TO THE EVENING STAR. 'Star of descending night!' How lovely is thy beam; How softly pours thy silv'ry light, O'er the bright glories of the west, As now the sun sunk to his rest, Sends back his parting stream Of golden splendor, like a zone Of beauty, o'er the horizon! 'Star of descending night!' First of the sparkling train, That gems the sky, I hail thy light; And as I watch thy peaceful ray, That sweetly spreads o'er fading day, I think and think again, That thou art some fair orb of light, Where spirits bask in glory bright. 'Star of descending night!' Oft hast thou met my gaze, When evening's calm and mellow light, Invited to the secret bower, To spend with God the tranquil hour, In grateful pray'r and praise,-- {297} Then thy soft ray so passing sweet, Has beamed around my hallowed seat. And I have loved thee, star! When in night's diadem, I saw thee lovelier, brighter, far Than all the stellate worlds, and thought Of that great star the wise men sought, And came to Bethlehem, To view the infant Saviour's face, The last bright hope of Adam's race. T. J. S. _Frederick Co. Va._ GENIUS. Pope says in the preface to his works, "What we call a genius is hard to be distinguished, by a man himself, from a strong inclination." Such a distinction is certainly hard to make, and in my opinion has no existence. Genius, as it appears to me, is merely a decided preference for any study or pursuit, which enables its possessor to give the close and unwearied attention necessary to ensure success. When this constancy of purpose is wanting, the brightest natural talents will give little aid in acquiring literary or scientific eminence: and where it exists in any considerable degree, it is rare to find one so ill endowed with common sense as not to gain a respectable standing. Genius is of two sorts, which may be termed philosophical and poetical. When the mind takes most pleasure in the exercise of reason, the genius displayed is philosophical; when the fictions of fancy give the greatest delight, the cast of mind is poetical. All the operations of the human intellect may be referred to one of these, or to a combination of both. Books of this last character are much the most numerous; for we seldom find a work so severely argumentative as to exclude all play of imagination even as ornament, or so entirely poetical as never to allow the restraint of sober reason.