He bids thee come without delay And take thy lovely daughter home: With all his numerous array, White with their panting palfrey's foam. When I spake words of fierce disdain To Roland de Vaux of Tryermaine!" SOME MORE GEOGRAPHICAL PERISCOPICS. BY PERKIOMEN. "Holland" is formed from the German words hohl and land and signifies a hollow or low country It is a narrow slip of swampy earth-no mountains or rising grounds, no plantations, purling streams, or cataracts. When looking down from a tower or steeple, the face of the country appears like a continued marsh or bog, drained, at regular intervals, by innumerable ditches. Canals serve as high-roads, which in the summer months are as offensive as our city culverts. The usual way of passing from town to town is by a covered boat called "treck-senits," which are dragged by horses on a slow but uniform dog-trot. They are said to make exact time, though. The houses are built on large piles, driven into the mud. The "Stadt-house" stands on 13,659 such. Even the names of the cities savor of water; for instance, AmsterdamRotterdam, &c. The Holland women are proverbial for their rubbing, scouring and cleaning propensity. We never did believe that any woman was naturally fond of being forever in the suds; nor would our Dutch ladies use the scrubbing-brush so persistently, were it not that the moisture of the air causes metals to rust, and wood to mould, more than in any other country. There is a virtue made of a necessity, you see. Smoking tobacco is practised by old and young, of both sexes. Habitual tippling is charged upon the inhabitants too, without regard to sex. They say there is no love in a Hollander, only a mechanical affection. Every appetite and passion seems to run lower and grow cooler here, than in any other country. It is a rule with every one of them, to spend annually less than one's income is, be that what it will. Every Dutch man must show a margin. Whoever cannot do that, is put down as having lived to no purpose, that year. So the thirst for No failures occur They have a queer They cover their money, after all, does not run low or grow cool. among them, nor are there any bankrupt laws. way to defend themselves against an enemy. frontiers with many sluices, by means of which, they can inundate, at the shortest notice, and become inaccessible. They are grand skaters the best in the world. Only at this exercise do they betray any suppleness, unless, when they believe their interests are at the point of being sacrificed. Let us hear them pray, their OUR FATHER: Onse Vader, die in de hemelin zyn, uwan naam worde geheylight, uwe koningryk kome; uwe wille geschiede gelyek in den hemel zoo ook op den arden, ons dagelicks broot geef ons heeden, ende vergeef tonse schulden gelyk ook wy vergeenen onse schulden aaren; ende enlaat onse niet in versaeckinge, maer vertast ons van der boosen. Amen. Switzerland is a romantic country. We all know that, and will, therefore, tell what our geographies omit. Here is an item on "Goitres and Idiots in Valaes." The people in this latitude are much subject to goitres, or large swellings about the neck, and idiocy. The notion that the snow-water, peculiar to that latitude, occasions these enlargements, is totally abandoned by this time, and the theory maintained, that the springs are impregnated with a calcareous matter, called "tuf," so minutely dissolved as not in the least to affect the transparency of the water. Wherever there are goitrous persons, there is much of this tuf. Such tuf-stones have been taken from the necks of affected persons. Mr. Coxe speaks of the numerous idiots about these quarters. "I saw many instances of this unfortunate kind, as I passed through Sion. Some were basking in the sun, with their tongues protruding from their mouths, and their heads hanging on their breasts, exhibiting the most affecting spectacle of an intellectual imbecility that can possibly be conceived. The cause is unknown. But, stranger than this, is the fact, that the people very much respect these idiots, and even consider them a blessing from heaven. The common order esteem them so far, as to call them "souls of God without sin," and-would it be credited?-parents prefer these idiot children to those of a full understanding, because they are incapable of sin, and are deemed sure of future happiness. Singular as is such a preference, yet it is not without its good effect, since it disposes parents to pay greater love to such helpless beings. In our own country, an imbecile or invalid child oftentimes monopolizes the affection of a household. How wise a Providence! The Swiss are a brave race-always have been. Albert I, treated them with so much rigor, that they petitioned against the cruelty of their Governors. This complaint only served to double their hardships. One Gresler, in wanton tyranny, set up a hat upon a pole, and obliged the people to bow to it, as to himself. The famous William Tell wouldn't do it. Being an excellent marksman, the tyrant condemned him to be hanged, unless he cleft an apple upon his son's head, at a certain distance, with an arrow. Tell cleft the apple, without touching the boy's head. Gresler asked him, what the other arrow meant, which still stuck in his belt? Tell bluntly answered, that it was intended for him, if he had killed the boy. Gresler sent him to prison; but, escaping, he watched for Gresler and shot him through the heart. This was the foundation of the Helvetic Republic and Liberty. Silesia was the sad home of the persecuted 'Schwenk felders'-a religious sect, now only known in two settlements in East Pennsylvania. The principal of the Protestant churches is the Lutheran Cathedral of St. Elizabeth. In the library belonging to it, is what may be considered a curious manuscript. To the naked eye it appears to be a drawing with a pen of the Venus de Medicis, upon a half-sheet of folio paper. But on examining it with a magnifying glass, it is found to be a copy of Ovid's Art of Love-perfectly legible, and the whole five books within a compass of ten inches in length and three in width. Prussia and Austria have swallowed up Silesia. Poor dismembered Poland has always been a country of interest to us. You may blot a nation from the map, but memory and history will preserve it. The Poles are of noble physique. They salute each other by striking the breast with one hand and stretching the other towards the ground, with the head inclined. A common character, however, brings his head to the leg of his superior, near the heel. Their exercises are bracing and manly; such as vaulting, riding, hunting