our instructions, which I marked and corded as if intended for a foreign market. This, though both a little intoxicated, we also managed, before ten o'clock, to convey to the carrier, who was to start early in the morning.

"On getting to my lodgings, and while undressing for bed, I missed my watch. It occurred to me that I might possibly have left it in the den, as I recollected having taken it out while Smashie was heckling the poor fellow's clothes." "Heckling," said I, explain. "It requires little explanation. In order to dispose of the clothes of our victims, we had an old heckle which I had bought from a flaxdresser, and with it, in a few minutes, we could reduce garments of any description to rags, which, when well mixed, we found no difficulty in selling, with the greatest safety, to the paper manufacturers." "Another of your infernal precautionary measures. I presume," said I," but go on." "As the weather was very cold I had no relish to visit the den any more that night; I determined there. fore to look after my watch as early as possible in the morning. I accordingly rose at day break and proceeded to the spot; but, judge my surprise on finding the sailor's little rough terrier sitting shivering and howling at the door. On my approach, he seemed to recognize me; for he clapped his tail close between his legs, and fled off in the greatest terror. I felt distressed at the circumstance as it might excite suspicion, but my uneasiness increased when I observed the marks of all our footsteps in the snow approaching the cellar, and those of Smashie and myself leaving it in a different direction; and it also flashed on my mind, as I viewed the impression of the five footsteps, that, under the influence of the liquor we had drunk, we had committed the very dangerous mistake of sending off the wooden leg along with the body. I instantly endeavoured to efface the foot marks as much as possible, and then set of in search of Smashie to consult about what was further to be done. My companion did not appear to view matters in so serious a light, and endeavoured to calm my apprehension by assuring me he had often sent more suspicious-looking subjects, than the one we had dispatched. In order however, to calm my fears, he agreed to accompany me to the carriers, to see if it was off, or if there were any possibility of rectifying the mistake. You may perhaps be able to imagine the consternation which both of us were in, but particularly I, when on reaching the carrier's quarters, we found the box still lying in the yard, and the little dog, I have already mentioned, at one end of it, scratching away with both his paws, as if he would have torn it to pieces. We stood confused for a moment, uncertain whether to fly or to advance, looking round however, and seeing no one in the yard, our spirits rallied. He must be dispatched,' whispered Smashie. "Where shall I strike him? Observing he had on a pair of iron-pointed night shoes, which he usually wore, I told him; but, before he could get near enough for his purpose, the dog recognized us, and fled, howling from the yard. Smashie then entered the office, and enquired the reason of the package being delayed. An overflow of goods was pleaded as the excuse, accompanied by an apology; and a promise of its being sent by next waggon satisfied in part the suspicions we had entertained. For our further safety, however, we agreed to watch by turns least the dog might again come back and excite more curiosity than was agreeable or consistent with our security. I at last saw the package fairly into the waggon, and waited with anxiety to learn the opinion that might be entertained respecting it." He was proceeding when I asked if he knew any

to the room where the body was unpacked, towards which it crawled with difficulty, when the little affectionate tongue, that was extended to lick the pale remains of its murdered master, stiffened before it could draw it back, and the faithful creature expired on the bosom of the subject. The anecdote was long remembered among the students; but was considered one of those things that was not to be talked of beyond their own circle.

"Next day all my fears were again awakened; for passing along the my attention was aroused by the public crier, proclaiming a man amissing, and giving the exact description of the unfortunate tar. I could not be mistaken; for, among other marks, he mentioned the circumstance of his having an anchor, with the letters and pricked out, and blackened with gunpowder upon his left arm. This I had observed, and, in order to escape any danger that might be impending, I again consulted with Smashie, when we agreed to quit for a time, which we did, where Smashie had a

-

I

.

and betake ourselves to similar receptacle to that which I rented in therefore sent notice of our removal to our correspondent in

It was the second day after our arrival at that I called at the post office, and found a letter inclosing a draft for nine guineas. Observing at the same time that, in consequence of one of the limbs being injured, one guinea had been deducted from the price. I felt greatly relieved by this intelligence, and the same evening, with the assistance of my companion, I managed to lift a subject that had been interred the same day, in a neighbouring church-yard. This we instantly forwarded, and in due course I received a letter, with which I was more than surprised. Nine guineas only was enclosed, and the writing, reverting to the former subject, observed that an imposition had been practiced upon them, that the limb which he thought had only been injured, turned out, on its being subjected to the ordeal of science, to be actually wood. This discovery had only been made by Dr. after he had spoiled two scalpels in endeavouring to lay open the arteries,* for which reason a further deduction of a guinea was now made."

