home," the next night at twelve.-"Remember twelve !" sighed out lady Barbara (Barbarous I had nearly written) whilst the furies hissed apropos in the ballet of Don Juan. The curtain dropped, but the thirst for scandal kept open the waking eye of gentle lady Bab. ses are at grass, and his carriage is sent to be painted; he has only discharged two servants." (" Prodigious !" said the parson.) At the French play, the news of his retreat was received with uplifted eye-brows, elevated shoulders, smiles of gratified envy, and with the most illiberal observations. "Ruined for a ducat!" said Colonel Callousheart (his East Indian complexion lighting up with a ray of malicious pleasure); "faith, he played the game well; he must The Dutchess was "at home," and the have hit a few of them; no doubt but the interesting hour of twelve arrived, when the banker, and the coach-maker-the wine- doctor made his way through a crowded asmerchant, confectioner, and club waiters semblage of rank and fashion, and gained will have cause to remember him; a demure the spot where lady Barbara was sitting, sinner! Why, Bob Backhand would have surrounded by a rare set of fame stabbers, procured him a thousand any day.” "And and reputation clippers and hewers. "Well, his honour's tailor wont be able to take dear doctor, what about the runaway?" was measure for measure," insinuated into con- articulated simultaneously by the tabby and versation Sir Benjamin Benares, the borough spinster tribe.-"Sailed for Calais in an broker, who, having made his money in the open boat, I'll bet a hundred," interrupted muck of usury, could not bear to see a rival one, whilst lady Bab sat tapping her feet in independence which the knight himself and fan with anxiety to hear the worst.had earned by early laborious habits in a hos-"An execution in the house!" exclaimed tile climate, and by subsequent monopoly, a divorced dame who had turned prude : commercial manœuvres, and political trim- "come doctor, out with it."-"Why, laming. "You are pleased to be witty, Sir dies," replied the crest-fallen doctor, "I Benjamin," sneeringly replied a member of never was so disappointed in my life; after parliament and neighbour of his; "if you making all possible inquiries, he does not had talked of a 'new way to pay old debts,' owe a shilling in the world." "Impossior rather an old way to pay all debts, you ble !" screamed lady Bab.-" He has five would have been more correct, and would hundred pounds in his banker's hands."— not have merited to be called to order. We" Frightful!" cried her grace." His horhave all of us dined and supped with the poor devil often enough; and I believe, on a balance, I have a few hundred pounds of his money won at whist, where le jeu ne "the rest being on board-wages, except valait pas la chandelle, for I hate whist and one whom he has taken with him; and lastmoderate play: but there is nothing strange ly, his house is not to be let."-" Nor his in all this; fellows of small fortunes will cut books to be sold!" mournfully accented the high into the first circles, and they must pay Reverend." But where did his servant say for it; banishment on the continent, or the he was gone?" inquired Miss Cassandra rules of a prison, this is their only choice." Winterfield.—“ Only into the country,” anAt the Opera, nearly the same vein of swered the doctor." And for how long?" kindness and liberality ran through all his "His domestics could not tell."-"Oh! I see soi-disant friends and intimate acquaintance. through it all," resumed lady Barbara; "it Lady Kalendar assured her circle that he is all a false display, the man is in the rules was extinguished for ever, his lights were of the Bench, but the general blow-up has put out, never more could he harangue the not yet come, and matters are kept snug conversazione party, nor take share in the and quiet for a time."-" All the ladies lookdiscussions of the literary meetings at H-ed full of hope, as did Colonel Callousheart, house; he owed (she boldly asserted) a hun- and Sir Benjamin, who joined the circle.dred thousand pounds, and his house and fur-" No, no," replied the doctor, "for I made niture must come to the hammer.-" Robins inquiries both at the Fleet and at the for ever!" exclaimed in an ecstasy the spin- Bench."-" How good of you!" muttered I ster lady Barbara Bane." I shall get all his old China, French clocks, and the antique cabinet. What a pretty business it would have been, had not his forbidding frigidity disgusted me, when I thought him a responsible person, and set my cap at him!" Even Parson Pilferphrase, who owed him numerous obligations, confessed that be had views on his library. At length doctor Dirtywork stepped in, and assured the party that he would ascertain every circumstance of his evasion, and would bring all particulars to the dutchess of Dampfame's "at to myself, overhearing all that passed.