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THE

ROVER.

THE SPINNING WHEEL.

BY ROBERT BURNS.

WITH AN ENGRAVING.

Oн leeze me on my spinning wheel,
Oh leeze me on my rock and reel;
Frae tap to tae that cleeds me bien,
And haps me fiel and warm at e'en!
I'll set me down and sing and spin,
While laigh descends the simmer sin,
Blest wi' content, and milk and meal,
Oh leeze me on my spinning wheel.
On ilka hand the burnies trot,
And meet below my theekit cot;
The scented birk and hawthorn white
Across the pool their arms unite,
Alike to screen the birdie's nest,
And little fishes' caller rest:
The sun blinks kindly in the biel,
While blithe I turn my spinning wheel.

On lofty aiks the cushats wail,
And echo cons the dolefu' tale;
The lintwhites in the hazel braes
Delighted, rival ither's lays:

The craik amang the claver hay,
The paitrich whirrin o'er the ley,
The swallow jinkin round my shiel
Amuse me at my spinning wheel.

Wi' sma' to sell, and less to buy,
Aboon distress, below envy,
Oh wha wad leave this humble state,
For a' the pride of a' the great?
Amid their flaring, idle toys,
Amid their cumbrous, dinsome joys,
Can they the peace and pleasure feel
Of Bessy at her spinning wheel ?

burg, her sister, the wife of the then reigning count of that name, and Madame Edmond Perigord, niece of Tallerand, and the Duchesses of Sagan and Exerenza, all of them princesses of the house of Courland, and known universally by the soubriquet of "the three graces;" the Cannoness Kinski, a member of one of the most illustrious families of Hungary, and among the celebrated personages of the day; the Duke of Dalberg, one of the French Plenipotentiaries; Marshal Wolmoden, the three Counts Pohlen, Philip, prince of Hesse-Hamberg, Paul Esterhazy, afterwards so celebrated as Austrian minister at Saint James; Eugene Beauharnois; the Russian general, DeWitt; M. de Gentz, Secretary of the congress, and confidant of Metternich; General Nastitz, the accomplished and refined journalist; Varhagen Von Ense; the poet Carpani, Doctor Koreff and the Baron Ompteda, formerly minister of Westphalia and Vienna, but whom the ruin of that kingdom had compelled to be present as a spectator only, at this grand diplomatic Sanhedrim.

Delightful, indeed, were our reunions at her house. The heat of political discussion never interrupted their harmony. The countess imposed on all of her visitors the pleasant chains of mutual friendship. They unanimously proclaimed her their queen, and she wore the dignity with a species of serious sport. I found her surrounded by her family, now beautiful and grown, and by the friends I had left with her four years before. Fortune, in spite of the exciting events of the last four years, had deprived her of none of them, but they had all become generals, ambassadors, or high functionaries. Among them I loved most the Prince of HesseHamburg, then far removed from his present exalted rank. A similarity of age, taste and ideas attracted us together. I loved the exaltedness of his sentiments, his nobleness of character, and the sincerity for which he was so famed. Like many of the princes of sovereign German houses, he owed his celebrity to himself alone. Having entered the service at the age of fifteen,

THE story of the office seeking poet in the last half of he was taken prisoner by the French army during the the following article, is very rich.

A CHAPTER FROM

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE CONGRESS AT VIENNA.

BY THE COUNT A. DE LA GARDE. [TRANSLATED FOR THE ROVER, BY FAY ROBINSON.] WISHING only to transcribe my own recollections, I restrict myself to the narrow limits of a journal, and shall think my highest ambition accomplished, if, in these hasty sketches of an important epoch, my readers recognize any resemblance to the persons whom I wish to recall to them.

Among the most celebrated female leaders of Austrian society, shone the beautiful Countess Laura von Fuchs, of whom the numerous strangers at Vienna, during the congress, have preserved the warmest recollection. Graceful and intellectual, this lady was the purest personification of the cultivation of her country, and to be admitted into her coterie was at that time esteemed the highest of all honors. In 1808 and 1812 I received from her, as all the Frenchmen did who were then in Vienna, the kindest attention. Among her intimate associates were distinguished the Countess of PletemVOL. II.-No. 19.

early wars of the Revolution, carried to Paris and immured in the Luxembourg. Recognized as a nephew of the king of Prussia, he heard uttered ever near him demands for his death. A crowd of furious women, raising their hands to their necks, recalled constantly to his mind the horrible instrument of punishment so prodigally used at that period. The firmness of his answers, his youth and beauty were his preservers. Sometime afterward, being exchanged, he returned to his military career, and earned on the field of battle each of his grades, and, at the time of which I write, was among the most esteemed generals of the Austrian

army.

Afterward, a field marshal, he was sent to aid the emperor of Russia in his campaign against the Turks in 1828, and now reigning landgrave of Hesse-Hamburg, is respected and adored by his subjects, whose happiness constitutes his chief study.

Our first tribute was due to this exalted personage, possessed of so many titles to our esteem. The happiness of mankind would be too great, if in the smal measure of life allowed him, he beheld many such characters.

Madame Von Fuchs asked me one day if I had ever

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