nysius II.; but, as much doubt exists respecting their authenticity, they are omitted. They are inscribed with Phoenician characters, and probably were struck by the Carthaginians. No coins of Agathodes have yet been found with his portrait. Those of Thicetas are all of gold. Mr. Green has pursued a similar course of research and exhibition on Epirus, Macedon, and the other European kingdoms, as enumerated at the head of our article. In the Asiatic division, as divided into two parts, the coins of more historical character are those of Alexander the Great's successors; as Antigonus, Demetrius, Ptolemy, Cassander, Seleucus, and Lysimachus. The coins of Cappadocia are all of silver, and, as arranged by Mr. Green, are valuable in regulating the succession of the dynasty which the conquest of Eumenes had partially interrupted. The coins of Pontus are all of great rarity, existing in silver only prior to Mithradates the Great, who has left them of both metals: a hind feeding forms his common symbol. We have implicitly adopted Mr. Green's corrected orthography of this prince's name, on the authority, to us indisputable, of such being the reading of the word on all the coins where it occurs, with a single obscure exception, an instance, in passing, of the practical service of the study The second part of Asia presents us with Syria. It is a tempting article, and merits all the display which a much larger periodical work could admit, Mr. Green has historically arranged the coins to mark the eventful period of its history; but the work alone can enable the reader to appreciate the value of his research and learning. Parthia has deserved the attention of Mr. Green, having originally consisted of a colony of Scythians, who established themselves in the country east of the Caspian Sea, and continued for many centuries little known; but, in the division of the Macedonian empire, it became the share of Seleucus; and, in consequence of some internal oppressions, Arsaces, a man of cure birth, but possessing great activity and talents, acquired a party about him and saved his country. He then founded the Arsacian Dynasty, and the name became the regal title, whilst the dominions were greatly extended; for it comprised, at length, all the countries between the Caspian Sea and the Indian Ocean, and extended westward to Asia Minor. This dynasty subsisted for five centuries, and was then incorporated into the Persian Empire, bearing the designation of Lassanidæa. Under the division of Africa, Egypt naturally claims the historian's first attention, whether in composition or by medallic illustration; yet it appears that few coins were struck there prior to the third century B. C., when the country, having been conquered by the Greeks, its coins, in many respects, resemble the Grecian ones. From the Ptolemies we descend to the last of that race, the celebrated Cleopatra, sister of Ptolemy XII.; and, after her reign of thirteen years, Egypt became a Roman province, and presented few events worth historic notice. it ought to be, a mere sketch, intending to urge the readers, if they may be so called, to inquiry, research, and reference, to comparing with more ancient works in a different shape. The erudite character of the undertaking will necessarily impede that rapid and extensive circulation which such works deserve, and which eventually it must achieve by its own intrinsic value. It seems to us that if it should find its way into some of our better schools, where the masters are liberal as well as learned, its value will be speedily circulated; because several young people may be employed at the same time, and without confusion, in examining these coins of ancient classics, whilst others will quickly produce the testimonies familiar to their daily occupation to determine their applicability and we hope, too, for the sake and reward of that merit which, sooner or later, in this learned and liberal country is always acknow ledged and rewarded in that best manner-the approbation of the wise and benevolent-that our brief sketch of this excellent work may attract the notice of the elder brethren in critical operations, who have greater space for the elaborate display which we think is due to the work, and also more tact and pratique in apportioning the distinct part of this elegant chronology. The plan adopted in the arrangement of these medals in the Atlas is, we think, excellent. It presents at one view, on several successive sheets of drawing-paper, a chronological and contemporary series of the coins of the several monarchies of Europe, Asia, and Africa, which we have already mentioned, forming a perfect illustration of Grecian history. They commence A.M. 3504, with the kingdoms of Macedon and Sicily, and continue for 750 years, down to the era of the Roman Emperor Decius; omitting, however, all notice of the Roman Emperors, excepting where their portraits occur as reverses on the coins of those provinces which were subject to their empire, but which had a distinct Government of their own; such as the Cimmerian Bosphorus, Edessa, &c. We understand that Mr. Green intends hereafter publishing a similar numismatic work illustrative of Roman history, should he meet with encouragement: and we sincerely hope that this desirable project may not be suspended by any deficiency of patronage from the public. Mr. Green, in addition to the volume of descriptive letter-press, has given with the coins a marginal table of the principal events of general history during the period we have mentioned, which much increases the interest of the work. Many of the coins selected by Mr. Green are very rare, and some of them unique. They are drawn on stone in an exquisite manner; and from the useful way in which the whole has been conducted, they are no doubt faithful and spirited copies of the originals. The number of the obverses and reverses amounts to nearly 700. Where there are so many claims to merit, a judicious and appropriate selection is very embarrassing,-particularly as our paper warns us that we are nearly approaching the limits which we may not transgress; but we will mention a few of the most striking coins. an eagle standing on a thunderbolt or a cornucopia: these eagles, like their prototypes, are all noble birds, and the variety of tasteful ornament displayed in the cornucopias is exquisite. We