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A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF POLITICS, LITERATURE AND NEWS.

EDWARD WHELAN]

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MOON'S PHASES. — NOVEMBER, 1856,

First Quarter 5th day, Lh. l0m, evening. E.S.E:

Full Moon 12th day, 4h. 43m. morning. WS. W. Last Quarter 1%th day, 6h. 22. morning. Ss. New Moon 27th day, lh. 48m. morning. S.

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Literature.

SOC et

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(From Brownson's Quart: riy Review for October.) INKERMANN. BY A GUARDSMAN.

I. “Twas a dark and frosty midnight, The ground was chill and damp, There was silenge in the trenches, There was slumber in the camp ; We had plied the trembling battery, Until darkness hid the town, From the ditches, wet and weary, We were glad to Iay us down. Por the eamp-fire not a faggot,

Not a blanket for the storm, Naught but fever’s first hot flushing Had we there to k ‘ep us warm With the worn and veteran canvas,

Drenched and dripping overhead, With a knapsack for our pillow, And the elammry elay our bed.— Vet wo wrapt our coats about us, Yet we lay us on the ground, Toil hung heavy on our eyelids, Soon oat sleep was sweet and sound ; And for warmth we cluster’d closer, Arm in arm and breast to breast, While in dreams suspended o’er us, Came the vision bright and blest, ‘Ff the parted ones that mect us, With a raptur still and dumh— Of the million mouths that grect us With a volleyed ** Weleome Home ''’— As the maimed and martyr relics Of the plumed and burnished band, That erst leapt forth from AThion, Totter hack unto her strand, And a tide of loud Hosannas Swells from all the choral land il. All is silent on the hillside, As the sentries come and go, Save the rear of the Tehernaya Thro’ its rocky pass below, Or the tramp of some lone rider Careering to and fro: Save where moveth through the midnight Some heart-heavy engineer, Save some boding groups that murmur Of our undefended rear, Searee a cannon rearward planted, Searee a rampurt fined our flanks, Tho’ ‘twas whispered hy our captains, Tho’ *was muttered through the ranks, If the legions in the valley, Ever swarm to the attack, Bare breasts and British bayonets Stand alone to hurl them Sack. Yet we sleep no whit less soundly, And we se our dream of bliss, Tho’ for an Army's ruin Never chance or night like this. Il. In marble Sebastupol The bells to chapel eall : Our outposts hear the chanting Of monks within the wall. Why meet they there, with psalm and prayer ?— “Lis some high festival — By the old Achaian ruin “Why groan those heavy wheels ?— Some forage freighted convoy ‘Soward the leaguered city steals, Sleep !—will the serfs twice routed Dare the freeman’s steel again, Will the slaves we stormed from Alma Beard the lion in his den?— ly. Tis a drizzling Sabbath daybreak, Cheerless rings the reveillee, Thro’ the shroudlike mists around us Nota stone’s throw can we see : Feebly up the clouded welkin Toiis the morning bleak and gray, Dim as twilight in Oetober, Dawns that dark and dismal day. The camp once more is sounding, Slowly putting on its strength, As a boa, starved from torpor, Half uncoils its lazy length. Some are drying their damp muskets, Some gloss the rusted steel, Some are crouching o'er the watchfires At the hurried matin meal : Some are bending o’er their Bibles, Others bid the beads of Rome, Many, still unwaken’d, hearken To the Sabbath bells of home. The mountain and the valley With the hoary haze are white, Sea and river, friend and foeman, Town and trench are hid from sight : And the camp itself so softly With the snowy mist is blent, Searce the waving of the canvas Shows the outline of the tent. vs Hark, the rifle’s hawklike whistle !— But we stir not for the din, Till with sullen step the pickets From the hills are driven in,— Till the river seemed to thunder Thro’ its rocky pass below, And a voice ran thro’ the army, ‘** Up to arms !—it is the foe!” Up with the Red Cross banner, Out with the victor steel, “ Up to battle,”’ the drams rattle, ‘+ Form and front,’’ the bugles peal,— From the tents and from the trenches, From the ramparts, from the mine, We are groping for the bayonet, ‘We ee into line ; Half attired an f aecoutred, 2 the officers headlong, And the men, from slumber starting, Round their colors fiercely throng. Then the lit artillery’s i Shook the hills beyond the gorge— Mute were then a thousand hammers _ Smiting bard the sounding forge. Full upon us comes the ruin,— They have ranged the very spot,—

