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of horses in that part of the country--as indeed well he might, for, during several years, he had carried an enormous black, hight Cupid Congo, kettle-drummer to that since highly-distinguished regiment the Scots Greys. However, he was not so fierce as he looked; but, prophetic of provender, allowed Mysie to lead him away like a lamb into a stable which he could not enter till he had stooped his anointed head." Meanwhile, the Reverend Æneas M'Taggart was proceeding to business.

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The young divine took his place, after a

Before Margaret could reply, he strenuously
urged his suit. "The heritors are bound
to build me a new Manse-and the teinds
are far from being exhausted. I have raised
a process of augmentation, and expect seven
additional chawder. Ilay Campbell is the
friend of the clergy. The stipend is
1371. 17s. 6d. in mouey-and likewise from
the Widow's Fund you will be entitled, on
my decease, to 301. per annum, be it less or
more so that". Margaret was over-
whelmed with such brilliant
prospects, and
could not utter a word. "Give me, ina'am,

a categorical answer-be composed-be
quiet-I respect the natural modesty of the
sex- —but as for Nether-place, it shall be set-
tled as you and our common friend Mr.
Oswald shall fix, upon our children."

Memoirs of the Life and Works of
Sir Christopher Wren. By JAMES
ELMES, M. R. I. A. Architect, &c.

(Concluded from p. 166.)

WE concluded our last notice with an account of the taking down of the old St. Paul's, when the goodly edifice which now adorns the metropolis, was erected by Sir Christopher Wren :

Some time during the early parts of its works, when Sir Christopher was arranging

and setting out the dimensions of the great cupola, an incident occurred which some superstitious observers regarded as a lucky omen. The architect had ordered a workman to bring him a flat stone, to use as a station; which, when brought, was found A categorical answer was one which Margaret did not very clearly understanding the only remaining word of an inscripto be the fragment of a tombstone, containbut she instantly felt that perhaps it might tion in capital letters, "Resurgam." This be the little expressive word-"No;" and has been asserted (but I do not remember accordingly she hazarded that monosyllable, the authority) to have been the origin of the Mr. M'Taggart, the man of the medal, was emblem-a phoenix on its fiery nest—sculpconfounded and irritated he could not be tured by Cibber, over the south portico, lieve his ears, long as they were; and in- and inscribed with the same word: but the sisted upon an immediate explanation. In rising again of the new city and cathedral a few minutes things were brought to a pro- from the conflagration were quite sufficient per bearing; and it was felt that the sermon on sympathy had not produced the expected effect. It was grievous to think, that Æneas was barely civil on his departure; and flung his leg over old Cromwell with such vehemence, as almost to derange the balance of power, and very nearly to bring the pride of the Presbytery to the gravel. However, he regained his equilibrium, and "With his left heel insidiously aside,

Provoked the caper that he seemed to chide," till he disappeared out of the avenue, from the wondering eyes of Mysie, who kept exclaiming, "Safe us-he's like a rough rider! Luke now, the beast's funking like mad, and then up again wi' his forelegs like a perfect unicorn.'

hints for the artist.'

In 1682, Chelsea Hospital was founded, and the building commenced by Sir Christopher:

"This monument of national gratitude owes its origin to the benevolent Sir Stephen Fox, who proposed to Evelyn, on September 6, 1681, the purchasing of Chelsea College, which the king had previously given to the Royal Society, and was willing to repurchase for this purpose. Sir Stephen, with whom Evelyn dined on that day, desired his assistance as one of the council of the society. The measure was proposed by Wren, who, with Evelyn, was appointed to conduct the sale.'

