In alluding to the death of his mother, Dr. Johnson observes that, notwithstanding the warnings of philosophers, and the daily experience of losses and misfortunes which life forces upon our observation, such is the business of the present day, such the resignation of our reason to empty hopes of future felicity, or such our unwillingness to foresee what we dread, that every calamity comes suddenly upon us, and not only presses as a burthen, but crushes as a blow. ❦ [Sidenote: Recollections in the Cathedral at Malines or “Mechlin” in Belgium.] On this anniversary of the day on which my loved little one closed his short earthly career, called by the will of our Creator to early beatitude, I saw in the cathedral at Malines a beautiful sculptured monument; the subject, I conclude, adopted by some afflicted mother from the passage in Holy Writ which I, in my own sorrow, had engraven on my child’s tomb: “Suffer little children to come to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” On the monument I have referred to, an angel presents to Jesus Christ a little boy, of age and size resembling dear C----; his hands are clasped, and raised as in entreaty; and the sculptor has given to the features of our Saviour all the gentle benignity of his character, while he extends his hands to the infant claimant of heaven, and seems to say, “Come to my bosom, there to be cradled till I replace you in your mother’s arms.” ❦ _A Madame Warner née Shipley, 1817._ Pour vous exprimer dignement Le doux et tendre sentiment Que votre mérite inspire, Que ne puis-je emprunter au plus brillant auteur, Ces vers légers, ces rimes fugitives, Que le bon goût inscrit dans ses archives, Et que chacun veut apprendre par cœur. Pour égaler son talent enchanteur, S’il ne fallait que le désir de plaire Et le choix heureux du sujet, Mes vers seraient dignes de leur objet, Vous croiriez entendre Voltaire. ❦ [Sidenote: To change the colour of a Rose.] Place a fresh gathered rose in water as far as the stem will allow, then powder it over with fine rappee snuff, being careful not to load it too much--in about three hours, on shaking off the snuff, it will have become a green rose. ❦ [Sidenote: Wholesome Truth.] It is wonderful how soon and how completely a finely organized mind adapts itself to inevitable circumstances of reverse, which would lead a blunted intellect to despair: the rough blasts of suffering are requisite to clear away the romantic haze through which the world is viewed; nothing renders us so independent in mind, as to have been ruined in fortune. We then learn the feeble hold we have on the mere sympathies of feeling of our kind, and that much which has appeared to spring from such causes, in fact has only been the result of mutual interests. ❦ [Sidenote: Sir Sidney Smith.]