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and, after the lapse of a few, not unimproved years, he took his place in the first rank of the merchants of a populous burgh.

Daniel now had discoveries made to him of many relatives, among people, who, before, had never thought of counting kin with him. This staggered him a little at first; but, as he held these matters lightly, he used jocularly to observe,-" Yes, yes, we are all descended from Adam."

His lengthened purse, and respectable character, pointed him out as a fit candidate for the city honours, and the town-council pitched upon him as an eligible person to grace their board. Thus was a new field opened for him. His reasoning powers were publicly called into play; and he had, what he had never before been accustomed to, luxurious eating and drinking, and both without being obliged to put his hand into his breeches-pocket. Daniel was a happy

man:

No dolphin ever was so gay Upon the tropic sea.

He now cogitated with his own mighty mind on the propriety of entering upon the matrimonial estate, and of paying his worship to the blind god. With the precision of a man of business, he took down in his note-book a list of the ladies who, he thought, might be fit candidates for the honour he intended them, the merits of the multitude being settled, in his mind, in exact accordance to the supposed extent of their treasures. Let not the reader mistake the term. By treasure he neither meant worth nor beauty, but the article which can be paid down in bullion or banknotes, possessing the magic properties of adding field to field, and tenement to tenement.

One after another, the pen was drawn through their names, as occasion offered of scrutinizing their claims more clearly, or as lack-success obliged him, until the candidates were reduced to a couple, Miss Jenny Drybones, a tall spinster, lean and ill-looking, somewhat beyond her grand climacteric; and Mrs. Martha Bouncer, a brisk widow, fat, fair, and a few years on the better side of forty.

Miss Jenny, from her remote youth upwards, had been housekeeper to her brother, a retired wine-merchant, who departed this life six years before, without occasioning any very general lamentation; having been a man of exceeding strict habits of business, according to the jargon of his friends; that is to say, in plain English, a keen, dull, plodding, avaricious old knave. But he was rich, that was one felicity; therefore he had friends. It is a pity that such people ever die, as their worth, or, in other words, their wealth cannot gain currency in the other world; but die he did in spite of twenty thousand pounds and the doctor, who was not called in till death had a firm gripe of the old miser's windpipe, through which, respiration came scant and slow, almost like the vacant yawns of a broken bellows.

Expectant friends were staggered, as by a thunderstroke, when the read will, too legal for their satisfaction, left Miss Jenny in sure and undivided possession of goods and chattels all and sundry.

For the regular period she mourned with laudable zeal, displaying black feathers, quilled ruffles, crape veils, and starched weepers, in great and unwonted prodigality, which no one objected to, or cavilled

about, solely because no one had any business to do

So.

It was evident, that her views of life from that era assumed a new aspect, and the polar winter of her features exhibited something like an appearance of incipient thaw; but the downy chin, wrinkled brow, and pinched nose, were still, alas! too visible. Accordingly, it is more than probable, that instead of renewing her youth like the eagles, she had only made a bold and laudable attempt of refacciamento, in thus lighting up her features with a more frequent and general succession of smiles.

No one can deny, that, in as far as regards exter nals, Miss Jenny mourned most lugubriously and well, not stinting the usually allotted number of calendar months. These passed away, and so did black drapery; garments brightening by progressive but rapid strides. Ere the twelve months expired, Miss Jenny flaunted about in colours as gaudy as those, of "the tiger-moth's deep-damasked wings," the counterpart of the bird of paradise, the rival of the rainbow. Hath the reader ever witnessed Mathews' representation of the old maid, who, with her dogs, banboxes, and parrot-çage, would force herself into "the Diligence?" If so, Miss Jenny's apparition hath blessed his mortal sight, and farther words were wasted on the subject.

Judge not altogether from appearances. Miss Jenny was not to be shoved out of the way altogether, like an old shoe. She had a town-house of two stories, furnished, if not according to ton, yet tastefully; with an establishment of a female servant, (cook and chambermaid), and a message-boy, a smart young actor of all work, who cleaned the shoes, worked in the garden, sweetened the cow-house, and, as occasion required, mounted his Sunday et ceteras, with a blue jacket faced with yellow, to stand behind a chair at dinner; or trudge after his mistress to church with her Bible beneath his arm, carefully screened from sun and shower in the circumvolutions of a white pockethandkerchief. She had also a country-house, three miles distant, on the banks of a pleasant stream, surrounded by lawns and groves, and commanding an extensive view of the ocean. This she rented; for why? because her ubiquity extended no farther than the being able to inhabit one tenement at a time.

