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tion, is classed with the herses whose valour had won
for them exemption from the common lot of huma-
nity. Than the opening stanzas, there is no grander
burst in the whole compass of lyric poetry.

The man whose nerve stern virtue strings,
Firm by his lofty purpose clings;
Quails not beneath the scowl of kings,
And braves the rude democracy.
That lordly soul nor sees with dread
The gale lash Adria's billowy bed,
Nor, hissing from his right hand red,

The bolt of heaven's high Thunderer.
Be earth's big orb asunder riven !
Crash too the azure roof of heaven!
Down on his head the wreck be driven !
'Twill smite him smiling panicless.
Upborne by virtue, Leda's son-
Alcides each his honours won;
Each trod the empyrean on,

And storm'd the starry citadels.
Rome's lord the heroes leans beside,
Where high they feast in godlike pride,
Quaffs, purple-lipp'd, the nectar's tide,
And holds celestial revelry.

Thus, too, Sire Bacchus tamed of yore
And yoked the tigers fierce before,
And Mars' hot steeds Quirinus bore
Far from the flood of Acheron.

-B. III. 3.

Respecting the carousals of demigods and heroes, the reader will note the difference between the classic creed and the ferocious superstitions of the North. The Epodes possibly derive their name from being published after the odes, to which they form a sort of supplement. They may perhaps be regarded as the connecting link between those compositions of their author, the subject as well as structure of which is strictly lyrical, and the satires and epistles. Some of them are grossly scurrilous, others rankly impure, and, taken as a whole, even in respect of poetical merit, the book of epodes is far inferior to the preceding col

lections.

The magnificent national anthem, composed at the request of Augustus, to be chanted at the secular games, the fifth celebration of which fell during his reign, is too long to be here translated entire, and the beauty of its fabric would vanish in a fragment.

floors, exclusive of a storey or two under ground, and
are crammed with inhabitants from cellar to garret.
The scene which we encountered on entering the
city was curious and striking. No sooner had we
rattled through the old portal, at which a soldier
stood on guard, than the vehicle had to toil its way
up a long steep street, choked with people, horses,
cattle, carts, gigs, stalls, and other encumbrances; and
always the farther up the crowding was the more
dense, till, on arriving at the level thoroughfare above,
the horses and vehicles diminished in numbers, and
there being only men and women to contend against,
the diligence was permitted somewhat more freely to
reach the place of its destination. Having speedily
settled ourselves at a hotel, we hastened out to observe
the spectacle in all its details. It was the weekly
market-day, and it is only on such occasions that a
Swiss town possesses the least air of bustle.

The country at large, as I formerly hinted, is very much in the condition of Scotland a century ago; with this difference, that it possesses no class equivalent to our landed gentry, or indeed any class some merchants and manufacturers excepted above a plain set of what we should call in England cottage farmers. We had seen how these agriculturists toiled in their fields, and had noticed their primitive mode of living in their old-fashioned and not very cleanly mansions; now, we had an opportunity of seeing them in holiday attire, and observing how they conducted themselves when exposed to the attractions of a capital. As the Bernese agriculturists stand at the head of the Swiss farming class, the opportunity was prized accordingly. We hear much in England of Swiss costumes, but not a little nonsense is afloat on this subject. Ninetenths of all the females one sees in the country parts, at least in any of the cantons I was in, are dressed like our Highland shearers-a plain kind of blue or brown woollen material, forming jacket and petticoat, being the ordinary wear, while the men are no better, but are uniformly dressed in coat and trowsers of the coarsest woollen cloths. It is only on Sundays and holidays that any thing like peculiar costume is observable, and is in any case confined to females. To all appearance, every particle of ordinary male and female attire, from head to heel, is made at home; and only the extraordinary, such as a few trappings for market-days and great occasions, are bought in shops. All the Bernese women, dressed as we now saw them, wore on the neck a black cotton velvet lappet, held down loosely by a steel chain passing below each arm, from back to breast; and their heads were decorated with boughs of black ribbons and broad black lace the latter pronounced by the ladies of our party to be of the true kind, and the only expensive article which was worn. To all appearance, the whole people, men and women, were accustomed to laborious country labour, OUR journey from Thun to Berne, a distance of about but they were clean; and the great number of horses sixteen miles in a north-westerly direction, was per- and cars waiting their return home, showed that many formed in one of the public diligences, a well-appointed of them were in good circumstances. There was a vast vehicle of the French form, in which our places cost profusion of goods of different kinds spread out in stalls but the moderate sum of three francs each, with no plain nature, and chiefly, I should think, of Swiss mainviting purchasers; but almost every thing was of a extra payment at arrival from either driver or con-nufacture. From the number of stalls for the sale of ducteur. The route lay through one of the most pieces of leather, it was pretty evident that making pleasing rural scenes in Switzerland, being chiefly and mending their own shoes formed as much an obwithin the valley of the Aar, and often at a short dis-ject of attention to the farmers at their cottage firetance from that beautiful stream. As we advanced side, as was the preparation of the coarse fabrics used in their personal clothing. from the great hilly region in the vicinity of Thun, the country became more agricultural, and under a better system of tillage. The farm-house establishments were also on a larger scale, indicating the possession of capital and a more extensive system of farming than in other quarters of the country. We passed likewise numerous manufactories of the coarse kind of earthenware for which Switzerland is celebrated, and which is seen almost every where on the

We now conclude, therefore, the present article, in which we have glanced at Horace as a lyrist. In our next we shall proceed to view him as a satirist and a writer of epistles.

A FEW WEEKS ON THE CONTINENT.
BERNE.

continent.

In the upper and more open part of the town, there was a large market for cows and cattle generally; and here we were amused with the number of stalls at the animals. The practice of tying a bell to the neck which bells were sold for hanging round the necks of of a leader of the herd, is common all over the higher parts of Switzerland; and the tinkling sounds which you hear from these bells while travelling in Alpine tracts, have a peculiarly pleasing effect. On the present occasion, it was a Babel of bell-ringing, for the purchasers required to make their selection so as to avoid a confusion of tones.

To those who are accustomed to associate the beau

events remains better balanced, and the eye is neither startled with great splendour nor shocked with the spectacle of unmitigated misery.

The grand rue, or main street, of Berne, extending about a mile in length, constitutes the chief part of the town-the remainder being an inferior back street, with a few short cross thoroughfares. All is densely packed, no space is lost; and to make the most of the room, the houses are extended over the foot pavements, forming long covered arcades, with pillars in front. These avenues are not elegant. The pillars are short and clumsy, and the shops on the inner side are dull and dingy; many, indeed, are never visited by a beam of the sun. The shopkeepers have less reason to regret this deficiency, from the universal practice among them of laying out their wares on a square bulk in front, which, with the pillars, almost closes up the opening to the street. On these bulks, you see all kinds of articles spread freely out, no one appearing in charge of them, and thus passengers walk through long alleys of goods as in a kind of bazaar. The lumpy projections I have, for want of a better name, called bulks, are the coverings to the stairs which descend by low-browed doors from the street, and lead to the subterranean regions of the buildings. The dwellings above, to the top of the buildings, are entered by common stairs adjoining the shops, each family occupying a distinct floor. No house has any spare ground behind, dense clusters of courts filling up the space as far as the next street. The only means of drawing a breath of fresh air is by the windows in front. Each of these opens, and a white or fancycoloured cushion being placed on the sole, the inhabitants are able to seat themselves in an easy manner, holding, if necessary, by a cross railing, to prevent their falling over into the street. In fine weather, great numbers of well-dressed persons are observed lolling in these airy and somewhat perilous situations. I must not in this account omit to notice the street itself, which possesses a singular peculiarity in its construction. At certain intervals, in the middle of the causeway, there are fountains throwing out copious streams of water, which, on escaping, flows impetuously along the bottom of a paved channel prepared for it. This channel, which I can only compare to a grave, running up the middle of the street, is about eighteen inches deep, and evidently serves the useful purpose of a burn, at which half the scullery business of the town is, to all appearance, performed. How many accidents take place per annum from this hideous-looking gulf, I am unable to say. Another serious nuisance, in the streets of Berne, is the cutting of firewood, which you see in all quarters, stopping the way and keeping up a clatter of saws and axes. At the time of our visit, pipes were laying for gas.

