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When a body met a body, the first topic of converse used to be the weather, or a pinch of snuff, or a glass of wine, a shrug, and a good day -- Tempora mutantur, sed cum illis mutamur. Now the hurry of the age cannot notice the state of the weather, and to the tables of the meteoroligist -sic- are committed the friendly associations connect-ed "with pleasant and unpleasant, heat and cold, stormy or calm, cloudy and clear," that little is left but to refer those important documents to the taste and judgment of our readers, and to recommend their very care-ful study to the minds of all who wish to range properly o'er the fields of unlimited space.

We way congratulate ourselves that we yet live, move and have a being in God -- and that amid the storms of life a kind Provi-dence has placed each person in the niche be was ordained to fill, and for that alone he should most be thankful.

The cold of winter, the mildness of spring, the singing of birds, the budding of the fruits and flowers, the tempests and wrecks of life, and the thousand ills that render the world a scene of suffering and toil, are well and often cast forth to the contemplation of the human race -- that the Opal would sit in sad civility, and present to its friends no unsul-lied sheet, for them to anticipate, and therein those thoughts that would best suit the age in which they live, and move in consonance with their spirit and manners. For to be candid, the more we think of ourselves, the more we look at us in the great State mirror, the more we are ashamed, and would, indeed, hide ourselves in the intellectual paradise, and among its green bowers, until our strengthfulness is renovated, and we recover from the shock incident to the sense of our deterioration, until the call from Heaven -- " Where art thou?" shall be answered, not in the shrinking effeminacy of Father Adam, but in the filial confidence of children who love to do their duty as enjoined by a Father who knows the condition of every variety of his domain, and will mete out to each portion the very allotment that is best.

"Nullum magnum ingenium, sine misture dementiae," saith a heathen moralist, and we comfort ourselves with the experienced, who verify the truth of Seneca, by pointing to New-York Canals, and instancing Gov. Clinton as tinctured with its folly, until the triumph of his stupendous powers, determined his character, and the fruit of his study.

Our Legislature has adjourned, and provided most liberally and sagaciously for this her foster-child, and our Governor reposing on the good will and confidence his public life has engendered, commits the issue of the Canal policy to a magnanimous people, who will never do what will appear puerile before the world.

The world is gay and fair to us, as now we journey on,
Yet still it is sad to think, 'twill be the same when we are gone.
Some few, perchance may think of us, soon the transient gloom,
Like shadows of the summer cloud will leave our narrow tomb.

The desires of people to be considered of consequence is innate, a wish to be esteemed, is amiable and the good opinion of mankind desirable, but the approbation of Heaven, in the performance of a well ordered life and conversation, is the summum bonum of mortals hastening to the tomb; but we leave speculations on the vicissitudes, with which our country has of late abounded, and must felicitate ourselves, that the pages of the Opal do not record those astounding events with which the world abounds.

It is fashionable to praise, and it would be impolite to censure; and indeed the cogitations of the Lunas would not be authority at Westminster or Washington; nor would our opinions affect in the least Chief-Justice Taney, or Lord Derby, yet we know who they are; we read their productions, and of our own countrymen too, and we remember that Gen'l Cass said, Mr. D. Webster has more genius than Mr. Canning has, and that Mr. Webster said it was all pleasant to see Mr. Buchanan in his seat, when in the Senate. We have perused Mr. Lawrence's Ambassadorial Correspondence about the Prometheus, and think it no cause of war; but that the Captain who fired into her sho'd have been catted. We respect our Diplomatist, and think he gave great dignity to the affair. So much indeed that the New-Jersey Bishop mentioned the classic name of Prometheus in his Diocesan address. We laud the enterprise that leads to Japan, and hold in high esteem the presiding genius of or Naval Armament -- Ordnance is precious, and terrible in an army or navy with banners. We wish it always to be used with care, and governed with the supreme skill it now is.

Our souls are ever moved to sympathy with sweet sounds, and their innermost depths have been recently aroused by the presence of some of the sweetest minstrelsy that ever saluted mundane ears. There were several bands --

First came some gentlemen under the name and style of the "Nightingales," under Mr. Kunkel's management. The pains they took to interest our Brothers and Sisters were wonderful. They prepared themselves as "darkies," and performed such mirthfulness, as to chose away the melancholy of the Retreat, and inspire a sincere respect for the party who did so much in kindness and good will, to benefit their afflicted fellow-beings.