"Italian, I'm confident," said Miss Mellen;

for that handsome Italian Count, with whom Cornelia Stanbrook is so much in love, talked with Miss Legard half an hour about Venice, and Florence, and Doges, and all those sorts of things; as if they had been intimate with them from their infancy."

"But how oddly she dresses," said Miss Lavinia: "no diamonds, nor pearls, nor anything; and only look at her hair! drawn back on her head like one of those statues at Launitz's.— She, no doubt, wishes to imitate Calypso, or some other Italian goddess."

"Grecian, you mean," said Miss Mellen.

"Well, no matter where they lived. They all look alike in pictures and statues. I wonder she don't wear a loose white robe, confined at the shoulder with a cameo, and have her feet bare, or in sandles, and all that sort of thing."

"Oh, it is very evident that you are influenced by jealousy," said Miss Corrinna Mellen, who was very anxious to appear a "blue" and a savant, and had been boasting all the evening of her intention to patronize the Legard, whom nobody knew.

"I have discovered that she has talent, and mean to bring her out," said she. Of course, as she is a stranger, we must make a party for her. She has already an invitation to the Miss Stanbrooks' literary soirée; mine shall follow, and I will have Mr. Irving, and Mr. Benjamin, and Mr. Hoffman, the American Walter Scott, and all the lady writers, and we will have music too, and all that sort of thing; and—and—” Here she was interrupted by "chut,” “chut,” "silence;" and the tuning of the harp inter

"Place that harp farther this way," said Mrs. Fortescue to an attendant. "Now, Miss Legard; pardon me for interrupting your conversation, but may I entreat you to favor us with one song. You who play so beautifully on the harp, ought not to refuse. I wish Angelina to improve by hearing the best performers. Of course, having been in France and Italy so long, you must be perfect." "Who is Miss Legard ?" inquired Howard of rupted the conversation. Miss Legard seated Laura. herself at the harp.

"She must be a foreigner," thought Howard,

“A foreigner, I understand. At least she has that reputation, although she speaks Eng-"for her perfect self-possession proves it beyond lish fluently." all doubt." As he watched her graceful figure in tuning the harp and arranging the music, something in her air and manner reminded him of Inez, whose absence-having been detained by illness-had been a great drawback to his present enjoyment.

"I have heard," observed H******, "many, both French and Italians, converse with such fluency in our language that it was difficult to detect their foreign origin except from their countenances and manners."

"The latter is an invariable criterion," remarked Mrs. Langdon; "for foreign ladies are always graceful-our countrywomen always stiff."

"What a reflection," said Laura, smiling. "The Legard is certainly French," said Lavinia Fitzallen; "for I heard her chatting away with Monsieur L- and she talks like Levisac's Grammar."

At the very first tones of a voice, clear, rich, powerful, and well cultivated, everyone yielded to the sensation which music always awakens in those capable of enjoying it. The very breath seemed suspended, as Miss Legard swept her hands across the strings of the harp, and at length, assured that all was right, commenced singing to its accompaniment a favorite Scotch ballad.

"But why don't she sing French or Italian, | upon his bounty, Inez Laurence, has been takor something that we don't understand?" asked ing lessons of her in music and other things. Miss Mellen, in a whisper. "Pray ask her, She has smuggled herself into society some Mrs. Fortescue. These things are so com- way; and now Colonel Stanbrook carries his mon." absurd patronage so far as to desire me to notice her, and make parties to show her off! There is a report that she has been lately made independent by the caprice of some old fellow, who disinherited his own relations, and left all his property to her. She lives very genteelly, and—”

Miss Legard smiled, as, after finishing her song, this request was made to her. "With pleasure," she replied, turning over the music. "What shall it be?" A song from a favorite opera was proposed, to which the soft modulations of her voice, and her correct pronunciation of the Italian, gave additional charm. And here let me remark upon the absurdity of young ladies in the present day attempting to sing words which they do not understand, and cannot even pronounce. They suppose it fashionable to sing Italian, and having no knowledge whatever of the language, often utter strange dissonant sounds, at variance with the music, or make perfect nonsense of the words; and sometimes giving a different meaning to them than was intended by the author.

After this second song, Miss Legard declined doing more until some of the rest of the company had performed their part. As few understood the harp, the piano was resorted to, at which the Misses Fitzallen did justice to that well-known duet, "O dolce Concento."

This was followed by dancing, the band suddenly striking up in the large drawing-rooms adjoining, and calling off the more juvenile of the company. Howard joined the circle who, as the room thinned again, gathered around the fascinating stranger. Miss Stanbrook, for once, felt herself eclipsed; yet, determined not | to lose her ground, she beckoned Beaumont to her side, who, ever ready to obey a wink or nod from the idol of his worship, instantly answered the summons.

"What a fuss they are making about her totight," she said in a pettish tone. "One would think she were a foreign princess, by the adulation she receives. She is neither young nor" --she was about to say "beautiful," but her conscience would not allow her

"They say she is very clay-ver-," minced Beaumont.

At this moment Cornelia caught the eye of her uncle fixed upon her with such a strange expression, and so full of stern reproof, that she stopped abruptly in the midst of her speech. She had often witnessed his displeasure at her rude remarks, but she had never seen him look so indignant before. She dropped her eyes, and was silent.

Happily, Beaumont's attention had been directed towards the object of her raillery, so that he did not notice the sudden change in her countenance, and, with her usual tact, she hastened to turn the conversation.

