of Sir Charles Lyell with the
conviction that however obnoxious it may be to orthodox editors and
superannuated doctors of divinity, it is destined to stimulate greatly
scientific inquiry and active thought. It is impossible that when such a
mine has been sprung, and promises to yield such tangible results, it
should suddenly cease to work, because the note of alarm is raised by
affrighted theologians. We predict for science in this department a rich
and rapid progress of discovery. And we are profoundly gratified that
the subject has been broken to the popular mind in such a cautious and
unexceptionable manner as to the tone and spirit of the work--the author
holding with philosophic steadfastness to the subject matter in hand,
and, in the true scientific spirit, eschewing all side issues, and
exhibiting throughout a candor, impartiality, and honesty, worthy the
well-earned fame of this Nestor of geologists.

AENONE:

A TALE OF SLAVE LIFE IN ROME.

CHAPTER III.

The thoughts of AEnone followed her into sleep, and colored her dreams
with pleasant memories of the past; and when the morning sun, pouring
its beams through the window, awakened her, there was a momentary
struggle before she could throw off the fancies of the night and realize
that she was no longer in her cottage home. But distinct perception soon
returned as she glanced around her and recognized the paintings which
adorned her chamber, and the marble goddess still holding forth a
welcoming hand, as though in greeting for the return of another day.

Throwing open the window, she sat down for a moment to enjoy the soft
breeze, which, laden with perfume, came gambolling fresh from the Alban
Hills. The window at which she placed herself looked out upon a central
courtyard, formed by the intersection of the main body of the palace at
right angles with the two wings. This court was paved from one side to
the other with marble flags of different shades, excepting in the
middle, where played the fountain--a circular basin of water, upon a
rock, in the centre of which two bronze satyrs struggled for a tortoise,
from whose mouth the supplying stream poured forth. From the end of each
wing of the palace the line of the sides was continued by a straight
stone wall of considerable height, leading across the whole breadth of
the Caelian Hill to the slope of its farther side, and enclosing an area
thickly planted with such flowers, shrubbery, and trees as the