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berty, when Free~born fen, having o advise the Public, man speak free——EuRIPIDEs.

RD ISLAND, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1856.

i [EDITOR axp PUBLISHER, PO ER I Th a RE RIL A SRN No. 20...

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Purple glares the spot already, As the storm falls fast and hot, At our feet, the earth foams spraylike, "Neath the tempest of their shot. VI. Crouched like eaged and fretted lion, For the unseen foe we glare,— Not a bayonet, not a sabre Thro’ the rolling mists appear. r Yet full sure the slaves are on us, For along the river’s bed Tolls the low and measured thunder Of a mighty army’s tread. The hearts beneath our bosoms Swell high as they would burst, We know not what is coming, But we nerve us for the worst : Fast our shouldors grow together, Firm beneath that iron hail, The tall Red Line is forming That was never known to quail. Up from the slopes beneath us Nearer thrills the muffled hum, They are stepping to the onset, Without trumpet, without dram, And we clutch our pieces tighter— Let them come! VIT. The fog before us deepens :— Like a dark spot in a storm, Along the mist-wreathed ridges, Their erowded columns form : The helmets and the gray-coats, Scaree pistol-shot ahead ,— They are on us—let us at them— Unayenged we have bled. To work !—the eager rifle Ys warming at onr cheeks, Yon coltwn’s head is melting As the levelled Minie speaks. Now forward with the bayonet !— Fast as floods through river sluice, The yeomanry of England On the Muscovite-is loose. Yet bide they there to meet us, A phalanx of gray rock : In yam—no human belwark Can breast the coming shock. At them—on them—o’er them—through them, The Red Line thunders still, A cheer, a charge; a struggle, And we sweep them from the hill. Not a man bad we left livin Of the masses marshalled there, But their siege-guns in the gorges Stay our conquering career. Then as we breathe-from slaughter, And ere we close our ranks, The foe, one column routed, Hfurls a fresh one on our flanks. Unappalled and unexhausted, We welcome the new war, Tho’ like locusts in midsummer Swarm the legions of the Czar, Fifty thousand wen are on us, Searce a tithe of them are we— Well might they swear to drive us Ere nightful to the sea. Yet, St. George for merry England ' A volley, and we close, "Neath the martyr cross of bayonets, Redder yet the Red Line grows.

VIII. These are not the men of Alma, Who are now so well at work ; On the Danube, at Silistria, They have schooled them ’gainst the Turk ; O’cr the mountains of Cireassia Their black eagles they have borne, And the children of their High Priest Lead the stern fanaties on. Point to point, and breast to bosom, Hand to hand we madly clinch, And the ground we win upon them Is disputed inch by inch. The warrior blood of Britain Never rained so fast a tide, Man and captain fall together, Peer and peasant side by side. We have routed thrice our number, S:ill their front looms thrice as vast, And our line is thinned and jaded, And our men are falling faust. Upon them with the bayonet !— Our powder waxes scant— What more with foe so near him Does British soldier want ? ; 1X. Once more—once more, borne backward Their hurting legions fly, And we saw our brave Commander, With his staff come riding by. Calmly he dared the danger, But a gloom was in his eye,

For the mounds of his dead soldiers Lay around him thick and high. God knows his thought !—It might be

Of other mounds, [ ween— Of parapets, which, mounted, Such havoe had not been. But in brunt of battle ever Was the Saxon bosom bare. Some hailed him, as he passed us, With a hearty English cheer ; And as the nobles round him Were falling, did we pray, That his hero life amid the strife, Might be spare! to us that day. O dark the cloud that rested On our chieftain’s anxious brow : Ile has staked his all on the Spartan wall— It must not fail him now!

