ing the Niemen, he became so impatient, that Segur assures us*, he dashed all at once into the forest, which lines the sides of that river, at the utmost extremity of his horse's speed. He appeared on fire to come singly in contact with the enemy. He rode more than a league in this frantic manner; but perceiving no signs of an enemy, he returned to the vicinity of the bridges, over which his army was passing. The fact is, Napoleon, too, was his own Marplot. He resembled the man who, having money only to buy one coat, tore it, because he suspected the tailor had deceived him in the materials.

Some of the Duke of Wellington's friends were strangely fearful that he, also, should mar the honour of a whole life: and how? by his introduction of the Catholic Bill! My Lord Duke,' said Lord Eldon, you are a great man; a very great man; you have fought many battles, and have gained many noble 'victories. But my Lord Duke, beware lest by one act ' of your life, you outweigh all the fame you have ac'quired. You are said to have fought the French, inch by inch, on the plains of Waterloo. Be assured, my Lord Duke, I shall fight the great Protestant battle, 'inch by inch, on the floor of the House of Lords.' And he did so; but, for the honour of the country, and the safety of it, also, the Catholic Bill passed the House of Peers by an overwhelming majority. To wrong,—and then to calumniate-five millions of men for being faithful to their religion-pro pudor! The very thought is an insult to the MAJESTY of the MIND. For the Catholic Bill I ardently return thanks to his * B. ii. c. 2

Grace. But, now-(Jan. 1, 1831)* alas, how changed! The Duke has become his own Marplot in reality and in permanency of effect, by having made, a short time since, a declaration, that no reform is wanted in this country; and that the representation is as perfect as the human mind can make it! A few days after,—so great and fatal an effect had this declaration on the public mind, he ceased to be minister of this magnificent empire.

CXCV.

WHO ATTEMPT TO CATCH BIRDS WITH CHAFF.

MEN of ability sometimes fall martyrs to opinions, not sufficiently plausible to deceive even a mere tyro in political science. They would catch old birds with chaff. Lord Howard of Esencke, for instance, affected to win Algernon Sydney to a more favourable disposition in respect to the interests of James Duke of Monmouth, by observing to him, that a prince, with a defective title, would, at all times, consider himself at the discretion of the hereditary claimant, provided he should lose the affections of his people, by neglecting their interests. Sydney, however, was not to be caught by so plausible an argument; and as an instance of its fallacy, we have no farther to travel than to a neighbouring kingdom, though it must be confessed, that, with all his crimes, Napoleon was not an usurper. At least, if he were an usurper, William of Orange was a greater.

* These papers having been written at various times, and not arranged according to those times, the reader will, no doubt, exse occasional anachronisms.

For when William landed in England, James had not been dethroned; nor had he been charged with abdication either by flight or concession. Millions of money have been expended, and millions of men have been sacrificed, to support a contrary doctrine; but the principle, I hope, is now firmly established, that all legitimate power springs, not from a faction, however high in quality or weighty in numbers, but from the people.

CXCVI.

SUCCESS OF SOME COMPARED TO KITES.

DRYDEN says, in his play of Cleomenes:-
- Some are born kings,

Made up of three parts fire; so full of heaven,
It sparkles at their eyes. Inferior souls

Know them as soon as seen, by sure instinct,
To be their lords, and naturally worship

The secret god within them.'

With all my respect for Dryden, I cannot refrain from confessing, that if this is not nonsense, I think it is very much like it. It cannot, however, fail to be attractive to all lovers of bombast.

Some, in their fortunes, remind us of the kite, which glides with a motion through the air so easy, that we perceive little motion in its wings. They do things, too, with such facility, that their works appear to rise from their hands like a flower from the laboratory of Nature. Others, on the other hand, can scarcely place the right foot before the left, but they seem to partake

VOL. II.

R

of the care, caution, and weight of the largest elephant in Ava.

Some pause and weigh, reflect, and tremble before the slightest of all obstacles: others, like the horses of Apollo, guided by Phaeton

-Bound and blaze along

Their devious course, magnificently wrong!"

Yet might these men, rightly chastised and disciplined in youth, glide amid the avenues of life, calmly and prudently, to the end; as some wild and difficult Alpine plants thrive well even in the closest courts of Paris, Florence, Madrid, and Vienna.

CXCVII.

SALLUST, IN REGARD TO SUCCESS.

THE favour of heaven, according to Sallust, is not secured by vows or prayers; but by vigilance, activity, and a proper attention to the mode of action necessary to command success.

Men are certainly, to all outward appearance, as much the architects of their own fortunes as they are of their own ruin. But this is in appearance only. Nor is this assertion at all invalidated by the observation of Machiavel, that he, who waits for all conveniences, either undertakes nothing, or fails in all he undertakes.

The wild turkey perches on trees, and gains the height he wishes, by rising from bough to bough. We 'must gain things,' said Victor Amadeus, as artichokes grow, leaf by leaf, till we arrive at the apex.'

6

CXCVIII.

WHO CANNOT STAY LONG IN A PLACE.

SOME years since, when sitting on the summit of Snowdon, having a view of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, the isle of Anglesea, and the isle of Man, a thought crossed my mind, that no happiness could equal that of travelling from one country to another.

A few days since, having, from the hill at Cassel (in the department of the North), a still more distinct view of Belgium, with innumerable towns and villages of France, and Dover Castle rising over the sea in the distance, I remembered an assertion of Thomson, that the great charm of travel arises out of the anticipation of it, in the first instance, and the memory of it afterwards.

Many are the men, who, if they could command their time and a sufficient sum of money, would never be three days in the same place; and of this order was Francis I.

Francis, the king,' declared Castellanus in his funeral eulogy,' is gone directly to Paradise.' The Sorbonne were offended; and so much so, that they sent to court to complain of it. They insisted that Francis was in purgatory. He may have been there,' said Mendoza, who had been his majesty's steward; but he is not 'there now. I know his temper better than any one. 'He can never bear to stay anywhere long. If he did go to purgatory, he merely passed through. He has C got to Paradise long before this.'