It was a dreadful crisis; and with peaceful confidence did she await it. As the crisis approached, different individuals, at the call of the company, performed their parts with the greatest applause. At last, the name of his daughter was announced. In a moment all were in fixed and silent suspense to see how the scale of destiny would turn. Without hesitation, she arose, and with calm and dignified composure took her place at the instrument. After a moment spent in silent prayer, she ran her fingers along the keys, and then, with an unearthly sweetness, elevation, and solemnity, sang, accompanying her voice with the notes of the instrument, the following stanzas: No room for mirth or trifling here, If now the Judge is at the door, No matter which my thoughts employ; But, O! when both shall end, Shall I my everlasting days With fiends or angels spend? Nothing is worth a thought beneath, That never, never dies! How make mine own election sure, Jesus, vouchsafe a pitying ray, To glorious happiness ! O! write the pardon on my heart! Let me depart in peace. The minstrel ceased. The solemnity of eternity was upon that assembly. Without speaking, they dispersed. The father wept aloud, and when left alone, sought the counsel and prayers of his daughter for the salvation of his soul. His soul was saved, and his great estate consecrated to Christ. I would rather be the means of communicating such thoughts in such circumstances, and aid in the production of such results; I would rather possess wisdom thus to speak as occasion requires, than to possess all that is finite besides. What hymn, what thought in the universe could be substituted for the one then uttered? The time, the occasion, the thought expressed, the hallowed and "sweet manner "of its utterance, present full realization of all that is embraced in our idea of fitness. That surely was "a word fitly spoken." ICE PALACE. THE annals of the reign of Catherine II., make mention of one ephemeral palace, which, like that of Pandemonium, "Out of the earth, a fabric huge, Rose like an exhalation;" and like an exhalation vanished, not leaving a wreck behind. From a true and particular account of this ice palace, drawn up by Kraft, an imperial academician, and published at St. Petersburgh the year after its erection, it appears, that seven years before, an ice castle had been built on the river Neva; but the ice bent under the weight of the edifice and of the soldiers who garrisoned it. To avoid a similar defect in the foundation, it was resolved, on the occasion of the marriage of Prince Galitzin, in 1740, to erect a palace of ice on terra firma; and a site was chosen between the imperial winter palace and the admiralty, one of the lords of the bed-chamber being appointed to superintend the works. The palace was constructed of blocks of ice, from two to three feet thick, cut out of the winter covering of the Neva; these being properly adjusted, water was poured between them, which acted as cement, consolidating the whole into one immense mass of ice. The length of the edifice was fifty-six feet, its breadth seventeen feet and a half, and its height twenty-one. It was constructed acccording to the strictest rules of art; and was adorned with a portico, columns, and statues. It consisted of a single story, the front of which was provided with a door and fourteen windows; the frames of the latter, as well as the panes, being all formed of ice. The sides of the doors and of the windows were painted in imitation of green marble. On each side of the door was a dolphin, from the mouths of which, by means of naptha, volumes of flame were emitted in the evening. Next to them were two mortars, equal to eighty-pounders, from which many bombs were thrown, a quarter of a pound of powder being used for each charge. On each side of the mortars stood three cannons, equal to threepounders, mounted upon carriages, and with wheels, which were often used. In the presence of a number of persons attached to the court, a bullet was driven through a board two inches thick, at the distance of sixty paces, by one of these cannons, a quarter of a pound of powder being also used for a charge. The interior of the edifice had no ceiling, and consisted of a lobby and two large apartments, one on each side, which were well furnished, and painted in the most elegant manner, though formed merely of ice. Tables, chairs, statues, looking-glasses, candlesticks, watches, and other ornaments, besides teadishes, tumblers, wine-glasses, and even plates with provisions in one apartment, also formed of ice, and painted of their natural colours; while in the other were to be seen a state bed, with curtains, bed, pillows, and bed-clothes, two pair of slippers, and two nightcaps of the same cold material. Behind the cannon, the mortars, and the dolphins, stretched a low balustrade. On each side of the building was a small entrance. Here were pots with flowers and orange trees, partly formed of ice, and partly natural, on which birds sat. Beyond these were erected two icy pyramids. On the right of one of them stood an elephant, which was hollow, and so contrived as to throw out burning naptha; while a person within it, by means of a tube, imitated the natural cries of the animal. On the left of the other pyramid, was seen the never failing concomitant of all princely dwellings in Russia, a banya, or bath, apparently formed of balks, which is said to have been sometimes heated, and even to have been appropriated to use. The appearance of the ice palace, it is said, was remarkably splendid when lighted up in the evening with numerous candles. Amusing transparencies were usually suspended in the windows to increase the effect; and the emission of flames by the dolphins and the elephant, all tended to excite greater surprise, while the people beheld the crystalline mass. Thus, there wanted not, to carry on the parallel between this palace and the magical edifice which Milton describes, "Many a row Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed Admiring enter'd; and the work some prais'd, Crowds of visitors were continually seen around this fantastic and unique construction, which remained entire from the beginning of January almost to the middle of March, the glassy fabric then began to melt, and was soon afterwards broken into pieces, and the ruins were conveyed to the imperial ice-cellar. On the folly displayed in the construction of this costly emblem of mundane glory, the reader may make his own comment. REMARKABLE ATTACHMENT OF A DOG. A FEW days before the overthrow of the dreadful Robespierre, a revolutionary tribunal in the north of France had condemned to death a Mr. R., an ancient magistrate and most amiable man, on a pretended conspiracy. He had at that time a spaniel about twelve years old, which had been brought up by him, and had scarcely ever quitted his side. This faithful dog was with him when he was first seized, but was refused admittance into the prison. Every day, however, the dog returned to the door of the prison, which was still shut against him. Such ceaseless fidelity at last won the heart of the keeper, and the dog was allowed to enter: his joy at the sight of his master was unbounded, and it became difficult to separate them; but the jailor fearing for himself, carried the dog out of prison, and he returned to his place of retreat. For some weeks his visit was repeated, and admission as regularly granted. When the day of receiving sentence arrived, the dog forced his way into the hall, and couched himself between the legs of the unhappy man, whom he was about to lose for ever. At the fatal hour of execution, this faithful animal alone, dared, even under the eye of the tyrant, to own a dying friend; and when the body was interred, he spread himself upon the grave; on that cold pillow he passed the two first days, but a neighbour of his deceased master's, who had sheltered him during the imprisonment, caressed him, and by kindness induced him to eat; three months passed away, during which the mourner went every morning to the house of his protector, merely to receive his food, and then returned to the grave. Means were at length essayed to wean him; he was first tied, and then chained; but what manacle is there that can ultimately triumph over nature? He escaped from his bonds and returned to the sepulchre, which he never again quitted. It was in vain that all kind measures were used once more to bring him back; he could not even be induced to eat; each day he became more meagre and more languishing, till at length his attached and generous heart gave way, his whole frame became convulsed, and he breathed out his last gasp upon the grave of his lamented master. CURIOUS BIBLICAL FACTS. THE Bible originally was not divided into chapters and verses. It was divided into chapters in the 13th century, and into verses in the 16th century; and was so divided, to make it easy to refer to any particular part. The Bible was translated into the Saxon language by Bede, |