X. Then, as wayeless in the tempest Broods the white wing of a gull, O’er the hurricane of battle Swept a moméntary lull. Countless Jay the dead and dying, Few and faint the living stood, Every blade of grass beneath us Had its drop of hero blood. Jo our knees the stiffening bodies Of our fallen comrades rose, But higher, deeper, thicker, Lay the holocaust of foes ; And so fast the gore of Russia From the British bayonet rtns, Trickling down our dented rifles, That our hands slip on our guns. Far along the scarlet ridges Looming dim thro’ mist and smoke, In scattered groups divided By coppice and dwarfed ak,

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Lost Inkermanan is won!

But at night ’twas bitter thinking, As we dug the deep, dark grave, “ That the mounds then o’er our comrades Had been wall enough to save.

SR LT : — , — = ——— Rest the remnant of our army, | commanded at the port, gave orders to prepare for sea a swilt Kests cach motley regiment, ‘sailing shipyon board of which he immediately embarked, it

Coldstream, Fusileer and Ranger, ‘order to obtain a nearer view of so striking a manifestation, os Line and Guard together blent— land to inquire philosophically {nto its proximate cause. a ees nie i bee 7 = ne? | He bad scarecly set sail when everything assumed.a most rae ag ap pts Si : alling aspéct. 1 h shook with tremendous viclence Grimly frowning o’er the valley, | app: Hing aspect The eart ; Ce, roven masters of the hill. and the mountains trembled to the topmost summits. A noise A ae from the mountain ' like thunder was heard underground : the rocks along the shore Swept the driving rack away, _re-echoed a strange and indescribable sound, which scemed to And we saw our battling brothers, | proceed from the innermost bowels of the earth; the soil was For the first time that dark diy. thot, and almost burning; the sea boiled, and the entire firma~ Eee veoe fee at ; /ment appeared on fire. At lengih the flames issued from the ip Teach ean nena a /rent voledano, and a fiery mass of stones and lava was project- qramgutiad eont a j ed into the air, In its descent this burning muss covered tight befure us, right beneath us, the sides of the mountain, as well as ths whole of the sur- tight around us eyerywhere, ‘rounding plain. This eruption was succeeded by a cloud so The fresh hordes of the Despot | dense and murky that the sun was no longer visible, and the On flank and centre bear : ‘face of day was changed into a night of horror. The Around us and about wk inhabitants fled from their tottering houses, and sought for Mics pag staan ‘safety in the open fields; while others, terrified by the solitary ~ Glance the tins of briscling shoals | desolation of the country, sought refuge in the crowds which O never, England, never, , covered the highways near the towns. ‘ Those who were at Tho’ ayo out-numbered sore, | sea Were impelled by terror to turn their ships towards the Has thy world-encountering banner shore, where they met thousands equally alarmed, secking Faced such fearful edds before. | means to entrust their lives and fortunes to the waves. aI. ' Meanwhile, the cloud of smoke and dust carried dismay to On they come like crested breakers ‘the capital. The darkness which eanopied the city terrified That would whelus us in their wrath, | the inhabitants of Rome to such a degree that many of them Or the winged cam v6 beset i threw themselves, with their families, into ships bound for shot mh shoes partons nearer | Africa and Egypt, imagining that Ltalyowas about to atone To the charge again we recl, ‘for its sins by enduring the utniost wrathvof the gods. Again we mow before us But the immediate neighborhood of Vesuvius presented a Those harvests of still steel. 'scene of still greater destruction and consternation. At My- Too few, alas, the living “sanum, a distance of nearly twenty miles, the ashes fell in These hydra hosts totem, 'sach quantities that the younger Pliny, who was obliged to — ade rg cg ‘sit down in the fields with his mother to avoid the risk of SLY @) OR AE FOR tO) art being crushed by the throng of fugitives who fled in the dark, Rally Briony SONG 5OUE re? sabi that had they not wed the precaution of constantly Then for God, ovr Queen, Sur country, shaking the dust off their persons, they would have becn cow- Let us proudly perisl here. pletely smothered in a short time. Each hand and foot grows firmer; The elder Plivy, having reached Stabize, passed the night As they yell their demon cry ; in the house of a friend. While he slept, the court which Each soldier's clieck grows, brighter’ surrounded the dwelling was filled with large stones and st ha hen eet wy? mek