Berne, though greatly modernised, and beautified by some handsome public buildings, still possesses a number of curious objects of antiquity. The public fountains are surmounted by figures of various kinds, but chiefly of men in armour, and bears; and so also is an ancient tower, the Zeitglockenthurm, which stands at the middle of the main street, like Temple Bar, London, with large and smaller passages beneath. This tall block of masonry, which dates from the year 1191, and had been a portal in the walls before the extension of the town, is ornamented on the eastern side by the dial of a clock, whose functions are performed in a very remarkable way. A minute before the striking of the hour, you hear a strange whirring sound, and observe a bustle among a variety its wings, a king waves his sceptre, and a troop of bears of puppets adjoining the dial-a cock crows and flaps march round in procession. The clock having struck, a similar crowing, flapping, waving, and marching take place, and the apparatus is stationary for another hour. The frequent appearance of the bear as a civic emblem is derived from a legendary story connected with the history of the town; and further to testify their affection for this amiable quadruped, the Bernese authorities have, from time immemorial, kept one or two specimens alive. The incumbents for the time being, we went, as a matter of course, to see during our perambulations. At a short way beyond the western gateway of the town, adjoining a very delightful public promenade, we found a well-constructed bear-pit, in which three of the fattest and laziest bears I had ever seen, were stretching themselves at their ease in the bright summer sun. They Murray says be true, they are not now so well prowere fine examples of a sinecure life, though, if what vided for as formerly. "At the beginning of the last century, an old lady, dying without near relatives, bequeathed her fortune of 60,000 livres to them. The will was disputed by some distant connexion of the deceased; but the cause of the brutes was so ably *The Swiss, as I have repeatedly mentioned, are a hard-work-pleaded by one of the most distinguished members of ing and very plain set of people, individually possessing resources the bar of Berne, that the plaintiff was nonsuited. much inferior to those of regularly employed artisans in Scotland; The bears, declared the rightful heirs, were taken but they enjoy greater comforts in consequence of their sobriety, under the guardianship of the supreme council, who, and the thrift and industry of their families. After witnessing the temperate mode of living of the Swiss, I feel quite ashamed treating them as wards in chancery, or minors, admiThroughout the grand rue of Berne, a mile in length, and densely succession to the estate, a pair of young bears was of my own country. A single fact will illustrate the contrast. nistered their property. In order to maintain the populated, I did not see a single tavern or spirit shop; I observed, always reared, in case of the demise of the elders; (chiefly wholesale), but in none did I notice more than two or and to prevent too large an increase of the race, all three persons seated. In the High Street of Edinburgh, from the that were born beyond this were fattened to furnish Castle to Holyrood House, the same in length as the main street of Berne, and not unlike it in appearance, there are 150 taverns, a dainty for the civic feasts of the Berne burgomasters. shops, or places of one kind or another in which spirituous liquors The French Revolution broke out, and its sweeping The bears, however, did not long enjoy their fortune. are sold; and in Rose Street, a much less populous thoroughfare, the number is 41. consequences, not confined to crowns and kingdoms,

ideal of farming with broad cloth and top-boots, the
homely guise of the Bernese farming population would
have appeared inexpressibly ridiculous. Yet it af-
forded a picture of a social condition anything but
contemptible. The people were decent and orderly;
we saw nowhere the least appearance of poverty or
hour of the day in Edinburgh; we saw no drunken-
fairs; and we were told that bankruptcy among these
ness, such as is observable every where at English
people is scarcely ever heard of. In short, such a scene
of substantial mediocrity of condition is perhaps not
to be matched out of Switzerland; where, if there be
no farming on a grand scale, as with us, society at all

Berne is in some respects to be called the capital of Switzerland; for although only honoured as the seat of the federal diet alternately with Zurich and Lucerne, in order to prevent its rising into undue importance, it is the chief place of residence of foreign ambassadors, and the centre of one of the most populons and wealthy cantons. It occupies a very remark-wretchedness, such as stares one in the face at any able situation, on a high peninsula, connected on the west with the surrounding country, but separated from it on the south, east, and north, by the broad current of the Aar. The peninsula declines considerably on its eastern extremity; and here, entering from Thun, the road, after descending a steep bank, crosses by a bridge into the lower quarter of the city, and then proceeds by a toilsome ascent to the main street. At the period of our visit, a lofty new bridge was in progress of erection, which, when finished, will greatly obviate the difficulty of the access. Constructed on this peninsular situation, for the sake of defence in an age in which faustrecht, or the law of the strong-hand, predominated, the whole town partakes of the character of a fortification. The houses, substantially built of a grey sandstone, seem as if designed to last for ever, and, like those which we see in the older parts of Edinburgh, rise to a height of five, six, or seven

certainly, that several of the cellars were used for the sale of wines

descended even to bears. The French army having defeated the Swiss in several engagements, entered the town (1798), and immediately took possession of the treasury. Eleven mules were dispatched to Paris laden with specie found in it; two of them bore away the birthright of the bears, amounting at the time to about two millions of francs. The bears themselves were led away captives, and deposited in the Jardin des Plantes, where one of them, the celebrated Martin, soon became the favourite of the French metropolis. When, after a series of years, the ancient order of things was restored at Berne, one of the first cares of the citizens was to replace and provide for their ancient pensioners. A subscription was raised in consequence, and a small estate purchased, the rents of which, though diminished from various causes, are appropriated to their support. The cost of keeping them amounts to between 600 and 700 francs per annum; and well-grounded fears are entertained, that modern legislators, forgetful of the service rendered by Bruin for so many centuries, in figuring upon the shield of the canton, may soon strike him off the pen

sion list."

The carrying away of so much treasure from Berne is quite true, and the circumstance throws a strange light on the condition of society. It appears that until a comparatively late period, the Swiss knew so little of the fructifying power of money lent out at interest, or they were so fearful of losing the principal, that the practice was universal of storing up hard coin in chests. Every franc which could be saved was laid past in a strong box. These chests of coin, wherever found in the possession of public authorities, became the plunder of the French republican army, who, it is said, carried away as much as 120 millions of francs from Switzerland—a windfall which enabled the French government to pay for the equipments of their Egyptian fleet. One would have supposed that, on the restoration of the ancient constitutions in 1815, the people, taught by experience, would have employed their savings in some other way than hiding them in chests: but such was not the case; the practice continued; and when Berne underwent a revolution in 1830, the democratic party, on attaining power, found twelve or thirteen millions of francs reposing in idleness in the town chest. This sum, however, was not plundered, but devoted to the reasonable purpose of improving the town, the schools, the roads, and other public institutions. The spirit of saving, I am told, is a predominating feature in Bernese society. It is not uncommon for several families to own a common fund, which is sacred from ordinary demands, and may only be drawn upon on the occasion of great misfortunes, or when a marriage dowry is required. All marriages are matters of family negotiation, with very little regard to the feelings of the parties concerned; and if any one rebel, he or she need look for nothing from the family chest. Latterly, these family funds have been more frequently laid out on property yielding an annual increase than was the case formerly-a circumstance no doubt attributable to the repeated seizures of the public cash.