prefer the heads of Ptolemy I., II., and VII., and the heads of Arsinoe and Berenice. We cannot say much in favour of the celebrated Cleopatra, that star of historic beauty, which so influenced the then lords of the world; nor does the bust, accompanying her own, of her last all-devoted lover, realise the image with which we had previously beguiled our fancy of the curled Anthony.' To Berenice and Arsinoe, who flourished 250 years before her, must be assigned, according to the Egyptian chart, the palm of female beauty and loveliness their portraits are unrivalled models for the artist. But we must terminate our levee : surrounded by so many royal and illustrious claimants, we scarce know how to dismiss them unnoticed into the obscure imprisonment of a portfolio. There are a few Judean medals, very interesting as illustrative of history, though not as specimens of art. There is also a distinct table of the bronze coins of the Seleucidæ, which contains many attractive pieces. We cannot take leave of Mr. Green without expressing our thanks to him for some very pleasant hours spent in even a slight examination of his attractive work, as every page presents an abundant field of instruction and amusement. MANUAL OF SCIENCE. The Manual of Science and Literature, and Weekly Register of the London Mechanics' Institution. Nos. I. and II. THIS publication is one of the signs of the times. As its title professes, it is addressed to the operative classes; but the subjects of which it treats, and the respectable tone and manner which it assumes, render it fit and instructive reading for all ranks. We observe Reports of Dr. Birkbeck's lectures on Fireand Mr. Dakin's lecture on Galvanism, as severally deEscapes, and on the Application of Animal Power. livered at the Mechanics' Institution; articles on the intended Metropolitan Improvements, drawn, we should imagine, from official sources; notices on the Fine Arts, and other papers of general interest. If such works as this become popular and form a substitute for the trash addressed to the working classes of society, by the weekly press in general, it will, indeed, afford a striking evidence of the improving moral state such as that to which this periodical professes itself to of the population, of the advantage of institutions be the organ. Picture of the last Protestant House of Lords.-Mr. Jones, R. A. is engaged on a painting representing the last Protestant House of Lords. Arrangements were made in the House on Thursday for affording the artist a convenient situation, whence he might take the necessary sketch. The portraits of the Catholic Peers will be introduced, but as expectants, not as forming paint this picture proceeds, it is said, from Lord Petre. part of the Legislative Assembly. The commission to Steam-Vessels.-It appears, from returns made by order of the House of Commons, that the total number of steam-boats or vessels belonging to all the ports of Great Britain, is 310, and the number of tons 26,374. Vessels belonging to Government are not included in this account. Of the number in the return, 57 belong to the port of London. It also appears that 16 steamboats are now building. Mr. Aldini, of Milan, has invented a dress of asbestos, covered with metallic gauze, by means of which the wearer can traverse with impunity the flames of a large fire, for the purpose of rescuing individuals and of preserving property. THE ATHENÆUM AND LITERARY CHRONICLE OF The coins of the Ptolemies, and those of their particularly admire a coin of Alexander III., or The Macedonian series is generally good: we queens, (the Syrian excepted,) form the most Magnus; the head is very fine. The reverse, a beautiful monarchic series extant: many of them are unrivalled in execution; and the gold, both figure of Jupiter seated, is admirably executed; in size and number, exceed those of any other in short, though on so small a scale, is perfectly the outline of the figure, the drapery, every stroke kingdom. The symbol of an eagle on a thunder-free and distinct. Philip V. is also a good head; bolt was adopted by Ptolemy I.; and this and the Antigonus I. is a fine countenance; the reverse cornucopia are the uniform types throughout the is an Apollo seated at the prow of a vessel. In series. The vast Egyptian brass coins were pro- Epirus, a silver coin of Pyrrhus has attracted us; bably common to many of the kings. They init is copied from one in the British Museum. variably represent the head of Jupiter on the There are also many beautiful specimens among obverse, and an eagle for the reverse, with the the Syracusan coins: we may select Hiero II., simple legend, Basileos Ptolemaion.' and the reverse, a figure of Victory guiding a chariot. The Ptolemies and their queens are almost unexceptionably good; the heads are admir. able portraits; the reverses are generally either Original Poetry 1 Mr. Green has added a useful table of the different sizes and value of the Grecian coins. The historical part of this valuable work is, as French Characters: The Journalist 209 Natural History The Unknown 210 PAG. Concert at Guildhall for the Spanish Refugees 220 Society of British Artists 221 211 The Montgomery Gallery 222 Miss Brown's Repentance The Pentateuch 213 Reigning Princes of Asia, 213 1828. 222 222 Atlas of Grecian History Manual of Science Museum of Thoughts,Novalis: No. IV. THE MUSEUM OF THOUGHTS. IV.-NOVALIŠ. A GOOD book should be full of mind: the mind should be incessantly revealing itself therein, or at least should be frequently re-appearing anew in an altered form. It must not be content with coming forward once, at the beginning, as is the case in many a philosophical system. Every body in whose mind a real disposition to reflection is predominant, and whose object is not merely to acquire a knowledge of this thing or that thing, must be perpetually progressive. Very many learned persons are devoid of any such disposition. They have learnt to draw conclusions and inferences, as a shoemaker learns to make shoes, without ever troubling themselves or taking it into their head to investigate the principle of their thoughts. Yet no good is to be done in any other way. With many the disposition lasts only for a while. It increases and decreases; it often decays with the advance of age; it often dies away on the getting hold of a system, which was only