favourite plays of the English, there is a passage put into the mouth of a Yorkshire clown, which I had often heard quoted and which was forcibly brought to my recollection, as I listened to my master and the stranger as they were chaffing and bargaining for my miserable body,-'Never trust no body as deals in horses, (says Tyke,) I larned that in Yorkshire.' The duplicity and falsehood of these two men were disgusting beyond expression; my crafty master, although he had his secret reasons for wishing to get rid of me, affected a most extraordinary regard for me, which I had never before perceived. He extolled my pedigree to the skies, and swore that I was one of the most fleet, spirited, and sure-footed beasts he had ever had in his possession. The other replied that he could hardly reconcile such an account of me with certain whip marks on my flanks; and he swore by his Maker that I would be dear at half the price demanded for me;-as to my being sure-footed, he added, with a sneer, if we may judge by his knees, he is a d-d deal fonder of praying than of working.'

"After much similar slang and lying, I passed into the hands of the stranger, and as I thought that no change in my condition could possibly be for the worse, I was, upon the whole, pleased with a circumstance which might possibly render my life more tolerable than it had been of late. I soon, however, discovered that my change of masters was only a substitution of one tyrant for another, or, if I may adopt vulgar human phraseology, I found that I had 'got out of the frying-pan into the fire.' I was at first used as a hack horse, at the mercy of any thoughtless rider who could afford to hire me by the hour or day, and speedily found to my cost, that what are termed gentlemen, are sometimes more devoid of feeling than the drivers of a stagecoach; the latter, in urging us to what they term the top of our speed,' are actuated by necessity rather than choice;

they must travel at a certain speed, or they will be discharged for neglect of duty; but the gentleman who hires a poor hack, has, in general, no such excuse to plead; his object is to amuse himself, and it matters little whether he reaches the end of his jaunt an hour sooner or later. This consideration appears, however, seldom to have any influence with the dandies and puppies who patronized my master's livery stables; 'Push on, keep moving,' seemed to be their motto, and the life I led at this period of my melancholy existence would baffle all description:-unmercifully assailed by the incessant infliction of the whip and spur, I often, unin. tentionally, retaliated on my persecutor, by coming down on my knees, and precipitating him over my head, or by falling prostrate on the road through complete exhaustion.

(To be continued.)

[The length of the notes with which it has been deemed necessary to illustrate this portion of our work, has obliged us to reserve the remainder of the horse's address for our next number. As the notes are not original, but derived from a variety of sources, we may be permitted without egotism to observe that we attach much value to them, as tending to foster that good feeling towards the brute creation, which it is one of the main purposes of our work to encourage.]

P.S. Having been most deeply interested by a description of the "Knacker's Yard, or the Horse's Last Home," which is introduced into the last number of the Voice of Humanity, we made immediate application to the publishers of that work, for the loan of a very striking engraving by G. Cruickshank, which illustrates that melancholy narrative, for the purpose of introducing it into the next number of the Melange. Before we saw the engraving in the Voice of Humanity, it was our intention to trace our horse to this last melancholy home; and the politeness of the Society for Promoting Rational Humanity to the Animal Creation, by favouring us with the loan of Cruickshank's masterly engraving, will naturally enhance the interest of our Elysium of Animals.

"AY!" AND "NO!" OR THE DUMB ELOQUENCE of votes.

[WRITTEN IN MARCH 1829.]

"He (the Duke of Newcastle) had heard that Government had issued an order pro. hibiting all pensioners from signing petitions.-The Duke of Wellington asked the name of the department from which this order originated?-The Duke of Newcastle said he did not know the name, and asked his Grace if he had not heard of it?--The Duke of Wellington:-"No!"-House of Lords, March 12.

Though the Duke of Newcastle, the great borough peer,
Possesses seven voices,* but seldom we hear

Any sound from his manifold organ pipes flow,
In Parliament, save a mere-" Ay," or a "No."
It seems, t'other evening, this borough curmudgeon,
Put questions which Wellington took so in dudgeon,
That the only reply which he deign'd to bestow,
Was a brief and a very significant-"No!"
'Twas amusing to see mighty Newcastle stare,
To think how an insolent Minister dare

To speak in such tone to a borough bashaw,
Whose nod, like great Jove's, had been heretofore law.
'Tis thought that the Minister did not say more,
Because he considers long speeches a bore;

Or, perhaps, he may think (for our Shakspeare so writ,†)
That brevity is the quintessence of wit.-
Besides, your great borough Lords always speak 10,
Their monosyllabic, significant-"No!"