little elegant badinage, on the parlour hearth-rug, with his back to the fire, and his coat-flaps opening behind, and gathered up each below an elbow-the attitude which of all others makes a person appear most like a gentleman. "Pray, ma'am, have you ever read Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments?"—"No, sir, I never have; indeed, from what I have seen said of it in other volumes, I fear it may be above the comprehension of a poor weak woman." "Not if properly explained by a superior mind-Miss Lyndsay. The great leading doctrine of this theory is, that our moral judgment follows, or is founded on, our sympathetic affections or emotions. But then it requires to be particularly attended to, that, according to Dr. Adam Smith, we do not sympathize directly with the emotions of the agent, but indirectly with what we suppose would be the feelings which we ourselves should entertain if placed in his situation. Do you comprehend, ma'am?”— "It would be presumption in me, Mr. M'Taggart, to say that I do perfectly comprehend it; but I do a little, and it seems to be pretty much like what you illustrated so eloquently in your discourse last sabbath.""Yes, ma'am, it is the germ, which I unfolded under the stronger light of more advanced philosophy. You will observe, Miss Lyndsay, that often a man is placed in a situation where he feels nothing for him- Of all the works of this class attri"This gentleman, (Sir Stephen Fox) whose self, but where the judicious observer, not-buted to the author, the Trials of Mar- name and biography is most unaccountably withstanding, feels for him-perhaps pity, garet Lyndsay' is decidedly the best, omitted in Chalmer's last edition of his Bior even disgust."-and with that he ex- combining the purest morality, with a ographical Dictionary, Rees's Cyclopædia, panded himself before the chimney, not and other similar works, was at this time, in unlike a great turkey-cock with his van-tail faithful portrait of human nature, and a correct delineation of local feelings and the lords of the Treasury. He came origigreat favour with the king, and also one of displayed in a farm yard. Margaret requested him to have the goodness to take habits. That the Trials of Margaret nally to London a poor boy from the choir the poker and stir up the fire. Certainly, Lyndsay' are more severe than we trust of Salisbury, when he was taken notice of ma'am, certainly-that is an office which are the lot of many, may, perhaps, be by Bishop Duppa; and afterwards waited they say a man should not take upon him- objected to it; but, if so, they only on Lord Percy, who procured him an infeself, under seven years' acquaintance; but prove the strength and the power of rior situation among the clerks of the kitchen hope Miss Lyndsay does not look upon me that religion which could triumph over and board of green cloth; where he was as a stranger." Therewith he smashed exthem all, and render a human being found so humble, diligent, industrious, and ultingly the large lump of coal, and continued, “Then, ma'am, as to the sense of self-happy amidst such trying afflic- prudent in his behaviour, that the king, who was then in exile, and Mr. Fox waiting, both In point of literary merit, Mar- the king and the lords about him frequently propriety;"-but here Mysie opened the tions. door, and came in with a fluster. "My garet Lyndsay' must rank high; the employed him in their affairs, trusting him conscience, Mr. McTaggart, that beast o' language is generally correct and often with receiving and paying the little money yours is eating the crib-it'll take James highly eloquent, we had almost said they had. Returning with Charles II. to Adams a forenoon-job with his plane to poetic; we might, however, point out a England, at the Restoration, after great prismooth aff the splinters-he's a deevil o' a few absurdities, such as an old soldiervations and suffering, his Majesty found him horse yon, and likes shavings better than last year's hay." This was an awkward in-mishes of so slight a cast, that they are singing like a tiger,' but they are ble- so honest and industrious, and at the same time so capable and ready, that, being adterruption to the " young man eloquent," vanced from clerk of the kitchen to that of the who was within a few paragraphs of putting lost in the general and superior merits green cloth, he obtained the office of paythe question. But Mysic withdrew-and of the whole. master to the whole army; and, by his dexterity and punctual dealings, he obtained

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Mr. M'Taggart forthwith declared his heart.

6

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such credit among the bankers, that he was churches in London and Westminster; II should propose they be brought as forward ina short time able to borrow vast sums of shall presume to communicate briefly my as possible into the larger and more open them upon any exigency. From this conti- sentiments, after long experience, and with streets; not in obscure lanes, nor where nial turning of money, and from the sol-out further ceremony exhibit to better judg- coaches will be much obstructed in the ders' moderate and voluntary allowance to ment, what at present occurs to me, in a passage; nor are we, I think, too nicely to hm, for punctuality with them, he so entransient view of this whole affair; not observe east or west in the position, unless rched himself, that Evelyn, who knew him doubting but that the debates of the worthy it falls out properly: such fronts as shall vell, says, he believed him "to be worth at commissioners may hereafter give me occa-happen to lie most open in view should be last two hundred thousand pounds, honest-sion to change or add to these speculations. adorned with porticos, hoth for beauty and y gotten, and unenvied, which is next to a convenience; which, together with handmiracle." With all this, says the same ausome spires or lanterns, rising in good prothority, he continued as humble and as ready portion above the neighbouring houses (of to do a courtesy as ever he was. He was which I have given several examples in the generous, and lived honourably; was of an city of different forms), may be of sufficient excellent temper, well spoken, and was so ornament to the town, without a great exhighly in his Majesty's confidence, and so pense for enriching the outward walls of the useful, that he had given him "the reverchurches, in which plainness and duration sion of the cofferer's place, after Harry ought principally, if not wholly, to be studiBrouncker." His eldest daughter was mar-rish. ed. When a parish is divided, I suppose it ried to Lord Cornwallis, and had twelve may be thought sufficient if the mother thousand pounds to her fortune; besides her church has a tower large enough for a good father restoring that noble family from its ring of bells, and the other churches smaller towers for two or three bells; because great towers and lofty steeples are sometimes more than half the charge of the church.

