vertised in the newspapers to receive all, and pay all due to or by her former husband. The general, seeing the paper, made a demand of the fifteen shillings, and received them. Another time a man came to Mount Vernon to pay rent, and had not the exact balance due to the general. When the money was counted, the general said, there wants fourpence.' The man offered him a dollar, and desired him to put it into the next year's account. No-he must get the change, and leave the money on the table until he had got it. The man rode to Alexandria, which is nine miles from Mount Vernon, and then the general settled the account. It was always his custom, when he travelled, to pay as much for his servants' breakfast, dinner, or supper, as for his own. It is said he never had any thing bought for his use that was by weight, but he weighed it; or any thing by tale, but he had it counted; and if he did not find it due weight or number, he sent the articles back again to be regulated." CURIOUS ACCOUNT OF SERPENT-CHARMING. In the room stood two men, who appeared to be Arabs, with long bushy hair and black beards; and I was told that they were of a particular race of men that could charm serpents. A wooden box, of about four feet long and two feet wide, was placed near the door, with a string fastened to a slide at the end of it: this string went through a hole in the door. The two serpent-eaters were dressed in haicks only, and those very small ones. After they had gone through their religious ceremonies most devoutly, they appeared to take an eternal farewell of each other; this done, one of them retired from the room, and shut the door tight after him. The Arab within seemed to be in dreadful distress; I could observe his heart throb and his bosom heave most violently; and he cried out very loudly, "Allah, hou kiber!" three times, which is, as I understand it, " God, have mercy on me!" The Arab was at the farthest end of the room; and at that instant the cage was opened, and a serpent crept out slowly; he was about four feet long, and eight inches in circumference; his colours were the most beautiful in nature-being bright, and variegated with a deep yellow, a purple, and a cream colour, black and brown spotted, &c. As soon as he saw the Arab in the room, his eyes, which were small and green, kindled as with fire; he erected himself in a second, his head two feet high, and darting on the defenceless Arab, seized him between the folds of his haick, just above his right hip-bone, hissing most horribly: the Arab gave a horrid shriek, when another serpent came out of the cage. This last was black, very shining, and appeared to be seven or eight feet long, but not more than two in diameter: as soon as he cleared the cage, he darted his fiery eyes on his intended victim, and springing like lightning on the Arab, struck his fangs into his neck, near the jugular vein, while his tail and body flew round his body in two or three folds. The Arab set up the most hideous and piteous yelling, foamed and frothed at the mouth, grasping the folds of the serpent, which were round his arms, with his right hand, and seemed to be in the greatest agony-striving to tear the reptile from around his neck, while with his left he seized hold of it near its head, but could not break its hold. By this time the other had twined itself round his legs, and kept biting all around the other parts of his body, making apparently deep incisions; the blood issuing from every wound, both in his neck and body, streamed all over his haick and skin. My blood was chilled with horror at this sight; and it was with difficulty my legs would support my frame. Notwithstanding the Arab's greatest exertions to tear away the serpents with his hand, they twined themselves still tighter, stopped his breath, and he fell on the floor, where he continued for a moment, as if in the most inconceivable agony, rolling over, and covering every part of his body with his own blood and froth, until he ceased to move, and appeared to have expired. In his last struggle he had wounded the black serpent with his teeth, as it was striving, as it were, to force its head into his mouth; which wound seemed to increase its rage. At this instant I heard the shrill sound of a whistle, and looking towards the door, saw the other Arab applying a call to his mouth: the serpents listened to the music; their fury seemed to forsake them by degrees; they disengaged themselves leisurely from the apparently lifeless carcass; and creeping towards the cage, they soon entered it, and were immediately fastened in. The door of the apartment was now opened, and he without ran to assist his companion: he had a phial of blackish liquor in one hand, and an iron chisel in the other. Finding the teeth of his companion set, he thrust in the chisel, forced them open, and then poured a little of the liquor into his mouth; and, holding his lips together, applied his mouth to the dead man's