Widow Martha Bouncer was a lady of a different stamp. Her features still glowed in the freshness of youthful beauty, though the symmetry of her person was a little destroyed by a tendency to corpulency. She dressed well; and there was a liveliness and activity about her motions, together with an archness in her smile, which captivated the affections of the tobacconist, rather more than was compatible with his known and undisguised hankering after the so-called good things of this life, the flesh-pots of Egypt.

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swallowed a bullet, and dropped the death-dealing blade from his blood-besmeared hand on the field of battle, but quietly in his bed, with three pair of excellent blankets over him, not reckoning a curiouslyquilted counterpane. Long anticipation lessens the shock of fate; consequently the grief of this widow was not of that violent and overwhelming kind which a more sharply-winded-up catastrophe is apt to occasion; but, having noticed the slow, but gradual approaches of the grim tyrant, in the symptoms of swelled ancles, shrivelled features, troublesome cough, and excessive debility, the event came upon her as an evil long foreseen; and the sorrow occasioned by the exit of the captain was sustained with becoming fortitude.

Having been fully as free of his sacrifices to Bacchus as to the brother of Bellona, the captain left his mate in circumstances not the most flourishing; but she was enabled to keep up appearances, and to preserve herself from the gulf of debt, by an annuity bequeathed to her by her father, and by the liberality of the widows' fund.

Time passed on at its usual careless jog-trot; and animal spirits being a gift of nature, like all strong natural impulses, asserted with legitimate sway. Mrs. Martha began to smile and simper as formerly. Folks remarked, that black suited her complexion; and Daniel Cathie could not help giving breath to the gallant remark, as he was discharging her last year's account, that he never before had seen her looking half so well.

On this hint the lady wrought. Daniel was a greasy lubberly civilian to be sure, and could not escort her about with powdered collar, laced beaver, and glittering epaulettes; but he was a substantial fellow, not amiss as to looks, and with regard to circumstances, possessing every thing to render a wife comfortable and snug. Elysian happiness, Mrs. Martha was too experienced a stager to expect on this side of the valley of death. Moreover, she had been tossed about sufficiently in the world, and was heartily tired of a wandering life. The height of her wise ambition, therefore, reached no higher than a quiet settlement, and a comfortable domicile. She knew that the hour of trial was come, and sedulously set herself to work, directing against Daniel the whole artillery of her charms. She passed before his door every morning in her walk; and sometimes stood with her pretty face directed to the shop-window, as if narrowly examining some article in it. She ogled him as he sat in church; looking as if she felt happy at seeing him seated with the bailies; and Daniel was never met abroad, but the lady drew off her silken glove, and yielded a milk-white delicate hand to the tobacconist, who took a peculiar pleasure in shaking it cordially. A subsequent rencontre in a stage-coach, where they enjoyed a delightful tête-a-tête together for some miles (procul, ô procul esto profani), told with a still deeper effect; and every thing seemed in a fair way of being amicably adjusted.

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Miss Jenny, undismayed by these not unmarked symptoms of ripening intimacy, determined to persue her own line of amatory politics, and set her whole enginery of attack in readiness for operation. She had always considered the shop at the cross as the surest path for her to the temple of Bona Fortuna.

NO. XXXI.-VOL. III.

Thence driven, she was lost in hopeless mazes, and knew not where to turn.

She flaunted about, and flashed her finery in the optical observers of Daniel, as if to say this is a specimen, ex uno disce omnes,-thousands lie under this sample. Hope and fear swayed her heart by turns, though the former passion was uppermost; yet she saw a snake in the form of Mrs. Bouncer, lurking in her way; and she took every lawful means, or such as an inamorata considers such, to scotch it.

Well might Daniel be surprised at the quantity of candles made use of in Miss Jenny's establishment. It puzzled his utmost calculation; for though the whole house had been illuminated from top to bottom, and fours to the pound had been lighted at both ends, no such quantity could be consumed. But there she was week after week, with her young vassal with the yellow neck behind her, swinging a large wicker-basket over his arm, in which were deposited, layer above layer, the various produce of Miss Jenny's marketing.

