General Moultrie was elected Governour of South Carolina in 1775-and in 1794-5. He died on the 27th of September, 1799, at the age of seventy-four. As a soldier General Moultrie was deliberate, determined and courageous. He laboured with zeal for his country, and endured hardships and losses with extraordinary fortitude. As a private citizen he was as devoted to the happiness and well-being of society, as he was a noble-hearted, brave and patriotick man.

THE MONTH OF JANUARY. January was distinguished as the first month of the year by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, when he added it and the month of February to the calendar or year of Romulus, the founder and first king of that city. This month, which consists of thirty-one days (originally only thirty,) derived its appellation from the Latin Januarius, in honour of Janus, a Pagan deity, held in the highest veneration. The first month of the year was named after him, not only on account of his great reputation for judgment respecting things that were past, and his presumed foresight, or foreknowledge of events to come; but also, because he was supposed to have the gates of heaven committed to his particular charge; from which circumstance, he was always represented with a key in his right hand. Hence, too, every Roman door or gate had the name of Janua; therefore, the first month being styled JANUARIUS, many authors have considered that name to have denoted this period as a door, or opening to a new era, or renewal of time; for Janus presided over time, as well as over war and peace. The statue of Janus had two faces, turned from each other; one old, and expressive of experience in, or allusive to, things past; the other young, and typical of his looking forward to the future, or into time to come. On some occasions, he was represented with four faces, emblematick of the four seasons, over which he was supposed to have control. He was still further distinguished as the deity presiding over the year, by being exhibited as sitting in the centre of twelve altars; to denote Numa's division of the year into twelve months. On this occasion figures were engraven on his hands, to mark the extent, or number of days, to which the year was augmented by that sovereign.

Numa, who was a wise and peaceful prince, by taking away the honour of leading the year from March, which was dedicated to Mars, the pagan god of war, and by giving that preference to January, perhaps sought to induce his people to value the benefits of Peace, rather than those to be expected from a state of warfare; but he was also actuated by the desire to begin the year at that period when the Sun should reach its greatest declension, or fall; and so keep pace with the progress of that luminary, until it had fulfilled its course, or until the same period next year. The temple dedicated to Janus, was ordered, however, to be kept shut, in time of peace, and open during war: and so powerfully did the amiable example and precepts of Numa operate upon his subjects, that he had the satisfaction, during his reign, of seeing this temple closed;—although the Romans were usually so addicted

VERSTEGAN observes, that our Saxon ancestors originally styled this month, "WOLF-MONAT;" because persons were in greater danger of being devoured by Wolves in that season of the year than in any other ;for, the ground being covered with snow, and wild anas much as possible, these creatures, having no flesh to imals, generally, keeping within their dens and holes, feed upon, became so ravenous as to attack human beings. When Christianity began to prevail in Britain, "AEFTER-YULA," that is After Christmas, became the name of the month of January.

In old paintings, the month of JANUARY is represented by the figure of a man clad in white; which is typical of the snow that usually lies on the ground at this season:-he is blowing on his fingers to indicate the cold; and under his left arm he holds a billet of wood;-or a brazier lies at his feet, filled with flaming wood and glowing charcoal. Near him stands the figure which usually represents the Sign of Aquarius, (or that twelfth part of the Zodiack, or sun's apparent annual course,) into which the Sun enters on the 19th of this month. The Anglo-Saxons, who were greatly addicted to drinking, depicted JANUARY as a man seated at a table and drinking ale from a goblet: in the back ground were seen persons ploughing with oxen, sowing seed, and otherwise employed in agricultural labours peculiar to the winter season of the year.

POETRY.

