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and with a look of the deepest, saddest feeling I ever witnessed, exclaimed, while an unbidden tear seemed actually to quiver in his eye, and long to be released," Right, right, a thousand times right, my friend; the only real solace in affliction, the only true happiness in this our transitory state, it sheds a halo alike around our sorrows and our joys. If this be already your lot, may the flower you have chosen never fade away. If not, and the path is still open to you, tarry not on your way, delay not to pluck a flower while it is yet in your grasp, and may success attend you, may your path be all pleasantness and peace,-for me that path is closed, barred out, for

ever."

His brow was haggard now, and the colour lately called up in his cheeks had faded all away; he wrung my hand, bid me God speed, and I saw him no more. On the morrow, although mytelf early, I found that he had already taken his departure, but she wish and hope is strong upon me that we may meet again.

It only remains for me to add, that I verily believe I am becoming a bit of a fatalist myself, for more than once I have sat me down with the intention of writing upon other subjects, but the image of my poor friend has always flitted before me, and arrested my pen. Let me hope that every one who glances over this short page of Life, will look with an eye of pity on, and make all due allowance for, the Fatalist of the Drachenfels.

ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

BY MRS. ABDY.

FAREWELL to thee, France, let them say what they will,
Thou art full of glad pastimes and revelries still;
Farewell to trim gardens, and blue, sunny skies,
And picturesque peasants with dark, laughing eyes;
Farewell to the dance on the soft moonlit grass,

The brightly-deck'd "Fair," and the crowded "Ducasse;"
Yet I leave not in sadness this region of mirth,

Since I sail for dear England-the land of my birth.

The semblance of gloom my loved country may wear,
And the brow of her sons may be shadowed with care,
Yet hers are the charities, bounteous and wide,
The calm, holy Sabbath, the peaceful fire-side;
I think on fond meetings, and friends tried and true,
As the white cliffs of Dover arise to my view,
And feel that fair France, with her music and mirth,
Can match not dear England-the land of my birth.

"

PRAYER FOR AN INFIDEL.

When, in your last hour (think of this), all faculty in the broken spirit shall fade away, and die into inanity-imagination, thought, effort, enjoyment-then at last will the night-flower of belief alone continue blooming, and refresh with its perfumes in the last darkness."

RICHTER'S "Levuna."

"Fear not-believe not !" what dread words are these? Earth, hear them not; air, echo not the sound! Think ye such speech can for one moment ease

The soul's keen anguish, o'er the heart's deep wound?

Infidel, we fear not. Fears are not meet,

When He is with us-deigns to bid us come,
And cast our guilt and sorrows at His feet:
The weary prodigal returning home.

Believe not?

Would'st thou take our hope away-
Our only refuge in this night of woe?
Oh, could we thus live on from day to day,
Were not the land in view to which we go?

Listen to thee! would that thou mightest row
How vain thy boasted learning seems to be!
For, in the search of wisdom here below,

Who lacks the truth learns nought but vanity.
The God of Israel hear our prayer, and give
The only knowledge that can peace impart !
The God of Israel grant that thou may'st live
To bless and praise him with believing heart!

October, 1849.-VOL. I.VI.-NO. CCXXII.

C. A. M. W.

P

202

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A LANDAULET.

66
BY THE AUTHOR OF THE ROCK."

BUSINESS of considerable importance carried me one day towards Lincoln Inn Fields, where having been unavoidably detained, although any thing rather than amused, I accepted my lawyer's hospitable invitation to dinner, from which somewhat more agreeable pastime, I did not arise until the ancient watchman's drowsy, but not dulcet tone informed the learned neighbourhood that it was past ten o'clock.

It so chanced that on that evening my family had an engagement, and my corpulent and flaxen wigged coachman expressed himself equally desirous to devote the remainder of that afternoon to his own particular and private amusement. I desired, on his setting me down at the mansion of my "man of wisdom," that he should forthwith install his horses in the stable, since I purposed to return home in one of those now obsolete antique, though not very aristocratic vehicles, yclept a hackney coach.

At about eleven o'clock the equipage destined for my accom. modation, was summoned from a neighbouring stand, whereupon a strangely apparelled mortal, bearing a large plated medal around his neck, which badge of merit had indisputably been accorded for some particular good deed, intimated the purport of the message to a sleepy descendant of Jehu, who with much difficulty, was aroused from a lethargic slumber enjoyed amid a mass of damp hay and tattered horse cloths.

But when his waking faculties were eventually brought into play, the customary methods much in vogue for propelling carriages by animal power were put in practice, and an antiquated Landaulet rolled slowly and heavily to the door.

