Published by Joseph Robins, London & Dublin, Jan 1...

METRICAL SKETCHES,

BY M. L. B.

STANZAS AT NIGHT.

The wind sweeps o'er mine own beloved river
Winterly fierce, with drear continuous roar;
A thousand branches doth that wild gale shiver,
Which groan unfoliag'd by its reedy shore.
Those cold free waters rush on, foaming, bounding,
To the mad querulous music of the blast;
Unearthly voices o'er all earth seem sounding
Woe, for the uncertain future and the past.

Heaven's floodgates, now thrown open, downward rushes
At intervals, the plashy torrent, swelling
Ruthlessly wrathful, in unequal gushes

'Gainst the slight casements of each lowly dwelling.
Cold, keenly cold is the night, and dark as sorrow,
Yet cheerily cottage wood-fires blaze and warm;
Sigh then for those who may not see the morrow,
Poor batter'd wanderers thro' this midnight storm.
Sigh, too, for those who meet all tempests sighing,
The aged, helpless, homeless, sadly creeping
Into unproffer'd shelter; and the dying

Over whose drench'd clay-couch no friend hangs weeping.
The dead long laid in low graves, damp and narrow,
The unconscious dead than these are far more blest;
Tho' rife be tales which living bosoms harrow

Of those who've not departed unto rest.

E'en by the river that I love, are telling

Storm-swept old church bells, themes of ghostly story,
Whilst sounds unearthly and confused are rolling
Thro' the dank abbey ruins, lone and hoary.

But whilst the storm swells my romantic river,
Rending its wooded banks with ireful roar,
Give me the blazing hearth, and hearts that quiver
At the grim beldame's wild and whisper'd lore.

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S PORTRAIT.

From a proclamation issued in 1563, it appears very evident that Queen Elizabeth was not best pleased with some of her portraits. Such was her displeasure, that the proclamation prohibits, "All manner of persons to draw, paynt, grave, or pourtrayet her majesty's personage or visage for a time; until by some perfect patron or example, the same may be by others followed, &c. and for that her majestie perceiveth that a grete nomber of her loving subjects are much greved, and take grete offence with the errours and deformities already committed by sondry persons in this behalf, she straightly chargeth all her officers, and ministers to reform these errors, &c." This is almost equal to Alexander who forbad all artists from representing him except Apelles the painter, and Lysippus the sculptor in brass.

MARRIAGE CEREMONY IN MEXICO.

In Mexico marriages are celebrated by the authority of the priests. An instrument is drawn up, specifying the particulars of the wife's fortune, which, in case of sepa ration, he must return; in which case the husband takes the boys and the wife the girls, and after such separation, they must not live together again on pain of death. When the articles of marriage are fully arranged, the parties go to the temple, where they communicate to the priest the particulars of their resolution. He thereupon lays hold of a corner of her veil and of the husband's mantle, and ties them together, to indicate that they shall remain inseparable. In this manner they return to their house, accompanied by the priest, and afterwards approach a fe, which has been kindled for the occasion, and is considered the mediator of all family discontent. Having followed the priest seven times round the fire, they seat themselves so as each shall be equally warmed thereby, which they conceive to be the completion of matrimony. In the early part of the night, the bride conducted by several of her own sex, each with a torch in her hand, goes to the bridegroom's abode, where a marriage festival is prepared.