The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-02 00:00:00

I

opoi°
to
rod

Peninsula. It was stipulated, under the seine treaty,
that thereafter no British settlement should be formed
in the island of Sumatra—no treaty be concluded w ith
any of the native chiefs by British authority—no
establishment be made on the Caremons, on the
islands of Bantam, Bintang, Lingan (by name), "oi
any other islands south of the straits of Singapore;''
—no treaty be concluded, by British authority, with
any of their chiefs respectively. Again—his Bri-
tannic Majesty, on the one hand, withdrawing the
objections which had been taken on our part to the
• occupation of Billiton and its dependencies by the
.agents of the Netherlands' Government, the King of
Rolland on the other, withdrew the objections which
hid been taken to the occupation of Singapore by
British subjects, and engaged for lihnself and subjects,
" never to-form any establishment en any part of the
peniasula of Malacca, or to conc'ode (my treaty with
any native prince, chiti; ,c;'tate therein."
(This stipulation is the more notable, inasmuch as it
is that the spirit and terms of w hich base :een most
direct'y violated by the Dutch authorities, to eccoin-
plish indirectly the of which is thus stated and
disavowed.)
The first article provided that the subjects of the
two nations should be admitted to trade with their
respective *possessions in the Eastern Archipelago, on
the continent of India, and in Ceylon, on the fitoting
of the most favoured nations. Anti by the secon I,
that the subjects and vessels of one nation shall not
pay on importation or exportation, at the ports of the
Other on the eastern seas, any duty at a rate beyond
double that at which the subjects and vessels of the
Nation to which the port belongs are charged. That,
as to any article on which nu duty is imposed when
imported ur exported by subjects or in vessels of the
nation to which the port belongs, the duty charged
on subjects or vessels of the other shall, in no case,
exceed six per cent. Other articles provided that no-
thing should be done to impede a free communication
of natives of the Eastern Archipelago with the ports
of the two Governments respectively.
Second—Let us now see how these conddions hare
been fulfilled on the part of the Dutch. It is needless
to inquire in what way they have been discharged by
ourselves, for no pretence of complaint has been ever
set up by the Dutch ; and, in these cases, they are
never the last to discover themselves aggrieved.
They . retained possession of Rhio, in Bintang,
• al-
ugh affecting to consider it, under their own Go-
rnmeat, a dependency of Dutch Malacca, and
therefore covenanted to be given up to us. They
have—in disregard of previously existing relations of
amity which the British Government had established
with all the States on both sides of the Peninsula,
• and of treaties of commerce which they had concluded
with all the chiefs of the western coact—forced some
of these native Powers to renew obsolete treaties which
had been entered into with the Dutch thirty years
back, and therefore have set up heavy claims under their
provisions. They have thus, too, strengthened the
machinery they have set in motion for subjugating
all Sumatra. They have annihilated the independence
of Acheen, which, hi 1824, they thus pledged them-
selves, by treaty, to maintain. They have established
settlements both in Acheen and Siack, in contraven-
tion of modern existing treaties of those States with
the British Government, in which the former volun-
tarily undertook that no other nation but the latter
should be permitted to do se. They have totally
. contravened the provisions of Articles 1,2, and 4
of the treaty, in many ways. By a proclamation of
the Government of the Netherlands' India (dated
Feb. 14, 1824), it had been among other things de-
creed that all cotton and woollen goods manufactured
hi foreign countries to the west of the Cape of Good
Rope, whether imported in foreign or Netherlands'
bottoms, should, thereafter, pay a duty of 35 per cent.
when imported from any of the foreign settlements
to the eastward of the Cape. Such duty was, ac-
cordingly (though clearly illegal after the treaty of
March, 1824) levied on all cottons and woollens,
British manufactured, imported from Singapore into
any, of the Netherlands' possessions, till the beginning
of 1834, when it was increased to a duty of 70 per
Cent. ! • The same Government passed a resolution,
dain ted 'November 14, 1834,.• effectually prohi-
bitg the importation of British cottons and
woollens from Singapore into any of the
Netherlands' dependencies in the Archipelago, saving
only the ports of Batavia, Semarang, or Sourabaya,
in the island of Java, inasmuch as it declared that
they should not be allowed to be imported at all, unless
accompanied with a certificate from the Comptroller
.49`. Customs at one of those ports, that such goods
had been imported there and re-exported thence.
By this proceeding British cotton and woollen
InanUfactures have been totally excluded from
LL ports in the islands of Sumatra, Banca,
Borneo, and Celebes. Again, the treaty of March,
1824, expressly prohibiting interference with inde-
Pendent native States by either party : the Dutch have
notoriously and unblushingly employed the influence •
Required by their possession of Macassar in Celebes,
" to extend their influence by force and intrigue, to
prevent the Bugis from carrying on their trade with
Slngapore, to the great injury of our commerce."
This is a brief recapitulation of some particulars in
Which the Dutch authorities have nut merely in-
fringed upon, but outraged the treaty of 1824 between
the two Governments. These facts, which are not
'open to controversy, are extracted from the Asiatic
Ewfrom the Pulo-Penang papers, Lieutenant
OLD " Account of the- British Settlements in
the Straits of Malacca," private letters from Penang
and Singapore, the Petition of Merchants and In-
habitants of. Singapore to. the King in Council"
(1837), and very many other documents and parties
7f equal authority and standing. Tempted as we are
(to pursue this subject much further, and to illustrate
as we can easily do) still more forcibly the rapacity
and bad faith of the Netherlande' Government
throughout the whole of these transactions, we are
'willing, on this brief " outline," to appeal to the
Public for a confirmation of our own strong impres-
aion--"that that remedy which our Governments,
send even our Legislature has so long withheld rom
ittlese grievous dishonours to the British name anal
injuries to British Commerce--notwithstanding all
tke remonstrances, warnings, and memorials addressed
bto them, year after
year, and session after session,
y those, whose adoption of the facts must have suf-
ficiently guaranteed the perfect accuracy of the case
thus stated—ought not to be postponed one day after
the re-asembling of Parliament in February next,
beyond that at which the forms of the two Houses
'Will permit it to be organised and promulgated.
v

