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have great influence in overcoming obstinacy; for when children find that they cannot provoke to anger, nor vex the temper, they will generally give up the contest. Some children, who seem to manifest the greatest obstinacy, only want to be calmly reasoned with, and to hear an adequate cause assigned why they should act in one manner, and not in another; and when that wish is gratified, they will readily submit. Where such is evidently the disposition, it deserves to be cherished, and not violently repressed; because, when enlightened and properly directed, it may be the parent of unshaken fortitude and virtue.

The

A very young daughter of a gentleman of high respectability and well-known talents, but who had been mistaken in the mode of managing his child, was committed to the care of a lady, a valued friend of the writer,-who, by those means, has had the satisfaction and happiness of ameliorating many a sullen and obstinate temper, and even of substituting gentleness and pliability for obstinacy and irritability, with the discouraging declaration, that he feared the case was hopeless-the mental malady incurable. moral physician, however, after mature examination of the symptoms, discovered the nature of the disease, and applied the proper remedy. Instead of insisting upon blind compliance with commands and rules, she condescended to explain to the thinking, strong-minded girl, the reasons and motives upon which compliance was required, and pointed out its beneficial results. The consequence of which mode of treatment was, that the obstinacy which had resisted the reverence of paternal authority, lonely seclusion, being fed with bread and water, and bodily pain, gave way; and the formerly mutinous girl exclaimed, with some apparent vexation, "I can't think how it is, but Mrs. makes

me do just what she pleases, in spite of myself!" The perverse child is become an amiable, as well as sensible, wellinformed, and steady woman.

When mild but decided measures are pursued in education, young children will seldom need greater punishment than confinement, or being deprived of some amusement or pleasure, to curb their passions. They will probably cry when they are thus treated, but their tears should be disregarded till they are submissive. But they ought never to be confined where there is any danger of their being frightened. Fear, with some children, may be a constitutional defect, but it is more probable to be, in most instances, an acquired one, arising solely from the manner in which they have been treated in infancy. Like other things, it may be early impressed on the mind, which impressions, for the most part, it is difficult to remove in after life, at least so as to be entirely got rid of. For instance, there are many sensible persons who have been slaves all their lives to the fear of darkness, from the circumstance of having, when children, been impressed with it by foolish stories of ghosts and apparitions being seen in the dark, and to which they had attached the idea of fear, thus associating in the mind the idea of fear with that of darkness, so as to make them quite inseparable; and, notwithstanding reason in riper age may have shown them the absurdity of this, still they were incapable of totally overcoming the impression. Hence the propriety of guarding the minds of children from such impressions, by preventing their hearing such ridiculous stories. Another thing which ought to be equally guarded against in those who have the care of children, is threatening them, in order to prevent their touching what is improper, that it will bite them! Or, when they are behaving improperly, to call for the old man to come down the chimney to take them! They leave impressions on the mind of a highly injurious nature. If terror be deemed by any as absolutely necessary for the government of children, let it

“A short time ago, in this neighbourhood, a young girl about seven years of age, whose imagination had been filled with those frightful nursery tales that are conjured up by ignorant servants, and others, to frighten children into obedience, was thrust into a dark closet for some tale she had carried to her parents. The poor thing continued to scream with the most violent apprehension, and when the door was opened to take her from her abode of terror, she was lying on the ground in strong convulsions. The conflict was too powerful for her tender reason, and the now exists one of the most miserable objects of human sympathy. Her parents and friends see their hopes blasted,-their interesting little favourite is now an idiot!"-Glasgow Chronicle, March, 1827.

be regarded as a dangerous medicine, which, if administered without the utmost caution, may prove a deadly poison. If frightful objects, which have no real existence, be employed to terrify children into restraint of their feelings, or submission to authority, they will, in course of time, as their minds grow enlightened, discover the falsehood which has been used as a means of managing them; and is it not to be feared, that such a discovery may render the youthful ear deaf to the representations of the beauty and propriety and benefit of truth?

