their voices in praise of the High and Lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity.

If our limits would permit, we should be glad to offer our readers sufficient extracts to justify what we have said in praise of these poems. We hope they

will be induced to read for themselves. They will find that their characteristic is not greatness, but beauty;-they are distinguished less by the boldness, than the prettiness of their images; they touch the gentler affections of the heart, and lead it to tranquil and pensive thought, rather than call for admiration and wonder. Her frequent allusions to the venerable friend who took her like "a weak and feeble plant, from shades obscure," and "loved and watched" her, together with her affectionate tributes to her memory, are very interesting. A strain of tender and touching melancholy pervades the volume. We We make a few short extracts.

Around is darkness and within is pain; Then let us look above! There is a ray That gleams from thence, an angel's voice that cries,

ers be drest,

"And the green turf lie lightly on thy breast.

"There shall the morn her earliest tears bestow, Vol. III.

"There the first roses of the year shall blow."

What is the strongest tie which binds,
In christian faith immortal minds,
And brings a heaven more near?

'Tis the cold silence of the grave;
That death, from which we cannot save,
The friends on earth most dear.
Then let us not in sorrow weep,
For those that rest in peaceful sleep,
The good and lovely here!

DEATH is of life the glorious morn; And through the grave, bright vista's dawn,

Which open to the sky.

It has no terrors, but in name.
And shall it not assert its claim,

Since man is born to die?
O let it then its rights assume,
`And rob the healthful cheek of bloom,
And quench the speaking eye.

It can no more-Awake the strain,
Which tells us, man shall live again,
Clothed in immortal bloom.
No longer let thy saddened mind,
With pensive sorrow seek to find,
Its blessing in the tomb.
Fly from the dust which moulders
there,

Nor cherish flowers its sod may bear,
But let them meet their doom.

Yet there's a sacred sorrow lives,
Which sweet and holy influence gives,
And purifies the heart;
Weans it from life's insipid joys,
Its low pursuits, its idle toys,
And claims its better part.

'Tis the best memory of the good; The virtuous, who undaunted stood, Where vice had winged its dart.

Such there have been, with powers re-
fined,
With taste sublime, and loftier mind,
And sweet emotions fraught.
Let us to them our tribute bring,-
Not the frail blossoms of the spring,
Or wreaths by fancy wrought;
But high and emulative zeal;
Virtues from them we've learned to
feel;

The pure and holy thought.

And let those gentler hearts that bear,
For others good a watchful care,
Our recollections warm;
Whose disregard of selfish ease,
With active kindness feels and sees.
And shelters from the storm.
For if a virtue dwells on earth,
Which truly claims celestial birth,
It comes in Pity's form.

Then hang not garlands on the grave,
Where sleep the lovely and the brave;

Nor heed their swift decay.
But look beyond the mouldering dust,
To the blest mansions of the just,

To realms of endless day.
Such love will consecrate thy life;
Save it from low and sordid strife,
And never pass away.

To the Honorable the Senate and Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled. THE Convention of congregational ministers in the state of Massachusetts beg leave to represent:-That, regarding as they do, the separation of one

day in seven, for the purpose of religious worship, to be an institution not only honorary to the great Creator of the universe, but also of beneficent tendency to man, and feeling the obligation resting on themselves, as ministers of the gospel to do all in their

ed.

Believing, as they do, that righteousness exalteth a nation, and that sin is the reproach of any people, and feeling

2

tender regard for their beloved country, and an earnest wish that it may enjoy the smiles and blessing of Almighty God, they cannot but desire that such deference be paid to this sacred institution as may be pleasing in his sight, and tend to impress on the community, and especially on the rising generation, the fear and love of the adorable Author of their being, and bestower of all their enjoyments. They do therefore pray, that the honorable Congress of the United States would take this subject into their wise consideration, and prohibit the distribution of letters and papers on the Lord's day.

It would be easy to enlarge on a subject which created much emotion in the minds of multitudes, in various parts of the United States, of various denominations, but your petitioners cannot but hope that the evil, of which they complain, has been noticed with regret by many of the honorable body they now address. Without further remark, therefore, they commit their request to your serious and wise dis. posal, and as in duty bound will ever pray.

