whose feet are placed so far back that the solemn gravity of their appearance when they stand upright in a line upon the ground is extremely amusing. The wings are small, and cannot raise the fat heavy bird, frequently weighing from twenty to forty pounds;

they peck boldly, and defend themselves vigorously, until reaching the water, to which they immediately hasten when assailed, they dive and disappear.

The fair breeze blew, and as the Petrel skimmed the seas we looked backwards with affection towards that little land floating there in a sea of fire, until it diminished into a tiny speck on the glorious sun as he sank beneath the western wave.

AMONGST the voyagers was one who, though shunning rather than courting observation, was the most remarked and individualized person in the ship.

Of medium height, his slight make conveyed the impression of a taller man than his real stature justified; the symmetry of his delicate frame suggested physical refinement; while through his dreamy, dark, luxurious eyes, the passionate genius enshrined

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within that noble forehead beamed forth with mild radiance, lighting up a countenance on which "the pale cast of thought" had thrown a pensive sadness, as the shadow of the angel of

sorrow.

Courteous to all, it was a peculiar sympathy that caused the little children to flock around him and listen with intense earnestness to his quaint fairy tales and legends; and when frequent illness prevented his visiting the deck, groups of their inquiring faces might be seen hovering near his cabin-door, from which no coaxing could entice them; and if invited to enter the coveted object of their sly peeps through the Venetian blinds, they would quietly sit and play with his thin hands, kiss his pallid cheeks, or inquisitively peer into his cabinet, examining with wondering curiosity its varied contents.

A stranger to all on board, rumour said that Ducal Coronets embellished the carriages of the fair ladies whose arrangement of his small cabin disclosed that an intelligent foresight had endeavoured to relieve, as far as possible, the discomfort of a seavoyage.

He was accompanied by a youthful sister, a ministering angel, to whom he was all the world, and who was all the world to him. Graceful in form, and of a gentle spirit, her loving anxious eyes instinctively followed as an echo or a shadow her other dearer self; and this devotion to one whom disease had marked for early death, surrounded as with a halo of celestial radiance a head and figure of enchanting loveliness. Every feature was exquisitely chiselled; and firm, well defined lips added the perfection of decision to the rich warmth and tenderness of the upper face; the whole reposing with quiet harmony in a choice setting of dark chesnut tresses.

When prostrate by his fitful malady, the voice of this guardian angel, in sweetest strains, sought to soothe his pain by the plaintive accents of melodious Dante, or cheer his languor by the full flowing joyousness of Chaucer, or the Fairie Queene.

From the fragmentary threads of desultory conversations slight clues to the artist's history were gathered up.

Descended from a family of small fortune, in the county of Westmoreland, Art had early laid upon him her fascinating hand;

and reading, meditation, and the ardent practice of his allabsorbing, chosen occupation, only inflamed the intense desire of his soul to visit the sunny land of Italy, and contemplate under their own glorious skies the works of ancient genius;-arrived there, his devotion, power, and application as a student, acquired for him the high respect and cordial warm admiration of his brother artists.

Stored with grateful recollections of the dead, and the wondrous achievements of past ages, the inspiration within stirred him to do manful battle for the present.

May-day approached, bright, fair, and green, and full of gladsome hope; his first picture was received, scrutinized, and the new artist's work admitted by the committee, without dissentient voice, and hung upon the line: the newspaper critics condescended to notice it as the performance of one possessing

elements of promise; and ignorant conceit pointed out for amendment assumed errors in this foreshortening and that shadow; this faulty grouping, and that defective colouring.

Always present in that group of eminent men who have won for themselves renown in science, literature, and art, mingled with fair and noble ladies, periodically thronging the private view of the Academy exhibition, was a city merchant, who in early life had adored the muses, and still cherishing within him a soul tender towards art, amidst a constrained attention to bills of lading, rates of exchange, price of money, quotations of indigo, sugar, rice, and cotton, religiously visited the Academy yearly with the thrilling ardour of a first love.

Sauntering from room to room, with apparent listlessness, he carefully noted the works which arrested his footsteps; on a second visit none escaped investigation; a third inspection (this time his catalogue became richly marked and scored with notes) resulted in the purchase of one or two gems worthy of admission into his already numerous collection.

More than once the young artist's pictures had been elected to the post of honour by this fair, open competition of merit; the only judgment the merchant consulted being that of an old friend, an eminent engraver, who, with a true feeling for the poetry of art, would dwell with delight upon the simplicity and power of the treatment, the strength and harmony of the colouring, the careful correct drawing, and the perfect oneness of the composition.

Year after year critics asserted and counter-asserted-yearly belying their previous statements; but the artist, unheeding, kept his own high course; no great sums were paid or demanded for his works; no rich or noble personage invited the painter to grace with genius the bounteous board;—at length one of royal lineage appreciated the mind and hand of a master, and prevailed upon the citizen to resign a choice production of our artist's brush.