and skating. Horse-back riding is their daily diversion. A Polish gentleman will not travel a stone's throw without his horse. They never live up stairs. When they sit down to dinner or supper, they have trumpets or other musical instruments playing. Every Pole has his own knife, fork and spoon. They carry the pomp of their attendance, when abroad, even to ridicule. It is not unusual to see the Lady of a Polish grandee move beside a coach-and-six, with a great number of servants, attended by an old gentleman-usher, and an old gentle-woman for her governante, with a dwarf of each sex, to hold up her train. If it be night, her coach is surrounded by a great number of flambeaux. The nobles call each other Brothers. They do not value titles, and think a gentleman of Poland, the highest appellation to be enjoyed. They are fond of dress, some of the rich owning 'as high as fifty suits. Kosciusko was their unsuccessful Washington. The Hungarians are well-made persons, as all who saw Kossuth will testify. Their peculiar hat with plume, or fur-cap; their close-bodied coats, girded by a sash, and their cloak or mantle, which is so contrived as to buckle under the arms, so that the right hand may always be at liberty,-all this gives them an air of military dignity. The men shave their beards, save their whiskers on the upper lip. Still, not every man can look the Hungarian by simply letting that grow. It is strange that gout and fever are predominant diseases in Hungary; though, the climate is said to be the cause. There are many faraons, zigeuners, or gypsies, in this country. These are believed to be real descendants of the ancient Egyptians. They carry the Egyptian features down from father to child, and perpetuate a propensity to isolation and melancholy. They preserve the dance of Isis, in religious veneration of the onion, and in many of their manners and customs, superstitions and peculiarities, resemble their Egyptian ancestry. Many of the female gypsies, around Temeswar, still hatch eggs after the old domestic style. Hungary was formerly remarkable for its coinage. There are still extant, in cabinets, complete sets of coins of their former kings. More Greek and Roman medals have been discovered in this country, than, perhaps in any other of Europe. Crossing the Strait, let us come as far as Wales, which is almost cut apart from England, by the Rivers Severn and Dee. It means the land of the strangers. Don't the Welsh strike you as such, whenever you meet them? It came to be so named, because the Romans drove the Belgic Gauls thither-into a far and strange country. Wales contains many quarries of free-stone and slate; several mines of lead, and many coal-pits. In Anglesea is a rich copper-mine, which produces, not in veins, but by large heaps. Now it is plain, why our Welsh are well-nigh all miners. But there was a time, when the people in Wales did more than dig under ground. Wales was once a seat of learning. It was famous for its birds and poets. Thaliessin was an early Welsh genius, and inspired his people with the spirit of independence. Edward I, did not like such men, and had all the poets massacred. Wales furnished the Anglo-Saxons with an Alphabet. After all, it appears that the great merit of the Welsh learning, lay, in former times, in their knowledge of antiquities, language, and history of their own country. Let us light on some Islands now-the British Isles. The Isle of Wight has been called the Garden of England,' because of its beautiful and picturesque prospects. More wheat grows here in one year, than can be consumed by the inhabitants in eight. The air is pure; the soil fertile, and the landscape of great variety. Here are some of the finest gentlemen's seats, and even the farm houses are built of stone, with splendid lawns enclosing them. In the English Channel lie four Islands-Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. Jersey Isle is noted for its cider and honey. This is the only place we have ever heard of, where a physician has no business.' Guernsey has its cider. But the objection to it is that it lacks fuel, which is a very serious one. Alderney is known to us principally for its fine breed of cows. And the Sark Isle is famous for its long-lived inhabitants. The Isle of Man has been supposed to take its name from the Saxon word Mang (among); because it lies in St. George's Channel, and at an equal distance from England, Scotland and Ireland. One, who has been there, says: "On a clear day three Britannic kingdoms may be seen from this island." The Isles of Scotland fall into three clusters:— The Hebrides are supposed to exceed 300 in number; but 30 only are of any significance. Staffa is noted for its 'Cave of Fingal,' 371 feet long, 53 broad, and 117 high. The whole cluster is a home for the "Shanachies," or "Storytellers.' They supply the place of the ancient bards, so famous in history, and are the historians or genealogists of the family and people, as well as the poets. The chief, when making his round, is attended with his musiciana Bag-piper, of whom we have all heard and read. Notwithstanding the contempt into which this order of music has fallen, it is almost incredible with what care and skill it was cultivated among these islanders, so late even as the beginning of the last century. They had regular colleges and professors, and students took degrees according to their proficiency. As a body, the people are of a romantic, poetic turn; and the agility of both sexes, both in their field exercises, and when dancing to their favorite music, is remarkable. The inhabitants pretend to the power of fore-knowledge too. They claim the wonderful faculty of seeing visions of events before they happen. The real truth seems to be, that these islanders, by indulgence and dissipation, acquire visionary habits of mind, and overstimulate their imaginations, till they are haunted with those fancies and phantasms, which they mistake for prophetic manifestations. They incessantly prophesy, and it is natural to suppose, that of the thousand predictions, some may happen to be realized ; and such fortuitous chimings give sanction to the whole. Of the Orkney Islands, 80 in number, South Ronaldsha is most fertile, and Hoy is noted for a mountain, called 'Wart hill.' Its summit sparkles, when seen at a distance, though its brightness fades on a nearer approach. The peasants call it "the enchanted carbuncle." The cause of this phenomenon is supposed to be the reflection of the rays of the sun from some hidden water; but no such water has as yet been discovered. There is also a hermitage |