The first and most important lessons for the human mind to learn, are those of self-government, self-denial, and submission to lawful authority. These are lessons which throughout life, they will have to practise. Submission to the will of the Universal Parent, the righteous and merciful Moral Governor; compliance with the precepts of our holy religion; obedience to the laws of our country; the partial sacrifice, at least, of our own individual feelings and conveniences to the common good, regulations, and customs of society. These are duties, upon the fulfilment of which depend, in the highest degree, personal comfort and public welfare. The foundation of such habits and of such principles cannot, therefore, be laid too early. And certainly this can be effected without the instrumentality of terror, and without the risk of generating enfeebling timidity in the breasts of our children.

With these observations, I take my leave for the present, and am, &c.

A FRIEND TO EARLY EDUCATION.

Edinburgh, Nov. 7th, 1832.

Letter I. appeared in No. 8.

TO MY CIGAR.
LET others scent the liquid rose,
And perfumes give the pamper'd nose,'
Be mine, the sweets thy sigh disclose,
My mild cigar!

When wintry winds the features nip,
What cheers my purple nose and lip,
While gaily o'er the ice I skip?

My warm cigar!
When yellow fogs obscure the day,
And prowling sharpers prowl for prey,
What lights me through the dubious way?
My bright cigar!

When night appears with dusky veil,
And Cynthia shows her visage pale,
How fragrantly thy fumes inhale,
My sweet cigar!
When cares oppress the drooping mind,
And fickle friends are most unkind,
Who constant still remains behind?-
My true cigar!
Oh! where's the friend who'd cheerfully,
To soothe one pensive hour for me,
Resign his latest breath like thee?
My kind cigar!

Then come, sweet stranger, come-once more
Go seek again thy native shore-
May soft winds waft thine essence o'er,
My poor cigar!

Thy spirit's gone, poor fragile thing!
But still thine ashes, mouldering,
To me a valued lesson bring,

My pale cigar !
Like man's, how soon thy vital spark
Expiring, leaves no other mark
But mould'ring ashes, drear and dark,
My dead cigar!
And when I watch, with curious eyes,
Thy smoke ascend yon azure skies,
It bids me hope like thee to rise,

My frail cigar!

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
A pouncet box, which ever and anon
He gave his nose.-Hotspur's kop.

ELEMENTS OF THOUGHT.

THE SOURCES OF HUMAN HAPPINESS.

BY GEORGE COMBE, ESQ.

OUR readers, to go on well, must resume Mr. Combe's thread of reasoning from last number. We repeat the connecting sentence :—

the blessings lost by their negligence, and obeyed the laws of their being.

a rich reward in a climate improved in salubrity, in an abundant supply of food, besides much positive enjoyment attending the exercise of the powers themselves. Those communities, on the other hand, who neglect to use their mental faculties, and muscular and nervous energies, are punished by ague, fever, rheumatism, and a variety of painful affections, arising from damp air; are stinted in food; and, in wet seasons, are brought to the very brink of starAccording to the view now advanced, creation, in its vation by total failure of their crops. This punishment is present form, is more wisely and benevolently adapted to a benevolent admonition from the Creator, that they are our constitution than if intuitive instruction had been neglecting a great duty, and omitting to enjoy a great pleashowered on the mind at birth. By the actual arrange-sure; and it will cease as soon as they have fairly redeemed ment, numerous noble faculties are bestowed; their objects are presented to them; these objects are naturally endowed with qualities fitted to benefit and delight us, when their The winds and waves appear, at first sight, to present inuses and proper applications are discovered, and to injure surmountable obstacles to man leaving the island or contiand punish us for our ignorance, when their properties nent on which he happens to be born, and to his holding are misunderstood or misapplied; but we are left to find intercourse with his fellows in distant climes: But, by ob. out all these qualities and relations by the exercise of the serving the relations of water to timber, he is able to confaculties themselves. In this manner, provision is made struct a ship; by observing the influence of the wind on a for ceaseless activity of the mental powers, and this consti- physical body placed in a fluid medium, he discovers the tutes the greatest delight. Wheat, for instance, is produced use of sails; and, finally, by the application of his faculties, by the earth, and admirably adapted to the nutrition of the he has found out the expansive quality of steam, and traced body; but it may be rendered more grateful to the organ its relations until he has produced a machine that enables of taste, more salubrious to the stomach, and more stimu- him almost to set the roaring tempest at defiance, and to lating to the nervous and muscular systems, by being strip-sail straight to the stormy north, although its loudest and ped of its external skin, ground into flour, and baked by its fiercest blasts oppose. In these instances we perceive fire into bread. Now, the Creator obviously pre-ar-external nature admirably adapted to support the mental ranged all these relations, when he endowed wheat with its faculties in habitual activity, and to reward us for the exproperties, and the human body with qualities and func-ercise of them. tions. In withholding congenial and intuitive knowledge