— "What can have become of him," said two or three of the faded fair ones in unison and harmony together for the first time?" Nothing so simple," observed lord Tubereuse, in a consoling tone, "the man has gaming debts that are not generally known, or some d-d encumbrance or other, and he has drowned himself."-This remark convinced them all." Poor silly fellow!" quoth lady Bab.-"No wonder," uttered her neighbour." I am sorry for it," said Miss Cassandra with a smile in her eye, for she had borrowed fifty pounds of him.-Finally, the report was believed by all, and was circulated in every quarter the next morning.Month followed month, and he was forgotten by those who had flattered and fed at his expense the most; but his unexpected return changed not only the face of affairs, but many other faces. He kept his promise, and received with coldness and disdain the fulsome compliments of "Dear me! how well you look!-Where have you been? How unkind not to let us know something about you !-A trip to Paris, no doubt; a tour to the classic ground of Rome, &c.-Are we indebted to a love affair, or the mere love of romantic retirement for missing one of our best friends?"— All this was repelled with coldness and that penetrating look which appals guilt; and, at last, the delinquents slipped away from him, drove round corners, cantered briskly At the close of one year my friend returned he had made the tour of England; yet, from the change in his mode of life, and the diminution of his expenses, he found himself with half-a-year's income before him, besides the five hundred pounds in his bank-on perceiving him, looked into shop winer's hands; his health was invigorated, in dows, and played the other stale and humiliconsequence of regular hours, pure country ating tricks of those who are ashamed to air, greatly increased exercise, and exten- encounter the honest front of the man whom sive variety of scene; and he felt his mind they have betrayed and calumniated: the refreshed from the absence of dissipation, detractors, although not cured of that exeand the effect which the recruited body pro- crable vice, felt, nevertheless, little in their duced thereon. His house was painted and own eyes, whenever Sydney appeared bethoroughly cleaned, his cattle were reposed fore them. The gourmands lost a good taand brought into regular exercise for his ble, the parson missed a kind friend, and use, and he enjoyed the calm which the ces- the doctor lost a patient; whilst he, returnsation of thundering knocks at his door, from ed from retirement, found his fortune suffice idlers and card-droppers, effected. Nobody for every reasonable expense, leaving him, expected him, and he warned his domestics at the same time, an ample fund for acts of not to announce his arrival until he should glowing charity, which brought with them give them orders to do so. A literary work their own reward, and made him regret that which he had a mind to support and embark such sums had been formerly diverted into in, however, made it necessary for him to another channel. Nor did the Gentleman send to me, and I failed not to inform how Missing spend his time and money in a forkind his friends had been in his absence.-eign country; he had made the tour of al"It is little more than I expected,"-ob- most all Europe, as a part of his education, served he; " I saw through a number of and he confined his travels on this occasion treacherous acquaintances, base sycophants, and insipid guests," continued he: "I began to be aware that most of them only sought my society for what they could get of me, or asked me to their late and feverish parties as an unit to swell the book of numbers. I have been long since tired of dissipated male companions and of flirting, gaming, and gossipping female ones, of painted faces, and false tresses, and of falser hearts, and the more disguised features of the mind; of the enormous expenses of the clubs, and irrationality of living of the circle in which I moved; and lastly of folly and ingratitude, which one must be incessantly meeting with in such company. I have cut ali the clubs, and shall get rid of all my visitors, except about half-a-dozen, ending our acquaintance with the last exchange of cards, which shall not take place, on my part, until one month after receiving theirs; nor shall I forget to apply to Miss Cassandra for the money which she owes me, nor to make Sir Matthew Martingale pay me the two hundred pounds which he said that he lost to me, but asserted falsely that I had received. I will not commit you as my friendly informer of all this duplicity, but the actors in the plot shall read contempt on my brow, and disgust towards them, by my shaking off their society." to his own native land; first from a patriotic principle, and next for the purpose of seeing