"Tis sad, as years grow short, to know Death only brings relief;

But saddest of all earthly wo,

Is childhood bowed in grief;—
In sunny skies let fledgings fly;
Be prairies green and fair,

Ere the young fawns come forth to try
Their glancing footsteps there;
Nature and Instinct guard the young-
But only from the human tongue
Love's holy vows are given;
And only human hearts are filled
With springs of Love, that, when distilled,
Rise to their fount in heaven,

And thus doth feeling's signet prove
Man's origin divine,

When eye meets eye in trusting love,

We feel the sacred sign;

Of life, immortal life! how mild

The glorious promise shines,

When the young mother o'er her child,
First reads the deathless lines
The spirit on its clay impresses,
And answers with her warm caresses,
As she were fain to bind

Its soul to her's!-And this is Love-
"Tis prayer on earth; 'tis praise above;
"Tis God within the mind.

And in Love's name I'll drink my cup,
Nor deem it steeped in tears,
While fondly I am garnering up
Rich hopes for future years:
O, I shall hear glad voices say,
"Thy children bless thy care!'
These are my cherished dreams to-day,
And who has dreams more fair?
Dreams will they prove ?--I fear it not-
I communed with my secret thought,
Nor selfish wish was there-
One only--and it will endure-
“O, keep my dear ones good and pure!”
And Heaven will hear my prayer!

CORNELIA.

LITERARY NOTICES.

THE WATER WITCH, OR THE SKIMMER OF THE SEAS. A TALE; By the Author of the Pilot, Red Rover, &c. &c. In two volumes. Philadelphia: Carey and Lee-1831.

There needs no proof, but reading these volumes, to be convinced of the truth of the adage-"one may have too much of a good thing." Mr. Cooper has heretofore been successful in the delineation of nautical manœuvres, and scenes at sea; as a novelist on the ocean, he has been unrivalled, and presuming on his own skill to make every thing connected with seafaring interesting, he has now given us a log book.

The fault of the work is this-the author seems to have depended entirely on mysterious and startling incidents; and he has therefore made his human actors of very little consequence compared with the "beautiful" vessels so elaborately described.

We never knew the characters in a novel so uniformly dull and disagreeable. There is not an individual who excites in the reader any lively interest. The men are smugglers and cheats; the women-for ladies there are none-hoydens. True, there is captain Ludlow, an honest man, but he is so cool and technical in his love speeches, and so rational in his jealousy, that we cannot think him a fine specimen of the character he was evidently intended to represent a high souled and gallant sailor. The dialogue, in which form the work is chiefly written, is throughout unnatural, a collection of swelling phrases that seem given to the speaker to fill up the pages. Like Malvolio," they con state without books, and utter it in great swarths." And thus it is, that though the actors are often placed in jeopardy, the reader cares very little for the issue. The terrific scenes seem formed for exhibition, and human feelings, either in actor or reader, do not suffer. There is no sentiment, no heart-nothing but the surface of character displayed; and in these days the powerful workings of the mind, the " inner man," must be developed to excite and sustain an interest through a novel. The Water-Witch" may be read without a sigh or a smile. An uneasy and terrified feeling alone sustains curiosity. The story is briefly this-The "Skimmer of the Seas" is a free trader, alias, a smuggler, who comes, in his beautiful brigantine to New York, partly to profit by contraband trade, and partly to restore to her bachelor father, Alderman Van

Beverout his daughter Eudora, of whose existence he was entirely ignorant. This daughter figures, in 'seaman's apparel,' as Master Seadrift, and the friend of the Skimmer, and thus excites the jealousy of Captain Ludlow, Commander of the Coquette, a revenue and government vessel, who fancies the dashing young hero of the brigantine has made love to Alida de Barbarie, the niece of the Alderman. The unravelling of this mystery makes the thread of the story, and the storms at sea, a battle, a ship on fire, and a hairbreadth escape from drowning, together with the name of every rope in a ship, and a minute description of every tack and turn, and manœuvre of vessels, ever made, form the accompaniment. The denouement we give as a specimen of the solemn and mouthing style. As an interesting extract it is the most suited to our readers, for it is the only attempt at the delicate pathetic the work contains.