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In these and some other traits of character in the Bernese, we have a small insight into the state and tone of their society. They are a pains-taking race, fearful of losing advantages which they may have gained by years of industry and good fortune, and little influenced by modern notions of any kind. I could not help on some occasions finding a resemblance betwixt them and the Dutch-a constant eye to the main chance, not given to speculation, jealous of foreign connexion, encouragers of school instruction on a liberal footing, yet narrow in disposition, and fond of going on in their own quiet way. Like the Dutch, also, they are great supporters of hospitals for orphans, the poor, and other purposes. One of the principal beneficiary institutions in Berne is the Grand Hospital, a large building in the environs devoted to the reception of decayed burgesses, with the inscription over the doorway-" Christo in pauperibus" (To Christ in the persons of the poor). Both in Berne and other cantons we find a trait of manners certainly not Dutch. This is a practice pursued by travelling workmen of begging their way, and which is common all over Germany. Young men of this stamp, with knapsacks on their backs, frequently pushed their hat into our carriage seeking for an alms, with very much of the usual mendicatory whine. I do not know that any thing more offensive than this occurs in German and Swiss travelling; and although sanctioned by immemorial usage, surely it must have a demoralising

* I have lately perused an excellent sketch of the political revolutions of Switzerland between the years 1830 and 1832, in the

British and Foreign Review, No. 25, to which I would refer those who are interested in the subject. Of these revolutions scarcely any thing is known in England, although they afford instructive lessons in national government. The general principle aimed at was the abolition of those corporate and family privileges which

had weighed down the country since their restoration in 1815, and

making the cantonal governments in each case a reflex of the will of the whole people. This double object was effectually gained

in Berne, Vaud, Zurich, and seven other cantons; and although not unattended by wranglings, political and ecclesiastical, the changes have given universal satisfaction. Since the people of Berne became in effect their own governors, they have, like those of Zurich, Vaud, &c., done much to promote education on the broadest possible scale-public enlightenment, as they conceive, being the only sure basis of public liberty. During my visit to the country, there was a considerable ferment respecting the suppression of certain convents in Argau; but any notice of this

subject would be inconsistent with the character of these pages.

effect on the individuals who resort to it. I spoke of eastern tongues.
The career of our hero in con-
the practice to an intelligent Bernese, who assured nexion with Althotas is buried in doubt and obscu-
me that it was against the regulations of crafts for rity, his own statements in after days being any
workmen to beg; and that there were certain corpo- thing but trustworthy, or even consistent. The com-
ration establishments in every town to which it was mon statement is, that, finding Althotas to be pos-
their duty to apply for assistance. These establish- sessed of a secret for making goods out of flax of an
ments are called abbeys in Berne, and the houses be- almost silken quality, Balsamo persuaded him to try
longing to them respectively may be known by ex- a commercial venture to Alexandria, with a store
ternal inscriptions and coats of arms.
of that commodity. The voyage was eminently suc-
Besides the numerous beneficiary institutions, pub-cessful. It is probable that they visited Egypt and
lic and corporate, the town is celebrated for its large Turkey after this time, selling drugs and amulets.
and well-conducted prison, in which labour is em-
From the stories afterwards told by our hero, when,
ployed most advantageously as an engine of moral re- concealing his real origin, he let out ambiguous hints
generation, on a plan now followed in the best peni- of his being some unfortunate oriental prince, it is
tentiaries in this country. Of the University of Berne, possible that he also visited Mecca and Medina. A
the scientific societies, the public library and mu-
visit to Malta is better substantiated. He was well
seum, it is unnecessary to speak. I should suspect received by the grand-master, and, with his com-
that the town is not so literary as Zurich, though a panion, laboured there for some months at the task
third larger and less given up to manufactures. I of making pewter into gold. It is also said that
saw only two booksellers' shops, but they did not seem Althotas died in Malta. Be these things as they may,
to possess any native literature worth speaking of: certain it is, that, during the mysterious years of his
their shelves were filled with the yellow-covered tomes life now under notice, the Palermitan was fitting him-
of Paris, and the rough productions of Germany.
self most diligently and successfully for his final
In or about Berne there is not much to interest career; and that, at the close of his probation, he
strangers; but the views around are very beautiful. appeared alone in Rome to commence a new era of
The clear green Aar winding round the foot of the his history.
hill on which the town stands the gardens rising It must not be thought that Balsamo had been all this
like terraces one after another from the river to the time contented with his ill-savoured, untitled patro-
tall houses above-the rich green country beyond-nymic. He had been a chevalier, a marquis, and six or
and the distant peaks of the snow-clad Alps-all com- seven different barons in succession, just as it suited
bine to form a splendid panoramic picture. Desirous him. Count Alessandro Cagliostro was the title which
of seeing a little more of the country parts of the can- he bore on entering Rome, and it became his perma-
ton than had yet come under our notice, and also to nent one. He at first contrived to live by selling pen-
make some personal inquiries respecting the method drawings (forged ones, moreover, being merely engrav-
of education pursued by M. Fellenberg at Hofwyl, I ings Indian-inked); but this was a poor occupation,
spent a day in an excursion from the town, which and he speedily gave larger scope to his genius. He
will form the subject of my next paper.
commenced the sale of an elixir for warding off old
age and disease, and further boasted that he could
transmute metals and make himself invisible. The
Maltese grand-master had given him good letters of
introduction. These admitted him to society, where
his boundless boasting and indomitable assurance im-
pressed some with a conviction of his mystic powers.
If any one chance to be unacquainted with the general The elixir sold abundantly, and his success tempted
character of this personage, he may learn something a beautiful Roman, Lorenza Feliciani, to share his
of it from the following pithy summary of his titles rising fortunes. Unscrupulous, witty, and fascinat-
given by Thomas Carlyle. "Count Alessandro Cag-ing, Lorenza was an admirable partner for Caglios-
liostro, pupil of the sage Althotas, foster-child of
the Scherif of Mecca, probable son of the last king
of Trebizond; named also Acharat, and unfortunate
child of Nature; by profession healer of diseases,
Mason-Lodge of high Science, spirit-summoner, gold-
abolisher of wrinkles, Grand-Master of the Egyptian
cook, Grand Coptha, prophet, priest, and thaumaturgic
moralist and swindler; really a liar of the first mag-
nitude, thorough-paced in all the provinces of lying,
what one may call the king of liars." The man who
so comported himself in life as to merit these titles,
and not one of them is inappropriately or unjustly
applied, must have in his time played many parts,
from the contemplation of which may result both
entertainment and instruction.

VULGAR HALLUCINATIONS.

COUNT CAGLIOSTRO.

In the year 1743 Joseph Balsamo first saw the
light, being born of poor parentage resident at Palermo
in Sicily. Left under the weak control of a widowed
mother, the youth showed an unruly and indolent
disposition in his earliest years, and greatly neglected

even the scanty educational advantages which were
afforded to him. In his fifteenth year a circumstance
occurred, which, in part, gave the tone to his whole
future existence. An uncle got him placed in the
convent of Cartegirone, where the house apothecary
was charged with the task of instructing him in the
arts of chemistry and pharmacy. Idle as he continued
to be, he no doubt acquired here some little knowledge
of these sciences, and we shall see what use he finally
made of it. After some years' stay, he grossly insulted
the monks of the convent, was consequently punished,
and quitted the place for ever, leaving those behind to
congratulate themselves on the happy riddance. Jo-
seph Balsamo, now nearly in his majority, passed the
few succeeding years of his life in Palermo, acquiring
by degrees the repute of being one of the most finished
blackguards in the place, and fully deserving it by
robbing his uncle, forging a will, and many similar
acts. At length, he used his address to persuade a
certain foolish goldsmith that a large treasure, to be
obtained by digging, lay hidden in a cave nigh the
city, and, on their going at midnight to the spot,
Balsamo brought out on the dupe a band of accom-
plices dressed like fiends, who robbed the poor man,
and beat him cruelly. Having his eyes fully opened,
the goldsmith threatened to retort with the Sicilian
vengeance of the stiletto, and Joseph thought it neces-
sary to take himself off from his native Palermo.
With the lion's share of the booty, sixty ounces of
gold, Balsamo proceeded to Messina, where he met an
alchymist named Althotas, a man versed in various
mysterious secrets of nature, and an adept in the

