A TRIP FROM NICE TO GENOA.

THE town of Nice is situated just within the boundary of the kingdom of Sardinia. We arrived there late one night, and the next day proving beautifully fair, induced a young French gentle. man, with whom we were travelling, to hire a felucca, or little boat, to take us to Genoa, we being a party of five. The boat was soon procured, and, the wind being extremely favourable, we set sail.

The first day saw us to San Remo; and, I think, I never enjoyed any scenery so much as I did that which we this day witnessed. The first town we passed after leaving Nice was Villa Franca, where the small harbour is defended on the one side by a long tongue of land, and a jetty on the other. The next place of any importance was Monaco, the coast of the bay between which place and Mentone is very rocky and picturesque; the sea is beautifully blue and very clear; and the bright shore, smiling in the sunshine of an Italian sky, had an enchanting effect. We passed under the walls of Vintimiglia, with its curious bridge and battlements, most truly Italian; the white fortifications and towers forming a striking contrast with the black mountain on the opposite side of the river. The little village of Ego, adorned with luxuriant palm-trees, next presented itself to view. These were perfect novelties both to the young Frenchman and to me; for we neither of us had imagined that this kind of tree could grow in the open ground in Europe. The Florentines, too, who were with us, were astonished, not indeed at the palm-trees, but at us: they wondered where we could have been brought up. One of the young ladies remarked, that we should see hundreds at Florence and Rome; but this is not the case,-a few poor solitary things, which truly look as though they were not natives of the soil, may indeed be met with.

As I have before mentioned, St. Remo received us for the night, where the inn was indeed most wretched. The young Florentines, who had been complaining all day, now grumbled worse than ever. The best room in the house, poor as it was, was assigned to them. The night was cold, and the wind, which had been fresh all day, now blew in gusts, as if a storm were approaching. We sat down to a miserable supper, by the light of a very indifferent lamp, which was mounted on a brass stand, and furnished with roker, snuffers, extinguisher, and tweezers, but which, with all our ingenuity, we could hardly get to burn. The Florentines now began to tell their beads; but their devotions were sadly broken in upon by exclamations of "We shall have a most violent storm!" and "How shall we proceed to-morrow?" The young Frenchman soon answered this question, by saying "We'll see when to-morrow comes. The theatre formed the next theme on which to converse, and a grand festa which was then near at hand; and the two poor ladies were sorely afraid they would not reach Genoa time enough to see it.

The following morning proved fair, but the wind was still howling; and the question was, were we to remain at San Remo, procure a carriage, or proceed in our boat? The boat was at length decided upon, and, about two hours after daybreak, we set sail with a rough sea and a high wind. We soon reached San Steffano, which is an extremely picturesque little town, with its elegant church and painted tower. The bold and commanding town of Porto Maurizio next presented itself; after passing which we reached Oneglia. The storm had much increased, and the rain fell thick and fast, insomuch that it was deemed wisest and best to make for shore. We landed at Oneglia; and I need hardly state how glad I was to find myself once more on terra firma. Not so the Florentines: they persisted in proceeding; and the poor French gentleman, who really wished to do the best for all parties, finding that he could not, by force of any argument, prevail, was obliged to leave them ;-so, leaping ashore, he proceeded to join me, and I was not sorry to find that he had parted company with his troublesome and complaining companions.