"The free-trader turned slowly away, and, opening a door, he motioned for those within to enter. Alida instantly appeared, leading the counterfeit Seadrift, clad in the proper attire of her sex. Although the burgher had often seen the supposed sister of the Skimmer in her female habiliments, she never before had struck him as a being of so rare beauty as at that moment. The silken whiskers had been removed, and in their places were burning cheeks, that were rather enriched than discolored by the warm touches of the sun. The dark glossy ringlets, that were no longer artfully converted to the purposes of the masquerade, fell naturally, in curls about the temples and brows, shading a countenance which in general was playfully arched, though at that moment it was shadowed by reflection and feeling. It is seldom that two such beings are seen together, as those who knelt at the feet of the merchant. In the breast of the latter, the accustomed and lasting love of the uncle and protector appeared, for an instant, to struggle with the new born affection of a parent. Nature was too strong for even his blunted and perverted sentiments; and, calling his child aloud by name, the selfish and calculating Alderman sunk upon the neck of Eudora and wept. It would have been difficult to trace the emotions of the stern but observant free-trader, as he watched the progress of this scene. Distrust, uneasiness, and finally melancholy, were in his eye. With the latter expression predominant, he quitted the room, like one who felt a stranger had no right to witness emotions so sacred.

Two hours later, and the principal personages of the narrative were assembled on the margin of the Cove, beneath the shade of an oak that seemed coeval with the continent. The brigantine was aweigh; and, under a light show of canvas, she was making easy stretches in the little basin, resembling, by the ease and grace of her movements, some beautiful swan sailing up and down in the enjoyment of its instinct. A boat had just touched the shore, and the Skimmer of the Seas' stood near, stretching out a hand to aid the boy Zephyr to land.

*

"Who and what is the boy ?" gravely demanded the Alderman.

"One dear to both," rejoined the free-trader. "His father was my nearest friend, and his mother long watched the youth of Eudora. Until this moment, he has been our mutual care; he must now choose between us."

"He will not quit me!" hastily interrupted the alarmed Eudora: "Thou art my adopted son, and none can guide thy young mind like me. Thou hast need of woman's tenderness, Zephyr, and wilt not quit me?"

"Let the child be the arbiter of his own fate. I am credulous on the point of

fortune, which is, at least, a happy belief for the contraband."

"Then let him speak. Wilt remain here, amid these smiling fields, to ramble among yonder gay and sweetly-scented flowers ?-or wilt thou back to the water, where all is vacant and without change?"

The boy looked wistfully into her anxious eye, and then he bent his own hesitating glance on the calm features of the free-trader.

"We can put to sea," he said; "and when we make the homeward passage again, there will be many curious things for thee, Eudora!"

"But this may be the last opportunity to know the land of thy ancestors. Remember how terrible is the ocean in its anger, and how often the brigantine has been in danger of shipwreck !"

66

Nay, that is womanish!-I have been on the royal-yard in the squalls and it never seemed to me that there was danger."

"Thou hast the unconsciousness and reliance of a ship-boy! But those who are older, know that the life of a sailor is one of constant and imminent hazard. Thou hast been among the islands in the hurricane, and hast seen the power of the elements!"

"I was in the hurricane, and so was the brigantine; and there you see how taut and neat she is aloft, as if nothing had happened!"

"And you saw us yesterday floating on the open sea, while a few ill-fastened spars kept us from going into its depths!"

66 The spars floated, and you were not drowned; else, I should have wept bitterly, Eudora."

"But thou wilt go deeper into the country, and see more of its beauties-its riv ers, and its mountains-its caverns, and its woods. Here all is change, while the water is ever the same."

"Surely, Eudora, you forget strangely !-Here it is all America. This mountain is America; yonder land across the bay is America, and the anchorage of yesterday was America. When we shall run off the coast, the next landfall will be England, or Holland, or Africa; and with a good wind, we may run down the shores of two or three countries in a day."

"And on them, too, thoughtless boy! If you lose this occasion, thy life will be wedded to hazard!"

"Farewell, Eudora !" said the urchin, raising his mouth to give and receive the parting kiss.

"Eudora, adieu!" added a deep and melancholy voice, at her elbow.

"I can delay no longer, for my people show symptoms of impatience. Should this be the last of my voyages to the coast, thou wilt not forget those with whom thou hast so long shared good and evil!"

"Not yet not yet-you will not quit us yet! Leave me the boy-leave me some other memorial of the past, besides this pain!"

66

My hour has come. The wind is freshening, and I trifle with its favor. "Twill be better for thy happiness that none know the history of the brigantine; and a few hours will draw a hundred curious eyes, from the town, upon us."