sought for in order that the seeker might dispense ever after with all the labour of reflection. The highest purpose of intellectual cultivation is to give man a perfect knowledge and mastery of his own inner self, to render our conscious ness its own light and its own mirror. Hence there is the less reason to be surprised at our inability to enter fully into the feelings and characters of others. No one who has not a com plete knowledge of himself, will ever have a true understanding of another. Before the exercise of abstraction, all things are one; but this one is a chaos: after the exercise of abstraction, all things are again united : but this union is a free combination of independent self-determinate beings. What was a mob has become a society; the chaos has been transformed into a varied world. Experience is the proof of theory, and conversely. The same inadequateness which we find in the application of mere theory, and on which practical men are so fond of expatiating, occurs likewise in the reasoning application of mere experience; and it is perceived intelligibly enough by the true philosopher, but with the acknowledgment that such must necessarily be the case. The practical man is induced by this to reject mere theory altogether, and never suspects how problematical it is, what would be the answer to the question: whether the theory exist for the sake of the application, or the application for the sake of the theory? The narrower a system is, the surer is it to please men of the world. Thus it is among this class that the system of the materialists, the doctrines of Helvetius, and those of Locke, have met with the greatest applause. pass that our present most ingenious discoveries Our intellectual instinct is singularly blended Common logic is the grammar of a higher lan- than formerly; the fermentation was excessive; it the scholastics and alchemists appear to be totally severed from each other, while the eclectics appear to be united, yet the very reverse is the case. The former are indirectly all of one mind on the essential point, namely, the absolute independence and the infinite tendencies and reach of speculation; they both start from the universal: whereas the eclectics are at variance in the main, and only concur in certain derivative conclusions. The spirit of the former is infinite, but uniform; that of the latter finite, but manifold: the former have genius, the latter talents; the former ideas, the latter contrivances; the former are heads without hands, the latter hands without heads. The third stage is attained by that artist, who has his own nature the material for his genius to work at once the intuitive power of genius, and can make on. He perceives that the original separation of the independent philosophical powers arises from a separation existing in the depths of his own being, the very continuance of which implies the possibility of a reconcilement and a union; he perceives that, heterogeneous as those modes of action are, he possesses in himself the ability of passing from one to the other, of changing his polarity at will. Thus he discovers that they are and that there must be some one common princiboth of them necessary constituents of his mind, ple in which both are united. Hence he concludes that eclecticism is nothing but a result from the imperfect defective exercise of that power of transition. He regards it as more than probable, that the ground of this imperfection lies in the weakunable to keep itself suspended and contemplate ness of the productive imagination; in its being itself in the moment of its going over from one faculty to the other. The complete representation of that true spiritual life which this act would birth-place of that vital reflection, which, if culbring before the consciousness, is philosophy in the highest sense of the word: and this is the tivated with assiduous care, will afterward expand of itself into a spiritual universe infinite in the variety of its forms, being the seed and the germ of an all-comprehending organization, It is the beginning of an interminable process by which the mind will penetrate through every part of itself. Sophists are persons who, keeping a look out for the weaknesses and the mistakes of philosophers, try to turn them to their own account, or to employ them for some unworthy and unphilosophical purpose. So that, in fact, such people The mere discursive thinker is a scholastic. have nothing to do with philosophy. If they proThe true scholastic is a mystical subtilizer: he fess to be unphilosophical from principle, they constructs his universe out of logical atoms: he are to be regarded as the enemies of philosophy, does away with living nature, to set up an artificial and to be treated as such. The most dangerous fabric of notions in her stead. His ideal is an in-class amongst them are those who are sceptics finite automaton. Over against him stands the out of pure hatred for philosophy. Other sceptics mere intuitive poet. The latter sees all things in may in part be very estimable persons; they are the gross he hates all rule and definite form: he the forerunners of the third period. They have a can find nothing in nature but the wild impetuous genuine gift of philosophical analysis, and only operations of its vital powers: all seems alive to want a spiritual mastery and concentration; they him; but without anything like law: every thing have the requisite capacity, but not the self-imis the work of chance; every thing is marvellous. pelling force: they feel the insufficiency of preHis mind is purely dynamic. Thus the spirit of ceding systems; no one of these is able to vivify philosophy first begins to stir in masses entirely the whole of their spiritual nature: they have a separate from each other. In the second stage of correct taste, but are devoid of the needful energy In the age when men first found out how to civilisation these masses come into contact, in a of a productive imagination. They are of neexercise the judgment, every new opinion it pro- variety of ways. As it is from the combination of cessity polemical. All eclectics are sceptics at nounced was a discovery. The value of this dis- two infinite extremes that the finite and contracted the bottom; the more they embrace, the more covery was in proportion to the number of cases arises, so here spring