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system was ever pushed to such an energetic extremity, or afforded so curious and glorious a spectacle; but it has not sufficient repose for enjoyment: happiness loves to dwell amid more tranquil elements. Its tendency has been painfully illustrated by the recent fate of some of its leading members. Unable or unwilling to relax in their career, they have devoted mind and body to this restless principle of advancement, and have toiled and prospered, and become enslaved and enriched, and achieved misery and fame, until nature was exhausted in the strife, and their own hands relieved them from the burden of existence at the precise moment when they had attained every object of their ambition, and appeared to the world to stand upon the summit of human happiness. How long is this fearful tension upon all the nerves and sinews of the country to endure? What is to be the result of this overworking of the national machine? A certain Frenchman implored death to spare him till he saw the end of the French Revolution, so curious was he to witness its termination. An Englishman might well petition to be absolved from the omnivorous scythe, until he ascertained what would be the finale of the present ecstasy of his country.

Those individuals who seek happiness will withdraw themselves from this whirl and vortex of excitement. They will not aggravate the diseased enlargement of the public heart, and share the painful intensity of its pulsations, by residing in the capital. There is no holy calm, no sabbath of the soul, no cessation of strife in that vast arena of the passions, where life is a ceaseless struggle of money-getting and money-spending; a contest of avarice and luxury; a delirium of the senses or of the mind. If we desire peace and repose, let us look out upon the variegated earth, ever new and ever beautiful-upon the azure dome of Heaven hung around with painted clouds-upon the wide waters, dancing and glittering in the sun, or lying in the stillness of their crystal sleep. Let us listen to the music of the sky, when the boughs are singing to the wind, and the birds are serenading one another; or surrender ourselves to that more pleasing sensation, when the serenity of Nature's silence imparts a congenial balm and tranquillity to the heart. Gazing upon the face of Nature, we shall encounter no human passions, no distrust, no jealousy, no intermission of friendship or attraction; even her frowns are beautiful, and we need not fear that death shall tear her from us. We look upon an immortal countenance. A morning thus dedicated is an act of the purest piety; it is offering to the Deity a heart made happy by the contemplation of his works; and if I can prevail upon a single reader to detach himself for a time from crowds and enthralments, and betake himself to the sunny meadows or the green twilight of the woods, I shall felicitate myself on not having quite unprofitably employed the morning of "To-day."

H.

ANNUS MIRABILIS! OR, A PARTHIAN GLANCE AT 1822. JANUARY."Cain, a Mystery," published by Lord Byron: preface states his lordship's difficulty in making Lucifer talk like a clergyman. A country vicar proceeded against in the Ecclesiastical Court, for swearing that he had a horse that would gallop to hell: not equally difficult, therefore, to make a clergyman talk like Lucifer. Miss Stephens nearly lost in the Trafalgar packet. If she be, as the newspapers say, the Syren of the stage, surely she might laugh at “ All the rude dangers of crossing the ocean." Colonel Thornton proved himself alive, by asserting that he was in the daily practice of swallowing six muffins at breakfast and three pounds of roast or boiled at dinner: this would prove the death of any other man. Tom and Jerry, or Life in London, still acting at the Adelphi Theatre, teaching the rising male generation" that great moral lesson," how to patter slang, mill a lamp-lighter, or box a Charley. A great outcry from Mr. Loveday, who had placed his three daughters for education in a French convent, all the academies in England being full, and who expressed his surprise, on the Boulevard de Parnasse, that one of them should have turned Catholic. His subsequent appeal to the Chamber of Deputies unequalled by any production since Macpherson's Ossian. Mr. Southey published a reply to Lord Byron, wherein he assaulted that eccentric nobleman with "whip and a branding iron:" the cause alleged to be the following paragraph in an opposition newspaper, under the head of "Births :""At his bookseller's, Mr. Robert Southey, of a still-born Vision of Judgment." The offence lenient: poetical parturitions ought to be commemorated. Constitutional Society kept at bay by Mr. Carlile by means of an apparatus in the Temple of Reason like that of a cheque-taker in a playhouse: red whiskers also kept at bay by Rowland's Macassar oil. Country Gentlemen “ combining and confederating" like so many defendants in a suit in Chancery. The Great King of Prussia sung by Signor Cartoni at the Opera-House. Nothing outré during the present month on the part of Mr. Ex-sheriff Parkins; and not a single duel fought in the Phoenix Park by any gentleman with a name commencing with an O or a Mac!

