wise woman, and one learned in all the learning of the Persians, stood before the throne and spoke thus :

I

6

"When I was young I was said to be beautiful. Upon one occasion, a great fête was to be given. The handmaids dressed my hair in an inner apartment. Look,' said one, how bright are her eyes!' What a complexion,' said another, is upon her cheeks!'. 'What sweetness,' cried a third, in her voice!' grew sick of all this adulation. I sent my women from me, and complained to myself bitterly. Why have I not,' I cried, some friend on whom I can rely; who will tell me with sincerity when the roses on my cheeks begin to fade, and the darkness of my eyebrows to want colouring? But alas! this is impossible.'

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"As I spoke, a beneficent Genius rose from the ground before me. 'I have brought thee,' he said, 'what thou didst require : thou shalt no longer have occasion to reproach the Prophet for denying thee that which, if granted, thou wouldest thyself destroy.' So saying, he held forth to me a small locket, and disappeared. "I opened it impatiently. It contained a small plate, in shape like a horseman's shield, but so bright that the brightness of twenty shields would be dim before it; I looked, and beheld every charm upon which I valued myself reflected upon its surface. 'Delightful Monitor!' I exclaimed, thou shalt ever be my companion; in thee I may safely confide; thou art not mercenary, nor changeable; thou wilt always speak to me the truth-as thou dost now!' and I kissed its polish exultingly, and hastened to the fête.

"Something happened to ruffle my temper, and I returned to the palace out of humour with myself and the world. I took up my treasure. Heavens! what a change was there! my eyes were red with weeping-my lips distorted with vexation. My beauty was changed into deformity-my dimples were converted into frowns. Liar!' I cried, in a phrenzy of passion, 'what meanest thou by this insolence? art thou not in my power, and dost thou provoke me to wrath ?? I dashed my Monitor to the earth, and went in search of the consolation of my flatterers!"

Zobeide here ceased. I know not whether the reader will comprehend the application of her narrative. The Sultan did, -and Selim was recalled.

M. STERLING.

Letters from Oxford.

No. I.

TO PEREGRINE COURTENAY, ES 2.

MY DEAR EDITOR,

M College, Monday Evening.

HERE I am, on my first introduction to Alma Mater, no longer the Eton Boy, but the Oxford Man. I shall not attempt to describe to you the various speculations which floated around me, as the Defiance bowled along the Henley Road; or embody in words the agitating sensations which I felt on descending the heights in the neighbourhood of Oxford. They commanded a panoramic view of those turrets which were to be th future scene of all my hopes and fears; and, as I caught the first glance of Academus, peeping from between the elm groves in which she appears from this quarter to be embowered, it was but likely that certain suggestions of doubt and anxiety should intrude themselves into the company of those high aspirations in which I was indulging. Of course, amid the bustle of this new world, I have little time for argumentative dissertations, and therefore you must expect nothing but plain unvarnished facts from this communication. Immediately on my arrival, I put myself under the protection of our esteemed friend, ROBERT STERLING, Who has got a scholarship with an odd name at this College. Luckily I found him in his rooms; and I need hardly mention that he received me with the greatest kindness. His hospitality, we all know, is rather of the rough sort; and he made me swallow a pint of wine at noon-day, by way of dusting my throat, as he called it, before he would suffer me to enter upon business. In the meanwhile he plied me with inquiries after the welfare of the Club, and the prospects for next Number; and congratulated me on the respectable name which the Publication had secured itself at both Universities. He enumerated the societies who took it in, and ran over the various remarks and morceaux of criticism he had occasionally picked up at Jubber's (the Oxford Layton) and our Publisher's; till at last I took advantage of a pause to ask his directions as to my proceedings on the subject of entering myself as a member of the University. I never shall forget the chop-fallen look which he gave me in answer. When he began to mutter about Oriel, Brazen-Nose, &c. &c.; that he had been endeavouring to get a relation's name upon the books of these Colleges, and had been told that they were full, overflowingly

of

full, for years to come. I quickly eased him upon this subject, by informing him that I had been for some time enrolled upon the list of his own Foundation, and had received orders to come up to enter mvself. Sterling upon this brightened up, and I was forthwith.. d to call upon the Tutor, and make known my arrival. Jud he palpitating heart with which I tapped at the door. had never felt so awkwardly, even while waiting in Library, when I knew I had incurred the penalty of a flogging. If I had in fact formed any idea of the person my future instructor, it must have borne much of the following character:-A grave, sober-looking personage, with deep mathematical furrows across his forehead, sunken eyes, snuffy nose, and seated in state within a huge arm-chair. What was my surprise to find Mr. Jackson a decided contrast to my beau ideal. A little smart figure, agile, a very rival of the perpetuum mobile, was cordially glad to see me, shook hands heartily, rinted to a chair, poked the fire a dozen times, and then assumed the tutor. I have sufficient confidence," says he, ❝ in the high reputation which Eton has secured to herself, to be satisfied that you are perfectly qualified for admittance into our society: however, you know, Mr. Le Blanc, forms must be attended to. What books have you been lately reading?"-I modestly named a few of our school classics; but Mr. J. interrupted me by haranguing so volubly about Eschylus, Pindar, and some other members, that I began to tremble in my shoes at the prospect of a severe examination. All this ended in a Homer being handed me, and I was requested to construe one of the easiest passages in the Iliad, and then followed as difficult a task in the Æneid. I was next to read a paragraph of monkish Latin from a little white book, which I found to contain extracts from the University Statutes; and, on the close of my recitative, Mr. J. skipped out of the room, and I was left to my own meditations. I employed the interval in amusing myself with the duodecimo I held in my hand; and I happened to fall upon some passages which put me in mind of certain individuals of our Club, for whose edification I make bold to extract them.