Sera? er ashes to such a depth, that it was not without great difficulty “We will show them how to dic! that any individual belonging to the party made his eseape ; XI. and iu order to shield themselves from the showers of stones Heard ye not that tramp behind us? ee camel pil Wd cdintekenae if a foeman come that way, ’ ‘ ‘ We may make une charge ta venge us. The sun was now risen, but his beams could not penetrate And then look our lust of day. the thick cloud which brooded over Stabiee. Torches were As the tiger from the jungle, therefore used, in order to find a passage towards the beach ; On the bounding eolumn comes, it having been determined to put to sea, as the only means WEG ene “gan a singe of safety, provided the waves were sufficiently allayed to one a er b sii er: Seas’ render such a retreat practicable. But the ocean was at that p Saws the kilibltiey pent. a ot dreadful moment more agitated than over. Pliny threw 0 iid; howd sweetly sounded himself on the ground, wrapt ina cloak or blanket, and The well-known * En avant!” drank some cold water which had been seasonably procured With their golden eagles soaring, for him. Another discharge from the mountain, however, , Aloodinns Hips pod tmtcon glance made all their cares prove fruitless. Fvery one yielded to tadiant with the light of battle, the impulse of self-preservation, and fled, except two slaves, Came the chivalry of France, Bb si ; : Ah. fall wall fall wall re knew thew: who seemed willing to hazard their own lives with the view Gur bearded; bold allies, of saving that of the great naturalist. Pliny made an effort All Austerlitz seemed shining to rise, supported by bis faithful attendants; but he almost lts sunlight from their eyes. instantly dropped down again, suffocated, it was supposed, Round their bright array dividing, by the inercasing heat of the sulphurous atmosphere, and by _ We gave them passage large, the cloud of dust which impregnated the air. Two days I % bi pny ee ee ire aa im elapsed before his friends had recovered sufficiently frei their 0 I Heedtttitend Hach thy halted terror to search for his body and give it burial,—a duty which One volley reut the sky— was performed with all the respect due to so great a cha- Then the pas de charge thrills heavenward, racter, and with those feelings of sorrow and regret which ‘© Vive ? Empereur!”’ they ery. vever fail to attend the obscquies of those public meu who light for the heart of Russia have fallen victims to their love of knowledge, or to the t-teewe, bbe, emrace Gallic beavce, exertions of patriotism. Such is a brief description of that te ee tae Dis andi stupendous volcanic cruption, which buried beneath a mass of The bheae Or Hendtiod Biattade . ashes the cities of Vompeii and Herculaneum, concealing One moment thundered forth, them from the eye of man for more than seventeen centuries. The next we trample with them Of the early history of Pompeii hardly anything is known. The pale hordes of the North. It issaid to have been founded by Hercules, and that its name Ye that have seen tho lightning is derived from Pompa, in allusion to the pomp with which ‘Thro’ the crashing forest go, that hero celebrated his victories whilst awaiting his fleet st y gal pland aghast vs ore mow peat the mouth of the river Sarnus, affer his alleged conquest of tiley shou uber atray. thoy falter— Spain. This refuge in mythology, to which men have betakeu On, on '!—no quarter then— themselves, in accounting for the origin of Pompeii, is a sulii. Nor human hand, nor Heayen’s command cient proof that the obscurity in which it is hidden is too Could stay our maddened men. profound to be penctrated, Strabo, however, asserts that A flood of sudden radiance ‘the towns on this coast were founded bye Pelasgians, and Bathes earth and sea and sky, Tyrrbenians; and this statement is by no means devoid of ar ys buraes exulting plausibility, We may, indeed, conclude with some degree iibhy worhend oF nh rapture of confidenee that the foundations of Pompeii were Jaid long The wiviccol Geativis dune... before those of Ltome itself. The carl y history of the city is The Museovite is flying, nearly as uncertain as the date of its foundation, and the ji derivation of its name. It is first mentioned in the account of the Marsic, or Social War, which broke out ninety-one | years before the birth of Christ. Pompeii was one of those ‘towns of Campania that bad revolted. It eseaped the punishment with which some other places were visited. The only subsequent event of any moment whieh is related of it, 7a bloa is a quarrel between its inhabitants and those of Nuceria (now Nocera), in which the latter was worsted. The

