to the liberality of the editor of that excellent journal, and to the earnestness with which his cause was pleaded in this paper, from week to week, is to be attributed the success attendant on these honourable exertions. A sufficiency was thus collected merely to feed the lamp of life' for a short time, while his pen was employed on fresh subjects. Early in the summer of 1825 his 'Scenes in Palestine, or Dramatic Sketches from the Bible,' were published, a poem which we strongly recommend tothe notice of our friends. And, we are sure, when they are informed that the unfortunate author, his wife, child, aud mother, are dependent for support on the sale of his various productions, we shall not appeal in vain to the benevolence of our readers. The following specimens, on subjects accordant with this work, with some others scattered through our volume, will sufficiently evince the great beauty and sweetness of Mr. Pennie's poetry:— A SPRING MORNING.

Sweet is the sound

Of the young breeze low-whispering through the pines,
Kissed by the Moon's blue mists, its voice so soft,
So musically plaintive, seem the sighs

Of some departed friend still dearly loved;
But sprightlier sounds the dash of yonder flood,
As o'er its moss-grown rocks, with age quite grey,
It tumbles, chiming to the rosy morn;

While on the lofty tower, with winnowing wing,
The eagle flutters in the sunbeam bright.
Along the mountain skips the gladsome bind,
By yon far day-star's emanations cheered;
Who with proud exultation darts his rays
Betwixt the skirts of those gold-bordered clouds,
And chases to their dens the beasts of prey.
Sweet is the bleating of the scattered flocks,
Blent with the lacteal kine's far distant low;
But sweeter sounds than all the virgin's pipe
In yon green bow'ret, dressed in roses sweet,
That glitter with the tears of weeping night.

PENNIE'S Royal Minstrel.

A solo wild,

To the full chorus of a thousand throats

From bush and brake and woodshaw, bower and grove:
The beauteous pheasant spreads his gaudy wing

In the warm daybeam, and amid the bowers

The silver-talking stock-dove her soft tale
Fondly prolongs.

On the clear water's brink

The dappled stag his antlered forehead bends,
And drinks his morning draught;
While cradled in its bed

Of dewy flowers, the merry cricket sings
Its song of gladness.

TWILIGHT.

PENNIE'S Rogvald.

Pleasant the hour

Of dim-eyed Twilight, with her balmy breath,
And sweet the music of the west wind's song
Idling among the woods; where fancy hears
Airs of Æolian harp from every tree,

While through their mossy leafage brightly gleams
The day's last lingering glories.
PENNIE'S Rogvald.

The EASTERN HURRICANE.

Still, still the hurricano waves along

The darkly dreary sky, winged with the pale
Blue death-flame. The earth, that late

Was one wide garden, fields with dewy flowers
Stained by the morn in her own lovely tints,
Rich woods of cedar, spicy-breathing bowers,
And groves with fruits of gold and purple hung,
Where love and beauty dwelt; where still were heard
Harmonious sounds of pastoral reed and pipe,
And joyous lay of birds, and fragrant winds
Idling amidst the dancing leaves and blooms;
Cities with gates and bars, temples and spires,
Palace and tower, and pyramid sublime,

All overthrown, o'erwhelmed, and sunk beneath
The wide destroying waters, which roll on
With still increasing swell, making the world
A hideous wreck, a sea without a shore.

PENNIE'S Scenes in Palestine.

15, 17, 18.—EMBER DAYS.

The Ember Days, as now established, are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent; after Whit Sunday, September 14th, and December 13th, respectively.

The weeks in which these days fall are called Ember Weeks, and are ordination fasts. Pope Leo de

rives the Jejunia quatuor temporum, the fasts of the four seasons of the year, now called Ember weeks, from apostolical tradition; but we have not been able to find any satisfactory evidence of them earlier than the fifth century. The council of Mentz, in the time of Charles the Great, affixes these fasts to the first week in March, the second in June, the third in September, and the week before that in which Christmas Day falls. The Ember weeks are in the Anglican, as in the Post-Nicene Church, seasons of ordination. *15. 1400.—WILL OF SIR THOMAS CUMBYRWORTH. The following curious document affords a specimen of our language more than four centuries ago, and contains some singular directions respecting the funeral of the testator:

-

'In the name of God, and to his Loveyng Amen. I Thomas Cumbyrworth Knyght the xv. day of Februer ye yer of oure Lord MCCCC, in clere mynde and hele of body blyssed be gode ordan my last wyll on this wyse following. Furst I gyff my sawle to Gode my Lorde and my Redemptur & my wrechid body to be beryd in a chitte & withoute any kysle in the Northyle of the parych kirke of Someretby by my wyfe, and I will my body ly still, my mouth opyn unhild xxiiii howrys and aftyr laid on bere withoutyn any thyng theropon to cover it bot a sheit and a black cloth wth a white crose of cloth of golde, bot I wyl my kysle be made und stande by und at my bereall I gyff it to hym that fillis my grave, also I gif my blessed Lord God for my mortuary there I am bered my best hors.'-(Reg. Lumley Episc. Linc.)

