THEOPHILUS. Theophilus prepared for death with prudence and courage, but with that suspicion which disgraced his character. A council of regency was named to assist Theodora. His habitual distrust induced him to exclude Theophobos from this council. He feared lest Theophobos might seize the throne by means of the army, or establish an independent kingdom in the Armeniac theme by means of the Persian mercenaries. The conspiracy on the night after the defeat at Dasymon had augmented the jealousy with which the emperor regarded his brother-in-law ever after the rebellion of the Persian troops at Sinope and Amastris. He now resolved to secure his son's throne at the expense of his own conscience, and ordered Theophobos to be beheaded. Recollecting the fortune of his father and the fate of Leo the Armenian, he commanded the head of his brother-in-law to be brought to his bedside. The agitation of the emperor's mind, after issuing this order, greatly increased his malady; and when the lifeless head of his former friend was placed before him, he gazed long and steadily at its features, his mind doubtless wandering over the memory of many a battle-field in which they had fought together. At last he slowly exclaimed, "Thou art no longer Theophobos, and I am no more Theophilus;" then, turning away his head, he sank on his pillow, and never again opened his lips. The Empress Theodora of the above extract was chosen in this wise. 267 ground. To her he gave the apple, without risking a word. Eikasia, who for a moment had felt the throb of gratified ambition, could not recover from the shock. She retired into a monastery which she founded, and passed her life, dividing her time between the practice of devoposed some hymns, which continued long in use tion and the cultivation of her mind. She com in the Greek Church. Finley's Byzantine Empire. AN INDIAN BEAUTY. While lying at anchor this day, two female Indians came off from the It was so light shore in a beautiful bark canoe. and buoyant that it sat like a gull on the water, and was truly a fine specimen of exquisite workmanship. The youngest of these females was a fine model of feminine simplicity and artless beauty; her long black hair was gracefully braided; in front, it was parted sufficiently to show a light brown forehead, with jet-black eyes and regular features, that might serve as a model for a sculptor to imitate the perfection of the human form. Her dress was made close full bust; and thus, with close, ornamented around the waist, and so arranged as to show a pantaloons, and high-wrought moccasons, was gracefully seated, at her case, this simple child of nature. We may call her a savage, and sneer at her want of elegance and taste; but has she no charms to kindle the flame of love in the human bosom? A fine lady, it is true, may excel her in the gaudily decorated drawing-room; but can she balance herself with perfect ease, confidence and grace, in this exquisite boat, that two pound-weight would overturn in unskilful hands? Can she manage the frail canoe, and force it through the water with an arrow's speed -anon let it gently float like a swan on its peaceful bosom! To complete the picture, and add a new charm to the scene, was their gentle deportment. When I invited them on board they modestly declined, but spread out before them a variety of little articles of their own proTheophilus was unmarried when he ascended duction, many of which were prettily made, and the throne, and he found difficulty in choosing a gracefully displayed slight little party-colored wife. At last he arranged with his stepmother, baskets, slippers, and other ornamented trifles, Euphrosyne, a project for enabling him to exquisitely wrought and tastefully exhibited. make a suitable selection, or at least to make his There was no importunity on their part to induce choice from a goodly collection. The empress me to purchase; they patiently waited my pleasmother invited all the most beautiful and ac-ure to take what I desired, and leave the rest. complished virgins at Constantinople to a fête in her private apartments. When the gayety of the assembled beauties had removed their first shyness, Theophilus entered the rooms, and walked forward with a golden apple in his hand. Struck by the grace and beauty of Eikasia, with whose features he must have been already acquainted, and of whose accomplishments he had often heard, he stopped to address her. The proud beauty felt herself already an empress; but Theophilus commenced his conversation with the ungallant remark, "Woman is the source of evil;" to which the young lady too promptly replied, "But woman is also the cause of much good.' The answer or the tone jarred on the captious mind of the emperor, and he walked on. His eye then fell on the modest features of the young Theodora, whose eyes were fixed on the I was so captivated with these children of the forest, that I purchased their whole stock, asking but one simple question: "How much do the whole of these beautiful articles amount to?" _ Coggeshall's Second Series of Voyages. BURMESE SIMILE. In the world, he who speaks sweetly and with affability, will have many friends; but he whose words are bitter, will have few or none. This we may learn from the sun and the moon. The sun, by reason of its dazzling light, drives away every star and planet from the heavens, while it is above the horizon, and is thus obliged to run its course solitary and unattended; but the moon, shedding only a soft and tender light, moves on in the midst of stars and constellations, escorted by a numerous company. Indian Charter. From the Spectator. PALLISER'S ADVENTURES IN THE PRAIRIES.