SOLDIER'S FUNERAL.

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angling with patient perseverance, was seen in undisturbed tranquillity. What a contrast did this same spot exhibit the other evening, when all was military bustle and confusion! HORSE and FooT were performing a series of evolutions, whilst the "ear-piercing fife and the spirit-stirring drum," were re-echoing through this charming vale, with a powerful reverberation.

From these barracks, a few days before, I witnessed a SOLDIER'S FUNERAL, a solemn spectacle, calculated to make an impression on the hardest heart; it proceeded to Maidstone Church-yard

Ah, me! how mournful, wan and slow,
With arms revers'd THE SOLDIERS come;
Dirge-sounding trumpets full of woe,
And sad to hear the muffled drum!

Advancing to the house of prayer,

Still sadder flows the dolesome strain;

E'en industry forgets her care,

And joins the melancholy train!

O! after all the toils of WAR,

How blest the brave man lies him down,

His bier is his TRIUMPHAL CAR,

His GRAVE is glory and renown!

What tho' nor friends nor kindred dear,
To grace his obsequies attend;
His comrades are his BROTHERS here,
And every HERO is his friend!

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GIBRALTAR.

See love and truth all woe-begone,
And beauty drooping in the crowd,
Their thoughts intent on HIM alone

Who sleeps for ever in his shroud!

Again the trumpet slowly sounds
The SOLDIER's last funereal hymn ;
Again the muffled drum rebounds,
And every eye with grief is dim!

The gen'rous steed which late he rode,
Seems, too, its MASTER to deplore,
And follows to his last abode,

The WARRIOR who returns no more!*

Losing sight of the barracks, we approached Gibraltar, not the southern extremity of the Peninsula, now gloriously struggling for its liberties; but an INN, having in front the sign of the impregnable rock, where the brave ELLIOT raised the fame of British valour to the highest pinnacle of glory! Hither do the inhabitants of Maidstone withdraw to enjoy the sweets of social repast and peaceful retirement. Here, a few days ago, I met an intelligent BOOK SOCIETY, who had, according to their annual

* Opposite these barracks is an ancient farm-house, deno. minated Buckland, which, two years after, the Author and his family occupied during the summer vacation. Morning and evening the fine tones of the sonorous trumpet, calling together the soldiers, stole on the ear, and exhilarated the heart.

ALLINGTON CASTLE.

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custom, dined together with good humour and har mony. By these literary associations, which are now formed in every country town, knowledge and its concomitant rational enjoyment are diffused throughout society.

Opposite and across the river are beheld the remains of an ANCIENT CASLTE, clad with ivy and tumbling into ruins! It is now, so far as respects the habitable portion of it, broken down into two farm houses. Visiting it in the course of last week, I was struck with the very different purposes to which the parts of the building were appropriated. For whilst the turrets were "the raven's bleak abode," the body of the Castle was the habitation of rational beings. The barking of the dogs, the fowls flapping their wings, perched, as they were, on broken fragments of the structure, together with the dilapidated appearance of every thing around, excited singular emotions. Military prowess and hostile preparations had, however, on this spot, given way to the peaceful occupations of agriculture. The feudal times are no more! And, I trust, that the community is advancing in every social improvement that can adorn humanity. The place is known by the name of Allington Castle; it was the residence of SIR THOMAS WYATT, who, in the time of bloody Mary, fell a sacrifice to a relentless anti-christian bigotry! Interesting sketches of Allington Castle are frequently seen in the annual Exhibitions at Somerset House, displaying to advantage the skill of the artist:

The Domes once tenanted by greatness,

The spot that virtue chose for her retreat,
The cell where science from the world shut out
Withdrew, that world to charm or to reform;
The HUGE HIGH CASTLE, whose wide portals op'd
On many a warrior brave or gallant fair ;
These to the feeling heart are hallow'd haunts,
Tho' but in RUINS seen and faintly trac'd!

HOME SCENERY.

In as little time as I am committing this description, to paper, we past this interesting object of antiquity, and reached the New Lock, which forms a considerable improvement in the navigation of THE MEDWAY. By a simple process, a vessel of several tons is enabled to push along at any time to the town of Maidstone, thus facilitating the conveyance of goods to and from London. It is wonderful how much, of late years, THE INLAND TRADE of Great Britain has been increased by contrivances of this kind. Mechanism is almost boundless in its inventions. "Give me a fulcrum

on which to rest my lever," said Archimedes of old, " and I will raise the WORLD!" Besides the streams which nature has kindly formed, canals now cross the country in every direction treasures dug out of the bowels of the earth, the plenteous productions of the field, and the varied offspring of foreign climes, are thus brought to our doors. By these means does the scientific ingenuity of man improve nature herself, augmenting the blessings of CIVILIZED SOCIETY

AYLESFORD.

For e'en where NATURE loads the teeming plain
With the full pomp of vegetable store,

Her bounty unimprov'd is deadly bane;

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Dark woods and rankling wilds from shore to shore Stretch their enormous gloom, which to explore E'en fancy trembles in her sprightliest mood. For there each eye-ball gleams with lust of gore, Nestles each murderous and each monstrous brood, Plague lurks in every shade and streams from ev'ry flood!

BEATTIE.

HOLLAND is a remarkable instance of what human industry can effect in the improvement of nature. From a low swampy situation, has arisen a spot, the most populous, the most wealthy, and the most commercial in the world!" A man of benevolence, (says Dugald Stewart,) whose mind is enlarged by PHILOSOPHY, will indulge agreeable anticipations with respect to society, will view all the different improvements in arts, in commerce and in the sciences, as cooperating to promote the union, the happiness, and the virtue of mankind."

Having had our ear assailed with the fearful rushings, and our eye fixed upon the circling eddies of the pent-up water, we got through the Lock, and were let down gently into the bed of the river MEDWAY! The tide not yet flowing we proceeded with difficulty. This was particularly the case when we were opposite to Preston, and came in sight of Aylesford. Our little boat often scraped the bottom of the river, and the man, to prevent an entire stoppage, pulled lustily