up eclectics without num- sceptical are they: which last remark is confirmed it would bear upon, and of results it would lead ber: the time of misunderstandings arrives. He by the fact, that the men of the greatest and to. Maxims, which to us now-a-days seem ex- whose sphere is the most contracted is in this stage soundest learning in former times have confessed tremely common-place, could not then be hit the person of the greatest importance, the con- at the end of their lives that they knew the least. upon without an extraordinary degree of intel- summate philosopher of the second period. This lectual activity. It required genius and acute-class is entirely confined to the real present world, ness to employ the newly-found instrument in the strictest sense of the word. The philosoin, the detecting of new relations. Above phers of the first class look with contempt on all did it excite admiration, and attract the those of the second, saying they are a little of notice of every sensible person, when it was every thing, and accordingly nothing, and holding directed toward that which is most peculiar, most their opinions to be the results of their weakness interesting, and most universal in human nature. and incapacity for consecutive reasoning. On the Thus originated those collections of gnomes other hand, the second class regard the first with which have been so highly esteemed in all ages pity, and charge them with an enthusiasm which and among all nations. It may easily come to has all the absurdity of madness, Now, though To philosophize is to dephlegm, to vivify. Hitherto, in the examinations of philosophy, people have begun with striking philosophy dead, and have then anatomized and analysed her. They fancied the component parts of the caput mortuum were the component parts of philosophy. But every effort to reproduce what had been slain, to recombine what had been dissolved, has always failed. It is but lately that an attempt has been made to observe philosophy in a living state; and Philosophy is in fact home-sickness,-a longing awaken, and to become a spirit. Without philosophy there is no true morality; and without morality there is no philosophy. Applicableness is the criterion by which many True philosophy proceeds by the method of would try the value of philosophy. There are those who would make a trade of philosophy, as exhaustion, which comprehends the method of well as those who revere it as an art. Another inversion. When we are studying nature, it refers us to ourselves, to internal observations and excriterion of the same kind is communicableness: periments; and when we are studying ourselves, philosophy must admit of its being taught and it refers us to the outer world, to external obserlearnt. Yet another like criterion is involved in the vations and experiments: which outer world, axiom, that philosophy must contain nothing anti- when philosophically contemplated, is an inexconventional, that it must fall in with the prevail-haustible storehouse of symbolical indications. when philosophically contemplated, is an inexing form of religion, the prevailing state of man- It teaches us to look upon nature, or the outward ners, of opinions, and so forth. A similar axiom world, as a human being; and convinces us that requires, that philosophy should not overstep the the only way in which we can and are meant to limits of sensible knowledge: another, that it must have nothing to do with poetry: yet another, which we understand our own selves and our understand any thing whatever, is the same in that it must not come within the reach of ordinary friends and those about us. We now see the true men, must have a language of its own, and dwell bonds of union between the subject and the no where but in the schools. No, says another; on the contrary, it must be amusing, must be fa- within us, the connection of which with our own object; we see that there is also an external world miliar with the mechanic and the peasant, must inner self is analogous to that between the exterbe perfectly common and easy, always at hand, nal world without us and our outer self, and that and useful on every occasion; it must have no rethese two external worlds are united in the same ligion, and must shrug up its shoulders at momanner as our inner self with our outer self; and rality; it must have an answer for every question, that consequently it is only by thoughts that we and that answer a full and circumstantial one: it can perceive the interior and the soul of nature, must know something of every thing. Thus every body, in what he asks for, puts forward the fa- exterior and her body. as it is only by sensations that we perceive her vourite wish of his heart, the wants of his nature, the peculiarities of his character: and one need only know a person's philosophy, to have a pretty good knowledge of what he is. Many change their philosophy, like their servants, or their wishes. At length they conceive a hatred against every kind of it, and make their choice for the last time, and for ever. Now they think they are rid of philosophy, and they are more than ever in the clutches of the demon, who feeds them well and takes good care of them, in order some day to have a delicate morsel of them. Another wellmeaning herd of people keeps clear of all these temptations. They never venture to seize this Falsehood from a higher point of view has an Proteus and hold him fast, because they do not aspect yet far worse than its usual one. It is the know him. The cleverer among them are sure basis of a false world, the first link in an inexthat what is said of Proteus must be an idle-headed tricable chain of errors and entanglements. fable; they never saw him or felt him, and posi-Falsehood is the source of all moral and physical tively deny his existence: the better subjects do evil. they make him. The primary philosophical act is self-destruction: hereby alone do we gain an entrance into the new world of philosophy; and this is the object which the disciple of philosophy must direct all his endeavours to accomplish. Philosophy, like all synthetical sciences, mathematics for instance, is arbitrary. It is an ideal self-discovered method of observing the mind, of arranging it, and so on. True philosophy is a perfect combination of realism with idealism: it rests upon a higher faith. Faith is