* This ignorance, on the part of the person alluded too, would appear incredible, if it were not for the ciocumstances elicited on a recent trial, and pleaded in extenuation of the carelessness of some of the parties implicated.

all at

Oh, I am sure you will, and therefore, to your tentive ear, proceed I to " unfold a tale," which e'en whilst I write extracts a tear,-well, no matter: "ambition should be made of sterner stuff," and if I once begin to weep, I can't expect that you'll insert: you keep none but "laughing philosophers" in your corps: I believe like Tait (vide Prospectus of the New Monthly) you don't admit the "weeping ones."—And therefore to begin :

'Twas just the other evening-Wednesday was three weeks-I love to be exact-that, seduced by the terms of a card—a finely folded, gaily gilt, and sweetly scented card-from my friend H. which expressed the

hope that I would "come to tea at seven, and spend the evening." I went to No. place, sure of a cup of capital Bohea, and elated by the prospect of "a snug and friendly game at cards,"-for H. well knew I cannot dance, that I never do, never did dance. Well, sir, but

"Soft you a word or two before I go" on, I ought to explain that 'twas ever thus, from childhood's "hour," even from that hour, at any rate, on which I first entered the academy (dancing school we called it then) of Monsieur Theodore Theophile Auguste Santa-de-berre, to that never-by me-to-be-forgotten-moment, when, after smashing over my luckless pate the best violin he ever handled, the worthy Professor (that's the name we give him now) kicked me out of his class as "de most unpupilible scholare dat he 'ad evere 'ad." I say from that hour, horresco reminiscens! up to that fated evening, I have never danced. I have never even tried to dance-" to trip it on the light fantastic toe;" "fantastic" indeed! but you shall hear :

Well, sir, to H's I went. To do him justice he had not intended to introduce dancing; but, after tea, (and Mrs. H's. was superb, that I must say,) some one proposed, pour passer le temps, that we should "have a dance;" and so they began, and heel-and-toed a reel or two. This seemed all very plain sailing kind of work, and so, when the first set had done, and the second was a being formed-for a reel too, as I opined—I arose, crossed over to a "nice young maiden"-whose glances, directed my way, (for I am a ruddy, " stout young gentleman," of some one or two and thirty, with a moderate competency,) must have lulled my senses into an utter oblivion of my total unfitness for the task-turned out my wrists and elbows in the usual approved style, but my lumbar vertebræ into a bow, and hoped, "I might have the felicity:"-she sweetly smiled a soft consent, and up we stood. The lady who presided at the piano, (the monkey must bave known me) began to play a waltz—a waltz !

"The maze of the waltz may to the lover have charms,
But to me, it was a sound of fear,"
"Unpleasing to my wood-tuned ear."

for how the devil? (I crave your pardon, my dearest Phoebus) how could I, that couldn't dance a single step, and had, by "beauty's smile," alone, been enticed to tumble through an eightsome reel, how could I ever labyrinth it through the bewildering mazes of a waltz? quite impossible! and you may guess the appalling result.

I know the tune-'twas the Cockmahagon, as old Bob Bilboe calls it-and I at once attempted to shy: 'twouldn't do though: there was no remedy, "'twas the curse of service," as honest Iago says: I was bound by my proposal, and dance I must, "cast your coat." My pretty partner too-alas! that she should have suffered!-seized my skirts as I made one determined effort to be off, placed me in the proper position. I would rather have been placed upon the drop -assured me 'twas " 66 so easy," so delightful,"- -we began, and now for the catastrophe.

