above, the vineyards lie purpling in the sun, and around on all hands, are the tokens and associations of old-world life, in castles, fortresses, and ruined abbeys, while these again are fringed by the living pictures of to-day, the men and women and the harvests, and all the ties that link us to the present.

THE FALLS OF TERNI,

Which occur in the river Velino, are, however, the finest in Europe. Although massive and sublime, this "hell of waters," as Byron calls them, is of artificial construction. A channel was dug by the consul, Curius Dentatus, in the year 247, B.C., to convey the waters to the precipice; but having become filled by a deposition of calcareous matter, it was re-opened by Pope Paul IV., and at the same time many of its features of modern beauty were added. "I saw," says Byron, "the Cascata del Marmore of Terni, twice at different periods; one from the summit of the precipice, and again, from the valley below. The lower view is far to be preferred, if the traveller has time for one only: but in any point of view, either from above or below, it is worth all the cascades and torrents of Switzerland put together.” Mr. Reade, in his poem of "Italy," gives a vivid picture of these falls,

"A gorge cleft through the mighty mountain's heart, Volcanic throes within her do we hear?

Or pent-up winds, or earth's spasmodic start?
No-'tis the rushing Terni's wild career!
Or, where yon clouds, like shrouded giants, rear
Their shapes in azure distance, while the swell
Of the strife, gathering on the startled ear,
The sounds of their eternal conflict tell :

Loud as o'er distant storms the thunder's sink in knell.

Lo! hurrying onwards, wreathed in mist and foam,
His robes caught upward in delirious flight,
Velino rushes from his mountain home,

All beautiful, but terrible in might;

One desperate bound from yonder cloud-capped height,
Flushingly hurls him from his unseen throne,

Shot like a flying minister of light;

High o'er the chaos wreck his crown is shown,
Of rainbow glories faded, still upheld alone.

Hovering above him in his ruin there,
Tortur'd and madden'd in the abyss he lies,
Yet on his shivering forehead he doth wear
The flickering hues and light of his lost skies;
Behold in eddying wreaths how o'er him rise
The smoke, the reek, the steam, of his wild breath,
Wrung from the efforts of his agonies:

How bend they darkening 'gainst the mountain's heath, A horror to the scene, that war of life and death!

THE FALLS OF TROLHETTA,

In Sweden, are perhaps the next in point of grandeur to those of the Rhine. The entire fall is indeed the greatest in Europe, considering the mass of water precipitated; and the height is 130 feet, which is sufficient to give it the necessary traits of sublimity. The falls occur on the river Gotha, which is the only dutlet of a large lake of one hundred miles in length, and fifty in breadth, and which receives no less than twenty-four separate streams, all of them the drainage of the snow-clad mountains. Towards the falls, the river glides along with great rapidity, and as smoothly as glass; till as it approaches the verge of the precipice, it bends slightly into a convex surface, and then darts over the edge in one broad sheet, which is broken by some jutting rocks, after a descent of forty feet. At this point, the spectacle assumes its grandest form; the waters leap from rock to rock, like huge gambolling creatures endowed with life and hilarity: now they heave up like monstrous yellow snakes, all writhing together in painful contortions, and spitting from a thousand jaws great sheets of roaring foam; now they boil and eddy round like water-sprites all mad with sport, until, as the flood boils on, the whole mingle together, and become whiter and whiter, till all is fretted into a sea of snowy froth; and a light spray, variegated with all the colours of the rainbow, rises up to the clouds, and hides the abyss

into which the torrent dashes.

Now and then a gust

drives this spray aside, and for a moment, the eye catches a glimpse of the black gulf below, the depth of which it is unable to fathom.