We may be mistaken, but according to our opinion never were lines written or published that possessed so much beauty, grace and truth as the following from the pen of our favourite poetess Mrs. Sigourney. She is the minstrel of America; and Mrs. Hemans the Sigourney of England, with whom she has been compared, though she may have written more, never wrote better and we question whether she can write as well. Some learned people tell us there is no poetry in modern times, and that his taste must be vitiated, his discernment blunted, and that he has neither judgment of human nature nor of language who can relish what they are pleased to call the jingle of the last half century. Learning, however, is useless lumber when it can find no other employment than that of attempting to prove to us against the evidence of our own senses that we are not pleased with a thing, when we inevitably are. Every individual for himself makes his own taste the ultimate standard of appeal; if this appeal results in teaching some to prefer Homer to Tasso, Anacreon to Milton, Byron to Cowper, or the multitude of Ancient Poets to our own Sigourney, Bryant, Sprague and others, why, we cannot dispute its propriety. We can however urge one to divest himself of prejudice and a priori determinations: this being done, let him apply a candid thought to the subject, and if we do not immeasurably err, he will find as much of the pure Hippocrene in the United States as ever imparted inspiration in any territory of the earth. And we may add, he will find the poetick powers of Mrs. Sigourney, not inferiour to those of any poet or

poetess of the world. With a splendour of thought, a beauty of diction and smoothness of versification, alike unsurpassed, she infuses the spirit of a heavenly temper into her productions, that while its aim is to soften the asperities of the pathway of human life, to allay vice and fortify virtue, it will not fail to have that wholesome influence in fact upon the moral world, that will procure the admiration of innocence and the applause of Religion.

A collection of Mrs. Sigourney's Poems has recently been published; the collection however we are inclined to believe does not comprise all her poemsthey are very numerous. Mrs. Sigourney lives at Hartford, Connecticut, and we are assured that all her poems have been written in those desultory moments when she has found a temporary leisure amidst her many maternal cares. This circumstance would seem to increase her poetick merit already so exalted, and to excuse the fault of any lines or pieces that may bear marks of haste.

WINTER.

I deem thee not unlovely-tho' thou com'st
With a stern visage. To the tuneless bird-
The tender flow'ret-the rejoicing stream,
Thy discipline is harsh. But unto man,
Methinks thou hast a kindlier ministry-
Thy lengthened eve is full of fire-side joys,
And deathless linking of warm heart to heart;
So that the hoarse stream passes by unheard.
Earth rob'd in white, a peaceful sabbath holds,
And keepeth silence at her Maker's feet;
She ceaseth from the harrowing of the plough,
And from the harvest shouting.

Man should rest

Thus from his fevered passions-and exhale The unbreathed carbon of his festering thought,

And drink in holy health. As the tossed bark

Doth seek the shelter of some quiet bay,

To trim its shattered cordage, and repair

Its riven sails-so should the toil-worn mind

Refit for time's rough voyage. Man, perchance,

Soured by the world's sharp commerce, or impaired

By the wild wanderings of his summer way,

Turns like a truant scholar toward his home, And yields his nature to sweet influences That purify and save.

The ruddy boy

Comes with his shouting school-mates from their sport
On the smooth frozen lake, as the first star
Hangs pure, and cold, its silver crescent forth:
And, throwing off his skates, with boisterous glee,
Hastes to his mother's side. Her tender hand
Doth shake the snow-flakes from his glossy curls,
And draws him nearer, and, with gentle voice,
Asks of his lessons-while her lifted heart
Solicits silently the Sire of Heaven

To bless the lad.

The timid infant learns

Better to love its father-longer sits
Upon his knee, and with a velvet lip
Prints on his brow such language, as the tongue
Hath never spoken.

Come thou to life's feast,
With dove-eyed meekness and bland charity-
And thou shalt find even winter's rugged blast,
The minstrel-teacher of the well-tuned soul;
And when the last drop of its cup is drained,"
Arising with a song of praise, go up
To the eternal banquet.

EXTINCTION OF THE NATIONAL DEBT.

It is gratifying to Americans, as it affords a practical illustration of the immense resources of the country, that in the course of nineteen years we have paid off a debt of $127,000,000, by the regular operation of our financial and revenue system without the imposition of direct taxes (except for a short period) or any other burden which has been seriously felt as such by any portion of the people. Our government is now among nations we believe the only one free from a National Debt. The progress and decline of the National Debt since 1791, may be seen by the following statement of its amount at the beginning of each year from that time to the present.

Only nine years ago, our National Debt was $81,000,000. In 1816 the interest alone amounted to $7,157,500,42. In 1826, to almost $4,000,000. Since the beginning of that year, we have paid off, including interest, very nearly A HUNDRED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, over and above our current expenses, almost without feel ing it.