inseparable from idealism. Error and prejudice are weights, indirect stimulants to such as are active and able to bear every weight. But the weak are rendered still weaker by them. To know a truth thoroughly, one should some time or other have controverted it. There is no such thing as philosophy in the concrete. Philosophy is, like the philosopher's stone, or the quadrature of the circle, merely an object which the man of science must of necessity set before himself; it is the ideal of all knowledge. The only concrete sciences are mathematics and physics. There are certain internal visions, which seem to have a totally different character from all others; for they are accompanied by a feeling of their necessity; and yet there is not the slightest Analysis is the art of divination, or of inven- external cause for their existence. It will sometion, reduced to rule. times seem to a person as though he were engaged All ideas are related to each other. A family being were leading him on in a wondrous manin a conversation, and some unknown spiritual likeness amongst them is what we call analogy. ner to unfold the thoughts of which he has the From comparing several children together one would be able to divine the peculiarities of their firmest conviction. This being must be a being of parents. Every family springs from two elements, with him of such a kind as no being fettered by a higher order; for it carries on an intercourse which become one, through their nature, and yet the laws of matter could do: it must be a homoat the same time against it. Every family contains the germs of an infinite race of peculiaring, and only excites him to spiritual activity. geneous being; for it treats him as a spiritual behuman beings. Philosophy is fundamentally anti-historical: it proceeds from the future and the necessary to the present and the real: it explains the past by means of the future, whereas history does the very reverse. The meaning of Socratism is, that philosophy is everywhere or nowhere, and that we may without much trouble discover our latitude in all places, and find what we are seeking. Socratism is the art of finding the position of truth from any given spot, and thus of accurately determining the bearings of that spot with reference to truth. This higher self bears the same relation to man that man bears to nature, or the sage to the child: and man yearns to become like it, even as he strives to make nature like himself. This fact cannot be demonstrated; every one must learn it from his own experience: it is a fact of a higher order, and he alone who rises above his fellows will meet with it: still we ought to endeavour to fit ourselves for its taking place within us. Philosophising is the carrying on an internal dialogue of this kind; it is in fact the process of an internal revelation, the arousal of our real self by our ideal self. The determination to philosophise is a summons to our real self, commanding it to reflect, to In every system some one idea, some one observation, or some few, have always thriven more. stifled, and they are often left standing quite alone. than the rest, which they have either dwarfed or In framing a system of the spiritual world, we should seek after ideas everywhere, and give each its peculiar soil and temperature, the nourishment best suited to it, and the neighbourhood it most enjoys, so that in this way we may fashion, as it were, a paradise of ideas: this is the only true system. Paradise was the ideal of the earth; and the question, where it lies, is not without its meaning. It is as it were spread abroad over the whole earth; and therefore it is so difficult to recognise it. Its scattered limbs are to be re-united, its skeleton to be completed anew: this will be the regeneration of paradise. We seek after the plan of the world; we are ourselves that plan. self, as most difficult, is the very thing on which Whatever strikes a man who is educating himhe ought to try his powers, until he is able to lift and move it with ease and dexterity: thus he will grow fond of it; for we are always fond of a thing when it has cost us trouble to gain it. One must never confess to oneself, that one loves oneself. The veiling this confession in true and everlasting. The first kiss in this spisecresy is the vital means for preserving this love ritual intercourse is the first principle of philosophy, the origin of a new world, the consummation is no end. Who can help deriving pleasure from of an internal union to the growth of which there philosophy, when its germ is a first kiss ? The higher philosophy treats of the marriage between nature and spirit. Idealism is nothing but true empirism. POETRY. It is a weary hill Of moving sand, that still Of those who went before, We stray to either side, Down far again. As through the sands we wade, I gaze on that bright band The space on high; GONDOLIER, from thy roaming desist, To echoes that wake on thine own. And bright beams its course on thy view, So mine own glittered once,-but 'tis run, And Death gathers round me-Adieu! Yet I too once danced on a wave As pure and as tranquil as thine, And the birds and the blossoms ne'er gave A welcome more joyous than mine. But I wandered, like thee, from repose, I sailed, fairer prospects to view, And storms from their slumber arose, And Death gathered round me-Adieu ! W.H. A STORY WITHOUT A NAME. I SHOULD have been able to record many more visits, all undertaken with the same benevolent anxiety as those already related, to conquer Mr. M'Kinnons's obstinacy, and rescue his little daughter from her impending fate, had it not been for a circumstance which I wish, for the honour of Melcove, I could suppress all mention of. One of the fair confederates (I have promised that her name shall not transpire) proved a deserter to the general cause, and divulged the whole plot to M'Kinnon. She accompanied the traitorous communication with a recommen dation either to leave the village till the storm should be blown over and the new governess fairly installed in her functions, or to barricade his door against all intruders. This dishonourable occurrence took place the very day which was signalised by the calls of Mrs. Baddersly and Mrs. Mordaunt; and the only additional visit with which Mr. M'Kinnon was honoured, was one from Mrs. Hofland, the wife of a neighbouring