embarrassments.'

1. "I conceive the churches should be built, not where vacant ground may be cheapest purchased in the extremities of the suburbs, but among the thicker inhabitants, for the convenience of the better sort, although the site of them should cost more; the better inhabitants contributing most to the future repairs, and the ministers and of ficers of the church, and charges of the pa

2. "I could wish that all burials in churches might be disallowed, which is not only unwholesome, but the pavements can never be kept even, nor pews upright: and Mr. Elmes's work now branches out if the churchyard be close about the church, too much into detail of the proceedings this also is inconvenient; because the ground of the Royal Society, of which Sir being continually raised by the graves, ocChristopher was president, and biogra-casions, in time, a descent by steps into the phical notices of his cotemporaries. church, which renders it damp, and the When Mr. Boyle's posthumous work, green, as appears evidently in all old churches. A Free Discourse against customary Swearing and a Dissuasive from Cursing,' was published, Sir Christopher directed the following order to be affixed in various parts of St. Paul's Cathedral, during its building :

walls

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5. "I shall mention something of the materials for public fabrics. It is true, the mighty demand for the hasty works of thousands of houses at once after the fire of London, and the frauds of those who built 3. "It will be enquired, where then shall by the great, have so debased the value of be the burials? I answer, in cemeteries materials, that good bricks are not to be seated in the outskirts of the town; and now had without greater prices than forsince it is become the fashion of the age to merly, and, indeed, if rightly made, will desolemnize funerals by a train of coaches serve them; but brick-makers spoil the (even where deceased are of moderate con- earth in the mixing and hasty burning, till. ""Whereas, among labourers, &c. that dition) though cemeteries should be half-a-the bricks will hardly bear weight; though ungodly custom of swearing is too frequently mile, or more, distant from the church, the the earth about London, rightly managed, heard, to the dishonour of God, and con- charge need be little, or no more than usual: will yield as good bricks as were the Roman tempt of authority; and to the end, there- the service may bé first performed in the bricks (which I have often found in the old fore, that such impiety may be utterly ba-church: but for the poor, and such as may ruins of the city), and will endure, in our nished from these works, intended for the be interred at the parish charge, a public air, beyond any stone our island affords; service of God, and the honour of religion hearse of two wheels, and one horse, may which, unless the quarries lie near the sea, it is ordered, that customary swearing be kept at small expense; the bearers to are too dear for general use. The best is shall be a sufficient crime to dismiss any la- lead the horse, and take out the corpse at Portland or Roch-Abbey stone; but these bourer that comes to the call; and the the grave. A piece of ground of two acres are not without their faults. The next clerk of the works, upon sufficient proof, in the fields will be purchased for much less material is the lime: chalk-lime is the conshall dismiss them accordingly. And if any than two roods among the buildings: this stant practice, which, well mixed with good master, working by task, shall not, upon ad- being enclosed with a strong brick wall, and sand, is not amiss, though much worse than monition, reform this profanation among his having a walk round, and two cross-walks hard stone lime. The vaulting of St. Paul's apprentices, servants, and labourers, it decently planted with yew trees, the four is a rendering as hard as stone: it is comshall be construed his fault; and he shall quarters may serve four parishes, where the posed of cockleshell lime well beaten with be liable to be censured by the commis- dead need not be disturbed at the pleasure sand: the more labour in beating, the betsioners."-Dated the 25th of September, of the sexton, or piled four or five upon one ter and stronger the mortar. I shall say noanother, or bones thrown out to gain room. thing of marble (though England, Scotland, In these places beautiful monuments may and Ireland afford good, and of beautiful be erected; but yet the dimensions should colours;) but this will prove too costly for be regulated by an architect, and not left to our purpose, unless for altar-pieces. In the fancy of every mason; for thus the rich, windows and doors, Portland stone may be with large marlle tombs, would shoulder used, with good bricks and stone quoins. out the poor; when a pyramid, a good bust, As to roofs, good oak is certainly the best, or statue on a proper pedestal, will take up because it will bear some negligence. The little room in the quarters, and be properer churchwardens' care may be defective in **Since Providence, in great mercy, has than figures lying on marble beds; the walls speedy mending drips; they usually whiteprotracted my age, to the finishing the ca- will contain escutcheons and memorials for wash the church, and set up their names, thedral church of St. Paul, and the parochi- the dead, and the area good air and walks but neglect to preserve the roof over their al churches of London, in lieu of those de- for the living. It may be considered fur-heads. It must be allowed, that the roof molished by the fire, (all which were exe-ther, that if the cemetries be thus thrown being more out of sight, is still more uncuted during the fatigues of my employment into the fields, they will bound the exces-minded. Next to oak, is good yellow deal, in the service of the crown from that time sive growth of the city with a graceful borto the present happy reign); and being now der, which is now encircled with scavengers' constituted one of the commissioners for dung-stalls. building, pursuant to the late act, fifty more

