"What is fashion,' said Charles, "but the capricious expression of ever changing convention - -a contrast of absurdities when a few years have passed away, and reason looks upon folly with disdain? What is beauty but the colour that fades, the flower that dies, the cup that is soon emptied, the light that is easily extinguished? True beauty is of the soul-that immer light, which lives for ever, even when its earthly vessel shall be no more. Besides, to him who sees with loving eyes, all is charming; and I confess that to me, both in your physical and mental mould, you are all that I could desire."

"I would not say you flatter," said Ellen, "and yet your words are flattery, though you may know it not. I must not listen to you lest I forget myself."

"Could I but gather one sentence from you to tell me that I am not alone impressed-but that there is a sympathy awakened between us, I should indeed be happy," said Charles.

"Do not urge me to speak or act rashly," said Ellen, "these are matters in which I am a mere child, and I tremble, fearing that I may already have overstepped the bounds of prudence. There is one in whose hands my fate rests. If time shall bring the subject beneath his watchful eye, and he shall give an approving smile, then I feel

"That you wouid consent to be mine!" said Charles exultingly; and with a somewhat altered tone, "Then say it now. Love waits not upon a father's word-it is an outbursting torrent from the heart, knowing no rule or subjection. In proportion to its intensity, so is its wild and impulsive waywardness."

"We will cease the conversation," said Ellen, alarmed at the increasing boldness and dangerous influence of Charles's speech. This was the first sentiment she had heard from his lips of which she disapproved. She felt for a moment so bewildered at the influence that ensnared her, and the danger she perceived therein, that she turned as pale as death. She pulled her horse around, and catching the mild expression of her father's face, she inwardly said, "Father, I have never had a thought apart from thee; thou hast been my protector from childhood; the

companion of my every hour. Shall I now forget my duty, and despise thy counsel. Father in heaven! grant me strength to know my duty and to fulfil it now."

"Why child you look pale," said Mr. Lyndhurst.

"Do I?" said Ellen; "my cheek burns as though it were flushed with colour." "I hope your riding does not fatigue you," said the Squire.

"Oh, no!" said Ellen, “I have enjoyed it much." Then putting her horse by the side of the phaeton, she spoke to Mrs. Davis, while the Squire and Charles similarly occupied themselves.

At length they reached the brow of the hill leading down to the cave. The hill was exceedingly steep, and the party alighted from the phaeton and walked down. The blue waters were rippling upon the pebbled shore, and keeping up a low murmur. As soon as they reached the beach, they saw the opening of the cave, which lay a little to the left; and while Matthew unloaded the phaeton and took the saddles from the horse's backs, and turned them on a grassy bank to graze, the remainder of the party entered the cave. The place was remarkable as having been at one time the resort of a desperate gang of smugglers, headed by one Tom Blake, or, as he was commonly called, Tom Black, or the Black Smuggler,-not that he was a black-man, but he wore an enormous pair of jet black whiskers, which covered the greater part of his face, and his eyebrows were so large and thick that they imparted to him a most ferocious expression. He was greatly dreaded by the Coast Guard, having caused the deaths of many of them in severe skirmishes. He died at last in an attempt to run a cargo. His sloop was closely pressed by a fast cutter, sent down by the government to suppress the contraband trade carried on extensively upon the coast. Finding the cutter rapidly bearing down upon him, and already within gunshot, Tom tried to round a point, and get advantage of the wind, by passing between two rocks that were usually avoided even by small craft. It was spring-tide, and he hoped there was water enough to fleat him between them, but his sloop struck, filled, and immediately

tremely ridiculous; while to a woman it is one of the chief weapons in her armoury, deprived of which she is comparatively powerless. What can be more cruel than the continual forcing upon a young girl: the withering conviction of her own plainness? If this be only a foolish sham to counteract the supposed demoralizing consciousness of beauty, the world will soon counteract that; but if the victim have really but a scanty supply of charms, it will, in addition to incalculable anguish of mind, only diminish those further still. To such a system alone can we ascribe an unhappy anomalous style of a young woman, occasionally met with, who seems to have taken on herself the vows of voluntary ugliness: who neither eats enough to keep her complexion clear, nor smiles enough to set her pleasing muscles in action-who prides herself on a skinny parsimony of attire which she calls neatness-thinks that alone respectable which is most unbecoming is always thin, and seldom well, and passes through the society of the lovely, the graceful, and the happy, with the vanity that apes humility on her poor disappointed countenance; as if to say, "stand back, I am uncomelier than thou."

