with party feeling, high-minded. It is a the Lord knows how many miles, and don't new spectacle to see him playing at blindcare a cent about rain, besides doing a host of other things that would shock our ladies to death; and yet in the parlor they are the most elegant women in their satin shoes and diamonds I ever saw. The Countess, in her coronet of jewels, is an elegant lady, and looks like a fit mother for three such women. His Lordship has given us three or four dinners. He lives here merely during the yachting season; and leaves here on Friday for his country seat at Cambridge, where he spends his winter, as do all English gentlemen of means, in hunting, &c.; and when Parliament is in session he lives in London in his town-house. Here he has a host of servants; and they wear the gaudiest livery -white coats with big silver buttons, white cravats, plush knee-breeches and vest, with white silk-stockings, and low shoes. Lord Hardwicke's brother is Dean of York, a High Church dignitary; has two pretty daughters, and is himself a jolly gentleman. After dinner the ladies play and sing for us; The conclusion that our Transatlantic and the other night they got up a game of friend comes to is amusing. He has just deblindman's buff, in which the ladies said we scribed how two or three of the girls caught had the advantage, inasmuch as their pet- the noble Lord by the legs, and "dragged ticoats rustled, so that they were easily his Lordship on his back to the middle of caught.' They call things by their right the floor; yet," he exclaims, "they are pernames here. In the course of the game, Lord Hardwicke himself was blindfolded, fectly respectful, but appear on a perfect from the drawing-room to nature seems a wide stride, yet after all the Merrimac officer found extremes meet; and the beautiful women, who are made by something defter than "the 'prentice hand" of Nature, were quite prepared to face Nature in any of her of other things that would shock our ladies moods, even including rain," besides a host to death," namely the American ladies. equality with each other. In fact, the Eng-| pretension, anxious to be distinguished yet lish are a great people." The remark clumsy at the art, we have plenty of Amermakes us smile, and yet we hope it is true. icans in London, Our immense multitudiWhat can be a more complete triumph of nous society is cut up into different sections; civilization than to have come back to na- "circles 99 are formed; and the manners and ture again; thus completely in spirit to have customs of the several circles differ as much united nature and art? In the playing at from each other as the manners of England, blindman's duff, "the ladies said we [the France, Italy, and America. The sketch by men] had the advantage, inasmuch as their an American officer will be as much news in petticoats rustled so that they were easily some parts of our own country, in some parts caught. They call things," says the admir- even of "society," as it will in New York ing American, "by their names here." So or Boston. But there is the same difference that Marryat and Mrs. Trollope were not so in every other country: the manners of the far wrong in their description of America, Southern planter, of the intellectual Boston where they ignore limbs or the details of merchant, and the 'cute New York speculaclothing. tor, present contrasts as sharp as any we People are never so severely satirized as can find at home, and that is saying every by themselves. The hardest cuts at the thing. We should be the vulgar detractors Americans are in some of their recently-pub-if we supposed American life to be the exact lished "etiquette" books, in which they contrast of life at Portsmouth because the are told, ladies as well as gentlemen, that American officer was charmed. There are they ought not to help themselves at table ladies and gentlemen wherever there are without asking others if they will have educated men and women; trusting themsome; that they must not pick the teeth selves because they trust others, regardful with a fork, spit, use slang, cover up the of the feelings of those around them, and furniture before the guests depart at night, making pretension to nothing that is not and be guilty of many other little forgetful- theirs. The woman who is gracefully ennesses. Yet we should be guilty of precisely dowed by nature, and has been surrounded the same vulgarity ourselves if we assumed that satire gives a just picture of our cousins. No people was ever painted by a satirist, not even when it was an involuntary satirist. We too have etiquette-books of our own, and Heaven forbid that English manners should be either learnt or inferred from them. Etiquette-books are made for those who are confessedly uncivilized; and the authors are usually those whose own requirements have made them feel the want of such works. They are guide-books for snobs, " by one of themselves." If to be American means to be ignorant of good manners, puffed up with by true knights, will know her power, and dispense it sweetly, on whichever side of the Atlantic she be born. There is "high life" wherever there is high feeling; and it is clean against nature and reason to suppose that there can be twenty or thirty millions of men and women of our own flesh and blood, amid the grand scenes, the grand associations, and grand ideas of America, without ladies and gentlemen. Perhaps the one point of difference is, that, being more scattered, they do not so far approach to a body corporate, and present so distinct a model in accepted manners and customs. PHOTOGRAPHIC FAC-SIMILES OF ANCIENT ing disputed texts. His original idea was simMANUSCRIPTS.