has burst forth among the young and brilliant leaders of the Conservative band, encourage the warmest hopes of the fate of the empire, when they arrive at such a station as to rule its councils. Difficulties and dangers create men; and the ability which in ordinary times might be buried in obscurity, or perhaps lost in frivolity, is, in these stirring and trying times, called to a nobler sphere, and trained to the exercise of more animating duties. It is with feelings of no ordinary pride that we notice the brilliant exertions which Scotland has made at this eventful crisis. Manchester has rejected Mr Hope; Roxburghshire will probably do the same to Lord John Scott. These events only prove the total unfitness of the class to whom the Reform Bill has given power, to exercise it to their own or their country's advantage, and sets off in brighter colours, by the force of contrast, the splendid talents which they were unable to appreciate. The brilliant eloquence, sound constitutional principles, and enlarged views of these eminent young men, prove how fit they were to form the brightest ornaments of the Senate; their rejection, the miserable prospect of salvation which the Reform Bill affords to the country. But let them not be discouraged; the time will come, when they will speak to as willing as they have hitherto found adverse audiences among the lower orders, and when the admiration which they have universally awakened among the educated gentlemen who could understand, will be shared by the ignorant multitude, who will then have learnt by suffering to appreciate them. Let those who are depressed by the portentous strength of the Revolutionary party in the new Parliament, console themselves by the reflection of the fleeting nature of popular opinion. Let them recollect what England was when it ran mad with democracy in 1642, and when it was intoxicated with loyalty in 1661. Let them reflect on the revolutionary fervour which convulsed France in 1789, and contemplate the whole National Guard of Paris six years after combating the forces of the Convention, to restore the royal authority in that afflicted city. Let them think of the Duke of Wellington, the idol of the people, the pride of his coun try, in 1815, and the same hero stoned in the streets of London in 1830. Let them call to mind the democratic fervour of the time of the Gracchi, and the subsequent reflection of Tiberius," Oh homines ad servitutem parati! Let them recollect the transports of Paris and France at the triumph of the barricades, and behold France in two years after bearing with tranquillity the despotic ordinances of Marshal Soult, and preparing, by an overwhelming majority in the Chamber of Deputies, the total extinction of the Liberty of the Press! Examples of this kind, drawn from that inexhaustible mine of political wisdom, the record of past events, are fitted to afford consolation to the rational and upright mind, even in the worst emergencies. They shew, that of all fleeting things, the opinion of the people is the most fleeting; that madness and folly bring about a certain and speedy retribution in the affairs of nations as well as individuals; and that no cause is hopeless to those who have the vigour to maintain, and the courage to defend it. The duty of the Conservative band, who, in the midst of the general democratic madness, find a place in the Legislature, is sufficiently plain. Let them adhere steadily to their principles; recollect that on them, as the sacred band of Thebans, the sole hopes of their country now rest; and that, victorious or vanquished, the admiration of posterity and the gratitude of their country will attend them if they never swerve from the path of duty. Let them join in no coalitions to throw out the Ministry; disgrace themselves by no unions for a momentary triumph with the Radicals; but steadily and uniformly consider Revolution as the demon which they are sent there to combat, and, by the blessing_of God, will ultimately conquer. By uniformly adhering to this principle, they will remain perfectly clear of the march of innovation, and all its ruinous excesses and consequences: they will have nothing to reproach themselves with in their public career; and when suffering has taught the people their errors, and anguish has tamed their passions, it is to them that the nation will turn with tears of repentance, and their patriotism which it will celebrate in strains of exultation. HYMNS OF LIFE. BY MRS HEMANS. I. THE PRAYER OF THE LONELY STudent. Soul of our souls! and safeguard of the world! WORDSWORTH. NIGHT-holy night!-the time For Mind's free breathings in a purer clime! To meet its revelations, clear and high, Now hath strange sadness wrapp'd me-strange and deep- Wherefore is this?-I see the stars returning, They shine-but faintly, through a quivering haze- They, that unfolding to more thoughtful sight, The harmony of their magnificence, Drew silently the worship of my youth To the grave sweetness on the brow of truth; Shall they shower blessing, with their beams divine, And to the pilgrim, toiling for his shrine, On wastes of Afric thrown, Am I a thing forsaken, And is the gladness taken From the bright-pinion'd Nature, which hath soar'd And now an alien !-Wherefore must this be? How drink rich life again From those pure stores of radiance, welling free? Oh! if too much exulting in her dower, And therefore from that radiant summit's crown, Let the now darken'd earth and curtain'd Heaven But on Thy strength to soar, And wrapt and still'd by that o'ershadowing might, Or if it be, that like the ark's lone dove, My thoughts go forth, and find no resting-place, And shall the spirit, for thy tasks endow'd, Unto the altar-stone, Of that pure spousal Fane inviolate, Oh! be the whisper of thy voice within, Which glorious minds have piled Aud let my soul, upborne On wings of inner morn, Find, in illumined secrecy, the sense The dimness melts away, Oh! ye majestic watchers of the skies! Through the dissolving veil, Which made each aspect pale, Of Hope, and Joy, and Power, On Heaven's unshadowed face; A lowly, fearful, self-distrusting heart; Bow'd before Thee, O Mightiest ! whose blest will II. THE TRAVELLER'S EVENING SONG. FATHER, guide me! Day declines, Father! in the forest dim In the low and shivering thrill Oh! be Thou the lone one's aid- Many a swift and sounding plume Since the farewell sunbeam pass'd Shield the homeless midst the waste, In his distant cradle-nest, Back, through thine all-guiding power, Darker, wilder, grows the night- Thou! to whose unslumbering eyes Where no roof to that blest head Father! through the time of dread, DESPAIR. BY THE HON. AUGUSTA NORTON. WHEN forced to join the thoughtless throng, Consumption's cheek ne'er looks more pure And speaks to those who watch its hue And could we see the hearts of those, As sure its end-its means more slow- Then, when you see me smile and laugh |