It is objected to this argument, that it involves an incon of these qualities and mutual relations, but in bestowing sistency. Ignorance, it is said, of the natural laws is nefaculties of individuality, form, colouring, weight, construc-cessary to happiness, in order that the faculties may obtain tiveness, &c. fitted to find them out; in rendering the exer- exercise in discovering them ;-nevertheless, happiness is cise of these faculties agreeable; and in leaving man, in impossible till these laws shall have been discovered and this condition, to proceed for himself, he appears to me to obeyed. Here, then, it is said, ignorance is represented as have conferred on him the highest boon. The earth pro. at once essential to, and incompatible with, enjoyment. duces also hemlock and fox-glove; and, by the organic The same objection, however, applies to the case of the bee. law, those substances, if taken in certain moderate quanti-Gathering honey is necessary to its enjoyment; yet it can. ties, remove diseases; if in excess, they occasion death; not subsist and be happy till it has gathered honey, and but, again, man's observing faculties are fitted, when ap- therefore that act is both essential to, and incompatible plied, under the guidance of cautiousness and reflection, to with, its gratification. The fallacy lies in losing sight of make this discovery: and he is left to make it in this way, the natural constitution, both of the bee and of man. While or suffer the consequences of neglect. the bee possesses instinctive tendencies to roam about the fields and flowery meadows, and to exert its energies in labour, it is obviously beneficial to it to be furnished with motives and opportunities for doing so; and so it is with man to obtain scope for his bodily and mental powers. Now, gathering knowledge is to the mind of man what gathering honey is to the bee. Apparently with the view of effectually prompting the bee to seek this pleasure, honey is made essential to its subsistence. In like manner, and probably with a similar design, knowledge is made indispensable to human enjoyment. Communicating intuitive knowledge of the natural laws to man, while his present constitution continues, would be the exact parallel of gorging the bee with honey in midsummer, when its energies are at their height. When the bee has completed its store, winter benumbs its powers, which resume their vigour only when its stock is exhausted, and spring returns to afford them scope. No torpor resembling that of winter seals up the faculties of the human race; but their ceaseless activi ty is amply provided for. 1st, The laws of nature, compared with the mind of any individual, are of boundless extent, so that every one may learn something new to the end of the longest life. 2dly, By the actual constitution of man, he must make use of his acquirements habitually, otherwise he will lose them. 3dly, Every individual of the race is born in utter ignorance, and starts from Zero in the scale of knowledge, so that he has the laws to learn for himself.

Farther, water, when elevated in temperature, becomes steam; and steam expands with prodigious power; this power, confined by muscular energy, exerted on metal, and directed by intellect, is capable of being converted into the steam-engine, the most efficient, yet humble servant of man. All this was clearly pre-arranged by the Creator; and man's faculties were adapted to it: but still we see him left to observe and discover the qualities and relations of water for himself. This duty, however, must be acknowledged as benevolently imposed; the moment we discover that the Creator has made the very exercise of the faculties pleasurable, and arranged external qualities and relations so beneficially, that, when known, they carry a double reward in adding by their positive influence to human gratification.