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FOR MR. GOLIGHTLY.

"Statutum est, quod Scholares per civitatem ejusq. suburbia otiosi non obambulent; neque in plateis, aut publico foro, seu in quadriviis, (apud Pennyless Bench, ut vulgo vocant,) aut apud oppidanorum officinas stantes, aut commorantes conspiciantur."

FOR SIR T. NESBIT.

"Statutum est, quod Scholares a diversoriis, cauponis, œnopoliis, ac domibus quibuscunque intra civitatem, vel præcinctum Universitatis, in quibus vinum, aut quivis alius potus, aut herba Nicotiana, (sive Tobac ordinarie venditur, abstineant."

FOR MR. COURTENAY.

“Si quis aliquid scripto composuerit, unde alicui æstimatio et fama lædi possit, vel aliquid a se lectum, vel ab alio recitante auditum, ad Vice Canc. protinus haud detulerit, vel quoque modo in vulgus sparserit aut dissemminaverit, tanquam pacis perturbator banniatur.”

In a few minutes Mr. J. returned, and I was hurried to the Warden's, who, I was given to understand, acted as Pro-ViceChancellor during the absence of that Dignitary. There are some few characters, whose mild address and amiable manners make such a favourable impression upon our feelings, even at a first introduction, particularly when we are in the company of entire strangers, that the affections, which, like Noah's dove, have for some time been looking out with earnestness to find a restingplace, eagerly hasten to repose in full confidence in an asylum thus seemingly opened to their approaches. And when sentiments of respect are blended with those of a kinder nature, the conquest is complete, the spell irresistible. Such was the character now before me a happy union of condescending affability and graceful dignity, in which the contrasted qualities were so nicely counterbalanced by each other's influence, that the evil effects arising from either of them when in a state of celibacy were completely avoided. The presence of Dr. James did not impose that deference which bears so strong a tincture of servility when paid by an inferior, and yet it was impossible to degenerate into a licentious freedom of behaviour from a presumption of indulgence. His latitudinarian principles of liberality had nothing of weakness in them; and no man ever understood so well, or practised with such success, yet without ostentation, the "Thus far shalt thou go and no farther."

I am indebted to my friend Sterling for the last observations I have ventured to give you, for of course they required a more mature judgment than I was capable of exercising. And yet, as I gazed upon the person whom I was thus introduced to, though pale and emaciated from the ravages of a long illness, I could easily discern the existence of those characteristics I have described, and which had neither been soured by the irritation, or enfeebled by the wearisomeness, of his sufferings.

Having displayed my proficiency in classical knowledge by the repetition of the same passages in Homer and Virgil which I read in the Tutor's room, I was directed to subscribe my name in a large folio Album. This proved to contain the Thirty-nine Articles, which, by-the-by, I had never read. My predicament was an awkward one; but it was too late for hesitation, and I salved my conscience by the same device which I have no doubt. ninety-nine out of the hundred have done before me,-I promised myself to believe every iota when I had read them. The remain

der of this formal initiation was soon dispatched. I separately abjured the damnable doctrines of the Pope, swore allegiance to the King, and vowed to preserve the statutes and privileges of the Society I was then admitted into.

When I had discharged the appointed fees, I thought the business was all over; but I was now honoured with a closet audience by the Tutor. We arranged the plan of future study, and then followed a few hints of general utility. I could not help smiling, when, among the dignitaries whom I was bound to make obeisance to by capping whenever I met them, Mr. Jackson's catalogue included his all-important self in the number. At last, however, I was dismissed; and, on returning to my friend Sterling, he bade me prepare for dinner in Hall, and hoped I would not be annoyed by an opportunity of meeting some of my future associates at a wine party in the evening. As this letter has already exceeded all reasonable limits, I shall reserve the account of this convivial meeting for a future communication. At present believe me to remain

Your attached friend,

and His Majesty's loyal subject,

ALLEN LE BLANC.

P. S. I shall be back in time for the next Club Day. I shall make a great point of regular attendance till the vacation, when I take my final leave of you and the School, as I am promised rooms in College by that time.

No. II.

March 20-Tuesday Morning. Do not, my dear Courtenay, be surprised at the rapidity with which my second epistle has followed upon the footsteps of its predecessor. Those who will call up to their remembrance the time when they were first enrolled among the alumni of Eton, and found themselves surrounded by the strange novelties of a different creation from what they had been heretofore accustomed to,-these, I say, will best sympathize with the feelings which yearn to share, with some dear confidant, that superabundance of fresh knowledge, that comes in faster than the digestive faculties can well manage to secrete it.

I promised to send you an account of the delightful evening which I spent in the society of Sterling, and some friends whom Ï found he had invited on purpose to meet me. But before I enter upon a description of the incidents of the meeting, and attempt to give you a faint idea of the conversational powers which were there displayed, I shall beg leave to introduce you to a fo