We soon reached an inn; from the upper windows of which we

obtained a view over the sea, tossed and agitated by the roaring tempest; the sky was dark and overcast, and the wind boisterous in the extreme. My friend pulled a small telescope from his pocket, by the aid of which we were able to discern the boat, now riding on the top of a wave, and now lost to our eyes till the next wave brought it once more to view. "Why did not the sailors refuse to proceed?" said I, while my friend was gazing on the weather-beaten and unfortunate vessel. "They did at first," he replied; "but, just as you were landing, the elder ladies presented one of the fellows with a purse containing a few pieces of gold, saying, 'We shall certainly reach Genoa to-night or early to-morrow morning, in time for the festa, with this fair wind; and there's something for your honest exertions; so make for sea as soon as this cowardly Frenchman is ashore." "What a couple of simpletons!" thought I. But our conversation was at this moment interrupted by the entrance of mine host, who inquired whether we intended staying here all night, and what we should choose for dinner? This last inquiry was soon answered, and a very good meal laid before us, to cheer us after our rough morning's sail. Dinner being over, my friend sallied out to see if he could meet with a return vetturino, to take us to Genoa, or if there were any persons similarly situated as ourselves. The landlord informed us that, as the scenery between this town and that of Albenga was exceedingly beautiful, persons travelling by vetturino for pleasure generally contrived to sleep at Oneglia, so that they might enjoy the scenery under the influence of a bright morning sun. The afternoon was spent in settling with a vetturino; and in the evening we enjoyed a most delightful walk, passing through a fragrant orange-grove, on our way to the sea-shore. The silver moon was brightly shining on the dark waters; the sky, after the storm, being exceedingly clear and intensely blue; the tops of the snowy mountains, just discoverable in the soft moonlight, completed this lovely landscape.

The next day's journey was a long, though anything but a tedious one; the weather was beautifully fine, and the scenery of the Bay of Genoa, which we this day witnessed, is perhaps some of the finest and most magnificent that is to be met with in bella Italia. We left Oneglia early, even before sunrise; but, since the first few miles of the road traverses a country which has nothing very remarkably beautiful, the want of light was not felt. Soon after daybreak, however, we arrived at the Capo delle Mellè; and, having turned the promontory, one of the most charming views that I ever beheld presented itself. The road winds down a hill, on which grew some most luxuriant olive-trees; and their blueish foliage well contrasted with that of another tree, whose name I forget, the leaves of which were of a bright and lively green; the perfume from the orange-trees and the myrtles, now in blossom (and which here grow wild) scented the balmy air. On the seashore stood two most picturesque little towns, but which, when we entered them, we found to be dreadfully dirty: like most vilOff the land a little island- upraised its head above the surf, lages on this coast, they had an extremely foreign appearance. crowned by the ruins of an ancient lighthouse. Ridges of cliffs stretched far out into the sea, and were lost in extreme distance; and the beauty of the whole scene, which quite baffles description, was much enhanced by the clear Italian sky and sea.

Having passed the curious old city of Albenga, the three towers of whose cathedral we descried from some distance, we reached Finali to dinner. This last-mentioned town is situated at the foot of a very steep hill, from the summit of which the town appears, as it were, directly beneath you. While the horses were resting, we paid a visit to the cathedral, which is an exceedingly beautiful edifice, rich in precious marbles and frescoes; and we both of us thought the hour well spent. Dinner occupied half an hour more, after which we started for Savona.

We had not long left Finali before we arrived at a turn in the rising abruptly from out of the bosom of the ocean to the height of road, which brought us directly under some magnificent cliffs, time passed under a tunnel, when the vetturino pointed out to 118 many hundred feet. We soon began to ascend, and in a short that part of the coast on which stands proud Genoa. Leaving the cliffs behind us, another beautiful little bay presented itself to

my

view, with the picturesque villages of Nori and Vado, and their ruined battlements on the heights. The scene which we now witnessed was very similar to that which had so pleased us in the morning; but the bay is more contracted, the trees fewer; the sun, too, was nearly set: the battered and time-worn fortifications, nevertheless, added an interest to the landscape. It grew dark ere we reached Savona, imbedded in its mulberry-groves; so that, on arriving, we had time for little else but to get our suppers and go to bed. The rooms at our inn were clean and comfortable, which for Italy is rather extraordinary; and the cast-iron bedsteads, with their snow-white curtains, displayed the taste of the host or hostess, who seemed a very agreeable, pleasant couple. The next day saw us at Genoa; and, the evening proving very fine, friend proposed that we should go to the theatre, where we saw some very good acting. We stayed at Genoa two days, during which time we were able to visit many of the churches and palaces of the nobility; but it is not my intention to give a list or catalogue of all the different paintings, &c. in the various picture-galleries and rooms of every one or any of the palaces ;-my description must be very brief, and rather general than particular. There are, nevertheless, four things in Genoa which I must not altogether pass over in silence; -the first of these is a Portia, by Guido, in the Durazzo palace, which has a great deal of soul and feeling in it, and is extremely beautiful: she is represented about to swallow the hot coals. The next and only other painting shall mention is the altar-piece in the church of St. Stephen, depicting the martyrdom of that saint, which is the work of two artists; the upper part from the pencil of Raffaelle, and the lower part, executed by Giulio Romano, does not disgrace the work of his great predecessor. The third thing I shall mention is the hall of the Palazzo Ciro, which is one of the most gorgeous spectacles I have ever witnessed; being completely covered with gilding, lapis lazuli, marble, costly looking glasses, &c., with a fresco on the ceiling, the place is more like a fairy palace or a work of magic, than a habitation for man.

