in the country, has gone to the south of F, to spend the approaching winter. Much do I fear that he will never return. I had not attended him regularly during the few past weeks, wishing to do all in my power to quell his fears, and lull to rest his dreadful apprehensions; he perhaps has thought I was acting from indifference to his state, and for that reason has neglected to consult me upon so important a step. April 4th.-M- has returned, but how altered! embrowned by exposure to a tropical sun, his complexion is ruddy, and he may deceive himself, but there is no elasticity in that step, and the stooping frame, the pulse, as I felt it the other evening, ah! how infant-like! he cannot live a twelvemonth! * * Tuesday to Saturday, April 10th.-M- still continues in very much the same state, though gradually failing. His mind is constantly in a ferment, he is always glad to welcome me, and enquires with the greatest solicitude after every new symptom; and were it not for the most devoted attention of his friends, I verily believe he would become crazed. Meanwhile, his betrothed is in an agony of doubt; assured by his too confiding friends that all will yet be well, she is urged by his wan countenance, and weakening tones, to throw away her fallacious hopes. He had become connected with her in early life; they had lived together in childhood, and grown up together with deep-rooted affection. Possessed of great wealth, united with unusual personal attractions, she had early many suitors, but her constancy was not shaken, either by titles or honors; and her attachment for poor M-, continued until death. The next time I saw him, he was for the first time upon his bed, his friends were around weeping; startled by the unusual appearance, I walked to the bedside, and took his hand, but observed no great alteration. They presently retired, and I ascertained from himself the cause. He had been in the habit of sitting at the table with the family, and although scarcely able to drag his feeble limbs, he had yet, with all the calmness he could command, and with a posture as erect as his feebleness would allow, uniformly walked into the parlor to breakfast. But that morning, unable to sustain himself, he had been obliged to ask assistance, and upon entering his room, had wished a bed prepared for him. His tottering gait had not lost its effect upon his friends, and together with this new confession of his own, awakened their slumbering suspicions, to a horrid realization of the truth. "But, Doctor," exclaimed he, "are they vainly frightened ?" I did not answer. He again asked, "How long can I live, Doctor?" "I don't think you have any reason to apprehend immediate danger," replied I, lifting my eyes to meet his. But, gracious heaven! his marble brow was blanching to an unearthly white ness! The perspiration started like rain from every pore; his lip quivered; he gasped, and for a moment, I thought he was dying! but no: well had it been for him, if he could have passed off thus easily; he was destined to undergo severer trials, before his entrance upon the unseen world. My answer had startled him; it was the first and only confession on my part, that narrow limits were already affixed to his days-that his hours were indeed numbered. Presently he recovered, but was too agitated to speak; meanwhile, his difficulty of breathing was very much increased; of this, however, I partially relieved him, by aiding expectoration. He now ate but little, and his strength was fast failing-too fast to sustain him in his dreadful fits of coughing. He had been led to place great reliance upon my word and all that I did for him, little thinking how much I might be deceived. On one occasion, he had asked, "if persons in his situation usually died easily?" İ told him they did; though well I knew, but found it not in my heart to inform him, that unless his strength increased, or cough abated, his would be no easy exit. I had often partially relieved him of his distress, and sometimes heard of his calling upon me while asleep; probably when breathing with difficulty. Alas, alas! he was fast getting beyond the reach of human aid. The next time I saw him, he was yet more feeble; his face was heated with exertion, and with inexpressible grief, his nurse told me his feet were swollen.* He had suffered extremely from coughing in the night, and at one time thought he was strangling. Friday.-Had a call some distance from town to-day, but did not leave, sensible that M- was near his end—and I was right. Being aroused late last evening, by a violent ringing of the night bell, I was summoned to attend immediately, at No. 4 st., the residence of poor M. Hurrying on my clothes, I ran with fear through the deserted streets. Oh! how my blood curdled in my veins, to behold the scene presented to my view in my friend's room! The nurse, fearful that he was dying, had summoned the weeping family. The windows had all been opened, notwithstanding the weather was wintry, to give the sufferer all possible air. Upon the casement of one, leaned the fragile form of HR, the sweet being whom I have before had occasion to mention, as the chief sufferer. Her handkerchief was over her eyes, but her heaving bosom, and poorly suppressed sobs, told too plainly of the worm gnawing at her heart! I never saw her again, until the time of her burial, three weeks from that very day. The aged parent of the dying man, stood by his side, his calm gray eye gazing submissively, upon the writhing limbs of the sufferer! Dr., who had been called in, from apprehen Considered by many, as indicating the immediate approach of death; though in many instances, when the patient lies continually in a recumbent posture, has warming substances at his feet, &c., I have known them to enlarge for weeks previous. sion of immediate death, was walking about the apartment, with an anxious and unquiet air. A little sister, with child-like innocence, gazed upon the brother, weeping most bitterly; while a companion was lying upon the bed, supporting him in an upright position, with difficulty suppressing the rising tear. And how!how shall I describe M- ! He had been troubled little with coughing during