geon over the head and body, till I sank to the earth exhausted. He then went away, exclaiming, Now, if I have not done for you, try your own

balsam.'

،،

I was found by the police, and carried into my house. The blows on my head produced temporary derangement. A doctor was sent for, and he prescribed for me. But my housekeeper had too good an opinion of her master to let him take any thing recommended by a stranger. She emptied out the bottles as they were sent, and filled them with BALSAM OF BETHESDA. . Unconsciously I partook of my own invention, “ In Dominum perniciosa suum.' Like Perillus, I have been the author of what has caused my own death. My reason has returned, only to tell me I am dying. My housekeeper, as soon as she thought I could understand her, boasted of her artifice, and how she had been cheating the doctor. THALABA KILLMAN.

THE MARRIAGE FESTIVAL.

BY MRS. ABDY.

"Festivities are fit for what is happily concluded; at the commencement they but waste the force and zeal which should inspire us. Of all festivities, the marriage festival appears the most unsuitable; calmness, humility, and silent hope, befit no ceremony more than this."-GOETHE.

LADY, thy merry marriage bells are ringing,
And all around thee speaks of festal mirth,
The loss of one so good and fair is bringing

Methinks strange gladness to her father's hearth;
Yet thou amid the throng art pensive sitting,
And well I know these revels cloud thy bliss,
And that thou deem'st such triumph unbefitting
A solemn and important rite like this.

These flowery wreaths, these sounds of exultation,
Some victor's glorious deeds might celebrate,
But thou canst claim no proud congratulation,
Untried, uncertain is thy future fate;

Nor would true friends a brilliant spell cast o'er thee,
Giving to girlhood's dreams delusive scope,
But rather bid thee view the scene before thee
With calm humility, and silent hope.

Thine is a path by snares and toils attended,

Yet, lady, in thy prudence I confide,
Thou art not by mere mortal aid befriended,
Prayer is thy stay, and Providence thy guide:
And should thy coming years with ills be laden,
Thou safely may'st abide the storms of life,
If the meek virtues of the Christian maiden
Shine forth as brightly in the Christian wife.

ERUPTION OF MOUNT ÆTNA.1

CHAPTER II.

Giarre The Eruption-The Stream of Lava-Mountain formed by the ejected Matter-The New Crater-Appearance of the Eruption by Night-Supper at the Foot of the Lava-Narrow EscapeForest in Flames.

WE reached Giarre, a very neat small town about eleven o'clock; after refreshing ourselves we lost not a moment in hiring mules and a guide to accompany us to the scene of the eruption, which was distant about eight miles from Giarve. The present, they told us, was greater than any recollected by the oldest people living; the lava was making a frightful progress, and had already reached the cultivated parts of the mountain; it was fortunate, they added, that its direction was not towards Giarre, as from the rapidity with which it was advancing, there was little doubt but that it would, in that case, have destroyed the town, the streets of which the day before had been covered to the depth of two feet with ashes, which having been swept into heaps, were there to assure us that there was little or no exaggeration in the assertion. The wind being at this time in a contrary direction there was no fall. The ashes are driven into the air in large quantities only at the commencement of the eruption, when the volcanic fire, forcing its way upwards, converts the incumbent strata into ashes, and by the force of the explosion projects them to a surprising height, from whence they are transported by the wind to a distance of sixty, eighty, or even one hundred miles.

As we left Giarre, and proceeded towards the site of the eruption, the explosions of the mountain became terrific; at every shock the earth trembled underneath us, and the hollow sound which followed every step of our animals fully convinced us of the fiery and unfathomable gulf on the vaulted roof of which we trode, and which might perhaps suddenly fall, forming some dreadful chasms to swallow us, or might burst forth in a deluge of fire to consume us: such thoughts and contemplations might, in a scene and at a time like the present, occur almost involuntarily, but there is probably less chance of such events during an eruption than when the mountain is externally in a state of quietude, as the fires having already opened themselves a vent, are necessarily less active in other parts. Yet though there may be little real danger, still there is something excessively awful in such situations, nor could we deem ourselves altogether secure when we felt the ground shake, and heard the slow majestic peal of the subterranean thunder as it rolled solemnly under our feet.