The last wonder is perhaps the most astonishing of anything that which alone it is worth coming to Genoa. This is not shown without an order, which our guide procured for us. Its size and dimensions will best speak its praise: it is made of one solid piece of emerald, is of an hexagonal form, and measures from corner to corner fifteen inches, and is four deep. There is one detraction, and that is a great one; it is sorely broken. Napoleon took it to Paris, and it returned not as it went.-But I have left myself

I have described.-viz. the Emerald Vase in the cathedral; to see

little or no room to describe the town.

Genoa at first sight would seem a city of kings; but this impression soon wears away, particularly after you have traversed its many narrow and dirty streets, which are infinitely more plentiful than broad ones. The Strade Nuova, Nuovissima, and Balbi, are certainly magnificent streets, and reminded me not a little of High-street, Oxford; though I hardly think the Genoese palaces can be compared to the English colleges; the architecture being inferior, though the buildings are more massive and substantial,many of them, indeed, much more resemble prisons than noblemen's mansions. Those most worthy of attention are the Durazzo palace, which contains perhaps some of the most interesting paintings; and the Brignole palace, which has the largest collecI might also mention the Vicini, the Spinola, and the Queen's; the last of which is remarkable for the tastefulness of the furniture. The Palazzo Reale we did not see, as the King was then at Genoa. The great hall at the Hotel de Ville is a noble room, and several of the churches are well worth a visit; among the number I would just name the Chiesa di S. Annunziata (which is rich in costly marbles), and the cathedral.

tiro.

Yet, though the principal streets and edifices are very magnificent, Genoa has many drawbacks, and the town, take it as a whole, must, notwithstanding all its grandeur, be called a dirty place. Its harbour is the admiration of all visitors, and may fairly be considered the first in Italy: the port of Naples does not nearly come up to it; Ancona is, I should think, the second. The view from the lighthouse is very extensive; and the traveller may obtain a very good notion of the manner in which the town is built from

the sea.

Genoa in former days triumphed over most of the cities of Italy; as proof whereof, the chains of Pisa may be seen hanging, dangling down, as trophies over one of the gates. In the afternoon of the second day, we went to the Dorian palace, where we noticed a statue of Andrea Doria, who, be it remembered, was the most renowned hero of Genoa.

PARAGUAY AND THE DICTATOR FRANCIA.

SECOND ARTICLE.

WE concluded our former notice on this subject with an account of Mr. J. P. Robertson's first interview with Francia; and it is our purpose now to give a brief sketch of the progress of that extraor dinary man.

the junta in whom the government was vested, and had occupied It will be recollected that Francia had retired in disgust from himself, whilst in apparent seclusion, in secretly fomenting discontents with the government and distrust in its members, who in fact The secret of Francia's success seems to be, that he really was the were none of them at all fitted for the responsible offices they filled. only man in the country possessed of sufficient energy and steadiness been a fixed society, possessed of liberty: the secret of the violent of character to control a people for the first time, since they had he had made of the requisites of a supreme governor. He had line of conduct he has pursued appears to be the absurd estimate heard of the brief, decisive, and peremptory manner in which Napoleon was wont to give his orders, and in this, he conceived, lay the great secret of command; forgetting that the extended information and clear judgment which dictated the commands of that surprising man were not possessed by himself; but the obstinacy, or it may be firmness, of his disposition, and the pride which was tion, prevented him from ever changing his course, though he natural to him and increased daily by the indulgence of his ambisoundness of the views which led him to consider it impossible knew himself to be in the wrong. There is no reason to doubt the that Paraguay could be governed in peace, save by one man possessed of supreme power. The people were not as a body possessed of either knowledge or national virtue sufficient to enable them to govern themselves; the example of the other Spanish colonies, Peru in particular, where the inhabitants have for years been cutting each other's throats, and lately threatened a general massacre of all foreigners, prove that Francia was so far right. But the course he has pursued shows that this apology for his arbitrary conduct, made whilst his authority was yet unsettled, was but a specious pretence, and that he who professed so great a regard passion, the possession of unbounded power: this he obtained, for his country cared only for the gratification of an insane and seemed to delight in assuring himself of the fact by wantonly exerting it in the most cruel manner, and then exultingly looked What a melancholy spectacle of human nature! Ambition has round to see who would question the will of the great dictator. generally been characterised by some noble traits; the men most celebrated for the indulgence of this passion have sought to be admired as well as dreaded, and, when they have acted meanly, have had the grace to be ashamed of it. But what has been the ambition of Francia? What fame, but that of a cold-blooded and intensely selfish man, has he obtained abroad? what, except terror and deadly hate, has he excited at home? No one ennobling act has brightened the dark course of his murderous path.