On Daniel, on these occasions, she showered her complaisance with the liberality of March rains; inquiring anxiously after his health; cautioning him to wear flannel, and beware of the rheumatics; telling him her private news, and admiring the elegance of his articles, while all the time her shrivelled features "grinned horribly a ghastly smile," which only quadrupeled "fold upon fold, innumerable" of her wrinkles, and displayed gums innocent of teeth, generosity not being able to elevate three rusty stumps to that honour and dignity.

There was a strong conflict in Daniel's mind, and the poor man was completely "bamboozled." Ought he to let nature have her sway for once, take to his arms the blushing and beautiful widow, and trust to the success of his efforts for future aggrandisement? or must strong habit still domineer over him, and Miss Jenny's hook, baited with five thousand pounds. draw him to the shores of wedlock, "a willing captive?" Must he leave behind him sons and daughters with small portions, and "the world before them, where to choose;" or none,-and his name die away among the things of the past, while cousins ten times removed, alike in blood and regard, riot on his substance? The question was complicated, and different interrogatories put to the oracle of his mind afforded different responses. The affair was one, in every respect, so nicely balanced, that," he wist not what to

Fortune long hung equal in the balance, and might have done so much longer, had not an unforeseen accident made the scale of the widow precipitately to mount aloft, and kick the beam.

It was about ten o'clock on the night of a blustering November day, that a tall, red-haired mustachioed, and rawboned personage, wrapt up in a military greatcoat, alighted from the top of the Telegraph at the Salutation inn, and delivered his portmanteau into the assiduous hands of Bill the waiter. He was ushered into a comfortable room, whose flickering blazing fire mocked the cacophony of his puckered features, and induced him hastily to doff his envelopements, and draw in an arm-chair to the borders of the hearthrug.

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Having discussed a smoking and substantial supper, he asked Bill, who was in the act of supplying his м 2

rummer with hot water, if a Mrs. Bouncer, an officer's widow, resided in the neighbourhood ?”

"Yes," replied Bill; "I knows her well; she lives at third house round the corner, on the second floor, turning to the door on your right hand."

She is quite well, I hope?" said the son of Mars.

"Oh! well, God bless you, and about to take a second husband. I hear as how that they are to be proclaimed next week. She is making a good bargain."

"Next week to be married!" ejaculated the gallant captain, turning up his eyes, and starting to his legs with a hurried perplexity.

"So I believe, sir," continued Bill very calmly. "If you have come to the ceremony, you will find that it does not take place till then. Depend upon it, sir, you have mistaken the date of your invitationcard."

"Well, waiter, you may leave me," said the captain, stroking his chin in evident embarrassment ;— "but stop,-who is she about to get ?"

"Oh, I thought every body knew Mr. Daniel Cathie, one of the town-council, sir,—a tobacconist, and a respectable man,-likely soon to come to the provestry, sir. He is rather up in years to be sure, but

he is as rich as a Jew."

"What do you say is his name?"

"Mr. Daniel Cathie, Esq., tobacconist and candlemaker near the cross. That is his name and designation,- --a very respectable man, sir."

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Well, order the girl to have my bed well warmed, and to put pens, ink, and paper, into the room. In the mean time bring me the boot-jack."

The captain kept his fiery feelings in restraint before Bill, but the intelligence hit him like a cannonshot. He retired almost immediately to his bedchamber; but a guest, in the adjoining room, declared in the morning, that he had never been allowed to close his eyes, from some person's alternately snoring or speaking in his sleep, as if in violent altercation with some one; and that, whenever these sounds died away, they were only exchanged for the irregular tread of a foot measuring the apartment, seemingly every direction.

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It was nine in the morning; and Daniel, as he was ringing a shilling on the counter, which he had just taken for value received, and half-ejaculating aloud, as he peered at it through his spectacles," Not a Birmingham I hope," had a card put into his hand by Jonas Bunting, the Salutation shoe black.

Having broke the seal, Daniel read to himself,"A gentleman wishes to see Mr. Cathie at the Salutation inn, on particular business, as speedily as possible. Inquire for the gentleman in No. 7, a quarter before nine, a. m.”

"Some of these dunning travellers!" exclaimed Daniel to himself; "they are continually pestering me for orders. if I had the lighting up of the moon I could not satisfy them all. I have a good mind not to go, for this fellow not sending his name. It is impudence with a vengeance, and a new way of requesting favours!" As he was muttering these thoughts between his teeth, he was proceeding, however, in the almost unconscious act of undoing his apron, which having flung aside, he adjusted his hair before

the glass, carefully pressed his hat into shape, and drew it down on his temples with both hands; after which, with hasty steps, he evanished from behind. the counter.