Society for the religious and mor

al improvement of seamen. THIS Society held its annual meet

The following is the report of the committee for the last year.

IN presenting their third annual the Executive Committee, report, of the Boston Society for the religious

and moral improvement of seamen, most gratefully acknowledge the goodness of that Providence, which has vived its commerce; excited again restored peace to our country; rethe spirit of honorable enterprize in commercial traffic; and given employ. ment to our hardy and adventurous mariners. Contemplating this class of our fellow citizens, with a deep interest in their own exposures, and frequent suffering: in their peculiar temptations, and the miserable condition to which vice often reduces them; we amelioration of their condition, by exare desirous of attempting at least an tending to them the means of piety, virtue and happiness. We are happy and grateful, that in this object for which our society was formed, many of our most respectable merchants and masters have so cordially given us their approbation and concurrence; and we are now prepared with new anticipations and zeal, to exert ourselves for its attainment.

But we beg leave at this time to call the attention of the patrons of this institution to the fact, that our society was formed on the 11th of May, 1812; and that on the 18th of the succeeding month, war was declared between our country and Great Britain. -It had been our hope by means of auxiliary societies in our state, to have brought into union with us, all who were directly interested in commerce, and who felt an interest in the moral improvement of seamen

was

and thus to have obtained the means of extending the tracts which we proposed to publish, to every sailor in the state who would receive them; and by obtaining the establishment of similar societies in other capitals, gradually to have secured such advantages as we could, for moral and religious advancement, to all the seamen of our country. But scarcely had we commenced our operations, when the great body of our seamen scattered from our ports, and little more could be done, than to interest individuals of them in our plan; to distribute our books among them, wherever we could find them;-and through our naval commanders, to the sailors in our ships of war. But a midst all our difficulties and embarrassments, we have not doubted, with the blessing of heaven, that better prospects would open to us; and we have patiently waited for the day of peace, of commerce, and of liberty to the seamen, in which we might re. double our efforts, and ask, with confidence of obtaining it, the assistance and cooperation which we need, for the accomplishment of our objects.

Indebted as we are to commerce for so much of our prosperity-depending on it so essentially in almost all the branches of trade and of the mechanic arts, and receiving from it so large a portion, not only of our luxuries, but of our comforts, it is surely due from us, as far as we can, to arrest the progress of the vices and sufferings, to which an active and extensive commerce peculiarly exposes so great a number as are immediately engaged in it. It will be considered, that very many of our sailors choose their profession, and enter upon its labors, even before the time when they are qualified to become apprentices in any business on the land;that few, or no means are possessed at sea, for regular instruction; and that vicious example spreads its deadly influence among them, too often wholly unchecked by those, who might greatly restrain it. But it is a circumstance which gives great encourage. ment, in reflecting upon our seamen,

that very many of them have early received moral and religious instruction at home; and that, almost without exception, they can read. Almost every sailor too has a bible; and if he be not improved by reading it, the cause may be, and without doubt frequently is, that he does not receive the excitement and encouragement to read it, which are received on the land from conversation, from example, and from the weekly instructions of the Sabbath. We hope therefore, by supplying those who have them not, with Bibles; by giving them tracts, which inculcate in the most interesting manner, the great principles and duties of religion, and which will assist them in understanding the Bible; and by giving them prayers, with encouragements to use them; that good, essential good, may be produced among them. We hope, and we have great confidence in indulging the hope, that many of our masters will give us their aid, by encouraging piety and virtue in their seamen, and by discountenancing vice; and that some-a few at least, will commence the example, at favorable times, of reading morning and evening prayers in their vessels. We may not be so happy as to reclaim many, who are already confirmed in vice; but with the divine blessing, we may awaken the conscience which sleeps, but is not dead; we may encourage many to virtue, who become vicious, principally from a want of encouragement to resist temptation; we may strengthen and establish those, who have hitherto maintained their virtue; and be the happy instruments of guarding and defending many of the young, in the time of their greatest danger. An attempt to improve the condition of this large and very use. ful class of our fellow citizens, is the least which may be demanded of us, in return for the advantages which we derive from their peculiar exposures; and in what has been done, amidst the embarrassments of war, we have much to excite our hopes, and to an imate our exertions, now that we are blessed again with peace.

During the past years, for the rea