When Francia at length emerged from his retirement, he found himself enabled to dictate to his colleagues, who were distrusted, whilst he himself was looked upon as the only man who could calm the dissensions of the state. His abilities were confessedly of a superior rank, and his strict integrity caused great reliance to be placed on him. It may cause some surprise to hear that the man who could act so iniquitous a part in the indulgence of his ambition could ever have been remarkable for integrity; but such is the fact, and he distinguished himself in his profession by such an exercise of this noble quality as would have done honour to a Roman.

lodged in two consuls, Francia being one. The junta was speedily dissolved, and the government was then His colleague was quite unable to cope with him, and Francia in effect possessed all the power; but this did not satisfy him, he was determined to rule alone. Having reason to apprehend some opposition in Assumption, especially from the old Spaniards, he contrived a scheme which completely answered his expectation. Pretending a desire to ascertain the sense of the whole people in the amplest manner, he summoned a congress of a thousand members. In such an members could not understand a word of the proceedings; for assembly discussion was impossible. One half at least of the they spoke nothing but Guarini, the language of the Indians. In such a tumult, Francia found it easy to overcome his adversaries : he was elected dictator for three years, and his first act was to dissolve the congress. This was in 1814.

Francia, who had assiduously attended to the raising, equipping,

and maintaining a standing body of troops, during his consulship. made it his first object, when he became dictator, to establish this main instrument of his power. He himself attended to the minutest details, even to the fit of each individual uniform and the due repair of each musket. His soldiers were his sole dependence. He took all his measures gradually, and many were deceived by his conduct, which at first appeared actuated only by the caution and firmness necessary to establish the infant state. He introduced various improvements, and, though all his actions were performed in the most arbitrary manner, yet that might have been borne, since public good was the result. For instance, he determined on paving the city; he sent orders to private quarries for the stone necessary, which was worked by the country people, pressed into the service by his orders; and the inhabitants of the houses in the city were compelled each to pave the portion of the street before his own door, at his own expense. Thus he accomplished his purpose without expending a farthing of the national treasure; and this he called good economy.

The society of Paraguay had heretofore been divided into three parts, distinguished by birth. The old Spaniards, born in Spain, had always enjoyed greater liberty, and in general had possessed more wealth, than any others; they occupied all, or almost all, public offices; they were the acknowledged aristocracy of the state. Their children, of pure Spanish blood, held a second rank, and were seldom permitted to hold office. The third rank, the offspring of whites and natives, including all who were tinged with native blood, were held inferior, under the old Spanish regime. Francia himself was of the latter class: his father was, according to his own account, a Frenchman, according to others, a Portuguese; his mother, a Creole.

In the contemplation of the plan which he had from the first proposed to himself, Francia, influenced probably by national feeling, desired to get rid of "the old Spaniards," as being the class whose fidelity to the new government was most to be doubted; yet these men possessed the greatest wealth of any in the land, and the commerce, restricted as it had been, was chiefly in their hands. He feared them and their influence; and to this may be attributed his ultimate measure of closing up the country, and destroying its commerce totally, forcing the inhabitants to rely solely on themselves for their supplies.

