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my poor master!" This old lady was the servant of Skovronski.

Catherine turned pale at this sad intelligence, and inquired, "Have you, then, left him there without help?"

The officer bade her follow him, and he soon introduced her into the General's tent. She threw herself at Scheremetief's feet, and with her uplifted hands, exclaimed, “A grace, General! for pity's sake, a grace!”

"What does the child want?" inquired the General of the officer.

"She wishes to speak to you."

"It is true," replied Catherine, "I have learned that my father and protector is among the dead. Dear Pastor Skovronski! The favor I ask is, to be allowed to seek for his body, that it may be properly buried."

The tone of her voice was so peculiar, and her countenance so commanding, yet so ingenuous, that the General was moved at the sight of her youth and courage, and said, "The camp is situated outside of the walls; if I grant your request, what guarantee shall I have that you will not try to escape?"

"My word!" replied Catherine, innocently.

'Go, then," said the General; "but remember your promise to return, for you belong to me."

On leaving the tent, she soon met the pastor's old servant. "Come," said she, taking her hand, "show me the place where you saw him fall."

The night was dark, and it was with difficulty they could see their way. They soon came upon a field covered with the bodies of the slain, while the cries that arose told that many were still alive. It was, indeed, a scene of horror. It was dark, and how could she distinguish her benefactor? Soon a soldier appeared with a lantern, which he kindly offered her, but advising her to discontinue her search till morning. This she at once declined.

"But," said the brave soldier, "you are not formed to be a slave, though a General may be your master. You are now beyond the camp; no person can see you. Fly! If you want money, here it is."

"With your friends," replied Catherine"with your little Catherine."

A little cordial being administered, he revived and was soon carried home on a litter. His wounds were dressed, and all possible assistance rendered to the wounded pastor. Catherine was overjoyed to see her dearest friend so comfortable.

The old man had learned that his dear child was a prisoner, and this grieved him much.

"It is all right," said Catherine. "If I had not been taken a prisoner, I should not have been carried before the General, and would have missed seeing your servant, who told me of your death; and, had I not seen her, I should never have thought of seeking for you on the battle-field."

"Now," said Catherine, “my dear benefactor, bless me, your poor child, for I must leave you."

"Go, my child, go," said the old man in a solemn voice; "do your duty and God will bless you."

Catherine kissed the lips of the old man, and exclaimed, “Adieu, my father! adieu !" and left the house.

As she entered the tent of the General, she met the young soldier who presented her with the lantern in the battle-field, and who now kindly presented her to the General.

"What! have you returned!" said the General on seeing her. "I feared that I should not see you again."

"I gave you my word," was her brief reply. "What shall I do with her?" inquired the General, addressing himself to the soldier.

"Make her my wife-the wife of a soldier! She is born for it! Well, what say you, my child?" added he, turning to Catherine, who seemed quite bewildered.

"I say, replied she, hesitating, "my choice is not difficult; I would rather be the wife of a soldier than the slave of a General."

"Bravo! Catherine! from this moment you belong to me."

The soldier arose, and beckoning to Catherine to follow him, he left the tent. "Do you know who I am, Catherine?" said he, as they walked together away.

"No; but you said you wished to be my husband."

"True; but do you know my rank in the army?"

"It matters not," said Catherine; you cannot

suppose I am proud—a child without family, without name."

"You are content, then, to link your destiny with mine?" taking her by the hand.

"Yes," replied Catherine; "I like you because you have been kind to me, poor child that I am."

The soldier stopped before a tent more elevated than the rest. "This is the tent of the Czar,"

said he; "remain where you are. It is right that I should ask his permission to marry you."

Catherine had waited but a few minutes, when a young officer, advancing, said, "The Czar wishes to see you."

On entering the tent, she saw a large number of officers, in the centre of whom she immediately recognized the young soldier, her companion. “Where is the Czar ?” inquired Catherine of the officer.

"There," said he, pointing to the soldier who was seated.

"There? That is my husband!"

"He is thy husband and the Czar likewise, Catherine," said the Emperor of Russia. "How astonished you appear! Does the news grieve you! Does my title prevent you from loving me!"

"I loved you as a soldier," said ehe; "I will also love you as an Emperor. The Czar arose, and taking the hand of the young orphan, presented her to his officers as the future Empress of Russia.

Here closes the thread of fiction in our story. After their marriage, the Emperor placed her in a private dwelling in the city of Moscow, where she received every attention becoming her position. She was lovely and beautiful. She loved to do good and to make others happy around her. She was intelligent, cheerful, amiable, and benevolent. "No doubt Peter the Great saw that she was precisely the woman who could share his enthusiasm, and sympathize in his plans. The obscurity of her birth was no obstacle to him; he had absolute power to raise her to the loftiest condition in his empire."

