and even childish simplicity, which I cannot
describe, but which I thought inexpressibly
charming. The old woman had risen, and
Georgiana seating herself on the bed at her
side, repeated :—“I will tell you all about it,
but you must promise," continued she, "not
to be angry with me, and above all, not to
scold Martha, for indeed she is not to blame." ||
"Blame! my dear child," cried the nurse;
"I hope there is no blame in the case; but
tell me how you got this money, for I am un-
easy till I know."

"Why," said Georgiana, "I told your land-
lord last week that I would pay him as soon
as I could, but I did not let you know how
badly he behaved; he said it was all fine talk-
ing, but he had been put off often enough,
and if he did not receive his money by to-
morrow, you should not stay a day longer.
The wicked wretch swore so that I was almost
at my wits end, for I had not any thing but
the silver I gave you, and I knew that it was
of no use to ask my aunt; and so," continued
she hesitating, 66
a scheme occurred to me
which has answered the purpose."
"But what was it, my dear child?" cried
the nurse.

eyes, filled with tears of pleasure, wandered alternately from her nurse to the money pro cured in a manuer so eccentric.

The poor old woman clasped the interesting girl in her arms :-" Oh! my child, my Georgiana," cried she, "why did you do this? I would rather have suffered any thing than you should have so degraded, so exposed yourself; and then the insults you might have met with too -"

"Yes, indeed, mother," interrupted Martha; a gentleman behaved so rudely to Miss Georgiana, you have no notion."

"You should not tell your mother such nonsense, which can only serve to vex her, Martha," cried the sweet girl; "I was a little frightened, to be sure, for the man was a sad brute; but a gentleman came up who made him let me go directly."

"He had then the insolence to take hold of you?" said the nurse.

"Yes," replied Georgiana; "he wanted to see my face, and you may be sure I struggled hard to prevent him, though I fancy all my efforts would have been vain but for the lucky chance which sent the gentleman to my assistance."

in repeating the compliment),

"I did not see him, for I did not chuse to look from under my bonnet, but just then he appeared to me an angel," said Georgiana; whom her nurse now began to lecture, but in the most affectionate terms, on the danger to which she had exposed herself. The playful and charming creature declared that she would not be scolded just then; and she began, as she called it, to coax herself into favour, by bestowing on the old woman a hundred ca

"One day," said Georgiana, "that I was "And a very nice handsome young man he out with my aunt, we saw a poor woman sing-was, I declare," said Martha (excuse my vanity ing ballads, and when I wanted to give her something my aunt would not suffer me to do so; she said that such people always get a deal of money, and there was little use in relieving them, for they threw away their gains in the most profligate manner. The landlord's demand was but small, and I could not help thinking one might get what would pay him; and so we have, Martha," said she, exultingly pointing to the money which lay upon the bed. You all know how attached I am to the mimic art, and how often I have envied our friend De Brisson, who, besides his genius and skill, possesses that feeling and taste which alone can enable the artist to catch the charming but undefinable expression which in some faces constitutes beauty; but not even his talents could have done justice to the youthful and lovely Georgiana at this moment.. Never shall I forget the expression of almost. celestial benevolence which animated her ingenuous and beautiful countenance, while her sweet

resses

"Indeed, dear child, I ought and do bless you for your goodness to me," said the nurse; "but you must promise me never to do any thing again to procure money for me without my knowledge and consent."

"Well, I will promise any thing as long as you are not angry with me," said Georgiana, laying her soft cheek close to that of the ve nerable reprover; "and indeed I should not, to say the truth, like to venture such a mad

freak again; but it is all very well, the fright is over, and we have got the money, and now I should wish to pay this landlord of yours, and scold him into the bargain. But hold! as my aunt says, there is no policy in that, for if you should continue in this languid way, we may be obliged yet to request his patience; so we must not quarrel with him, though that is a pity too, for I must own, I long to tell the unfeeling creature what I think of him; but as I cannot, I believe Martha had better take the money down, for I should like to know what he says before I go, and I expect Mary to come for me every moment."

This speech sent me down stairs with a rapidity that endangered my neck. I felt a little at a loss how to introduce myself to the landlord, for I was determined to anticipate Martha's errand, by paying him if I could before she got down stairs. I was disappointed, however, for I had hardly began to address him when she made her appearance: she was beginning to speak, but on seeing me she coloured and stopt. i saw that she recollected me, and without finishing my speech to the landlord, I told Martha I wished much to see her mother, and if it was inconvenient then I would come the next day. The girl looked surprised, but said she would step up stairs and ask; she returned in a few minutes to know if my honour would be pleased to walk up. I perceived on my entrance that Georgiana had resumed her large bonnet, but not the wrapping cloak she wore when I saw her in the street; her simple frock was admirably calculated to display to advantage the uncommon loveliness of her form, which was the most beautiful I had ever beheld.

