flection which not unfrequently penetrates to the heart of the reader. It may be consecrated by the past glory of man, or it may exist only in its own; but in either case it speaks with all the luxury of sentiment, and all the loveliness of truth.

Wednesday, 8th Dec.-Early this morning a gun was fired from the ship as a signal for departure. About nine o'clock Major General Sir Manley Power and his family came on board, and the Cambrian set sail immediately after.

The swell has been considerable to-day, though it is now perfectly calm.

Friday, 10th Dec.-This morning we passed the Islands of Gorgona and Capriara, blowing pretty freshly. Elba and Monte Christi were on our lee-bow about noon.

Monday, 13th Dec. It blew exceedingly hard all yesterday night, but the wind was fair; they term it a Grecario, it is the northeast, and by seven this morning brought us to Malta. The waves ran high, and dashed beautifully against the rocks as we entered the har.bour of Valetta.

In the evening was the first public ball of

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this season.

MALTA-MRS. CHARLES FOX.

The assembly room, once the re

sidence of a knight of Malta, is of magnificent dimensions, as indeed most of their houses were. It possesses a property in which others are deficient, that of having a boarded floor, but the value of this is very greatly diminished by the customary flooring of stone beneath. However, as there is not another thing of the kind in the island, it must be considered a great acquisition. I had the pleasure to meet again Captain (now Major) and Mrs. Fox at this ball, who, it seems, have fixed their residence at La Floriana, about a mile distant from the capital. Mrs. Fox is looking remarkably well, and appears highly satisfied with her new abode: this pleases me, for very few have the power of creating and securing esteem more effectually than Mrs. Charles Fox. The truly feminine softness of her manner, aided by the kindness and goodness of her heart, possesses an almost irresistible attraction, and leaves her friends doubtful whether she should be prized more for the gentleness of disposition which prompts, or for the natural delicacy of character which envelopes and embalms her every action. For many a really kind feeling has been ren

REMARKS ON MANNERS.

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dered nugatory by the method which some people adopt in discovering it; and many a good deed has become inefficient and revolting, merely from the want of a delicate consideration, a generous expression as well as a generous thought. It is the failure in this which makes obligations so odious, and ingratitude so common. Motives are apt to be mistaken, not less when favours are conferred than when they are denied; and I have frequently known more pain communicated by the first than by the second: all this arises purely from manner, and therefore I feel justified in applauding, and even in joining it (where they both equally exist) with the native feeling which precedes and probably generates it. I would almost lay it down as an axiom, that a benevolent feeling will necessarily produce benevolent expression, whatever may be the harshness of feature, or general want of polish, in the individual who experiences it; and that whenever it is otherwise all is not as it should be. There is a material defect somewhere; and I am also persuaded that this expression, when not the result of its proper feeling, can never be assumed: imitation and artifice may

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MALTA EXCURSION TO ST. ANTONIO.

do much, but they cannot vary with circumstances so minute as are required here; they cannot copy what they neither see nor under stand; a general outline may in some cases be caught up, but it will scarcely deceive the most inexperienced. It is the genuine child of pathy, the natural consequence of an understanding head and a feeling heart, and without these the master-chord of another's bosom will never respond.

sym

Major Fox on this occasion introduced me to the Rev. Mr. Cleugh, the government chaplain. I think him a valuable acquaintance.

Tuesday, 14th Dec.-I breakfasted with Mr. Cleugh, and afterwards rode with him to St. Antonio, a country seat of the Marquis of Hastings. The prospect is very peculiar; it resembles a desolate waste with a few straggling patches of verdure in certain fortunate situations; yet even these the dryness of the soil, which is chiefly formed of the pounded rock and perchance some minute particles of compost, together with the warmth of the atmosphere, render so parched that a bright spot of green is seldom visible. In some places it is impossible for a calèche to travel; and one

MALTA-MODE OF CATCHING PRAWNS.

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is surprized that even the sure-footed ponies, so common in this country, can maintain their ground. As we passed along, a number of Maltese were fishing in an angle of the harbour for shrimps, or rather prawns, which alone are caught here. Their method is, to drop small nets attached to a hoop into the water, with baits fastened to the meshes; a cork, connected with the net, floats above, and this apparatus is deposited at intervals along the shore. They pass from one to another, and examine their contents by means of a kind of wooden fork with two prongs, which catches hold of the float and raises the net. Half a dozen prawns at a time is as much as they catch; but their patience, or as others term it, their indolence, is invincible. In returning we passed an aqueduct of some importance, which communicates with La Valetta;—this work was effected by the knights of Malta: the harbours form beautiful objects from a great variety of points, dividing one town from another on each side of the capitol: thus it may be called a mountain Venice, or as Lord Byron has said of the latter, with less propriety perhaps,