many parts of England and Scotland till then unknown to him; and the beauties and curiosities whereof amply repaid him for his journey. It seems certainly strange that so many Englishmen who have travelled extensively abroad, should remain ignorant to the end of their lives of the curious and romantic scenery at home, and wholly uninformed of the local and statistical history of their native and neighbouring soils. The lakes and mountains, the sea-ports, and richly cultivated tracts of land in England, and the sister kingdoms, together with their local, and mineralogical, and geological histories, are most interesting to a Briton; and it must be humiliating to him, from time to time, to meet with strangers better informed on these subjects than himself. The utility and pleasure of these researches and pursuits were obvious to my friend, after his disappearing from the haunts of extravagance, and of false pleasure; but the knowledge which he acquired of the book of man by this stratagem was immediately advantageous to him. If a number of those who waste their fortunes and constitutions in Winters in Lon don, and who are forced, from their evil ef-| fects, to expatriate themselves, to the detri ment of their own interests, and those of their numerous creditors, would take a lesson from the Gentleman who was only missing for so short a time, the state of the country would be more prosperous, and (in the event of their having dipped their estates) they would more readily retrieve their losses, than from the exchange merely of folly and expense at home, for expense and folly abroad, added (most probably) to the degradation of national character, and, perhaps, to the inhabiting of a miserable French or German prison, far from the sympathies, assistance, and accommodation which they might experience amongst Britons, which they ought never to lose sight of, and which are always to be found by those who merit them. THE MANSION OF REST. By the Right Hon. Charles James Fox. And to husband the rest of its days: I bade it no longer admire The meteors which fancy had dress'd; I whisper'd 'twas time to retire, And seek for a Mansion of Rest. A charmer was listening the while, And vow'd to be always her guest: But the sweetest of moments will fly, Of my trusting and unwary breast, That led to the Mansion of Rest. Then Friendship enticed me to stray And shrunk from the sorcerer's glance.. And ne'er find the Mansion of Rest. But Prudence I met in the way; With nettles and wild flowers dress'd, "Behold there the Mansion of Rest." She spoke and half vanished in air, For she saw mild Religion appear Doubts and fears from my bosom were driven, LINES WRITTEN ON THE DEATH OF A FRIEND. O Rome! amongst thy temples high, But he, the burthen of my song, Was such a man as men should be; PROCTER. There is no such thing as real happiness in life. The justest definition that was ever given of it, was, 'A tranquil acquiescence under an agreeable delusion." THE ESSAYIST. THOUGHTS ON BIOGRAPHY. when abused by an impudent fellow, said, that if an ass kicked at him, he would not degrade himself by returning the compliment; yet the contempt expressed in the observation proved that he felt the insult; BIOGRAPHICAL Memoirs are generally and our great modern moralist, Johnson, has perused with avidity, often with much plea-left it on record, that even his gigantic sure, as a fruitful source of amusement and mind could not rise above that feeling; for instruction, although this is sometimes ob- he says, tained at the expense of the character delineated. It formed part of the litany of a man well acquainted with human nature"God preserve me from my friends! I am aware of my enemies." This prayer might be uttered by every one who prizes posthumous fame, and who imagines it possible that his "sayings and doings" will be recorded when he is stretched in the narrow house, alike insensible to the voice of praise and censure. It has been laid down as a maxim, that no, nian was ever truly great to his valet de chambre. To obtain and preserve respect, it is necessary to maintain a kind of fictitious dignity, which can be done only by keeping at a certain distance, and avoiding improper familiarity; otherwise, we are sure to betray the weaknesses of our nature; for there are infirmities, both physical and intellectual, inseparable from the greatest and wisest, which, when conspicuous, reduce them to the level of ordinary mortals. A general, at the head of his ariny, will march with fearless intrepidity to the field of death, and after having dared him at the cannon's mouth, will be afraid to snuff his candle with his fingers. A philosopher may harangue his pupils in the Lyceum on the beauty of virtue, and persuade even himself that he is superior to the infirmities of nature; yet even the impertinence of a servant may rouse him to