and you are exposing yourself to unnecessary torture. Come, we will prepare at once."

We went up to her chamber. There stood the little bed, with its snowy sheets folded down, even as if ready for the child to occupy that night. His clothes were spread on the chair beside it, and some of his little toys lay scattered about the room, just as his own hands had left them. I understood it all.

When Ellen's preparations were completed, I took the things she had packed up and left the room. Before she followed me, I saw her kneel beside the little bed and kiss the pillow where her child's bright head had lain. My tears blinded me, and I turned away; but she almost immediately followed, softly closing the door and locking it, lest any busy hand should, in her absence, meddle with her precious relics of the departed. A friend's carriage waited for us, and we were soon on our way. The shortest road to my house led by the church, but I had given directions that we should be driven another way. Ellen. perceived my design in so doing, and she said,

"I thank you much; but I would rather go by the church. You can shew me the place where

But she could not finish the sentence.

Under one of the noble elm-trees, of which there are several scattered about the churchyard, Charlie's body had been laid. I led Ellen to the little mound that marked the spot. It was already covered with daisies, and the golden sunshine fell, as if lovingly, upon it. I moved to a little distance, that the poor mother might feel herself alone; but she rejoined me in a few minutes, and in reply to my look of anxiety struggled to smile, saying,

I am

"God comforts me much. glad I have been here. It was wrong to murmur at the sunshine and the joy as I did but an hour ago; they have a new and better meaning for me now."

Indeed, during the remainder of the day she appeared more composed than I had yet seen her since her affliction, and when we were parting for the night, she said that her mind was calm, though she thought till that

day the suddenness of her trials had so stunned her, that she had hardly comprehended their extent.

As she ceased to speak, I heard a sound of slow and heavy wheels and the tread of several horses drawing near the house. I suppose I looked uneasy, for Ellen inquired, with a searching glance, if I knew what that sound meant. I tried to appear unconcerned as I answered, that it was doubtless occasioned by one of the many wagons that were constantly passing my door, and I urged her to retire to rest, as it was already midnight.

"No," she said, "I must see first what this is." And she placed herself at the window.

I stood beside her, trembling with the conviction that Mr. Cayley's information had been incorrect, and that the funeral procession of her husband was about to pass before Ellen's eyes. The rumbling of the wheels came slowly nearer. Presently there was a glare flung by many torches, which were borne by horsemen; these were immediately followed by a hearse, and the procession was closed by a few more horsemen, cloaked in black.

"It is even as I thought," said Ellen, turning to me. "I must follow at once."

I believed her mind wandered, and I went with her to her own room; but she threw a cloak about her, and tied a veil closely over her widow's cap. I then understood her meaning.

"Stop, Ellen," I cried, as she left the room. “If you will go, at least let me accompany you."

She waited for me on the stairs, and we left the house together, following the sad procession as it moved slowly down the street to the church. She walked steadily, refusing my assistance; but once my hand accidentally touched hers, and I started at its extreme coldness. When we entered the church, the friends and attendants of the dead, already assembled, made way for us, and we took our stand close at the head of the coffin. Not a sound escaped Ellen. Without wavering, without weeping, she stood by while the service was read, and even till the body was lowered into the dark vault. When all was done, and those pre

sent were preparing to depart, I laid my hand on her arm. Gentle as was the touch, she fell to the ground as if struck by a mortal blow. One deep groan escaped from her white lips, and then I thought, in truth, that her sorrowful spirit had flown to rejoin those she loved in a happier world. Many rushed forward to raise her from the floor, and she was quickly conveyed to my house, where, after several hours of insensibility, she awoke to a consciousness of all that had passed.

A long and dangerous illness was the consequence of my poor friend's last severe trial; but youth and a good constitution carried her through it. On being restored to health, she returned to her mother, who was rapidly sinking into a state of utter imbecility. The old woman lingered another year, during which time I was constantly a visitor at the cottage. Her first question whenever she saw me, even to the last, was, "Where's Charlie ?" for there was some link in her remembrance between me and that beloved child. In all else her memory and intelligence

were totally gone. One day I turned anxiously to Ellen, hearing her sigh as her mother pronounced the accustomed words; but she smiled faintly, and said,

"Do not fear for me now; I can bear it better than I once did."

On Mrs. Matley's death, I easily persuaded Ellen to become a permanent inmate of my house, and for fifteen years we shared the same home. I will not trust myself to speak of the hour in which she was taken from me. There is a second and a larger mound now beneath the old churchyard elm, and I often visit it, treading the narrow path worn by Ellen's feet in her daily visits of old to the grave of her child.

