Star.
London, England, 1823-10-20 00:00:00

A COUNTRY WEDDING.

Oh! them is musk In the bolls
From yonder noisy steeple pealing,
That sweetly o'er the spirit swells,
And wakes the deepest chords of feeling!
It is not that this twilight hour
Blends softly with their melting ton.;
Their's is a deeper, holier power.
Whose echo's In the heart alone!
There's music in that merry voice.
The voice of peasants wild and high,
That bids the listener's idol rejoice,
And share in all their revelry!
It is not that those sounds proclaim
Some boastful conqueror's vain parade;
They swell not now the pomp of Fame.
They hail no gorgeous cavalcade!
But, oh! they bear a mightier charm
Than shouts of triumph can express;
They spring from hearts with feeling entrant_
Each voice a yoke of happiness !
There's an olerflowing tide of gladness
Tonight in all we bear and see;
A moment's passing dream of madness,
The heart's delirious jubilee !
Who reeks, amid a life like this,
Of future grief, or toit, or pain ?
To-morrow shall dissolve the bliss,
And Care and Reason wake again !
And it may be that yonder chime.
Which spoke to-day of hearts delighted►
May sadly tell in after-time.
That death those beans has disunited !
It may be—but away, away !
Forebodings dark, and dreams of sorrow !
Let Mink and Music reign to-day,
And Reason's voice be beard to-morrow !
I would not, with most rage advice.
Dispel chid momentary fever;
For oh ! she world were Paradise.
Couhisuch delirium last for ever !

BURNS AND FERGUSON.

Everybody is aware that poor Ferguson's literary
cafeer was as.brief as it was brilliant—that he early be-
came the victim of insanity, and breathed his last sigh
in a public asylum in the city of Edinburgh, attended
only by his widowed mother, herself a poor and unpro-
tected female. His funeral, too, was of the humblest
description; and year after year the grass waived rank
and green orer his grave, without even a simplethlongh
stone being created to distintnish the spot, and implore
the " passing tribute of a sigh." In this state matters
remained until Robert Burns, himself a literary adven-
turer, and as yet scarcely raised above the situation of a
CGMMOII ploughman, paid a visit to the Canongate
Church-said; and the reader may easily guess with
w bat feelings he contemplated the insult thus offered to
the memo] y of an author who, like Yorick, had often
set the table in a roar, and to,whose beautiful poem of
the Farmer's Ingle we ate probably indebted in a great
measure fur the Cotter's Saturday Night. Far, however,
from contenting himself with a newspaper paragraph,
setting forth the ingratitude of the age, and proposing
a public subscription, he immediately ordered a tomb-1
stone to be erected at his own cost and charge—a meH
morial which he adorned with an inscription partly
borrowed from Gray, and so well known to our readers,
that we need not repeat it here. In all the lives of
Burns, this circumstance, so creditable to his feelings as
a Man and a poet, is brought prominently forward ; and
if any evidence were wanted of the fact, that evidence
now lies before us, in the shape of the original account
rendered by the architect who erected the monument.
This account is dated June 23d, 1789, and is accompa-

nied by a post-letter, addressed—" Mr. Robert Burns,
Farmer, Mauchline." The writer, Mr. Robert Burn,
appears to have been intimate with the poet, and, after
apologising for the delay that had taken place in erect-
ing the " head-stone," he facetiously says, " I shall be
happy to receive orders of a like nature for as many
more of your friends that have gone hence as you please."
The following is a literal copy of the account :
Mr. Robert Bursts
1789 To J. and R. Burn.
Ante 23-44 Feet Polished Craigleith Stone for a Head
Stone for Robert Ferguson, at Is. £2 14 0
19 feet 9 inches dble. Base Moulding, at Is. 6d. 0 16 0
4 Large Iron Cramps - 0 2 10
2 Stunts to set the Bose on at U. • 0 2 0
320 Letters on Ditto,st Ss. . • 1 5 8
Lead, and Setting up Ditto - 0 5 0
Grave Digger's dues . - , 0 4 6
............a.....arS 10 0,

COVENTRY, OCTOU 134—At the City Sessions, at
this place, an appeal came on this day, before WILLIAM
PRAM Esq. Steward, to be determined, of thegredtest
importance to Canal Companies, and the whole agricul-
tural interest of the kingdom. It was prosecuted
the Oxford Canal Company, against a rate for the
lief of the poor, made by the parish of Sow. In this rite
the Company were assessed at 80/. on an income of
16001. arising from the profits made in that parish from
their towing-path, and the land used in their canal, and
their tolls and duties. The grounds of the appeal were,
Ist, that tolls of a canal were not rateable as profits of
land ; 2dly, if they were, that part of the tolls in ques-
tion were sornpet.satiou tonnages, payable in gross, for
passing out of the Oxford into the Grand Junction, and
vice versa, without respect to the distance the coals or
goods were conveyed on the Canal : and Sdly, that the
Company were rated at the actual amount of their
profii hereaa the ; -of land in the parish ver