Ye are authorised to state that the report of the
intended resignation by Sir John Rae Reid of his seat
in Parliament, for this borough, is without foundation.—
th,ver Telegraph.
Oa Saturday afternoon, two porpoises were oh-
served gambolling in the river Thames, at a short dis-
ance from Westminster-bridge, on the north side. The
'Singular novelty' attracted a great crowd of persons.
'Theyinterval;.ere visible for a long while at interval;.
The fail- Town-council of ;Brighton have purchased a
Town-council
portrait of his Grace the Dul,e of Welling-
ton, by Simpson, who 14 upwards of twent
the principal assistant so Sir 'F. Lawrence. T }years was
he portrait
is to be placed in the T,Nwir.ball.'
THE in COAL-WiIIPPERS' ACT.—Yesterday, the Ist
'natant the Coal-whippers' Act came into force. It con-
tains 48 clauses, in eight divisions, in the following or-
der :-1. Government . f co:11-whippers. 2. Coal-
ers' register. 3. Coal-whipp.?rs' offi 4 whip-
Coal-whip-
G. 1, gal proceedings. 7. Coal-
ce. .
Ping. 5. Regulations..Whippers' fund.
8. miseellaneon,.." The Commission.
ers appointed
aro styled o coiumioioners for the Regis-
tr
ndonand Regulation of Coal-whippers in the Port of
It is provided that aft •r the ISt of January,
1844, a registry shall be opened for the registration of
eoal whippers on the
,payment of a fee .1 4,1., of which
register public notice shall be given, as also a warning
to the men to be registcred, or to any other able-
bodied person wishing to follow th , occupation. By
rinother enactment it is declared, • that otter the expi-
registry, it 'shall
ration of one calendar at nth of er the opening of the
a not he lawful for a non-registered
)41-whipper to work in the port of London, the
'°''lY exceptions being actual servants of the owners
'IT purchasers of coals, or the labourers in the docks, or
In eases where an unreasonable demand is made by a
garg• An office is to be established, and the men paid
!'.II uoard, or at the nearest office, the only deduction fur
ITlthe purposes of the Act beh g 4,11 P farthing in every ski--
g. There are vTricus penaltie... prescribed for disobe-
,,,Lence. Rules are to be issued for the guidance of the
,141-whiPl'ers. The Act is to continue in oreration until
rbtiarY. 1846, aul to the end of the then next session
(%.iii" 'Erliaenf. B woke 31St section it is enacted, that it
all be lawful for jor justices before whom
4lity conviction shall take place, it' they or he shall think
,1° wder and direct any part, not . xceeding one-halt;
~,4i,,e fines, penalties, and forfeituref, to be paid or ap-
,l'o7u to or foe the use of the informer or i ifinlners, or
lie:let: persons aiding or assisting in the appre-
-1.1,„41- of the off:n(lr r or offenders, or any of them.
c,"- port of London is, betwLen Lndun-biidge and
wavesend, to Le fixed upon.

