And throwing up into the darkest gloom
Of neighbouring cypress, or more sable yew,
Her silver globes, light as the foamy surf
That the wind severs from the broken wave:-
The lilac, various in array, now white,

Now sanguine, and her beauteous head now set
With purple spikes pyramidal, as if

Studious of ornament, yet unresolved

Which hue she most approved, she chose them all ;—
Copious of flowers the woodbine, pale and wan,
But well compensating her sickly looks
With never-cloying odours, early and late ;—
Hypericum all bloom, so thick a swarm
Of flowers, like flies clothing her slender rods,
That scarce a leaf appears ;-mezerion too,
Though leafless, well attired, and thick beset
With blushing wreaths, investing every spray ;—
Althea with the purple eye: the broom
Yellow and bright, as bullion unalloy'd
Her blossoms; and luxuriant above all

The jasmine, throwing wide her elegant sweets,
The deep dark-green of whose unvarnish'd leaf
Makes more conspicuous, and illumines more
The bright profusion of her scatter'd stars."

CORONATION EXTRAORDINARY.

I HAVE seen the Coronation, and never did I witness a sight so magnificent-so august-so sublime. If ever the exclamation of "hæc olim meminisse juvabit" can be applicable, it must be to a spectacle like this, which, by eclipsing the future as well as the past, has condensed the wonders of a whole life in one

absorbing moment, and given me reason to be thankful that my existence was made contemporaneous with such a surpassing display of glory and splendour. So far from seeking to aggrandise what I have seen, even if that were possible, by any inflation of language, I have purposely abstained, during several days, from any attempt at description, in order that some portion of my enthusiasm might be suffered to evaporate; and yet, even now, I feel the necessity of perpetually keeping my pen below the level of my feelings, lest I should be suspected of intemperate exaggeration. In all sincerity of heart I may say, that I unaffectedly pity those who, from any inexcusable considerations of interest, or the more justifiable causes of compulsory absence, have been debarred from sharing the intense gratification which I have experienced. Exhibitions of this nature are rare, and a concurrence of circumstances united to give interest and magnificence to the present, which may never be again combined. The previous night, by its serene splendour, seemed anxious to do honour to the approaching gorgeousness. One would have thought that it was a courtday in heaven, and that all its nobility were present, sparkling in their stars, and coronets, and girdles of light; while imagination easily converted the milky way into a cluster of radiant courtiers gathering around the throne from which their splendours were derived. Morning began to dawn with a calm loveliness, which rather confirmed than dissipated these floating delusions of the mind. From the gallery where I had procured a seat, I saw the stars gradually "'gin to

pale their ineffectual fires," until none remained visible but Dian's crescent, slowly changing its hue from gold to silver, and the sparkling son of Jupiter and Aurora, Lucifer, who, by his reluctant twinklings, seemed struggling for a little longer existence, that he might catch one glimpse of the approaching magnificence. Already were the eastern skies steeped in a faint grey light, interspersed with streaks of pale green, while fresh flushes of a rosier hue came every moment flooding up from beneath the horizon, and a breeze, sent forward as the herald of the sun, presently wafted around me such a gush of crimson radiance, that I felt (to use the only poetical expression of Sternhold and Hopkins) as if the morning "on the wings of wind came flying all abroad." Behold, I exclaimed,

"the jocund day

Stands tiptoe on the misty mountains' top;"

and I was endeavouring to recollect Tasso's beautiful description of sunrise, when the increasing charms of the daybreak compelled me to concentrate all my faculties in the contemplation of the scene with which I was surrounded.

The gallery where I had taken my station was a terrace which overhangs the Lake of Chêde, opposite to Mont Blanc; and he who from this point has seen the sun rise, and shower its glories upon the romantic and stupendous wonders with which he is encompassed, will not marvel that I shrink from the hopeless attempt of its description. It is a spectacle to be felt, not painted. Amid the solitude of those gigantic and

.

sublime regions there is something peculiarly impressive in witnessing the magnificence of Nature, as she silently performs her unerring evolutions; and the heart of man, feeling itself in the immediate presence of Omnipotence, turns with instinctive reverence to its Creator. But let me resume my narrative of the Coronation—not of a poor fleeting mortal like ourselves, but of that glorious King coeval with the world, and to endure till the great globe itself shall crumble and dissolve;-of that truly legitimate Sovereign, who alone can plead divine right for his enthronement, since the Almighty has planted his feet deep in the bowels of the earth, and lifted his head above the clouds;-of that Monarch of the mountains, who indeed deserves the appellation of Majesty-Mont Blanc. If I cannot say, in newspaper phraseology, that the morning was ushered in with the ringing of bells, I may affirm that ten thousand were waving to and fro in the breezes of Heaven, for the lilies of the valley, and the hyacinths, and the blue-bells, and the wild flowers, were all nodding their down-looking cups at the earth; and who shall say that they were not melodious with a music inaudible to human ears, although fraught with harmonious vibrations for the innumerable insects who were recreating themselves beneath their pendent belfries? No daughter of earth, however fair or noble, would have been presumptuous enough to aspire to the honour of strewing flowers on this august occasion, for a heavenly florist had fashioned them with his hand, and perfumed them with his breath, and Flora scattered them sponta

neously from her lap as she walked along the valleys. By the same mighty hand was performed the ceremony of the anointing; and as I saw the dews of heaven glittering in the dawning light, while they fell upon the head of the mountain, I exclaimed, "Here, indeed, is a monarch who may, without impiety, be termed the Lord's anointed!" Bursting forth from a pavilion of crimson and gold clouds, the sun now threw his full effulgence upon the lofty forehead of Mont Blanc; and the glaciers, and the rocks of red porphyry and granite, and the valley of Chamouni, and that sea of diamonds, the Mer de Glace, gradually became clothed in gorgeous robes of light. As I contemplated the sea-green pyramids of ice that surrounded Mont Blanc, each, as it became tipped. with sun-light, appearing to have put on its coronet of sparkling silver, methought there never had been so grand a potentate, encircled with such splendid nobility and courtiers. Nor did the great hall in which they were assembled appear unworthy of its tenants; for as it had not been built by hands, so neither was it limited by human powers, possessing only the walls of the horizon for its boundaries, and having for its roof the azure vault of heaven, painted with varicoloured clouds, and illuminated by the glorious and flaming sun. From the tops of the surrounding heights, various stripes of purple clouds, laced with light, assumed the appearance of flags and banners floating in the air in honour of the joyous day; but my attention was more particularly directed to two hovering masses of darker hue, which, majestically descending from heaven towards the summit of