"Years roll'd away-and I beheld "I never rang a merrier peal, Than when, a joyous bride, And plighted him her maiden troth "I never toll'd a deeper knell, Than when, in after years, They laid her in the church-yard here That claims this tale of mine; Destroy'd the parent vine! A precious flower art thou, my child- "One was thy sainted mother's, when Thy life's exceeding worth! Totally dissimilar, yet creating the same emotions of quaint melancholy and pathos, is "The Lady Ann." There is an indescribable sweetness about the story of her misfortune, and its effects upon her wandering wits. So would Ophelia, "that royal flower," have mourned for the death of Hamlet, had not the willow broke, and precipitated her into the brook with her chaplet of wild flowers. And yet there is an air of bonhomie and good-humor about it, which perpetually remind us of Goldsmith. It does not real like a poem of this century at all. "THE LADY ANN. "She'll soon be here, the Lady Ann,' The children cried in glee; 'She always comes at four o'clock, And now it's striking three.' "At stroke of four the lady came, "Up sprang in haste the Lady Ann, He'll come to-morrow, then,' she sigh'd, "Tis passing odd, upon my word,' A strange romance!-that woman, sirs, "She dwells hard by, upon the hill, The widow of Sir John, Who died abroad, come August next, And a fonder pair were seldom seen "They scarce had been a twelve-month wed, When, ill betide the day! Some hundred miles away. A truer love could boast, That came and went by post. When by the post came down That good Sir John was dead! "T was plain her wits were gone. "Ah! since that hour she little wots "But each returning day she deems The hour he fix'd to come; "And when the coach is at the door, "Alack she cried, in plaintive tone, With the exception of some of the smaller poems, which, not being long, are more easily quotable, "Progress" is the most popular poem that Saxe has yet written, and the one by which he is best known to the mass of readers. Of the entire poem, consisting of four hundred and eighty verses, more than four hundred different lines have been quoted, with expressions of approbation in specimen passages. Six or seven years have passed since its first appearance, but it is still going the rounds of the papers and magazines. We cannot at present follow the poet over the whole field of modern "progress," for in this marvelous age of spiritual rappings and mesmeric revelations, some new science and wonder may arise before we can finish the paper. They come like shadows; may they so depart! The following hits at our boy-philosophers and our smart young ladies are well-deserved: "Room for the sages!-hither comes a throng Of blooming Platos trippingly along, In dress how fitted to beguile the fair! What intellectual, stately heads—of hair! Hark to the oracle-to wisdom's tone Breathed in a fragrant zephyr of Cologne. That boy in gloves, the leader of the van, Talks of the outer' and the inner man,' And knits his girlish brow in stout resolve Some mountain-sized idea' to evolve.' Delusive toil-thus in their infant days, When children mimic manly deeds in plays, Long will they sit, and, eager, bob for whale,' Within the ocean of a water-pail! Among other things satirized is Socialism, "That matchless scheme, ingeniously design'd From half their miseries to free mankind;" and it affords Saxe the opportunity to let off the following good-natured squib: 666 "Association' is the magic word From many a social priest and prophet' heard; 'Attractive Labor' is the angel given To render earth a sublunary heaven! 'Attractive Labor!' ring the changes round, And labor grows attractive in the sound; And many a youthful mind, where haply lurk Unwelcome fancies at the name of work,' Sees pleasant pastime in its longing view, Of 'toil made easy' and 'attractive' too, And fancy-rapt, with joyful ardor, turns Delightful grindstones and seductive churns! 'Men are not bad'-these social sages preach, Men are not what their actions seem to teach; "What hinders then, when every youth may choose As fancy bids, a musket or a muse, Ply ceaseless quills that, true to ready use, best of their kind that we have yet produced in America, and quite lately, with other of Saxe's measures, they have had much currency given them by the English and Scotch papers. "The Rhyme of the Rail" is much copied in England, and sung everywhere. As the didactic theory, the theory of utility, is all the rage now, somebody may ask, What is the use, and what the aim of Saxe's verse? To which we answer, He has none, beyond that of writ Among the minor poems of Saxe which we should like to quote in full, but have only room to particularize, are "The Rhyme of the Rail," a railroad lyric whose measure gives us the very helterskelter and jolt of the cars, "The Ghost Player,' ,"" A Benedict's Appeal to a Bachelor," "The Cold-water Man," "Comic Miseries," and specimens of his three classical travesties. "The Proud Miss M'Bride," and "The New Rape of the Lock," remind us of Hood's "Missing as well as he can, on such themes as Kilmanse," but only in their versification, Saxe's manner of treatment otherwise differing essentially from that of Hood. For while Hood always has an under-current of serious sentiment and melancholy, a tear in the dimple of every smile, Saxe plays and sports with his theme, and wreathes it all over with grotesque fancies and puns. Bryant, who is one of the best judges of metres in America, and not wont to talk carelessly, says of "The Proud Miss M'Bride," that it "shows a great deal of comic power, and uncommon facility of versification." There is not much story about the poem, which relates the ups and downs of a retired soap-boiler and his only daughter, the proud lady; but what there is, is cleverly managed; and the hits at the follies and ed and funny. American aristocracy, that "thing of shreds and patches," comes in for a good rub : "Of all the notable things on earth, Among our fierce democracie!' That plagued some worthy relation!" One admirable point about all Saxe's verses is the careful way in which they are finished: you will not find a single nonsensical or slovenly line in his book; no slip-shod English, and no rough edges and loose ends. He is plain and straightforward in his sense, and terse and smart in his style of saying it. His heroic couplets are, we are inclined to think, the happen to occur to him, and for his own amusement in his leisure as an editor