been the sport of an illusion of his own brain. He closed his door and window, and went to bed. He was now thoroughly awake, and had regained, as he thought, entire possession of his faculties. My old comrade,' said he, 'what could he possibly want of me? We were always friends - kind-hearted, gallant fellow that he was! No man ever was his enemy, except upon the field itself. Why should I have dreaded to meet him, even if such an event could possibly be?' And yet, so constituted are we, that a moment or two after this course of thought had occupied his mind, he was almost paralyzed with dread, by the recurrence of the some well-known step that now seemed pacing the dark and tenantless apartment. He even fancied

an irregularity in it, that betokened, as he thought, some distress of mind; and all that he had ever heard of spirits revisiting the scenes of their mortal existence, to expiate some hidden crime, entered his imagination, and combined to make his situation awful and appalling. It was therefore with great earnestness that he exclaimed:

'In the name of GOD, Hamilton, is that you?'

A voice, from the threshold of the communicating door, addressed him in tones that sank deeply into his soul:

'Gordon, listen, but do not speak to me. In ten days you will apply for a furlough; it will not be granted to you. You will renew the application in three weeks, and then it will be successful. Stay no longer in Scotland than may be necessary for the adjustment of your affairs. Go to London. Take lodgings at No.-, Jermynstreet. You will be shown into an apartment looking into a garden. Remove the panel from above the chimney-piece, and you will there find papers which establish the fact of my marriage, and will give you the address of my wife and son. Hasten, for they are in deep distress, and these papers will establish their rights. Do not forget me!'

Captain Gordon did not recollect how long he remained in the posture in which he had listened to the spirit of his departed friend ; but when he arose, it was broad day. He dressed himself, and went to town; drew up a statement of the affair, and authenticated it by his oath. He had had no intention of quitting the colony during that year; but an arrival brought intelligence of the death of his father, and of his accession to a large estate. Within the ten days, he applied for a furlough; but such had been the mortality among the officers, that the commanding officer thought proper to refuse his request. Another arrival having however brought to the island a reinforcement for the garrison, he found the difficulty removed, upon a second application, in three weeks. He sailed for Scotland, arranged his affairs, and intended immediately afterward to have proceeded to London. He suffered, however, one agreeable engagement after another to retard his departure, and his friend's concerns, and the preternatural visit that he had received from him, were no longer impressed so vividly as at first upon his mind.

One night, however, after a social party of pleasure, he awoke without apparent cause, as he had done on the eventful night in Dominica, and to his utter consternation, the sound of the Major's iron step filled

his ears.

He started from his bed immediately, rang up his servant, ordered post-horses, and lost not a moment upon the way, until he reached

the house in Jermyn-street. He found the papers as he had expected. He relieved the widow and orphan of his unhappy friend, and established them as such in the inheritance to which they were entitled by his sudden death; and the story reaching the ears of royalty, the young Hamilton was patronized by the Queen of England, and early obtained a commission in the army, to which he was attached, at the time this tale was told to me.

It is also known that Captain Gordon rose very high in his military career, and was throughout his life distinguished as a brave and honorable officer, and a fortunate general. JOHN WATERS.

THE CITY BY THE SEA.

'My forefathers' ashes repose by the waters of the Illissus; my home is of Neapolis; but my heart, as my lineage, is Athenian.'

CROWNED With the hoar of centuries,

There, by the eternal sea,

High on her misty cape she sits,
Like an eagle! fearless, free!

And thus in olden time she sat,
On our morn of long ago;

'Mid the roar of freedom's armament,
And the war-bolts of her foe.

Old Time hath reared her pillar'd walls,
Her domes and turrets high;

With her hundred tall and tapering spires,
All flashing to the sky.

Shall I not sing of thee, beloved!

My beautiful! my pride!

LAST DAYS OF POMPEIL.

Where thou towerest in thy queenly grace,

By the tributary tide?