*18. 1546.-MARTIN LUTHER DIED, ÆT. 63. This illustrious German divine, and reformer of the church, died in the sixty-third year of his age. He studied at Erfurth, being designed for a civilian; but an awful catastrophe made such an impression on bis mind, that he resolved to retire from the world. As he was walking in the fields with a fellow-student, they were struck by lightning, Luther to the ground, and his companion dead by his side. He entered into the order of Augustine hermits at Erfurth, whence he removed to Wurtemburg, being appointed professor of theology and philosophy in the university just founded there by the elector of Saxony. In 1512, he was sent to Rome to plead the cause of some convents of his order; this gave him an opportunity of observing the corruption of the pontifical court, and the debauched lives of the dignitaries of the church. Upon his return he grew unusually pensive, and more

austere in his life and conversation; he likewise read and expounded the sacred writings in lectures and sermons, and thus prepared the minds of his auditors for carrying into execution his grand plan of reformation. Against the sale of indulgencies, and other vile practices, Luther openly preached with wonderful success, and thus began the Reformation in Germany.

*22. 1825.-ELEANOR ANNE FRANKLIN died,

ÆT. 30,

Wife of Captain John Franklin, R.N., one of the gallant officers of the Northern Expedition. This accomplished lady was the daughter of the late Wm. Porden, Esq. an architect of very considerable talents. At a very early age, Miss Porden discovered a genius for poetry; but the work of this much lamented lady which was first known to the public, was called The Veils, or the Triumph of Constancy,' a poem in six cantos, highly estimated for its union of poetical grace and scientific intelligence; it was published in 1815. The success of the fair writer upon this occasion, however, does not appear to have urged her into any precipitate display of further efforts, as it was not till three years afterwards that she again appeared before the public, as the author of The Arctic Expedition,' an interesting poetic tribute to the gallant adventurers who were engaged in one of the most perilous enterprizes by which the present age has been distinguished. This poem, it is said, led to her union with Captain Franklin.

Another effusion of Miss Porden's muse was, An Ode on the Coronation of His most Gracious Majesty George the Fourth, in July, 1821.' The circulation of this, we believe, was rather private; but her grand work, Coeur de Lion, or the Third Crusade,' in sixteen cantos, 2 vols. 8vo, and one of the greatest efforts of a female pen in the annals of English literature, was published in June 1822.

In the month of August 1823, Miss Porden gave her hand to Captain Franklin, to whom she had.

been some time engaged, and who had then recently returned from the land expedition employed to assist in exploring the Polar Regions. Happy, but brief was their union. In the circumstances of Mrs. Franklin's death, there was something unusually distressing. Constitutionally delicate, it has been generally, though erroneously understood, that the fatal event was occasioned by grief at her husband's departure, acting upon a previously debilitated frame; this, however, was not the case.

Mrs. Franklin, whose mind eagerly sought after every kind of useful information, entered with great energy into the enterprising spirit of her husband; and, notwithstanding her devoted attachment to him, and the severe trials and dangers attendant on the expedition, she earnestly wished him to repeat the attempt, hoping that he might accomplish the object so much desired. With this delightful anticipation she looked forward to welcome his return; but, alas! a pulmonary complaint, from which she had suffered nearly two years, reached its crisis about the time that Captain Franklin received his orders to proceed on the expedition, and she was given over by her physicians five days previous to his quitting home She expired exactly one week after having bidden her beloved husband an eternal farewell; leaving a daughter, eight months old, unconscious of the loss of so truly valuable a mother.

24.-SAINT MATTHIAS.

St. Matthias was chosen by lot into the apostolical office, in the place of the traitor Judas, (see Acts i, 26), and was afterwards murdered by the Jews.--See our last volume, pp. 45, 46.

*24. 1825.-THOMAS BOWDLER DIED, ÆT. 71,

A gentleman of great benevolence, and well known for his 'Letters from Holland,' in September and October 1787; and for his Family Shakspeare, in which the indelicate passages are omitted.

E