My first twirl brought the head of my os femores into contact with a side-table, on which had been placed the splendid china tea-set (it shouldn't have been left there, that's one comfort); down it came with a smash, that, to my astounded ears, seemed the sound of the last trumpet; and, my dear Apollo, only think! fourteen stone four (that's my weight) driven into collision, and with the momentum of desperation, too! 'Twas tremendous ! I tried to save it, lost my balance -it had never been very good-tripped up my partner, (whose fall disclosed the faultless symmetry of a limb which Venus might have envied,) pitched my head right into the bread-basket of our utterly dumbfoundered entertainer, who tumbled back into the fire, that glowed like Etna's crater, from whence extracting himself by a desperate effort, he trod upon the tail of a favourite cat, which, with an agonizing squall, fixed its

claws into the face of the lady of the mansion, who had flown to aid her "ain kind dearie O," and who, in the effort to save her "precious eyes," plunged her elbow into a magnificent mirror that hung behind her, splitting it from head to foot, whilst I, Jch armer, as the Germans so pathetically express it, I, the unfortunate origo mali, the innocent cause of all the mischief, bolted to the drawing-room door, (in my confusion wrenching of its handle,) seized the first (and-but this is entirely entre nous-the finest) beaver that stood in the lobby, rushed into the street, dashed, "heedless of the pelting of the pitiless storm," through thick and thin, and never halted in my malay like run through the muck and mire, till, "driven by the wind and battered by the rain," I had reached No, Street,

and had thrown myself, clothes and all, upon my cold and comfortless pillow, from whence I rose-no, was raised-next morning, with a rheumatism, that confined me to my room till yesterday, and, on my first emerging from which, I encountered my half-roasted landlord, who saluted me-and that nickname, I am convinced, will adhere to me till my dying day-by the exceedingly pleasant appellation of THE DANCING BEAR! "By Heavens! I would most gladly have forgot it;" but

If he don't soon hold his chat,
By all the Gods, I swear

I'll call him out-'twill be no joke
To meet the Dancing Bear.
He'd better drop the soubriquet,
He'd better; if he dare

To keep it up, he'll find what hugs
Come from the Dancing Bear.

For, on the ground when we are plac'd,
With pistols, each a pair,

I'll shoot him dead-I will, by Jove!-
And end his Dancing Bear!

Must I "point the moral," too, as well as the tale?"

Edinburgh, 28th January, 1832.

CRITICAL NOTICE.

"adorn

THE CHAMELEON BROUGHT TO THE LIGHT OF THE DAY, AND ITS TRUE

COLOUR ASCERTAINED BY TWO HANDS.-Glasgow, 1832.

THE work which this pamphlet proposes to criticise, having been sometime published previous to the commencement of our critical labours, it was considered unnecessary, by our " Council of Ten," to revert to a topic which had already taken up so much of the newspaper and magazine typography. The "Two Hands," however, who have penned the present brochure, have thought otherwise, and have attacked the CHAMELEON in a manner which, to say the least of it, is far from exhibiting a very amiable spirit.

THE "LORD OF THE CREATION!"-What a chimera is man! what a confused chaos! what a subject of contradiction! a professed judge of all things, and yet a feeble worm of the earth! the great depositary and guardian of truth, and yet a mere huddle of uncertainty the glory and the scandal of the universe. -Pascal.

We know that hawkers and pedlars, swindlers and highwaymen and pickpockets, call one another gentlemen; and that even the members of every self-created back door club, except in their fulminations er officio, take the same title. Cobbett.

ORIGINAL POETRY,

WALLFLOWER.
(From the French.)

WHAT fragrance, in that simple flower,
It needs no gard'ner's care;
Majestic stands on wall and tower,
And breathes the purest air!

On sacred walls delights to creep,
To waft its sweet perfume,
Where silent sadness seems to weep,
The sorrows of the tomb!

And there, unheeded, droops its head,
To wither and decay;

But, when stern winter's blasts are fled,
Buds forth and blooms in May.

WEST-COUNTRY REMINISCENCES.

