of the ancients, to which we refer the reader, confining ourselves to the names of some of those which are particularly esteemed in our days.

As to the product of the grapes, it cannot be denied that France has long borne the palm in the contest; and the wines of that fruitful kingdom may be classed under three principal heads-Burgundy, Champagne, and Languedoc, or Meridional wines, which may be also subdivided into three species, mousseux, tranquille, and sucré; brisk, still, and sweet.

6

So great was the repute of some of these wines, that, in 1652, a public Thesis was held at the Faculty of Medicine, to decide the mighty question, which of the two was the best, Bourgogne or Champagne.' As for the vins de Gascogne, Bordeaux, Provence,' &c. the quantity which is exported has always been so considerable, that, according to Froissart, as early as 1372, upwards of 200 ships were annually and exclusively freighted with this commodity. Besides

Part of the produce of this famous hill was kept, exclusively, for the table of the king of France.

2 The celebrity of this wine dates from the illness of Louis XIV, in 1680.

3 This denomination originates from Claretum, a liquor made anciently of wine and honey, clarified by decoction, which the Germans, French, and English, call Hippocras; and it is, for this reason, that the red wines of France were called claret.'

4 This name is generally applied to the white wines of Gascony.

these, several Vins de liqueurs' are imported from France; as Ciotat; St. Laurent; Lunel; Frontignac, &c. Spain, Portugal, and the island of Madeira, offer us a considerable supply; and the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle enliven, with their produce, the tables of the gastronomers of all polite nations. -Tabella Cibaria.

A Walk by the Sea-Shore.

Perhaps no scene or situation is so intensely gratifying to the naturalist as the shore of the ocean. The productions of the latter element are innumerable, and the majesty of the mighty waters lends an interest unknown to an inland landscape. The loneliness, too, of the sea-shore is much cheered by the constant changes arising from the ebb and flow of the tide, and the undulations of the water's surface, sometimes rolling like mountains, and again scarcely murmuring on the beach. As you there gather

Each flower of the rock, and each gem of the billow,

you may feel with the poet, that there are joys in solitude, and that there are pleasures to be found in the investigation of nature, of the most powerful and pleasing influence.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar.

But nothing can be more beautiful than a view of the bottom of the ocean, during a calm, even around our own shores, but particularly in tropical climates, especially when it consists alternately of beds of sand and masses of rock. The water is frequently so clear and undisturbed, that, at great depths, the minutest objects are visible; groves of coral are seen expanding their variously-coloured clumps, some rigid and immovable, and others waving gracefully their flexile branches. Shells of every form and hue

glide slowly along the stones, or cling to the coral boughs like fruit; crabs, and other marine animals, pursue their prey in the crannies of the rocks, and sea-plants spread their limber fronds in gay and gaudy irregularity, while the most beautiful fishes are on every side sporting around.

The floor is of sand, like the mountain-drift,

And the pearl-shells spangle the flinty snow;
From coral rocks the sea-plants lift

Their boughs, where the tides and billows flow:
The water is calm and still below,

For the winds and waves are absent there;
And the sands are bright as the stars that glow
In the motionless fields of upper air:
There, with its waving blade of green,

The sea-flag streams through the silent water,
And the crimson leaf of the dulse is seen

To blush like a banner bathed in slaughter;
There, with a light and easy motion,

The fan-coral sweeps through the clear, deep sea;
And the yellow and scarlet tufts of ocean

Are bending like corn on the upland lea;

And life, in rare and beautiful forms,

Is sporting amid those bowers of stone,
And is safe when the wrathful spirit of storms
Has made the top of the wave his own:
And when the ship from his fury flies,

Where the myriad voices of ocean roar,
When the wind-god frowns in the murky skies,
And demons are waiting the wreck on shore;

Then far below, in the peaceful sea,

The purple mullet and gold-fish rove,
Where the waters murmur tranquilly

Through the bending twigs in the coral grove.

PERCIVAL'.

But these treasures of the ocean, so beautifully described by the American poet, are not the only wealth it possesses; the treasures of gold and gems which it has gorged, and the thousands of unfortunate mariners whom it has engulphed, naturally lead us further to reflect with the poetess we have so often quoted, on

1 Drummond's First Steps to Botany, p. 374, Second Edition.

The TREASURES of the DEEP.

What hid'st thou in thy treasure-caves and cells?
Thou hollow-sounding and mysterious main!—
Pale glistening pearls, and rainbow-coloured shells,
Bright things which gleam unrecked of, and in vain.-
Keep, keep thy riches, melancholy sea!

We ask not such from thee.

Yet more, the depths have more!

-

What wealth untold
Far down, and shining through their stillness lies!
Thou hast the starry gems, the burning gold,
Won from ten thousand royal argosies.—

Sweep o'er thy spoils, thou wild and wrathful main!
Earth claims not these again!

Thy waves have rolled

Yet more, the depths have more!
Above the cities of a world gone by!
Sand hath filled up the palaces of old,
Sea-weed o'ergrown the halls of revelry!—
Dash o'er them, ocean, in thy scornful play!
Man yields them to decay!

Yet more, the billows and the depths have more!
High hearts and brave are gathered to thy breast!
They hear not now the booming waters roar,
The battle-thunders will not break their rest.—
Keep thy red gold and gems, thou stormy grave-
Give back the true and brave!

Give back the lost and lovely-those for whom
The place was kept at board and hearth so long;
The prayer went up through midnight's breathless gloom,
And the vain yearning woke 'midst festal song!
Hold fast thy buried isles, thy towers o'erthrown,→
But all is not thine own!

To thee the love of woman hath gone down;
Dark flow thy tides o'er manhood's noble head,
O'er youth's bright locks and beauty's flowery crown:
Yet must thou hear a voice-Restore the dead!
Earth shall reclaim her precious things from thee,-
Restore the dead, thou Sea!

Sea-Polypi.

FELICIA HEMANS.

The Polypi, or people of the vast empire of the deep,' are not only animated, but their very houses, nay even the very roofs of their marine mansions, are

alive also; and whatever conduces to the nutriment of an individual, goes to the support of the most distant members of the colony, and the whole stock of domiciliary establishments. The dwellings of the polvpi are called polypidoms, and the labour of the architect goes on incessantly; and though this seascavenger is hardly of microscopic visibility, he assembles the floating particles of lime; chooses for his foundation coral, lava, skulls, or wrecks; and erects thereupon mountains, continents, and madroporean islands, which extend infinite distances from the shore, descend immeasurable depths, and ascend also to the clouds. They are not at all particular about light, and bear enormous pressure and extreme cold with the greatest complacency. Exposure to air, and want of moisture, are obnoxious; when these last evils occur, they retire to their recesses, and hold out by means of the moisture which they preserve, or, for lack of it, perish and die. The greater part of the genus prefer unagitated parts of the ocean; but others are situate across great currents, and take the precaution of forming their habitations with tunnels, or in circles, or on branches which are capable of bending to the movement of the waters, and preserving an equilibrium against shocks. In form they differ abundantly; some resemble tubes, others globular masses, leaves, unbranched stems, net-work, and even lace; and others, A bush that winter has despoiled of its leaves, but which spring has renovated with fresh flowers;-whose whiteness is rendered more conspicuous by the deep and brilliant red of the branches.' They assume also various colours,-yellow, brown, lilac, and white, mutable or permanent; spreading ocean's floor with an enamelled carpet of varied and brilliant colours: at other times they have only one shade, almost equalling the Tyrian purple of antiquity. Of the polypi and polypidoms, some have only an ephemeral life, while the existence of others seems eternal.