Under various pretences, and often under no pretence at all, he began to restrict the liberty of commerce by continually closing the port, and suffering neither native nor foreigner to enter or depart. It would frequently happen that he suddenly declared the port to be open, merchants hastened to load their vessels, but before they could take their departure, the port would be closed again; the vessels had to be unloaded, and the goods rotted in the warehouses. The natural consequence was, that commerce was gradually destroyed; and as a finishing stroke Francia at length shut himself and his country up entirely by prohibiting all intercourse whatever, except on very rare occurrences when he himself needed foreign supplies.

He probably thought that by these means he should drive out the old Spaniards, but although sinking into ruin they still held by their ancient homes, and did not dare even to murmur. Discontents were not confined to them alone, for all classes suffered equally; Francia knew well that he was driving them to resistance, but he took measures to prevent it. He established so complete a system of espionage throughout the whole society, that no one dared to whisper the dictator's name even in the solitude of his own chamber. If he conceived the slightest suspicion of any unfortunate, the victim was hurried off, and without form of trial loaded with irons and immured in the public prison, or, what was worse, to the state dungeons, where numbers of the best men of the country miserably perished. "The public prison was a large building one hundred feet square, destined to receive inmates of every class save and except political delinquents. The court attached to the prison had an area of about twelve thousand feet; and in each dingy, suffocating apartment, there were crowded together from thirty to forty human beings. There was not room in these apartments to accommodate, outstretched upon the floor, so many wretched inmates; and those who could not find room to rest there, were suspended in small hammocks, hung one over another." "The state dungeons are small, damp, vaulted dungeons, of such contracted dimensions, that to maintain an upright posture in them is impossible, except under the centre of the arch. Here it is, that loaded with irons, with a sentinel continually in view, bereft of every comfort, left without the means of ablution, and under a positive prohibition to shave, pare their nails, or cut

their hair; here, in silence, solitude, and despair, the victims of the dictator's vengeance, and often of his mere displeasure or caprice, are constrained to pass a life to which death would be a thousand times preferable. *** Entombed alive,-cut off from all human intercourse and sympathy, he drags on a hated and loathsome existence, till, stricken to the soul by anguish, or a victim to disease, or in the convulsions of madness, he yields to Him who gave it, a soul into which the iron has so deeply entered as to make him receive, as the best of boons at the hands of his God, a release from his earthly woe. Thus died my friend and companion Gomez; thus died my friend Dr. Savala; thus died Padre Maiz; thus died the old Governor, General Velasco; and thus died his faithful butler. Thus died Machain; and thus, or on the banquillo, perished almost every kind and simple-hearted friend I ever had in Assumption.' The banquillo is a low stool or form, on which, in a sitting posture, delinquents are shot. The mode in which Francia exercised this instrument of his tyranny is best illustrated by a short anecdote.

When Francia proceeded to annihilate or debase the monastic orders," (he seized upon their revenues,) "he converted into barracks some of their monasteries. On this occasion an old Spaniard, called El Pelado, was so imprudent as to give loose to the following remark: The Franciscans have gone to-day; but who can tell that Francia's turn to go may not be to-morrow?' By some busy and malicious informer this short, but fatal speech, was conveyed to the ears of the dictator. He summoned El Pelado to his presence, and addressed him in these terribly emphatic words:-'As to when it may be my turn to go I am not aware; but this I know, that you shall go before me.' Next morning El Pelado was brought to the banquillo, placed not far from Francia's window; and the dictator delivered, with his own hands, to three soldiers, the three ball-cartridges with which the unfortunate man was to be shot. The aim was not effectual, and the executioners were ordered to dispatch him with their bayonets. Upon the whole of this scene of barbarity and blood, Francia looked from his window, being not distant more than thirty yards from the place of slaughter. *** Of all such executions, too, Francia was an exulting spectator; nor were the bodies which had been consigned to death in the morning, ever permitted to be removed till the evening. At frequent intervals, during the day, the dictator came to his window, and stood gazing on them as if to glut his eyes with the work of murder, and minister fiendish satisfaction to his revenge, by the view of the mangled carcasses of those whom, upon alleged enmity, he had thus made to lick the dust."