Though surrounded with the honors of royalty, she did not forget the pastor of Marienberg. She loved him still and did what she could to cheer his last hours. He never recovered from his wounds, and survived but a short time. His end was peace. Catherine mourned over his departure, and sighed that one she had loved most of all on earth was now no more.

She often accompanied the Emperor in his journeys through his empire, and frequently at

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tended him in his military campaigns. In 1711, when Peter was at war with the Turks, by her extraordinary skill and superior judgment, she saved the life of the Emperor, and saved the army from being destroyed or taken prisoners. Peter caused the event to be commemorated by a display of magnificence unusual for him; and in the declaration he issued we find these words: "She has been of the greatest assistance to us in all our dangers, and particularly in the battle of Pruth."

She was blessed with two children, one of which-a son-died when a child. The othera daughter became Empress of Russia.

On the eighteenth of May, 1723, Peter the Great placed the crown, with great pomp, upon the head of Catherine. His health was now ra pidly declining. Catherine attended him constantly. January 28, 1725, he breathed his last, being only in his forty-fourth year.

Catherine sustained the title of Empress with great dignity, and was greatly beloved by her subjects. Her reign was short. She survived her husband about two years, and expired May 27, 1727, at the age of thirty-eight.

MARRIAGE. The following are the opinions of two prominent ladies upon the subject of marriage:

Marriage is to woman a state of slavery. It takes from her her own property, and makes her submissive in all things to her husband.”—Lucy Stone.

Marriage a state of slavery! Aye, but the bonds are silken and easily worn. Marriage is the sanctifier of love-an institution which acknowledges the right of woman to be protected, and the duty of man to protect her. The offices of wife and mother are not those of slaves. What higher destiny beneath the skies than to instruct the infant mind to thoughts of purity! What holier mission than to soothe the turbid torrents of man's passions by a word-a look-a smile! It is to woman that this work is given. Woman, in her vocation, may cheer the tired spirit, may lend hope to the desponding, may whisper love to the lonely--while man may toil, and traffic, aud fuss, and fret, and grow savage. Who would exchange places with him!"-Ella Wentworth.

VERY PARTICULAR." Where is the hoe, Sambo?" "Wid de rake, massa. 99 "Well, where is the rake!" "Wid de hoe." "But where are both?" "Why bof together. I golly, old massa, you 'pears to be berry 'tickler dis mornin!"

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OUR second and third engravings present in pleasant contrast two beautiful cottage designs. In this age of taste and comfort, we are pleased with the useful as well as the ornamental. We here subjoin a description of each.

Italian Cottage.-The design of this cottage is simple yet expressive, and is of the modified Italian style; a style which, with its broad, overhanging, bracketed roof (sheltering thoroughly the walls from the weather) and pleasing piazzas, is peculiarly adapted to our northern climate; and while there is nothing difficult or expensive in the construction of the various details, its bold projecting roofs and bay-windows give character to the exterior. It is intended to meet the requirements and exigencies of a small family, and simple and inexpensive as it is, it contains more of the real essentials that a house should possess, than many that have cost double the sum.

Drawing room, 15 by 20, with a large semioctagonal bay-window, surrounded with a piazza, affording an agreeable accompaniment. At the end the greenhouse or conservatory is entered by means of a sliding sash-door; and to add to the effect produced, a fountain of pleasing proportions might, with great taste, be introduced. The dining room is 15 by 20, also provided with a bay-window, and contains a good closet. The bay-windows (the semi-octagonal being carried up in second floor) form very striking features in this design, and the result is not altogether unpleasant.

The basement contains a good sized kitchen, with its several adjuncts of pantry, closets, &c., a cellar, laundry, and store-room, all sufficiently lighted; the kitchen being almost above ground, owing to the surface on this side falling off sufficiently for the purpose.

The second floor contains three bed-rooms, a bath-room, water-closet, and several closets, those indispensable attachments to every country-house. In the attic we have two bed-rooms, large open attic, closets, and cistern.

All the rooms are quite large, adequately ventilated, and showing a very convenient and compact arrangement; one where comfort and good effect are combined to a very considerable degree; no flimsy ornamentation or filigree work enters in the slightest degree into this composi

tion. All is plain, simple, and expressive, as a cottage should be.

