I lift the spear and draw the sword against

it.

'Tis thine to reconcile thy children; Deliver me, the city, and thyself, From the calamities that threaten us. Eteocles. (Addressing Jocasta.) I come, but in submission to thy orders; What wouldst thou have, there is no time 1 to lose?

Jo. Truth and justice require deliberation;

Look not so sternly, 'tis no Gorgon's head
That thou beholdest, but thy only brother.
Oh! Polynices, turn a friendly eye
Upon Eteocles. Be friends, my sons!

Et. Mother, do not deceive thyself, but

know

That I for sovereignty would seek the sky Where the sun rises, aye, and would des

cend

Into the central caverns of the earth.

Therefore to none will I resign the crown: It is the sword that must decide our quarrels. Shall he be sovereign, and must I be slave? Let him for this bring fire and sword against

me,

Harness his steeds, and fill the plain with chariots,

I will not yield to him the sovereignty."

The dialogue is continued, and is so extremely beautiful, that I regret my limits will not permit me to translate even a part of it.

A scene follows betwixt Eteocles and his uncle Creon, who recommends caution; but the impetuous young man, impatient of restraint, and burning for revenge, delegates to him the care of the government, and hurries out to battle. Creon sends for the soothsayer Tiresias, to consult him respecting the issue of the war; who informs him, that there is no other means of delivering the city from destruction but offering up his son a victim for the general safety. The father refuses, but the generous youth retires, and puts an end to his life. This scene, taken in itself, is good; but, as it is little connected with the principal story, it must be condemned

Surround me.' It was thus the princes perished.

Then was Jocasta conquered by her sorrows,
And in a fit of frenzy drew the sword
From her son's side, and thrust it through
her throat,

And long as life remained, embraced her
And died between them.”

sons,

The play concludes with the banishment of old Edipus, by the orders of Creon, and a pathetic scene betwixt him and Antigone, who accompanies him into exile. Z

27

CARR ROCK STONE BEACON.

THE Carr Rock forms the outer extremity of an almost continuous reef of rocks, which extends about a mile and a half from Fifeness, the eastern point of land in the county of Fife. As this reef forms a turning-point in the course of all northern bound ships to or from the Frith of Forth, and has very often proved fatal to shipping, it was extremely desirable that this dangerous rock might be distinguished, and pointed out to the mariner.

After much labour and expense, the Bell Rock Lighthouse, situate also at the entrance of the Frith of Forth, but at a greater distance from land, was completed in the year 1810; but still the safety of the navigation of the great estuary of the Frith of Forth was incomplete, while the place of the Carr Rock could not be ascertained by the mariner between half flood and half ebb tide, and especially in neap tides, when it hardly appears above water. In the year 1811, the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, with a view to remedy this evil, first ordered one of Waddell's large floating buoys, from their superior and commanding appearance at sea, to be moored off the Carr Rock.

But as chips still continued to be wrecked upon, and in the neighbourhood of this rock, a permanent beacon, a more conspicuous mark, appeared still to be necessary. Accordingly, in 1812, the Northern Lighthouse Board resolved upon the erection of a stone beacon, and this building has now been in progress during the last five sum

mers.

As the Bell Rock Lighthouse is about twelve miles from the nearest land, and as this great work was erected in the course of four years, our readers will probably be desirous to learn how a building upon the Carr Rock, of much less extent, and not two miles from the shore, should have required a longer period, and be attended with so much difficulty. We are informed by Mr Stevenson, engineer for both works, that this is partly owing to the waters of the ocean being more easily agitated and disturbed when flowing over the shelving rocks bounding the shores, than over those more in the open sea. The chief bar, however, to the operations of the Carr Rock Beacon, is considered to arise

from the smallness of the foundation afforded by the rock, which, as already noticed, forms the communication to seaward of an extensive reef of rocks.