valetudinarian. She brought with her, two puny, shrivelled daughters, each of them endued with one of those pale countenances which not even the poet's intercession can persuade us to call fair, and argued for two mortal hours in favour of her own and her husband's excellent schemes for averting complaints in the spine, liver, lungs, &c., mentioning innumerable instances of young ladies who had almost perished from their mothers not watching the first indications of their fearful disorders, and appealing con stantly, for the success of her own experiments, to the corpse-like figures beside her. Somewhat tired of all his lectures, and considerably sickened by this last, he heard with a dismay resembling that which Bishop Hatto must have felt when the approach of the retributive army of rats was announced, that a new detachment of the enemy was marching against him. Circumstances made it impossible for him to leave Melcove, and he knew the disposition of its inhabitants too well to believe that with such an object in view they would be deterred by any plea on his part of business from invading his sanctuary. In this extremity, my duty as a faithful biographer compels me to state the fact. He fell into a temptation to which he had never before yielded, gulped his moral scruples, and ordered his footman to return the fashionable answer to all inquirers. For some days the callers gazed with astonishment and awe at the servant, as he uttered the lie with that smiling visage and pursed lip which indicate the satisfaction of a country foot man at being promoted to the performance of a duty for the first time, which a city footman performs by nature. But Miss Stemwith was not to be so denied: she was one of those ladies who, by wearing cropped hair, stiff collars, and boots, by being always on horseback and speaking loud, get the universal reputation in country villages of being characters, and are always spoken of by their kind neighbours, as very clever women, but so odd! though, where the character resides, except in the crupper, or what cleverness they have subtracted from the oddity, their panegyrists might find it difficult to explain. Is your master at home?' 'No, Ma'am.' Thomas! do not lie: your master is at home; you need not show me to the study, I know my way perfectly.-Aye, M'Kinnon, my dear fellow, how are you? So you had yourself denied to me; but, my dear friend, I know your hiding-place.' It certainly was my fault that I was denied to the world; my misfortune, that I was denied to Miss Stemwith,' said Mr. M'Kinnon. Ha! ha! very pretty, very flattering, indeed. Why, M'Kinnon, you have improved vastly since I took you in hand; a little stiff in your gallantry still. Something of the old leaven still have about you; but this will wear off when you lived a few years longer. So, you are writing your Sunday sermon, on the duty of speaking the truth, I suppose; apropos, of some verse in Hezekiah-’ 'You mean Ezekiel, I presume, Miss Stemwith ?" 'Oh yes, very likely; but don't interrupt me, because I was going to remark what strict moralists you parsons are, who make your servants tell lies that you may have time to finish sermons about truth!' Why, Miss Stemwith,' said Mr. M'Kinnon, clearing his throat, it must be confessed, strictly considered, that even the understood, and therefore only partially deceptive, falsehood of not at home, falls within the range of prohibited offences; but seeing came to church! What imprudence, yet what piety! My dear Miss Stemwith, who was it? She must have been a friend of "A very intimate one. I have often heard you speak to her, and once very lately-the recollection will be painful, but yet salutary to yourather more harshly than is usual to you. Your remark was thought to have preyed very much on the poor thing's spirit.' 'Impossible! I cannot have done so, I have not done so-it is barbarous to talk in this way. If I have, I will do all I can to redeem my offence by providing for the motherless children.' "Four of them, alas! are already provided for. The case must be investigated by the coroner; but there are strong suspicions in the village that they met their death by foul means.' And you expect me to believe that this has happened in my parish, in the village of Melcove, from attendance at church!' 'It is true, upon my honour as a lady. The very last Sunday, from a cold caught in your church, died Mrs. Shakleton's-' 'Mrs. Shakleton! It is true, I did address her with some severity a few days back about her treatment of a poor little girl in her service. Oh! I shall never forgive myself, and she was good enough to come to church in those dangerous circumstances to hear me.' Miss Stemwith burst into an outrageous fit of laughter. Oh! my dear M'Kinnon, you are too much for my nerves, you will positively put an end to my miserable existence. For mercy's sake, ring the bell for Thomas to carry me out -Mrs. Shakleton confined last week! Why, the woman was seventy-five three birth-days ago. I said Mrs. Shakleton's pug;' and Miss Stemwith fell back in her chair again convulsed. "However, to quit this painful subject, and enter upon another scarcely less painful to me, what is the name of this new animal that you are importing into our hemisphere?' You mean the name of my daughter's governess.' To be sure I do! What is one to pay for seeing her? Could I get an early peep by an extra half-crown? But seriously, Mr. M'Kinnon, am I to lose all hopes of promotion in conseof the change in your plans?' quence 'Oh! by no means, Miss Stemwith: Miss Corrie does not undertake to educate Ellen in stable accomplishments. The post of instructress in that department of my household is still vacant, and by whom could it be filled more advantageously than by Miss-' Oh, my dear Mrs. George!'-addressing the advanced guard of a detachment which had defiled round the back-garden of the parsonage, and had already been reconnoitring Mr. M'Kinnon and his guest through the study windows'How are you, Mrs. George? and Emily too, and my little friend the Colonel! Well, how many of you are coming. The three Misses Millstones, and Augusta Courtenay; and therefore, of course, the honourable Francis-no, I declare it is Frederick Rivers. If there are many more behind, I shall give up counting.' 'You see we are besieging you in form,' said Mrs. George; what do you think of our insolence in surprising you and Miss Stemwith in a téte-àtéte? 