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must not be omitted. The jailer of the press, he affected the patronage of letters-the proscriber of books, he encouraged philosophy -the persecutor of authors and the murderer of printers, he yet pretended to the protection of learning! Such a medley of contradictions, and, at the same time, such an individual consistency, were never united in the same character. A royalist a republican and an emperor -a Mohammedan Catholic and a patron of the synagogue-a subaltern and a sovereign a traitor and a tyrant—a Christian and an infidel — he was, through all his vicissitudes, the same stern, impatient, inflexible original — the same mysterious, incomprehensible self - the man without a model, and without a shadow.

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EXTRACT FROM THANATOPSIS.

O live, that, when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, that moves

To that mysterious realm where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not like the quarry-slave at night

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave

Like one that draws the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

A

THE SMACK IN SCHOOL.

DISTRICT school, not far away,
'Mid Berkshire hills, one winter's day,
Was humming with its wonted noise
Of threescore mingled girls and boys;
Some few upon their tasks intent,
But more on furtive mischief bent.
The while the master's downward look
Was fastened on a copy-book:

When suddenly, behind his back,

Rose sharp and clear a rousing smack!
As 't were a battery of bliss

Let off in one tremendous kiss!

"What's that?" the startled master cries;
"That, thir," a little imp replies,

"Wath William Willith, if you pleathe-
I thaw him kith Thuthanna Peathe!"
With frown to make a statue thrill,
The master thundered, "Hither, Will!"
Like wretch o'ertaken in his track,
With stolen chattels on his back,
Will hung his head in fear and shame,
And to the awful presence came―
A great, green, bashful simpleton,
The butt of all good-natured fun.

With smile suppressed, and birch upraised,
The threatener faltered-"I'm amazed
That you, my biggest pupil, should

Be guilty of an act so rude!

Before the whole set school to boot-
What evil genius put you to 't?"

""Twas she, herself, sir," sobbed the lad;
"I did not mean to be so bad;
But when Susannah shook her curls,
And whispered, I was 'fraid of girls,
And dursn't kiss a baby's doll,
I couldn't stand it, sir, at all,
But up and kissed her on the spot!
I know-boo-hoo-I ought to not,
But somehow from her looks-boo-hoo-
I thought she kind o' wished me to!"

THE FIREMAN.

HE city slumbers. O'er its mighty walls Night's dusky mantle, soft and silent, falls; Sleep o'er the world slow waves its wand of lead, And ready torpors wrap each sinking head.

Stilled is the stir of labor and of life;

Hushed is the hum, and tranquillized the strife.
Man is at rest, with all his hopes and fears;
The young forget their sports, the old their cares;
The grave are careless, those who joy or weep
All rest contented on the arm of sleep.

Sweet is the pillowed rest of beauty now,
And slumber smiles upon her tranquil brow;
Her bright dreams lead her to the moonlit tide,
Her heart's own partner wandering by her side.
'Tis summer's eve: the soft gales scarcely rouse
The low-voiced ripple and the rustling boughs:
And, faint and far, some minstrel's melting tone
Breathes to her heart a music like its own.

When, hark! Oh, horror! what a crash is there!
What shriek is that which fills the midnight air? —
'Tis fire! 't is fire! She wakes to dream no more!
The hot blast rushes through the blazing door!
The dun smoke eddies round; and, hark! that cry!
"Help! help! Will no one aid? I die I die!"
She seeks the casement: shuddering at its height,
She turns again; the fierce flames mock her flight:
Along the crackling stairs they fiercely play,
And roar, exulting, as they seize their prey.

"Help! help! Will no one come!" She can no more, But, pale and breathless, sinks upon the floor.

Will no one save thee? Yes, there yet is one
Remains to save, when hope itself is gone;
When all have fled, when all but he would fly,
The Fireman comes, to rescue or to die!

He mounts the stair—it wavers 'neath his tread;
He seeks the room flames flashing round his head;
He bursts the door; he lifts her prostrate frame,
And turns again to brave the raging flame.
The fire-blast smites him with his stifling breath;
The falling timbers menace him with death;

The sinking floors his hurried step betray;

And ruin crashes round his desperate way.