THE MAGAZINES.
BLACK IVO OD' S MAGAZINE.
It is curious to see this high-Tory periodical—
this staunch advocate for prerogative—this un-
flinching assertor for years of " the right divine
of. Kings to govern wrong"--now, at length,
t_.iiiig forward and acknowledging that,
" hitherto, the municipal laws and institutions
of this country have been defective, inasmuch as
they have made or little or no provision for the
adequate instruction of the people. Much, no
don In, has been already done, but much still re-
mains to be done." What, is it Maga that thus
insists on the education of the " vulgar" masses,
and alludes without a sneer to the " Great Un-
washed?" Is it Maga that has at last fbund out
that the old " municipal institutions" were de-
fective—she who strenuously resisted every pro-
position their reform when brought tbrward
l.y the Whigs? We look to the title-page, &c.,
of die Magazine to see wiginr we are not in
crror lint no, the grave, but abominably ugly
face of old George Buclianan on the wrapper,
you vinces it,; that there isi "no mistake," and
that Blackwood is really becoming a very re-
spectable Reformer, like the rest of civilized
Inc:utility. What a striking evidence is here
of the irresistible force of public opinion !
Five years ago we should as soon have
thought of seeing this desperate Tory pe-
riodical advocate the education of the people, as
of seeing the Bishop of Exeter play Columbine
in the pantomime. The " State Prosecutions,"
in which the above remark occurs, is, we pre-
sume, the production of a lawyer, or, at any
rate, of one who betrays in every page quite a
nervous anxiety to display his legal lore to ad-
vantage. It is a heavy article, and as dry as a
chip. The " Adventures in Texas" are resumed
this month, which we are glad to see, for the
series abounds in stirring variety of incidents,
which are put together with the dramatic tact of
a practised workman. In the political diatribe,
headed " Position and Prospects of the Govern-
ment," the writer rings the Tory tocsin, and calls
on all his party to organise, so as to neutralise
the influence of the Anti-Corn-law League.
" Let every existing Conservative Club, or As-
sociation," lie says, " be stirred up into increased
action, and put into real working trim fbrthwith."
This is energetic advice, but it is too late. The
vantage ground on which they have stood for
the last two years, is gradually giving way be-
neath the feet of the Conservatives; there is
discord in their councils—vacillation among
their chiefs—distrust and perplexity among their
subordinates—and instead of rallying or organis-
ing, they are far more likely to split into sections,
each of whom' will make a point of keeping
jealously aloof from the other. With their great
opponent, the League, on the other hand, all
is strict combination—strenuous, •persevering
action. Every move they make is as nicely
calculated as the moves on a chess-board.
They sound their way with the utmost precau-
tion—heave the lead so as to keep clear of shoal-
water. Hence their extraordinary success, which
is the natural result of boldness chastened by
judgment. In the present chapters of " Mars-
ton, or the Memoirs of a Statesman," we have
some life-like sketches of the advance of the
allied armies upon France under the Duke of
Brunswick, together with a portait of that
Quixotic republican, Lafayette, after his deser-
tion of his own troops. The Duke is painted in
far too flattering colours, for he had little more
of the soldier about him than his uniform, and
with all his resources was never able for any
length of time to make successful head against
the raw French conscripts. The " New Art of
Printing" is a whimsical quiz upon the present
mania for illustration, wherein it is ironically re-
commended that artists should be everywhere
substituted for authors, and that novels,
politics, reviews, &c., should be engraved in-
stead of written. The " Banking-house" is now
brought to a close, appropriately winding up
with the crash of Mr. Allcraft's establishment,
his own utter ruin, and subsequent fall in a duel,
where he received ample " satisfaction" right
through the centre of the brain! His last inter-
view with his clerk is worth quoting-, and we'give
it accordingly :

" 1)o not take on so, my dear Sir,' said Barrage,
running to him. ' Pray, be calm. lam sure you are
unwell. You have been ill for some time. You
should see a doctor--although I am very much afraid
that your disease is beyond their cure—in truth I am.'
" Burrage,' said Michael in a whisper, and still
sighing convulsively—' It is all over. It is finished.
Prepare for the crash—look to your own safety.
Hide yourself from the gaze of men. It will strike
us all dead.'