Or their monosyllabic, significant-" Ay!"

Is the sum of their logic, their speech, their reply,
Then why should the Premier's laconical style
Thus stick in their gizzard-engender their bile,
When they the example themselves always show,
And settle all questions by "Ay!" or by "No!"

This monopolizer of seats has actually, in the House of Commons, seven members nominated by him, or by his influence. He returns two members for Boroughbridge, two for Aldborough, one for Newark, one for Nottinghamshire, and one for Retford. In the second volume of the Mercury, p. 312, there is an excellent illustration of the borough system, contained in a conversation between Mr. Pelham. the then manager of the House of Commons, and Lord Falmouth, who, like the present Duke of Newcastle, had seven voices in that House which Mr. Canning used to say, needed no reform. The anecdote which was published in 1781, is too long for insertion here; but the pith of it is, that Lord Falmouth asked the Minister for the vacant situation of the Yeoman of the Guard for a friend of his, and that the Minister had promised it to some other person. The only answer which the great borough Lord gave to the Minister when he urged his promise, his honour, and so forth, was, "Remember, Mr. Pelham, there are seven of us." This irresistible logic at length overcame all the ministerial scruples of conscience, and Lord Falmouth's protége became Yeoman of the Guards.

+ If the use of this preterite should be demurred to, our author, who is particularly tenacious of his reputation as an elegant poet and profound grammarian, must shelter himself under the wing of Prior, who says,

The Ministers ne'er to their Lordships apply
To levy new taxes, but they answer-" Ay!"
Unless the said taxes (but seldom 'tis so)

Should touch their own pockets, and then they say—" No!"
To put down Reform, if the Ministers try

To gag and imprison John Bull, they say-" Ay!"

But when with petitions the poor humbly go,

To pray for cheap bread, then they frowning say-" No!”
When into some vile, corrupt job, Hume would pry,
If he move for inquiry, they never say—“ Ay!”
For the previous question they clamorous grow,
And check all inquiry, by growling out -"No!"
When the Irish petition these Lords to bestow
Equal laws to their Catholic brethren, 'tis-" No!"
Thus the nation's spell bound by a "No" or an "Ay,"
And a base borough faction the people defy.

May the day soon arrive when, throughout all the land,
The people, grown wiser, shall make a firm stand;
Resolv'd that the national weal or its woe
Shall no longer depend on an "Ay!" or a "No!"

GOBLET AND GOLD.

In the London papers which brought the first account of the examinations of the Liverpool witnesses respecting the election for this borough, in 1831, the names of Goblet and Gold were published by mistake, as no such persons gave evidence. This appropriate misnomer occasioned the following doggerels.

Messieurs Goblet and Gold

By the papers we're told,
Gave evidence on the petition;
And who, let me say,

Were so proper as they

To aid the Committee's decision!

For Gold, like a demon,

Bewitch'd all the freemen,

While Goblet made all the taps run;
Then to Goblet and Gold

They their consciences sold,

Thus all our elections are won.

DESPOTISM AND CRUELTY.

[WRITTEN IN 1821.]

"But man, proud man,

Dress'd in a little brief authority,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep."-Shakspeare.

The following lines were originally written on hearing that the Emperor of Russia, who had shortly before invaded Italy, meditated the invasion of Spain. The sentiments they express are equally applicable to the reigning autocrat of the North, whose atrocities committed upon the brave Polish people are almost without parallel in the history of the world.*

INVOCATION.

Oh! may Heaven's lightning from on high
Annihilate this band

Of ruffians, who 'gainst liberty

Now raise the ruthless hand!

And may that sceptred tyrant be
From his proud station hurl'd,
Who, impious, issues a decree
To desolate the world.

Or, if Almighty vengeance sleep,
Oh! for a potent spell

To raise a spirit from the deep

Recess of raging hell!

May conscience, like a demon foul,

Still whisper in his ear,

"Tyrant, the dagger, or the bowl,

May overtake thee, here."

*"The Administrative Council of Warsaw, by a decree, dated the 1st of March, has regulated the weight of the chains by which the Polish prisoners are to be fettered. It would appear that in future all these chains are to be made exclusively at the Imperial forge; they must be constructed on a patent model, and must even bear the government stamp. All male convicts to drag seven pounds of iron after them-women six! Will the day of retribution for such barbarity ever come?"-London Paper, March, 1833.