1695.'

When, in 1708, an act of Parliament was passed for erecting fifty-nine additional parish churches, in the City of London and Westminster, Sir Christopher being one of the commissioners, drew up the following excellent paper on the subject:

4. "As to the situation of the churches,

which is a timber of length, and light, and makes excellent work at first; but, if neglected, will speedily perish; especially if gutters (which is a general fault in builders)

whom these churches are provided, are five times as many as those in the city, who were

which schoolmasters might correct in the
young as a vicious pronunciation, and not
as the Roman orators spoke: for the princi-
pal verb is, in Latin, usually the last word;
and if that be lost, what becomes of the
sentence?

trades: for this we allowed one year's purchase, and gave leave to remove all their wainscot, reserving the materials of the kbric only. This was happily finished, without a judicatory or jury; although, in or present case, we may find it perhaps sometimes necessary to have recourse to Parlu

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The Pamphleteer, No. 42. March, 1823. THE number of the Pamphleteer just published is well calculated to maintain the character of the work. It presents more than the usual variety, and there is not a single pamphlet, among the ten of which it consists, that is upon a trivial or uninteresting subject. The Policy of recognizing the Independ ence of South America,' the State of

be made to run upon the principal rafters, the ruin may be sudden. Our sea-service for oak, and the wars in the North-sea, make timber at present of excessive price. Isuppose, ere long, we must have recourse to the West Indies, where most excellent timber may be had for cutting and fetching. Our 8. "By what I have said, it may be tiles are ill made, and our slates not good: thought reasonable, that the new churchment.' lead is certainly the best and lightest cover- should be at least sixty feet broad, and ing, and being of our own growth and ma- ninety feet long, besides a chancel at one nufacture, and lasting, if properly laid, for end, and the belfry and portico at the other. many hundred years, is, without question, "These proportions may be varied; but the most preferable; though I will not deny to build more than that every person may but an excellent tile may be made to be conveniently hear and see is to create noise very durable; our artizans are not yet in- and confusion. A church should not be so structed in it, and it is not soon done to in-filled with pews, but that the poor may have form them. room enough to stand and sit in the alleys; 6. "The capacity and dimensions of the for to them equally is the gospel preached. new churches may be determined by a cal- It were to be wished there were to be no culation. It is, as I stated it, pretty cer- pews, but benches; but there is no stemtain, that the number of inhabitants, forming the tide of profit, and the advantage the Nation,' 'Agricultural Distress,' of pew-keepers; especially since by pews,British Quarantine Laws,' 'Mendiciin the chapel of ease, the minister is chiefly ty,' the National Debt and Sinking burnt out; and probably more than 400,000 supported. It is evident these fifty churches Fund,' the Spanish Question,' a 'Sta grown persons, that should come to church, are not enough for the present inhabitants, for whom these fifty churches are to be pro-and the town will continually grow: but it tistical Account of the House of Comvided, besides some chapels already built, is to be hoped, that hereafter more may be mons,' and the 'Love-Letters of Henry though too small to be made parochial. added, as the wisdom of the government VIII.,' are subjects which have each a Now, if the churches could hold each 2000, shall think fit; and, therefore, the parishes distinct pamphlet, many of which are it would yet be very short of the necessary should be so divided as to leave room for original, and others have received addisupply. The churches, therefore, must be sub-divisions, or at least for chapels of ease. tions in their present form. large; but still, in our reformed religion, it "I cannot pass over mentioning the dif should seem vain to make a parish church ficulties that may be found in obtaining the larger than that all who are present can both ground proper for the sites of the churches hear and see. The Romanists, indeed, may among the buildings, and the cemeteries in build larger churches: it is enough