" You frighten me, Mr. Allcraft—you are really
very ill. Your brain is over-worked—you want a
little repose and recreation.'

" Yes, you are right Burrage—the recreation of
a gaol—the repose of a tomb. We will have one, at
least—yes, one—and I have made the selection.
" Have you heard any bad news to-day, Sir ?'
" None—excellent news to-day. No more hopes
and fears—no alarms—no lying and knavery—eternal
peace now, and not eternal wretchedness.'
" ' Had you not better leave the bank, Mr. Allcraft,
and go home ? Your hands are burning hot. You
are in a high fever.'
" Put up the shutters—put up the shutters,'
muttered Michael, more to himself than to his clerk.
Write bankrupt on the door—write it in large letters
—in staring capitals--that the children may read the
word, and know why they are taught to curse me.
You hear me, Burrage
" I hear what you say, Sir, but Ido not under-
stand you. You want rest—you are excited.'
" I tell you, Burrage, I amquiet--I never was
so quiet—never sounder in body and mind. Will
you refuse to listen to the truth ? Man,' he con-
tinued, raising his voice and looking the clerk steadily
in the face, lam ruined—a beggar. The bank is
at its last gasp. The doors are closed to-night--
never to be re-opened.'
" God forbid, Sir ?'
" Why io ?—would you drive me mad ? Am I
to have no peace—no rest ?AmCto be devoured,
eaten away by anxiety and trouble ? Have you no
human blood—no pity for me ? Are you as selfish
as the rest ?'

" it possible, Sir ?'
"' It is the truth. But speak not of it. I will
have your life if you betray me until the event tells
its own tale. We close the door to night, to open it
rr.) more. You hear the words. They are very simple
words. Why do you stare so, as if you could'nt
guess their meaning ?'
" Oh—l have dreaded this—l have suspected it!'
said Burrage, wringing his hands ; but it has always
seemed impossible. Poor Mr. Allcrait t'

" Poor !' exclaimed Michael. Do you begin
already ? Do you throw it in my teeth so soon ?
You are in the right, man—go with the stream—
taunt me—spit in my face—trample me in the dust !' "

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.
The most attractive feature in this -month's
Misc, flatly • is decidedly Mr. Murray's " Phy-
siology of London Lite." The theme leas been
often discussed, but it is one of those few of which
we may say with truth that it is inexhaustible..
For London is not a mere wealthy capital of
vast dimensions, but an epitome of the whole
world. It has its races—its tribes—its colonies
—cad' of which
_is as distinct from the other,
and has as little in common with it, as the
Yankee has with the Red Indian. Moreover, it
has its strictly defined boundary lines which
separate the regions of civilisation from those of
barbarism; and we firmly believe that the inha-
bitant of Belgrave-square knows less of the
manners, tastes, habits, &c., of the half-savage
mountaineers Of Islington or Brixton-hill, than
lie knows of the usages of the Esquimaux. It
k not ten years since Mr. Croker publicly con-
fessed his ignorance of the geography of Rus-
sell-square ; and the progress of northern dis-
covery has been so tardy since that period, that
we believe even now the latitude and longitude
of this all but terra incognita are not correctly
ascertained. We once heard of a man of fitshion
%dm by accident found his way into it, and when
some hours after he returned to his acquaintances
at the Carlton, and described the impression
made on him by the singular appearance of the
natives, it was considered a miracle that he
had escaped the scalping-knife and the toma-
hawk. Many books have been written on " Ger-
many and the Germans," " Italy and the
Itahtins," " Ireland and the Irish," but we think
a work on " Islington and the Islingtonians"
would be far more curious and novel, revealing,
as it would do, primitive modes of life, costume, •
tastes, and prejudices, of which the hishionable
West-end luis little or no conception. To say
nothing of other striking differences, midnight at
Islington is high•noon at Belgrave-square; and
when the civilised denizens of the latter locality
are just sitting down to dinner, the unsophisti-
cated tribes of the former have concluded their
slipper, and are journeying bed-ward. Mr.
Murray, who writes so well about London and
its suburbs, should take this theme in hand. We.
know quite enough about Africa, and it is high
time we should know something of that un-
travelled district lying eastward of Gray's Inn-
lane, or of the still more remote region
of Brixton, which among other primitive
luxuries, rejoices in the'comtorts of a treadmill.
The " Fortunes of the Scattergood Family" opens
with a lively sketch of the Essex marshes, and it
journey in a night-waggon from Romford to
London. The author is Albert Smith, who always
writes best when he relies on his own resources,

