d the hallowed spot where they stand, to
catch inspiration, or to gather wisdom from these silent memorials."

Judge Hall further says, "satisfied I am that if ever any rational
hypothesis, in relation to these interesting remains of past ages,
shall be invented, we shall owe it to the inspiration of the poet, and
not to the researches of the philosopher."

It is very certain that no one can confront the traveller who may be
speculating upon these mounds, as Edie Ochiltree did the Antiquary,
with "I mind the bigging o' it."

NOTE VI.

_"Isle of the beautiful! how much thou art,
Now, in thy desolation, like the fate
Of those who came in innocence of heart
With thy green Eden to assimilate:
Then Art her coronal to Nature gave
To deck thy brow, Queen of the onward wave!
And woman came, the beautiful and good,
And made her happy home 'mid thy embracing flood."_

The allusion, here, is to Blennerhasset's Island, which is beautifully
situated in the Ohio. The romantic story of its former inhabitants
makes it a spot of great interest to the Emigrant, who, in descending
the river, never fails to request that it may be pointed out to him;
and it is often the topic of conversation and conjecture to him and
his companions for hours after they have passed it. The author is
indebted to Morgan Neville, Esq., for the following account of the
Island and its unfortunate owner. Mr. Neville's admirable tale of Mike
Fink, and his other sketches, have created in the public an appetite
for more, which they have long hoped he would be induced to gratify,
with longer and more frequent productions; or, at least, that he would
collect what he has written into a volume.

"BLENNERHASSET'S ISLAND.--How many recollections of mingled pleasure
and pain, does the name of this once beautiful spot, call to mind! In
descending the Ohio, I never come in sight of the Island, without
sensations almost too powerful to bear; and I linger on the deck of
the boat, until the point below snatches it from view. The first
impressions were made on me in early youth, and time cannot efface
them; on the contrary, the long vista through which I look back to
this western 'Eden,' presents it, probably, with exaggerated colorings
of beauty and loveliness. The traveller, as he wanders over the
grounds, once consecrated by philanthropy, cannot reconcile it with
probability, that a proud mansion, a quarter of a century since, was
here