"What care I for their opinions?-thou wilt not-cannot-leave me, yet!" "Gladly would I stay, Eudora, but a seaman's home is his ship. Too much precious time is already wasted. Once more, adieu !"

The dark eye of the girl glanced wildly about her. It seemed, as if in that one quick and hurried look, it drank in all that belonged to the land and its enjoyments. "Whither go you?" she asked, scarce suffering her voice to rise above a whis "Whither do you sail, and when do you return?"

per.

"I follow fortune. My return may be distant-never-Adieu then, Eudorabe happy with the friends that Providence hath given thee !"

The wandering eyes of the girl of the sea became still more unsettled. She grasped the offered hand of the free-trader in both her own, and wrung it in an impassioned and unconscious manner. Then releasing her hold, she opened wide her arms, and cast them convulsively about his uninoved and unyielding form. "We will go together! I am thine, and thine only!"

"Thou knowest not what thou sayest, Eudora!" gasped the Skimmer-“ Thou hast a father-friend-husband

"Away, away!" cried the frantic girl, waving her hand wildly towards Alida and the Patroon, who advanced as if hurrying to rescue her from a precipice-" Thine, and thine only!"

The smuggler released himself from her frenzied grasp, and, with the strength of a giant, he held the struggling girl at the length of his arm, while he endeavored to control the tempest of passion that struggled within him.

"Think, for one moment, think!" he said. "Thou wouldst follow an outcastan outlaw-one hunted and condemned of men !"

"Thine, and thine only!"

"With a ship for a dwelling-the tempestuous ocean for a world!—”
"Thy world is my world!-thy home, my home !-thy danger, mine!"

The shout which burst out of the chest of the Skimmer of the Seas' was one of uncontrollable exultation.

"Thou art mine!" he cried. "Before a tie like this, the claim of such a father is forgotten! Burgher, adieu!-I will deal by thy daughter more honestly than thou didst deal by thy benefactor's child!"

Eudora was lifted from the ground as if her weight had been that of a feather; and, spite of a sudden and impetuous movement of Ludlow and the Patroon, she was borne to the boat. In a moment, the bark was afloat, with the gallant boy tossing his sea-cap upward in triumph. The brigantine, as if conscious of what had passed, wore round like a whirling chariot; and ere the spectators had recovered from their confusion and wonder, the boat was hanging at the tackles. The freetrader was seen on the poop, with an arm cast about the form of Eudora, waving a hand to the motionless group on the shore, while the still half-unconscious girl of the ocean signed her faint adieus to Alida and her father. The vessel glided through the inlet, and was immediately rocking on the billows of the surf. Then, taking the full weight of the southern breeze, the fine and attenuated spars bent to its force, and the progress of the swift-moving craft was apparent by the bubbling line of its wake.

We have spoken freely of the blemishes of the book; they are certainly more numerous and easier discerned than its beauties; yet there are circumnstances entitling its author to high consideration with his countrymen. Mr. Cooper has devoted his genius and talents, (and he has both, though not of the transcendental order) to his country. The scenes of all his novels have been laid in America, and he has done more to awaken Europeans to an interest in our land and literature, than any other writer. And in the WaterWitch, the American sentiment, the deep love of country give a tone of interest to his descriptions, because we feel assured that foreign luxuries, and the flatteries of strange tongues have not corrupted his imagination, or turned aside his heart from the worship of simple nature, and the appreciation of the blessed and proud distinction our free and equal institutions afford every American who will be true to his country.

THE YOUNG LADY'S BOOK: A MANUAL OF ELEGANT RECREATIONS, EXERCISES, AND PURSUITS. Boston, published by A. Bowen, and Carter & Hendee-Carey & Lee. Philadelphia. pp. 504.

The title page of this book is not a misnomer. We have seen no work prepared for woman, combining so judiciously the elegant, entertaining and useful, and so well deserving to be called a "Lady's Book," as the beautiful volume before us. The subjects discussed show that the improvement of the female mind was a paramount consideration with those who prepared the work. "Moral deportment" is finely delineated, and enforced; “Botany, Mineralogy, Conchology, Entomology, and the Aviary," bring their treasures of natural history; and the "Toilet" will display purity of heart, and beauty of mind as well as person. Accomplishments too, demand their share of every lady's attention, and she will find in "Embroidery the Escritoire, Painting, Music, Dancing, Riding, and Ornamental Artist," valuable directions on every elegant pursuit worthy a lady's attention.