Both the Bell and Carr Rocks are what seamen term half tide rocks, a name which indicates, that they are wholly covered by the sea at half tide, In respect to the elevation of these rocks above low water mark of spring tides, the circumstances of both are very similar, but the surface of the Bell Rock measures about 300 feet in length by 280 feet in breadth, while the greatest extent of the Beacon Rock, at the Carr, is only seventy-two feet in length by twenty-three in breadth. The consequence of the smallness of the dimensions of the Carr Rock, is the almost total want of shelter for the attending boats on either side, which renders the approach difficult excepting in the finest weather. Another evil consists in its having been found necessary to cut down the rock for a solid foundation, even so low as to be under the tide; it thus became necessary to erect a coffer-dam round the site of the building; this required the pumping of water from the foundation-pit every tide, and thereby subjected the whole operation to many casualities, which were only to be overcome by the resolution and perseverance of those employed in the work, encouraged by the confidence of the Board of Commissioners. The operations have been at length brought to the most flattering prospect of being completed in the course of the present

year.

The Carr Rock, as before noticed, is only twenty-three feet in breadth, and the foundation course of the beacon is consequently confined to a diameter of eighteen feet. Its height therefore cannot exceed fifty feet, having an elevation of a circular form, diminishing towards the top to nine feet diameter over walls.

During the three years ending in 1815, the artificers employed at this work were wholly occupied in preparing the foundation or site of the building, which became extremely tedious and difficult, from the lowness of the first course and the accidents to which building apparatus so exposed was liable. The operations could go on only in good weather, and only at the return of spring tides. A whole year's work, under these circum

and their elegant and stately forms, have a fine effect amidst the confusion of a populous and bustling city. This bird, like the ibis among the ancient Egyptians, is considered sacred by the Hollanders. It is never killed or disturbed, however familiar or troublesome it may prove, and that dwelling is considered as fortunate on which it chooses to take up its summer abode. The young are, however, sometimes captured and sold to slavery, which seems in some degree inconsistent with the veneration which is paid to the personal dignity of the parent bird. I am informed, that they observe an astonishing regularity in the periods of their migrations to and from this country. They usually make their appearance in spring about the end of March, and depart in the autumn about the beginning of September. They are said to winter in Egypt and the north of Africa. Yesterday evening, which was beautifully calm and serene, when the sun had sunk and dim twilight overspread the land, I found myself alone in a church-yard, -not a voice was audible to disturb the utter solitude and silence with which I was surrounded,-a soft and winnowing sound in the air suddenly attracted my attention, and immediately a beautiful pair of storks alighted in the church-yard, within a few paces of the place where I stood. It was a mild and dewy night, and they were no doubt attracted there by the expectation of a plentiful supper on the slugs and insects, which might have left their hiding places. My unexpected presence, however, seemed to disturb them, for in a few seconds they mounted to the steeple of the church, where they sat uttering their wild and singularly plaintive cries, which added greatly to those impressions of loneliness and seclusion which the situation naturally tended to inspire. Besides the usual note, I observe these birds make a singular noise, apparently by striking the two mandibles of the bill forcibly against each other. This too, in the stillness of a summer night, during which it is usually made; and when heard from the top of some lofty cathedral, a name which most of the churches in Holland deserve to bear, produces a fine effect, and is, indeed, in my mind, already intimately connected with those undefinable sensations, the rem

nants, as it were, of the superstitions of our infancy, which, I believe, most men experience while wandering alone, and in darkness, among those venerable piles which have been for so many ages consecrated to the purposes of religion.

But I must, for the present, bid adieu to these " dwellers in the temple," though what I have said is due to their memory, from the pleasure which they afforded me during one beautiful evening of summer.

Delft, where I now am, is said to be an ancient town, and so it appears, for the canals are green and stagnant, and the streets narrow, except at the great central square, which is certainly not insignificant. As usual, the canals are numerous, and bordered with rows of trees. A Dutchman, with whom I travelled for a few hours in the treckschuit, informed me, that the canals of the town might be cleaned, by means of sluices, every day, and that the frequency of this operation accounted for the greater purity to be observed in their waters. He likewise mentioned, that he was a nativė of the town of Delft, from which circumstance, as I remarked rather the reverse of a superiority in the particular alluded to, I infer that he was inclined to flatter the place of his nativity.

