beauty, to meet their conjugal companions who have been subjected to a similar preparation in the hall of wisdom. Nor does the period of their separation appear to them to have been either long or dreary. Every successive change in their condition has served to prepare them for rational and permanent and exquisite delight in the happy moment of their immortal union. The whole period of their separation, which by men on earth is accounted seventy generations, has been to them but a pleasing succession of joyful changes from the grossness of human virtue to the purity of celestial perfection; and they are now prepared for that happy consummation of their love, which their ancestors never permitted on earth, in order to enhance the raptures of their existence beyond the stars for thou mayst inform thy companions when thou shalt return to earth, that the malice of the wicked is never permitted, by the eternal justice of Odin, to diminish the ultimate felicity of the good. Immediately on our arrival, the golden gate will be unfolded, and we shall be permitted to see the youthful companions of these persecuted maidens approach from the hall of wisdom, and mingle with the glowing beauties of the Valhallah, in the immortal embraces of love. Thus shalt thou discover, if indeed thy wisdom has not already discovered it, that nothing is too good for those generous spirits of the race of man, who suffer patiently, and even bleed and die in the exercise of the heroic virtues."

"But what has become of those parents," exclaimed the noviciate spirit, "who have stubbornly preferred the gratification of their own arbitrary will to the permanent happiness of their children; and who have declared, with the hardness of heart before which the mountain granite crumbles into dust, that they would prefer to consign their offspring to eternal celibacy, rather than suffer them to marry the chosen objects of their love?"

"I will show thee hereafter," said his conductress, "their miserable abode in the filthy habitations of the enemies of Odin. For the present, disturb not the serenity of thy spirit by bestowing a solitary thought on those merciless domestic tyrants who rivet the chains of their oppression upon their own offspring, and therefore deserve no better fate than the detestation of their children, and the eternal abhorrence of the great and good."

Having spoken thus, she arrived at the gate of the hall of beauty, which opened at her touch. Light and music and fragrance burst together upon their delighted senses. For a moment the eyes of the stranger were dazzled by the flood of ra

diance.

He stepped backward as if to retire from the portal, but his guide took him gently by the hand, and encouraged him to advance. It was a moment of almost insupportable consternation. What a vision ! What a landscape! What

a world of inexpressible loveliness lay spread before him!

The gateway was so much elevated above the level of the enchanting scene, that the sainted hermit could embrace, in a single view, the entire living picture. It was a cultivated garden carpeted with the loveliest forms of luxuriant vegetation, interspersed with artificial lakes, winding streams and gushing fountains, ornamented with grottos, pavilions, and trellised bowers on which the flowering vines clambered, and the south winds breathed; inhabited by angel-forms, clad in the graceful costume of virgin innocence, and canopied by a rainbow of brilliant Mosaic, set in a sky of sapphire, studded with diamonds, through which the radiance of the upper day was beautifully transmitted in all the colourings of the prism. As the hermit-visiter entered at the elevated gate, from which he could be distinctly seen by every fair inhabitant of the place, the music of the birds of paradise, blended with the plaintive notes of the murmuring ring-dove, scattered through many a grove and copse and spreading tree and flowering shrub, announced the advent of the stranger.

Every eye was turned to the open gate, and a voice of joy, borne upon the music of the birds, rose from the lips of sixty thousands of the fairest worshippers of Odin. The stranger beheld with admiration the general movement that now agitated for the first time this abode of the blest. Every grotto and pavilion and shaded bower, was instantly deserted; those who had been listening to the dashing of the cascade or the rippling of the gentle stream-those who had been conversing in flowery bands on the margin of the silver lakes, or under the shadows of the groves of spices-those who had been engaged in the duties of friendship or the pleasures of amusement, came spontaneously forth to survey that being of the other sex, who had gained admittance among the daughters of Odin.

The hero was unabashed by the scrutinizing gaze of these beautiful immortals, for he discovered in their features not a solitary trace of mortal pride or mortal passion. The calm serenity of virgin love on her throne of beauty, was visible in every countenance, and he felt in his heart but a single desire, and that desire was, to see them remain for ever in the peace of virtue and in the purity of paradise JOHN JUNE, 1840,

Bibl
Bodl.

JOHNSON

The amiable guide discovering that curiosity, that darling attribute of woman, was not quite extinguished by the lapse of twenty centuries, according to the measurement of mortals, took the stranger by the hand and led him to an elevated alcove near the centre of the garden, by which the beauties of the place might all pass in procession, according to the tribes and nations to which they belonged on earth. To this happy arrangement every heart responded, and every lip encouraged it with a smile. The youthful adventurer, for such he now appeared, stood in graceful attitude upon a sloping terrace, resting his left hand against a small tree that lifted its branches above his head. The fair procession commenced its movement, along many a shady walk and winding way, as they marched to the music of Eolian harps suspended on the branches of the grove. Every eye beamed with expectancy and delight. A fresher glow gushing from the gently excited currents of the blood, suffused every countenance; and even the virgins of the Valhallah found that a new and unexpected joy had been added to the luxuries of their abode. They were informed by the guide, that they were permitted to behold this youthful stranger in order to prepare their minds for a great event which would shortly supervene. The long procession moved onward. In the first ranks were the daughters of Egypt, many of whom could remember the construction of the pyramids next to these came the Tyrian maids, of whom, one in particular had witnessed the capture of her native city by the madman of Macedon; and in immediate succession followed the virgins of Jerusalem, who had knelt in the tabernacle of the wilderness, and in the temple of Solomon, at the shrine of Jehovah !

The classic Greek, the delicate Persian, and the resolute Roman maid, were followed by the daughters of Carthage, Iberia and Gaul, of Germany, Scandinavia, Scythia and Britain, together with many from the numerous heathen tribes unknown to fame.

As they passed in beautiful array, resting an inquiring glance for a moment upon the graceful youth, his faithful guide distinguished them into nations and tribes, each of which retained a costume bearing some resemblance to that of its native country. Just as this devout ceremony was drawing to a close, the golden gate was suddenly opened leading to the hall of wisdom. Every eye was rivetted to the spot. The event had long been expected with feelings of the most intense delight. A shout of joyful exultation came from the shining