The knowing faculties, as we have seen, observe the mere external qualities of bodies, and their simpler relations. The reflecting faculties observe relations also, but of a higher order. The former, for example, discover that the soil is clay or gravel; that it is tough or friable; that it is wet, and that excess of water impedes vegetation; that in one season the crop is large, and in the next deficient. The reflecting faculties take cognizance of the causes of these phenomena. They discover the means by which wet soil may be rendered dry; clay may be pulverised; light soil may be invigorated, and all of them made more productive; also the relationship of particular soils to particular kinds of grain. The inhabitants of a country who exert their These circumstances remove the apparent inconsistency. knowing faculties in observing the qualities of their soil, If man had possessed intuitive knowledge of all nature, he their reflecting faculties in discovering its capabilities and could have no scope for exerting his faculties in acquiring relations to water, lime, manures, and the various species of knowledge, in preserving it, or in communicating it. The grain, and who put forth their muscular and nervous ener-infant would have been as wise as the most reverend, sage, gies in accordance with the dictates of these powers, receive and forgetfulness would have been necessarily excluded.

Those who object to these views, imagine that after the that we can be happy here only by becoming acquainted human race has acquired knowledge of all the natural with the qualities and modes of action of our own minds laws, if such a result be possible, they will be in the same and bodies, with the qualities and modes of action of extercondition as if they had been created with intuitive know-nal objects, and with the relations established between ledge; but this does not follow. Although the race should them; in short, by becoming thoroughly conversant with acquire the knowledge supposed, it is not an inevitable con- those natural laws, which, when observed, are pre-arranged quence that each individual will necessarily enjoy it all: to contribute to our enjoyment, and which, when violated, which, however, would follow from intuition. The entire visit us with suffering, we may safely conclude that our soil of Britain belongs to the landed proprietors as a class; mental capacities are wisely adapted to the attainment of but each does not possess it all; and hence every one has these objects, whenever we shall do our own duty in bring scope for adding to his territories; with this advantage, ing them to their highest condition of perfection, and in aphowever, in favour of knowledge, that the acquisitions of plying them in the best manner. one do not impoverish another. Farther, although the race If we advert for a moment to what we already know, we should have learned all the natural laws, their children shall see that this conclusion is supported by high probabiwould not intuitively inherit their ideas, and hence the ac-lities. Before the mariner's compass and astronomy were tivity of every one, as he appears on the stage, would be discovered, nothing would seem more utterly beyond the provided for; whereas, by intuition, every child would be reach of the human faculties than traversing the enormous as wise as his grandfather, and parental protection, filial Atlantic or Pacific Oceans; but the moment these discoveries piety, and all the delights that spring from difference in were made, how simple did this feat appear, and how comknowledge between youth and age, would be excluded. 1st, pletely within the scope of human ability! But it became Using of acquirements is, by the actual state of man, essen- so, not by any addition to man's mental capacities, nor by tial to the preservation as well as the enjoyment of them. any change in the physical world; but by the easy process By intuition all knowledge would be habitually present to of applying individuality, and the other knowing faculties, the mind without effort or consideration. On the whole, to observe, causality to reflect, and constructiveness to therefore, it appears that man's nature being what it is, the build; in short, to perform their natural functions. Who arrangement by which he is endowed with powers to ac- that, forty years ago, regarded the small-pox as a scourge, quire knowledge, but left to find it out for himself, is both devastating Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, would not wise and benevolent. have despaired of the human faculties ever discovering an antidote against it? and yet we have lived to see this end accomplished by the simple exercise of Individuality and Reflection, in observing the effects of, and applying, vaccine inoculation, Nothing appears more completely beyond the reach of the human intellect, than the cause of volcanoes and earthquakes; and yet some approach towards its discovery has recently been made."

It has been asked, "But is there no pleasure in science but that of discovery? Is there none in using the knowledge we have attained? Is there no pleasure in playing at chess after we know the moves ?" In answer, observe, that if we know beforehand all the moves that our antagonist intends to make, and all our own, which must be the case if we know every thing by intuition, we shall have no pleasure. The pleasure really consists in discovering the intentions of our antagonist, and in calculating the effects of our own play; a certain degree of ignorance of both of which is indispensable to gratification. In the like manner, it is agreeable first to discover the natural laws, and then to study" the moves" that we ought to make, in consequence of knowing them. So much, then, for the sources of human happiness.