The country through which our ascent lay, though different in its aspect, was nothing inferior in peculiar beauty to the plains below.

I Concluded from p. 215.

All the softer graces of the scene were fled, but the grand and terrible had acquired redoubled sublimity. The lofty and rugged precipices, on the ridges of which we passed, were no longer separated by wide and fertile vales, but by deep and narrow ravines, formed in all probability and to all appearance by the forcible and abrupt divulsion of parts which were once united: the corresponding indents and projections of the sides create and authorize this opinion. Towards the bottom of these terrific chasms generally descended a rapid torrent, occasionally converted, as the declivity became steeper, into an impetuous cataract, the white foam of which contrasted with the black banks of ashes which covered all around to the depth of several feet recalled to my recollection the description of Acheron and Cocytus with their black and pitchy banks.

Iline via Tartarei quæ fert Acherontis ad undas,
Turbidus hic cæno, vastâque voragine gurges
Estuat, atque omnem Cocyto eructat arenam.

Sometimes these streams have worn a narrow bed for themselves of several feet deep in the solid lava; whence Count Borch's conjectures relative to the age of the mountain. We continued to ascend through immense forests of lofty oaks and chestnuts, which rose on all sides and served to relieve the eye from the melancholy effect produced by the ashes.

The present eruption had taken place in the lower part of the woody region. As we followed our guide with much caution down a descent which ran along the edge of a frightful precipice, we were surprised at the sight of fire issuing, as it appeared, from the ground, and from the side of a height directly in front of us, at a distance of not more than thirty yards. We imagined that the mountain was about to make an exhibition of which we had little inclination to behold so near a prospect. Huge masses were seen moving on the plain or rolling down the above-mentioned height, exposing to our view beds of vivid fire in the gaps from which they were detached, which were perfectly red, though the surface in other parts was of a dark iron colour. Apprehending that the guide had mistaken his path, and conducted us to some dangerous spot, we suddenly halted, and calling to him, inquired where we were, and what were the masses of fire which were rolling towards us? Questa è la lava corrente," he said with much indifference, and stopping his mule alighted. We were now, in fact, at the very foot of the stream of lava, and the appearances which had surprised us were occasioned by its advance. It being day the surface was of the dark colour above-mentioned, but as the scoria in their progress detached themselves from the moving mound, the fire underneath became visible; as we approached nearer, the burning lava under the external coating resembled the fire of a furnace before the coals on the top are thoroughly kindled, which still retain their dark hue, although the ignited substance is distinctly vi sible through the interstices of the black crust above. The lava had, by this time, overspread the country to the extent of three miles in length from its source, and half a mile in breadth, and was perhaps fifty feet in height, presenting the spectacle of a gigantic mound of

