Whose every wave breaks on a living shore,

Heap'd with the damned like pebbles-1 am giddy.
C. Hunter. I must approach him cautiously; if near,
A sudden step will startle him, and he

Seems tottering already.

Man.

Mountains have fallen,

Leaving a gap in the clouds, and with the shock
Rocking their Alpine brethren; filling up

The ripe green valley with destruction's splinters;
Damming the river with a sudden dash,

Which crush'd the waters into mist, and made
Their fountains find another channel-Thus,
Thus, in its old age, did Mount Rosenberg-
Why stood I not beneath it?

C. Hunter. Friend! have a care,

Your next step may be fatal !-for the love
Of Him who made you, stand not on that brink!

Man. (not hearing him.) Such would have been for me a fitting tomb;

My bones had then been quiet in their depth;

They had not then been strewn upon the rock,

For the wind's pastime-as thus-and thus they shall be-
In this one plunge- Farewell, ye opening heavens !
Look not upon me thus reproachfully—

You were not meant for me- -Earth! take these atoms!

[AS MANFRED is in the act of springing from

the cliff, the CHAMOIS HUNTER seizes and
retains him with a sudden grasp.

C. Hunter. Hold, madman!—though aweary of thy life,
Stain not our pure vales with thy guilty blood-
Away with me I will not quit my hold.

Man. I am most sick at heart-nay, grasp me not-
I am all feebleness-the mountains whirl

Spinning around me-I grow blind-what art thou?

C. Hunter. I'll answer that anon-away with me-
The clouds grow thicker.-There-now lean on me-
Place your foot here-here, take this staff, and cling
A moment to that shrub-now, give me your hand,
And hold fast by my girdle-softly-well-
The chalet will be gain'd within an hour-
Come on, we'll quickly find a surer footing,
And something like a pathway, which the torrent
Hath wash'd since winter.-Come, 'tis bravely done,
You should have been a hunter.- Follow me.

[As they descend the rocks with difficulty, the
scene closes.

We have been tempted by the beauty of the passage to transcribe more than was necessary for introducing the magnificent description of Alpine scenery which it contains to the notice of our readers, and to their imagination we shall leave it. Alas, that the spirit who conceived it should have faltered from the truth. Would that he had been imbued with the simplicity and sincerity of the plain mountaineer whom he here depicts.

THE AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS OF ENGLAND.

No where perhaps have the occupations of a people been so diverse, and yet at the same time so marked and important as in England. The density of population in this country, and the high influence and powerful position with which God has endowed it, have compelled an activity of spirit, and an energy of mind, which have proved, we might almost say miraculously, sufficient to render the contracted space to which its inhabitants are limited, and the variable and unfavourable climate in which they live, equal in their utility for all the great purposes of humanity, to the most extensive domains and the most benign skies. An examination into what philosophy would designate these strange results of natural circumstances has seldom been attempted; and a sound knowledge of the elements of our national greatness is rarely to be found. To attempt to specify them fully here would of course be futile. The space allotted for such a theme is far too confined for the purpose, and if it were not, the vehicle for conveying the information in a full manner is inappropriate; but a slight notice of the great divisions of the country is neither improper nor inconvenient, and may not to many prove uninteresting. We will therefore first consider the agricultural districts, and their appointments, and in our next number, D. v. take a review of the manufacturing interests.

The whole face of the country, according to the best authorities, may be fairly divided into six separate pro

vinces; the northern, the western, the midland, the eastern, the southern, and the south-western.

The first includes the principal part of Northumberland, the whole of Cumberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire and York, except the fens on the borders of Lincolnshire, parts of Stafford, Cheshire, and of the county of Derby. It is distinguished by the usual consequence of an exposed situation, and a hilly, or rather we should say, a mountainous district, a coldness of climate, and backwardness of seasons. On the western side of it, a great portion of the inhabitants are indeed engaged in manufacturing pursuits, and consequently agriculture languishes; but on the eastern side it is carried to its utmost perfection, and nowhere in the country is greater skill and industry evinced than in the tillage of the shore-side districts of Northumberland, and on the banks of the Tees.