and attorney. Verse is but an incident, almost an accident of his life. And when we remember the quantity of stuff which is being produced by those who make it the business of their life, we cannot but wish for more "accidental" verse, like that of John Godfrey Saxe. The utilitarian effect of Saxe's satire cannot fail to be important. He lashes the contemptible pretensions of our own "high life," and whips, right and left, old current follies. The times call for such scourging. NEST-BUILDING FISHES. THE general disbelief with which stories care of their young have been received, has been somewhat shaken by the recent testimony of a celebrated naturalist. While engaged in collecting insects along the shores of Lake Sebago, in Maine, he was led to observe the action of a couple of catfish which, at his approach, left the shore suddenly, and returned to the deeper water. This movement being repeated, he was led to a closer observation. Examining more closely, a nest was discovered, in which were moving a number of little tadpoles. These were at first supposed to be the tadpoles of frogs; and to test the attachment of the old fishes to the spot, some pains were taken to experimentalize upon them. The fishes would return slowly and cautiously, looking anxiously toward the nest to see if it had been disturbed. They would approach to within six or eight feet. Large stones cast at them, or into the nest, only served to frighten them away for ten or fifteen minutes. They would then return, evidently seeking the protection of their young. The nest was formed amongst the waterplants. THE annexed series of engravings il- These actions and events might be made greatest scientific triumphs of our timethe construction of the LARGEST TELESCOPE IN THE WORLD, by the Earl of Rosse, at his residence, Parsonstown Castle, in King's County, Ireland, about eighty-seven English miles from Dublin. A pleasant history might be written of Parsonstown Castle; the changes it has been subject to since the time of the O'Carrols, its original possessors, being not a few. In 1642, it was besieged by the Irish, and relieved by Sir Charles Coote; in 1643, it was taken by General Preston; in 1648, it was attacked by O'Neile; in 1650, it was taken by General Ireton from the Irish, who, for some time, had possession of it; in 1688, Sir Laurence Parsons was besieged in it by Oxburgh, and it was garrisoned by his soldiers for some time afterwards; after the defeat of King James, Sir Laurence was again established in the castle, which was again besieged by Sarsfield, &c., &c. The present appearance was given to it some years ago, after it had been severely damaged by fire. He we shall meet their wishes more fully by attending, for the present, to the scientific pursuits of its possessor. His lordship has gained for himself a name of much celebrity; his high talents are combined with great perseverance, and both are happily guided by sound good sense. seems to love science for its own sake, and, untempted by any desire for applause, he has been working silently and for himself, until the magnitude of the results have forced themselves on the notice of the world. He has particularly distinguished himself by attaining an end, which has been for a long time a desideratum to scientific men-the production of large metallic reflectors. Until he accomplished the casting of his speculum, six feet in diameter, it was thought to be impossible; and the difficulties and obstacles he met with in the prosecution of his object, would have deterred a smaller mind. For several years there has been erected, on his lawn, a reflecting telescope, made by himself, (a view of which we give,) the con cave speculum of which is three feet in diameter, and whose focal length is twentyseven feet. It is elevated and depressed with the greatest ease, being accurately balanced by heavy weights over pulleys; and it is turned to any part of the heavens by means of wheels running on a graduated iron circle, fixed in the ground. The casting, grinding, and polishing of this speculum, and the machinery of the tube, and its suspension, were all accomplished under his lordship's eye, and by his own direction. We give a view of the exterior of his workshop, and of the house, where, by help of a steam-engine, all the processes connected with the producing of the speculum were performed. It will be interesting to know more exactly what were the operations carried on in this laboratory. We will attempt a description, necessarily very brief, and as much on the surface as possible: a more scientific and elaborate one will not befit a popular pictorial article like this. A detail of the several steps taken in the THE TELESCOPE ON THE LAWN. making of the large speculum will suffice for our purpose. Lord Rosse has discovered that the only metals which should be employed in forming speculum metal are copper and tin, and that the proportion should be, copper 58.9 to tin 126.4. Of these metals for his large speculum he melted three tons, in three cast-iron crucibles. In his first trial to melt the metal, he found that the weight was so great that it insinuated itself into the heated crucible, and oozed through it at the bottom. To remedy this, his lordship had crucibles cast with their faces upward. Crucibles are always cast with the bottoms up; and so, the air rising, makes those parts porous, and caused the oozing of the metal. The plan he adopted of getting them cast face upward-allowed the air to lodge at the top; and he completely succeeded in his next attempt. Having sunk in the ground three large furnaces, each about four feet in diameter, and six feet deep, and connected with a chimney about nineteen feet high, and four feet broad, tapering slightly to the top, he heated them with turffires, which he preferred to coal. One crucible, holding one ton of metal, was placed in each, and for nineteen hours was subjected to an intense heat. The shape on which the metal was to be cast being made ready, and three sleepers being rightly placed to receive the crucibles, they were lifted, by means of an immense crane, from their furnaces; and at nine o'clock on the evening of the 18th of April, 1842, without accident or delay, they simultaneously poured forth their glowing contentsa burning mass of fluid matter, hissing, heaving, pitching itself about for a minute, and then calmly settling into a monument of man's industry forever. There were a great many witnesses of |