A CELEBRATED manufacturer, of our Nineveh of the West, having announced to some of his acquaintances that he was about to proceed to London, to call upon his customers, he was counselled to take care that when he did so, he should always leave a card. Recollecting this advice, he, on the morning after his arrival, no sooner sallied out of the London Coffee-house, than he popped into a bookseller's shop, and, having purchased a pack of playing cards, proceeded towards Friday Street. There having met with one of his chief customers, he, with an air that testified that he knew what ought to be done, took off the topmost, which, of course was the ace of spades, and pushed it into the fist of the warehouse man, who looked as astonished as the manufacturer appeared pleased.

MONSIEUR EDOUART'S SILHOUETTES.

THE exhibition, which is now open to the public under this title' is well worthy of being visited. The likenesses which MONSIEUR EDOUART has taken since his arrival in Glasgow, are so striking as to convey the idea of their originals at first sight. We were particularly pleased with the portraits of the Lord Provost, Mr. Stewart Smith, Principal M'Farlane, Mr. James Ewing, Sheriff Robinson, and Mr. Archibald M'Lellan. The walls of the exhibition room are hung round with the most noted characters in England and Scotland, all of them done in a very graphic and correct manner Among the best executed of these, are some of Mr. Rothschild and others representing the different attitudes of certain celebrated preachers. It is astonishing that so much expression should be given to pieces of black paper cut out with a pair of scissors, but we believe that this effect depends chiefly upon the artist's happy knack of catching the expression of the features, and the attitude of the body. The talent which is displayed in these clever copies of nature, is certainly of no ordinary kind, and, as other spécimens shew, it may be carried to a very surprising extent. Perhaps the greatest curiosities in the whole collection, are some beautiful little models of dogs covered with the real hair of the animals; but, besides this, there are some ships made of human hair, and a few effective transparencies, the different shades of which are caused by separate plies of paper. We would recommend those who wish to be amused, or are curious to obtain a correct likeness of their own persons, to pass half an hour in the Queen Street exhibition rooms.

FOREIGN LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

MISCELLANEA.

POPULATION. The Population of the Prussian States, at the close of 1830, appears, from the official returns just published, to have been 12,939,877; the number of births in 1830, was 497,241, that of deaths 390,702, being an excess of 106,539.-The excess of births has, however, considerably, and on the whole, gradually decreased of late years. In seven years, 1817-23, the total excess was 1,227,990, and in the following seven years, 1824-30, 1,019,092. This may be partly ascribed to the greater number of marriages concluded in the years immediately succeeding the return of the general peace. The whole increase of the population in fourteen years has been 2,247,082. The number of letters that passed through the Prussian Post Offices in 1830 was nearly 27,655,966.

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S ESTATES IN SPAIN.—The estates belonging to the Duke of Wellington lie in the lower part of the Vega, about two leagues from Granada, and all the land is capable of irrigation.' His Grace's estates return about 15,000 dollars per annum; his rents are paid in graîn—a fixed quantity, not a proportion of the crop; a plan beginning to be pretty universally followed by other landowners. The Duke has three hundred tenants, from which it appears that very small farms are held in the Vega of Ganada; for if the whole rent be divided by three hundred, the average rent of the possessions will be but fifty dollars each. The tenants upon the Duke's estates are thriving; they pay no taxes; and these estates are exempt from many of the burdens, A composition of six per cent. is accepted from the Duke of Wellington in lieu of all demands.-Inglis's Spain in 1830. 4

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have to apologise to "The Baillie" for inserting the unfounded report of his having made a precipitate retreat to Greenock. It gives us pleasure to learn, that the Baillie remains in statu quo, and is, at present, engaged writing some supplemental chapters for his auto-biography. We have sent him a letter, that

we received the other day from a person in his own town, claiming the merit of being the real hero of the Memoirs, which, wè think, is a very barefaced though unsuccessful attempt to burke the literary reputation of our esteemed contributor,

"V. H.'s" several communications have been received, and will be taken into consideration.

"C. A. M.'s" Stanzas on his Mistress's Eyebrow, however invaluable they might be to the eye of his "CHRISTINA,” – would not prove, in the least degree, interesting to the public.

"E.'s" poetical effusions are common-place and inaccurate in their rhythm.

