ever.

ad not,

island of Iona when so many of its in- perished but was known in the classic habitants perished in the Frith of Clyde. isle. Not a house but had often This melancholy and deplorable acci- held them within its walls-not an dent was occasioned by the Hercules humble board at which they had steam-boat running against a wherry at one time or other sat. Nay there containing forty-six men and women, is scarcely a single family but could of these only three escaped. The claim some one as a relation. They darkness of the night, the suddenness were known every where, and have of the accident, and the time which left behind them those who will long elapsed ere the steam-boat could be preserve their memory from being forstopped, rendered it impracticable to gotten. In Iona there is no new obsave a greater number. With the ject to drive away the dismal recollecabove small exception all perished. tion. What scenes existed yesterday If any thing could add to the great are to-day and shall be to-morrow. ness of the misfortune, many of the There is no variety-none of that light sufferers were related to each other, ever-changing scenery which drives and these whole families are thus be away melancholy. The mind must reaved of several of their members.-recoil as it were upon itself, and look Sisters and brothers-wives and hus- to its own resources for consolation. bands clung to each other in agony Is the wretched survivor bid to wander till the waters closed over them for about his island and enjoy nature ?The cries of the perishing vic- If he goes forth, what objects meet his tims surpassed all description-they eyes but the cottages of those whom were heart-rending in the highest de- he knew rising here and there like so gree, and were even heard on the many tombs around him. To him shore though a considerable distance they are indeed tombs, for their owaway. All felt for the sufferers and ners are no more, and they are the compassionated their misfortune. No only standing memorials that they ever one who heard it but could have wept existed. Perhaps his fancy in the for the poor inhabitants of Iona. But hour of midnight may people the to us who live together in multitudes neighbourhood of these cottages with where the face of one man is scarcely the spirits of the departed. Perhaps known from another-where even our he may see them glancing on the names have never been heard beyond mountain's brink or rising up from the our thresholds-faint must the impres- sanctified cemetries of Scotch, Irish, sion of sorrow be in comparison with and Norwegian Kings. Time will those who inhabited the same isle, and undoubtedly deaden the memory of to whom every one was as a sister and this calamity-but it can only deaden. a brother-our thoughts here may It never can efface it. In a crowded wander into a thousand channels. city or in a populous country side it "We may cast them from us at plea-would soon fade away-But in Iona sure and enter into new associations. it shall be spoken of in ages to come, Every day every hour brings us fresh and every repetition of the story shall faces and fresh enjoyments. Unless be so many coronachs or dirges to the the grief be great indeed, we may guile dead.* it away and deaden its force by a succession of novelty and enjoyment. But far different is the heart in such a place as lona. Not a person who

land of Tona was the retreat of learning in Every body knows that the little isthe dismal era which succeeded the fall of the Roman Empire. There are many wombs

PARIS.

tian horses; but it is every way unworthy the majestic objects by which it is surrounded. Here as elswhere, our eyes were offended with the sombre effect produced by the closed shutters or blinds of the building; but they were not much recreated by the few that were left open, for the coarse

In approaching Paris we saw nothing that deserved the name of a villa; we stepped at once, as it were, out of the silent lonely fields into a noisy and bustling capital; and if the aspect of Calais, and of the provinces through which we had hitherto passed, appear-quality and dirty colour of the glass, ed to have carried us back two or three as well as the clumsy construction of centuries, we seemed, upon our en- the frames, seemed totally inconsistant trance into Paris, to have jumped with English notions of a palace. For forward at least as much. The rat- the present we had not leisure to feast tling wheels of equipages, cabriolets, our eyes with the treasures of art de and hackney-coaches the cries of posited in the halls and saloons of the numerous hawkers and pedlars-the Louvre, but passed through the spadenser population--the rows of shops cious but antiquated Thuileries, on the with their handsome signs and fantas- centre of whose lofty roof the white tical decorations, soon convinced us flag was flouting the sky, into the front that we were traversing a great and gardens, with their numerous marble busy city; and as we passed under the statues, formal parterres of flowers, cirnoble gate of St. Denis, to the spa- cular fountains and stone basons for cious Boulevards, flanked with double gold and silver fish and swans, clipped rows of trees, and crossed the Place avenues, rectilinear plantations of chesVendome with its bronze column to nut and lime, and regularly distributed our hotel in the Rue St. Honore, boxes of orange, pomegranate, olebeholding on every side lofty edifices ander, and rose laurel trees, all trained of fine design, and stately streets of by tonsure into a circular form. This stone, we felt as instant a conviction I found less offensive to the eye than that it was a gay and magnificent capi-I had anticipated, and though I would tal. A walk in the morning after our never defend verdant sculpture, and arrival delighted us with the variety of the introduction of peacocks, pyramids, grandeur which was accessible within and griffins of evergreen, yet I cannot the immediate vicinity of our hotel help thinking, that, with certain limiAs a piece of modern architecture, the tations, the French style may be very Louvre is justly rated high, and the appropriate in the immediate precincts facade which looks up the river, with of such a palace as this. Statues and its open gallery and beautiful colonnade, architectural decorations evince that is truly admirable, though it has been we are still within the verge of the objected that the almost Doric plain- court :-it would be too sudden a ness of the lower, hardly accords with transition to emerge all at once from the rich Corinthian of the upper, the most elaborate triumphs of art to part. In the Place Carousel stands the blackness of unassisted Nature.— the arch built by Napoleon, formerly The hand of man should still be rendersurmounted by the celebrated Vene- ed perceptible, until, as we recede from the scene of its exertion, we relapse gradually into the unadorned scenery of the country. As far as was prac ticable, this has been realized at the