Within the church, on the side wall of the recess which contains the vault of the Courtlands, is a marble slab bearing a simple inscription to the memory of Ellen's husband, and recording in few words the manner of his death, and below this inscription are engraved the names of his wife and child, with the dates of their departure from this life.

THE selection by Lord John Russell of the gentlemen included in the above list to fill offices in his administration, although some of those offices are minor ones only, is alone sufficient evidence that they are in some way or other distinguished from the great mass of members of the Liberal party in the legislature. Some of them, indeed, are men of considerable talent as debaters, and, with perhaps only one exception, they are all men of a certain weight and standing in the House of Commons-men who are almost entitled to speak on any question brought before that assembly, and who can, almost without fail, command a hearing on even the most important subjects of discussion. It is, moreover, now very generally understood, that in selecting them to fill offices in the government, the new premier was guided by his desire, as far as possible, to consolidate it; that as Mr. Cobden could not, or would not, join the administration, the noble lord was content, as regards some of them, to make up in numbers what he could not obtain in personal weight and distinction, and thus expressed his resolution that the new party of which he is the head should be really and substantially an amalgamation of the different materials at his com

mand, and not a mere revival of the cast-off and dismembered Whig clique. Whether he will succeed in convincing the manufacturing and trading interests, and those of the middle and lower classes who look up to him, that such is his sincere intention, is not a matter to be discussed in this particular article; but it is only just to him to say, that, taking all things into account, he could not, with a single exception, have chosen men who were more likely to prove efficient public servants, or who more accurately represented the various shades of the opinions which animate his followers. Although there is not one among them who deserves to be called an orator in the highest sense of the term, yet, as we have said, they are all more than respectable as speakers. This, and the curiosity which will naturally be felt to know something of the new aspirants for political repute at this singular crisis in our affairs, will explain sufficiently why we postpone to them for the present the claims of more able and distinguished men. Qualifications in themselves comparatively small_become important when submitted to the magnifying influence of political excitement.

This gentleman is the individual referred to, in the exercise of a judgment which many will be disposed to regard as arbitrary and premature, as constituting the single exception to the general fitness of the appointments, as far as the subjects of this article are concerned. He has been nominated by Lord John Russell to the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, one as to which the Whigs, in successive governments, have been almost invariably unfortunate. From the harmless and unintentional blun

ders of Lord Althorp-a blundering which was more the result of habit and physical causes than of real mental obtuseness-they came to the intentional error-making, the financial finesse and double-dealing of Mr. Spring Rice; thence to the honest and laborious mediocrity of Mr. Francis Baring; and now they pass to a worse alternative than either, Mr. Charles Wood, of whom the most candid and impartial person would find it impossible to say that he possesses a single acknow

ledged qualification for the high and responsible office he is called upon to fill. He has been in parliament many years. The practice of nepotism has afforded him undeserved opportunities, denied to abler men, of displaying any legislative talents he might possess: position has entitled him to take a sort of lead in debate, for which his oratorical powers by no means fit him. He has therefore fairly been tried, and if he be found wanting, the just and natural inference is, that his failure to achieve distinction arises from inherent deficiencies. If Lord John Russell means, like Sir Robert Peel, to be his own Chancellor of the Exchequer, and therefore gratifies Mr. Charles Wood's vanity, and the busy and earnest interference of his powerful friends, with an unsubstantial honour, why, the public will not suffer in the long run, however they may smile at so unpropitious a choice. But if it be really intended that this gentleman shall have the guidance of the vast financial affairs of this country, it will soon be discovered, in the results of his administration of them, that to be the son-in-law of one Earl Grey and the brother-in-law of another, however firmly he may have adhered to that other in the little cabals of party, will not justify his appointment to public office, although the exigencies of a minister while cobbling a cabinet may have rendered it imperatively necessary.

The task of describing Mr. Charles Wood's oratorical qualifications is an ungracious one. Criticism would

be thrown away upon what presents so few materials for any thing but general condemnation. Indeed, Mr. Wood might altogether be passed over confounded with the miscellaneous multitude of accidental speakers, but that he evidently does not entertain the same opinion of his own powers as their exhibition generally creates in others. On the contrary, favoured by the position which private influence has secured for him, he constantly stands before the House, taking a conspicuous part in discussions of great moment, pitting himself sometimes against the most accomplished orators on the other side, and, wholly unconscious of his own deficiencies, bestowing his tediousness