In the second place, To reap enjoyment in the greatest quantity, and to maintain it most permanently, the faculties must be gratified harmoniously: In other words, if, among the various powers, the supremacy belongs to the moral sentiments, then the aim of our habitual conduct must be the attainment of objects suited to gratify them. For example, in pursuing wealth or fame as the leading objects of existence, full gratification is not afforded to Benevolence, Veneration, and Conscientiousness, and, consequently, complete satisfaction cannot be enjoyed; whereas, by seeking knowledge, and dedicating life to the welfare of mankind, and obedience to God, in our several vocations, these faculties will be gratified, and wealth, fame, health, and other advantages, will flow in their train, so that the whole mind will rejoice, and its delights will remain permanent as long as the conduct continues to be in accordance with the supremacy of the moral powers, and laws of external creation. Thirdly, To place human happiness on a secure basis, the laws of external creation themselves must accord with the dictates of the moral sentiments, and intellect must be fitted to discover the nature and relations of both, and to direct the conduct in coincidence with them.

Much has been written about the extent of human ignorance; but we should discriminate between absolute incapacity to know, and mere want of information, arising from not having used this capacity to its full extent. In regard to the first, or our capacity to know, it appears probable that, in this world, we shall never know the essence, begining, or end of things; because these are points which we have no faculties calculated to reach. But the same Creator who made the external world constituted our faculties; and if we have sufficient data for inferring that His intention is, that we shall enjoy existence here while preparing for the ulterior ends of our being; and if it be true

Sir Isaac Newton observed, that all bodies which refracted the rays of light were combustible, except one, the diamond, which he found to possess this quality, but which he was not able, by any powers he possessed, to burn. He did not conclude, however, from this, that the diamond was an exception to the uniformity of nature. He inferred, that, as the same Creator made the refracting bodies which he was able to consume, and the diamond, and proceeded by uniform laws, the diamond, would, in all probability, be found to be combustible, and that the reason of its resisting his power, was ignorance on his part of the proper way to produce its conflagration. A century afterwards, chemists made the diamond blaze with as much vivacity as Sir Isaac Newton had done a wax-candle. Let us proceed, then, on an analogous principle. If the intention of our Creator was, that we should enjoy existence while in this world, then He knew what was necessary to enable us to do so; and He will not be found to have failed in conferring on us powers fitted to accomplish His design, provided we do our duty in developing and applying them. The great motive to exertion is the conviction, that increased knowledge will furnish us with increased means of doing good,-with new proofs of benevolence and wisdom in the Great Architect of the Universe.

The human race may be regarded as only in the beginning of its existence. The art of printing is an invention comparatively but of yesterday, and no imagination can yet conceive the effects which it is destined to produce. Phrenology was wanting to give it full efficacy, especially in moral science, in which little progress has been made for centuries. Now that this desideratum is supplied, may we not hope that the march of improvement will proceed in a rapidly accelerating ratio?

* Vide Cordier, in Edin. New Phil. Journ. No. VIII. page 278. The following striking lines form the epitaph of a miller in Richmond churchyard. They are traditionally said to have been dreamed by him the night preceding his death :

Earth walks upon earth, glittering like gold,
Earth turns to earth, sooner than it would;
Earth builds upon earth, cities and towers;
Earth says to earth, all this shall be ours.

COBBETTIANA.

