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army, entered New Orleans on the 21st of January, where the population, of all ages, greeted them as saviours.

Two days later that city was the theatre of an imposing spectacle at the front of the old cathedral in what is now Jackson Square. That day had been appointed by the apostolic prefect of Louisiana for the public offering, in the cathedral, of thanks to the Almighty for the great deliverance, and Jackson, with his staff, was to be in attendance. Preparations were made for the reception of the hero. In the public square was erected a triumphal arch supported by six Corinthian columns and festooned with evergreens and flowers. Beneath the arch stood two beautiful little girls, each upon a pedestal and holding in her hand a civic crown of laurel. Near them stood two damsels, one personifying Liberty; the other, Justice. From the arch to the cathedral, arranged in two rows, stood beautiful young maidens dressed in white, each covered with a blue gauze veil and having a silver star on her forehead. These personified the several States and Territories of the Union. Each carried a basket filled with flowers, and behind each was a lance stuck in the ground and bearing a shield with the name of the State she represented inscribed upon it.

Jackson and his staff passed on foot through the square between rows of soldiers, and as he stepped upon the slightlyraised platform of the arch the two little girls on the pedestals leaned gently forward and placed the laurel crown upon his head. At the same moment a charming Creole girl -Miss Kerr-as the representative of Louisiana, stepped forward and with great modesty in voice and manner spoke a few words

to the honored chief, in which she expressed the profound gratitude of her people. To this address Jackson made a brief reply, and then passed on to the church with his pathway strewn with flowers. Therein he was seated near the great altar, and after the apostolic prefect delivered a patriotic discourse the Te Deum Laudamus was chanted by the choir and the people. When the ceremonies were ended, Jackson returned to the stern duties of a soldier.

The general was vigilant as well as brave, and he exercised martial law until official tidings of peace reached him. Martial and civil law clashed. An irate judge, whom the general had caused to be arrested and banished beyond the military jurisdiction, summoned Jackson before him to show cause why the general should not be punished for contempt of court. The hero obeyed. The court-room was crowded with citizens indignant at such treatment of the man who had saved their State from invasion and their city from plunder. The judge was alarmed in the presence of the public wrath.

"Go on; I will protect you in your duty," said the brave general to the trembling judge.

The latter fined the hero a thousand dollars, for which amount the general drew a check before leaving the room. The populace bore him on their shoulders to a carriage in the street, and the citizens soon made up the amount of the fine and tendered it to Jackson. He ordered it to be distributed among the families of the soldiers who had fallen in the battle. Thirteen years afterward the people of the United States elected Andrew Jackson President of the republic.

BENSON J. LOSSING.

THE POET'S GUIDE TO THE INFERNO.

FROM THE ITALIAN OF DANTE ALLIGHIERI.

the midway of this our mortal At gaze, e'en so my spirit, that yet failed

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It were no easy task how I journeyed on over that lonely steep,
The hinder foot still firmer. Scarce the

savage wild That forest, how robust and

rough its growth,

Which to remember only my dismay

Renews in bitterness not far from death. Yet, to discourse of what there good befell, All else will I relate discovered there.

How first I entered it I scarce can say,
Such sleepy dulness in that instant weighed
My senses down when the true path I left;
But when a mountain's foot I reached, where
closed

ascent

Began, when, lo! a panther, nimble, light And covered with a speckled skin, appeared, Nor when it saw me vanished-rather

strove

To check my onward going, that ofttimes With purpose to retrace my steps I turned.

The hour was morning's prime, and on his

way

Aloft the sun ascended with those stars That with him rose when Love Divine first moved

The valley that had pierced my heart with Those its fair works; so that with joyous

dread,

I looked aloft and saw his shoulders broad
Already vested with that planet's beam
Who leads all wanderers safe through every

way.

Then was a little respite to the fear
That in my heart's recesses deep had lain
All of that night, so pitifully passed;
And as a man, with difficult short breath
Forespent with toiling, 'scaped from sea to
shore,

Turns to the perilous wide waste and stands

hope

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Disconsolate ere now.
She with such fear
O'erwhelmed me, at the sight of her appalled,
That of the height all hope I lost. As one
Who with his gain elated sees the time
When all unwares is gone he inwardly
Mourns with heart-griping anguish, such
was I,

Haunted by that fell beast, never at peace,
Who, coming o'er against me, by degrees
Impelled me where the sun in silence rests.

While to the lower space with backward step
I fell, my ken discerned the form of one
Whose voice seemed faint through long dis-

use of speech.

When him in that great desert I espied,
"Have mercy on me," cried I out aloud,
"Spirit or living man, whate'er thou be!"