In 1814, Francia, when the three years of his dictatorship expired, procured his election as perpetual dictator, and took the title of Supremo. His tyranny became more oppressive as his power became more firmly established; and at length, notwithstanding all his precautions, a conspiracy against him was actually formed, and its execution was fixed for Good Friday, 1820. It was betrayed, and now all his fury broke out. His prisons were crowded, the banquillo was drenched with gore; he erected what he called "a chamber of truth," where by means of the old buccaneers' mode of torture, a leather strap tied round the head and then twisted till the pain became insufferable, he obtained whatever evidence he pleased. Numbers were banished to a vile unhealthy establishment called Tevego, which he had long before established and used as a place of hopeless exile for the unhappy Paraguayans. In 1821, he imprisoned all the old Spaniards whom he had not been able to charge with any crime, and kept them in confinement for eighteen months, when he liberated the survivors (for many died in confinement), obliging them, however, to pay heavy ransoms from the relics of their ruined fortunes. He had row completely crushed the country; the elements for revolt were annihilated, chiefly by the destruction of the moral feelings by his system of espionage; no man could trust another: and from one of the most open-hearted, free-spirited people in the world, the Paraguayans were reduced to the rank of crouching terrified slaves. He now prohibited all intercourse whatever with Assumption, and ordered that the little traffic which he was obliged occasionally to permit, should be carried on through Corrientes, where all goods intended for Paraguay are landed, and thence transported across the Paraua to Neembecu, beyond which no foreigner is permitted to pass. Several foreigners, Englishmen and others, who were in Paraguay, were detained there for several years, till at length they were liberated through the intervention of the British Consul at Buenos Ayres, Sir Woodbine Parish.

Thus has Francia lived for years-a dreaded solitary tyrant. Fearing assassination, he suffers no one to approach within a

hundred yards when he is abroad; and when he grants an interview, the visiter must approach with his hands hanging down at his sides, lest he should use concealed weapons, and must stop at the prescribed distance. He has not a single friend or confidant even among his soldiers, and he dares not even smoke the cigars prepared for him by his own sister, before he has unrolled every leaf to make sure that it is not poisoned. Such is the picture of this wretched victim of ambition. He is now an old man, at least eighty years of age, and must in the course of nature soon be called to render a fearful account.

Our readers may naturally be curious to know how Messrs. Robertson escaped the fangs of the dictator, to which we reply that they were fortunately banished the country in time. We had purposed in the present article to give a short detail of their progress and adventures, and also to notice the country and productions of Paraguay, but our limits forbid us; and although we wish to avoid giving our readers too much of one dish, yet so much still remains to be said, that we shall be under the necessity of again reverting to "Paraguay."

A LAWYER'S CLERK'S TALE. WITH one of my schoolfeliows, whose father was clerk to an eminent barrister, I paid occasional visits to the courts in Westminster Hall. I was with him, also, one day at the bar of the House of Lords during the arguing of an appeal case. We were not unfrequently, likewise, in the Old Bailey during the sessions. From thenceforward my imagination was filled with nothing but a vision of wigs and gowns. Many a time have I astounded an Old Bailey jury, badgered a witness in the Common Pleas, and even broken jokes with "my lords" the judges. I have been hand and glove with the Lord Chancellor himself, and (for my imagination exercised its ubiquitous privilege, and flew as it pleased between common law and equity,) I have leaned familiarly over the bar of the House of Lords, addressing the woolsack and empty benches on some intricate case on which I had been retained with a fee of a thousand guineas.

My decision was made - my profession was chosen-I should be a lawyer. My father, a plain, hard-working man, learned the decision with a kind of contemptuous carelessness, but finding me persist, it made him somewhat uneasy. Once on a time, he said, he had done a little business with lawyers himself, and had found them a precious pack of scoundrels. He hated lawyers cordially, and he had a reason for it. The reason was this. He had fancied that he had a claim to a property which wanted an owner, and he had spent some trifle of money in trying to establish his claim. But other and much nearer claimants than he had started up, and from that time he never could forgive the lawyers. We seldom beard the story when he was sober: but when he came home tipsy (which, to do him justice, was not frequently,) we were sure to get the whole history and mystery of this property, and perhaps it was but the second edition for that evening, if he had got any auditors in the parlour of the Rose and Crown. My mother used to call him an old fool, and desire him to go to bed, which he would very good-humouredly, but as he sank to sleep he still kept maltering about how the lawyers had cheated him of his property.

do

ness, proposed to me that I should become his clerk. I jumped at the proposal. The attorney, however, was somewhat offended by my leaving him, and spoke disparagingly of my ability. There was no engagement, however, and the barrister had conceived a fancy for me. Therefore did I become the barrister's clerk.