With as much delicacy as I could, I told Mrs. Harvey (which I afterwards found was the old woman's name) my wish to be of service to her, and taking out my purse, I presented her with a few guineas; she would have refused, but I was peremptory; and I added, that when she recovered her health I should be happy to assist her in any easy and creditable way of get'ing a livelihood. O! how sweetly was I repaid by the enthusiastic thanks of Georgiana. While she was yet speaking, a decent looking female servant came to fetch ber home, and she pulled off her immense

bounet for a small gipsy hat. Never shall 1 forget her smile, and the arch but timid glance which she cast at me while she carelessly tied it under her chin; and throwing on a black velvet pelisse, with a promise to her nurse to come the next day, she left us.

You may be sure I lost no time in making inquiries after a girl who had interested me more in the last half hour than all the women I had ever before seen. Her nurse told me that she was the daughter of a respectable merchant who had unhappily failed in business, a circumstance which broke his heart. At his death he had only a few hundreds to bequeath to his child, who was taken by a maiden aunt, a good sort of woman, aud pos. sessed of some property which it was supposed she would leave her niece.

The detail of Mrs. Harvey's own misfortunes was very simple. She had nursed Georgiana, who always preserved for her the tenderest affection, and whose father, Mr. Melcombe, retained her in bis service until his death. After which she entered into business; but an ill state of health obliged her to give up her little shop, and take home her daughter Martha, who lived with Georgiana's aunt. Sickness, she observed, had been very expensive, and her little stock of money was soon expended. Mrs. Miller (Miss Melcombe's aunt) had been very kind to her, but she was not rich; and her dear child, as she called Geor giana, had behaved like an angel; "she has denied herself every thing, Sir," continued she, "in order to assist me; that pelisse you saw her put on she wore all last winter, but the money which should have purchased a new Heaven one went to pay my Doctor's bill. reward the dear child! but for her I must have perished."

"Heaven will unquestionably reward her," said I; "what greater blessing can it bestow upon her than the possession of a heart so noble and so feeling?"

I took care to repeat my visit the next day, but I was not blessed with a sight of Georgiana, nor for many succeeding ones. I always had a tincture of romance in my dispo sition, and my whole soul was set on making this interesting girl my wife, if I could be for tunate enough to gain her invaluable heart.

I was almost in despair, however, of obtaining || friends, I have a certainty that on my return au introduction to her aunt, when chance fa- to England, which will take place in a few voured me beyond my hopes. My banker, months, I shall call her mine. It was her Mr. Smith, was distantly related to Mrs. Mil- aunt's wish that I should not declare my pasler, and by him I was introduced to her and sion for her; but I had no competitor, she the dear Georgiana. I lost no time in making treated me with the artless freedom of a sister; proposals to the old lady, whose answer was and when I avowed that I was about to leave equally sensible and candid. My rank and London for some months, the expression of fortune were, she said, beyond her niece's her lovely countenance was a sufficient assur. hopes or expectations (O! to what rank, howance that my absence would be regretted by ever elevated, would she not do honour?) but her. Georgiana must judge for herself; she was yet very young, but if on an intimate acquaintance with me, she gave me that decided pre- || ference which was necessary on both sides to render the marriage state happy, and my sentiments remained the same, she should be proud to call me nephew.I accepted the liberty of visiting Georgiana on these terms with transport. I immediately settled an annuity upon her nurse, and Martha was again taken by Mrs. Miller to be about the person of my Georgiana. Yes, my dear

Mrs. Miller allowed me two days before my departure to avow to Georgiana that my whole heart was hers; and with transport did I receive the blushing assurance which she gave of her preference. I begged hard for the pos session of her dear hand before I quitted Eugland, but this her aunt positively refused; in three months, however, I shall return thither; and in three more, my dear friends, I hope to present to you the little ballad-singer as my wife.

THE NEW SYSTEM OF BOTANY,

WITH PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF FLORA, &c. &c. &c.

can only be raised in this sheltered seclusion but shall first pay some attention to those old friends which, although they are here most frequently to be met with, are yet of a nearer domestic acquaintance, flaunting in our bowpots, and embalming our chambers with their perfumes, or enlivening them by their vivid verdure. The specimen which we shall first select is one which even in the classic days of

Nothing is more frequent, or more apparently facile, than the transition from the useful to the ornamental; of course, our fair readers will perceive nothing incongruous in our thus quitting the confines of the kitchen-Greece and Rome, was not only sedulously garden for the more elegant amusement of the green-house. Yet even here, though ornament is the object most sought after, we do not wish to be considered as giving up all its claims to the useful; for if the culture and investigation of the plants of distant climes can give incitement to industry, or kindle the spark of genius, the practice of that branch of the horticultural art must have powerful claims on the good opinion of society, and its theory must at all times be interesting.

