owers, Prussia was formerly in a state of
vassalage to the republic; Russia once saw her capital and throne
possessed by the Poles, under Sigismund III. whose troops got possession
of Moscow, and whose son, Ladislaus, was chosen Great Duke of Muscovy,
by a party of the Russian nobles; and Austria was indebted to John
Sobieski, King of Poland, who, in 1683, compelled the Turks to raise the
siege of Vienna, and delivered the house of Austria from the greatest
dangers it ever experienced.

"The partition of Poland (says Mr. Coxe,) was first projected by the
King of Prussia."

In 1794, Suwarof laid siege to Praga, a fortified suburb of Warsaw, and
carried it by assault, with a tremendous carnage. The king was compelled
to abdicate, and the whole country was incorporated in the dominion of
Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

Early in 1797 Stanislaus arrived at Petersburg, and, according to the
appointment of the sovereign, fixed his residence in the Marble Palace,
on the banks of the Neva; but his death, which happened on the 12th of
February, 1798, terminated the series of Polish sovereigns:

"Hope for a season bade the world farewell,
And Freedom shriek'd as Kosciusko fell."

Queen Elizabeth so highly prized the merit and abilities of Sir Philip
Sydney, that she sent him ambassador to Vienna, and to several courts in
Germany; and when the fame of his valour became so extensive that he was
put in election for the crown of Poland, she refused to further his
advancement, lest (says Baker) she should lose the brightest jewel of
her crown. This Marcellus of the English nation was killed at the battle
of Zutphen, in 1585, while he was mounting the third horse, having
before had two killed under him.

P.T.W.

* * * * *

THE HOUR OF PHANTASY.

"The atmosphere that circleth gifted minds
Is from a deep intensity derived,
An element of thought, where feelings shape
Themselves to fancies,--an electric world
Too exquisitely toned for common life,
Which they of coarser metal cannot dream."

R. MONTGOMERY.

There is an hour when Memory lends
To Thought her intellectual part,
When visions of departed friends
Restore their beauty to the heart;
And like the sunset's crimson light
To fading scenes of Nature given,
They make our meditations bright
With hopes inspired by heaven.

The vivid glance of those blue eyes
Which haunted us with earl