* up in the stirrups, I gave her a shot that brought her rolling on the plain. I now carefully examined Owen's horse, and thanked my stars that we had escaped unscathed, resolving in my own mind that it should be the very last time I would ever run buffalo mounted on a friend's horse. Here, however, Bucephalus shared the merit; when Mr. Palliser was tossed by another bison, the credit, whatever it may be, was all his own: So accurately had the Indian calculated time and distance, that I was hardly at my place when a huge bull thundered headlong by me, and received a shot low and close behind the shoulder as he passed. He stumbled on for about ten paces, and lay quietly down. I waited to reload, and on going up found him stone dead. Indian then joined me, and said that the other two bulls had not gone far, but had taken different directions; so we agreed that he should pursue one, and I the other. The Ir Mr. Palliser has not combated such rare and dignified animals during his sporting Mackenzie's horse was a magnificent animal and excursions in the Prairies as Mr. Cumming nearly thoroughbred, and although the gentlest saw and conquered in South Africa, he under-creature in the world, possessed the most indomwent great hardships, and experienced adven- itable spirit, as a subsequent adventure will tures as rare. The South African sportsman show. in pursuit of lion, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and giraffe, travels en grand seigneur, with his train of attendants, his wagons stuffed with good things, and his team of oxen, which at a pinch may serve for a meal. The rambler in the Prairies or the Rocky Mountains depends upon his rifle for his meals; and, that failing, he must go without; or, game falling short, must do as Mr. Palliser did sup and breakfast off wolf, and find it not bad with the accompaniment of the "best sauce. Overtaken by a snow-storm, he must hug his dog to keep up vital heat, and strive against nature to keep awake. Nor are more active adventures wanting. The grisly bear, the terror of the Rocky Mountains, seems a more awkward customer than I soon came in sight of mine. He was standthe lion himself; the Red Indian lies in waiting a little way off on the open plain, but the skirting willows and brushwood afforded me to plunder your scalp; the trappers, voyageurs, traders, and other denizens of the far cover within eighty yards of him; profiting by West, with whom Washington Irving long fired. The bull gave a convulsive start, moved which, I crept up, and, taking a deliberate aim, since made us acquainted, and even the off a little way, and turned his broadside again Indian when friendly, are better company to me. I fired again, over a hundred yards this than the Hottentot or Caffre. Neither is time; he did not stir. I loaded and fired the there any lack of moving accidents or hair- third time; whereupon he turned and faced me, breadth 'scapes. We often hear of leaps in as if about to show fight. As I was loading for Leicestershire and elsewhere, but what are a fourth shot he tottered forward a step or two, they to a leap over a bison bull? and I thought he was about to fall, so I waited for a little while, but as he did not come down After breakfast I saddled Owen's horse, and I determined to go up and finish him. Walking descended the hill for a run at buffalo. I chose up, therefore, to within thirty paces of him, a band of cows, most of whom had calved, and till I could actually see his eyes rolling, I fired whose little ones scampered at their heels; pass-for the fourth time directly at the region of ing these easily, I detected one or two fat barren ones in the van, and gave chase. Some bulls who had caught sight of the running cows now began to run also, and bulls and cows intermingled were soon pelting along in a confused mass. I did not care to fire at the former, and was pressing on after a fat cow I had selected, when one of the bulls a little blown by the race stood still for a moment, and, as I doubled across him after my cow, made a headlong rush at me; I could not pull in, and to turn was destruction; I had nothing for it but to lift my horse, and give him a tremendous cut with the whip-he sprang into the air, and just cleared the bull when in the act of charging. I felt my horse's hind-legs carried aside as they caught the brute's shoulder, or head or neck, I can't say which; but we dashed on, happily unhurt, and the next instant I was passing the cow, when, standing Solitary Rambles and adventures of a Hunter in the Prairies. By John Palliser, Esq. With Illustrations. Published by Murray. the heart, as I thought; but, to my utter amazement, up went his tail and down went his head, and with a speed that I thought him little capable of he was upon me in a twinkling. I ran hard for it, but he rapidly overhauled me, and my situation was becoming anything but pleasant. Thinking he might, like our own bulls, shut the eyes in making a charge, I swerved suddenly to one side to escape the shock; but, to my horror, I failed in dodging him, for he bolted round quicker than I did, and, affording me barely time to protect my stomach with the stock of my rifle, and to turn myself sideways as