'Oh yes, seeing it is convenient, it is quite proper. I agree with you entirely, only I really have not time just now to hear the first head of your sermon. I always hear sermons with most advanWhy,' said Miss Stemwith, not allowing the tage in my own pew at church. By the by, how awfully cold the church is! One death, at least, 1 Rector to reply, I am bound in candour to say, have known to have taken place in the parish, in that your intention was most exceedingly unconsequence of the deceased perforining her re-seasonable. M'Kinnon was, at the time we caught ligious duties too strictly." a glimpse of you, making me a deeply interesting proposal. When we saw you entering, delicacy prevented me from listening any longer to the flattering tale.' A death!' exclaimed M'Kinnon; I will have hot air introduced immediately. But who can have died from such a cause?' "The story is a melancholy one. Poor creature! she had only been confined the week before, and eight little creatures are left to lament her loss.' "Only a week after her confinement; and she My dear Miss Stemwith,' exclaimed M'Kinhow, how I protest, indeed, I cannot let you make your declaration before all this large company. I should not have alluded to the circumstance at all, except that it was quite in vain to conceal any thing from our friends who must have observed the singularity of my being admitted into your presence-chamber when all the rest of the world were excluded. So I have made a virtue of necessity, and confessed the whole. Don't look so jealous, Julia Courtenay. It is not my fault that I am preferred to the rest of my sex.' Why, you must be aware, Miss Stemwith,' said the lady addressed, that, when such a beau as Mr. McKinnon is snatched away so unexpectedly, it must be a severe blow to us all.' Unexpectedly, my dear! Gracious Powers! how blind womankind are! Why, had you never observed the looks of intelligence passing between us as I sat in my pew and he was in the readingdesk? and did not you hear that we had arranged to meet each other by accident in the cottages, where our benevolent hearts, pouring their generous sentiments upon a common object, naturally drew nearer to each other? and did you not see me blush the other day Oh, no, indeed I have not,' said Julia, laughing, nor ever since I had the good fortune to know you.' 'No, really,' said Mr. Frederick Rivers, ́ a friend of Miss Stemwith's would never say she was guilty of that. I am afraid that that last remark must throw some doubt upon the rest of the narrative.' There's my little pet Rivers-he has a right to complain of his old flame even feigning an attachment to any other object, after the tender vows that have been exchanged between us. Pray, Sir, why have you not called upon me since you came into this neighbourhood?" I talking about? All the ladies who have called me. M'Kinnon nodded assent. ledged heroine. That very night, the long expected governess arrived, bringing with her a letter from Mrs. St. Clair, the sister of M'Kinnon, which I shall insert, because I think it a shorter method of presenting Miss Corrie to my readers, than by a personal introduction : She is Now it so happens that I have no daughter; and, consequently, the only instance to which Í 'MY DEAR BROTHER,-The lady whom I can appeal for the efficacy of my system of in- mentioned to you in my last letter will be the struction, is to my highly respected self. You all bearer of this. If one-fourth of the qualifications know me; and, though you all abuse me and say are really found in her which the person from that I am singular and outlandish, and affect od- whom I first heard of her assures me that she dities, and though I now and then offend all of possesses, I am perfectly certain you will applaud you a little, I know that in your hearts you all my choice. She is, I am informed, deeply aclike me. I am quite certain that you all feel that quainted with the female character, and has I am the Corinthian capitol of Melcove society. minutely studied the motives by which women in You cannot do without me: I know that if I were general, and children in particular, are likely to to quit Melcove it would be blotted out of the be actuated. She sees the necessity of children map of Europe. Well, such as I am, such have I being employed, as she knows, when idle, they adoption. My father was a humourist and a system- spare no pains in introducing every kind of knowbeen made by the education I recommend to your are always liable to evil impressions; and she will monger. He was continually reading, and every new ledge into the young mind. She entertains a due book converted him to the faith which it preached. sense of the decorum, and propriety, and deferThis lasted about a week, and always gave way ence, to the opinion of the world, which it is so to one exactly opposite to that he had abandoned. necessary to inculcate in the time of youth; and By the by, is it not a pity, M'Kinnon, that I am happy to add, in answer to an inquiry in gentlemen cannot give their cast-off theories to your last letter, that she is strictly orthodox, and their grooms along with their coats, instead of never omits to instruct her pupils in the principles throwing them away to be of no use to any one? of our religion. She is a woman of experience, You may easily guess what was made of poor and acquainted with the temptations to which our I was the little wretch on whom all my sex are liable, and, therefore, is eminently calcufather's experiments were to be tried; the clothes-lated to be the guide of a young lady at that period horse on which all his moist speculations were of her life when she has reached the dangerous hung to dry. One day, it was a nighty original pass between infancy and womanhood. notion to teach me Latin; the next, that was accomplished, but does not value herself nearly useless, and chemistry was the only subject worth so much on this secondary excellence, as upon a woman's attention. Now he took it in his head the possession of those useful qualities which beI was to be accomplished; two months after, my come most when accomplishments begin to sink harp and piano were put up to auction. He was in our esteem; and she will teach her pupil to quite convinced on Monday, that I ought never consider her