imposture. Indeed, so absolute and unequivocal were the proofs of supernatural agency, that it was impossible to attribute these appearances to any cause, but the unlimited power of the Author of Nature, who suffered Moses, only as a type of Christ, to come into His fearful presence, shewing, that no soul can approach so holy and terrible a Being as Himself, except through a Mediator. See Heb. chap. xii. 18-24, where the apostle's design is to shew, that the dispensation of the Law was calculated to produce terror, it being most awful and exclusive, belonging only to the Jewish peoble, who found it a burthen, which they were unable to bear while the gospel dispensation is a light and easy yoke, embraces the whole human race, breathes nothing but Divine love and mercy, and is most gloriously adapted, not merely to correct the outward conduct, but to renew the heart and, thereby to secure the present and eternal happiness of mankind. : THE HEART. The heart-the gifted heart Who may reveal its depths to human sight! The softness of its love-the grandeur of its might. The blessed home of all affections sweet; it smiles where friendship is It glows where social feelings meet. 'Tis Virtue's hallowed fane 'Tis Freedom's first, and best, and noblest shield! When grosser powers and feebler spirits yield! From whence our holiest aspirations wing; Where joys, which are divine, And hopes, which are of heaven, alone may soring! Where every purer passion has its birth, To cheer---to charm---to bless-- And sanctify our pilgrimage on earth. Shed round the light and warmth of thy dear flame, And I will ask no more Of earthly happiness, or earthly fame! WISDOM is made up of two parts-wise sayings and wise doings. To direct others to go right and never go right ourselves makes us resemble guide-posts, pointing onward, but ever standing still. Every memorial of so great a man as Sir Isaac Newton, says his late biographer, has been preserved and cherished with peculiar veneration. His house at Wallsthrope has been religiously protected by Mr. Turner of Stroke Rocheford the proprietor. It is built of stone, like the houses generally in that quarter, and is a remarkably good one. It was repaired in 1793 when a table of white marble was put up by Mr. Tur ner in the room where Sir Isaac was born, with the following inscription: "Sir Isaac Newton, son of John Newton, Lord of the manor of Wallsthrope, was born in this room, on the 26th of December, 1642. Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night, God said, 'let Newton be,' and all was light." The following lines have been written on the house; "Here Newton dawned, here lofty wisdom woke, If Tully glowed when Phædrus' steps he trode, If sages still for Homer's birth contend, Can boast his noon-this Cot his morning ray." TOPOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. RUINS OF THE GENESSEE BRIDGE. THE Genessee river passes through the flourishing village (we had almost said city) of Rochester in the state of New-York. There are two grand bridges thrown across the stream which unite the opposite sections of the village. A little below the town the river is precipitated down a precipice of ninety-six feet; and a mile and a half further down it falls into another chasm of seventy-six feet in depth. It is near this lower fall that the ruins of the Old Genessee bridge are seen perched like castles of the air on either side of the river. All around this site are seen the marks of desolation. The forsaken village of Carthage is perched upon the edge of a most tremendous gulf. A traveller thus describes the scenery :-descending a declivity of the verge of the broad and deep gulf, in the bottom of which could be seen the river dwindled in appearance to a little brook, I obtained a partial view of the Lower Fall, and observed the remaining butments of that wonderful "flying bridge," which the enterprising inhabitants of Carthage long since threw in one astonishing arch, from the summit of one bank to the other. The building of this bridge is one of the great Archimidean undertakings of the modern age. When told of these remaining butments, I expected to find them substantially constructed of stone, properly fitted to receive the bulky beams of the arch; instead of which, there stood close upon the crumbling brink, on either side, a rickety frame-work, more like a skele.on than the support of a bridge. Judging from the butment, the undertaking must have been airy indeed: and in confirmation of this, a gentleman informed me, (creditablyperhaps,) that a sudden gust of wind on a blustering day lifted the bridge from its two extremes, and carrying it through the air, laid it upside down, in the bottom of the gulf, where the spring current of the Genessee soon bore it in triumph into lake Ontario! The toll-gate, closed, and the toll-keeper's house are still standing, and look as if lately built; which might prove that the bridge did not fall through age. From the surface of the river to the arch, was one hundred and ninety-eight feet. During its erection, an overseer fell from the top and dashed himself to pieces. Down a gulley which rains have worn in the bank, a path winds to the bottom, where a fine view is to be had of the Lower Fall. The water with a loud roar and considerable spray, rolls down a broken and contracted part of a ledge, similar, in some degree, to that of the Upper Falls, with the exception of its being much more uneven. High over our heads the stupendous sides of the chasm rise to a terrifying elevation, and the distant butments rear their outstretched arms to the skies, tottering aloft upon the wind-shaken brows of each precipice. Alternate layers of earth and bright blue clay, with intermediate strata of slate, curl in beautiful particolored stripes around the banks, rendered more striking by a pleasing admixture of ragged evergreens and overhanging bushes. Adjoining the fall a spacious arched grotto is deeply scooped, under which the water so lately turbulent, finds rest in a deep, silent, revolving pool. THE ancient city of Byzantium, which had been destroyed by Severus, in the early part of the 4th century, was rebuilt by Constantine the Great, who enlarged and adorned it with splendid fountains, squares, and palaces. The new city was consecrated by the emperor, in person, in the year 330; it received his name, and was made |