COBBETT'S RECOLLECTIONS. FORTY years ago the education-classes took to the affairs of the nation. We had then a revenue of 1.13,000,000 a-year; and I am sure that we do not need more than that to carry on affairs in a time of peace. We had then been at peace about eight years; now we have been so eighteen years, and during all that time, twice every year, either the king or the prince regent has told us there was no prospect of war; and yet we have a standing army of 100,000 men, which, with the dead-weight and all, annually costs more than all the costs of the government at the last peace. Gentlemen, that is one part of the management of this country by the education-classes. Here is another:-During the last forty years they have had our purses at their command; and what with the income-tax, the propertytax, the window-tax, the soap-tax, the malt-tax, the hoptax, and other taxes almost innumerable, they have taken from us whatever, and as much as they pleased. We are like a parcel of bees; they have left us the hive and the combs, and just honey enough to live through the winter, so that we might work again through the summer and produce just so much more for them. And then they have done what they pleased with our persons-at one time they put red coats upon us, and then they put blue; and they gave us pigtails, and then cut them off; then they put spurs upon us, and ordered mustaches to grow, which they afterwards had shaved off; and then they gave us whiskers, and now they are shaved off. In fact, they have done what they liked with our very souls. And in what condition are we at last? About thirty years ago they changed the currency, which for twelve hundred years had been gold and silver; every man knew the real value of money then, and there was no doubt about it. A man knew that one pound or one shilling was one pound or one shilling; but the education-gentlemen changed it into paper, which they made a legal tender. These wise men, these education-men, have passed no less than sixteen acts to regulate the currency, which before was fixed as the sun or the moon, or as the earth itself. In 1819 they passed an act, which they said was to be the last; the vote was unanimous, and they all shouted and huzzaed, because they said they had set the matter at rest for ever. Three years after they changed it again, and in two years and a-half they made another change; and even now they don't know what to do, and actually at this moment, they have a committee sitting upon the question. Some talk of a contraction, and some of an extension of the paper system. The House of Commons consists of 658 of the education of the country. Of these, 31, selected for their double-distilled wisdom, have been sitting for two months to inquire what can be done with the currency. They are like an old turkey hen sitting on addled eggs. They dare not hatch, and they dare not come off their eggs, and so there they sit, but can't hatch.

COBBETT OF HIMSELF.

me.

All men are well acquainted with my wonderful ca pacity to labour, and the still more wonderful extent and variety of my knowledge; and there is this further singularity, which, I believe, was never before the lot of man, that, somehow or other, by means of my travelling all over England, by the means of those prosecutions which I have had to undergo-and which I have undergone with such signal fortitude-by one means or other, it has become written down upon the heart of every working man in England and Scotland, and Ireland too, that I am his sincere, zealous, kind, and compassionate friend. A long undeviating course, a course of thirty-two long years, unbroken by one moment of relaxation in my efforts in behalf of the working-people, has produced this belief, which it is no more possible to root from the minds of the people, than it is possible to root out natural affection from their hearts.

THE IRISH POTATOE.

Next to really good poetry, the execrably bad is to us the most acceptable; and the following piece comes quite down to our standard. The author is an Irish gentleman

of county Antrim. By an extraordinary anachronism, the
verses are said to have been composed while Mr. Cobbett
was a corporal in the English militia, and subsequent to
his attacks on the potatoes, in his Register :-

There's not in the wide world a race that can beat us,
From Canada's cold hills to sultry Japan,
While we fatten and feast on the smiling potatoes,
Of Erin's green valleys, so friendly to man.
It's not an abundance alone, and a plenty,
Of plain simple fare the potatoe supplies,
But milk, beef, and butter, and bacon so dainty ;
Hens, ducks, geese, and turkeys, and fine mutton pies.*
Sweet roots of Erin, we can't live without them;
No tongue can express their importance to man;
Poor Corporal Cobbett knows nothing about them—
We'll boil them and eat them, as long as we can.
On the skirts of our bogs that are covered with rushes,
On the dales that we till with the sweat of our brow,
On the wild mountain's side, cleared of rocks, heath, and
bushes,

We plant the kind root with the spade or the plough.
Then comes the south breezes, with soft vernal showers,
To finish the process that man had begun,
With a brilliant succession of sweet-smelling flowers,
Reflecting bright radiance in the rays of the sun

Sweet roots of Erin, &c.

The land, too, that's broke, and bro't in by potatoes,
Produces the cream of our northern cheer,

In crops of rich barley, that comfort and cheer us,
With Innishown whisky, and Maghera beer.
Success to the brave boys that plant them and raise them,
To cherish their children, and nourish their wives;
May none of the Corporal's humours e'er seize them,—
To shorten their days or embitter their lives.

Sweet roots of Erin, we can't live without them;
No tongue can express their importance to man ;
Poor Corporal Cobbett knows nothing about them-
We'll boil them and eat them, as long as we can.

