Which floats upon its rich, brocaded wing In graceful carelessness from bloom to bloom. No merry laughter, no light-hearted lay, No lover’s whisper floats among the bowers; But all is icy beauty, cold and still, Radiant and passionless, and void of bliss; A glory that will quickly melt away And leave no trace behind. And such I deem Is life within a nunnery; pure and bright With heaven’s reflected glory; but all cold And destitute of the fond sympathies That are at once the bliss, the ornament, And agony of life. Liberty, Pa. March, 1841. * * * * * OH! GENTLE LOVE. SUNG BY MR. WILSON, IN AUBER’S OPERA OF LESTOQ, ARRANGED BY T. COOKE. Geo. W. Hewitt & Co. No. 184 Chesnut Street, Philadelphia. [Illustration: musical score] Oh gentle love, thy spirit o’er us beaming, [Illustration: musical score] Doth thro’ the soul its tenderness diffuse, E’en as the glow, from morning’s sun light streaming, Smiles o’er the earth, and tempereth its hues Oh! gentle love, thy spirit o’er us beaming, [Illustration: musical score] Doth thro’ the soul its tenderness diffuse, A magic all have felt and feel, how e’er they struggle to conceal A magic all have felt and feel, how e’er they struggle to conceal, Or as the dew upon the flowrets sleeping, Over the leaves a distillation rains, Which tho’ the day dissolve its pearly weeping, Still in their heart reviving them remains. * * * * * SPORTS AND PASTIMES. PARTRIDGE SHOOTING. Concluded. Unless there be continual rain, or it be the depth of winter, birds will visit their basking place some time in the course of the day, whether the sun shine or not. The basking place is generally, but not invariably, on the sunny side of the hedge. Birds may be most easily approached in fine weather. All kinds of birds lie better in small enclosures than in large ones, that is, when the cover in each is alike. It need scarcely be added, that the more bushy the brambles, or the higher the grass the more closely will lie the game. A person who knows how to walk up to a bird will obtain more shots than one who does not, especially in windy weather. Birds will not only allow the shooter to approach nearer to them when he faces the wind, but they present on rising, a fairer mark.