city like this, my friends, is, and, always will be, subject to such baleful influence; and if the legitimate protectors of our national welfare do not keep one eye open at least, to the best interests of the country, the palladium of our political rights is of no more use than trying to frighten a thunderbolt with a pair of pistols and a bowie knife. But, my foreign friends, allow me to remark that I am related to you all by consanguinity—that 1 look upon you as brothers in the human household-that whatever I say is dictated by truth, unswayed by fear or friendship—and that I consider you, as a whole, are deserving of all, if not more, than Americans can boast of-and I know that many of my own countrymen are in the habit of boasting till they burst.

My hearers-in order to be convinced that cities are sinks which gather filth and vice, you have not only to look at the present corrupt condition of modern Gotham, but to read upon the pages of history how ancient cities of magnificence have sunk in oblivion beneath their overpowering burthens of vice. A dead, sulphurous lake now covers the sites of Sodom and Gomorrah. They continued to gather filth upon filth till the fiery besom of the Almighty swept the streets of all rubbish, and purified them with the flames of destruction. Where mighty Babylon once stood, the satyrs now dance in a desert wild-Jerusalem became bathed in blood, and the ploughshare turned the turf above her-Rome, proud Rome, fell in the zenith of her glory-Herculaneum and Pompeii are but sepulchres for the dead-a few broken pillars stand as monuments upon the tomb of Palmyra-and the once opulent cities of Tyre and Sidon are now changed to rocks, upon which the fishermen dry their nets. All of these gathered filth and vice, corruption and wickedness, till the measure of their iniquities was full; and then their goblet of glory was kicked over by the foot of fate, spilt upon the ground, and absorbed for ever.

My dear friends if New York continues to gather such all manner of iniquities as at present, the time will soon come when the loud thunder of retributive justice will peal from the heavens, with a crash that shall cause the adamantine pillars of the Egyptian Tombs to tremble, and the Pewter Mug in Frankfort-street to hide itself behind the banner of the Washingtonian Temperance Society. At any rate, the day WILL come when this great metropolis will be laid low in the dust, and its inhabitants consigned to

the oblivious tomb. It is already filthy enough, morally and naturally, to be devoured by its own rottenness. Money is making sad mischief in its midst; for, by its all-potent influence, murderers, thieves, burglars, forgers, and seducers of female innocence, are daily escaping the punishment due them. Oh, my friends, what a quantity of wickedness there is concentrated in this little village! You lie in ambush for each other as a tiger does for its prey-you assume to be virtuous in order that you may the better carry out your vicious intents-you don't draw your nourishment directly from the ground, and therefore, like fishes, you feed upon one another; and the simplest and the weakest fall victims to the shrewdest and the strongest. Reform, O ye sons and daughters of sin! and you may yet number the days upon earth as did your ancestors of yore. So mote it be!

ON FIRE, WATER, AND WOMEN.

TEXT.-Fire, water, women, are man's ruin,
Says that old doating Dutchman, Bruin,
But what phlegmatic humor bred
Such frantic notions in his head?
Ascribing thus life's baleful woes

To causes whence each blessing flows.

MY HEARERS-there is no doubt but fire, water and women-taken separately or combined-are often the cause of man's ruin : and at the same time, they are the sources whence all his blessings flow. Fire sometimes burns up our habitations, and all therein; but then it warms us in winter-the greatest comforter for the season imaginable, and the most cheering companion when Night would fain cover us with her mantle of gloom and darkness-it cooks our victuals, assists us in celebrating the Fourth July, and makes the steamboats go ahead. Fire! the bleste an emblem of purity. Unlike everything else, lity; and that is A No. 1. Who ever heard of poor, middling, or second-rate fire? Nonsense!-you might as well imagine an inferior order of angels in heaven, or virtue a little defiled, but not enough to hurt it! Fire is the fountain of light, health, and enjoyment; and, for curiosity's sake, I should like to see the world try to get on without it. Some individuals, after having run into

i

light of day, is has but one qua

it, or burnt their fingers by meddling with it, thoughtlessly and profanely exclaim, d- n the fire! when they only damn themselves, both by word and by deed. Such folks put me in mind of silly moths, that flutter about the alluring blaze till they scorch their wings, and drop to expire in the hot fat of their own foolishWell, let them fall: all have their fall. The foolish fall by their own folly—the great fall by hatred—and the fair fall by love. I shouldn't wonder if I fell, one of these days, by either fire, water, or women; but when I Do fall, it will be right side up, and with a philosophical face upon the world.

ness.