tro, who speedily made her an adept in all his pre-
tended mysteries. The worthy pair now sought
a wider sphere for their combined attacks on the
European purse. They opened their career worthily
by going to Westphalia on a visit to the Count St
self two thousand years old. Cagliostro, no doubt,
Germain, the great quack of the preceding generation,
whose character is settled by one fact; he called him-
inhaled much goodly knowledge from this personage;
and, for the next three years, Venice, Madrid, Cadiz,
Lisbon, Brussels, and, in fact, great part of Europe,
enjoyed the advantage thereof. Travelling usually in
side, and a host of couriers and beef-eaters before and
a four-horse carriage, with the lovely countess by his
behind, all in Parisian liveries, the great count enters
in succession the cities of the continent, recommended
to the high-birthed dupes of one place by those whom
he had left in another to awaken at leisure from their
dream of eternal youth. Arrived, he fixes himself in
some splendid hotel, and shows a full and open purse.
Man and wife soon address themselves to business.
For ladies, he had lotions beyond all that the imagi-
nation could conceive; and for faded gentlemen of
quality, he had a Wine of Egypt, and other potions,
washes, and charms innumerable. It may be thought
that princes and nobles would be apt to deem it de-
grading in a count to sell things for money, like a
common quack-salver. No such thing. The count,
generous man, never gets his own money for them.
would he give the precious drugs for nothing, were
He travels the world to do good; and how readily
it not they are brought from far at a great expense !
Much of this he himself really defrays, but to reim-
burse him to a small degree he is forced to take-
a consideration. The poor he visits gratis. Thus run
the tale and practice of the arch-quack.

Cagliostro and his countess were not always pampered, however, in fortune's coach-and-four. Sometimes their stores ran low; and on unwisely attempting to figure in the eyes of old friends at Palermo, the count was sent to jail by the revengeful goldsmith. He had the address to induce a Sicilian prince to interfere, and he was freed. Then, again, we hear of Cagliostro in London, in the obscure character of a common painter, and bearing the title of plain Signor Balsamo. This was in 1772. He returned to the continent, and must again have climbed the ladder of fortune; for we find him once The count here commenced as usual with his elixir more in England, in 1776, with a stock of L.300 0. and philosopher's - stone annunciations; but it was necessary to the success, both of himself and his helpmate, that they should obtain access to society. them to mock lords and ladies, by whom, ere long, A false friend undertook this task, and introduc ed the arch-plunderer was plundered of all his means. A prison was the end. The count gained his freedom, however, and left the uncongenial air of England. Yet the visit was not thrown away. Far from it. He had been initiated into some obscure mason-lodge, and the most brilliant idea of his life struck him in conse

quence-the idea of the "Grand Egyptian Lodge of Masonry," of which who so fit as himself to become

the head, or, as he called himself, the Grand Coptha? As for the female lodges, again, who so well suited for the "Grand Priestess-ship" as the fair Lorenza?

Full of this new idea, the count recommenced his career on the continent. The repute of the wonderful Egyptian mason, who knew all the secrets of the brotherhood, from the time of its institution by "Enoch and Elias," soon flew abroad. "Arrived in

their calm tranquillity of mind, in the midst of po-
verty and privations, but impresses us the more
strongly with a sense of the folly of preferring a life
of splendid vice to one of humble virtue.

AN INCIDENT IN THE REIGN OF
ELIZABETH.

any city, he has but by masonic grip to accredit him- LET us in idea go back two centuries and a half, and
self with the venerable of the place; and, not by
degrees as formerly, but in one night, is introduced to step into the presence-chamber of Queen Elizabeth.
all that is fattest and foolishest far and near; and in The walls are hung with rich tapestry, while the floor
the fittest arena-a gilt pasteboard masonic hall." Mr is strewed with fresh hay. At the door leading to the
Carlyle, to whom we are indebted for part of our in- queen's apartments stands an usher dressed in velvet,
formation, describes the quack as having been received
with loud shouts under steel arches; as holding three-with a gold chain around his neck, the badge of his
hour discourses on all things fittingly unintelligible; office. In the chamber may be seen, besides, a great
and as founding Egyptian lodges in all manner of number of councillors, officers of the crown, and
places, with ceremonials of such a dark, death's-head clergymen of high rank-for the queen, after giving
description, that it makes one's hair stand on end passing audience to those present, proceeds to chapel,
merely to read of them. The elixirs sold now at a
double quick rate; and in consideration of the enor-
the day being a holiday of the church.
mous expenses of the Grand Coptha, in correspon-
dences and the like, the money flowed into his coffers
in full streams.

Passing in splendour from place to place, the count visited Warsaw, and finally Strasburg. Here he met the greatest of his prizes the Prince de Rohan, firstclass peer of France, and Cardinal Archbishop of Strasburg, rich as Croesus, and gullible to excess. Knowing well his man, the count at first wrapt himself up in reserve, while he at the same time gained a character by liberally dispensing medicine (brick-dust pills, possibly) to the poor, and even showing them, now and then, his purse. Prince de Rohan sought an interview again and again; he was refused. His anxiety grew greater, and at length he was indulged. At once he became an obedient dupe, and his purse was emptied freely-in payment, chiefly, for the profound predictions which Cagliostro gave the cardinal, to serve in guiding him in all his affairs.

the citizen, more slowly-"I have no child now, and
my godson shall supply the place which has been wil-
fully vacated." The queen was obviously pleased with
what had passed. As she looked on Sir John, who
had cast down his eyes in closing his speech, there was
a sparkle of passing pleasure in her quick dark eye.
"Farewell for the present, Sir John Spencer," said
she;
"due tidings shall reach thee when it becomes
necessary to assume thy new duties." The knight
stooped to kiss the hand extended to him, and the
queen passed on, leaving the citizen to follow, and
finally wend his way homewards.

Sir John Spencer, commonly called "Rich Spencer," was in his day the wealthiest and most influential citizen of London. The mayoralty and shrievalty had been both served by him more than once, we believe. He was a great favourite with the queen, being noted for his public-spiritedness, and his anxiety to sustain the honour of his sovereign and his country. Such a feeling was peculiarly evinced by the opulent clothworker, as he was by profession, on the occasion of the Marquis of Rosny's visit to England, as ambassador The mid-doors are thrown open, and the coming of from Henry IV. of France to Elizabeth. The Marthe queen is announced. Gentlemen, barons, earls, quis (afterwards Duke of Sully) was lodged and enterand knights of the garter, all richly dressed and bare- tained by Sir John in the most sumptuous manner, headed, are the first to enter the presence-chamber at his own private cost. He was understood to be worth a million sterling, and had but one child, a from her apartments. They are followed by the lord-daughter, his sole heiress. Having fixed upon a sonchancellor, bearing the seals in a silk purse; and on in-law in his own rank in life, the worthy citizen had each side of him walks a nobleman, one bearing the been deeply irritated by the elopement of his daughter royal sceptre, and the other the sword of state in a with the young Lord Compton; and though, at the crimson scabbard. Queen Elizabeth follows. A small period referred to in our story, more than a year had elapsed since the event, Sir John's anger seemed to golden crown is upon her head, and rests on a profu- have been increased rather than diminished by the sion of thick curled hair, of a colour too deeply san- lapse of time. Various attempts had been made to guine to countenance her early flatterers when they bring about a reconciliation, but unsuccessfully. So called the hue golden. The locks now worn by Eliza- stood the family affairs of Sir John Spencer, when beth are, however, but a close imitation of what her good Queen Bess intimated her wish to honour him natural tresses were in her younger days. Rich pearls hang from her ears, and a necklace of fine jewels is thrown over her shoulders. A white silk robe, bordered with large pearls, adorns her person, and the long train is borne by a marchioness of the realm. Elizabeth is now, as has been hinted, past the meridian of her days, yet is her gait erect and majestic, and her small dark eye retains its clear and vivid expression. A sharpening of the lines of her natu

vance of years.

in the manner related.