I sustained the charge, in the hopes of getting between his horns, he came plump upon me with a shock like an earthquake. My rifle-stock was shivered to pieces by one horn, my clothes torn by the other; I flew into mid-air, scattering my prairie hens and rabbits, which had hitherto hung dangling by leathern thongs from my belt, in all directions, till, landing at last, I fell unhurt in the snow; and almost over me-fortunately not quite-rolled my infuriated antagonist, and subsided in a snow-drift. I was luckily not the least injured, the force of the blow having been perfectly deadened by the enormous mass of fur, wool, and hair that clothed his shaggy head-piece. snow, and continued all night, filling all the crevices between the layers of bark, willow, &c., that formed the roof and sides of my cabin; thus further contributing to my comfort, which was only disturbed at intervals of a few hours by my having to go out and renew my fire. The followNotwithstanding some stories that not only ing day I continued my journey until a little look but are marvellous in the primary sense after noon, when, having no more meat, I unof wonderful, the Solitary Rambles (though harnessed the dog and set off to hunt for my somewhat of a misnomer, since Mr. Palliser supper. That game was very scarce here I soon was rarely by himself) are a very agreeable found, as I searched fruitlessly for tracks in the narrative of field-sports by a thorough Nim- recently-fallen snow. I hunted long and hard, rod, interspersed with sketches of prairie scenery, Indian and trading life and character in the very far West. To these things are added observations of a naturalist, facts connected with natural history, and occasional incidents of travel, especially on the western rivers and at New Orleans. but in vain; night was stealing on me, and Í was compelled to avail myself of the small portion of daylight that remained to retrace my steps to the spot where I had left my travail; where I made my camp, and went supperless to bed. Next morning I arose, and debated with myself for some time whether I should begin by John Palliser appears to be a member of a another hunt in this unpromising region, or pack sporting family; and, stimulated by the ex-up and resume my journey until after noon, as I ample of his elder brothers, he determined to had done on the previous day. After a little throw college and study aside, and set off for deliberation I adopted the latter plan, and the New World in pursuit of his hobby. travelled on until about noon, when I fell in Well provided with letters of introduction, he with some fresh wapiti tracks. These I pursued passed rapidly from Boston, through New for a long distance, and at last came in sight of York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, crossing the Alleghanies to Wheeling, and thence to New Orleans by steam. From that city he sported his way to Independence, to join the autumnal American Fur Company's expedition, and put up for the winter at fort Union, near the boundary line of the British territory and the United States, in about latitude 48° N. and longitude 103° W. Here he did duty as a huntsman, in assisting to supply the fort with meat; and as winter passed away he paid some visits to the nearest stations. In the fine weather he engaged three assistants, and started for the Rocky Mountains; whose spurs he reached, and made a good excursion of it, not only as regarded sport but peltry. from visions of the most rare and delicious I dreamed I stood some does; who, unfortunately, were so far out on the plain as to defy every possible effort of mine to approach them. My stalk was unsuccessful, from inability to conceal myself and my dog; had I tied him up I knew his frantic these regions on the alert, so I was compelled to howling would soon put every living thing in let him come too. He followed as I had trained him, never attempting to precede me; but all my efforts proved fruitless; my game escaped without my being able even to venture a shot, and I had the mortification of seeing these stately and graceful creatures break away at a rapid trot, which they soon increased to a gallop that speedily carried them out of sight; and thus vanished my chance of supper for another night. I felt very hungry indeed, and was besides very tired. I slept feverishly, awaked at intervals dishes placed before me. before the hospitable mansion of an old friend, who led me, in spite of my incongruous costume, into his brilliantly-lighted parlor, and placed me down to a table loaded with all the delicacies of every season and climate under heaven, including two soups and a turbot. At last, when powdered footmen removed the richly-chased covers off these exquisite delicacies, I started up wide awake, to look on naught but snow; and finally I solaced myself with a pipe. On the day following I hunted long and hard till considerably after noon, without success. The painful sickening sensation of hunger had now quite In these regions the cold in winter is always left me, and I suffered much less on the third easily supportable in calm weather; but the than on the second day. Strange to say, I had cold when accompanied by wind becomes so not the least apprehension for the future, but piercing that great care and constant activity felt perfectly confident, the whole time, that are requisite when travelling to avoid frost-gooner or later I should fall in with