Circular House.-This circular house, in many respects quite original in its plan, has recently been erected by Enoch Robinson, Esq., at Spring Hill, Somerville, Mass. No timber has been used in its construction. The walls are made of plank, sawed on a circle of forty feet, (the diameter of the house,) and nailed together, one above the other, in regular courses. The windows are made of four large panes of glass, in a single sash, which slides up into the wall, entirely out of the way. The inside blinds are arranged in the same

manner.

The oval parlor is twenty-four feet long, by fifteen feet wide. The circular library, opposite, is thirteen feet in diameter, leaving a fine front entry between these two curves. The kitchen next the circular library, has a slate floor and walls of varnished white-wood. Between the kitchen and the large dining-room is the chimney, and the kitchen and dining-room closets, so arranged as to occupy very little room.

On the second floor are seven chambers, two of them quite large, all opening into a pleasant rotunda, thirteen feet in diameter, beneath the central sky-light.

Wingfield Castle.—Our fourth engraving is a view of Wingfield Castle, about six miles northeast of Eye, in Suffolk, England.

This was the seat of an ancient family, who, as it is supposed, took their name from the place, It afterwards passed into the hands of that which makes such a striking figure in the page of English history. In the collegiate church was buried, in 1450,

"The Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole," to whom, in conjunction with Beaufort, Cardinal of Winchester, was attributed the murder of the good Duke Humphrey of Gloucester. Shakspeare, in his Second Part of Henry the Sixth, not only describes Suffolk and Beaufort

"As guilty of Duke Humphrey's timeless death," but paints in vivid colors the shocking end of both these noblemen, and particularly the terrors of a guilty conscience in the case of Beaufort, who

"Dies and makes no sign."

Close upon this horrid deed followed Suffolk's tragical and untimely fate. Having been accused of high treason, and, that charge failing, of divers misdemeanors, the public hatred pressing heavily upon him, he was sentenced by King Henry the Sixth to five years' banishment. Having, in consequence, quitted his castle at Wingfield and embarked at Ipswich, intending to sail for France, he was intercepted in his passage by a hired captain of a vessel, seized in Dover roads, and beheaded "on the long-boat's side." His head and body, being thrown into the sea, were cast upon the sands, where they were found, and brought to Wingfield for interment. His duchess was Alice, daughter and heiress of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer.

The castle, represented in the engraving, was thus distinguished for noble, but, doubtless, often turbulent inmates. It stands low, without any earthworks for its defence. The south front,

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which is the principal entrance, is still entire, and the west side is a farm-house. The arms of De la Pole, with those of Wingfield, cut in stone, remain on each side of the gateway.

"GEMS BY THE WAY-SIDE," is the name of an admirable work which well sustains its title. The short and pithy articles by different authors, choice fragments of thought, rich anecdotes, and thrilling stories are the "sparkling gems" which compose this work. It contains a vast amount of valuable and useful knowledge, and is worthy of a place in the select library or on the centre table of the parlor. It is published by R. T. Young, 140 Fulton Street. In our July number we inserted, by permission of the publisher, the picture of the Sea of Galileo. It is with great pleasure that we now present to our readers four more of the beautiful engravings from this work with the accompanying sketch of each:

GIBRALTAR.-This celebrated fortress is situated on the western side of Mount Calpe, one of the far-famed pillars of Hercules, which, springing abruptly from the sea, rears its majestic head to the height of 1,439 feet above the waves that break upon its base.

It was fortified by Tarek, a Moorish General, in the eighth century. In 1462, it was recovered from the Moors by the Spaniards, by whom it was retained till 1704, when, being poorly defended by 150 men, it was assailed and captured by the combined forces of the Dutch and English, numbering about 2,000 strong, and assisted by a numerous fleet.

In 1717 it was besieged by about 20,000 men for the space of six months; but a peace was concluded, which ended the siege, leaving St. George's cross still floating above the ramparts. From 1789 to 1792, for about three years and

From Dix's "Madeira."

six months, great efforts were put forth by the Spanish assisted by the French, to regain it. On Sept. 12, 1786, the besieging army amounted to about 40,000 men. The Spanish queen seated herself on a rock in the rear, and declared she would never leave it until the Spanish flag waved over Gibraltar. General Elliott informed her that he would relieve her from any inconvenience that might result from her determination, and accordingly hoisted the Spanish flag, with the British ensign above it. The efforts of the besiegers were in vain, and the fortress of Gibraltar is still the resting-place of the British Lion.

FUNCHAL. In the rear of the city of Funchal, only two miles from the beach, stands the Church of "Our Lady of the Mountain," 1,800 feet above the city. It lies over a pavement shut in