PRISON DISCIPLINE.

We received a short time since, the Ninth Annual Report of the Boston Prison Discipline Society. This Report is a valuable document, containing much authentick matter and interesting and important information in relation to nearly all the Prisons in the U. S. It exposes the defects of prison discipline and the entire apathy manifested by those connected with prisons as to the moral and religious instruction of the prisoners; it sets forth the horrible consequences which result from the promiscuous assemblage in one filthy contaminating cell, of the blackest criminals with the poor but honest debtors, the immature novitiate in crime with the experienced and hardened villain; and many other glaring deformities in prisons which call aloud for amendment and Reform. It estimates the number of criminals committed to prison in the U. S. in 1833, at 56,800; debtors 39,249; females 18,300. Total committed to prison in 1833, supposed to be 113,380. The number in prison at any one time, is estimated at 12,640. Among 753 persons committed to prison in Massachusetts 431 were drunkards.

We hope to be able to give the subject of Prison discipline a prolonged consideration hereafter in a series of articles.

Pearl Street, price 25 cts. This little volume is neatly bound, The Young Man's Pocket Companion,-D. Cooledge, 322 and contains a copy of the famous Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of the United States, Washington's farewell Address; and much its convenience as a book of reference, should place it in the other valuable documentary information. Its cheapness, and hands of every young man.

WOO-TEE-FIVE EMPERORS.

Fuh-he, considered as the founder of the Chinese empire, is the first of the Five Emperors. The nation was, during the preceding reign, so much increased as to require a governour. He fixed his capital at Hwaseu, in Shense. It was his greatest endeavour to improve the condition of the people, therefore he taught them to rear cattle. At first, man differed very little from the beasts: Though he might know his mother, he could not point out his father; his desires were unrestrained. În his sleep he snored, when he rose he yawned; when hungry, he ate as much as he could digest and threw the remainder away. His dress consisted of the skins of animals; his drink, their blood; but Fuh-he taught them to make nests, and to rear domesticated animals. Observing the constant course of nature, he was anxious to trace the original causes of her great revolutions; he therefore invented a system, which, by combining the characters of the elements in an artificial way, expressed the changes in nature. He drew eight different lines, which he called the eight kwa; these, multiplied by eight, produced a variety of lines, which, substituted for the originating causes of the changes in nature, clearly pointed out the combination of all things.'

This, though nothing better than mere nonsense, without even a shadow of truth, has nevertheless exercised the ingenuity of the wisest Chinese. More useful were Fuh-he's endeavours to express thoughts by hieroglyphick signs. These are said to have originated in the drawing up of two linear tables, the Ho-too and the Lo-shoo which he copied from the back of a dragon rising from the deep. He founded the celebrated city Chin-too, in Honan. By determining the seasons, he introduced order into the performance of business; and to arouse the softer feelings of human nature, Fuh-he was anxious to teach his subjects musick. He instituted marriage, which hitherto had been unknown, appointed negotiators of courtship, and regulated the government. After a life of about two centuries, he died, generally regretted. In this description of a good ruler, which is more than a hundred times repeated by Chinese authors, we ought to distinguish fiction from reality.. These were the first weak efforts made to reclaim man from a savage state. It is also very evident that the western part of China was first inhabited; however, the Chinese are too proud to admit that their ancestors emigrated from the West, probably from Hindostan.

Shin-nung, the divine husbandman, taught his people to cultivate the ground; he invented the art of healing. To afford a ready sale for the produce of the country, Shin-nung established a fair, and then died, after a reign of 140 years. But man is not satisfied with the enjoyment of peace. The latter days of Shannung were imbittered by war, which was excited by a prince of the imperial family, who was however defeated by Heen-yuen, by whom the peace of the empire was again established. This prince then ascended the throne, under the name of Hwang-te, or "The Yellow Emperor." He at first had to maintain his power br force of arms; but as soon as he had conquered his alversary, he turned his attention towards the