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February.-Cobbett patted on the back by some country gentlemen, as much as to say, "Bite the fund-holders.' Olive, Princess of Cumberland, ejected from her lodgings on Ludgate-hill. New tragedy at Drury-lane, called "Owen, Prince of Powys, or Welsh Feuds." Army of English critics overran the principality, and extinguished his Highness and his feuds. "The Pirate" bottled in theatrical spirits by Mr. Thomas Dibdin: too volatile: went to sea after a few nights' confinement. God save the King proved to be the private property of James the First. Insurgent meeting of White Boys at Doneraile, where the following resolution was passed:-"Resolved, that every thing coming from England be burnt, except their coals, which we have occasion for." Speech from Mr. Thelwall at an agricultural meeting at Epsom; challenged to show where his landed estate lay; whereupon he quoted the two bow-pots outside his window in Blackfriars-road. Carlile's Temple of Janus closed. Orator Hunt's wife permitted to visit him at Ilchester, on bringing her marriage-certificate in her pocket. Vaccine Inoculation Report; small-pox on the increase, owing to care

less vaccination, and the Reverend Rowland Hill admonished to grasp the pulpit-cushion and lay down the lancet. Mozart's modulation much shaken by Rossini's rattle. Mr. Daniel Whittle Harvey off the roll of attorneys and not on that of barristers. Between two bundles of hay but for ass read fox. Injunction dissolved in Murray v. Benhow: Cain a mystery no longer. One John Tye executed at the Old Bailey, for uttering forged notes, and one Simon Shake applauded at Covent-garden for a similar offence. Grand chorus of "High Prices" sung by the country gentlemen at York. The Rev. H. H. Milman produced the Martyr of Antioch, and the wife of a labouring man, at Enfield Chace, produced three male infants: the latter are doing well. Cobbett proved to have changed his opinion of Sir Francis Burdett. A still and a quantity of whisky carried off by a revenue party at Derry, with a mob of Irish peasantry clinging to them, like Aboulfaouris, the Persian, to the Load-stone Mountain. No child killed by a Paddington coach.

March.-King of Spain lectured by the Cortes. He promises to do so no more. A fire broke out on the premises of a bookseller in Paternoster-row, and over-broiled some beefsteaks at Dolly's Chophouse. Mr. Hume's "total of the whole" much discussed: Cobbett sends him his new Grammar. Symptoms of downfall in the Navy 5 per cents. A collection of penny-wisdom at the Paul's Head, Cateaton-street, to reimburse Carlile for his pound-foolishness in Fleet-street. Death of Coutts the banker: his will opened in Stratton-street: only 900,0001. bequeathed to his poor widow: divers dandies observed to glance a look upward to the drawing-room window in their progress towards the Park. Two silver cups voted to Mr. Kean by the inhabitants of New York, and a lighter laden with coals despatched at the same time to Newcastle. A man unknown arraigned at the bar of the Old Bailey, and a woman unknown observed to tipple liquid at the bar of Hodges's prime proof repository in Fleet-market. Lafitte, the Paris banker, much amazed by an application from the executors of one Napoleon Bonaparte. Navy 5 per cents. slain by Mr. Vansittart, and a joint Post-master cut in two by Lord Normanby. Agricultural meeting at the Mermaid, Hackney: toleration of opinion recommended, and Sir J. Gibbons hooted down for acting under the recommendation. Mr. Wyatt charged with attempting to cram a marble monument of George the Third down the throat of the public: John Bull has a capacious swallow, and the artist was tempted to put it to the proof. Murder of Mrs. Donatty by persons unknown much talked of, and murder of Sir Archy Macsarcasm by Kean not talked of at all. Coup de grace to the Navy 5 per cents. given by Mr. Henry Hase: many Jews who attended the funeral seen the next day upon the Royal Exchange with beards half an inch long. The King's Civil List treated uncivilly by Lord King. Cinderella, at the Opera-house, exchanged her glass slipper for a bracelet, the former being too slippery to dance in. Only twelve persons poisoned during the month from mistaking oxalic acid for Epsom salts.

April.-Easter week: all the city at Brighton, to the great annoyance of people of fashion who went there to avoid them: poney-chaises and the Reverend Doctor Pearson. English in Paris estimated at 20,184 marshalled by the Prefect in four divisions, viz. the idle, the sick, the needy, and the disaffected. Appeal to the Court of Cassation: Prefect's decree affirmed. Nineteen labourers out of work at Stock

bury ordered by overseers to play at marbles from nine in the morning to seven in the evening. Four of them, being widowers, went through the ring a second time, and were asked in church the Sunday following. Constitutional Society, being indicted at the Old Bailey, held up their hands and down their heads. Miss Foote much admired in Cherry and Fair Star. The Tom and Jerry fever extending to all the minor theatres nineteen watchmen prostrate with their boxes on their backs. Preparations in Hyde Park for the reception of the Achilles of Phidias, on his elopement from the Quirinal Hill at Rome. Planet Venus at the same time visible to the naked eye. City Recorder elected quamdiu se benè gesserit. New Tread-Mill erected at Brixton prison, and business at Union-hall consequently on the decline: prisoners in Newgate comforted by Mrs. Fry, and business at the Old Bailey consequently on the increase. Literary Fund Committee called upon to interdict Mr. Fitzgerald from spouting at their ensuing anniversary: event doubtful, according to Cobbett, who holds that when a man is smitten with the sound of his own voice, nothing short of a sledge-hammer applied to his head will silence him. Martin, the artist, descended into Herculaneum, and reascended not quite so plump as when he supped with Belshazzar. Young Watson takes to new rum, and commits a burglary at Baltimore. Grand steeple-chase near Blackwater, and a considerable running down of parsons in the columns of the Morning Chronicle. A countryman at Clonmary, county of Donegal, discovered a bottle, and, to his infinite chagrin, in lieu of whisky, found it to contain a mere memorandum relative to the Arctic expedition. Man unknown once more arraigned, and again sported Junius. Mr. Owen of Lanark's proposal to clothe all the poor in one uniform, and no religion. Harlequin at the Opera-house. Moses in Egypt changed into Peter the Hermit: many pilgrims from Paddington attended the Crusade: all's fair in love and music. Simile in the Irishman in London, "No more brains than a fiddler," gave great offence to the leader of the band. Monsieur Paull vaulted from the Academy of Music in Paris, and descended on one foot in the Haymarket. Mr. Kean played Osmyn, in the Castle Spectre, and nearly "made a ghost" of his theatric reputation. Private theatricals at the Lyceum: young Matthews in Le Comédie d'Etampes: dubbed a chip of the old block: an old block, indeed, if he allow the experiment to be repeated. Nobody killed by drawing the trigger of a loaded fowling-piece, not knowing it to be charged.