AMONG the myriads of steam-boats that sailed on the western waters, plying between Louisville and New-Orleans, was one large and splendid vessel, which invariably carried more passengers, especially lady-passengers, than any of her numerous competitors for the patronage of the public.

The Lord of the Isles,' as this noble boat was called, had excellent accommodations; fine state-rooms, beautiful cabins, pretty carpets, elegant hangings, large mirrors, and all those attractive embellishments that win the eyes of the fair. Yet in all these arrangements, the Lord of the Isles' was not superior to other vessels of her class. Then wherefore did she attract such bevies of beautiful passengers? The owners gave thanks to her commander, and he was a fine looking fellow, and one of the pleasantest men in the world; always had a healthy color on his sun-burnt cheeks, and a good-humored sparkle in his dark gray eyes; nor was an oath ever heard to escape his handsome, good-natured mouth. He kept an admirable table, according to the taste of the west, and was moreover a widower, and was allowed to be a universal favorite, from the senator's lady who honored the Lord of the Isles' with her portly presence, down to the poor white chambermaid, whose husband had run away, and left her to what she alas! felt to be the degradation of earning an honest livelihood, by being civil to her superiors. She flounced her dresses, and screwed her thin, wiry hair into every fashionable twist of which it was capable, and looked sadly above her station; but civil, very civil, she had to be, or she would not have sailed twice on board the Lord of the Isles.'

Now this boat had been laid up for a season at low water; but when the freshets came down, she was up for New-Orleans again, and as usual, freight poured in, and her berths were all engaged. She was on the eve of departure, and among several ladies who came on board over night, the captain himself was observed to show one lady in, and hand her to the ladies' cabin, while the tall chambermaid followed, carrying a band-box, and leading a child. There was nothing singular in this; but it did seem strange, when this lady might have selected the best berth on board, to see her establish herself in a state-room that was quite objectionable.

'I hardly think you will like this state-room, ma'am,' said the chambermaid, turning up her nose, and pointing to a door in the vicinity; 'it is so near I could show you to one more forward, that is

not positively engaged.'

'Never mind, Mrs. Tompkins; thank you; it will do very well for me,' said the lady, smiling: if you will be so good as to hand me that carpet-bag, and the small trunk from the ladies' cabin.'

She is a pretty, pleasant creature, after all,' thought the chambermaid. 'Mrs. Tompkins,' too, instead of 'Betsey, Betsey!' 'Chamber

maid! chambermaid!' yelling out, as some of these would-be fine ladies do, who come on board. She's a lady, that's certain.'

'Is there any thing else I can do for you, Mrs. Hartwell?' said Mrs. Tompkins, in her most obliging manner, as she turned to leave the

state-room.

No, Mrs. Hartwell had no orders to give. She was so fortunate as to need very little assistance from those about her. The next morning, when the passengers and visitors flocked on board, she was seated in the ladies' cabin, with quite a domestic air about her; her needle-work on the table, an open book in her hand, and a little girl of six years old beside her, dressing and undressing a large wax doll. There was nothing peculiar in this lady's appearance, to attract observation; and yet she could not but perceive that her fellow passengers took the liberty of staring at her most unmercifully. She was pretty, to be sure, very pretty, and remarkably well dressed; had a fair hand and small foot; but there was nothing in her tout ensemble to excite attention. Perhaps they were examining how her hair was arranged, or the make of her fashionable morning dress. Presently she stepped into her state-room, and then the whisper went round: 'I say, chambermaid Betsey, Betsey who is that lady, who

makes herself so much at home on board?'

'Why, did n't you know, ladies?' said Mrs. Tompkins; why that is the captain's wife, and this is her first trip.'

Captain Hartwell married!' cried a number of voices; well, he has been sly about it! And that is her step-daughter, I suppose; poor little dear! And then all eyes were turned upon the child and her doll.