considerably increased, Hwang-te sent colonies to the southern part of the present province of Pih-chih-le. This prince built a palace of brick: and, with the aid of a man of great talents, increased the number of hieroglyphicks, which he originally copied from the lines upon the back of a certain insect. He went still farther; and to fix his subjects upon the soil, built villages and cities, and introduced the utmost order amongst them. He moreover, erected an observatory, and rectified the calendar; his empress, no less enterprising and inventive, succeeded in manufacturing silk, of which she made elegant robes of state. He invented arms, carts, boats, clocks, chariots, and an ingenious musical instrument; introduced coined money, and regulated the measures. According to this account, there remained very little room for improvement. It is, however, matter of wonder that the antediluvians should have made so rapid a progress in the arts and sciences; but we may, perhaps, account for this, by supposing that the Chinese historians are always anxious to refer entirely to antiquity what has been the work of many ages.

Shaou-haou, his son and successor, was born under the influence of a star; the prevailing element of his nature was metal. The Chinese acknowledge five different elements, from which all things are composed. His reign was inglorious. However, he wished to signalize himself, in the road to improvement, and observing a phenix, ordered all mandarins to wear embroidered birds on their robes of state; which custom is kept up to this day. He invented an air, with the express purpose of rousing the softer feelings of our nature, and protecting harmony. By his negligence, several weak-minded people were enabled to spread the superstitions of magical arts. His grave, as well as that of Hwang-te, is shown to this day.

Chuen-heuh, whose prevailing nature was water, resisted the growing superstition, and introduced a ritual for the service of Shang-te, the supreme emperor (or heavenly ruler.) Notwithstanding the great pains his predecessors had taken to rectify the calendar, he still discovered some errours. From him descended, in the third generation, the celebrated emperor Yu. This prince, anxious to profit by every thing, is celebrated for his ability to distinguish even distant objects, and is said to have possessed penetration to understand the most abstruse things. He followed heaven's course, and understood the unsettled minds of the people; though benevolent he was revered; though indulgent he was beloved. His great attention was directed towards the exercise of virtue, and the whole empire willingly submitted to his rule. During his reign took place a conjunction of five planets, in the constellation of Ying-shih. If we may believe the Chinese historians, the empire was at that time as extensive as at the present moment, stretching southward to Cochin-china, and on the north of Tatary, whilst its eastern boundaries were the ocean.

Te-kuh established schools, and appointed able professors for the instruction of youth. Not satisfied with discouraging vice by exhortation and example, he even promoted virtue by means of that useful instrument—a drum! He introduced polygamy by marrying four wives, three of whom were for a long time barren, but they appealed to Shang-te, and each of them became the mother of a son.

Two of these princes are celebrated as the founders of the Shang and Chow dynasties. Te-che, his eldest son, very unlike his father, lived only to satisfy his own desires, neglecting the govern ment of the state, until at length the nobility, after many fruitless attempts to reform him, called his brother Yaou to the throne, which Te-che lost by his own faults.

THE REIGNS OF YAOU AND SHUN. We are now arrived at a period which Confucius himself has delineated. It is the most prominent in

all Chinese history, the whole government of the country being founded upon the institutions of these two emperors. Their example is elevated above that of all other princes, as if in them alone was original wisdom and virtue in perfection. The best monarchs are only humble imitators of their virtuous actions; no one has surpassed, no one was ever equal to them. Their government having reached the summit of perfection, their successors are not expected to improve the art of government; their utmost efforts scarcely sufficing to enable them to follow the glorious example of antiquity. Yaou the sage, and the divine Shun, have uttered so many excellent sayings, that people ought no more to think for themselves, but simply to adopt the wise maxims of those worthies. Confucius himself merely pretends to be a reformer of his nation, to have nothing original, and only to place the doctrines of these sages in a fuller light. Such, in short, is the veneration of the Chinese, that the greatest eulogium they can pass upon a ruler is to say,-" You are a Yaou-or a Shun." These patriarchs have survived many thousand years in the memory of minions; their stern virtues, their filial piety, are the admiration of all ages. We shall faithfully recapitulate their virtues, and simply state our conviction, that Confucius, wishing to draw a man of consummate virtue, invested with ideal perfection the rulers Yaou and Shun, two chiefs famous in the ancient traditional history of the country. Later historians have invalidated Confucius's testimony in favour of their reigns, by ascribing to Hwang-te all the great inventions and improvements which demonstrate, according to Confucius, the great original genius of Yaou and Shun.

