Domestic bliss-domestic ties,

That sense and reason bind.

And Heav'n will bless its mandate word,
And bid your seed increase;
"For Wisdom's ways are pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace."

Divinely blest his sainted mind
Who rests on Heaven alone,
Who ne'er in rasher moments does
What calmer hours disown:-
Him shall no hopeless fears perplex,
But Faith will still increase;

"For Wisdom's ways are pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace,"

Sept. 1813.

ALEXANDER SELKIRK

THE COTTAGE OF CONTENT; OR, THE ABODE

OF INDUSTRY.

As I was wand'ring o'er the green,
Not knowing where I went,

I saw, by chance, a pleasant scene,
The Cottage of Content.

With hasty steps I nearer drew
Towards the humble cot,
To take a more attentive view
Of that delightful spot.

Close to the door, in sportive play,

Some children ran about,

Another in the cradle lay.
All vigorous and stout.

The healthy parents were employ'd
Just like th' industrious ant,
In smiling summer to provide
Against cold winter's want.

When Sol the eastern sky illumes
And makes all nature gay,
The father then his work resumes,
And ends it with the day.

Happy, thrice happy are the poor
With necessaries blest!

In conscious innocence secure,
They take their balmy rest.

Not

Not so with minds, whose heap'd up wealth
Corrodes and spoils their sleep:

For gold they lose their time and health,
Which long they cannot keep.

In watchful fear then may I live,
And day and night be spent
In such a manner, as to give
God praise and me content.

Thoughts on Death;

OR, THE

LD MAN NIGH THE END OF HIS JOURNEY.

N YOUTH, by hopes remov'd to distant days, Death's shadowy form no glancing eye dismays; awaining AGE, the palsied hand of fear, With all its terrors brings the Spectre near! hen, Fancy, skilful in the painter's art, hapes the grim feature, and projects the dart. Ian, wretched Man! whom lengthen'd woes attend, till clings to life, and fears his last, best friend ; f pain and want tenacious, gasps for breath, nd tir'd, and restless, dreads the sleep of death!

By age, and age's wants and woes grown wise, view thee, Death, tho' near, with placid eyes; hy hast'ning strides let Superstition dread," nd Vice, too late repenting, hide her head; or me, I find no terrors in thy face,

arent of rest, and minister of grace;

! lead me quickly to the blissful shore Where Fraud and Malice shall pursue no more.

With joy the sailor, long by tempest tost,
preads all his canvas for the rising coast;
With joy the hind, his daily labour done,
es the broad shadow, and the setting sun ;
With joy the slave, worn out with tedious woes,
Beholds the hand that liberty bestows:

So Death, with joy, my feeble voice shall greet,
My hand shall beckon, and my wish shall meet,
or dim the path that leads to his abode,
God's bright footsteps mark'd the lucid road.
O! let me trace the kind conducting ray,
And follow Jesus to the realms of day.

THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.

As rapid rolls the year away,

Down the swift current of the times,
A moment let the reader stay,

And mark the moral of my rhymes.

As rivers glide towards the sea,

And lose their waters in the main,
SO MAN DECLINES-AND WHAT IS HE!
His hopes, his wishes, ah! how vain!
Fast goes the year;-but still renew'd-
The ball of time knows no decay;
Sure signal of that greatest good,

WE HOPEAN-GOD'S ETERNAL DAY!

NOTES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

THE prose favours of T. B. G.-J. A.—A. D.—a GALLOVIDIANà CONSTANT READER-Thoughts on the New Year-on the Uncer tainty of Life-The Hernhooter-and Letter from a Father to hi Son on his going to India, are received-also, the poetical contribu tions of S. L. L.-On Cruelty to Brutes-a Wish-Winter Describe -and the Dying Drunkard, a fragment.

Rules recommended to Servants are excellent; but they are alread inserted under the head of Advice to Servants," in our V. and VI numbers.

We will be much obliged to G. D. P. for the continuation of h awful, but justly delineated picture; as he, and our corresponden in general must be aware, that we would be left in a very awkwar predicament, were we to insert any subject to be continued, and t afterwards disappointed by the remainder not coming to hand.

Were it not from a wish to preserve uniformity we would certain avail ourselves of the judicious suggestion by J. D.; but as the paper are in general short, the inconvenience he alludes to cannot be great the numbers, and will he in some degree remedied when the volum is bound up with the Index. His Enigma we think well calcula for our work, and shall be inserted in our next.

'A FRIEND,' into whose hands the Cheap Magazine but w lately fell,' has our best thanks for his kind hint.

It gives us pleasure to observe, that, in the manner we have hither conducted our little work, we have given such satisfaction to E. W and this candid and sensible writer may rest assured, that in any alteration we may make in our Second Volume we shall not lose sig of our original design.

HADDINGTON;

Printed and Published, MONTHLY, by G. MILLER & SON

The Heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the Earth shail rise up

against him"

Jon.

The voice of thy Brother's blood erieth unto me from the
Ground."
Gen. xiv. 10.

IN looking over the events of the present year, one cannot help being forcibly struck with that deplorable picture we have of the times, in the number of atrocious and bloody murders that have been committed since its commencement; and yet, there has no truth been more fully confirmed by the event, since the day it was uttered, than of that Text which I have chosen for my motto.

Indeed, so frequently has this been verified in the discovery of murder the most secret, by means singular and unexpected, that the impossibility of concealing this dreadful crime has become proverbial. If your limits would permit, I could furnish you with many an instance of this

VOL. I.

Ccc

nature,

nature, but for the present will confine myself to the following well authenticated Anecdote, for which the public is indebted to the writings of Mr PRATT.

"A favourite dog, belonging to an English nobleman, had fallen into disgrace, from an incorrigible habit of annoying the flocks of the neighbouring farmers. One of these having, in vain, driven the depredator from his premises, came at length to the offender's master, with a dead lamb under his arm, the victim of the last night's plunder. The nobleman being extremely angry at the dog's transgression, rang the bell for his servant, and ordered him to be immediately hanged, or some other way disposed of, so that on his return from a journey he was about to undertake, he might never see him again. He then left the apartment, and the fate of the dog was for a few hours suspended. The interval though short was not thrown away. The condemned animal was sufficiently an adept in the tones of his master's voice, to believe there was any hope left for a reversion of his sentence. He therefore adopted the only alternative between life and death, by making his escape. In the course of the evening, while the same servant was waiting at table, his lordship demanded if his order had been obeyed respecting the dog? "After an hour's search, he is no where to be found, my lord," replied the servant. The general conclusion for some days was, that the dog, conscious of being in disgrace, had concealed himself in the house of a tenant, or some other person who knew him. A month, however, passed without any thing being heard respecting him ;. it was therefore thought he had fallen into the hands of his late accuser, the farmer, and had suffered for his transgressions.

"About a year after, while his lordship was journeying into Scotland, attended only by one servant, a severe storm drove him to take shelter under a hovel belonging to a d Le so

public