"Is there any prospect of Ellen Tree's arrival?”

"I hope so; for the Park is most dolefully dull."

"Got rid of him at last, just as Count Puffer is approaching-of course to solicit my hand for the next dance. What a fop that fellow is." The next instant she turned, with her most gracious smile, to greet her foreign admirer.

As Howard approached the group, in the midst of which Miss Legard was seated, Mr. Hamilton, an English gentleman, was remarking upon the passion for German and Italian music, both in England and this country, and deploring the want of musical talent or musical enthusiasm, which prevented any of our composers from becoming distinguished in this respect.

"I imagine," said Miss Legard, "that it is not so much because they fail in either of these, as from the multiplicity of other engagements, which does not allow of their paying it suffi-" cient attention. Hayden and Mozart made it

"Not more so than is necessary in her situation, and for the occupation in which she is engaged." "What is that?" asked Beaumont, in asto- the business of their lives. The Italians are, nishment.

“Why, I have heard that she was governess to some noble family in Europe, where she learned all her graces, I suppose. Since her return, my uncle's ward, or rather a dependant

by nature, musical. Their climate, their serene skies, their green valleys and bright flowers -even their indolent lives-contribute to the encouragement of, and tend to foster their love for, this delightful science. The sweetest voice

for she hastened to say, "I have heard of you, sir, very often from a young friend of mine, who was at Saratoga at the same time with yourself, and with whom I was in constant correspondence."

Miss Laurence! Inez!-this, then, was the correspondent about whom Miss Stanbrook had made such a mystery! This was the

of freedom was kindled in our land, it touched not alone the great, the rich, the powerful, but flew with rapidity from the halls of Congress to the poorest cabin, reared by laborious industry, upon the margin of our western streams. The effect was spontaneous. Each individual felt the cause his own. The simple artisan, the poor mechanic, the hard-working farmer, felt the same glow in his bosom as the pamper-dear friend" with whom he had become almost ed child of fortune, or the descendants of princes. Our Revolution affected the whole mass of the people; and it was the people, without distinction of rank or station, who finally effected our independence."

in love from the very description! The similarity of manners and expression which had so often struck him, and which is often perceived in those whose pursuits are the same, and who are in the habit of constant and inti"All this is very true," said Miss Mellen, mate intercourse, were now easily accounted her romance for a moment damped. "But, for. Yet the one was a refined, accomplished, then, what have we to compare with the red-self-possessed woman, evidently accustomed to cross knights, the knights of the white banner, society, and the other a timid creature, full of or the Crusaders, reclining in gorgeous tents, life and light, and changeable as a poet's furnished with all the magnificence of the visions. East?"

"Come," said Miss Legard, noticing his abstraction, and while she devined the cause, wishing to remove it; "come," said she, with a smile, “I have mystified our friends here, who, by questions and surmises, have expressed some curiosity about the land of my nativity. The Americans, you know, are always curious about foreigners. I have been solicited to sing once more. Shall I break the spell, and set conjecture at rest?"

"Your General Putnam, bearing his breast to the storm in defiance of the British flagstanding unflinching at the stake of the Indian -braving certain death to save the magazine of powder-and afterwards forsaking home and its comforts to contend for his country's rights. Your Prescott, and others, sleeping all night on the bare ground the night before the battle of Bunker Hill, and the next day, with a handful of men, defying the whole British army. Your Jackson, wading through the swamps of Louisiana, to achieve the glorious victory of New-Orleans. Your Harrison, forcing his way through hostile tribes to re-instrument. deem his country's honor; and, first and greatest of all, your immortal Washington, the wonder and admiration of the world," said Miss Legard, who had been silently listening to the discussion.

Every one was silenced. Shame tinged the cheeks of some; others were struck dumb with astonishment at the fervor with which this remark was made by a female and-a foreigner!

“Allow me,” said Beaumont, pulling Howard by the sleeve, "allow me, Miss Legard, to introduce to you an American patriot-Mr. Frederick Howard."

"Mr. Howard!" exclaimed Miss Legard, turning towards him with the most marked expression of pleasure, "I have long wished to make your acquaintance."

Naturally timid, Howard was somewhat embarrassed at this flattering notice, and Miss Legard herself seemed sensible of his confusion,

"Do so, I pray," said Howard, his eyes flashing with delight. She took his arm, and approached the harp. The crowd separated as she passed, and then closed again around the

Her magnificently turned head and finely chiseled features, might well remind one of that master-piece of Canova so long the admiration of those who have visited the Ferrara Palace in Italy, and her fine eyes lighted up with enthusiastic fire as, after a short prelude, she sang the following words :—

My country my country! the home of the free,
Oh! who would turn traitor, and wander from thee?
My heart's in thy valleys wherever I roam;
'Neath the dome of a palace, I sighed for my home.

I have stood where the Caesars held worlds at command-
Where Liberty wept over Sparta's brave band-
Where England's proud navies are sweeping the sea,
And longed for my own native land of The Free!

I have knelt where the monarchs of Egypt once trod,
And the groans of her bondmen went up to their God;
And I thought of the chains that were once forged for thee,
So soon rent asunder-dear land of The Free!

I have sat in the shade of fair Italy's bowers,
Loved her gold-tinted skies, and her beautiful flowers
But the hand of the spoiler was visible there,
And freedom had flown from the slave-tainted air.