if they the borders without the town; and, therehear the murmur of the mass, and see the fore, I shall recite the method that was taken elevation of the host; but our's are to be for purchasing in ground at the north side of fitted for auditories. I can hardly think it St. Paul's cathedral, where, in some places, practicable to make a single room so capa-houses were but eleven feet distant from the cious, with pews and galleries, as to hold above 2000 persons, and all to hear the service, and both to hear distinctly, and see the preacher. I endeavoured to effect this in building the parish-church of St. James, Westminster, which, I presume, is the most capacious, with these qualifications, that hath yet been built; and yet, at a solemn time, when the church was much crowded, I could not discern from a gallery that 2000 were present. In this church I mention, though very broad, and the middle nave arched up, yet as there are no walls of a second order, nor lanterns, nor buttresses, but the whole roof rests upon the pillars, as do also the galleries, I think it may be found beautiful and convenient, and, as such, the cheapest of any form I could in

vent.

7. "Concerning the placing of the pulpit, I shall observe a moderate voice may be heard fifty feet distant before the preach, thirty feet on each side, and twenty behind the pulpit; and not this, unless the pronunciation be distinct and equal, without losing the voice at the last word of the sentence, which is commonly emphatical, and, if obscured, spoils the whole sense. A Frenchman is heard further than an English preacher, because be raises his voice, and

sinks not his last words: I mention this as

an insufferable fault in the pronunciation of some of our otherwise excellent preachers,

pro

The article on the British Quaran tine Laws' is by Dr. Maclean, who was appointed by the Spanish government to investigate into the nature and causes of the fever at Barcelona in 1821. The doctor strongly contends for the impossibility of the existence of pestilential contagion; he consequently condemns the quarantine as the most gigantic, extraordinary, and mischievous superstition that has ever been raised by man upon a purely imaginary foundation;' and he shows that the doctrine of pestilential contagion, in an accredited form, was first promulgated for political purposes, by the authority of the See of Rome, in 1546-7, under the pontificate of Paul III., and that the immediate occasion of this pious fraud was to create a pretext for the translation of the Council of Trent to Bologna. Dr. Maclean takes an able view of the quarantine laws in various countries, and condemns them as vexatious and unnecessary.

fabric, exposing it to the continual danger
of fires. The houses were seventeen, and
contiguous, all in leasehold of the bishop, or
dean alone, or the dean and chapter, or the
petty-canons, with divers undertenants.
First recompensed in kind, with rents of
like value for them and their successors;
but the tenants in possession for a valuable
consideration; which to find what it amount-
ed to, we learned by diligent inquiry, what
the inheritance of houses in that quarter
were usually held at; this we found was
fifteen years' purchase at the most, and,
portionably to this, the value of each lease
was easily determined in a scheme, refer-
ring to a map. These rates, which we re-
solved not to stir from, were offered to each;
and, to cut off much debate, which may be
imagined every one would abound in, they
were assured that we went by one uniform
method, which could not be receded. We
found two or three reasonable men, who
agreed to these terms; immediately we paid
them, and took down their houses; others,
who stood out ht first, finding themselves in
dust and rubbish, and that ready money was
better, as the case stood, than to continue THIS is a neat pocket volume, of the
paying rent, repairs, and parish duties, easily most interesting works of an author
came in. The whole ground at last was
cleared, and all concerned were satisfied, who will be read and admired as long
and their writings given up. The greatest as the English language is known,
debate was about their charges for fitting or good taste is at all prevalent. The
up their new houses to their particular work is printed of the same size as

Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, Essays, and Poems. With prefatory Remarks. By JOHN M'DIARMID. Author of the 'Life of Cowper,' &c. 18mo. pp. 517. Edinburgh, 1823.

remain unassailable.