Arriving at the inn, he was ushered into No, 7 by the officious Bill, who handed his name before him, and closed the door after him.

"This is an unpleasant business, Mr. Cathie," said the swaggering captain, drawing himself up to his full length, and putting on a look of important ferocity. "It is needless to waste words on the subject; there is a brace of pistols, both are loaded, take one, and I take the other; choose either, sir. The room is fully eight paces," added he, striding across in a hurried manner, and clanking his iron heels on the carpet.

"It would, I think, be but civil," said Daniel, evidently in considerable mental as well as bodily agi. tation, "to inform me what are your intentions, before forcing me to commit murder. Probably you have mistaken me for some other; if not, please let me know in what you conceive I have offended you?"

"By the powers," said Captain Thwackeray with great vehemence, " you have injured me materially, -nay, mortally, and either your life, sir, or my own, shall be sacrificed to the adjustment."

While saying this, the captain took up first the one pistol, and then the other, beating down the contents with the ramrod, and measuring with his finger the comparative depth to which each was loaded.

"A pretty story, certainly, to injure a gentleman in the tenderest part, and then to beg a recital of the particulars. Have you no regard for my feelings, sir?"

"Believe me, sir, on the word of an honest man, that, as to your meaning in this business, I am in utter darkness," said Daniel with cool firmuess.

"To be plain then, to be explicit,-to come to the point, sir, was you not on the eve of marrying Mrs. Bouncer?"

"Mrs. Bouncer!" echoed the tallow-chandler, starting back, and crimsoning. Immediately, however, commanding himself, he continued:-"As to the truth of the case, that is another matter; but, were it as you represent it, I was unaware that I could be injuring any one in so doing."

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Now, sir, we have come to the point; rem tetigisti acu; and you speak out plainly. Take your pistol," bravadoed the captain.

"No, no,—not so fast; perhaps we may understand each other without being driven to that alternative."

"Well then, sir, abjure her this moment, and resign her to me, or one of our lives must be sacrificed.” While he was saying this, Daniel laid his hands on one of the pistols, and appeared as if examining it,. which motion the captain instantly took for a signal of acquiescence, and " changed his hand, and checked his pride.""I hope," continued he, evidently much softened, "that there shall be no need of resorting to desperate measures. In a word, the affair is this,I have a written promise from Mrs. Bouncer, that, if ever she married a second time, her hand was mine. It matters not with the legality of the measure, though the proceeding took place in the lifetime of her late husband, my friend, Captain Bouncer. It is quite an

affair of honour. I assure you, sir, she has vowed to accept of none but me, Captain Thwackeray, as his successor. If you have paid your addresses to her in ignorance of this, I forgive you; if not, we stand opposed as before."

"Oh ho! if that be the way the land lies," replied Daniel, with a shrill whistle, "she is yours captain, for me, and hearty welcome. I resign her unconditionally, as you military gentlemen phrase it. A great deal of trouble is spared by one's speaking out. If you had told me this, there would have been no reason for loading the pistols. May I now wish you a good morning. Od save us! but these are fearful weapons on the table! Good morning, sir."

"Bless your heart, no," said Captain Thwackeray, evidently much relieved from his distressing situation: "oh no, sir,-not before we breakfast together;"-and, so saying, before Daniel had a moment's time for reply, he pulled the bell violently.

“Bill, bring in breakfast for two as expeditiously as possible. (Exit Bill).—I knew that no man of honour, such as I know or believe you to he, (your appearance bespeaks it), would act such a selfish part as deprive me of my legal right; and I trust that this transaction shall not prevent friendly intercourse between us, if I come, as my present intention is, to take up my abode among you in this town."

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By no means,' " said Daniel; "Mrs. Bouncer is yours for me; and, as to matrimonials, I am otherwise provided. There are no grounds for contention, captain."

Breakfast was discussed with admirable appetite by both. The contents of the pistols were drawn, the powder carefully returned into the flask, the two bullets into the waistcoat-pocket, and the instruments of destruction themselves deposited in a green woollen case. After cordially shaking each other by the hand, the captain saw Mr. Daniel to the door, and made a very low congé, besides kissing his hand at parting.