containing the ashes of the Kings of Scotland, Ireland and Norway, and the Lords of the Isles; also the ruins of a nunnery, monastery, cathedral, &c.

E

Thuilleries. A succession of noble tory finish, not improved by the dirty gateways, entrances, and terraces, sur-white flag that crowns it. Napoleon's mounted by bold statues and marble statue, fifteen feet high, was doubtless horses that appear to be leaping into a handsomer termination; but nothing the air, conduct you through the beau- could ever have enabled it to bear a tiful Place Louis Quinze, affording a comparison with our Monument, the fine view of the Palace of the Depu- most beautiful piece of architecture in ties and other handsome buildings, London, though nearly invisible from until you find yourself on the broad, its unfortunate position. Columns on far-extending, and well-planted cause- this large scale must always have a way, which leads to the Champs Ely-heavy effect if they be not fluted, and sees, the avenue of Neuilly, and the the dingy colour of that in the Place triumphal arch which crowns the hill Vendome aggravates this tendency.— and closes the view. This is assuredly I am aware that in that case the elaa noble assemblage of objects, to which borate basso-relievo must have been the clearness of the sky, and freshness sacrificed, (which, however, is already of the vegetation, gave full effect. unintelligible except in the circles imRetracing our steps, we crossed over mediately above the base ;) and that to the Palais Royal, another vast piece the example of Trajan's column may of architecture, forming an oblong be pleaded; but this is a question of square, whose enclosure, of about six taste and opinion, not of precedent. acres, is laid out in parterres, and for- On approaching it, the defects become mal rows of trees, with a jet d'eau in less obvious and the merits more so; the centre; while the whole of its for, independently of the value of the lower arcade is divided into innumer- material and the historical associations able shops, and its upper stories, as which it awakens, the workmanship well as subterranean abodes, devoted on the plinth, and as far up the shaft to all imaginable purposes of business, as it can be distinctly followed, is examusement, and profligacy. As I re- quisitely delicate and spirited, though called the fate of its first owner, recol- we may doubt the good taste of the lections of the various scenes which hussar-boots and jackets which have had been enacted on the spot where been so liberally introduced upon the I was standing crowded into my mind; former. I was assured, that, in order but we had no time to indulge them, to prove its stability at the time of its even if the succession of new objects completion, a rope was carried from would have permitted reflection, for its summit to the Rue de la Paix, and we proceeded to inspect the brazen that twelve stout horses could not discolumn in the Place Vendome. In place a fragment of the consolidated its effect, when contemplated at a little mass. It is impossible not to attach distance, I was much disappointed. a profound interest to this monument, Its proportions are not majestic; the when we reflect, that from its dura-2 reliefs, with which it is encrusted, bility it will probably carry down to roughen its outline, and give it the the remotest ages the name and exappearance of a huge trunk of a tree; ploits of the extraordinary man by the eagles at the bottom are sparrows; whom it was erected, and prove, when the gallery at the top is a miserable we and many generations to succeed tin-looking affair, and the summit, us shall have perished and become for which is conical, but should certainly gotten, the same source of inquiry and have been flat, forms a very unsatisfac- l'admiration to races yet unborn, that

in the course of a short morning's walk a richer assemblage ef palaces, gardens, statues, magnificent hotels, noble streets of stone, and extensive avenues of trees, than we could have viewed in the whole circuit of London.

LOOKING FOR LODGINGS.

Who has e'er been in London, that over

grown place,

Has seen Lodgings to Let," stare himn full in the face;

Some are good and let dearly, while some

'tis known,

Are so dear and so bad, that they are best

let alone.