Short and Plain Discourses for the Use
of Families. By the REV. THOMAS
KNOWLES, B. A. 3 vols. 12mo.
London, 1823.

Walker's British Poets and Classics,' turns, the tombs of Père la Chaise; the Madame Destive dared not confide to and is published on the same economi- bones of the Catacombs; and did not any one the mysterious words she had cal plan. The prefatory remarks by even forget the Museum of St. Augus- twice heard; she could think them but Mr. M'Diarmid display much good tin*, where great princesses in mar-imaginary, and though she had been sense, and a just appreciation of the ble are on their knees at the tombs of only one fortnight in Paris, she undermerits of Goldsmith as a novelist, an their husbands; in short, all funeral stood that she had here more to fear essayist, and a poet, for to each branch ceremonies had a melancholy charm for from the satire which attaches to folly of this work Mr. M'Diarmid has added her, and seemed to harmonize with her than to vice itself. The next day she a distinct introduction. Criticism has, tears: she found in them, as romance-paid a visit to the mayor of one of the however, now little to do with Gold-writers would say, a melancholy joy districts of Paris; this functionary was smith, whose works have long ago wea- (une joie douloureuse), and she had a devotee-nothing uncommon in these thered its storm, and must henceforth pleasure in probing the sorrows of fu- times; he proposed to our widow the turity; but every time that she quitted pleasure of hearing one of our best these sombre abodes, she seemed to preachers-the Abbé F***. After the hear, in the midst of the crowds through sermon, by which she was much edified, which she passed, a magic voice, which she was requested to hold the silver cried to her, in a solemn tone, I am plate, in which the faithful deposit their not dead! I am not dead! Madame offerings. The handsome widow, with Ir is one of the vices (if the term may Destive was frightened; and this weak-downcast eyes, walked round the church, be used) of the pulpit-preaching of the ness may be pardoned in a widow, ab- making a collection, and when she arpresent day, that it is frequently very ill sorbed in grief; she grew fearful of the rived near a gothic pillar, lighted only suited to the capacities of the auditors, tombs, and became a frequenter of the by feeble rays through a painted winand that the ministers are more eager theatres; our classical theatre had the dow, a piece of gold fell into her silver to astonish than to inform and instruct preference;-she hired a box at the dish, and she heard, more distinctly their hearers. Mr. Knowles seems to Comédie Française; but, from the se- than before, these words-'I am not be fully aware of this error, and feels clusion in which she had lived, she could dead! I am not dead!' The young that sermons when unadorned are not suspect that our first theatre admit- cousin, who always accompanied the adorned the most. The parishioners of ted of conjugal faith becoming a subject pretty widow, could not help remarking Humberstone, in Lincolnshire, of which of jest, and she was present at the re- her emotion, and, to divert her, he proplace he was curate, had lamented the presentation of the Marriage of Figaro. posed to conduct her on the next day to want of a set of sermons, composed by Mlle. Mars played Susannah, and, from the Théâtre de Vaudeville: A Visit to some clergyman of the Established her being a pretty woman, the young Bedlam and The Matron of Ephesus Church, adapted to the use of families, widow gave her the preference over the seemed to promise a good evening's enboth as to brevity and plainness of lan- rest of the actresses, though she did tertainment. Madame Destive entered guage. Mr. Knowles, in order to grati- justice to the merits of all; the Coun- into the spirit of these pieces, and, durfy their wishes, has prepared a series tess Almaviva alone displeased her,ing the performance, repeated, in a low of fifty-four sermons, namely, one her guttural voice, her bloated counte- tone, some lines of the play reflecting for each Sunday in the year, one for nance, her pedantic manners, and her upon husbands, when,-what was her Christmas Day, and one for Good Fri-square figure, recalled to her mind an surprize!-the same prolonged sighs day. They are written in a plain, brief, ex-canon of her native town; and the again struck her ear, and when her couand forcible manner, and are, on such Count Almaviva half persuaded her that sin was handing her to her carriage, a subjects, likely to be of the most prac- husbands are not always amiable; it terrible voice pronounced, 'I am dead; was impossible, however, for her to quite dead! The widow was overwithstand the drollery of the fat coun- come; her sighs and the motion of the sellor, and, at a moment when, forget-carriage kept her from speaking, till ting her widowhood and her half-mourning (which she wore that day for the first time), she burst into a laugh, she heard a lengthened sigh, which reminded her of that magical and mysterious voice, which had before alarmed her; this impression, however, was only momentary; but, as she crossed the long staircase which led to the peristile, and just as she was jumping into her carriage, she heard these words,-I am dead! I am dead!'

