FERDINAND DE SOTO.

BY ELIZA T. P. SMITH.

[FERDINAND DE SOTO, after being the companion of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, Governor of Cuba and other immense territories, and having fame and great wealth by military service with the Spaniards in the New World, was prompted by ambition and a desire to find the gold which he imagined in great abundance in North America, to set out from Florida, with a great number of followers, on an exploring expedition, northward. Sanguine of success, he penetrated far into our western wilds, until, at last, disappointment, melancholy, and a conflict of emotions, with every species of hardships, brought on a malignant fever, under which he sank rapidly, neither comforted nor attended, as the last hours of life demand ;-to the last he was firm, that this was a land where gold would be found, and a great nation would rise. His burial at midnight by a few comrades, to prevent disheartening the rest; his requiem chanted by the priests in the lonely place, and the contrast of his miserable end with his former greatness, must have been very affecting and solemn. His wife was left in Cuba, to govern till his return.]

OT in a tent of burnished gold,

His brow with laurels bound—
Nor 'mid the dead in battle told

With martial honors crowned,

Not in his home DE SOTO died,
PIZARRO's generous friend;

No gentle voice was at his side,
No wife could o'er him bend:

Far off, 'mid western canebrakes wild,
His canopy the sky,

SOTO, once fortune's favorite child,
Had laid him down to die;

Peru's great conqueror, Cuba's lord,

His strength and pride brought low,

His death couch, made the cold greensward, By Mississippi's flow.

Where none but savages e'er trod,

Nor helping hand was nigh;

Where council fires gleamed o'er the sod,

And wigwams met the eye;

Where the stern Red Man was the lord

Of wood, and wild, and river,

And hostile chiefs were fierce toward
Spain's bold adventurer.

His followers there around him stand,
His dying words to hear;

A hardy, brave, yet suffering band,
Desponding, now appear,-

His manly brow, once more he raised;
There came a vision bright-
And in his eye, as round he gazed,
Gleamed an unearthly light.

"Ye braves, your labors are not lost,
Nor all your toils and pain;
Wealth and renown-to me all past-
Comrades, for you remain.

A mighty nation yet shall rise

Here, where we first have trod, Whose glory, swelling to the skies, Shall praise the Lord, our God.

"I die, but flag not, noble band, Led on by Moscoso,

Ye yet shall find that promised land,

Where golden rivers flow.

And when sore pressed, by hardships driven,
Your hearts with sorrows bleed;

Pray to the God, who reigns in heaven,
For whatsoe'er ye need "

DE SOTO died-his spirit brave
Was crushed by grief and care;
He sought for Gold-he found a grave;
For Fame-he found despair.

'Tis midnight-silently his friends

The last sad rite perform,

And 'neath the dark cold stream descends

That once much honored form.

His requiem the silence broke

Of forest, dense and wide,

And prairies vast, and stately oak,

And wilderness replied;

And Spain's stern warriors bowed with grief, Stood grouped together there;

Their hearts were full, their words were brief, And short and soft their prayer.

His dirge was, what the wild waves said-
His funeral pile, their flow-

His sepulchre, their slimy bed,

Where none his place may know. Thus he, who first that mighty stream,

In all its grandeur saw

Thy fate, DE SOTO, it became

To sleep beneath its roar.

HO, that reads the English language, is

not familiar with the name of the distinguished authoress, and devout Christian, HANNAH MORE ?

For more than half a century, she was a brilliant star in the literary and religious firmament; and though the period in which she flourished was adorned with a galaxy of minds of uncommon lustre, yet by few was she surpassed in splendor of intellect, and by fewer still in moral worth and genuine usefulness. With strong powers of mind, a versatile genius, a lively fancy, a pure taste, large accumulations of knowledge, and a sound, scriptural piety, she united an extraordinary decision and an unwearied industry in the execu