Colman,

Trajan's pillar now is to us. Nor is it easy to forget the terrific scenes in which the materials we behold were once such fatal actors, in the form of cannon; but, as the representations of the victories in which they were taken, are seen winding spirally up the thicklyembossed shaft before us, we can almost fancy that we hear the roar of their brazen mouths, vomiting out fire and thunder; while through the dust and smoke we discover waving banners and gleaming swords, and catch the neighing of steeds, the groans of the wounded, and the deafening shouts of victory. Such are the associations this trophy appears, to awaken in the minds of the French, and they are proud of it, in proportion as they are I have been lately under the necesblind votaries of the false glory which sity of looking for Lodgings, until it illustrates. The most common en- sundry operations should be performed graving exhibited on the Boulevards in my own habitation, which I have and the different walls of Paris, is a deferred so long that I began to be representation of this pillar, with the afraid of literally fulfilling the proverb inscription Ah! who is not proud of" pulling an old house about my of being a Frenchman, when he be- cars." To remain under the same holds this column ?" while a youth roof with a host of bricklayers, plasis delineated in an heroic attitude terers, painters, plumbers, glaziers, Swearing to conquer or die at its foot. carpenters, smiths, and all the rest of the With a self-satisfied inconsistency pe- numerous tribes which modern refineculiar to this country, one of the war-ments render necessary personages in riors is holding the white flag at the the constructing or repairing of a base, and the same irrefragable evi-dwelling would be almost impossible; dence of the futility of all their con- I had therefore to choose between two quests is seen waving at top. A evils, to go to an hotel, or to take a ramble on the Boulevards afforded us the same subject of delight with which we had been struck in the gardens of the Thuilleries, fresh and verdant vegetation, as well as beautiful flowers, in the very heart of the city, forming pleasing contrast to the dingy leaves and sickly aspect of the London gardens; and wherever we could get a view of any extent, sharp and distinctly-ing. defined masses of stone buildings stood hout in the clear atmosphere, with a lucid effect never to be observed in our smoky metropolis. Having seen

t

furnished lodging. "At an hotel one has perfect liberty,' said I to myself," aye and comfort too,"-but then it is comfort that must be paid for, and enormously; one has not the liberty of keeping one's purse in one's pocket, and every time the waiter calls out briskly." coming sir," he reminds me that my money is go

A writer has described the pleasure of being at an Inn, but he does not say a word on the disagreeables attendant on leaving it; therefore, as I cannot expect to share

man may then expect to be fleeced directly or indirectly; directly by an exorbitant price, or indirectly by the never-ending outlay for necessary. trifles, most of which he neither wants, or are they got for him. Neither had she a saucy cocked up nose; for this a man always pays through the nose, either in money or comfort; and may expect a volley of sharp shot in the way of reproach, if he submit not to the lady's humour, be it what it will. She had a warm smile, a sun-bright eye, and something of benevolence, which made all bargaining impossible.

in one without a due proportion of the other, I must content myself with a more moderate accommodation of ready furnished lodgings. But how many pro's and con's are to be considered, in entering upon this kind of uncertain home! The situation; the air; the neighbourhood; the outside of the house; the inside; the furniture; the landlady, generally a weighty consideration; and last, though seldom least, the terms. Innumerable are the fears, and doubts on taking a lodging. Does the house smoke? Never, but for the first time. Is the family quiet and orderly? Are the fellow lodgers After mildly showing the apartments, in this modern Ark (for a man on she asked me those unwelcome quesship-board, and in a lodging house are tions" are you a married gentleman, alike, in being fixed, for a part of their or single? a family or not? an estabshort passage through life with com- lishment, or are you to be done for? panions.) What sort of a woman is Now all these are disagreeable questions the landlady likely to be? If boister- because they often remind a man of ous, a man wishes to endure the gale what he fan would forget; namely, as short a time as possible; if talkative, of his misfortune if he be single, and she is the bore of his studies and re- perhaps of his wife, if he be in the holy flections. Yet there is a degree of banns of wedlock, but separated by fate, humanity as well as complaisance, in by misconduct, or by narrowed cir enduring garrulity, when it has kindness cumstances; and the having an esor attention for its main object. Is she tablishment or not, is another question curious? (she generally is) that be- of uncomfortable tendeney; for it comes troublesome always, and some- may either remind a man of heavy times dangerous. Is she handsome? charges and tradesmens lengthened still more dangerous. Very ugly? bills, or cost him a blush for his want that's disgusting. A large family? of fortune; and lastly, the being done very hostile to a thinking man. A for, has such an equivocal sound, that scold? one must move in a week.-it might puzzle a conjuror to solve the Has she a drunken husband? or does meaning in a moment. she herself in the decline of life, dis- In answer to these kind inquiries, cover that Cupid is a treacherous and I stated my solitary lot in the world, mischievous urchin, and therefore turn and begged to ask, in return, if the to Bacchus for support or consolation? good lady was married herself, since But these queries are endless. And now, she came to that ;-Whether I might conceive I have knocked at the door, expect matrimonial concerts of vocal which was opened by the landlady.-performance? and whether she could She was a plump woman with a fine afford me the attendance which I rehealthy complexion. Not a votary of quired? She smiled at these counterBacchus, thought I from the clear tint. questions: which proved that she was She had in her countenance nothing not an unmarried person; because sharp, which always augurs ill. A then she would have thought it neces