POMPETIT. -— transaction occurred in the 59th, year of the Christian era, Pompeii, one of the ancient cities of Italy, was situated in| Four years afterward, Pompeii was almost destroyed by au

that part of the country which was given the name Campania. | Its site lies at the bottom of the Gulf of Cuma, known in

modern times as the Bay of Naples, five miles from the vol-

canie mountains of Vesuvius, and thirteen miles south-west

from the city of Naples, Pompeii was in no particular

manner distinguished either for its magnificence or its his-

torical renown. But the destiny by which it was overtaken,

as wonderful as it is happily rare, renders it one of the most

interesting spots on the face of the globe. In the year 89 of

the Christian era, in the. reign of the Emperor Titus, the son’ of Vespasian, it was overwhelmed by a deluge of ashes, water, | and mud, discharged from the neighboring voleano ; and after | having Jain buried for about seventeen hundred years, its| streets and houses, with its temples and theatres, have once | more been laid open to the light of the sun, and re-traversed: by the foot of man.

Pliny the younger has described, in very moving language, | the circumstances of the destruction of Pompeii aud Hereu- laneum. It was in the month of August, in the year 7%. | Pliny was at that time residing with his uncle at Myseenum, the principal station of the Roman fleet. An immeuse cloud |

of smoke and ashes was seen rising toa great height in the |

atmosphere. his cloud bore a marked resemblance in shape to the trunk and branches of a gigantic pine tree, As it was |

impossible, from the distance to Mysaenum, to ascertain the | cause of this extraordinary phenomenon, Pliny the elder, whe

earthquake, the terrible effects of which are recorded by Seneca. A great part of the town was reduced to ruins ; and Herculaneum was likewise considerably injured, Similar alarms, the usual presages of an approaching eruption, were repeated, until the memorable 23:d of August, a.p. 59, when the first recorded yoleanic eruption of Vesuvius occurred, and the catastrophe which we bave related took place.

It was not Java, but showers of stones, cinders, and mud, which overwhelmed Pompeii, These showers poured down ‘continuously for more thaw a week, and much of the matter was deposited in a liquid state. Neither was it by one erup- tion alone that the cities were covered to their present depth. Successive layers are clearly to be traced, and the lowest bears marks of having been moved, whilst the others are untouched—a plain prool that some time elapsed between their deposition, and that the inhabitants had made ex- ecavaticns in search of their more valuable property. The

‘bed of ashes and stone which covered Pompeii varied in

depth from twelve to fourteen feet. j

The resurrection of the buried city took place in the follow- ing wise :— j onaakn ;

“In the year 1689, during some excavations In the plain at the foot of Vesuvius, where subsequently it wis proved that Pompeii had flourisied, a workwan observed the revsulavity with which the successive layers of earth and volcanic mattcy had beew deposited. Le compared them to

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