and, after flitting to
and fro, on wing so soft and silent that he is scarcely heard, takes his
departure from the same window at which he had entered. I own I have a
great liking for the bird; and I have offered it hospitality and
protection on account of its persecutions, and for its many services to
me; I wish that any little thing I could write or say might cause it to
stand better with the world than it has hitherto done."

[Illustration: OWLS IN A CASTLE KEEP.]

* * * * *

CHATTERTON.

[Illustration]

This gifted young poet was the son of a schoolmaster at Bristol, where
he was born, in 1752. On the 24th of August, 1770, he was found dead,
near a table covered with the scraps of writings he had destroyed, in a
miserable room in Brook-street, Holborn. In Redcliffe churchyard,
Bristol, a beautiful monument has been erected to the memory of the
unfortunate poet.

O God! whose thunders shake the sky,
Whose eye this atom globe surveys,
To Thee, my only rock, I fly--
Thy mercy in thy justice praise.

Oh, teach me in the trying hour,
When anguish swells the dewy tear,
To still my sorrows, own Thy power,
Thy goodness love, Thy justice fear.

Ah! why, my soul, dost thou complain,
Why, drooping, seek the dark recess?
Shake off the melancholy chain,
For God created all to bless.

But, ah! my breast is human still:
The rising sigh, the falling tear,
My languid vitals' feeble rill,
The sickness of my soul declare.

CHATTERTON.

* * * * *

SMYRNA.

[Illustration: Letter T.]

This city and sea-port of Natolia, in Asia, is situate towards the
northern part of a peninsula, upon a long and winding gulf of the same
name, which is capable of containing the largest navy in the world. The
city is about four miles round, presenting a front of a mile long to the
water; and when approached by sea, it resembles a capacious amphitheatre
with the ruins of an ancient castle crowning its summit. The interior of
the city, however, disappoints the expectations thus raised, for the
streets are narrow, dirty, and ill-paved, and there is now scarcely a
trace of those once splendid edifices which rendered Smyrna one of the
finest cities in Asia Minor. The shops are arched over, and have a
handsome appearance: in spite of the gloom which the houses wear, those
along