I am satisfied in my own mind that the regeneration of the political state of the country would not take place, and that instead of regeneration, anarchy and confusion would come, were I not to be in the first reformed Parliament; If the poet can assure Mr. Cobbett of this new fact, we could al there being no man in whom the people have that confi- mos undertake that he will give up his hostility to the root of Erin. dence in his judgment that they have in mine, in the pro-One day at dinner, in Edinburgh, a gentleman, who helped Mr. Cobbett portion of a thousand to one in my favour; that is to say, to a quantity of mashed potatoes to his mutton, smiled as he did so; when Cobbett exclaimed, "That's another of their calumnies-1 never that there are a thousand men who have great confidence said a word against potatoes when there is meat along with them." in my judgment, where there is one man who has the same confidence in any body else. I am not pretending that I Epitaph in French-English for Shenstone, erected at possess this superiority of judgment to this degree, or in Ermenonvile. any degree at all. In a case like this, your capacity to do This plainstone good depends almost entirely in the belief of your having that capacity. I have named no man as fit to be a mem ber of Parliament, who has not great capacity of that kind; and I could name others nearer to myself; but here is the singular thing belonging to me, that I am known, more or less, to every rational creature in the kingdom; my enemies are the trumpeters of my talents. All men know that I want nothing for myself or for any body belonging to

To William Shenstone.

In his writings he displayed

A mind natural;

At Leasowes he laid

Arcadian's Greens rural.

This absurdity is reprinted in the Schoolmaster, because we see it ascribed to Rousseau. The author was M. Girardin.

THE STORY-TELLER.

WHY do we never give a story told by the most graceful, and, to use a lady's word, fascinating of all living story-tellers-Mr. Washington Irving? We shall do so soon; but, prelusive to The Rose of the Alhambra, who must tarry one more week, we must give the author's charming description of the scene of his late tales, his

RESIDENCE IN THE ALHAMBRA.

however, the poor fellow is at times an amusing companion; he is simple-minded, and of infinite good-humour, with the loquacity and gossip of a village barber, and knows all the small-talk of the place and its environs; but what he chiefly values himself on, is his stock of local information, having the most marvellous stories to relate of every tower, and vault, and gateway of the fortress, in all of which he places the most implicit faith.

Most of these he has derived, according to his own account, from his grandfather, a little legendary tailor, who lived to the age of nearly a hundred years, during which It is time, he says, that I give some idea of my domestic he made but two migrations beyond the precincts of the arrangements in this singular residence. The Royal Palace fortress. His shop, for the greater part of a century, was of the Alhambra is intrusted to the care of a good old the resort of a knot of venerable gossips, where they would maiden dame, called Dona Antonia Molina; but who, acpass half the night talking about old times, and the wonderful events and hidden secrets of the place. The whole cording to Spanish custom, goes by the more neighbourly living, moving, thinking, and acting of this historical appellation of Tia Antonia (Aunt Antonia.) She main- little tailor, had thus been bounded by the walls of the tains the Moorish halls and gardens in order, and shews Alhambra; within them he had been born, within them them to strangers; in consideration of which she is allowed he lived, breathed, and had his being; within them he died, and was buried. all the perquisites received from visitors, and all the pro-ditionary lore died not with him. Fortunately for posterity, his traThe authentic Mateo, duce of the gardens, excepting, that she is expected to pay when an urchin, used to be an attentive listener to the nar an occasional tribute of fruits and flowers to the Governor. ratives of his grandfather, and of the gossiping group asHer residence is in a corner of the palace; and her family sembled round the shop-board; and is thus possessed of a consists of a nephew and niece, the children of two dif-stock of valuable knowledge concerning the Alhambra, not to be found in the books, and well worthy the attention of ferent brothers. The nephew, Manuel Molina, is a young every curious traveller. Laan of sterling worth, and Spanish gravity. He has served in the armies both in Spain and the West Indies; but is now studying medicine, in hopes of one day or other be coming physician to the fortress, a post worth at least a hundred and forty dollars a-year. As to the niece, she is When I rise in the morning, Pepe, the stuttering lad a plump little black-eyed Andalusian damsel, named Do from the gardens, brings me a tribute of fresh-culled flowers, lores; but who, from her bright looks and cheerful dispo- which are afterwards arranged in vases, by the skilful sition, merits a merrier name. She is the declared heiress hand of Dolores, who takes a female pride in the decoraof all her aunt's possessions, consisting of certain ruinous tions of my chamber. My meals are made wherever catenements in the fortress, yielding a revenue of about one price dictates; sometimes in one of the Moorish halls, Lundred and fifty dollars. I had not been long in the Al- sometimes under the arcades of the Court of Lions, surSambra, before I discovered that a quiet courtship was go-rounded by flowers and fountains; and when I walk out, ing on between the discreet Manuel and his bright-eyed I am conducted by the assiduous Mateo, to the most rocousin, and that nothing was wanting to enable them to mantic retreats of the mountains, and delicious haunts of join their hands and expectations, but that he should rethe adjacent valleys, not one of which but is the scene of eive his doctor's diploma, and purchase a dispensation some wonderful tale. from the Pope, on account of their consanguinity.