game. At bites. I therefore collected a quantity of fallen last I came to some fresh tracks of deer, and and decayed timber and bark, and built myself a comfortable little hut, in which I weathered the storm tolerably well. Towards noon it began to Like most true sportsmen, Mr. Palliser is a close observer of nature and animate life, and a naturalist. He paints the landscape of the prairies in a few broad strokes, by confining himself to essential features; and graphically brings out the characteristics of the animals he hunted, the people he mixed with, and the life he led. This is pleasant to read about, and save in its extremes of cold and hunger pleasant to live; but except the professional hunters, who are bred to it, we wonder what pay would induce a civilized man to follow it. This is a specimen of solitary rambles" in the winter: 66 soon made out that the animal had not only been walking quietly, but was in the willows close by; this I rightly guessed by the zigzag direction of the tracks; for deer before lying | Orleans for England, he started for Panama, down walk slowly from side to side, as if hesitating where to stop. I remained perfectly still for some time, looking intently with an eye sharpened by hunger, and at length observed something stir in the willows; it was a deer; evening was advancing, and he was going out to feed. I waited anxiously as he came on, slowly feeding, most fortunately towards me, until he approached to within about a hundred yards, and then stopped. I drew up my rifle, and would have fired; but he came still nearer, feeding slowly forward till he was scarcely sixty yards off; when I took a steady deliberate shot as he turned his flank towards me. I heard the bullet crack against the shoulder; he rushed a short distance back, and rolled over in the snow. To my great satisfaction, wood was close at hand; so I made a fire and cut away a little venison, which I broiled slightly and eat sparingly of, giving the rest to my dog. I then made a rope of the deer's skin, and, fastening one end to the carcass and the other round my shoulders, dragged it up to my camp of the previous night, where I cooked and ate a most enormous supper, smoked my pipe, and slept comfortably. men Hard as prairie life may seem, prairie travel is recommended by American medical to certain invalids, and with good effect. It may be, as Franklin held, that people who live in the open air never take cold; or that the natural mode of life is safe if thoroughly carried out, which in the prairies it must be; or that there is some virtue in the air itself; or that we hear of the cures but not of the killed, which is perhaps the most likely. To the fact Mr. Palliser bears witness; but he is steeled. We had long entered the high prairies. The atmosphere in these regions is extremely healthy, and its effect upon the constitution something wonderful; so much so, that persons never by way of Cuba and the Isthmus. Beyond the number of Americans bound for California, and the scenery, there was not much to see; but he encountered a tropical tempest on the river Chagres, of which he gives a vivid description : The day became so hot at twelve o'clock that we did not resume our journey until after four, and we had hardly started again when a violent thunder-storm commenced. I was greatly entertained with the proceedings of my men, who intently watched for the first symptoms of rain; and, as soon as they saw pretty clear indications of agua, " undressed themselves, stripping off every single article of apparel, and, rolling them up in a piece of oiled cloth with which each was provided, quietly went on paddling in a calm which was truly awful, Nature seeming to collect her energies for the fearful burst which succeeded; even the noisy birds feeling the influence, and hushing their discordant cries. At last the storm broke. The thunder, instead of rolling, broke overhead with a crash like ten thousand gongs- — a stunning, maddening sound, utterly unlike the sublime, awe-inspiring roll in our latitudes; the warm rain poured down in mouth and nostrils filled at each respiration. massive columns, almost checking my breath, as And now, for the first time in my life, I saw a tree struck by lightning; the flash fulling on one a short distance off, riving the huge trunk, and sending the splinters flying far and wide from the spot. The storm did not last long, but suddenly as a change of a panorama gave way to a lovely sunset; the little monkeys crept along to the extremities of the branches, to stroke and dry their dripping fur; and parrots and macquaws flew about and screamed as noisily as ever. VIEWS IN APSLEY HOUSE and Walmer CASTLE. suffer from coughs or colds; the complaint is -A sumptuous portfolio of ten colored lithoquite unknown. I have frequently in the morn-graphic views of the chief spots in the buildings ing risen from a sound sleep, under a down-pour where Wellington lived and died has been issued of rain, and found my shoulder on the side I by Messrs. Colnaghi. had lain in a pool of water, have got up and ridden on, cold and shivering, till the sun rose, and his genial rays thoroughly warmed and dried me; and yet have taken no harm. So clear is the air that the natural range of sight is greatly extended, and distant objects may be clearly and easily seen, which in these islands, or in the States of America, it would be impossible to recognize or define. It is almost