HARD WATER.

NONE of the waters produced by Nature are entirely pure and soft artificially distilled water alone is so, and often then, without care and some chemical knowledge of the process, it is not free from impurities.

The waters from primitive formations, particularly from mountainous districts, are almost pure, and springs and wells on sandy plains are nearly owing to the rocks and soils being wholly composed of silicious and other constituents,-insoluble in water. All streams and springs in secondary, or limestone countries, contain more or less materials constituting what are called hard water and often the waters from sudden showers, which have been produced by evaporation from extensive regions of like formation, are sensibly affected.

All waters known as hard, result from some of the acids or their salts being held in solution. The most common are the carbonic acid and the carbonates, and

sulphurous and chloric acids and their combinations. All the waters containing carbonic acid gas, and sulphureted hydrogen (the material that makes the sulphur springs of the country), uncombined with the earths, are rendered soft by simple boiling, as the gases are expanded by heat and thrown off, and no deposit is left

but when united with lime, alumina (clay) or the metals, boiling deposits a portion by releasing the solvent, in the form of a hard stony concretion.

The process used by washerwomen, to cleanse the hard water by adding lye, ashes, or potash, is a strictly correct chemical process. Acids, and alkalies, are antagonistical principles; one destroys or neutralizes the other, and renders both inert and harmless. The sulphureted waters are more difficult to cleanse, or purify, than any other class except the muriates (acid of common salt, now called chlorates), as they adhere to their combinations with greater tenacity.

The effects produced on hard water in washing, where soap is used, is very simple when investigated. Soap is a compound of an alkali and animal fat, or vegetable oils and resins, and when added to water containing any acid, or acidulated substance, the acid, by its chemical affinities, seizes and neutralizes the alkali of the soap, disengaging the fatty substance in the same shape it was originally, and in the worst possible shape for cleansing the person or clothing.

There is a vulgar error prevailing among the people generally, that it is dangerous to add lime to wells and cisterns, on account of its rendering the water hard. There is no greater fallacy among our traditionary belief. Lime is strictly an alkaline substance, and, as such, is a neutralizer of all the acids that water contains, and may be freely used when in a quick or unslacked state-old and airslacked is hurtful, as it has become a subcarbonate. One ounce of fresh quick lime, dissolved in water, will soften two barrels of ordinary hard water, and render fit for washing purposes. It is also advantageously used to sweeten cistern water when it becomes stagnant, and of bad odour, and the cheapest and most ready deodorizer of all unpleasant, unhealthy effluvia.

FIRST ARTICLE.

THE tea-plant is a hardy evergreen, and leafy shrub, which attains the height of from three to six feet, and upwards. It is generally propagated from seed, and the plant comes to maturity in from two to three years, yielding, in the course of the season, three and in some cases four crops of leaves.

The first gathering takes place very early in the spring, a second in the beginning of May, a third about the middle of June, and the fourth in August. The leaves of the first gathering are the most valuable, and from these Pekoe tea, which consists of the young leaf-buds, as well as black teas of the highest quality, are prepared. Those of the last gathering are large and old leaves, and consequently in. ferior in flavour and value.

The leaves vary considerably in size and form; the youngest leaves are narrow, convoluted, and downy, those next in age and size have their edges delicately serrated, with the venation scarcely perceptible; in those of medium and large sizes the venation is well marked, a series of characteristic loops being formed along each margin of the leaf, and the serrations are stronger and deeper, and placed at greater intervals

The principal varieties of black tea are Bohea, which is the commonest and coarsest description, Congou, Souchong, Caper and Padre Souchong, and Pekoe, which are of the highest quality, the last consisting of the very young and unexpanded leaves, and which, when clothed with down, constitute flowery Pekoe.

The principal varieties of green tea are Twankay, Hyson-skin, Young Hyson, Hyson, Imperial, and Gunpowder, which in green tea corresponds with the flowery Pekoe in black. Imperial Hyson, and Young Hyson, consist of the second and third gatherings, while the light and inferior leaves separated from Hyson by a winnowing machine, constitute Hysonskin, a variety in considerable demand amongst the Americans.

There is but one species of the teaplant, from which the whole of the above and many other varieties of tea are obtained, the differences depending upon

The plants from which black teas are prepared are grown chiefly on the slopes of hills and ledges of mountains, while the green tea shrubs are, cultivated in manured soils. Upon this circumstance many of the differences between the two varieties depend.