Of that honour the citizen continued to think with pride, up to the time of his receiving a message from the queen, requiring a second visit from him at Greenwich Palace. Thither, accordingly, Sir John wended marked manner, his sense of the high favour bestowed his way, meditating how he might best show, in a on him by the queen. When ushered into the presence of the latter, he found her with a goodly company of ladies and courtiers; and in presence, also, was John," said the queen, as the citizen paid his duty on her majesty's household chaplain. Welcome, Sir

some time in readiness. The ceremony shall be private, as best befits the condition of our poor little charge." Sir John bowed in silence; and the company, at a motion of the queen's hand, proceeded to the small chapel, where her majesty was accustomed to perform her private devotions.

This period, 1783, may be called the brightest in the career of Cagliostro, whose reputation was now European. He was asked by the Prince de Rohan to go to Paris, and went; but he staid at this time only a few days, being anxious to drain a little further the dupeables of Strasburg. But the enthusiasm was past, and he found it advisable to try Bordeaux. Here, for the period of a year, he was so eminently successful in magical and elixir practice, that the authorities at one time granted him a guard to keep his doors rally acute lineaments is all that speaks of the ad- entrance; "thou art punctual, yet we have been for clear. Bordeaux exhausted, he thought fit to quarter himself on Paris. It might have been expected that he would have shrunk from exposing his magical pretensions to the eyes of the savans in Paris. Not he. He there openly professed his ability to transmute metals; and, by handicraft deceptions, he practically convinced the silly and unwary. He-when well paid for it, for the dead would not rise for nothing-called up spirits, though they seem not to have been seen, but merely to have spoken to him from under glass bells. The countess supported him ably in these deceptions. But Cagliostro suddenly fell in this very zenith of his glory, and fell irrecoverably. Happening to be somehow involved in the celebrated necklace case of Marie Antoinette, where one of the queen's servants, named La Motte, forged her mistress's name, Cagliostro, as well as La Motte and Rohan, was thrown into the Bastile. On being brought to trial, he told lies of the most astounding magnitude as to his birth and resources, averring for one thing that he was constantly supplied with money by an unknown friend in Arabia; but the court paid no attention to his rant. La Motte and others were duly punished: as for our count, though he got free, it was in the state of a beggar.

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We shall suppose the child baptised, and the whole ceremony over. Increasing the amount of the honour, the queen gave to the child the Christian name of Spencer." This unexpected circumstance, and the uncommon beauty of the infant, seemed to determine the knight in its favour. "Madam," said he to the queen, with tears in his eyes, "I have resolved to show my sense of this honour by adopting this child, now my name-son. He shall be my sole heir; and, that no foolish relentings may afterwards affect this resolve, I here solemnly vow, before the holy altar, and in presence of your majesty and this fair company, to settle irrevocably my estate by deed in this child's favour, and to place it immediately in your majesty's possession, if you will honour me by accepting such trust."

On the occasion when this scene, here described in the present tense, was to be witnessed, foreign ministers were in the presence-chamber, and to each Elizabeth spoke in his own language, whether that were Spanish or Italian, French or Dutch. Whithersoever she turned her eye, all knelt down before her. Whosoever had the honour of a word from her, remained kneeling, unless the great queen raised him. She passed along slowly through the large chamber, conversing to those on one side and another, and sometimes receiving strangers presented by the usher. She came at length to a gentleman advanced in years, who knelt at her look. He was richly dressed, but not in the robes of office or nobility. Ha!" said the queen, stretching out her hand, and raising this personage; "our good citizen, Sir John Spencer. Welcome! Thou wert informed of our wish to converse with thee?" "I had the honour," answered the citizen, "to receive your majesty's commands to that effect." "Thou hast ever indeed, good Sir John, regarded our slightest The eyes of the queen sparkled with unaffected wish as a command," continued Elizabeth; " and well pleasure. ""Tis well, Sir John Spencer," said she; thy loyalty beseems thee. Thou hast paid dearly, too, 66 we are witnesses to your promise, and know that it for thy affectionate regard to our person." The old will be kept." She then turned round, and exclaimed, The sun of the arch-quack had begun its descending citizen sighed as if involuntarily, showing well that he looking to a side door," Without there! You may course, and rapid, indeed, was its downward progress. understood the queen's allusion. She went on, how-enter.' In an instant the door was thrown open, and In England, to which he now resorted, he gained the ever, to refer more plainly to the subject, while all Sir John Spencer beheld his daughter, the Lady countenance of scarcely one man of note excepting poor around fell respectfully back, marking her low tones. Compton, and her husband, kneeling at his feet. BeLord George Gordon; and trickery was at a discount "It was while an attendant on our train that my fore the agitated citizen could speak, the queen_adnow, whether in regard to elixirs or Egyptian lodges. young Lord Compton first saw thy daughter, and the dressed him. "Sir John, the child whom thou hast Cagliostro was compelled to look to the Continent issue was the rash marriage which thou deplorest. here adopted is thine own grandchild. Take these his again; but, alas! France, Germany, Russia, and the Sir John, we would remedy the evil thou hast sus- parents also to your favour, and make this one of the Sardinian territory, were all closed against him by posi- tained." The face of the citizen-knight grew suddenly happiest hours in a queen's life." "Pardon, dearest tive royal edicts. He had been too successful in his flushed, and then left him more pale than before. He father, pardon !" cried the weeping daughter of the magic. His wide-spread repute had roused the long knelt down after a moment of apparently agitated knight; "pardon," continued she, taking her child suspicious church, and he had lost all power to contend thought, and said, in a low and hurried voice, "I hope from an attendant, and raising it in her arms "pardon, with her. So he felt to his cost, when, after some obscure I trust your majesty does not mean to lay your comfor this child's sake!" Sir John Spencer could not and poverty-struck ramblings, he ventured at length resist these appeals. "Heaven bless you, my children!" to enter Rome in 1789, urged by his wife, who, jaded said he, embracing them by turns; "I do forgive all and wearied out, now desired but to reach her mother's the past; and I heartily thank her majesty, who has grave and die. Cagliostro had not been long there, brought about this happy event." ere the Inquisition caught him founding what Mr Carlyle aptly calls " some feeble, moneyless ghost of an Egyptian lodge," and he was thrown into the Castle of St Angelo. By papers, and petitions, and explanations, and recantations, Cagliostro still struggled stoutly for life and liberty. The former boon he obtained; but being doomed to perpetual confinement, he died in St Angelo in the summer of 1795. The Grand Copthess was placed for life in a nunnery. Cagliostro forms on the whole a sad monument of the miseries of a career of imposture. We have seen here what was the end of all; and moreover, with all his impudent assurance, it may be doubted if the instability of his position, and the constant risk of exposure, left him one happy moment even in the hours of his greatest success. Goethe visited his disclaimed mother and sister; and the picture given of

mands on me to pardon"- The queen interrupted
him. "Listen to us, Sir John Spencer. Your pater-
nal resentment will be respected by us. It is a facour
which we have now to require of thee, and the grant-
ing of which may partly remedy the misfortune which
you have suffered. An infant boy has somewhat
strangely fallen to our particular guardianship. He
is of such rank and birth that we conceive thee to be
a fitter person to act as his sponsor than any of the
nobles of our court. Thy civic position suits thee
much more for serving the future fortunes of this
boy; and, God's bread, Sir John, thou shalt have a
queen for a partner in the office."

Doubt had gradually disappeared from the citizen's
brow during this speech, and had been supplanted by
a feeling of the highest gratification, as was clear and
apparent in his looks. "Your majesty," said he, "does
me an honour which kings might be proud of. And
by my life, madam, I shall prove, by my conduct to
the boy, that your majesty has not so honoured one
who is ungrateful for it. I have no child," continued

Our anecdote is told. Many glorious acts signalise the reign of Elizabeth, but it may be questioned if any recorded deed of hers places her character in a more pleasing light, than the little ruse by which she reconciled Sir John Spencer and his daughter.