Now was I happy! I had surmounted one obstacle; and if I could but accomplish the task of eating my way through an Inn of Court, I might become a barrister, and have, one day, a clerk and chambers to myself. My employer was well connected, (what can a professional man do in London without a good connexion?) and besides, he was one of those persons who in common life are known as lucky individuals. Almost everything he took in hand succeeded with him. There was a buoyancy about him, combined with almost perfect suavity of manner, and a large portion of cleverness, which carried him swimmingly. He never knew what it was to fear or doubt the possibility of his success in life, and therefore he was equally free from the hesitation of a timid nature, and the bullying forwardness of a vulgar one. The word gentleman sums up his character. He knew his own position, kept it, never went under it or over it, and, as a natural consequence, was able to allow to others full deference and acknowledgment, without the fear that he was thereby detracting from himself. He was, indeed, a kind-hearted, open, candid gentleman!

Business flowed in upon him. No Jew in disposition, he raised my salary as he filled my time with work-as his fees increased, so did mine. By the time I had shot up from the shape and thoughts of a mere youth into the look and consequence of a young man, I was in the receipt of an income of about 2007. yearly, and it promised to increase still more. My employer would undoubtedly rise in his profession, and I would rise with him. He might become attorney-general- he might be made a judge! My prospects were far better than that of many a briefless barrister; I scorned to desert my employer, and abandoned all thoughts of anything but being his clerk for life. "Well, Bill," said my father, one day, as I handed him some money to pay uperrears of rent-there was a tear in his glistening eye-"I was wrong, and you was right, when you wanted to be a lawyer!" My mother would sit and look at me, while gratification and pride lighted up her face-or she would smile as my sister pulled the ring off my little finger, and placed it on her own, or my younger brother examined the texture of the silver watch-guard, that, like an alderman's chain, decorated my person. I was the great man of the family, and grew great in my own estimation. A bed-room was carefully assigned me-my father brushed my boots and shoes, nor would he allow any one else to do it. One night, I took him to the gallery of the House of Commons. Though fond of a bit of political discussion, especially in his favourite parlour at the Rose and Crown, his attention was riveted, not on the speaker or his wig, or the clerks at the table with their wigs, or the mace, or the members, but on the sergeant-at-arms, and the messengers of the House. He was getting tired, he said, of hard work, and he "would just like to be one of them chaps," to sit and hear the speeches, and have nothing to do but order the folks in the strangers' gallery to sit down and be quiet. I promised to use all my influence to get him put on the list, and no doubt he would be appointed in due course!

of me.

About a year afterwards a young barrister, who had just taken possession of his chambers, and was beginning to get some busi

Time wore on; my money was as plentiful, or more so, as ever; and I became, not a dissipated, but a gay, thoughtless young fellow. ventured, now and then, into the pit at the opera, occasionally treated my sisters (my mother would never go) to a box at the play, and when" master and I" went on circuit, I drank my wine "like a gentleman." About this time, I was smitten by the charms of a pretty, affectionate girl, (she is, thank goodness, if not as pretty, at least as affectionate as ever she was,) and-we married! Who blames me? My employer was glad to hear of my marriage. He said that he would repose greater confidence in me than ever, that he felt he had a greater hold upon me than he had before, that, in fact, I had " given hostages to fortune." I told all this to my wife, and though she did not exactly understand what giving hostages to fortune meant, she thought it must mean something very complimentary, considered my employer a very fine gentleman, wondered he did not take a wife himself, but concluded that he had not yet met with the one that was destined for him. I look back to the first two years of my married life as one does to a pleasant vision, which seems to float indistinctly in the memory. They were spent in one round of thoughtless happiness. We never dreamed of saving any money, as we might have done. My absences on circuit were at first a source of annoyance, but she became used to them, and they were amply made up by our