Indeed, she read and studied more than could have been conceived by any unacquainted with the many hours she spent in her closet. She had no relish for those frivolous entertainments which consume the time of most people, and which are alike injurious to their fortunes and understandings. When an affection of the eyes precluded her from many of her favourite occupations, she betook herself to the lighter kinds of work. It was a new thing to see a queen so sedulously employed; but she considered idleness as the great corrupter of human nature. She was convinced that if the mind was destitute of useful employment, it would have recourse to something of an injurious kind; and she thought that whatever could afford an innocent relaxation, ought to fill up such of her hours as were disengaged from devotion or serious business. Her example was soon followed, not only by her own attendants, but by the neighbourhood in which she resided; so that it became during her reign, almost as much a fashion to work as it had often been to sit idle. While thus occupied, she was still mindful of intellectual engagements, and amongst the ladies who were admitted to the honour of working with her, one was selected to read an author suited to their engagements and apprehension.

DELIGHTS OF THE CANADAS.

SNOW-FLEAS are a species of insect which are not taken notice of either by French or English writers. Previous to a thaw, they are observed upon the snow in great multitudes. I once counted upwards of 1,296,000 upon a single square yard; and I think it is probable that every yard of woodland in the province would average at least an equal number.-Fly-traps are as common in Canada as rat-traps in St. Helena; but notwithstanding all the means which are resorted to for reducing their numbers, they are still so abundant that a child can scarcely open its mouth without running the risk of being suffocated by the quantity that eagerly try to descend down its throat. The largest bull-frogs weigh about five pounds each, and are able to destroy a gosling of a month old: there is every variety of the frog genus in Canada, from this size down to that of a wren's egg.

FAREWELL TO TWENTY-FOUR.*
BY DELTA.

FARE the well, then, Twenty-four,
The latest of thy days are coine
Fair water in the china pour,
And add the golden rum:

Nor wanting be the fragrant lime,
Nor snow-white lumps of sugar clear,
So, as we triumph over Time,

We'll hail the coming year!

Yet, where are they, the lov'd-the lostOh where are they, the young-the glad? On life's rude ocean tempest-tost,

Or in the churchyard bed..

Closed are the eyes which sparkled bright,
The hearts are still'd in silence drear,
That might have throbb'd with ours to night,
To hail the coming year!

Alas-alas! why should we mourn

O'er mellow pleasures which have been,
Could sorrowing make the past return,
Or bring the vanish'd scene-

Could sighs restore whom we deplore,
The foreign-far should now be here,
And voices join with thine and mine,
To hail the coming year!

Then far from us scowl sullen Care-
And, as yon stars more brilliant seem,
When frost is in the moonless air,
And ice upon the stream;

So, let us cope, in buoyant hope,

Yea, brave all ills with dauntless cheer, And trust to meet, in friendship sweet, For many a coming year!

The year 1824.

SONG.

BY MR. J. W. S.

NO, Mary, I will not upbraid thee,
Tho' in twain you've torn this heart,
Still it grieves, it sorely grieves me,
To know you feel the bitter smart.
"Tis now some years since last we met,
Yet memory recals that hour,
And the cheek, which then was wet,
Now is flush'd-as oft' I lour

O'er those trifles which were given

When each to each did pledge the heart, From which we swore (imploring Heaven To seal the bond) we ne'er would part. Firm I've kept that sacred vow,

Tho' long unlink'd has been the chain; Firm will keep it—yet I know

No more on earth we meet again!

Had it been for I'd grown old,

Or, gaz'd unmov'd upon thy charms;
Or, that the love-which now is cold,
Refuge had ta'en in other arms:
Or, had you fled me for another
Who as fondly, dearly priz'd;
Or, for a husband left thy lover,
Then indeed thou had'st been wise.

Ah, silly girl! oh, cursed riches!
Oh damned villain! stupid elf!

That stole my heart's, my soul's best wishes,
Too ignorant to know thy wealth.

Tho' the billows howl between us,
Hourly blasts from Heav'n I'll call:

On his head, in my orisons,
Dreadful shall my curses fall.

Fare thee well! I still may mention
In my song thy wretched name;
But from this hour, my fix'd intention
Is-ne'er to touch this string again.

THE RETURN OF THE SWALLOWS.
AT length the winter's surly blasts are o'er;
Array'd in smiles the lovely spring returns:
Health to the breeze unbars the screaming door,
And every breast with heat celestial burns.
Again the daisies peep, the violets blow,
Again the tenants of the leafy grove,
Forget the patt'ring hail, the driving snow,
Resume the lay to melody and love.

And see, my Delia, see o'er yonder stream,
Where on the sunny banks the lambkins play,
Alike attracted to th' enlivening gleam,
The stranger swallows take their wonted way.

222

MARGARET SLEEPING.

See her tresses unconfin'd
Loosely float upon the wind,
Or conceal her neck of snow
Where Zephyrus delights to blow.-
See her cheeks so beauteous red,
When roses of the Spring o'rspread,
And scarcely veil'd by thin disguise,
See her glowing breasts arise;
And say that surely thou hast seen;
Love's fairest flow'r, and Beauty's Queen.

No sound but of the distant flail,
Is heard through all the enchanted dale,
And while I steal the rapturous look,
On the green margin of the brook,
Beneath the fragrant eglantine,
Sleep on my love and still recline.
Lovelier that brook than is this theme,
That laves the Grove of Academe,
And fairer than the luscious pine,
Is that humble eglantine.

Then while love triumphant reigns,
And Innocence thy guard remains,
And thy fond admirer nigh,

Delighted breathes the enamour'd sigh,
Sleep on my love, and still recline
Under the fragrant Eglantine.

ORANGE TREES.

THE first orange trees seen in England, were raised by sir Francis Carew, from the seeds of the first oranges which were imported into this country by sir Walter Raleigh, who had married his neice, the daughter of sir Nicholas Throckmorton. The trees were planted in the open ground, and were preserved in the winter by a moveable shed. They flourished for about a century and a half, being destroyed by the hard frost in 1739-40. In the garden was a pleasure-house, on the top of which was painted the Spanish Invasion. In August, 1599, Queen Elizabeth paid a visit to sir Francis Carew, at Beddington, for three days, and again in the same month the ensuing year. The queen's oak and her favourite walk, are still pointed out. Sir Hugh Platt tells an anecdote, in his Garden of Eden, relating to one of these visits, which shows the pains sir Francis took in the management and cultivation of his fruit trees: "Here I will conclude," says he, "with a conceit of that delicate knight, sir Francis Carew, who, for the better accomplishment of his royal entertainment of our late Queen Elizabeth, of happy memory, at his house at Beddington, led her majesty to a cherry-tree, whose fruit he had of purpose kept back from ripening, at the least one month after all other cherries had taken their farewell of England. This secret he performed by straining a tent, or cover of canvass, over the whole tree, and wetting the same now and then with a scoop or horn, as the heat of the weather required; and so, by witholding the sun. beams from reflecting upon the berries, they grew both great, and were very long before they had gotten their perfect cherry colour; and, when he was assured of her majesty's coming, he removed the tent, and a few sunny days brought them to their full maturity."