A CHINESE PAINTER.

A Chinese who was present at the martyrdom of a Christian missionary, was so struck with the firmness with which he died for his faith, that he himself became and studied painting: he has been successful as an artist; a Christian. He made his way to Europe, went to Rome, and there is now here, in the church of St Guillaume, a fine picture by his hand, well designed and strongly coloured. The subject is "The Death of the Christian Missionary," to which he was a witness, and which changed his faith and his life.-Art Union.

CURATIVE TREATMENT OF THE INSANE. THE following are passages extracted from the last report of the Crichton Asylum for Lunatics near Dumfries-an institution on a splendid scale, founded by a large bequest, and conducted by Dr W. A. F. Browne, author of a work on Insanity:

dullest moods, some of his own beautiful and pathetic | verses were read to him. He at first smiled, then appeared to be awakened to a recollection of the circumstances and emotions under which they had been composed, then became deeply affected, and wept. He was agitated for some hours, but the effects gradually disappeared.

valescent.

"It is difficult to convey any adequate notion of the To engage the minor affections, and, in the absence of series of operations of which moral treatment consists, higher objects, to call forth that love for animals which to describe the agents which have been, or may be, made has characterised men of refined and serene temperato act directly upon the mind itself, because it is impos-ment, has been considered curative, and tried. Accordsible to mark exactly where physical treatment termi-ingly, sheep have been introduced into one court; in nates, as the efficacy of even a drug may, and often does, another, rabbits have long ingratiated themselves with depend as much upon the feelings of repugnance or conthe patients; in a third, urchins have become favourites; fidence with which it is swallowed as upon its intrinsic in a fourth, there is a colony of white mice; and in the properties. Indeed, every step beyond the regulation of the diet and the exhibition of medicine to regulate and fields, a jackass was courted and conciliated by a conrestore particular functions-there being no specific for derangement-leads to an attempt to reach the disease through and by the senses, the intellect, or the affections. The residence of an individual in an asylum, the new arrangements, the absence of friends, the subjection to discipline, and the delivery of every thought and wish into the keeping of strangers, are all intended and calculated to address the mind itself, and to serve as silent arguments and warnings against error-to create a disposition to self-examination and self-regulation, and to force the adoption or imitation of rational views and habits. That these instruments often act in this way is unquestionable; and because they cannot be assembled or applied at home, it is well shown that efficient treatment can only be found in an asylum. The occupations, recreations, the rigid routine, the varied exercises, the stern or soothing tones of the physician's voice, all operate on the same principle; and when judiciously selected and perseveringly applied, remodel the whole nature, and sometimes restore health. But besides these means, there are many, such as the following, which are suggested by the peculiar circumstances of each case, founded upon some former taste or capability, or adapted to the actual condition of the patient, or the change which it is desirable to bring about:

Our amanuenses, greatly increased in number, have been as industrious as if engaged in productive labour. At one time it was ground for envy and emulation which should be selected to assist the medical officer; many thousand pages have been copied or written to dictation, and in one case with a marked humanising and elevating effect. One young lady is at present curing herself of extravagant ideas of her own greatness by copying, and then playing music, at which she is an adept. And that the curative powers of the sister art of painting might

not be untried, we have an instance where a convalescent house-painter aspired to portrait-painting, and executed a likeness of the matron. The effort was certainly a failure, but it confirmed and consolidated the recovery of the artist. One amiable, and accomplished, and excellent being, who imagined that it was incumbent upon him to abstain from food to increase the comforts of the poor, and to prevent a general famine, and that his brain was transmuted into fat, and consequently impeded the exercise of his faculties, was induced to engage in the study and translation of Molière's Malade Imaginaire. He spent many delightful hours at this task, bending his powers diligently to overcome the difficulties, and to discover the beauties, of the author-coming out of himself, as it seemed, forgetting his own sorrows and ailments, and, it may be, tempted to doubt their reality, while laughing at the hypochondriacal fancies and medicine mania of Argan. He subsequently undertook the translation of the life of St Vincent de Paul, and glowed and gladdened with the benevolence which pervaded his every sentiment in transcribing the eulogiums upon that Howard of the sixteenth century, the friend and father of the poor lunatic. In one case, where it was important to impart new springs of conduct, to alter the character and the profession, and yet to recommend what coincided with the previous tastes and training of the individual, the study of medieine was engaged in; and the patient read assiduously, acquired a very considerable knowledge of the sciences of anatomy and physiology, and imbibed a strong ambition to prosecute his studies further. A well-educated gentleman, who conceives that he is undergoing a temporary penance for an offence against a high ecclesiastical dignitary, and who would willingly spend his days over a Greek or Hebrew work, was bribed to relinquish these severer studies for the acquisition of the French language, which, with a very few hints as to pronunciation, he accomplished, and would have grappled with German had the necessary books been accessible. A schoolmaster, who is too proud of his caste to engage in manual labour, cheerfully attempted the tuition of his fellow-patients. A clergyman of most morose and melancholy disposition, so far forgets his dejection and selfishness for an hour each Sunday, that he reads, reverently and correctly, the prayers of the Church of England to such of the patients and officers as belong to that communion. When it is added that the clerk who reads the responses is likewise insane, it may be imagined that the scene is fraught with interest and emotion, and only surpassed by those which occurred in the primitive ages of the Church, when the energumens crept to the altar and were healed. Recovery cannot, in this instance, be directly traced to the act of devotion or the feelings excited; but there are reasons for supposing that these feelings are of a sedative and salutary kind; and they certainly possess this striking characteristic, that for the time they predominate over every other; and there may be observed, the wandering reason, the turbulent passions, the deluded imaginations of priest and worshippers, however widely separated in all others, meeting and uniting in this one point-the solemnity of the act in which they are engaged.

It was determined to produce a powerful, painful, and retrospective train of feeling in a person who seemed to be lapsing from a state of high over-wrought sensibility into one of apathy and senility. He had distinguished himself as a poet; and, during one of his darkest and

The great objection to all these measures is, that they embrace only one patient, or a very small number of patients; that the application of them is therefore difficult and tedious; and that success must depend as much upon the skill and tact of the experimenter as upon the consent of the individual to be acted upon. What is wanted is, some plan which shall rouse, arrest, and tend to regulate the intellect of a number of patients simultaneously, without rousing or disturbing the passions; and as insanity, in a majority of cases, consists rather in excited feeling than in disordered reason, this precaution is absolutely necessary. It is not pretended that this panacea has been discovered; but a practice has been recently commenced which possesses many of the advantages coveted, is at all events perfectly innocuous, and promises to afford a very simple, cheap, and pleasing antidote to the darkness and dullness of a winter's evening.

Tranquil and convalescent patients have been allowed to attend quiet parties for conversation and music; to visit the Theatre, the Circus, the Exhibition, the Bazaar, the races, and public concerts; and the liberty thus granted has in no case been abused, nor-so complete has been the control exercised-have the insane been distinguished from those by whom they were accompanied. Now, when familiarised with the beneficent influence of a sounder philosophy, and instructed that many of the insane are only partially separated from the sane, such facts do not excite surprise or interest. But if it be recollected that, at a period by no means distant, no patient ever passed beyond his cell or airing-yard, and that the very individuals now described as mingling in the pleasures of their fellow-men would have been condemned to perpetual confinement and to chains, the boldness and triumphs of the humane system will be appreciated."

ON THE LAUNCH OF A FIRST-RATE. [From "The Pilgrim of Glencoe, and other Poems," by Thomas Campbell, just published.]

England hails thee with emotion,
Mightiest child of naval art,
Heaven resounds thy welcome; Ocean
Takes thee, smiling, to his heart.