The western district extends from the Cheshire side of the Mersey to the course of the Avon in Somersetshire, being bounded on the west by the mountains of Wales, on the east by the lower hills of Stafford, and the high grounds of Oxford and Warwick, and on the south by the chalk hills of Wiltshire and Sedgemoor in the county of Somerset, consisting of an almost uninterrupted continuance of vales, which comprise the basins of the Severn, the Avon, the Mersey, and the Dee.

Nearly the whole of this extensive tract is devoted to the dairy, and, as might therefore be expected, exhibits some of the most pleasing as well as the best grass-land in the kingdom. With the exception indeed of the Cotteswold and Mendip Hills, and the other grounds by which it is traversed, this is almost universally the case. It has many orchards, and produces much cider; Herefordshire being included within the range.

The extent of the third or midland district, perhaps the most important in an agricultural point of view of any in the kingdom, is marked by the mountains in the north,

and the chalk hills of the southern counties; the heights which divide it from the western district, and the marsh lands which constitute the eastern. Interrupted by few elevations of any particular magnitude, the whole of its surface presents one great and undulating plain, rich in the variety and amount of its produce, where, from the extent of the farms, the opulence and intelligence, and energy of their occupants, the science of agriculture has been most intensely and advantageously pursued. By far the greater portion of this tract of country is the property of considerable landowners, who have had the means and the liberality to lease out to their tenants for such times and on such terms, as have enabled them to turn the means within their power to profitable account, both for the country and themselves. It is particularly distinguished by its mixed cultivation, and "as a wide field of agriculture," says Mr. Marshall, “in which every branch of the profession is highly cultivated, it has been long known. Here, not only the spirit of improvement, but of enterprise, may be said to inhabit. The art, science. and mystery of breeding has been here carried to a height, which in any other country probably it never attained; the same enterprising spirit which led to this pre-eminence still continuing with little or no abatement.' No part of the country, perhaps, is so much distinguished for its numerous and populous villages, many of them indeed emulating the size of towns, with numerous well built and handsome houses, with almost invariably the mansions of the individuals who own the chief part of the property of the place near at hand, with others of nearly equal pretension, specking the country thickly around. In that part of the country also, are probably situated by far the greater portion of the seats of the nobility and gentry of the land. We might especially instance Berkshire, Oxfordshire, part of Bucks, Leicester, Derby, Nottinghamshire, the western part of Lincolnshire, and the south of York:

the whole of which districts may be said to teem with residences of the first character.

The eastern department has perhaps the most peculiar and specifically marked traits of the whole. It comprises a little varied but extensive district-marsh land, in some places, as the fens of Lincolnshire, nearly the whole of Cambridgshire, and part of Huntingdon, declining into water-meadow, and absolute flat; and in others, as in the northern part of the first county, and throughout the greater portion of its western boundary, variegated by gently elevated sand-hills. Where such is not the case, it presents a cheerless appearance of bare vegetation, and the stinted produce of sterile land hardly reclaimed from its original barrenness. It extends from the open and salubrious moorland in the neighbourhood of Scarborough to the wet districts of Essex, on the banks of the Thames, circling out to embrace a part of the county of Northampton; and is distinguished by its broad cast of turnip-seed, as well as other indications of extensive grazing farms.

The natural character of the southern district is indicated by the singular bed of chalk, which cropping out in some few more northerly spots, presents its decided appearance in the counties immediately south of London, and constituting the whole of the south-eastern part of the country and the Isle of Wight, passes under the channel, forming the main crust of the earth, until it terminates in the middle of Poland.

The land within several miles of the metropolis is chiefly devoted to producing a portion of its supplies, while the more remote parts of the district are occupied by immense flocks of sheep, the breeds of which, and their modes of management differ materially from those in the midland and eastern counties.

The south-western department comprises that largest peninsula of Britain which is formed by the Bristol Channel, the Severn and its tributaries, and the British Channel, stretching for nearly two hundred miles, and