In our present ramble, however, we shall not proceed to exaurine those plants which

cultivated, but also held in divine veneration; being indebted for the first to the fragrance and elegance of its evergreen foliage, and for the latter to an idea that from its furishing most in the immediate neighbourhood of the sea, where it was fostered by the warm breezes of the ocean, and perhaps stimulated by the salts of the sea-breeze, it was the most proper to be considered as sacred to the Venus Aphrodites, or that Venus who, as the Goddess of Beauty, sprung from the foam of the cerulean deep. But its uses were even more diffuse amongst the ancients, for its branches were

considered as designative of the magistracy, whilst the gallant yet humane hero who returned from a bloodless victory, was fully satisfied to have his brows encircled with its wreath, leaving the ensanguined laurel for those to whom it had more potent charms. After this delineative sketch, it is scarcely necessary to remind our fair readers that we would call their attention to the

MYRTLE,

plants actually became that tree so long famous at Beddington, in Surrey, which was of the Spanish broad-leaved, or orange-leaved species, and spread to the amazing extent of forty-five feet, being upwards of eighteen in height. This tree was indeed an extraordinary exception to the general rule respecting their cultivation in England, and is described by Evelyn as having been always exposed except in some very inclement winters, when it had heen partially sheltered with a little dry straw. This tree he also states to have been eighty years old in 1678, and it might therefore have been one of those brought from Spain by the two gallant Knights already mentioned. At present our countrymen are more usefully employed in Spain in gathering laurels; nor need those with whom they have left their hearts in keeping fear that they will be obliged to change the myrtle for the willow!

Which has thirty-six different species, inclading both trees and shrubs, but of which the species of most usual cultivation is the common, or Roman myrtle, a native both of Asia and Africa, as well as the more southern parts of our continent; but which, unfortunately for English gardening, is, as it has been accurately described, just too tender to bear the chance of an English winter, except indeed in Cornwall and Devonshire, where the southern aspect and oceanic breezes have some similarity to the climate of its native habitats. In such situations, and indeed even in our greenhouses, it often grows eight or ten feet high, but has never yet been known to rival the luxuriance of Italian forests, where it often is the most prevalent underwood, instead of being the sickly child of sheltered cultivation as with us. In Italy many of the varieties of this elegant shrubbery is found; but with us the first mentioned species is the commonest, and sometimes called the flowering myrtle, as none of the other varieties are so often florescent in this northern climate. Some writers ascribe its cultivation in England to a period not more remote than the commencement of the seventeenth century; but we have reason to believe that its introduction was long prior to that, as it is mentioned by one of the earliest botanical writers in the preceding century to that, and even then not spoken of as a novelty. For one species of it, indeed, we are indebted to Sir Walter Raleigh and his friend Sir Francis Carew, who having during their residence in Spain discovered the designs of Philip and his preparations for his famous Armada, re. turned to their native country with the intel-stigma blunt; the pericarp contains an oval ligence, and brought with them some myrtle plants. This was about 1595; but we do not know the precise species, unless one of their

It is time, however, to take some notice of that which is more strictly scientific respecting this elegant evergreen, whose name, from the earliest ages, has undergone very little alteration, having had the various appellations of murtos, mursine, murrine, and myrtus, in the writings of Aristotle, Plutarch, Plato, and Pliny. Mythology explains this derivation by supposing it to have arisen from Myrsine, an Athenian belle patronized by Minerva, but by some whimsical accident metamorphosed into this tree! Linneus has classed the whole genus as ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA, and placed them in the natural order of Hesperida; whilst minuter description. details their gene, ric character as having a calyx with. the peri, anth one leafed, either four or five cleft, bluntish, superior, permanent, and raised internally into a subvillose ring; the corolla has four,. and sometimes five petals, these are ovate, and inserted into the calyx; the stamen has many capillary filaments, of equal length with the corolla, and inserted into the ring of the perianth, with small roundish anthers; the germ of the pistil is inferior, with two or three cells, and the seeds fixed to the partition, whilst the style is simple and filiform, and the

berry umbilicated with the calyx, and the seeds are five. In essential character there is little to remark, except that the calyx is fixe

cleft and superior; the petals five; and the
berry two or three celled. To enumerate the
names of all the species would be superfluous,
yet we must not omit the alpine, privet
myrtle, cherry myrtle, which we presume is
the gallberry myrtle of Virginia, bearing a
large black berry; Brazilian, two flowered,
narrow leaved, round leaved, Ceylon, Chinese,
and the pimento, or all-spur of Jamaica, which
is actually a species of the myrtle. This tree,
for such it is in South America, grows to an
extraordinary height; in Anson's Voyage we
read of them in Juan Fernandez of forty-feet; ||
and it is not a less curious fact, that in Virgi-
nia the woods are filled with myrtle bushes
called the candleberry, bearing a profusion of
blueish berries, which yield so much vegetable
wax that candles made of it are sold in the
markets at two shillings currency, not dearer
than candles imported from Europe.

ON COMETS.

AN ATTEMPT TO POINT OUT THE ERRORS OF THE PRESENT THEORY, AND AN APOLOGY FOR AN INQUIRY INTO A NEW AND MORE RATIONAL HYPOTHESIS.