all otherwise lost. It rarely happens that a vain person is not in good humor with all the world, and all the world likewise in good humor with him. He is well pleased with the world, because, though it should be so, he rarely perceives that it is not in good humor with him; and the world is in good humor with his vanity, because it makes amusement for it.

How shall we describe the pleasures of the vain person? He is independent, and little harassed by cares of other men of the world, whether for wealth or knowledge. Novels constitute his literature, because they require no exertion to peruse, and they are never apt to trouble one with thought. With others, the more they learn, the more they wish to learn; the more they study, the more discontented they become. Not so with him. His book is left at any time without the least inconvenience. How contented is he with his figure too! See him as he approaches. What a bright smile sits on his face, his mouth expanded just sufficient to form a most bewitching dimple in the cheek, or expose, when he laughs, in the most captivating manner, just enough of the pearly teeth to show their beauty! When he looks in a mirror, how satisfied is he to think he is truly the "glass of fashion and the mould of form !" There is not a particle of dress

about him that he does not admire. He feels far happier when he has tied his rich cravat as it should be tied, or when he has adjusted his locks in the most becoming style, than the man of learning does when he has solved some difficult problem, or answered some abstruse question in science.

Where can be found so agreeable a personage as the vain one? Whose brow so lighted up with smiles? Who so ready to join in the merry laugh? Ah! when I have entered a room filled with ladies and gentlemen, where bashfulness or fear has confined me to my seat and tied my tongue; yet, when I wanted to make myself and others happy, how have I envied the vain one of the party, who going from place, kept all in a roar of laughter at his exquisite follies! How have I envied his confidence in himself! How have I wished that I could make myself so agreeable to all, that I might enjoy myself as well! Your vain person always has some little egotistical joke on hand with which to amuse you, or at least himself. See with what glistening eyes he gazes on that rose stuck in his button-hole. How they sparkle as he goes about relating the charms of the young lady who presented it to him! Was ever mortal happier than he? He is never at a loss for words or anecdotes; for if all things else fail, he will regale

you by the half hour with eulogiums on the excellent fit of his coat, or pants, or some new knot with which he has tied his cravat-showing you excellencies that you never before dreamed of. He has a thousand little nameless graces, or artless tricks, to play off, which all serve to amuse you and gratify him. What would you not give to be as pleased with yourself?

I might continue to enumerate these sources of his happiness, almost ad infinitum ; but observe, watch all his manœuvres, all his motions, from his most magnificent strut through the fashionable streets, to the most careless glance he, from time to time, throws over his well-setting clothes, and tell me if of all created beings, there be one who enjoys more happiness than the vain man.

Let it not be thought, though, that the vain person is entirely free from care and unhappiness; for it will sometimes happen that the bright polish of his boot will be sullied, and the corn on his toe a little hurt, by the unlucky tread of some unlucky wight, who minds not how he walks. He may sometimes run against some more unhappy laborer, and thus have the lustre of his coat dimmed by dust. These, I say, will sometimes provoke him a little, and disturb his equan

imity for a time, but still his vanity soon enables him to recover himself again.

O, happy vain one-comparatively free from the sorrows of those who are only engaged in the pursuit of wealth or fame!

11

NOVEL READING.

PROBABLY, far the greater portion of books read at the present day consists of novels. Such being the case, who can tell the immense influence these works have in forming the mind and character of a people! No book is ever read and understood by a person, without some impression having been left upon his mind by it, after the perusal; and as the conduct of a person has its source in the impressions existing on the mind, so is it influenced by the works that give those impressions. It is often wondered, why novels and most works of fiction are so much read, especially by the young, whose attention should be turned to works of a more substantial nature. The secret, I believe, lies in the natural feelings of sympathy implanted deep in every heart. Sympathy is the prevailing emotion of our nature, and in it nearly all the other emotions take their rise. We cannot behold our fellow beings in distress, and withhold all sympathy from them, without libelling our nature, and rendering us unworthy the great impress of a noble humanity; for, by so doing, we should abuse the most heav