Hot smoke obscures - ten thousand cinders rise-
Yet still he staggers forward with his prize.
He leaps from burning stair to stair. On! on!
Courage! One effort more, and all is won!

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The stair is passed- the blazing hall is braved!
Still on! yet on! once more! Thank Heaven, she's saved.

SPEECH OF SERGEANT BUZFUZ.

OU heard from my learned friend, Gentlemen of the Jury,

You

that this is an action for a breach of promise of marriage, in which the damages are laid at fifteen hundred pounds. The plaintiff, gentlemen, is a widow; yes, gentlemen, a widow. The late Mr. Bardell, some time before his death, became the father, gentleman, of a little boy. With this little boy, the only pledge of her departed exciseman, Mrs. Bardell shrunk from the world and courted the retirement and tranquillity of Goswell street; and here she placed in her front-parlor window a written placard, bearing this inscription" APARTMENTS FURNISHED FOR A SINGLE GENTLEMAN. INQUIRE WITHIN."

Mrs. Bardell's opinions of the opposite sex, gentlemen, were derived from a long contemplation of the inestimable qualities of her lost husband. She had no fear-she had no distrust - all was confidence and reliance. "Mr. Bardell," said the widow, "was a man of honor- Mr. Bardell was a man of his word - Mr. Bardell was no deceiver- Mr. Bardell was once a single gentleman himself; to single gentlemen I look for protection, for assistance, for comfort, and consolation; in single gentlemen I shall perpetually see something to remind me of what Mr. Bardell was, when he first won my young and untried affections; to a single gentleman, then, shall my lodgings be let."

Actuated by this beautiful and touching impulse (among the best impulses of our imperfect nature, gentlemen,) the lonely and desolate widow dried her tears, furnished her first floor, caught her innocent boy to her maternal bosom, and put the bill up in her parlor window. Did it remain there long? No. The serpent was on the watch, the train was laid, the mine was preparing, the sapper and miner was at work. Before the bill had been in the parlor window three days, gentlemen- a being,

erect upon two legs, and bearing all the outward semblance of a man, and not of a monster, knocked at the door of Mrs. Bardell's house! He inquired within; he took the lodgings; and on the very next day he entered into possession of them. This man was Pickwick-Pickwick the defendant!

Of this man I will say little. The subject presents but few attractions; and I, gentlemen, am not the man, nor are you, gentlemen, the men to delight in the contemplation of revolting heartlessness, and of systematic villany. I say systematic villany, gentlemen; and when I say systematic villany, let me tell the defendant Pickwick, if he be in court, as I am informed he is, that it would have been more decent in him, more becoming, if he had stopped away. Let me tell him, further, that a counsel, in the discharge of his duty, is neither to be intimidated, nor bullied, nor put down; and that any attempt to do either the one or the other will recoil on the head of the attempter, be he plaintiff or be he defendant, be his name Pickwick, or Nokes, or Stoaks, or Stiles, or Brown, or Thompson.

I shall show you, gentlemen, that for two years Pickwick continued to reside constantly, and without interruption or intermission, at Mrs. Bardell's house. I shall show you that Mrs. Bardell, during the whole of that time, waited on him, attended to his comforts, cooked his meals, looked out his linen for the washer-woman when it went abroad, darned, aired, and prepared it for wear when it came home, and, in short, enjoyed his fullest trust and confidence. I shall show you that on many occasions he gave half-pence, and on some occasions even sixpence, to her little boy. I shall prove to you that on one occasion, when he returned from the country, he distinctly and in terms offered her marriage-previously, however, taking special care that there should be no witnesses to their solemn contract; and I am in a position to prove to you, on the testimony of three of his own friends most unwilling witnesses, gentlemen, most unwilling witnesses that on that morning he was discovered by them holding the plaintiff in his arms, and soothing her agitation by his caresses and endearments.

And now, gentlemen, but one word more. Two letters have passed between these parties-letters that must be viewed with a cautious and suspicious eye-letters that were evidently intended at the time, by Pickwick, to mislead and delude any third

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