and does not imitate Boz. The illustrations by
Leech are excellent. The " Genuine Remains
of William Little" is to us wholly unintelligible.
It is well-timed, however, forming, as it does, an►
agreeable Christm.ts puzzle. In the "Fish-
street Catastrophe" the denouement is too long
delayed, and the poem frequently hangs fire.
The '' Gaol Chaplain" contains a narrative of a
" Banker's Clerk," which is supposed to he re-
lated by a policeman. The story is ably told,
particularly that portion of it which refers to the
Castlereagh spy-system. The observations, which
we subjoin, on head-waiters, &c., are from an en-
tertaininr article entitled " The London Hotel-
keeper :"

" Among the memorabilia of hotels is the übiquity
and insonmolency of head waiters. At all hours of
• the day and night these wretched creatures are
primed for service. The family which returns of
t)ur from a ball, or the family which rises at five to
start on a journey, finds them equally alert, after
having waited at all the tables, and slaved after all the
rings of all the bells the preceding day. It may
be doubted, indeed, whether they behold their beds
throughout the season,—a slight ablution or change
of wig, being their utmost refreshment. Hence the
curious weazoned old-boyish air of this peculiar and
much enduring race of men, compelled to curtsy and
submission to as many masters as the toad lying under
the harrow, when ' ilka tooth gave her a tug 1" Be
it not supposed that we have aught to urge against
the venerable dignity of the Clarendon, or the modern
refinements of Mivart's Apartment des Princes.
These, and many others, are excellent after their
kind. Moreover, if people choose to be victimized
by a hotel-keeper, the act and deed is their own. We
are ready to attest that, when an Irish peer adduced
to a Brook-street hotel-keeper a charge of three-and-
sixpence a-bottle for soda-water in a former bill as a'
reason for having betaken himself elsewhere, mine
host urbanely replied, Your Lordship ought to have
told me what you intended to give. When properly
arranged with, I can charge as reasonably as anybody.'
What can an hotel-keeper say more ?
" But for this highway and byway robbery during
the harvest of the season, how, in fact, could the
hotel-keeper enable himself to get through the autumn,
when his house might just as well be closed as her
Majesty's theatres, for any moneys taken at the
doors? Saving painters and white-washers, not a
soul crosses his threshold ; unless, now and then,
some skinflint of a dowager, on her way through
London from Broadstairs to her dower-house in some
midland county, who saving for the sops of her parrot,
and the board of her maid, expends not a sixpence in •
the hotel ;—or a brace of tender parents conveying
some young hopeful to Eton, and spending four and-
twenty reluctant hours in London, for a preparatory
visit to the dentist. For six or eight: months, in short,
every caravanserai stands empty as the heads of the
honourables and lordlings who frequent it in May
and July; its kitchen-range rusting; its curtains and
hangings being required to down with their dust,'
instead of its customers. Nevertheless, rent, taxes,
and waiters, must be paid as regularly as if the
hotel-keeper were not taking his pleasure at Rams-
gate, and his customers at three hundred miles dis-
tance. And how is this to be effected, we should
like to know, unless by charging three-and-sixpence
a bottle for soda-water while the sun shines, and the
town is crowded ?"

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE,

We expected more entertainment from the
reminiscences of' " Prince Talleyrand " than we
have met with. One or two of the anecdotes
related of him are good—especially the hoax
which he played off on an impertinent provincial
functionary, who had visited him at his country
seat,Valencay ; but altogether the article wears the
appearance ofhaving been manufactured expressly
to order, and if' we are not mistaken, the Prince's
account of his-own melodramatic adventure with
a friend of his in America, who suddenly went
mad, and as suddenly conceived the project of
his assassination, has already appeared in print.
However, the article has some redeeming points;
the incidental sketches of the chateau of
Valencay arid its aristocratic inmates are neatly
hit off; and those who are not very exacting as
regards quality of anecdote, but are satisfied with
mere superficial gossip, will be pleased with it.
And here, while on the subject of Talleyrand,
we cannot refrain from expressing our surprise
that no authentic memoir has yet been published
of this extraordinary man. The materials must
surely be abundant and accessible without much
difficulty, for rrom the time when, as Bishop
of Autun, he solemnly consecrated the revolu-
tionary banners at the first celebrated meet-