In Wales and Scotland, cascades are numerous, but there are few of sufficient magnitude to be worthy of the name of cataracts. The most remarkable in Scotland are the upper and lower Falls of Foyers, near Loch Ness. At the upper fall, the river precipitates itself at three leaps, down as many precipices, the united depth of which is about 200 feet; but at the lower, it makes a descent at once of 212 feet, and, after heavy rains, exhibits a grand appearance. In Wales, a fall of considerable note, is that known as

THE GREAT FALL OF THE PURTHEN,

"Which," says Mr. Roscoe, "is called in the language of that country, Ysgwd Einon Gam,-lame Einon's waterfall-from the peculiarity of the situation, is not perceived or heard till the wanderer's foot has approached near to the high and rugged crag that beetles over the dark waters beneath. The effect is greatly heightened by the seclusion of the woody glen into which it unexpectedly opens upon the view, and the quiet path towards it, through the green meadows of the valley. A perpendicular cliff rears its bald, frowning brow right in front of the cascade, like an eternal watcher of its ceaseless fall. On the right, and with an aspect less rugged and high, rises another cliff, as if in companionship with its gigantic neighbour; between the latter and the opposite rocks, the river pours its rolling tide in one sheet of bright foaming water, to the distance of eighty feet. At the bottom of the taller cliff, there is a profuse vegetation and some luxuriant trees; but the sides of the lesser are completely clothed with verdure, and richly-coloured and delicately-tinted foliage. On the top, in majestic triumph and ineffable dignity, a single oak throws its broad arms over the falling waters, which, from its size and moss-covered trunk, must have been the associate of the stern cliff for many generations past.

SCALE FORCE,

In Cumberland, is situated in the heart of the lovely lake country, and though not a fall of great magnitude, merits notice here from its proximity, and for the ease with which the townsman may, by the aid of railway conveyance, visit one of the most beautiful and wonderful spots in Great Britain. About a mile and a-half from Buttermere, toward the west, is the cataract, which issues from the lake called Crommock Water, under Blea Crag,-this is a very rugged rock rising in successive tiers, like so many walls of ruined castles. On reaching the spot, the roaring of the fall is heard, but the cause is not visible. After scaling a wall, and descending a few paces, a terrific scene presents itself. Yawning rocks open into a frightful chasm, extending to a great depth into the mountain. Should the tourist possess sufficient courage to climb this awful cavity, over the fragments of rock, he will soon come to a cascade, of about fifteen feet in height; but to reach Scale Force, further labour is necessary. Ascending to the side of the cascade, the visitor enters a long passage covered with fragments of rock, and bounded on each side by natural walls, covered with moss, fern, and shrubs. Above, large trees grow from fissures of the rock, and spread around a gloom which well assorts with the character of the scene. At the farther end of this passage is another perpendicular wall, over which rushes a large body of water into a gulley 180 feet deep. It falls in an unbroken sheet on to a heap of debris, from which it bounds away again with tremendous violence and deafening noise. When heavy rains set in, the grandeur and tumult is increased, and the mountain shakes with the continued roar of the plunging flood.

INPENITENCE INEXCUSABLE.

The blind, because they are unable to distinguish between exquisite loveliness, and unsightly deformity, may be regardless of beauty. The deaf, because they cannot discriminate between the sweetest symphonies, and the most unpleasant discord, may be totally indifferent to melody. Those, who owing to some natural physical

defect, or through affliction, or accident, may not possess the sense of smell, may be uncharmed by the most fragrant odours, and yet not deserve reprehension, but pity.

It would be cruel to blame them for not appreciating that, which they had no means of testing, by sight, hearing or smelling. It is not so with those who are ignorant of God and salvation, because the means of knowing are placed within their reach, therefore their ignorance is wilful, and not a matter of necessity.

A child may despise and tear in pieces the most beautiful and fragrant flowers, because either their colours or their odours do not suit his fancy. He may waste and trample under foot the most delicious fruit, because he does not like its taste. He may throw away the most precious diamond, because he does not like its brightness, and yet not deserve severe chastisement, inasmuch as be could not know the value of that which was put into his hands. But it is not so with those who despise the flowers which grow around the Cross of Christ, pardon, peace, joy, holiness, which, while sweet and fragrant to the soul, they are also the pledge and prelibation of those richer and sweeter flowers which are found blooming in fall and beautiful maturity near the throne of God, and on the brink of the river of life; they who trample on the Son of God, reject a crown of life, and cast it from them as a worthless thing-their punishment is richly deserved, and will be commensurate with their ingratitude and recklessness. It is written, "The Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty Angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power."

The diseased and dying man may, in a paroxysm of agony and insensibility, dash from the hand of the Physician the only cordial that could stay the progress of his disease, and give him back the boon of health, and still be the object af the deepest commiseration.

But it is not so with those who, though in possession of