moving cinders proceeding in a slow, equal, and majestic progression, large fragments rolling down, as it advanced, from the upper part of this mountain of inflamed matter, owing to the constant impulsion from behind. These scoriæ as they came thundering down discovered the fire beneath, having the side exposed to the air quite dark, whilst that detached from the body of the lava was of a vivid red, displaying alternately in their progress their obscure and ignited sides. After sufficiently observing the burning mass before us, we followed our guide up several very steep ascents, assisting ourselves by laying hold of the shrubs and brushwood through which we were obliged to make our way. Not without much difficulty we, at length, attained an elevation directly overlooking the scene of the eruption, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile. By this time it was dusk, and in this country, where there is little twilight, it soon became dark. We stood nearly up to our knees in ashes and scoriæ, which were falling all around us. It would be vain to attempt a description of the grandeur and sublimity of the scene before us. At our feet lay an extensive valley, near the centre of which rose a conical mount about five hundred feet in height, and perhaps three-fourths of a mile in circumference; on its summit yawned, like one of the fabled mouths of hell, a vast and nearly circular opening, through which were hurled with intermissions of from thirty seconds to two minutes, into the clouds with terrific explosions, flames, lava, and ignited rocks of incredible size to the amazing height of at least two miles, as we calculated from the time of their descent: from this vast elevation, at which they were visible to the inhabitants of the other side of the mountain, of which we had not ascended more than a third, they came down with frightful force and rapidity, causing the earth to shake as they reached it. We could see the lava boiling up to the verge of the crater, overflow, and run down the sides of the hill with the rapidity of water. The darkness gave new effect and sublimity to the scene. The stream of lava now appeared a continuous and enormous river of liquid fire, sometimes pouring irresistibly forward in a direct line, at others, rushing down heights with the violence of a torrent, and a little farther perhaps gently meandering, according to the sinuosities of the vales into which it had found its way: at times the course of some of its branches, for there were several, was opposed by some obstacle, such as a rock or height, which opposed its progress; in this case, the lava continued to roll forward and collect at the base, until gradually elevating itself above the impediment and mastering its summit, it poured down with fury on the other side.

As this eruption took place near the lower extremity of the woody region, the spectacle of forests in flames was not wanting to complete the terrible grandeur of the scene. Wherever woods or groves lay in the course of the lava, they were instantly involved in a blaze; indeed, the country all around presented one general conflagration, and might well bring to the imagination the terrors of the last day, of which Etna is no weak type.

But the grandest object of the scene was the mountain formed by the eruption: we found it impossible to satiate ourselves with the view of a spectacle so inconceivably sublime, which had the appearance of

a vast and inexhaustible fountain of fire. We continued gazing with awe and admiration for upwards of five hours, nor were we deterred by the fall of several enormous fragments in our neighbourhood, until the guide, alarmed by one of large dimensions descending nearer than the others, began to press us to depart, which we found to be our most prudent course, as the eruption seemed to rage with greater violence, and the ejected substances fell near us in increased quantity. We had some difficulty in finding our way back to the spot where we had left our mules, but having, before we quitted the height, marked the extreme point of the lava, we continued in that direction, and at length, although our guide more than once expressed his apprehension that we were wrong, we safely reached our station at the foot of the torrent.

66

Having unpacked our panniers and spread our table-cloth on the ground as near the lava as appeared safe, in order to enjoy the benefit of the heat, for we felt the night air excessively chill, notwithstanding our vicinity to a fire of such dimensions, our appetites being sufficiently keen, owing to our long fast since we left Giarve, we made an excellent supper, but had scarcely finished, when a loud cry from the guide and the voice of the servant exclaiming "Siamo perduti, siamo perduti," we are lost, we are lost," equally astonished and alarmed us. We started on our legs, and saw Fortunato, the guide, who called on us to escape as fast as we could, indicating the path, whilst he and the man brought the mules; the brushwood in the vicinity had taken fire, and, indeed, whilst we were inquiring the cause, the flames burst out behind us; bottles, glasses, the remains of the provisions, were all promiscuously thrown into the table cloth, whilst thinking only of our safety. We ran off as fast as we could, nor did we stop to take breath till we saw the spreading flame at a considerable distance behind us. Our attendants soon followed, but they told us that they had been obliged to blind the mules before they could induce them to move: in fact, had it not been for the vigilance of the guide we should inevitably have been surrounded, and a very few minutes would certainly have numbered us among the many victims of this implacable mountain.

It was three o'clock in the morning before we reached Giarve, and so fatigued were both ourselves and our beasts that we could scarcely keep on our saddles and the animals on their legs: and when I threw myself on my homely couch, though it was none of the softest, I could by no means agree with the poet that the labours of Hercules, of which I fancied I could now form some idea, were likely to be preferable to a good supper, a feather-bed, and suitable accompaniments.

Potioris

Herculis cerumnas credat sævosque labores,
Et venere, et cænis, et plumis Sardanapali.