like looking through a telescope. The appetite in this healthy region is also greatly increased, and I have been told by American physicians that many are the instances where consumption has been completely eradicated from the constitutions of people travelling up into these regions, even under circumstances exposing them to very great hardships. After Mr. Palliser had shipped his bison cow, two young bisons, and a bear, at New The series commences with the exterior of Apsley House; in which the Wellington statue, though out of the picture, is introduced by its shadow falling on the walls. Then follow the picture-gallery (which was also the Waterloo banquet-hall), the striped drawingroom, the dining-room, the plate and china room, with its memorial treasures, the secretary's room, the duke's own room for business and study, and the severe simplicity of the bed-room; the exterior of Walmer Castle, and the chamber in which Wellington drew his last breath. The views are simply local representations. - and, we can vouch for it as regards Apsley House, - without incidents or figures. accurate ones. The artists are of recognized ability in such subjects -Messrs. Dillon, J. Nash, Dibden, and Boys; and a large-sized pamphlet of descriptive letterpress, by Mr. Richard Ford, accompanies the series. The work forms a permanently valuable record of scenes whose interest is enduring. - Spectator. From the Press. His ships that his gang are an exception. to consider these demands, the determination not Demarara after Fifteen Years of Freedom. It was interesting to observe the first effects of uncontrolled freedom. The negroes at once assumed, as much as possible, the manners of the white man. A shirt and a high stock, a pair The first information which the manager receives in the morning from his foremen is, that the people do not intend to "turn out" unless their wages are increased, for, as they allege, "their massa is a rich man, and they are making plenty of sugar." While the foremen are yet speaking, and before the manager has even time to work is fully confirmed by the appearance of two or three laborers sauntering along towards carrying fishing seines and nets, hurrying to the their provision grounds, and of a numerous party canals and the sea-side, followed by a few sporting men, armed with rusty fowling-pieces; and, as if this was not enough, on a sudden a loud and fearful drumming issues from the cottages, and groups of younger people are seen twisting themselves into all the indelicate attitudes of the "Joan Johnny dance," to the sound of a rude drum, assisted by the voices of the performers. It is altogether the coolest, most contemptuous, and most passive resistance conceivable. Of course the manager storms and vows were engaged only by the day; he has no vengeance; but he has no remedy. The men lien upon them except as regards the rent-free cottages and provision grounds which they of shoes carried in one hand, and an umbrella in hold. Even from these he can only eject the other, which had once been considered the them by due legal process; and he knows correct costume on a Sunday, quickly received perfectly well that his neighbor, who is also the decorous addition of a pair of trousers and a short of hands, will immediately take the coat; satins and ribbons of the gayest hues ejected into employ. On second thoughts, adorned the other sex; horses and vehicles of therefore, he pockets his disappointment, every kind came into common use; costly enter- assumes, if he can, an air of good-humored tainments prevailed; and houses and lands were indifference, and waits patiently till they come purchased by the negroes in the best parts of the back to him, though every day's delay is a colony. But, as time rolled on, the freed man hundred pounds or more out of the anticipated found that these luxuries were only to be ob-profits of his employer. Exposed unceasingly tained by money, the reward of steady toil and honest industry. to tropical sun and rain-living nearly that price, and quietly resigned them for ruder alone, with few books and fewer neighbors and less expensive pleasures. Emulation ceased, harassed by such scenes as the above, and and a rapid reaction commenced towards that rarely released from the monotonous routine idle and savage state of life which, in reality, of his duties, a West Indian manager's life is was more agreeable and congenial to his un- in every sense a hard one. The mortality taught nature. among this class is great; and few who be long to it attain old age. He considered them dear at And a companion picture is painted in the following, of which the scene is a Guiana plantation in grinding time; the chief actor, a young European manager, serving his first apprenticeship to mosquitoes, fever, and negro laborers, while the background must be filled with any number of sable figures, in a state of greasy nudity. The inexperienced youth in charge has, of course, heard something of negro strikes," but flatters himself The landed proprietors of Guiana are divisible into three classes. First come the wealthy merchants and capitalists, about fifty or sixty in number, non-residents, but whose capital mainly keeps the colony afloat. These gentlemen, having other sources of income besides those which depend on their West Indian estates, have held on through the worst times, laying out largely in improvements, and trusting to a future change of |