—The powers of photography ply that of obtaining a fac-simile for convenient have very recently been employed with great study at home; but the process itself has gone success in producing a number of fac-simile a great way to solve the difficulties and disputes, copies of the Codex Argenteus of Ulphilas, the by showing clearly what forms part of the origoldest (fourth century) sample extant of the inal manuscript, and what has been written in Gothic language, the great mother-tongue of or over it subsequently. The success of this the whole German stock. Dr. Leo, a gentleman application of photography, will, perhaps, inconnected with the Royal Library in Berlin, cite the curators of our valuable libraries to was led by the numerous variations in the differ- publish fac-simile editions of rare MSS. for the ent reprints of the Ulphilas texts, to travel to benefit of the distant student, and submit all Upsala, where the MS. is still preserved, and palimpsests and other recondite parchments to there take photographic pictures on glass (so this most detective test before proceeding to called negatives) of about sixty pages contain-purchasc. Among the sculptors, Mr. Rogers has been lately increasing the reputation he acquired by his early statue of Ruth.' He has received an order from the United States government for one of the bronze doors of the library at Washington, upon the model for which he is now successfully engaged, as well as upon a statue of John Adams, destined for Boston. Among Mr. Ives' works in marble, his Pandora, Flora,' and Cupid as a Fisher Boy, evince a pure classical taste; his Excelsior' is a fine group, not yet put in marble, and his 'Rebecca at the Well' is full of grace and beauty. "Mr. Bartholomew is fast rising into notice; his principal work is Eve after the fall.' There are productions of beauty and merit to be found in the studios of Mr. Mozier and Mr. Story. The latter, educated for the law, abandoned that profession for the arts, and is now occupied on a statue of his father, the late Judge Story of Boston. The studios of Messrs. Greenough, Aiken, and other sculptors, more recently arrived here, are also interesting. his Son at the Gate of the Monastery.' Mr. and costume. Mr. Brown is "About thirty other American painters and sculptors complete the transatlantic colony of art in the Eternal City. They are, in general, earnest and energetic in their efforts to attain excellence, and while they, of course, concur in the main points requisite for achieving that desideratum, they retain sufficient peculiarity and independence to give to their works piquancy and originality. I must not omit to mention two American ladies who have devoted their fair hands to the rude materials of sculpture. Miss Hosmer, Mr. Gibson's pupil, already advantageously known by her Puck,' has recently completed a graceful figure, representing Beatrice Cenci in Prison; Miss Landor of Salem, near Boston, has not resided so long in Rome, but displays much talentin the studies she has been pursuing under the direction of her eminent countryman, Crawford." "There are many American painters devoted to the historic, ideal, and landscape branch of art, now exercising their profession in Rome. Among the first is Mr. Page, in the above extract, is still the subject of The colored Venus of Gibson, alluded to famed as a colorist, and an admirable imita tor of the tone of the ancient masters. His much discussion. A letter from Rome of most important works of late have been Jan. 29 says: Mary and Elizabeth,'The Supporting of "No man living, perhaps, is so thorough Moses' Hands,' and a Venus, which has a master of form and proportion as Mr. afforded as much subject for discussion to our Gibson, and his Venus is, in these respects, transatlantic brethren as Gibson's tinted his chef d'œuvre. The modelling of the Venus has to the English lovers of art. Mr. torso and limbs is very fine, the form and Terry (who has just accompanied Mr. Craw-sentiment of the back beautiful. ford to Paris) has been for years eminent art is to Mr. Gibson evidently the Alpha among his countrymen as a historical paint- and Omega of all art. The Greeks colored er; he has in his studio now a fine painting their statues; why should not the moderns? of Tobit and the Angels.' and so Mr. Gibson took brush in hand and 6 Greek "Mr. Thompson has been established five covered the beautiful, highly-wrought maryears in Rome as a painter of ideal subjects ble with a thin pink wash, stained the hair and portraits, in both which branches he has a delicate tow, penciled the head-fillet blue displayed much feeling, truth, and beauty of and gold, gilded the apple in the hand, and coloring. Among many very pleasing com-made the hem of the robe to correspond positions, the most attractive his studio has with the band in the hair. Thus, neither recently presented are A Circassian Slave flesh nor marble, statue nor woman, stands (now in Boston), The Guardian Angels, the Venus, challenging all beholders to ace and The Descent of Truth. Mr. Freeman, cept or reject the innovation. Near to the long a resident in this city, has followed the Venus is a colored copy of his beautiful historical department of art, and sent to Cupid, even more eccentric than the Venus; America, among other productions, a work the flesh a delicate salmon-tint, the hair a of great merit, representing Columbus and warmer tow than the Venus, in virtue of |