tical benefit to those who read them.

Foreign Literature.

DEAD AND NOT DEAD, (TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, FOR THE LITERARY CHRONICLE.)

MADAME Destive lived in the country; her husband, employed in the staff of the army, was left dangerously ill at the hospital at Leipsic; this misfortune was speedily announced to her, and immediately followed by a certificate of his death; and the afflicted widow, still young and still handsome, gave her

self up to despair. To assuage her

grief, she was advised to remove from a place where every thing reminded her of her husband; and her young cousin took upon himself to conduct her to Paris. Pensive and melancholy, Madame Destive sought for objects corresponding with her grief; she visited, by

* This Museum consisted of tombs collected
revolution: they were collected in a suite of rooms,
from the different churches destroyed during the
and arranged according to the ages in which
they were constructed, thus affording a distinct
and comparative view of the progress of statu-
ary; but, since the return of the Bourbons, they
their original stations.-TRANSLATOR,
have been restored, as far as practicable, to

she reached home, when she explained that her alarm arose from a voice, like her husband's, pronouncing alternately,

I am dead; I am not dead!' and that these expressions convinced her she was haunted by his spirit, which approved of her going to the sermon, but forbade her attending the Vaudeville, which was appeased when she visited the Catacombs, and irritated when she went to see the Marriage of Figaro. The young cousin endeavoured to repress her vain terrors; and as he was to her- You may surely rely on a legal then studying the law at Paris, he said proof; shew me the certificate of your husband's death; let us see if it is perfect. The young widow, tremblingly, put into his hands the official paper, and the young lawyer, after a careful

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perusal, said to his cousin, Your husband is dead.' Immediately a great noise was heard, and a loud voice resounded through the long corridors of the hotel (which had formerly been a convent), the door opened, and a man in a robe-de-chambre, holding a flat candlestick in his hand, made his appear ance, and pronounced, very distinctly, —No, I am not dead!'-It was the husband of Madame Destive.

My dear wife,' said this original, calm yourself. I have been trying a dangerous experiment, and am to blame; for I am persuaded that a husband should never circulate false reports of his death. Chance, however, has had a greater share in this comedy than my premeditation. Having been carried, in a dying condition, to the Hospital of Dusseldorf, I heard one of the overseers ask if Mr. Destive was dead? Surprised at the question, I answered "Yes." The man, without delay, prepared to take me away, and approaching the bed next to mine, in which an invalid had just expired, that corpse was taken away, an account of his death drawn up, and my name affixed to it. This error suggested the idea of my putting your constancy to the proof, and I beg of your cousin, the lawyer, to get my civil rights restored: since, in fact, in spite of legal proof," I am dead, and

I am not dead.”