upon the House to an extent, even in point of length alone, which men of less pretension and more taste would certainly avoid. He, therefore, provokes remark; and cannot shelter himself in the decent obscurity of modest mediocrity. Even negatives will not serve in this particular case. It is not enough to say, that Mr. Charles Wood is not eloquent, or not an agreeable speaker-he is positively disagreeable; and even if his self-sufficient mind could conceive an idea or a sentiment, which for its elevation of thought, or its homogeneity, might in expression become. forcible or inspiring, and so infuse a transient tinge of eloquence into the unvarying monotony of his prolix talk, it would be lost in a dogmatic iteration into which he is led by his pragmatical assurance. The stale arguments and pretences suggested by the party manœuvres of the day, unenlivened by any new views or illustrations, are reproduced in a heavy and unconnected mass of windy wordiness, occasionally chequered by some melancholy attempt at jocularity, but never impressive, and seldom convincing; and yet all the while he is quite satisfied as to the effect of his own performance, goes on with the same easy confidence, as if he were achieving the triumphs of a Russell or a Graham, mistakes the courtesy or the forbearance of the House for admiration ; and will not abate one jot of his predetermined infliction on his patient audience, whom a fellow-feeling renders tolerant of all speakers who hold any political position whatever, unless they act in a way so outrageous as to be utterly beyond endurance. Mr. Wood's manner of delivery is not calculated to conceal the poverty of his ideas, or to atone for his prolixity and verbosity. A monotonous voice, undignified action, and a slip-shod, rambling style, render still more disagreeable what some attention to elocution might otherwise make tolerable.

These defects, albeit more of the mind than personal peculiarities, might however be endured, as some kindred ones are in Mr. Baring, if Mr. Wood were really a practical man of business, who would contribute his quota of information or suggestion to the general stock, and be content

with a position of modest subordination. But, like all men who are thrust by unfair means into a false position, he has no real ballast of any kind. He is not even a man of figures and statistics; his knowledge, at least as far as he displays it, being in inverse ratio to his pretensions. He is neither a good party speaker nor a man of business, but mingles the two vocations, and effectually spoils both. Official arrogance and flippancy were to often displayed by him when he was in office before as Secretary to the Admiralty; and he must be changed, indeed, since he has been in opposition, if he do not display the same qualities on a larger scale, and to a more pernicious extent, in his new and more exalted position. He will probably turn out, as a parliamentary man, the least efficient member of Lord J. Russell's administration, when his performance comes to be compared with the expectations which will be formed of one placed in so high and responsible a situation as that of Chancellor of

the Exchequer. He will prove a foil even to Mr. Goulburn. Had Mr. Wood been a new or an untried man, it would have been a matter of duty to suspend judgment until he has had an opportunity of exhibiting his capabilities; but he has now been so many years in parliament, and has so completely had his own way as to the time and objects of his public displays, that a mere elevation to a higher and more onerous office does not justify any false delicacy. He might probably have made a good subordinate officer; indeed, when he held a place before, he exhibited considerable industry and aptitude; but it is requisite that he should merely fulfil, either as a minister or as a debater, some part or duty allotted to him by a superior: he is not a man of that judgment or calibre to be trusted with any post of great responsibility; and his want of parliamentary talents, and, above all, of tact, will in all probability render his other deficiencies only the more glaring and conspicuous.

is unquestionably a man of unusual ability, whether in parliament or out of it; though it is not easy to see his peculiar fitness for the office of VicePresident of the Board of Trade; but, in the distribution of offices, fitness is a condition very rarely insisted upon. A prime minister too often feels himself compelled rather to consult the personal ambition or the vanity of individuals who have done him good service while in opposition, than to respect the right of the public to have the different offices of the state filled by the most competent men. So that he can collect together in his administration a number of men, the most distinguished in his party for talents or popular influence, he does not always think it necessary to be very particular in the actual distribution of places. In reference to this very office of VicePresident of the Board of Trade, the late Whig government set the example of placing it under the control of Mr. Sheil, of all men, perhaps, the least fitted to deal with commercial subjects; one far more likely to dally with figures of rhetoric than

to labour at figures of arithmetic. With such a precedent before us, the appointment of Mr. Gibson seems by comparison almost a good one.

In one point of view the choice seems, however, to be eminently justifiable. Lord John Russell having assumed office immediately after the accomplishment of a great and vital change in our commercial policy, and having declared that his general scheme of legislation was to carry out to their natural consequences those principles of free-trade which had been partially embodied in the tariffs and Corn-law Repeal Bill of Sir Robert Peel, it was but natural that he should desire to strengthen his government by incorporating in it some leading members of that body, the Anti-Corn-law League, by whose exertions out-of-doors repeal of the Corn-laws has in effect been carried. It was understood also that the noble lord set out with the determination of strengthening, as far as possible, his alliance with the manufacturing interest of widening the basis of his party in order to give it more solidity. His wish to include Mr.