May.-Horse-Bazaar at King-street Barracks: impossible to say nay to any proffered filly, mocking being rude. Good beer began to trickle into the cellars of public-houses, owing to a stir at St. Stephen's. Agricultural report: patience and water-gruel recommended to country gentlemen. Song, "I love high Rents," sung by Sir F. Burdett. Piece of plate presented to Alderman Wood: family arms sought for in vain: surrendered on his assumption of the gown ; "cedunt arma toga." The Lord Chancellor gave judgment on the Doge of Venice, who had, in the mean time, wedded the Waters of Oblivion. One hundred acres of land, in Venezuela, sold by Bolivar at a penny an acre: Mr. Birkbeck outbidden. Othello stabbed and smothered his wife to a fiddlestick accompaniment at the Opera-house. Mr. Yates in the Law of Java mistaken for Ramo Samee the Indian

Juggler. Marriage Act Amendment Bill much canvassed: clause proposed by Lord Erskine, contract determinable every seven years on six months' previous notice. Anniversary dinner of the Literary Fund: Chairman's hammer not a sledge one; Mr. Fitzgerald's consequent recitation. Mr. Horatio Orton's dog snatched a hasty repast from the calf of Mr. Ex- sheriff Parkins's leg. No women run over in Oxfordstreet, in consequence of crossing the coachway without looking to the right or to the left.

June.-Expansion of Mr. Baring's new mansion in Piccadilly to the utter extermination of the Western side of Bolton-row. Sparringmatch at St. Stephen's between Mr. Pascoe Grenfell and the Bank of England. Exhibition at Somerset-House: irruption of one shilling critics many a "man unknown" from being designated in the Catalogue "portrait of a gentleman:" Hercules in the hall looked gloomy, in apparent envy of the more airy elevation of his naked friend in Hyde Park. Affray of wild Irish in Peter-street, Westminster: Polito rebuked by the magistrates for not keeping his cages better bolted. Opening of Vauxhall Gardens, after being for the ninety-ninth time consigned to the woodman's axe: gardens alleged to unite the varieties of Vauxhall with the elegancies of Ranelagh, like the boy's pennyworth of cheese, which he required to have very long and very thick: new rotatory piece of mechanism, entitled Hep-tap-las-ies-op-tron: and a dentist's man in waiting to pick up the broken teeth of the pronouncers. Dinner at the Horns, Kennington; Sir Robert Wilson in the chair: all general reflections consequently avoided. Wanstead House advertised for sale. All the world on the Whitechapel-road: Epping-forest strewed with gigs, unharnessed hacknies, and remnants of cold veal and pigeon-pie. Sale of the Fortunes of Nigel checked by that of Robins's Catalogue. Little Waddington elevated from a blanket in Newgate, and discounts in Threadneedle-street depressed to 4 per cent. Mrs. Olivia Serres swore an affidavit with a documental appendix in the Prerogative Court, Doctors' Commons. Plague reported to have broken out in London: two runners despatched by the Lord Mayor to St. Thomas's and St. Bartholomew's to ascertain the fact; but, their names being Fogg and Leadbetter, they brought back but a confused and heavy story. Don Antonio Francisco Zea arrived in London from the Republic of Colombia: Spanish bonds at a consequent premium, and the Royal Exchange swarmed with foreign brokers. Seven shopkeepers on Ludgate-hill, who had recently taken advantage of the Insolvent Act, were poisoned by drinking seven glasses of noyeau double the usual strength. End of Trinity Term, attended by a great diminution of black coats and white buckles in the purlieus of Chancerylane. Beautiful hill and dale in the Piccadilly pavement.

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July.-Clara Fisher, at the Lyceum, played Crack, a drunken cobbler in the Turnpike Gate: "train up a child in the way it should go.' Tread-Mill adopted in Cold Bath Fields prison. Achilles mounted in Hyde Park several breaches made in the wall, but not one pair made for the statue. Annual regatta of the Funny Club: members rowed in their shirts to the Castle at Richmond in a soaking shower: odd notions of fun. Margate steam-yachts much in request, and Dover coach fares reduced. Death of John Emery the comedian. Haymarket Theatre much frequented: Terry excellent in John Buzzby: "a Day's

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