accomplishments rather as a means to be seen in a party; on Thursday, he made up than an end. She will bestow her principal attenhis mind that society was the element in which a tion, at first, upon her pupil's memory, because woman should exist. Things went on in this way she is aware how dangerous and how cruel it is to till I was twelve years old; about that time, my task the reason before it has acquired any strength father and I made the discovery, or rather, I or consistency. Finally, she has a fine poetical believe, my precocious talent a little anticipated mind; you know how I value that distinction. him in it, that there was, after all, a much better In the few conversations I have had with her, I plan than any which he had yet thought of-that was, to give me no education at all. From that time, my system became steady and consistent. I went where I pleased, said what I pleased, did 'Well, then, I must inform you I did not come what I pleased. Nobody thought me any thing, here to amuse, but to instruct you. I hear that most but I learned a great deal; I learned what very of the ladies of this celebrated village of Melcove have been pouring in upon you their experience great fools men and women are; how very easy about the best way of making little children into it is, only by showing that you have a proper sense of your own worth, to make every body else acwomen, and that they have all converted you, knowledge it too; and how easily one may get par(see what a character you have got, old gentle-doned for any breach of decorum, provided one man !) and, consequently, that you are going only makes it a rule to be constantly committing to have fifty-two governesses, each from a them. I do not want friends, witness this respectseparate county, because one lady tells you that the Gloucestershire women have such a talent for able company; but, if they all deserted me, I bringing children on, and another that Yorkshire could do very well, whilst my best friend, my is the only place where you can get a person who Adolph, is spared to me, which reminds me that I have kept that dear friend waiting a considerable will properly educate your daughter in good faith and the niceties of English pronunciation; and a tine; therefore, ladies and gentlemen, good third, that Ellen will positively turn out a vixen, morning. Like Sir Peter, I leave my character behind me; you may use it as roughly as you mantle of Annette Stemwith, when she is too old to wear it, should descend upon the shoulders of Ellen, I have told you how you may accomplish your work.' 'Really, Miss Stemwith, I have been only here two days, and my regiment "O yes, of course, your regiment; but I did not mean to draw upon myself and this worshipful.company the horrors of a long apology, with the inconvenience of causing you to invent a great many naughty stories; and, moreover, I have not yet found time to tell M'Kinnon the real purpose of my calling upon him.' I shall be rejoiced to hear it, Miss Stemwith,' said the Rector. soon discovered that our sentiments on this sub ject were perfectly congenial, and that she sympa thised most deeply in my admiration of the beautiful simplicity of Hayley, the exquisite tenderness of Della Crusca, and the delightful fragrance of the Botanic Garden. But I have no occasion to enlarge; I shall conclude, therefore, with hoping that your experience, and that of your daughter, will confirm all the pleasing expectations I have formed of Miss Corrie.-Believe me, my dear brother,' &c. CONCERT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE THE Concert given on Thursday last, in Guildball, for the benefit of the Spanish and Italian Refugees, met with the greatest success. Upwards of 2,000 tickets are said to have been distributed, and the benevolent individuals by whom the Concert was projected, if you do not fetch her an instructress from the like; and Mr. M'Kinnon, if you desire that the will have the gratification of redeeming from destitu principality; that, after that, she is to try the schools all round; and last-and you must not be offended if I say worst of all-you mean to take her into your own hands, to see if you cannot spoil her as well as any of them.' Miss Stemwith, are you speaking extempore?' Fejoined Colonel George. No, Colonel; I hold in my hand the notes of the speech you ought to have made at the messdinner the other day. • What speech, Miss Stemwith?' Why, the paper says, Colonel George was then drunk, but he did not return thanks. But I dare say he returned thanks the next morning for being drunk; for, had he been sober and attempted a speech, he would have made a melancholy business of it. However, I will let you alone if you do not interrupt me. What was The conversation, after Miss Stemwith's departure, related, of course, chiefly to that lady, except that Julia Courtenay wished very much to know whether the governess came from a respectable family in reduced circumstances, or whether she was a governess born; and that Amelia Mills earnestly hoped she would not have red hair, as she had known an instance amongst her own acquaintances of a little girl's own tresses acquiring that tint from association with a person in that unfortunate case. I am not aware that any remarks were made which intimately affected the interests of the little person whom I propose shortly to present to my readers as my acknow tion many a friendless and despairing exile. This interesting performance was under the very able direction of Sir George Smart. The first act consisted of sacred music from the works of Handel, Mozart, &c., performed by Euglish singers; and the second chiefly of modern Italian music of Rossini, &c.; sung by the principal vocalists of the King's Theatre,-an excellent arrangement, by which much interest, novelty, and variety, was most successfully exhibited. No less than twenty-four pieces were performed, of which the following is a brief sketch: No. 1.-Handel's grand chorus in the Coronation Anthem, The King shall rejoice;' only a part of this was selected, which was judicious, it being rather a heavy piece. No. 2.-Scena, Mr. E. Taylor, The fall of Zion,' from Paisiello. Mr. E. Taylor deserves and obtains much credit for his adaptation of old religious music to English words, and thus adding something like novelty to the stock of Oratorio music; but the perfor |