“MÈDICUS" cannot surely expect that his communication could meet the fair individuals who surround the breakfast table at the west end of our city,

"J. P.'s" lines commencing with a traduction of Tasso's wellknown stanza to La Rosh," Del yerde sua modesta e virginella," will not suit as. After Wiffen, none ought to attempt Tasso.

In order to insure this Publication being on the Breakfast Table every morning, it is requested that intending Subscribers will leave their names and addresses at the Publisher's.

AETER a lapse of twenty years from its first appearance, the celebrated Orientalist, De Sacy, has just published a second edition of his Arabic Grammar, with corrections and additions.

A Volume, entitled Souvenirs sur Mirabeau et sur les deux premières assemblées legislatives, has just appeared, edited by the late M. Dumont, the editor and French translator of Bentham's Works. Dumont was siucerely attached to Mirabeau, and often assisted him in the composition of his Speeches. These facts appear from the autograph letters of Mirabeau, inserted at the end of the volume, which cannot fail to excite attention.

RAUMER, the author of the "History of the Hohenstauffens," presents the litnrary world with the fruits of his researches among the inedited MSS. in the Royal and other public libraries at Paris, in two volumes, of "Letters from Paris, illustrating the History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries."

Three new parts of Ersch and Gruber's German Encyclopedia will shortly appear. The delay in publication is said to have

arisen from the illness of several of the contributors.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

DR. MOIR, of Musselburgh, has published a very interesting tract on Cholera. He is a desided contagionist. The great experience he has had in the treatment of this dreadful malady, in his own neighbourhood, entitle his professional opinions on this important point to much regard.

PEPTIC PRECEPTS FOR PERIPATETIC POLITICIANS.

OUR fathers, good men, were simple ninnies, who never thought of making inventions, and little dreamt of the wonders to be produced by the progress of civilization. They knew nothing of steam coaches, railways, or unknown tongues; and, if you had talked to them about the march of intellect, or the schoolmaster being abroad, they would have stared at you with uncomprehending amazement. The present age is the reverse of its predecessors in all this. It is an enlightened age, a moving age, and a supremely wise age; but the point in which it chiefly excells, is, that it is a talking age. By some strange anomaly every man is now born with a greater quantity of tongue than his progenitors possessed, and the world seems, all at once, to have been visited with the mania of loquacity. What is stranger still, this uncommon abundance of the faculty of speech, has been directed, as if by unanimous agreement, to the promulgation of theories, lectures, and orations upon one perpetual subject-politics. It might be thought from the numerous disquisitions which have been written and spoken upon the different forms of government, that one could not go wrong in choosing a new constitution for a nation, or in patching up the defects of an old one. Yet, some men there are, who, setting at nought the sapient advice of the thousand political maxims delivered down from antiquity, have taken a strange fancy into their heads that they are the only physicians qualified to minister to the distempers of a state, and are so possessed with this idea, as to sweat night and day, for the purpose of impressing it on the conviction of others. In our own country, and in our own neighbourhood, these self-inspired geniuses are so common, that we have thought fit to class them under one head, and style them by the general name of Peripatetic Politicians.

We apprehend that there are few readers who will inquire, What is a peripatetic politician? But, in order that we may avoid all mistakes, it will be as well to describe the meaning of that term. A peripatetic politician is a man who is always moving from one place to another, with a pamphlet in his pocket, and a speech upon his tongue. He rides fast because his brains are light, and he is constantly shifting up and down because he cannot keep steady anywhere. Nature has given him, at his birth, a certain propensity to restlessness, which characterizes him through life. Such a man is known in his school-boy years, by the floggings which he is perpetually receiving for robbing orchards, and other mad pranks; and it is always remarked of him "That boy will never come to any good." It would seem, indeed, that the discipline to which he is then subjected renders him unable ever after to sit still with any comfort. As a youth, he distinguishes himself by an utter recklessness of the world's opinion. If he is poor, he hurries himself into some wild misadventure, and procures occupation for his activity in the galleys or the tread-mill; or, if he is rich, he drives over old women with his tandem, and generally contrives also to drive through his pockets. When this happens, his agility takes another bent, and he turns from despising the world to courting it. He writes speeches upon free trade or the corn laws, puffs himself off as Sir