Giant oaks of bold expansion

O'er seven hundred acres fell,
All to build thy noble mansion,
Where our hearts of oak shall dwell.
'Midst those trees the wild deer bounded
Ages long ere we were born,
And our great-grandfathers sounded
Many a jovial hunting-horn.
Oaks that living did inherit

Grandeur from our earth and sky,
Still robust, the native spirit
In your timbers shall not die.
Ship, to shine in martial story,

Thou shalt cleave the ocean's path,
Freighted with Britannia's glory,
And the thunders of her wrath.
Foes shall crowd their sails and fly thee,
Threat'ning havoc to their deck,
When afar they first descry thee,

Like the coming whirlwind's speck.
Gallant bark! thy pomp and beauty

Storm or battle ne'er shall blast,
Whilst our tars, in pride and duty,
Nail thy colours to the mast.

AMERICAN AGRICULTURISTS.

AN Agricultural Society for the state of New York has been instituted lately. The first meeting and cattle-show was held at Syracuse, in September. At the dinner, to which 1200 persons sat down, the Hon. Micah Sterling, in the course of a lengthened address, reported in the Albany Cultivator, made the following remarks:

"It is truth too, beyond all doubt, and as gratifying as it is true, that the number of wealthy and independent farmers has greatly increased within the last quarter of a century. I can only speak more particularly of my own county, where it is a blessed sight to travel among the farmers, and see how in a short time things have changed their appearances for the better-how the log-cabin has yielded to the beautiful stone, or brick, or wooden mansion, the barn of poles to the stately edifice of boards and timber, the front yard of dirt and filth to the neat lane and shrubbery; and how the whole country has assumed, or is rapidly assuming, that appearance of neatness, beauty, high cultivation, and comfort, to which all American farmers, with honesty, industry, and economy, can soon attain. I dare say other parts of the state are equally changed for the better, and equally sustain the great cause of cultivation and improvement. Add to all this, many men of wealth, and taste, and science, have devoted their time, and a portion of their wealth, within a few years past, to the importation and rearing of the first order of stock; and, while it is hoped they are increasing their ample fortunes, they are becoming the true benefactors of the country, and take an active and prominent

part in sustaining the cause of home industry and agriculture. If husbandry is made respectable, as it ought to be, it will serve to check one of the greatest evils that bears now heavily on the community-the rush of our young men into the learned professions, which are already filled to overflowing, especially that of the law, which, under the present wretched course of legislation, of making litigation cheap, is starving this once honourable and most useful profession. Yet it is thought to be the high road to office and honour, and ambitious fathers and weak mothers are for making their sons great lawyers and eminent judges. Infatuated policy! The greater part of them never rise higher than respectable pettifoggers. Many of them get disheartened, and sink into dissipation and idleness.

*

+

The business of the farmer knows no such anxiety-is is quiet and peaceful. accompanied by no such risks; Make it intelligent, and you open to it the first and highest honours of your country: there are no prejudices against it, as against that of the law; there is no limit to it; it is broad and extensive enough for all-a rich and wide domain, the vast possessions of the government, lie open to us-it invites to cultivation and improvement. If our rich men will plant themselves in the country, and educate their sons in the care and knowledge of the farm, they would see the land smiling around them, their children would be honoured in their industry, the occupation of the plough be elevated and respected, their sons prove healthy, robust, and strong men, and they and their descendants become, as the landholders are in England, the great men and strong props of the government. Hard and incessant toil is not essential in any farmer, nor any toil equal to the exhausting unhonoured labours of the lawyer and mechanic: a few hours a-day devoted to the regulation and superintendence of the farm, affording a most wholesome and agreeable exercise to the body, is all that is requisite to the independent farmer; reading, writing, &c., will pleasantly and profitably occupy the rest of the day. To my brother lawyers, in particular, would I recommend this kind of life as the happiest and the best. They are capable of making good farmers, and, when advanced in life, they are fit for nothing else; the strife and rivalship of the law are neither suited to their temper nor taste. They are often, if not generally, first and foremost in every good work. Let us set the example in this. I regret not meeting more of them on this occasion. It is said to be dull times for them-three hundred are said to have cleared out from the city of New York. I hoped to have met some of them here; the country and the plough will receive them with open arms, and give them plenty of honest business. There is room enough for them all. I offer my own experience as a slight and humble instance of what may be easily effected: I have had the pleasure of superintending a farm-I have succeeded to my entire satisfaction-my farm is growing up under my own eye, yearly developing new beauties and new sources of income and improvement; and if it does not make me a richer, it makes me a healthier, and, I trust, a better man. In fact, dyspepsia and the blue devils immediately left me. I am conscious that the occupation is an honest one; I know it is a healthy and pleasant one; and as it interferes with no man, it is a peaceful one, and all nature tells me it is one that God will bless and prosper."

CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE. THIS Series of Publications, which has for some years engaged the attention of MESSRS CHAMBERS, and been issued with as much speed as the nature of such an undertaking would permit, now approaches its completion. Within the last few days, there has been added to the list of works issued-"ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION, PART FIRST" (designed to be completed in Two Parts), by Mr D'ORSEY, Head Master of the English Department in the High School of Glasgow. ZOOLOGY and PRACTICAL MATHEMATICS are in the press, and will speedily appear.

The following is the List of Works issued, with their Prices, all strongly bound in coloured cloth :

Infant Treatment Under Two Years of Age, -
Infant Education From Two to Six Years of Age,
First Book of Reading,

Second Book of Reading,

Simple Lessons in Reading,

Rudiments of Knowledge,

Introduction to the Sciences,

The Moral Class-Book,

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1s. 3d.

25. Od.

Os. 1d.

Os. 3d.

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A Geographical Primer,

Os. 8d.

Text-Book of Geography for England, Introduction to English Composition,

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First Book of Drawing,

Second Book of Drawing, Animal Physiology,

History and Present State of the British Empire,
History of the English Language and Literature,
Principles of Elocution, by W. Graham,
History of Greece,

Exemplary and Instructive Biography,

2s. 6d.

28. Gui.

25.

6d.

2s. 6d.

3. Od.

38. Od.

28. 9.

To the foregoing is added a Series of SCHOOL-ROOM MAPS of a very large size-Maps of England, Ireland, Scotland, Europe, Asia, Palestine, North America, South America, Africa, and the Hemispheres, designed by JAMES FAIRBAIRN, Esq., Rector of Bathgate Academy. Each Map measures 5 feet 8 inches in length

by 4 feet 10 inches in breadth. Price, coloured on cloth, with rollers, 14s. each; the Hemispheres (including Astronomical Diagrams), 218.

Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, 339 High Street, Edinburgh. Agents-W. S. ORR and Co., Amen Corner, London; and W. CURRY Jun. and Co., Dublin; and sold by all Booksellers. In cases where Teachers find a difficulty in getting supplies from Booksellers, they may apply direct to MESSRS CHAMBERS OF their chief Agents, as above.

LONDON: Published, with permission of the proprietors, by W. S. ORP, Paternoster Row.

Print by Bradbury and Evans, Whitefriars.

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CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF "CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,"

"CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE," &c.

NUMBER 534.

WHAT IS MEANT BY "A BEGGAR?" It is to the house of death we will ask the reader to accompany us; but he need not fear for his sensibility, if he is over much possessed of it, for we are not going to picture any scenes of overwhelming grief. It is true that the shutters are closed, and the servant who ushers you in looks grave, and speaks in a lower tone of voice than usual; and Mr Compton, the master of the house, heaves a sigh as he addresses you, while his lady-wife raises her handkerchief to her eyes. It is a second cousin of the former who is dead-a solitary old man, who, after passing nearly forty years in a foreign land, returned home to spend the independence he had acquired, and to find of his early friends some dead, others separated, and the few, the very few, who remained, almost forgetful of his existence. But a childless widower, in independent circumstances, Mr Tracey was not long without relatives who proved their affinity; and after a severe but half-concealed struggle, Mr and Mrs Compton were the successful candidates, under whose roof Mr Tracey took up his abode. Shortly following that event, a little stranger arrived, who was named, after his godfather, James Tracey Compton; and now, after eight years of devoted attention, the anxious parents' hopes were in some degree realised. Mr Tracey had not forgotten his godson in his will; indeed, he was the only relation he seemed to have remembered. About three hundred a-year was bequeathed to little James on his reaching one-and-twenty; and the remainder of his property, amounting to several thousands, was divided between a few inconsiderable legacies and bequests to charitable institutions.

