play whatever reading and acquirements he possessed; to explain the causes of his disappointments, and the cloudiness of his prospects: in short, nothing was concealed from a protector so able to shield inexperience from error, and so willing to pardon inadvertency. He was invited to the seat of his friend, at Beaconsfield, and was there placed in a convenient apartment, supplied with books for his information and amusement, and made a member of a family, with whom it was honour as well as pleasure to be associated. If Mr. Crabbe, noticed by so great a man, and received into such a home, should have given way to some emotions of vanity, and should have supposed there must have been merit on one part, as well as benevolence on the other, he has no slight plea to offer for his frailty, especially as, we conceive, it may be added, that his vanity never at any time extinguished any portion of his gratitude, and that it has been ever his delight to think, as well as his pride to speak, of Mr. Burke as a father, friend, and guide; nor did that gentleman ever disallow the name to which his conduct gave sanction and propriety. ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST'S DAY. THE morning of this day is still regarded, in many parts of Europe, in something like the same light with our own Allhallows Eve, the Scottish observances and superstitions connected with which have been so beautifully treated by Burns in his Halloween. This holiday, in olden time, was equally reverenced by the Christian and the Moorish inhabitants of Andalusia; and such of our readers as are acquainted with the ballad of the Admiral Guarinos, (which Cervantes has introduced Don Quixote as hearing sung by a peasant going to his work at daybreak) will recollect the mention that is made of it there. "Three days alone they bring him forth a spectacle to be The feast of Pasch and the great day of the Nativity; And on that morn more solemn yet when the maidens strip the bowers, And gladden mosque and minaret with the first fruits of the flowers." The following is a very literal version of the ballad, which has been, for many centuries, sung by the maidens on the banks of the Guadalqui vir, in Spain, when they go forth to gather flowers, on the morning of the Day of John the Baptist : "Come forth, come forth, my maidens, 'tis the day of good St. John, It is the Baptist's morning that breaks the hills upon; And let us go forth together, while the blessed day is new, To dress with flowers the snow-white wether, ere the sun has dried the dew. Come forth, come forth, &c. Come forth, come forth, my maidens, the hedgerows all are green, And the little birds are singing the opening leaves be tween; And let us all go forth together, to gather trefoil by the stream, Ere the face of Guadalquivir glows beneath the strengthening beam. Come forth, come forth, &c. Come forth, come forth, my maidens, and slumber not away The blessed blessed morning of John the Baptist's day; Come forth, come forth, &c. Come forth, come forth, my maidens, the air is calm and cool, And the violet blue far down ye'll view, reflected in the pool; And the violets and the roses, and the jasmines all toge ther, We'll bind in garlands on the brow of the strong and lovely wether. Come forth, come forth, &c. Come forth, come forth, my maidens, we'll gather myrtle boughs, And we all shall learn, from the dews of the fern, if our lads will keep their vows : If the wether be still, as we dance on the hill, and the Baptist's blessing is ours. Come forth, come forth, my maidens, 'tis the day of good It is the Baptist's morning that breaks the hills upon; new, To dress with flowers the snow-white wether, ere the sun has dried 'the dew." PETRARCH. PETRARCH had long wished to climb the summit of Mount Venoux, a mountain presenting a wider range of prospect than among the Alps or Pyrenees. With much difficulty he ascended. Arrived at its summit, the scene presented to his sight was unequalled!After taking a long view of the various objects which lay stretched below, he took from his pocket a volume of "St. Augustine's Confessions ;" and opening the leaves at random, the first period that caught his eye was the following passage :-" Men travel far to climb high mountains, to observe the majesty of the ocean, to trace the source of rivers-but-they neglect themselves." Admirable reasoning! conveying as admirable a lesson! Instantly applying the passage to himself, Petrarch closed the book, and falling into profound meditation,-"If," thought he, "I have undergone so much labour in climbing the mountain, that my body might be the nearer to heaven, what ought I not to do, in order soul may be received in those immortal that my regions." BEN JONSON'S SACRED POETRY. THIS admirable dramatist, amid the varied stores of his literary acquisitions (in which he was inferior to none, even in his learned age), did not entirely neglect the cultivation of the |