As a

Oracle Orthos, and appears upon the stage in a new character, as the great speaker of every great meeting. His restlessness is now transferred to his brains, which are set a-working with all the rapidity of a steamengine. His fire is etherialised into the sulphurous vapour of party spirit. His acting power is changed into an esteem of himself, and a contempt of all the world besides. He is seen hurrying along with wild and distracted looks, one hand in his pocket and the other sawing the air with vehemence. His step is enlarged to twice the length of which it formerly consisted. His muscles work with tenfold rapidity, and he seems to consider that, by the service of his limbs, the whole business of the nation is carried on, and that, just in proportion to the vehemence of his movements, he is to be accounted a consummate politician. man, then, he undergoes harder labour than he ever did before; for he frets, fumes, gasps, spits, stutters, all in one breath; and, without being able to command the St. Vitus with which all his organs are affected. He spins from one town to another, till his brain reels with excitement, and throws off, in electric sparks, the terms of that logic with which it is always busy. He bounces into a public assembly, brimful of rhetorical words and phrases, and casts from his tutored lungs a quantity of unfinished sentences before the clock has twice told an hour. Quick as thought, he springs off again, to enlighten another part of the country with his presence; and, while he is even babbling over the roll of often-used expressions, his mind is labouring big with the prospect of another journey.

Poor man! how can he stand it? You see, by his cadaverous face and sunken eye, that the exhaustion is preying upon his enervated frame. Why, then, does he persevere? His ambition is gratified. He is proud even when he walks arm in arm with a tradesman, though himself descended from noble blood, because he can trumpet to the world that he has sacrificed the prejudices of his station. He is proud, although exposed to the mockery of wise men, because he is fortified by self-esteem, and by the adulations of the peripatetic disciples. But, when mounted on his serviceable steed, and prancing proudly along the crowded street, who shall describe his complacency? He is then as proud as the swarthy personage, at whose approach the streets of a city in the Western Indies used to echo with the cry, "Clear the road, clear the road, John the Barber's coming along."

Having now described the symptoms of the malady, under which peripatetic politicians labour, it becomes us, in due order, to prescribe a few peptic precepts by way of cure. That the disease is not inveterate, is amply proved by cases on record, and it may be worth while to mention a few of these for the example of others.

Some politicians have been cured of their peripatetic habits, by a sound pelting of rotten eggs and oranges in an election mob; while others, undaunted by this treatment, have never ceased to exercise their vocation, till they were soused, by some offended rival, in a ditch or horse-pond. To be pulled by the nose, or spit in the face, is a thing which very often produces no effect upon these restless spirits, but few have had courage to pursue their career after being exposed to the aim of an adversary's pistol. A bucket of water has some

times sobered an enthusiastic peripatetic; and it may be remarked, in general, that cooling medicines are the most effectual. Thus the feverish excitement produced by the external application of the foot, to the nether extremities of such an individual, may only increase his mania, while the cold and clammy effects of fear will operate as a sovereign panacea. Flannels are bad articles of clothing for such temperaments, and all warm and close meetings should be avoided, as tending to pernicious results. It would be much better if the wives of the peripatetics would shut them out some cold December night, when they are returning home after delivering a furious harangue. For the same reason, the peripatetic should be limited in his diet, and never permitted, on any account to taste such stinging viands as make the blood course wildly, or induce an extraordinary flow of animal spirits. Upon this principle also depends the last and great cure, which is to be resorted to when all the others are found to be unavailing. The method of treatment alluded to, is this: That the patient should be placed in solitary confinement, where he will have ample opportunities for reflection, but none for haranguing. His head may then be submitted to the razor of a skillful practitioner, and it will be ascertained whether the tenement of his pineal gland receives any restoring effect from its naked exposure to the cool atmosphere. Several hot brains have been checked in this way, and it is even said, that the men of the class to which we are alluding, have been found to possess peculiar conformations of the skull, which are not discoverable without this experiment. (By the bye, we advise every incipient orator to try himself by such a test.) The peripatetic after having his head shaved, must not be debarred altogether from exercise; for it is the characteristic of his mind that it must always be actively employed. Dumb bells, or some such harmless instruments may therefore be provided for his use, but caution must be observed that no dangerous weapons are allowed to get within his reach. With these remedies, there is little doubt, but that a recovery may, in time, be effected, especially if internal reflection accompanies the use of them. When the peripatetic, debarred from the influence of hurried movements, and of the concourse of agitated miuds, begins to consider seriously, the infatuation with which he has wasted his mental and bodily energies upon the pursuit of an airy nothing, he is not long in discovering that he has never been in his right senses. Upon consulting a mirror, he will recognise the traces of insanity in his wild expression; for it is not the first time that madmen have regained their wits by seeing the reflection of their frightful faces. And, when this happens, it only requires a cautious treatment of the patient to expedite his final recovery. We have only to recommend, in conclusion, that the Board of Health should immediately devote some of their attention to this unsuspected malady, and that asylums should be opened for the treatment of all afflicted with it, since, if steam coaches increase the rapidity of travelling as universally as they threaten to do, peripatetic politicians will exceed all bounds, and reduce themselves to a state, beyond the reach of our peptic precepts.