My friends-water sometimes does great injury to man. It sweeps away his saw-mills, and not unfrequently houses, pigs and children-fills his cellars, upsets his hopes, and inundates some of his fairest prospects. At the deluvian period it carried every living thing into eternity, except fishes and a few seeds of mortality most miraculously preserved in an ark. But for all this, say not that water is an evil. It is as useful and necessary to man as the atmosphere that he breathes. It is essential in the bringing forth of the products of the earth. It subdues and conquers fire, when it feels disposed to go beyond its proper limits. It commingles with milk to the benefit of the vender, and without absolute injury to the buyer. It associates with brandy to the profit of the seller, and operates as a conservative upon the stomach of the consumer. Fire purifies and water cleanses. How then can it be possible that elements so pure and necessary as these should prove man's ruin? Easily enough-when mixed together in the shape of a toddy, sling or smasher, and taken twenty times a day. This is the way that fire and water operate to one's ruination; and I advise you all, my friends, to forsake the fire, and take to the water-the same as I did, long years ago.

My dear friends-woman is often the occasion of much trouble and mischief to man. For her he toils and slaves-for her he fights for her he gets drunk-for her he walked out of Paradise barefooted-for her he blows his brains out-and for her he makes a confounded fool of himself, in a variety of ways. Notwithstanding, woman is a blessing. Her influence over us, roughhewed sex, is as mild as the moon upon the tides, and twice as powerful. The moral fragrance that surrounds her is as sweet as the odors that arise from a field of white clover; and her beauty

makes her one of the most interesting living ornaments that wears either legs or wings: I don't care whether you mention a bird of paradise, butterfly, or straddle-bug.

My hearers-fire, water and women are all very good in themselves; but you must be careful and not let either of them get the mastery of you. So mote it be!

ON THE NEW YEAR.

TEXT.-It is well for man that the dull chain of existence has here
and there a golden link, at which we are permitted to pause,
for the relaxation of mind and heart, and gather strength
for the great struggle of existence. The opening of the
new year is one of these bright occurrences.
BELOVED friends—I, for this single time,

In a poetic strain attempt to preach;
That is to say, I give a dose of rhyme-

A purgative that I prescribe for each,

Which works its way through all that's in its reach,
Slips down the throat as sleek as castor oil,
And purifies the morals. I beseech
You, one and all, to neither flinch, nor coil,
Nor turn your noses up at Dr. Muse's toil.

Another year is even now beginning,

For Wednesday last was happy New Year's day;
And now's the hour for us to leave off sinning
In a degree, while at this link we stay;

For

age and sin will shortly turn us grey—
And Time, that old bow-shinn'd, bald-headed Ioafer,
With scythe, just whet, is chasing us away

Into corruption, that before we go far,

We all shall wish that we'd not travelled even so far.

But I must wink at all those little crimes

That witching New Year's heaped upon your backs;
Unless you mock'd the fashion of the times,
And took too many catty-cornered tracks,
Making but liftle headway with the tacks,

While calling on the ladies-that won't do! It loosens all the moral screws, and racks Virtue's slim fabric, when a man gets blue,Shuts up his reason-and sometimes his clam-shell, too!

I made some calls, and some I didn't make
Because the chain of age that binds my feet,
Is very short-and yet I tried to take

A step or two beyond its length, to meet
Those heavenly female smiles, which always greet
Me with a joyous welcome. Would that I

Could burst these fetters !-then I'd eat
Of every wholesome pleasure, far and nigh,
And feel the bliss, but not the curse of living high.

Time used me pretty fair, that day, moreover,
For I felt young about the heart's domain;
And revell'd in the tallest kind of clover;
And should have thought myself a boy again;
But these white locks pronounced the fancy vain;

And these weak knees too confidently told

That nought but childish folly fired my brain; That I should never dance, as once of old,

Amid the ring-tail, rousing storms that beat so cold.

But you, young folks, can dance, and drink, and sing,
When new years dawn upon your careless heads;
Much pleasure, mirth and sport to you they bring
That is, if they don't bring you to your beds;
For on such days, a devil is loose, who weds
Many to disappointment, sorrow, wo;

And such a devil every mortal dreads,
Who, by experience, may chance to know
That brandy fire is just the same as that-below.

Be fonder of the women than of wine,

But don't get drunk with neither one nor t'other: When both their overwhelming powers combine,