It was the day following that on which Mr Tracey died, but the mournful necessary arrangements had been made, and the will read the preceding evening. Mr and Mrs Compton had deserted their usual sittingroom, as being a storey nearer to the chamber of death, but were, nevertheless, sitting very cozily after dinner in their back parlour, the young legatee being present. "Well, James, my boy," said the father, patting his son's head caressingly, "at all events you cannot be a beggar, though I did think your poor godfather would have provided more handsomely for you. He was not blind or deaf; I wonder what on earth could have put it into his head to leave his thousands to the Blind School and the Deaf and Dumb Asylum."

"At all events, I am glad he did not leave them over the way," chimed in Mrs Compton, with all the ill-nature of a selfish, cunning, and narrow-minded

woman.

"I fancy, my dear, you took care of that," rejoined her husband, while they exchanged looks in which the ghost of a smile was on each face visible.

Now, "over the way" was a comprehensive phrase, signifying Mr and Mrs William Compton and their six children. It must be acknowledged that, in a worldly sense, the elder brother had been the more prudent. He had established himself in a thriving business before he thought of looking out for a wife, while, about the same time, his brother William, though some years his junior, fell in love, without being at all on the "look-out" for such a catastrophe, and married as soon as it was possible (to use a homely phrase) to make both ends meet. His family increased in at least an equal proportion to his means; so that, at the time of his cousin Mr Tracey's death, he, with his six children, occupied a smaller house, kept fewer servants, and in every respect a more moderate establishment, than his elder brother, who was blessed, or encumbered, with one only child, the James Tracey to whom we have before alluded. We question if it is

SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1842.

a good plan for relatives to live so very near to each other as "over the way" implies that the Comptons did. They often become too intimate, and get a habit of interfering with things that do not concern them. To do justice, however, we must own that Mrs William was a very amiable woman, a great deal too much occupied with her own family to trouble herself about other persons' concerns; and in the family disputes which had arisen, the elder lady had usually been the aggressor. It was quite natural that the younger couple should, and quite true that they did, anxiously hope Mr Tracey would leave legacies to their children, but they were quite prepared for their disappointment. They had had no spacious apartments to offer him, and they were even aware, that when he had visited them, the necessary unquiet of a small house which contained so large a family, was any thing but agreeable to a nervous invalid. Latterly, however, they had been conscious of a sinister influence, though, had they known precisely in what manner it had been exerted, perfect candour on their part would have been more than a match for the duplicity of their enemy. But this was not the case; poor Mr Tracey's behaviour for the last two years had grown gradually cooler and cooler, and yet there had been neither word nor action sufficiently marked to demand an explanation of it. This is a common state of things, and it must be confessed that the pride which accompanies a clear conscience in such matters often stands in the way of one's worldly interest. In a downright, tangible quarrel, even the party offending is seldom the one first to hold out the olive branch; but the case of the secret maligner is far worse, for he has the advantage of making the first or "proof" impression, and the credulous listener seldom opens his eyes and ears of his own accord to the other side of the question; nay, if pride does yield, and the innocent volunteers a defence, facts, circumstances-the very flood-gates of truthful eloquence-must be opened before the "stuffed bosom" can be cleansed of the "perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart."

Unfortunately, the latter plan had not been adopted by the younger Comptons, and Mr Tracey died with the firm conviction that every trifling act of kindness and civility had been dictated by the hope of a legacy, and that even the children had been tutored to please him; faults also had been hinted at which did not exist, and to the most innocent observations a false meaning had been given. Surely nothing under the sun is so easy as misrepresentation, except-telling the truth. Of course, Mrs Compton senior had insinuated (it was out of her line of policy to assert) that she and her husband were not "beggars"-they wanted nothing from him-which, we are afraid, if sincerely believed, is a most persuasive argument with a certain class of persons who have money to leave. These people have such a dread of their money being spent-not considering that, wisely distributed, one spring may fertilise many plains, and make seeds grow where all before was barren. Certainly, even a few hundred pounds to William Compton would have smoothed an anxious brow, and spared many an act of self-denial; however, he and his family did without them.

Of the worldly retribution so often remarked, nothing is more common than to find money, not altogether honestly acquired, either in a few years scattered to the winds, or become a source of misery instead of a blessing to the possessor; and so did it in some degree prove with Master James's legacy. The assurance that he would not be "a beggar," was at first used by his parents as an encouragement to good behaviour, and to exert himself in his studies, that he

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might be the more worthy of, and fit for, his lucky destiny; but as years passed on, he contrived to wrest the argument from them, and turn it as a weapon against themselves. It was all very well for his cousin William (a boy of about his own age) to fag and make the most of his time; but for himself, he shouldn't be obliged to go into a counting-house at fifteen-he shouldn't be a "beggar." A pretty life they had with the hopeful youth long before he was that age.

As for "the people over the way," they kept on their even course. The families visited occasionally, and maintained to the world a tolerable appearance of cordiality, though Mrs Compton abated not one jot of the malice and uncharitableness which rankled at her heart. Envy, too, was there; for ever since she had known her she had envied Mrs William's youth and good looks (youth always remains comparative), and now she envied her her tractable, well-managed family. Certainly, a school, or an assemblage of children, is a miniature world, in which each, generally speaking, finds its level, and it is usually an excellent discipline for only, or spoilt, children. The consequence the young heir assumed almost immediately after Mr Tracey's death, was not lost upon his sprightly cousins. At first, they could not quite make out why he had grown so fond of playing at "grand people" (what a study of character it is to watch children's play!) and at "fine houses," where he must always be the master; but at last it came out, and what a laugh there was! With one sweep of his foot, little William knocked down a make-believe house, which had been manufactured of tables, chairs, and boxes, and, mounting in glory upon the loftiest of the ruins, he exclaimed, "Now, Master James, I want to know exactly what you mean by a 'beggar !'"

This was a question which might have puzzled a much wiser head to answer. It did occur to the young heir to tell his cousins that they were often called "beggars;" but there was something in William's manner which told him it would not be quite safe to venture so far, so he stammered out, that "papa and mamma called people who had no money 'beggars.""

"Oh! then, we shan't be beggars," rejoined William, "because I mean to make a fortune, and one rich man in a family shows the others the road."

The sisters, who were a little older, had not joined in the noisy play; but Emily raised her eyes from her work, and, with an arch look, said very quietly, "When you have quite done with Susan's box of colours, I am sure, James, she will be glad to have it back again, for she had begun to paint the green parrot that hangs out in the next balcony before she lent it you; and there it remains in her portfolio, one wing penciled and the other green, just as if he were half plucked for roasting."

This was really spiteful, for the sisters knew perfectly well that the colours, every one, were either spoilt or lost; and so, with a red cheek, Master James confessed.

"Never mind," continued Emily, "you know, instead of pocket-money, mamma pays us for the work we help her with; and we have saved up three and sixpence already towards buying a new box."

"And when do you mean to begin to write your own Latin exercises, Master James?" chimed in Susan, perhaps a little vexed at the loss of her colours.

The poor child burst into tears, exclaiming, "Oh ! you tell-tale!"

"No, Jemmy, I didn't tell; indeed, I didn't," replied William, jumping down from his throne.

"No, he didn't tell," echoed the sisters; "we found it out. We saw it on the slate, and we knew he was through that book six months ago."

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