With the good dame Antonia I have made a treaty, according to which, she furnishes me with board and lodging; while the merry-hearted little Dolores keeps my apartment in order, and officiates as handmaid at mealtimes. I have also at my command a tall, stuttering, yellow-haired lad, named Pepe, who works in the gardens, and would fain have acted as valet; but, in this, he was forestalled by Mateo Ximenes, "the son of the Alhambra!" This alert and officious wight has managed, somehow or other, to stick by me ever since I first encountered him at the outer gate of the fortress, and to weave himself into all y plans, until he has fairly appointed and installed himalf my valet, cicerone, guide, guard, and historiographic Squire; and I have been obliged to improve the state of his wardrobe, that he may not disgrace his various functions; that he has cast his old brown mantle, as a snake does skin, and now appears about the fortress with a smart lalusian hat and jacket, to his infinite satisfaction, and * great astonishment of his comrades. The chief fault of onest Mateo is an over anxiety to be useful. Conscious of having foisted himself into my employ, and that my simple and quiet habits render his situation a sinecure, he at his wit's end to devise modes of making himself imrtant to my welfare. I am, in a manner, the victim of officiousness; I cannot put my foot over the threshold the palace, to stroll about the fortress, but he is at my ow, to explain every thing I see; and if I venture to rable among the surrounding hills, he insists upon ateding me as a guard, though I vehemently suspect he uld be more apt to trust to the length of his legs than he strength of his arms, in case of an attack. After all,

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Such are the personages that contribute to my domestic comforts in the Alhambra; and I question whether any of the potentates, Moslem or Christian, who have preceded me in the palace, have been waited upon with greater fidelity, or enjoyed a serener sway.

Though fond of passing the greater part of my day alone, yet I occasionally repair in the evenings to the little domestic circle of Dona Antonia. This is generally held in an old Moorish chamber, that serves for kitchen as well as hall, a rude fire-place having been made in one corner, the smoke from which has discoloured the walls, and almost obliterated the ancient arabesques. A window, with a balcony overhanging the valley of the Douro, lets in the cool evening breeze; and here I take my frugal supper of fruit and milk, and mingle with the conversation of the family. There is a natural talent of mother wit, as it is called, about the Spaniards, which renders them intellectual and agreeable companions, whatever may be their condition in life, or however imperfect may have been their education; add to this, they are never vulgar; nature has endowed them with an inherent dignity of spirit. The good Tia Antonia is a woman of strong and intelligent, though uncultivated mind; and the bright-eyed Dolores, though she has read but three or four books in the whole course of her, life, has an engaging mixture of naïveté and good sense, and often surprises me by the pungency of her artless sallies. Sometimes the nephew entertains us by reading some old comedy of Calderon or Lope de Vega, to which he is evidently prompted by a desire to improve, as well as amuse, his cousin Dolores; though, to his great mortification, the little damsel generally falls asleep before the first act is completed. Sometimes Tia Antonia has a little levee of humble friends and dependents, the inhabitants of the adjacent hamlets, or the wives of the invalid soldiers. These look up to her with great deference, as the custodian of the palace, and pay their court to her by bringing the news of the place, or the rumours that may have struggled up from

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