Other differences are occasioned by the processes adopted in the preparation and roasting of the leaves. Thus while black tea is first roasted in a shallow iron vessel, called a kuo, and secondly in sieves, over a bright charcoal fire, green tea does not undergo the second method of roasting, but only the first-that in the kuo.

An important part of the manufacture of tea consists in the rolling the leaves, so as to impart to them their characteristic twisted shape. This is effected by subjecting the leaves to pressure, and rolling them by the hands in a particular manner. The first effect of the application of heat to the leaves in the kuo is to render them soft and flaccid; when in this state they are removed from the vessel and submitted to the first rolling, an operation, which after the renewed action of the kuo on each occasion, is three or four times repeated with superior teas before the process is considered to be complete.

The following observations on the scenting of tea are extracted from "An Account of the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea in China," by Mr. Ball:

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"The Chinese seem universally to agree in ancient as well as in modern times, that no factitious scent can be given to tea which at all equals its natural fragranee; in short, they say, that only common tea requires scenting.' Those persons who have had the opportunity of drinking some of the finest kinds of Souchong tea, will perhaps agree with the Chinese in this opinion. There are, however, many scented teas which so far from being inferior, are even costly and much esteemed both in China and Europe, of these the Chu Lan, or Cowslip Hyson, may be considered the best.

"The tea about to be scented must be taken hot from the last roasting, (which immediately precedes the packing) and poured into a Hyson chest, so as to form a layer of two inches in height from the bottom, a handful or more of the fresh

flowers (already separated from the stalks) is then strewed over the tea. In this manner the tea and flowers are placed in layers until the chest is quite full. The mouth of the canister is then closed, and thus the tea remains for twenty-four hours. The proper proportion is three catties of flowers to one hundred catties of tea. The next day the chest is emptied, when the tea and flowers are mixed together; they then undergo the process of Poey, that is, the roasting the leaves in a sieve over a charcoal fire, about three catties being put into one sieve. The Poey Long is completely closed, and the tea and flowers are thus roasted about from one to two hours, or rather until the flowers become crisp. The flowers are then sifted out, and the tea packed. If the tea requires any further scenting fresh flowers must be used, and the process repeated as before. The tea thus prepared is then mixed with other tea in the proportion of one part of scented tea to twenty of plain. The whole is then slightly heated in a kuo, and when packed constitute the description of tea denominated in England Cowslip Hyson. Tea may be seented at any time with this kind of tea, but it must be previously heated or roasted about two hours.

"The mode of scenting black tea differs from that of green, and so far as I understand, there are two or three methods of performing this process. The Souchong, or Caper teas, the Tet Siong, and other teas of the cowslip flavour, are also scented with the Chu Lan, or Chloranthus flower.

A small white powder, frequently found in black teas of the Caper flavour, cannot have escaped the observation of the teadealers in England; this powder is that of the Chu Lan flower, whose colour has been changed to white in the process of Poey.

"There is another scented tea of excellent flavour, which is made in small quantities, and occasionally sent to foreigners as presents. This is a Souchong tea, scented with the flower of the Gardenia florida.

"There are two other scented teas also of fine flavour, both Souchong teas, the one scented with the Olea fragraus, and the other with the Jasminum Sambac."

"All the black teas," Mr. McCulloch writes, " exported (with the exception of a part of the Bohea grown in Woping,) are grown in Fokien, a hilly, maritime, populous, and industrious district, bordering on the north-east of Canton. Owing to the peculiar nature of the Chinese laws, as to inheritance, and probably also in some degree to the despotic genius of the government, landed property is much subdivided throughout the empire; so that tea is generally grown in gardens or plantations of no great extent. The leaves are picked by the cultivator's family, and immediately conveyed to market, where a class of persons, who make it their particular business, purchase and collect them in quantities, and manufacture them in part, that is, expose them to be dried under a shed. A second class of persons commonly known in the Canton markets as "the tea merchants," repair to the districts where the tea is produced, and purchase it in its half-prepared state, from the first class, and complete the manufacture by garbling the different qualities; in which operation women and children are chiefly employed. A final drying is then given, and the tea packed in chests, and divided, according to quality, in parcels of from 100 to 600 chests each. These parcels are stamped with the name of the district grower or manufacturer, exactly as is practised with the wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy, the indigo of Bengal, and many other commodities, and from this circumstance get the name of chops, the Chinese term for a seal or sig