The captain we leave to fight his own battles, and return to our hero, whose stoicism, notwithstanding its firmness, did not prevent him from feeling considerably on the occasion. Towards Mrs. Bouncer he had not a Romeo-enthusiasm, but certainly a stronger attachment than he had ever experienced for any other of her sex. Though the case was hopeless, he did not allow himself to pine away with "a green and yellow melancholy," but reconciled himself to his fate with the more facility, as the transaction between Thwackeray and her must have taken place during the lifetime of her late husband, which considerably lessened her in his estimation; having been educated a rigid Presbyterian, and holding in great abhorrence all such illustrations of military morality. No, no," thought he," my loss is more apparent than real: the woman who was capable of doing such a thing would not content herself with stopping even there. Miss Jenny Drybones is the woman for me,-I am the man for her money." And here a thousand selfish notions crowded on his heart, and confirmed him in his determination, which he set about without delay.

There was little need of delicacy in the matter; and Daniel went to work quite in a business-like style. He commenced operations on the offensive, offered Miss Jenny his arm, squeezed her hand, buttered her with love-phrases, ogled her out of counte

nance, and haunted her like a ghost. Refusal was in vain; and, after a faint, a feeble, and sham show of resistance, the damsel drew down her flag of defiance, and submitted to honourable terms of capitulation.

Ten days after Miss Jenny's surrender, their names were proclaimed in church; and, the people stared at each other in half-wonder and half-good humour, the precentor continued, after a slight pause," There is also a purpose of marriage between Mrs. Martha Bouncer, at present residing in the parish, and Au gustus Thwackeray, Esq., Captain of the Bengal Rangers; whoever can produce any lawful objections against the same, he is requested to do so,-time and place convenient."

Every forenoon and evening between that and the marriage-day, Daniel and his intended enjoyed a delightful tête-a-tête in the lady's garden, walking armin-arm and talking, doubtless, of home-concerns, and the Elysian prospects that awaited them. The pair would have formed a fit subject for the pencil of a Hogarth,-about "to become one flesh," and so different in appearance. The lady, long-visaged and wrinkled,—stiff-backed and awkward.-long as a May-pole; the bridegroom, jolly-faced like Bacchus, stumpy like an alder-tree, and round as a beer-barrel.

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Ere Friday had beheld its meridian sunshine, two carriages drawn up at the door, and drivers with white favours and Limerick gloves, told the attentive world that Dr. Redbeak had made them one flesh, Shortly after the ceremony, the happy couple drove away amid the cheerings of an immense crowd of neighbours, who had planted themselves around the door, to make observations on what was going on. Another coincidence, worthy of remark, also occurred on this auspicious day. At the same hour, had the fair Widow Martha yielded up her lily-white hand to the whiskered, ferocious-looking, but gallant Captain Thwackeray; and the carriages containing the respective marriage-parties passed one another in the street at a good round pace. The postilions, with their large flaunting ribbon-knots, huzzaed in meeting, brandishing their whips in the air, as if betokening individual victory. The captain looking out, saw Miss Jenny, in maiden-pride, sitting stately beside her chosen tobacconist; and Daniel, glancing to the left, beheld Mrs. Martha blushing by the side of her mustachioed warrior. Both waved their hands in passing, and pursued their destinies.

Janus.

STANZAS WRITTEN IN DEJECTION, NEAR NAPLES.

BY THE LATE PERCY SHELLY.

THE sun is warm, the sky is clear,
The waves are dancing fast and bright,
Blue isles and snowy mountains wear
The purple noon's transparent light
Around its unexpanded buds;

Like many a voice of one delight—
The winds, the birds, the ocean floods;
The City's voice itself is soft, like Solitude's.

I see the Deep's untrampled floor

With green and purple sea-weeds strown;

I see the waves upon the shore,

Like light dissolved in star-showers, thrown:

I sit upon the sands alone,

The lightning of the moon tide ocean

Is flashing round me, and a tone

Arises from its measured motion,

How sweet! did any heart now share in my emotion.

Alas! I have nor hope nor health,

Nor peace within nor calm around,
Nor that content surpassing wealth,
The sage in meditation found,
And walked with inward glory crowned-

Nor fame, nor power, nor love, nor leisure.
Others I see whom these surround-

Smiling they live, and call life pleasure; To me that cup has been dealt in another measure.

Yet now despair itself is mild,

Even as the Winds and waters are ;
I could lie down like a tired child,
And weep away the life of care
Which I have borne and yet most bear,
Till death like sleep might steal on me,
And I might feel in the warm air

My cheek grow cold, and hear the Sea
Breathe o'er my dying brain its last monotony.