the night, but had suddenly awakened at this late hour, distressed for breath. In attempting to raise the secreted matter from the lungs, it was thrown at once into his throat, and he was now apparently strangling. His face was of a deep, purple color, and the large veins, swollen almost to bursting, showed conspicuously on every part of his head. His mouth was open, and occasionally uttering a most piercing cry, he gasped! threw about his attenuated arms in every direction! clenched his fists! caught in his clutches, the thin straggling locks, (all that now remained of his once beautiful hair,) twisted his limbs here and there, threw from him the clothes! Good God! what a sight! He alone can realize its horror, who has witnessed a strangling fellow being! Had he but half his full strength, he might easily have rid himself of all encumbrance, in the respiratory organs. But he had not the power of an infant. Observing me enter, he shrieked, "Doc- Doctor-can-help me? help me? I'm stran― strang― strangling!" I did not answer, but merely came and stood by his bedside. I could do nothing! "Can-can-you do nothing?" Ah! never shall I forget the sensations that thronged upon me at that moment. The color fled from my countenance ! My knees trembled and I could with difficulty maintain an upright position, as I calmly replied, "No! unless you have strength to raise what is now obstructing your breath, you must await a speedy departure, I trust to happier scenes." He turned his eye full upon me. Every tear burst forth afresh. H- Rhad fallen upon the window insensible. I turned to meet his look, and oh! such a look! But I did not endure it long; he again turned away, and throwing back his head, was quiet as a child. Gradually his breath returned, the blood coursed more freely in its channels, and I left him as comfortable, as he had been for several days. Unfortunately I was not able to call again until the following evening. The door of the house was open, and I stepped gently into his room; in the center, upon a long table, covered with a snow-white cloth, rested a coffin! A similar attack to the one which I have described, had befallen him toward morning; vainly had he supplicated my aid, and had died in convulsions, brought on by the most excruciating agony! Walking to the coffin, long I gazed upon the face of my poor friend, and read from that sunken countenance! that withered hand! a lesson, which will be long-long remembered! Tearfully I strode home, and committed to the pages of my diary, the last sad record of his fate. I. IT BEYOND THE GRAVE. "Only the actions of the just Smell sweet and blossom in the dust." now-this pulse is gone; Strange that the truth which none deny, Is headlong still, And urges to a rocky shore, Shirley. Yet faith remains, though life may fade; Her light is blended not with shade, Her path may never lead thee wrong. Away with tears Let sweet assurance light the brow, Come death-though cold thy triumph be, Death wakes to life As the dark bosom of the storm, Whence the dash'd wreck returns no Calls forth the heavenly rainbow's form. more. Oh! tell me not that love is bright; Our very breath Doth nourish death: In vain we shun his icy power, Then bear these ashes to the tomb Let the lone willow weep above; And falters forth in dying tone- CHANGE. STILL Nature smiles in varying guise In vain! in vain! our hearts feel now Ah, no! the self same scenes we view, Nor youth, nor charms from Nature part, How strangely altered seems her brow, 'Tis only in the time-steeled heart Her voice has lost its tone. That change his work hath done. LITERARY GENIUS AS CONNECTED WITH GOVERNMENT. "LITERATURE, in its widest acceptation," says Madame de Staël, "embraces the dogmas of philosophy and the effusions of imagination; every thing, indeed, connected with the operations of thought, with the exception only of the physical and experimental sciences." Having thus confined within prescribed limits the vague and floating ideas usually associated with the term, Literature, we proceed at once to the discussion of the comparative influence of republican and monarchical forms of government in the development of literary genius. In the outset, however, we are met with the opinion, not unfrequently expressed, that true genius of every name, is rather the offspring of Nature than of Education; that it is governed more by its own free impulses than by any external circumstances which different forms of government may throw around it. It is true, that the peculiar individual characteristics of men of genius, can be explained in no way so well as by referring them directly to the caprices of Nature, or, rather to the sovereign choice of Omnipotence. We cannot, on any other hypothesis, account satisfactorily for the great diversity among men, preeminent in talent, who have always been subjected to apparently the same extraneous influences. The genius of one burns with the clear and constant flame of the Roman vestal ; while another, in whose bosom the Promethean fires have been kindled up by a spark from the same altar, moves among men, Eneas-like, enveloped in the mists of some presiding Deity, and known only by the flashes which occasionally dart forth from his cloudy covering. The reason for this different exhibition of the energies of the same mighty agent, lies in "The dark, unbottomed, infinite abyss" of 'ultimate truths,' or, more properly, of human ignorance. But still it will not be denied by any one, at all conversant with the history of his race, that the temper of every government is sooner or later transfused into the national mind, and that the many-voiced expressions of the subjects, are but the breathings of that spirit which pervades the laws. It need not be said that the manners, social condition and literature of the Athenians and Lacædemonians were for ages but the transcript of the civil codes of Solon and Lycurgus. It is equally obvious, to the student in history, that the tameness and submission of the Chinese may be directly traced to the mild and pacific nature of the polity of Confucius; while the wild and warlike Tartar is a roving commentary on the character of the government under |