"Here lies a heart, that beat for fame." Soon after the reception of this letter, we were informed by the president of C---- College, that Walter Dunlap had died suddenly, from an inflammation of the lungs occasioned by an exposure to the air for several hours, while observing the corruscations of the _Aurora borealis_. Thus died Walter Dunlap--a child of sorrow--a being of the strongest aspirations--possessing a genius which would have elevated him to a rank with the profoundest philosophers--and wept by his companions whose tears form his only funeral eulogy. His life may show the danger of exposing a child too early to the contagion of a college--the folly of dealing too harshly with youthful errors--the force of sympathy on the heart, and the elevation at which a mind may instantly arrive. Farewell. * * * * * I will only add that the "student's grave yard" now contains a monument over the tomb of the Forgotten Genius, and that in compliance with my promise, I caused to be inscribed to the memory of Walter Dunlap, the eloquent epitaph contained in his last letter to his brother, so justly due to the actions of his short life. _West Point, 18th April, 1835_. For the Southern Literary Messenger. THE HOUSE MOUNTAIN IN VIRGINIA. This double mountain forms a conspicuous object in the romantic county of Rockbridge. It stands seven miles west of Lexington, from whose inhabitants it hides the setting sun, and not unfrequently turns the summer showers. Being separated from the neighboring ridge of the North mountain, and more lofty, it presents its huge body and sharp angles full to the western winds. Clouds are often driven against it, cloven asunder, and carried streaming on to the right and left with a space of clear sky between, similar in form to the evening shadow of the mountain. Sometimes however, a division of the cloud after passing the town, will come bounding back in a current of air, reflected from another mountain. It is not uncommon to see a cloud move across the great valley in Rockbridge, shedding its contents by the way--strike the Blue Ridge on the south eastern side, wheel about and pursue a different course until it is exhausted. The traveller, after the shower is over, and the clear sunshine has induced him to put off his cloak and umbrella, is surprised by the sudden return of the rain from the same quarter towards which he had just seen it pass away.