utmost skill. Oh, Agatha-dear Agatha-you have never-never loved

The expression of her countenance caught my attention just then, but she was silent.

"Have you ever loved," cried I, forgetting at the moment all else but what was belonging to my cousin Agatha. She smiled, but her smile was followed by a sigh.

A strange feeling came over me, and I caught her hand. I scarcely know what I said, but it was not of Gabriella that I spoke or thought. There was a slight flutter visible in her countenance when I began, but she listened to me with mildness; then with a gentle shake of her head she extricated her hand, and glided from the window.

BEAU LEVERTON.

"Seeking the bubble Reputation."

WE once-(it is now some years ago)—enjoyed the pleasure of meeting the celebrated "Beau Leverton." As every thing which relates to him "belongs"-as writers say, 66 to history," we shall indulge ourselves with putting our recollections upon record. We respect a beau of the first brilliancy; and wonder at his appearance, as at that of an aloe. He is perhaps

even a rarer marvel.

Here, however, let us caution the reader. We would not be understood as paying implicit homage to the stuffed figures which move in procession down Bond and St. James's Streets, kept upright solely by the aid of staymakers and tailors. On the contrary,

we hold them to be of precisely the same advantage in a commonwealth, that those less ostentatious shapes are which keep watch in country gardens, as perpetual centinels over the peas and currants. But Leverton was not one of this small-witted genus. He was originally intended for something even higher than what he became. Fate however threw him into

the sty of Circe, and he grew like Bottom, transformed.'-Nevertheless, let us still do him justice. He was a man of a shrewd turn of mind; too idle to emancipate himself from the thrall of fashion, but laughing down with ineffable contempt the pretensions of the small fry around him. He saw far into character, and sometimes made it subservient to his He had flashes (scintillations) of wit, purposes. which brightened and became more frequent in melancholy hours, as the electric fluid is seen more clearly in a storm. He told a story well,-laughed in the right place,-drew out the follies of his neighbours with a fine, humorous, and sometimes unsparing, hand, had a smattering of the classics, and the lighter literature of England and France,made champagne tea delightfully, and scattered his multitudes of bon mots upon the crowd, as a peasant does his arms-full of grapes and chesnuts upon the swine who are expecting them beneath. Unluckily, Leverton's audiences in general did not comprehend a tittle of the value of his donations. They laughed, however, at his jests, because it was the fashion to laugh at them; and they related them to others, from time to time, in the hope of, one day or other, discovering the meaning themselves.

When Leverton left Oxford, and threw himself upon the inattention of his father, he found the foxhunter so entirely perplexed by his rural duties, that he had not a moment of leisure to notice his

heir. Harry was a youth of spirit, and not insensible to neglect: So he determined to live as he could during his father's life, on the small income which had devolved upon him on the death of his mother. His proposal to this effect met with not the slightest objection from Old Nimrod: and accordingly, (after seeing his sister safe under the protection of an old maiden aunt at Bath), Leverton quitted without a sigh, his paternal acres ; quoted his last line of Horace at the cunning-eyed groom, who lashed his portmanteau to the chaise, and came up to London, to make his-reputation!'

His success was eminent, but gradual; for he did not aim so much at eccentricity (which is a cheap accomplishment) as at an air of high-breeding and careless brilliancy. He possessed extreme ease, and considerable wit; and the pungency of the one quality had an admirable effect upon the other, as salt is said to draw forth an exquisite flavour from things which would else be tasteless. One joke, which he threw off in a happy moment, attracted the respect of a smart speaker in the House of Commons. Another (which was better) reached the ear of an illustrious personage, who said that it reminded him of George Selwyn. He enquired very particularly the name of the author, and the fame of our hero was complete!

We have not leisure at present to enter into a

regular biographical detail of the early life of Mr. Leverton, although (by the favor of a friend) we are possessed of considerable materials for the purpose. But we must content ourselves with passing over many of the accidents and humours of his career, and introducing him to the reader as he appeared to us, in propria persona, on the third day of July, 18—.

At that time he had lodgings in Dover-street, and as eminent a list of creditors and friends,' of the first water,' as any gentleman who ever disowned the serious age of three and forty. In regard to his person, he had increased somewhat in bulk, though it was said that stays, or some such unseen bonds, curtailed the encroachments of idleness or gourmanderie. Yet, he still walked well; dressed inimitably; lost his money (when he had it) gracefully; drawled out his sly witticisms with considerable effect; and was in all respects a 'highly fashionable man.'

Leverton's importance in society was, in fact, exceedingly great; more so than his mere talent could have commanded. His ease was admiredhis manners and his dress imitated-his flattery coveted-his patronage wooed. His satire was dreaded also; for he possessed (as the bee does) both the honey and the sting,—the wish sometimes to charm, and always the spirit to repel. The gay loved his jokes; the young sought his intimacy; the women smiled on him; the (merely) rich dreaded him; and the