Yaou began to reign in 2,337 B. c. He was then very young, but his heart was penetrated by a benevolence as extensive as heaven; in prudence he equalled the most shrewd minds; the lustre of his intelligence shone like the sun in his glory; like the rain which descends from the clouds and fertilizes the country, his blessings were spread over the whole nation. All was simplicity, all was sincerity.

His mother observed a red dragon, and was delivered of him after fourteen months pregnancy. Few great men have found so renowned a biographer as Yaou. His actions, like those of the most celebrated princes, are recorded in the Shoo-king, a work compiled by Confucius, as we have already observed. With Yaou, the first Chinese cycle begins; from him the earliest Chinese annals are dated. The Shoo-king is too sententious, toc abrupt, too obscure to be quoted as an incontrovertible authority. The reader has first to consult the commentary, and then to read the text, in order to understand its contents. Yet it forms the great text-book, upon which all Chinese literati have expatiated; their philosophers have no new thoughts, they only comment upon the sententious maxims of the Shoo-king; even in Confucius's own sayings, there is scarcely any sentiment which is not hinted at in the Shoo-king. In this ancient book we find frequent allusion to the Supreme Being; he is referred to in the most solemn terms; to him is ascribed every good and perfect gift. This circumstance would inspire us with delight, and we should call to mind that period of primeval simplicity, when China was free from gross idolatry, did Confucius not inculcate, in plain terms, the worship of material heaven and earth, and make his heroes issue orders to do homage to the spirits of hills, rivers, seas, &c. This latter doctrine is far the more explicit, whilst the former is never dwelt upon.

show obedience to your superiours, be kind, be condescending; thus you will promote harmony, and all the nation will be happy." Without effort he promoted virtue, his sole example being sufficient to render the whole nation virtuous; "virtue ran with the speed of a postilion; and he thus ruled the nation as easily as he could turn a finger in the palm of his hand."-A rare instance, and if true, the only one to be met with in all history!

He commenced his reign with appointing two astronomers, He, and Ho, to regulate the year, by adding intercalary months, and to point out the four seasons. The southern barbarians came to court, and presented a divine tortoise, having upon its back characters which recorded the history of the world from the beginning. This reign was remarkable for extraordinary and conspicuous omens; there grew a plant, the leaves of which budded and faded according to the period of the moon. The phenix and the ke-lin, a fabulous quadruped, which invariably appears whenever there is a wise emperor at the head of government, rendered his reign exceedingly prosperous. Old and young sang odes in honour of their beloved sovereign. A man of Hwa-fung blessed him, by saying,-"Shuy-yun, sage, possess riches, enjoy old age, and have many sons." The emperor replied, "I do not desire this, for wherever there are many sons, there is also much to fear; where there is much riches, there is also much to do; and as for old age, it is a state of much disgrace." The old man replied-" Heaven has brought forth myriads of people, and must give them a government; if you have many sons you may intrust them with the government; if you have much riches, you may disperse them amongst the people; if the empire has a good government, you may harmonize with the spirit of the age; if the empire is ruled negligently, you may yourself cultivate virtue,-when you are a thousand years old, and tired with the world, ascend then on high and become a demi-god; ride upon the white clouds, retire to the imperial abode ;-but do not rejoice at the disgrace of old age."

Yaou was anxious to choose a person who might sustain with him the burden of empire. His choice fell upon Shun, a man belonging to the common people, who was renowned for his persevering filial piety, and rewarded by the emperor with the gift of his own two daughters in marriage.

There is an extraordinary catastrophe mentioned in the reign of Yaou, which is one of the greatest events in the history of mankind, the deluge. It is said the waters of the deluge rose higher and higher, till their wide expanse encircled the mountains and covered the summits. Mangtsze (Mencius,) in speaking of the same event, remarks, that at the time of Yaou, the deluge had not yet entirely subsided; the jungle and brushwood grew most luxuriantly, and the wild beasts were very numerous, so that the fine grain could not be cultivated. Yaou at first dispatched Kawn to remedy the evil; and as he proved unsuccessful, he was replaced by his son Yu, who succeeded.