Some might lament that I were cold,

As I, when this sweet day is gone,
Which my lost heart, too soon grown old,
Insults with this untimely moan;
They might lament for I am one

Whom men love not;-and yet regret,
Unlike this day, which, when the san
Sha!l on its stainless glory set,

Will liuger, though enjoyed, like joy in memory yet.

THE PHYSIOGNOMIST.

Soon after the expiration of my engagement with Don Lopez, Count Waltzerstein, a German nobleman, came from Cagliari to Sassari for the purpose of taking his passage to Leghorn. Don Lopez was his banker, and I saw him, in consequence, often. From the moment he had delivered his letters of credit, I had formed a wish to go with him to the continent; and, with this view, I endeavoured to conciliate his good opinion. He was not, however, one of those kind of persons with whom it is easy to excite any interest. His mind was tardy and indecisive, and there was a morbid irritability about him, the consequence of physical infirmity, that frequently frustrated the best attempts to please him.

But that which, more than any other cause, rendered his friendship exceedingly difficult of attainment, was the exquisite delicacy of his taste in every thing but the expression of his own feelings. He was perhaps, not more than thirty, but ill health gave him the appearance of being considerably older. He was rather below the middle stature. His complexion was fair, and the cast of his physiognomy mild and interesting; but there was a want of that harmony in the parts of his figure, which is always found connected with a consistent character.

I have rarely met with a man to whom the epithet of accomplished could be more strictly or properly applied. He had not one spark of original genius. He could not place two words together, for which he might not have been able to quote an authority; and the slightest modification of original metaphor or fancy was beyond all the faculties of his mind to form; and yet the most ingenious poet, in the happiest moment of inspiration, never surpassed the occasional sallies of

Count Waltzerstein. In every company where he chose to unbend he led the conversation, and astonished and delighted his auditors. His proficiency in music was wonderful; the violin was a living intelligence in his hands, and he could draw from it the whole pathos and spirit of the finest composers; but he could not himself connect a single bar of melody. He read and spoke every polished modern language with admirable propriety. But I am wrong in saying he had no genius, for, unquestionably, he was endowed with the most delicate perception of whatever is elegant in art and refined in manners and literature. Yet, notwithstanding all these accomplishments, Count Waltzerstein was, in his own person and manners, remarkably offensive. He declared his dislike, on the most trivial occasions, with such a vehemence of expression and distortion of features, that only feelings of the greatest abhorrence could have justified. If a dish at table was not exactly according to his taste, he would push it from him with the horror of such disgust as the smell of corruption and the sight of rottenness might excite. But, except in this odious peculiarity, he was altogether a thing made up of art-an automaton. He had been early taught to cull the happiest and most brilliant phrases for exhibition in conversation;-he held his time divided into certain invariable portions, to each of which was allotted a particular study, or the retouching of the faded points of recollection; and the evening was hallowed and set apart, for displaying the intellectual full dress with which he had been engaged in adorning himself all the day.

All my endeavours to obtain any interest in the good-will of the Count would have proved useless, but for one of those curious turns in trifling things, which show us the massive strength of the chain of destiny with which we are all bound. Elegant and accomplished as he undoubtedly was, he possessed no knowledge of accounts; and, in settling his affairs with Don Lopez, he showed himself so strangely ignorant of this very necessary and ordinary kind of knowledge, that he appeared exceedingly mortified. He had heard me express a wish to go to the continent; he had seen me expert in common arithmetic, and to make himself in some degree acquainted with figures, he invited me to accompany him.

We left Sassari early in the morning, on the festival of St. Nicholas, to embark at a village a few miles distant from the city, where a vessel, loaded with wine and grain, belonging to Don Lopez, was waiting for a favourable wind to sail for Leghorn. On our arrival, we found the vessel had weighed anchor, and was underweigh. The Count hired a boat to follow her, and we proceeded to sea. The vessel caught a favour able breeze, and left us farther and farther behind.

By this time the afternoon was far advanced; the Magdalene islands lay bright around us, and the moun tains of Corsica appeared nearer than those of Sardinia.

We will not return to Sassari," said the Count, when he had made up his mind to relinquish the pursuit of the vessel. Let us examine these islands, which are but seldom visited; and, when a favourable oppor tunity presents itself, we shall go to Corsica.'

We accordingly made for the only one of the cluster that is inhabited. The population does not exceed a thousand, chiefly Corsicans, who emigrated after the unsuccessful exploits of Paoli. The whole surface of

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