Here I visited the principal church, which is well worthy of inspection for its own intrinsic excellence, and still more so on account of the remains of many illustrious men which have been deposited in it, and the superb monuments which a grateful country have erected to perpetuate their memory.

The church itself is very large, and is divided in the interior by two ranges of magnificent arched pillars; and there are no galleries to diminish the grandeur produced by the great height of the walls and the vaulting of the superb roof.

The monuments are worthy of being held in undying remembrance, Indeed I have somewhere read, that Delft might be considered as the Westminster of Holland, on account of the remains of warriors and of learned men which it contains. In the centre of one compartment of the church stands the splendid mausoleum of William I. Prince of Orange, a man who is justly considered as the found

er of Dutch liberty, and whose memory is revered throughout the land. It is the finest monument, in Holland, and is thought, by some competent judges, to present one of the most perfect specimens of architectural magnificence in Europe.

It consists of a square base of white marble and bronze, and of a beautiful canopy of similar materials, supported by four alabaster pillars. Between the two pillars facing the great organ, sits a bronze statue of the prince, in complete armour, seemingly occupied in the administration of justice. On his right side there is a fine statue of the goddess of Liberty, and on his left stands Justice with her scales. The former struck me as being the more beautiful; it is a production of real genius, and the greater is the pity that a work so perfect should be deformed by any thing incongruous or absurd,

"That it is true 'tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis

true."

But either the evil star of the artist has, in an inauspicious hour, darkened the light of his genius,- -or some patriotic son of Batavia, avidous of immortality, has generously offered himself as the amender of a work, which, from the improvement suggested by him, he could not possibly understand; for over the left hand of the beautiful creature before mentioned, is placed a ponderous chapeau bras, richly gilded, and sufficiently large, in the eye of taste and feeling, to overshadow one half of the mausoleum itself, though, no doubt, in the opinion of its infatuated manufacturer, spreading a halo light through every corner of the edifice. It is considered, even by well-educated Dutchmen, as an elegant emblem of that noble spirit which resisted the oppression of the cruel Spaniard, and worthy of being placed as a glory around the head of their sainted prince. At each corner, on the opposite side, there is a female figure of great excellence. These I believe to be emblematic of Religion and Strength. The one stands upon a pillar of white marble, on which the name of Christ is engraven in letters of gold, and bears the representation of a church in her hand; the other holds a book, They are probably meant to perpetuate the memory of the sufferings of the people during the times of religious persecution, and that happy emanci

pation which was the certain consequence of their fortitude and virtue. Between these statues, a little advanced beneath the canopy, there is a statue of Fame. The attitude is common place, but the execution is fine. Above the canopy there is a large and beautiful alabaster urn, on which a suit of armour of white marble, and of most exquisite workmanship, is placed, and near it the prince is represented stretched upon his tomb. At his feet there is the figure of the dog, which, at a former period, having saved his life, by awakening him when his tent was beset by Spaniards, is reported to have refused all sustenance after the death of its beloved master. This great prince, if my memory serves me, was assassinated by a native of Burgundy, who shot him in the breast with three balls, when he was descending his own staircase after din ner. The assassin, whose name was Baltazar Gerard, was supposed to have been instigated on the one hand by the machinations of some diabolical monks, and, on the other, allured by the gold and by the promises of the perfidious Philip. Gerard, like many other villains, was well endowed with personal courage, and with a resolution worthy of a better cause ;he sacrificed his own life in order to destroy this famous restorer and protector of religious liberty.

1

Besides the ornaments which I have already described, there are several weeping cherubim near the body of white marble, and in the same masterly style; and many figures of smaller size adorn the base of the pedestal and the frieze work of the canopy, all equally worthy of attention and admiration.

The following is a translation of the inscription, the original of which is not without beauty of sentiment and elegance of expression :-" To God, whose power and goodness have no bound; and to the eternal memory of William of Nassau, Sovereign Prince of Orange, the father of this country, the welfare of which he preferred to his own, and to that of his family;-who raised and headed, at two different times, and chiefly at his own expense, a powerful army, with the approbation of the States ;who repulsed the tyranny of Spain ;who re-established the worship of true religion, as well as the ancient laws of