anger, or the voice of love may allure him to folly. What can be more opposed to each other, than Cæsar writing Veni, vidi, vici, and whining on his couch like a sick baby, "Give me soine drink, Titinius !" or Pericles, in the groves of Academus, listening to the lectures of Zeno, and the same sage hanging on the smile of the fair Aspasia! Or, to come to modern times, how different was the mind of Bacon, when writing his Novum Organum, from the feeling with which he wrote his instructions for escaping the incantations of witchcraft! The fable of Hercules wielding his club, and sitting at the feet of Omphale holding the distaff, has been realised in the later ages, by Charles, Emperor of Germany, at the battle of Pavia, and telling his beads in the monastery at Estremadura. The author who believes himself secured of immortal fame, writhes under the attack of a dull scribbler, or feels a pang of envy, when a rival's name is mentioned with applause. Although the ancient philosopher, Of all the griefs that harass the distressed, This is according to nature: we may affect publicly to despise, but we cannot help secretly feeling. The war-horse, that rushed fearlessly to the charge, will gallop round the park to avoid the sting of a gadfly. A practical illustration has just now brought home this observation to "my business and my bosom :" while writing this sheet, a puny fly has been buzzing about my eyes, and tickling my nose, till it has wearied out my patience; and, unlike Uncle Toby in a similar case, I have lost my temper: and, irritated by the teasing intruder, now settled before me, I struck at the insect, missed it, but peeled my knuckles on the hinge of my desk. Although this may be thought a digression, it is intended as illustrative of the assertion, that no man is great or wise at all times; and that about all of us there are some things which it were wise to keep concealed, or, in the language of Burns, Aye keep something to oursel From these considerations, I maintain, that it is seldom for the honour of a character, who is brought before the public, that his biographer should have been too familiar with him of whom he writes; above all things, it is to be desired, that he should not have been his doting and enthusiastic admirer, blind to the foibles and frailties which "human flesh is heir to." And the greater the veneration entertained for the character, and the nearer it approaches to idolatry, by so much the more is the danger of injudicious disclosures increased. I would not have errors, or lapses, which may serve as beacons to the public, concealed. There is no great risk of the most devoted admirer attempting to whitewash them, that they may appear as virtues. The danger is, either that the biographer, considering the character of whom he writes as an oracle, retails all his thoughtless and unpremeditated sallies as deliberate cogitations and words of wisdom, or, if they will not bear that appellation, as being at least excusable, on account of him by whom they were uttered. In this case, the biographer resembles a fond mother prating about her child in a company of strangers; when, although she may tickle some itching ears, | Yeares after, and the mayd did marrye and gratify those who wish to see her or her bantling made ridiculous, she is rashly exposing both herself, and the object of her idolatry, to the pity or contempt of her auditors. How remarkable has this been exemplified in the case of the author last quoted! How many of his licentious extemporaneous effusions have been preserved and recorded by blind admirers. They were the ideas of the moment, elicited by convivial hilarity, unpremeditated sallies, prompted by the impulse of youthful passions and strong feelings, aided by the intoxication of flattery and potent liquor. The preservation of these has caused a blush on the cheek of those who respect his talents, and know what excuses and allowances ought to be made for a frail mortal; while it bas afforded his detractors and enemies a fair pretence for insulting his memory, and talking of him with contempt; they can see and know his failings, but they are unacquainted with the strength of his temptations, or how much may have been resisted. When we are informed that Pope was an epicure, Gray a finical spruce fop, and Thomson and Johnson gluttons, in spite of ourselves, it in some degree lessens our respect for their characters; and although good-nature may philosophically smile at the "Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise," yet bigotry, envy, and narrow-minded or CLERKE RYCHARDE AND MAYD MARGARET. He may not fleen it though he should be ded" Chaucer. One that her harte had ne'er approued; The hauntes and loues of Infancie. He knew her faithlesse, nathless ever, For euen in parting there is pleasure, Their double grave, and broad it flourisht |