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IT has often been a matter of wonder with me, that, in these eplightened and philosophical times, no one should have been sufficiently enterprising to venture so far out of the old beaten track, as to suggest some new mode of literary composition, instead of that, to which the world has been, for so many ages, accustomed. In this, as in many other instances, the work of salutary reform has, no doubt, been impeded by that attachment to old prejudices, which must ever remain a bar to the full improvement, of which our race is susceptible. But, while I lay down this fundamental

or of foundered horses aud inexpert veracious of historians, Lemuel Gul-
drivers in the other. In the former of liver; but what I would fain discover
these instances, and which, by the way, has no reference to the style or sub-
relates to the most remarkable discovery stance of an author's lucubrations, but
of modern times, we glide along the sur-merely to the manner, in which all
face of old Neptune's domain with an writers, from the great Homer down-
air of independence, wholly unknown wards, have been delivered of their in-
to our forefathers. No longer do we tellectual offspring. For my own part,
tremble at the power of the watery god, I can form but one idea of that impor
or of all that his old ally, Eolus, can tant and mysterious being, an author,
bring to his aid, but, secure under the while under the influence of his ruling
guidance of Vulcan, we defy the united passion, and hurried along by the full
terrors of waves and tempests. When and swelling tide of his creative imagi-
I reflect upon the happy manner in nation. Be he young or old, spare or
which one element has thus been brought corpulent, single or married, my fancy
into such effective operation against an- places him at once in a chair, with a
other, I am almost tempted, at the risk table or desk before him, and all the
of a little profaneness, to compare the necessary accompaniments of pens, ink,
inventor of steam-vessels with one of paper, and books. If he be an admirer
Milton's angels, each of whom, as we of Horace or Anacreon, I may possibly
are told,-
place at his side a bottle of the best
Champagne, Madeira, or Cape, accord-
ing to the strength of his purse, while I
imagine him to exclaim, with the poet,

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could wield

These elements, and arm him with the force
Of all their regions.'-

But

it is not my intention to dwell at present on this point. I have merely adverted to it with reference to the il

'Fæcundi calices quem non fecere disertum ?

If, on the contrary, he be a convert lustration it supplies; and I trust I may to the Thalesian doctrine, that water be allowed, from the same motive, to is the principle and life of all things,— express a hope, that, in addition to the I then give him a plentiful supply of extraordinary facilities the above men- that pure and refreshing element, while, extraordinary facilities the above mentioned invention has given to our travels in the language of Pindar, he cries out, both by sea and land, we may soon have with enthusiasm, er vow, and to boast of similar improvements in the that, too, in open defiance of the declascience of ærostation. Some recent at- ration of old Cratinus, as related by Horace, that water-drinkers can never tempts have done much in this way; but the ne plus ultra remains yet to be write any thing worthy of preservation*. effected. I therefore trust, that our mo- But, were I to consult my own taste, or, dern æronauts, without giving way to rather, were I to draw my own portrait those womanly fears which the fate of on this occasion, I should infallibly Icarus be calculated to excite, will place near it a cup of hyson or soupersevere in their laudable project of chong, as being, beyond comparison, the finest beverage for at once rousing establishing a communication between our earth and its fellow-planets, so that and exhilarating the dormant faculties a trip to Mercury or the Moon may be of an author. However, de gustibus, attended with no greater difficulty than &c. is a sound maxim, and, after all, we experience at present in a journey let us vary the picture as we please in from London to Paris. This consum- its minuter details, we shall still have, mation so devoutly to be wished' (though in its most prominent figure, one and the same sedentary personage, who, with all the gravity of an alderman or a judge, remains fixed to his seat, until he has been happily relieved from the birth, with which he is labouring.

may

must own I do not feel over-sanguine about it) would entitle the author to a character for adventurous valour even superior to that which Horace bestows on the first navigator, when he says,on the first navigator, when he says,

Illi robur et æs triplex

Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci
Commisit pelago ratem
Primus.'-

I have been seduced into this edifying position, I should, in candour, admit, train of reflections, while endeavouring that there are here, as in most cases, to hit upon some plan, that might suexceptions to the general rule. For ex-persede the present dull and monotoample, the noble invention of steam- nous mode of literary composition. I vessels, and, I may even add, of steam-am not, indeed, ignorant of the felicicoaches, leaves us no longer at the tous project of the celebrated Laputan mercy of wind and tide in the one case, philosopher, as recorded by that most

Now, it has often been a cause of surprise to me, as I have already stated, that no one should hitherto have had the courage to make some innovation in this matter-bet that, on the contrary, all should still contentedly submit to the hacknied and worn-out practice of

* Prisco si credas, Mæcenas docte, Cratino, Nulla placere diu, nec vivere carmina possunt,

Quæ scribuntur aquæ potoribus.'

Hor, Ep. Lib. 1. 19.

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