could not possibly harmonize with much progress in his studies. Alas! these were either totally neglected, or at the best mere appearances were kept up; to effect which many clever shifts were had recourse to; these, however, oftentimes failed of success, and the sure consequence was severe punishment and loss of character. Yet he still persisted, in spite of his resolutions of amendment, which, in his calmer hours, were sometimes excited by the still small voice of conscience, and parental correspondence; for Frederick had a good heart, naturally open to conviction, but one in which, unfortunately, momentary impressions were soon effaced. This thoughtless career continued for some time. In vain did his true friends lament the neglect aud abuse of talents with which he was gifted. Mournful experience is the only cure for youthful imprudence, and it succeeded in this case. Our dashing Oppidan became at length so involved in pecuniary difficulties, from his extravagance, and the expenses which his favourite pursuits brought upon him, that he was betrayed into occasional meanness of behaviour, which the low state of his finances, his income not answering the calls made on it, induced him to commit; however revolting they might be to the innate nobleness of his disposition. His duns rendered his life miserable: it was quite impossible for him to walk up town without being accosted with a-" Sir, you promised-." "Oh, I was coming down to you, Mr. Golightly." "The smallest trifle would be a consideration." Pressed on all sides, he was obliged at last to throw himself on the affection of his father, who consented to pay off his debts on observing a thorough repentance. Gratitude for this treatment sunk deep in the mind of the son, and effected as entire a change as the frailty of human nature would allow. His haunts of idleness and extravagance were abandoned, and an end put to all connexion with those characters, who, under pretence of ministering to their amusement, prey upon the purses of inexperienced Etonians. But habits of indolence, which have long grown inveterate, are not shaken off in a moment. Having naturally an admirable memory, which retains every thing that is submitted to it, by the application of the slightest attention, Frederick soon made up for his deficiency in the

studies of the part of the school to which he belonged; but by this time the strong impulse by which his repentance was actuated, has subsided. He is now more admired for the flashy brilliancy of his talents than for the steady bright flame of learning, which deep reading and consistency of study are alone capable of lighting up and nourishing; and these are not characteristics of the individual I am describing. In spite of the re-action which took place on his amendment, periodical fits of indolence will often occur. There remain also traces of the past in the indulgence he gives way to, in a fashionable folly, which is at present too prevalent in the school-that of lounging up and down the town, dressed to the very acmè of Bond-street ton; or, if I may so express myself, even in the highest height a higher height of absurdity is aimed at by the Etonian votaries of dress. "To see and be seen," is the professed object of these unwearied vicambulists. But I wrong them perhaps; to have an object in view does away with the very quintessence of lounging. Frederick has long been considered the Sun, from whence the minor luminaries of the Eton hemisphere of fashion borrow all their lustre. But, indeed, one almost forgets the absurdity of his conduct in the amusement which his sprightly sallies of humour and endless vivacity always afford his companions. Woe to the dandified cit, who has just escaped from the foggy atmosphere of Cheapside, in his hired gig, with his smiling sweetheart at his side, to visit Vindsor, and act the gentleman on the Terrace, if he encounters the scrutinizing stare of Frederick's glass. And as for his critiques on the ladies, the Hermit in London would be proud to draw on them for an additional volume of his entertaining work. His sagacity of observation on the affected modesty and demure countenances of those, who just put on an appearance of innocence and purity as a mas querade dress, or from the true spirit of female contradiction; and the acuteness of his remarks on the flippancy, pertness, and forward address of others, whose giddy heads have been turned by the admiration which is paid them by the gay, unmeaning danglers at their side; his exact discrimination between diamonds and paste; the neat elegance of the lady of rank, and the gaudy trappings of the tradesman's wife;