For the better effecting an entrance into the interior of the conveyance, the jingling steps were let down, when having unravelled themselves to their utmost length, as if shrinking from the contamination of pollution with the pavement, they pertinaciously inclined inwards, standing underneath their huge parent as if to crave shelter in the protection of its shade; my foot slipped as I attempted to ascend, and I grazed my shin against the rusty iron. At last, however, with much perseverance and difficulty, I surmounted the obstacle opposed to my ingress, and

reluctantly placed my weary frame on the cold musty squabs, which had once gloried in the appellation of cushions.

I was about to undertake a formidable journey; I lived in Regent's Park, and as the miserable half-starved horses attached to the vehicle, showed every symptom of having been worked during the whole day, the aspect of things bid fair to promise a protracted sojourn in the old landaulet, which prognosticated a duration of some hours prior to the possibility of my reaching

home.

Off started the quadrupeds at last; the coachman urged them on with whip and tongue; the body of the jarvey swung to and fro; the cracked glasses-at least the little that remainedshook and chattered like the teeth of some poor wretch in a confirmed ague; the straw underneath my feet not only felt, but likewise smelt damp, while the rain oozed through the gaping roof in chill and heavy drops.

I felt cold, and attempted to draw up the front window, but, alas! as nothing came to my summons, save the frame, I was necessarily but little benefited by my pains. My position was otherwise than enviable or exhilarating, but well knowing the evil was unavoidably to be met, I wrapped my cloak closely around my shivering body, and in rather a sulky, discontented humour, sank into a deep reverie.

The vehicle continued-but certainly not rejoicing-on its way-the antique axles and pannels shook, squeaked, and rattled, as if suffering martyrdom from the agony occasioned by the motion;-from my reverie I at length fell into a doze, which, thanks to some fatigue and much claret, soon terminated in a deep sleep.

Gradually the rumbling, gingling noise assumed to my imagination a less unwholesome sound; the inharmonious continuations so offensive to the ear, softened into something more approximating towards harmony, until at length, the whole blending into a far from disagreeable voice, methought I could distinguish intelligible accents.

I listened attentively to the low murmurs which first attracted my notice, and at last distinctly heard and carefully treasured in my memory, what was neither more nor less than the lament of the identical landaulet wherein I then sat; the poor body seemed to sigh, and the wheels became spokesmen, but it was not until reaching Portland-place that the nearly worn out conveyance took sufficient courage to enter on a detail of its history. At length, however, having fanned itself with the faded remnant of a once embroidered side pocket, the "leathered con. venience," which for the nonce held me prisoner, thus essayed its tale:

"I am about twenty-three years of age," sighed my equipage; "I was born in Long-Acre-the birth-place of the aristocracy of my race; and Hobson was the only parent that I can recollect as having lavished kindness and approval on me during those joyous days of youth. No four-wheeled carriage could by possibility have entered upon life with brighter prospects; alas, it is now my hard lot to detail the vicissitudes that render me what I am. I was ordered by an Earl, who was on the point of marriage with a beautiful heiress, and I was necessarily fitted up in the most expensive style.

"My complexion was pale yellow; on my sides I had coronets and supporters; my interior was soft, comfortable, and luxurious; my rumble behind highly satisfactory; my dickey was perfection and garnished with a hammer-cloth; my boots were capacious and splendidly polished; my pockets were ample and embroidered with lace; and my leathers in excellent and wellcleaned condition. When I stood at the Earl's door on the morning of his wedding, it was admitted by all who beheld me, that a neater turn-out had never left Long-Acre. Lightly did my noble possessor press my cushions, as I carried him to St. George's Church, and when the ceremony concluded, and the happy pair sat side by side within me, the Earl kissed the lips of his lovely countess, and I felt proud, not of the wealth of my occupants, on account of their exalted station, but because they were content and happy.

"Oh, how merrily my wheels whirled in those halcyon days; I bore my joyous burden to their country seat; I flew about the country, returning and making wedding visits; I went to races with sandwiches and champagne in my pockets; and I spent many a long night in an Inn yard, envied and gazed at by all beholders, while my lord and my lady were presiding at country assemblies.

"Mine was a life of sunshine, gilded with smiles, and little did I calculate on the possibility of witnessing a reverse of fortune; but, alas! ladies have ever been esteemed capricious, and in an hapless hour for me, my beautiful mistress suddenly discovered I was too heavy and wholly unfit for London service. My fate was sealed, and without one particle of regret, the fair being whom I had for months carried, quitted the shelter of a roof for ever, under which so many happy hours of her young life had flitted by.

"Fresh instructions were issued to Hobson; her ladyship took possession of a chariot eight years younger than myself; I was driven to Long-Acre to be disposed of, and became a secondhand article.'

"My humiliation happened at an unlucky period, for con

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