nose, and filled his lungs with air: he next anointed his numerous wounds with a little of the same liquid; and yet no sign of life appeared. I thought he was dead in earnest; his neck and veins were exceedingly swollen; when his comrade taking up the lifeless trunk in his arms, brought it out into the open air, and continued the operation of blowing for several minutes, before a sign of life appeared at length he gasped, and after a time recovered so far as to be able to speak. The swellings in his neck, body, and legs, gradually subsided, as they continued washing the wounds with clear cold water and a sponge, and applying the black liquor occasionally: a clean haick was wrapped about him, but his strength seemed so far exhausted, that he could not support himself standing; so his comrade laid him on the ground, by a wall, where he sunk into a sleep. This exhibition lasted for about an hour, from the time the serpents were let loose until they were called off, and it was more than an hour from that time before he could speak. I thought that I could discover that the poisonous fangs had been pulled out of these formidable serpents' jaws, and mentioned that circumstance to the showman, who said that they had indeed been extracted; and when I wished to know how the swellings on his neck and other : parts could be assumed, he assured me, that though their deadly fangs were out, yet that the poisonous quality of their breath and spittle would cause the death of those they attack; that after a bite from either of these serpents, no man could exist longer than fifteen minutes, and that there was no remedy for any but those who were endowed by the Almighty with power to charm and to manage them; and that he and his associate were of that favoured number.-Riley's Narrative. THE PILGRIMAGE OF LIVING POETS TO THE. STREAM OF CASTALY. "Who now shall give unto me words and sound SPENSER, B. 2. c. 10. I AM one of those unfortunate youths to whom the Muse has glanced a sparkling of her light,-one of those who pant for distinction, but have not within them that immortal power which alone can command it. There are many, some, sir, may be known to you,-who feel keenly and earnestly the eloquence of heart and mind in others, but who cannot, from some inability or unobtrusiveness, clearly express their own thoughts and feelings whose lives are but long and silent dreams of romantic pleasure and poetic wonderment ;who almost adore the matchless fancies of genuine bards, and love them as interpreters and guardians of those visionary delights which are the perpetual inmates of their bosoms. I love the poets: I live in the light of their fancies. It is my best delight to wander forth on summer evenings, when the air is fresh and clear, and the leaves of the trees are making music with it, and the birds are busy with their wings, fluttering themselves to rest,—and a brook is murmuring along almost inaudibly, and the sun is going quietly down-it is at this time delicious to muse over the works of our best bards. Some time last year, I had roamed in an evening like to one of those I have spoken of; and, after dwelling on the fairy beauties of Spenser, and from thence passing to the poets of my own time, and comparing the latter with some that had gone before, I cast myself on a romantic bank by a brook side. The silence around me,-save the homereturning bee with its "drowsy hum,"-and the moaning sound of distant cattle, and the low, sullen gurgling of waters-lulled me into a sleep. The light of my thoughts gilded my dream;-my vision was a proof of mental existence when the bodily sense had passed away. Methought-(this, I believe, is the established language of dreams)-methought I was walking idly along a romantic vale, which was surrounded with majestic and rugged mountains: a small stream struggled through it, and its waves seemed the brightest crystal I had ever witnessed. I sat me down on its margin, which was rocky and beautiful—(so far my vision was copied directly from life).-As I mused, a female figure rose like a silvery mist from the waters, and advanced, with a countenance full of light, and a form of living air-her garments floated round her like waves, and her hair basked on her shoulders "like sunny beams on alabaster rocks." There was a touch of immortality in her eyes,—and, indeed, her visage altogether was animated with a more than earthly glory. She approached me with smiles, and told me she was the guardian of the stream that flowed near, and that the stream itself was the true Castalian, which so many rave of, though they know it not." I turned with fresh delight to gaze on the water; its music sounded heavenly to me,-I fancied that there was a pleasant dactylic motion in its waves. The Spirit said, that from the love I bore to her favourite, Spenser, she would permit me to see (myself unseen) the annual procession of living bards to fetch water from the stream on that day:-I looked her my |