and between the rose of health and its artificial substitute;are the very nectar and ambrosia of satirical entertainment. It is ludicrous to see the enraptured attitudes in which our amateur studiously composes himself, when he surrenders his feelings to the overpowering influence of melody, and is wafted from a consciousness of surrounding objects on the dying strain of one of those beautiful pieces, which the band are in the habit of playing: till his companion gives him an abrupt intimation that one of the Masters is at hand, and arouses him from that dreary ideality, which is so often talked of by some of the poets of the present day, to a sense of the necessity of his disappearance from the observation of the Guardian of school discipline. A propensity for dramatic representation was formerly a striking feature in his character. He had contrived to enrol a corps, of which he was constituted the head; and the surprising versatility with which he could assume and support the most opposite characters, as also the able manner in which he discharged the arduous office of manager, has seldom, if ever, been equalled at a school; his skill in drilling an awkward squad, in overawing presumption, in encouraging diffidence, and (the most difficult of all tasks) in reconeiling the pretensions of each individual with his capacity for fulfilling them;-these and many other suitable qualities, confirmed him in a station, which, without them, could not have been supported by the most shining abilities as an actor. While this mania was upon him, it monopolized his entire attention. He was perpetually studying some new theatrical attitude, and he scarcely ever opened his mouth, except to give you a pithy sentence from some play. By the way, he had always been notorious for his quotations at all times, and in all places-a propensity which smacks strongly of pedantry. But now he was doubly armed, and there was no end of the continual volleys which he sent forth from his magazine of farces and comedies. At last the theatre was knocked up from the failure of the funds, and Golightly's growing cold in the discharge of his duties; for, with his usual inconstancy, he began to be tired of his amusement, and to sigh for novelty. To sum him up in a few words-he is a compound, a very essence of sporting, satirical, and dramatic ingre

dients; each of which rises uppermost, (much on the prin ciples of chemistry, which sets the lightest body afloat,) in obedience to the caprice of the present moment.

ALLEN LE BLANC is the absolute reverse of Golightly. His very figure bears testimony to the eccentricity of his mind. He is of a diminutive round stature; his limbs are well compacted and clean made in short, he is a neat little miniature. He has small grey twinkling eyes, snubbed nose, decided lines of thought prematurely furrowed on his brow; and, as he bears his blushing honours thick upon him, one would shrewdly guess he was by no means deficient in paying his devoirs to Bacchus. He has read deeply, though his course of study has been perverted, and thought still more deeply but not having sufficiently founded his principles on the rock of morality and revealed religion, either owing to inadvertency, or a too great confidence in the unassisted powers of the human understanding, he has often been led away by strange theories and speculations, which happened for the moment to fix his attention, and which he pursues through all the intricacies of metaphysical argument, till he has lost himself in the labyrinth of his own ideas. Naturally of a strong mind, and imbued with a taste for the abstruse, he turned with superciliousness from the Epic and Lyric Poets. The natural simplicity of Homer, the more polished beauties of Virgil, and the sportive gaiety of Horace, with the exception of a few isolated passages, were totally uninteresting to our young philosopher. He flew with eagerness to the dark speculations of Lucretius, and the sneering infidelity of Lucan; or examined into the opinions of the Academy, and joined in the disputations at the Tusculan Villa. His chief pursuits have been the study of astronomy and history; an examination into the main spring and connexion of events; the rise and fall of nations, as exemplifying the great doctrine of the instability of all human institutions. His studies then took a more profitable turn; he penetrated with avidity into modern discoveries, from the Principia of Newton, to the metaphysics of Coleridge, and the moral philosophy of Paley. From hence the transition was easy to an eager investigation into theological subjects;

but here he was unluckily entangled among controversial points; and the spirit of religion was overlooked through a too ardent desire of coming to the understanding of the letter by the aid merely of human acquirements. It may be hoped, however, that a more attentive consideration of the nature of this study has, by this time, removed that film from the intellectual eye. His manners and actions are equally singular with his line of study; indeed so much so that they often incur the charge of affectation, though they mostly result from an absence of mind, and inattention to outward appearances. Though his library is full, and his choice of books good, you will find his study a very chaos. In the centre of one shelf a duodecimo gilt Horace stands along side of a ponderous black backed quarto, on theology: in front of you, as you enter, by the window, is a great staring head in plaster of Paris; on the skull of which are marked the different organs, according to the doctrines of Gall and Spurzheim. For be it known, our universal philosopher has lately been inquiring into the ingenious, but visionary, study of craniology; and has paid more attention than they deserve to the various importations of German absurdities which have inundated us of late years. In this sanctum sanctorum he pores over his favourite authors with 'spectacles on sapient nose,' taking no notice of his candle (though, with its immense snuff, it only renders darkness visible) till it has become finally extinguished in the socket; when, on arising to retire, he finds that the door of his study has been blockaded with bedsteads by some evil-disposed person or persons; and, having no remedy, he calmly ties his pocket handkerchief round his head, and contentedly passes the remainder of the hours usually dedicated to repose in his arm chair. One would naturally suppose that his exercises would be imbued with a strong tinge of his pursuits. However light or sportive the subject may be that is proposed for his theme, you must have but a slight idea of Allen's ardour for abstruse disquisition, did you not expect to find some metaphysical hints and observations dispersed throughout. Never is he in greater glory than when engaged in a laborious treatise on the lunar influences, or the properties of matter, in rough unpolished hexameters, after the Lucretian model; or an in