These remarks went round in a circle of acquaintance gathered in the after cabin; some friends who were going down together, and others they met on board unexpectedly, bound for the same port, and a party of Louisville ladies, who were admiring the boat, and taking leave of their friends. But now the town's-people received warning to go on shore; and sighs, and kisses, and good-byes, and good wishes, were mingled in haste. And soon the regular, loud puffs of the high pressure engine were heard, as the vessel moved off into the stream, gave a proud sweep in front of the town, and shaped her course for the mouth of the canal. But some difficulty occurred on entering it. It matters not here who was to blame. I can only aver, that the boat swerved in the powerful current, which there sweeps over the Falls of the Ohio, and which threatened to suck her on to a bed of rocks, from which she could not have been got off under a long delay. As it was, she grazed the bottom with a hollow, grating sound, and gave a lurch, slight certainly, but enough to give fear to the faint-hearted. In a few moments, however, she was brought to her course, and went bravely into the canal, while fifty tongues were ringing changes on the adventure. The chambermaid in particular was heard to describe the scene in twelve different ways, to those who had seen it with their own eyes, before they were fairly through the canal, ending every time by declaring, with a shudder, that a little more, and the boat would have been floating bottom up down the falls!' When the colored steward heard this, he looked at the black waiter with a wink and a grin, and muttered 'Fiddle-faddle!'

Well, I declare!' cried the chambermaid, with a strong expression of nausea in her countenance, 'if I ain't so sick of them nasty black apes, that I don't know what to do!' And turning away scornfully, she pursued her walk on the guards with a young woman who came on board as nurse to one of the lady passengers, and was now quieting a fine infant in her arms. The chambermaid went on to descant upon the dangers of such accidents as they had just escaped, and of the awful catastrophes befalling steam-boats in general; and I have always heerd say,' continued she, that it's a bad homen to get such a scare, just at the first start; there an't never no good luck comes after.' 'A bad beginning makes a good ending, and all's well that ends well,' said a low, hoarse voice, coming from some invisible quarter, as the chambermaid felt her dress twitched slightly, as by some invisible hand.

Looking round, she found that the voice and the hand came from the window of the captain's state-room, and belonged to the singular looking person of a large mulatto, who now addressed the chambermaid in a hoarse whisper, as he protruded his great woolly head and short thick neck through the window.

'cause it's the

'Who was that a-talking about bad homens?wust thing any body can do. Talk of bad luck, and it 'll bring it right down upon you, as sure as the d-l. 'Sides, it discorriges the people, and makes the passengers so plaguy fidgety. Wust thing you can do. Best talk about something else.'

I hear you, Steven,' said the chambermaid; let alone my dress, will you, before you drag the gathers out; and do say what you are doing in there: I've sot all to rights.'

'Yes, yes, Mrs. Tompkins; every thing is as nice and as neat as your pretty hands can make it; but you know I lets nobody touch these 'ere but myself,' and he held up a pair of shining boots, nor brush the captain's clothes, nor nothing; and see what I've found,' continued he, drawing back, and placing a delicate pair of lady's shoes in contrast beside the boots he had been polishing; I found 'em strapped on the captain's trunk, under his big coat.'

'Oh! what dear little shoes!' exclaimed the nurse, in a soft voice, borrowed from her fair employer; whose are they?'

They must be Mrs. Hartwell's, to be sure,' said Mrs. Tompkins; ' and of all the little feet, she must have a little the littlest.'

The captain's picked out a raal beauty, has n't he?' said Stevens. 'I wonder if she 's as pleasant as she looks.'

'I reckon you'd know in a minute, if you was only just to speak to her,' answered the chambermaid: she has the sweetest, politest way with her; though I never seen her till yesterday, I am sure nobody can't help liking her.' Saying which, Mrs. Tompkins left the window, and the mulatto muttered to himself:

'Yes, ma'am ; I reckon it will be best for every one on us to like the captain's lady;' while Mrs. Tompkins addressed her companion: Now that yellow man,' said she, is engaged as cook, and he has no more occasion to black them boots, nor to touch them things, than I have; but there are such fools in the world, you know, and he is one of 'em.'

The subject of this remark now came out of the cabin, stooping