Have issued?" I with front abashed replied.
"Glory and light of all the tuneful train,
May it avail me that I long with zeal
Have sought thy volume, and with love
immense

Have conned it o'er, my master thou, and
guide-

Thou he from whom alone I have derived
That style which for its beauty into fame
Exalts me.
See the beast from whom I
fled :
Oh, save me from her, thou illustrious sage,
For every
vein and pulse throughout my
frame

She hath made tremble." He, soon as he

saw

That I was weeping, answered: "Thou must needs

Another way pursue if thou wouldst 'scape He answered: "Now not man, man once I From out that savage wilderness. This

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And born of Lombard parents, Mantuans At whom thou criest her way will suffer both

By country, when the power of Julius yet
Was scarcely firm. At Rome my life was
passed

Beneath the mild Augustus in the time
Of fabled deities and false. A bard
Was I, and made Anchises' upright son
The subject of my song, who came from
Troy

To

none

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So bad and so accursed in her kind That never sated is her ravenous will, Still after food more craving than before. To many an animal in wedlock vile She fastens, and shall yet to many more, Until that greyhound come who shall destroy When the flames preyed on Ilium's haughty Her with sharp pain. He will not life sup

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From which such copious floods of eloquence He with incessant chase through every town

Shall worry,
until he to hell at length
Restore her, thence by envy first let loose.
I, for thy profit pondering, now devise
That thou mayst follow me, and I, thy guide,
Will lead thee hence through an eternal

space

Prepared myself the conflict to sustain,
Both of sad pity and that perilous road
Which my unerring memory shall retrace.
O Muses, O high genius, now vouchsafe
Your aid! O mind that all I saw hast kept
Safe in a written record, here thy worth

Where thou shalt hear despairing shrieks And eminent endowments come to proof!

and see

Spirits of old tormented, who invoke

A second death; and those next view who

dwell

Content in fire for that they hope to come,
Whene'er the time may be, among the blest,
Into whose regions if thou then desire
To ascend, a spirit worthier than I

I thus began: "Bard, thou who art my

guide,

Consider well if virtue be in me

Sufficient ere to this high enterprise

Thou trust me. Thou hast told that Silvius' sire,

Yet clothed in corruptible flesh, among

Must lead thee, in whose charge, when I The immortal tribes had entrance, and was

depart,

Thou shalt be left; for that almighty King
Who reigns above a rebel to his law
Adjudges me, and therefore hath decreed
That to his city none through me should

come.

He in all parts hath sway, there rules, there
holds

His citadel and throne. Oh, happy those
Whom there he chooses!" I to him in few:
Bard, by that God whom thou didst not
adore,

66

I do beseech thee-that this ill, and worse,
I may escape to lead me where thou saidst
That I Saint Peter's gate may view, and
those

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Almighty foe to ill, such favor showed
In contemplation of the high effect,
Both what and who from him should issue
forth,

It seems in reason's judgment well deserved,
Sith he of Rome and of Rome's empire wide
In heaven's empyreal height was chosen sire,
Both which, if truth be spoken, were
ordained

And 'stablished for the holy place where sits
Who to great Peter's sacred chair succeeds.
He from this journey in thy song renowned
Learned things that to his victory gave rise

Who, as thou tellest, are in such dismal And to the papal robe. In after-times
plight."
The chosen vessel also travelled there
Onward he moved; I close his steps pursued. To bring us back assurance in that faith

Now was the day departing and the air Imbrowned with shadows, from their toils released

All animals on earth, and I alone

Which is the entrance to salvation's way.
But I—why should I there presume? or who
Permits it? Not Eneas I, nor Paul,
Myself I deem not worthy, and none else
Will deem me. I, if on this voyage then

I venture, fear it will in folly end.

Thou, who art wise, better my meaning knowest

Than I can speak. As one who unresolves What he hath late resolved, and with new thoughts

Changes his purpose, from his first intent
Removed-e'en such was I on that dun
coast,

Wasting in thought my enterprise, at first
So eagerly embraced."-" If right thy words.
I scan," replied that shade magnanimous,
"Thy soul is by vile fear assailed, which oft
So overcasts a man that he recoils
From noblest resolution like a beast

At some false semblance in the twilight
gloom.

That from this terror thou mayst free thy-
self

I will instruct thee why I came, and what
I heard in that same instant when for thee
Grief touched me first. I was among the
tribe

Who rest suspended, when a dame so blest
And lovely I besought her to command
Called me; her eyes were brighter than the

star

Of day, and she with gentle voice and soft
Angelically tuned her speech addressed:

'O courteous shade of Mantua-thou whose
fame

From what in heaven of him I heard. Speed

now,

And by thy eloquent persuasive tongue,
And by all means for his deliverance meet,
Assist him. So to me will comfort spring.
I who now bid thee on this errand forth
Am Beatrice; from a place I come
Revisited with joy. Love brought me.
thence,

Who prompts my speech. When in my
Master's sight

I stand, thy praise to him I oft will tell.'

"She then was silent, and I thus began:
'O lady, by whose influence alone
Mankind excels whatever is contained
Within that heaven which hath the smallest
orb,

So thy command delights me that to obey,
If it were done already, would seem late.
No need hast thou farther to speak thy will,
Yet tell the reason why thou art not loth
To leave that ample space, where to return
Thou burnest, for this centre here beneath.'

"She then 'Since thou so deeply wouldst inquire,

I will instruct thee briefly why no dread Hinders my entrance here. Those things alone

Are to be feared whence evil may proceed

Yet lives, and shall live long as nature None else, for none are terrible beside.

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so framed by God-thanks to his grace!

any sufferance of your misery

Hindrance so great that he through fear has Touches me not, nor flame of that fierce fire turned. Assails me. In high heaven a blessed dame Now, much I dread lest he past help have Besides, who mourns with such effectual strayed

And I be risen too late for his relief,

grief

That hindrance which I send thee to remove

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