For my own part, if, as I observed to you before, I had not more of good than evil in my composition, I should be as much out of humour with your ministers, just now, as the most infuriated Brunswicker; I should curse Wellington and Peel as heartily as Caliban cursed Prospero, in your immortal poet's Tempest:

'As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd

With raven feather, from th' unwholesome fen,

Drop on you both-a south-west wind blow on you,
And blister you all o'er!'"

"I have been so bored with the Catholic question, and the incredible fooleries of the intolerant faction for some time past, (said Ferdinand,) that by your leave we will change the subject. Instead of wasting our time on the bigots, let us resume our former theme, the quacks and plagiarists. Since our last conversation on the subject, it has occurred to me, that a collection of the best authenticated instances of plagiarisms in literature, science, and the fine arts would be amusing and useful. It would be the means of exposing the thief, and, at the same time, restoring the stolen property to its rightful owner. If I should attempt the task, as I have some thoughts of doing, I think I should choose for my motto-Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's,' or, Put the saddle on the right horse. My only fear is, that the work would be as bulky as the statutes at large, an abridgment of which would load a moderate sized waggon."

"It would, in truth, be a formidable affair, (said Asmodeus;) Solomon, you know, long ago, said there was nothing new under the sun."

"There can be no harm, however, (said Ferdinand,) in occasionally amusing one's self with showing up a plagiarist or two, by way of warning to others of the tribe. I was this very morning, at breakfast, reflecting upon the ease with which some of our musical professors obtain fame and emo

lument, by the appropriation of the labours of others. What makes this fraud worse is, that they too often, by engrafting upon the original stock some miserable conceit of their own, treat the works of the pillaged authors, as gipsies are said to treat the children they kidnap,-they disfigure them in order that they may pass for their own.”

"Here, now, is a tune which has been sung, I was going to say, in all churches and chapels; and if I had said so I should not have been far out, as it has lately been adopted as a psalm tune. It has been heard in all our theatres and private musical parties, and has found its way into all the barrel organs in the kingdom; and yet, I will venture to say, that there is not one original passage in it, from begin ning to end."

What is the melody to which you allude? (said Asmo deus.) I ask the question because there are scores of your fashionable tunes exactly in the same predicament ?"

"It is here before you, (said Ferdinand ;) and I should not wonder if a thousand pounds have been realized by this single ditty. Before you favoured me with your company this evening I had been endeavouring to trace the plagiarism to its source, but although there is not a bar in the whole which was not familiar to me before Miss Tree made it so popular, I have not been able to detect the original melody. I therefore apply to you, my friend, to aid me in the investigation. You are the very best authority to which I could appeal on such an occasion, as you are thoroughly versed in such matters. Le Sage, who has immortalized himself and you in his celebrated Diable Boiteux, in his first chapter describing your interview with my respected ancestor, Don Cleofas, has ascribed these words to you :—Je suis l'inventeur des carousels, de la danse, de la musique, de la comédie, &c. In asking your opinion, therefore, I conceive I am applying to the fountain head for information."

Asmodeus, with a courteous acknowledgment of the compliment, glancing at the score of "Home, sweet home," replied, "Your observations are very just; this melody is, indeed, 'an old friend with a new face.' The new face, miserable enough in all conscience, is merely the words; as for the tune itself there is not a passage in it which has any pretensions to originality." As he said this, he took down a Spanish guitar, which was at hand, and played the following passage, at the same time accompanying the music with his voice:

"Do you not recognise that melody in Storace's Haunted Tower," said Asmodeus, as he finished the strain.

"Perfectly, (said Ferdinand,) and it is the very air about which I have been racking my brains. Is not the passage you have just played precisely the same as one in Home, sweet home?""

"Exactly, as you will find, if you will listen once more. [Here Asmodeus repeated the notes, substituting for the former words, the following from "Home, sweet home:"-" "There's no place like home, there's no place like home; There's no place like home, there's no place like home.'

You perceive, (continued Asmodeus), that the soi-disant

composer has had the grace to say in the title-page, 'composed, and partly founded on a Sicilian air; but the fact is there is not, as you have very justly observed, one bar which has any claim to originality from beginning to end.”

"Did you ever know a more barefaced plagiarism?” said Ferdinand.

"Much of Michael Kelly's music is of the same stamp, (said Asmodeus,) although that singer, by the bye, has not been very candid on this point, in his Reminiscences lately published. Had he, like Rousseau, confessed all his peccadilloes, his work would not only have been much more entertaining, but infinitely more edifying. Had he, honestly avowed the sources from which he borrowed these numerous melodies, for which he obtained a temporary popularity, you would have found him a daw strutting in borrowed plumage. While travelling on a musical tour to the Continent, he noted down, in his scrap-book, Italian and other airs, which were little known in England; and, on his return, he passed off many of these for his own. The cheat was, indeed, known to the travelled amateur and professor, and Michael was in the best informed musical circles in England esteemed merely as a man of taste, who had the talent of appropriating and profiting by the importation of musical exotics. Sheridan once gave him a broad hint on the subject, which you may probably recollect."

"Not exactly, (said Ferdinand ;) I may have heard of it, but I will thank you to repeat the anecdote."

"Willingly (said Asmodeus;) Kelly finding his plagiarisms smoked, and his emoluments consequently falling off, resolved to turn wine merchant, in order to make both ends meet. Under these circumstances he consulted Sheridan respecting an appropriate sign to affix over his door, informing him that he proposed that it should be Michael Kelly, composer of music and importer of wine. Sheridan, 'with infinite

promptitude," as Mathews has it, observed that the words if inverted, would be much more appropriate, and that they should be thus transposed, Michael Kelly, composer of wine, and importer of music. It is needless to add that Kelly, although conscious of the insinuation here meant to be implied, turned a deaf ear to the counsel of his waggish friend."

CHAP. XII.

[WRITTEN IN MARCH 1829.]

Cobbelt-Blowing Hot and Cold.-Scene in a Brunswick Club.

"Do you not see a fresh, gray-haired, elderly person in his study yonder, busily employed in writing? (said Asmodeus.) Do you know him ?"

"I do not; what is he so eagerly engaged about?" (said Ferdinand.)

"That is one of the most extraordinary men of the age, (said Asmodeus;) without any of the advantages of education, he ranks, and justly too, as one of the most powerful writers of the day. As a Marplot, or mischief-maker, he is of course, a favourite with me. I fancy it is superfluous to add, that that is the celebrated William Cobbett, a man who, if he had possessed political integrity, would have been one of the most popular men in England."

"You have excited my curiosity in no ordinary degree (said Ferdinand;) I have been a reader of his works for many years, and have been highly pleased with the perspicuity and vigour of his style, although he is certainly the most inconsistent writer that ever lived. He never laid down a position which he has not contradicted, nor lauded a measure which he has not afterwards denounced; and his