The voice of thunder, power to speak of Him
Eternally-bidding the lip of man

Keep silence, and upon thy rocky altar pour
Incense of awe-stricken praise.

And who can dare

To lift the insect trump of earthly Hope,
Or Love, or Sorrow,-mid the peal sublime
Of thy tremendous hymn ?-E'en Ocean shrinks
Back from thy brotherhood, and his wild waves
Retire abashed.-For he doth sometimes seem
To sleep like a spent labourer, and recall
His weary billows from their vexing play,
And lull them in a cradle calm ;-but thou,
With everlasting, undecaying tide,

Dost rest not, night or day.

The morning stars,

When first they sang o'er young Creation's birth,
Heard thy deep anthem—and those wreaking fires
That wait th' Archangel's signal to dissolve
The solid Earth, shall find Jehovah's name
Graven, as with a thousand diamond spears,
On thy unfathomed page. Each leafy bough,
That lifts itself within thy proud domain,
Doth gather greatness from thy living spray,
And tremble at the baptism. Lo! yon birds,
Do venture boldly near, bathing their wing
Amid thy foam and mist.-'Tis meet for them
To touch thy garment's hem,—or lightly stir
The snowy leaflets of thy vapour-wreath,-
Who sport unharmed upon the fleecy cloud,
And listen at the gates of Heaven,
Without reproof. But, as for us, it seems
Scarce lawful with our broken tones to speak
Familiarly of thee. Methinks, to tint
Thy glorious features with our pencil's point
Or woo thee to the tablet of a song,
Were profanation.

Thou dost make the soul

A wondering witness of thy majesty ;

And while it rushes with delirious joy

To tread thy vestibule, dost chain its steps,
And check its rapture, with the humbling view
Of its own nothingness-bidding it stand
In the dread presence of th' Invisible,

As if to answer to its God through thee.
Hartford, Conn.

L. H. SIGOURNEY.

This will no doubt hereafter become a place of great resort for invalids, as the health of such is generally observed to improve immediately on coming here. If any place in the country is peculiarly propitious for the recovery and preservation of health, this is the place.

During the winter months, though there are so many visitors, they are generally such as are passing through the region on business, and stay only a short time. Frequently however, parties from Buffalo, Lockport, Rochester, Canandaigua, and other places, visit the Falls by sleighing; and after spending a day or two, go away enraptured with the

scene.

Many visitors err greatly in their calculation in regard to the time which they ought to spend here. They come hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles to view the Falls, and then hurry away before they have had time to get any very full or distinct impression of the scene, or to visit one-fifth of the interesting points, from which the Falls and rapids ought to be viewed. The object of the visit is thus in a great measure lost. Visitors should make their calculations, in the summer especially, to spend at least a week.

Persons who spend some time at the Falls, will find several places in the vicinity, on both sides of the river, worthy a special visit. Eleven miles south, on the American side, is the village of Tonawanda, from which there is a ferry across to White Haven on Grand Island; proceeding eleven miles further, you pass through Black Rock to Buffalo and

Lake Erie. One mile below the Falls, is Point View, so called; one mile further you find the Mineral Spring; one mile further the Whirlpool; half a mile further, the Devil's Hole; eight miles from the Falls, the village of the Tuscarora Indians; seven miles, Lewiston village, where the steamboats from Lake Ontario receive passengers; seven miles below Lewiston is the village of Youngstown, and one mile further, Fort Niagara, standing on the border of Lake Ontario.

From the Falls on the Canada side, one mile south brings you to the burning spring; two and a half miles to Chippewa battle ground and village; twenty miles through the village of Waterloo to Fort Erie near Lake Erie. From the Falls north, one mile brings you to Lundy's Lane, where the battle of Bridgewater was fought; three and a half miles to the Whirlpool; six and a half to Queenston Heights and Brock's Monument; seven miles to Queenston village, opposite Lewiston; and fourteen miles to the village of Niagara and Fort George. Eight miles from the Falls west, is the "Deep Cut," so called, of the Welland Canal, a place much visited in the summer. To carry you to any or all these places, carriages can always be had at a few moments' notice on either side of the river.

CONCLUSION OF PRESIDENT DWIGHT'S ACCOUNT.

"The emotions, excited by the view of this stupendous scene, are unutterable. When the spectator contemplates the enormous mass of water, pouring from so great a height, in sheets so vast, and with a force so amazing; when, turning his eye to the flood beneath, he beholds the immense convulsion of the mighty mass, and listens to the majestic sound which fills the heavens; his mind is overwhelmed by thoughts too great, and by impressions too powerful, to permit the current of the intellect to flow with

serenity. The disturbance of his mind resembles that of the waters beneath him. His bosom swells with emotions never felt, his thoughts labour in a manner never known, before. The conceptions are clear and strong, but rapid and tumultuous. The struggle within is discovered by the fixedness of his position, the deep solemnity of his aspect, and the intense gaze of his eye. All these impressions are heightened by the slowly ascending volumes of mist, rolled and tossed into a thousand forms with the varying blast,—and by the splendour of the rainbows successively illuminating their bosom. At the same time he cannot but reflect that he is surveying the most remarkable object on the globe."

The following singular and fanciful observations are to be found in the Duke de Liancourt's account of his visit to the Falls in 1795.

"From a country almost level, a chain of naked rocks here rises, upon both sides of the river, which at this point is contracted to the width of a single mile: these are the Alleghany Mountains, which extend to this point after having traversed the continent of North America from Florida upon the South.

"Mons. de Blacons conducted us to a point known, in the language of the country, as Table Rock. This is itself part of the rock from which the river is precipitated, and we found it barely above the level of the river's bed, and almost within its rushing waters; so that we saw, with entire safety the plunge of the torrent into the basin at our feet, and yet should have been hurled headlong down the cataract ourselves, had we advanced but two paces further! From this position we enjoyed, at the same instant, the august spectacle of the foaming waters, as with a deafening roar they approached, through the rapids, this astonishing cataract, and

of the eddying basin below, in which but an instant afterwards, these same waters were ingulfed. It is certainly while standing at this point that this wonder of nature should be contemplated and studied, if the spectator is to view it from only one; but to drink in all its majesty, it is necessary to observe it from all, since from whatever position the beholder still finds the scene one of confounding and overwhelming admiration, bordering upon stupefaction.

"The Falls of Niagara are comparable to nothing in nature. Neither the agreeable, the rude, the romantic, nor the beautiful enters into the scene; but wonder and wild astonishment at first sight seizes upon all the faculties, and their dominion is constantly strengthened by subsequent and profound contemplation of the picture, until the mind is finally convinced of its utter inability to convey or communicate the impressions so deeply stamped upon it by this terrific sport of nature."

The following is from the pen of the Rev. Andrew Reed, author of that simple, yet beautiful work, "No Fiction ;" and is, we think, a most happy effort, and by far the best description we ever met with, embodied in so few words.

"At length we saw the spray rising through the trees, and settling like a white cloud over them; and then we heard the voice of the mighty waters-a voice all its own, and worthy of itself. Have you never felt a trembling backwardness to look on what you have intensely desired to see? If not, you will hardly understand my feeling. While all were now searching for some glance of the object itself, I was disposed to turn aside, lest it should surprise me. This no doubt was partly caused by the remark I had so often heard, that the first view disappoints you. I concluded, that this arose from the first view not being a fair one, and I was determined to do justice