LITERARY PLAGIARISM.

To the Editor of THE DAY.

SIR, I was much pleased with the remarks which appeared in THE DAY of No. 31, on the crime of Plagiarism-a crime, as you justly observe, as common as it is mean. As you have discovered virtuous indignation at the enormity of the offence, I trust that you will not fail, as occasion offers, to bring to light the guilty perpetrators of it. I address you, at present, not so much to aid you in this good work, as to bring under your notice, and that of your numerous and respectable readers, a glar

ing instance of the crime alluded to. The delinquent having screened himself under the cloak of a fictitious name, the publication of his theftuous deed may not have the desirable effect of bringing upon him that obloquy which he merits; but it may, nevertheless, be productive of two good results:—

1st, It may teach the public rightly to estimate the merits of a certain class of periodicals, of which the press has, of late, been too prolific, and whose tendency, not to speak of the positive mischief which they produce, is, assuredly, neither to promote the cause of religion, nor to inculcate sound morals, nor to improve the public taste. And let it not be thought, Sir, that this is an end unworthy to be aimed at: it is of no little importance to the interests of society, that people should have correct notions respecting the conductors of those infamous effusions which pander to the prejudices, and foment the worst feelings and passions of the soul. Sometime ago you announced to your readers your success in extinguishing some of these, and the announcement gave no little satisfaction. No one, indeed, who has the good of his fellows at heart, and who knows the baneful influence which the scurrilous writings that have issued from the press in such abundance of late, exert on the public mind, will withhold from you his gratitude and good wishes. Yours, Sir, is a triumph of no little importance; for it is a triumph of virtue over vice. Go on, then, and prosper. The field is now almost your own.

But a Second result which may be expected from an exposure such as that recommended, and indeed it is a corollary of the First, is, that the public will be led to a more pure and healthful fountain. The thirst for reading is, at present, unprecedentedly great; and, if it be true that the character of the people is influenced by that of their literature, happy is that community which is supplied with instruction and amusement, without immorality and without scurrility. Glasgow has long been unfortunate in this respect; but she feels and gratefully acknowledges that all solid grounds of complaint evanished with the dawn of "The Day."

Without further preface, I take leave to introduce to your notice, what, I am sure, you will acknowledge to be as barefaced an act of literary theft as ever was perpetrated. The Edinburgh Review, for March last, contains an article entitled "Reform and the Ministry," and the OBSERVER, a Glasgow periodical, which, I believe, some time ago, finished a short and ignominious career, contains an article headed "The State of Parties," which is little else than a transcript of the other. I shall set down a few passages from each opposite to one another. It is amusing to see the attempts of the plagiarist to disguise his theft. His efforts are exceedingly feeble. The omission of one word and the substitution of a synonimous one, or the transposition of the words of a sentence, seems to be the utmost he had courage to venture upThe ideas are not only precisely the same, but follow in precisely the same order. This arch Plagiarist assumes the classical name of Argus. Should any of his numerous eyes fall upon this, may he learn henceforth to refrain from employing his superior vision for the unhallowed purposes of plunder and deception.

on.