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XIX.

VERDURE.

The trees are clad with leaves of loveliest green!
So many tints are to the verdure given

It is as various as the bow of heaven.

Some trees are darkly covered; some are seen
Light as the infant-bud; while intervene

More graduated hues. Has Nature striven,

Where winter comes not, and where summer--levin
But rarely injures her, to make a scene

Of everlasting summer in this isle,—

And to perpetuate every living hue

Of grass, of leaf, of shrub, and of wild flower?

The flowers are green of leaf, and bright the smile
Of the rich cup, or bell, on nearer view :

And every green tree is a summer bower.

XX.

ATTABAGA-OYA.

This little stream, the first that caught my ear,
Brawled gently on and tunefully, ere seen:
It gave a temper to this wild ravine,
According not with its just character.
The sound of torrents were more fitting here.
The vale on one side seemeth more serene:
But pass this rural bridge; the road between
Is wild-and not without a touch of fear;
The sides of this deep chasm you now ascend,
And trace the mountain pathway. Lift your eyes
To the high hills that vault into the skies;

Then down the deep ravine, through which you wend,
Attentive look. Be silent and be wise:

And let your thoughts to Heaven for one day tend.

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Sweet the repose of this lone mountain glen!
The gloom distresses not,—it is not deep;
The viewless waterfalls invite to sleep;
I saw not their bright waters until when,
At a dark angle of the silent den,
I viewed the first fall neither rough nor steep.
It fed the lower streams that seemed to weep
Their obscure lot. Remater far from men
Are mightier torrents of this rocky isle ;
But when we lean along precipitous rocks,
The face relaxes not with opening smile;
The mind is serious. The Almighty hand
Flings carelessly around misshapen blocks,
Mountains of stone,-abrupt, and vast, and grand.

XXI.

RELIEF

Leaving the glorious mountains, this wild plain,
These jungle plants, instead of stately trees,
And woods, and waterfalls, the fancy please.
It is a calm delight. Until again

I travel by the mountains, and remain
In this rude jungle, it gives present ease

To thought o'erstrained, to growing phantasies,
Whose eager pleasure borders upon pain.
"I'is discord to sweet music,-a dark cloud
In the bright sky,-as a still breathing calm
When thunders have reverberated loud
Among the echoing mountains. Pause and think,
O man, that human life is not as "balm
To the hurt mind,"-but as the torrent's brink.

XXIII.

ANTIQUITIES

Away with the dull Antiquary's skill,
To read and write down vainly in a book
Inscriptions on a rude leaf or a rock!
leave it to the glory of the quill

Plucked from the goose's wing. I would be still,
And lone upon these heights, and downward look
Into the deep seclusion of a nook

Where footfall scarce hath been. From every hill
I rather would converse with each rude feature
Of this drear waste of wildness than perform
The mightiest feats of that moth-eaten crea ure,
Who sojourns with the spider and the worm,
Give me one wild flower, from thy breast, dear Nature!
I would be thine, though cradled by the storm.

XXIV.

PEACOCK MOUNTAIN,

Imagination hovers o'er each work

Of Nature. Thus in sunshine or in storm,
From this high mountain's long and outstretched form
A Peacock rises. Tall straight feathers perk

Above the graceful head that like a fork

Is pointed at the summit; and the tail

And body form the intervenient vale

And swelling of the mountain. There doth lurk
At bottom of the rudest peasant's mind
The poetry of nature. A friend's voice
Is heard by him in every passing wiud;
He hath a dear companion in each hill;
His native valley makes his heart rejoice;
And happiness haunts even the smallest rill.

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Poetical Sketches, &c. &c.

XX.

The valley of Attabaga-oya, (oya means a stream,-ganga a river,) is truly one of the most charming spots that I have witnessed in any coun. try. In parts, it reminded me of England. Other objects are strictly Eastern, and characteristic of Ceylon.-It is formed by a ravine, which is the singular and peculiar feature of the interior of this island,-where every ravine is a valley, and every valley a ravine. Through this winds a pretty little stream, or oya. In some parts it is banked, as it were, by bold precipitious steeps; in others, by rising slopes, gentle declivities, and waving hills;naturally and irregularly interspersed with trees in the park style,-and covered with a verdure as rich and as green as is produced in the West of England.

XXIV.

This beautiful mountain does really bear more than a fanciful resemblance to the Indian bird by whose name it is distinguished. Not only are the upright feathers upon the head of the peacock exhibited to the eye by the tall perpendicular trees thinly scattered on the crest of the mountain, but the body of the mountain, or mountain range, gradually undulating until it almost disappears and, as it were, melts into the plain, is no obscure likeness of the body and long and sweeping tail of this noble and beautiful bird of the East This mountain accompanies the traveller all the way to Rambodde and it is a fine object seen through the breaks, and relieving the dullness and dreariness of the mountain-pass to Nawera Ellia.

RECOLLECTIONS

OF A

GOVERNMENT EMISSARY.

COMPILED BY THE EDITOR.

CHAP. II.

The government smuggler. Golden news. A night adventure. Mr. Croker deceived. Doing the Revenue officer. The Preventive service. Admiral D'Imbaud.

DURING the Percival Administration I was frequently employed by Lord Liverpool, then War Secretary, on secret ageney business, He was very fond of the espionage system and had a great number of agents in his pay, both at home and abroad. Some of these were of a singular stamp, but that mattered not, so long as he got the information he desired, and his terms were such as to eusure his being well served. I met one of his many employés in the following manner:-I had been down to Walmer Castle to see his Lordship on some of the usual business, and was about to leave Deal when I observed a post-chaise coming out of an inn yard, containing a rough, sturdy old man, in a great pilot coat and glazed hat, puffing away at a long Dutch pipe. Finding that this was the only available chaise in the place, and that he was starting for London, I requested from him a seat in it, stating my anxiety to reach town on Lord L.'s business. The name was sufficient for the old man, and I soon found myself rolling along towards the Metropolis at a smart gallop, nearly choked with the fumes of his Dutch weed.

When he was tired of smoking we chatted and I learnt that he was a Deal fisherman, alias, smuggler, employed by Lord L. to . bring over foreign newspapers when containing anything of importance, for which rather dangerous service he was amply rewarded. He had, however, another string to his bow, for he never failed to bring duplicates of the papers, and these he carried on to London where the "Times" gave him a princely price for his news. He was now on one of these errands with some Dutch_papers which gave important intelligence of the French army, and on arriving in London, about three in the morning, we drove straight to Printing-house Square where we found B-.the editor hard at work. The news was of course most welcome, and all hands were set upon it. When we had entered a small dirty, cold-looking, inky room B-. shut the door and taking from a huge desk a leather bag full of guineas, held it open to the smuggler and told him to "take a dip in his lucky bag." He did so and when he had pocketed a good handfull of the gold coin, was offered another dip" which to my surprise he refused, saying that it would do him no good as he should be sure to spend it foolishly. He was right. I never knew more than one of these liberally paid adventurers who saved any money.

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