_The First Ball_, by L.E.L. is rife and gay; which, with Mr. Croker's _Three Advices_, are all we can spare room to point out to our readers. * * * * * The Amulet. Of this volume we have already availed ourselves. Some of the engravings are in a vigorous and first-rate style of excellence; the binding, too, is somewhat gay for so grave a title--being crimson silk. Our favourites are a _Voyage Round the World_, by Montgomery, one of the best poems of the year; _Faustus, with a Visit to Goethe; Angel Visits_, by Mrs. Hemans; _The Departed_, by L.E.L.; and some pieces by the editor, Mr. Hall. Our present extract is THE LAST VOYAGE. A TRUE STORY. _By Mrs. Opie._ We cannot fail to observe, as we advance in life, how vividly our earliest recollections recur to us, and this consciousness is accompanied by a melancholy pleasure, when we are deprived of those who are most tenderly associated with such remembrances, because they bring the beloved dead "before our mind's eye;" and beguile the loneliness of the _present_ hour, by visions of the _past_. In such visions I now often love to indulge, and in one of them, a journey to Y---- was recently brought before me, in which my ever-indulgent father permitted me to accompany him, when I was yet but a child. As we drove through C----r, a village within three miles of Y----, he directed my attention to a remarkable _rising_, or _conical mound of earth_, on the top of the tower of C----r church. He then kindly explained the cause of this singular, and _distinguishing_ appearance, and told me the traditionary anecdote connected with it; which now, in my own words, I am going to communicate to my readers. It is generally supposed, that great grief makes the heart so selfishly absorbed in its own sufferings, as to render it regardless of the sufferings of others; but the conduct of her, who is the heroine of the following tale, will prove to this general rule an honourable exception. I know nothing of her birth, and parentage, nor am I acquainted even with her name--but I shall call her Birtha--the story goes, that she lived at C----r, a village three miles from Y---- in N----, and was betrothed to the mate of a trading vessel, with the expectation of marrying him, when he had gained money sufficient, by repeated voyages, to make their union consistent with prudence. In the meanwhile, there is reason to believe that Birtha was not idle, but contrived to earn money herself, in order to expedite the hour of her marriage; and at length, her lover (whom I shall call William) thought that there was no reason for him to continue his sea-faring life, but at the end of one voyage more, he should be able to marry the woman of his choice, and engage in some less dangerous employment, in his native village.