ng. at the Champ de Mars, down to the

period of his last 'visit to England as French
Ambassador, he was constantly before the pub-
lic—now holding office under the Directory—
now concerting with Citizen Bonaparte the
Eighteenth Brumaire—now conducting the most
important diplomatic business of the Consulate
and the Empire—now plotting the overthrow of
the latter and time restoration of the Monarchy—
and now, his last tortuous achievement, figuring
as one of the chief confidential advisers of the
King of the Barricades. The private life of this
slippery and successful politician, who bade de-
fiance to the caprice of Fortune, and even made
her his obsequious tool—his Slave of time Lamp,
could of course only be written by a friend, but
his public life is the history of his times, and
might th(A-efore be written efficiently by any one
flimiliar with that stormy epoch. Mr. Alison,
we think, would acquit himself of the task with
great success. The " The Court of Cupid" is an
ingenious idea whose skilful working-out will re-
commend it to all lovers of light reading. Lady
Londonderry, we see, contributes " A Narrative
of her Visit to the Court of Vienna," and im-
presses us with a vivid idea of the conversa-
tional talents of Prince Metternich. We have
been amused by the following touch of aristo-
cratic prejudice :—" Five o'clock dinners," says
the Marchioness, " are to me very disagreeable;
they entirely cut up and destroy the day, and
are extremely inconvenient to persons who like
a long morning." In our old-thshioned simpli-
city we had forgotten that a West-end London
morning- does not commence till two P.M., and
that midnight occurs about the time when
,we are busy with our breakfast. But we have
one comfort—it is never too late to amend

the error of one's notions. "Barak Johnson" is
a tragic narrative, told vigorously and unaffectedly
by Miss Strickland. The illustration that accom-
panies it, is too exaggerated in expression. The
murderer does not look as if be were bent on dis-

patching his victim to the capacious bosom of
Abraham, but simply as if he were making wry
faces under the influence of a brisk dose of Epsom
salts. " A Visit to Rousseau's Residence, Les
Charmettes," has one besetting fault—namely,
that it takes too favourable a view of the charac-
ter of this maudlin, vicious sentimentalist, who
did more to corrupt his age and that which im-
mediately succeeded it, than any dozen authors of
his time. We 'bar we shall shock the prejudices of
many of our readers, when we state our deliberate
conviction that Rousseau never had a healthy,
natural feeling in his life. He was that meanest
of creatures, a selfish, whining egotist, and 'we
trace much of his malign influence in the earlier
writings of Byron, and the rhapsodical bursts of
Hazlitt. " People when at Route" exhibits, in
a satirical, but not ill-natured spirit, the difference
between a family circle made up for company,
and the same family when alone in the retire-
ment of their sitting-room. Mr. Poole's essay
on " Gentility—Vulgarity" reminds us of some
of Steele's best essay's in the " Tatler." We sub-
join Miss Cook's " Song of the Winter Tree,"
chiefly for the adroit and ready manner in which
the moral application is brought.in in the closing
stanza : •

What a happy life was mine when the sunbeams used
to twine
Like golden threads about my summer suit ;
'hen my warp and woof of green let enough of light
between,

Just to dry the dew that ling‘rcd ut my root.
" What troops of friends I had when my form was richly
clad,

And I was fair 'mid fairest things of earth !
Good company came round, and I heard no rougher
sound

Than Childhood's laugh in bold and leaping mirth.
" The old man sat him down to note my emerald crown,
And rest beneath my branches thick and bright ;
The squirrel on my spray kept swinging all the day,
And the song birds chattered to me through the night,
" The dreaming poet laid his soft harp in my shade,
And sung my beauty, chorussed by the bee;
The village maiden came to read her own dear name,
Carved on my bark, and bless the broad green tree.

" The merry music breathed, while the bounding dancers
wreathed

In mazy windings round my giant stem ;
And the joyous words they poured, as they trod the
chequQred sward,
Told the green tree was a worshipped thing by them.
" Oh, what troops of friends I had, to mako my strong
heart glad,

What kind ones answerad to my rustling call
I was hailed with smiling praise, in the glowing summer
days,

And the beautiful green tree was loved by all.
"But the bleak wind wind hath swept by, and the gray
cloud dimmed the sky,
My latest leaf has left my inmost bough ;
I creak in grating tones, like the skeleton's bleached
bones,
And not a footstep seeks the old tree now.
" I stand at morning's dawn, the cheerless and forlorn ;
The sunset comes and finds me still alone ;
The mates who shared my bloom have left me in my
gloom ;
Birds, poet, dancers, children—all are gone.