Mr. Fauntleroy, in fact, was convicted, as far as forgery was at issue, upon his own evidence. He had most strangely recorded against himself, that he had committed a mass of forgeries, which should make the Bank smart for having injured the credit of his house. Let the Bank Directors beware, that in pursuing their victim to execution, they mingle, in their turn, no feeling of retaliative revenge. Some of them, perhaps, are members of the Bible Society; or, at least, occasionally say their prayers. Let them remember, that in that short and beautiful formula, dictated by the author of their religion, and which sums up in a few words every thing, perhaps, which a Christian ought to pray for, there is a clause of covenant,-"forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us ;" and let them remember that every man who pursues revenge (whether as an individual or a corporationist), every time that he pronounces this prayer, pronounces his own condemnation. But to return to the cause of the general sympathy in behalf of the unhappy convict. It became evident from the circumstances, which came out upon the trial, that the character of Mr. Fauntleroy had been much traduced-that his crime, at least, was free from many of the aggravations imputed, by previous rumour; and it is now sufficiently notorious, that a part at least, of his plea of palliation is substantiated; that the monies procured by his forgeries, were not, as had been rumoured, profligately wasted in debauchery and extravagance, but were regularly paid in to the general stock, to support the else tottering credit of the concern. Hence, to the creditors of the firm, the aspect of the onus of moral responsibility, for the default, becomes essentially altered; and a question naturally arises, whether it was possible that the partners could be ignorant that something wrong was going on? -that the large sums of money, by which their credit was, successively, bolstered, were, to say the least, mysteriously obtained: whatever reasons they might have for not inquiring into the nature of the mystery. The public, in the mean time, in commiseration for the calumnies which had aggravated so unmercifully the offences of the criminal, extend their sympathies from the aggravation to the crime itself; and by a reaction natural to the innate, though sometimes slumbering, benevolence of the human breast, inding that the offender has not been s guilty as they imagined, forego their resentment for the proven guilt. Nor does the current of considerate inquiry pause even here. General conclusions, "of great pith and moment," are, not unfrequently, the results of the attention excited by individual occurrences. The eyes of the public seemed to have opened, at last, to the conviction, to which reason and humanity ought never to have been blind, that the punishment awarded is too heavy, and disproportioned to the offence: while the press itself, partaking of the reaction, urges on the prayer of mercy and forbearance; and chimes in with, and diffuses, the general sentiment, that those only who have shed the blood of man, should pay the price of atonement with their blood. This then, and not any peculiarity, in the particular case itself, is the true ground of petition for the life of Mr. Fauntleroy. The necessary limits of this essay render it impracticable to enter, at large, into all the important considerations involved in the general subject; or to amplify upon the axioms, however capable of illustration, that all unnecessary punishments by death are no other than legalized murders;-that murders, by the law, are, in fact, much more enormous and atrocious stains upon national character, than murders against the law ;—that the latter are the crimes of individuals only, the former are the crimes of the state; and, as far as the nation can be regarded as assenting to such laws, are the crimes of the nation at large. But the best way, perhaps, for the petitioners to fortify their plea is, by appeal, not to Scripture and Christianity (more talked of than reverenced in matters of government and legislation!) but to the politician's creed, ex pediency. This is, in fact, and, per- The question then resolves itself into this, "Does experience of the past, or does what we know of the prospective passions and apprehensions of human nature, indicate that the punishment of death is an adequate, or the most likely preventive of the crime of forgery?" To the first part of this inquiry, the reply is obvious. Forgery has increased, and is increasing in despite of the sanguinary severity of the law; and the crime, always, of necessity, confined to the comparatively educated classes, has kept climbing upwards, in the midst of increasing executions, till it has tainted some of almost the best families in the nation. It is a crime of gentlemen. And though, in all sane and moral estimation, the higher the rank of the offender, the more atrocious and unpardonable the offence; yet, legislating for prevention, we should consider only the motives of apprehension that are likely to be operative on the classes to whom the legislative prevention is to apply. Now, is the fear of death, the most powerful of preventive motives in the minds of gentlemen? Should * See the miserable misinterpretration of the word punishment in Johnson's Dictionary. † In Scotland, where it is not punished with death, it is much less frequent. we acknowledge as a gentleman, or as worthy of gentlemanly association, the man whom we believed to be as much in dread of death, as of a life of branded infamy and degradation? It may be true, indeed that, when it comes to the pinch-when the executioner and vital extinction are immediately before our eyes,-that the instinctive shrinking-the fearful clinging to mere consciousness and sensation, which belong to the frailty of our nature, may bow almost the proudest spirit; and life, upon almost any terms, may appear preferable to immediate dissolution. "For who would lose "Though full of pain, this intellectual being, "Those thoughts that wander through eternity?" But, for objects that are viewed in prospective distance, we have different and more reasoning eyes; and to the educated mind, familiar to the proud decencies and respectful distinctions of society, to die, to cease to be, to bid an eternal farewell to the embarrassments and anxieties that surround us-to the privations, the expulsion from the accustomed sphere of association that menace us, appears but a trifle, in comparison with the degrading toil, the branding front, the stigmatizing fetters, the felon's sordid garb, the wretched pallet, the noisome dungeon, and, worst of all, the contemptuous exposure and brutified assimilation, to which a less sanguinary code might condemn the educated and sensitive offender. It is, in fact, to avoid the lesser degradation, that the offence of forgery is frequently committedthat it was, as it appears, committed in the case in question. How horrible to imagination the greater which reason would therefore commend as the expedient of preventive legislation. TO A LADY, ON HEARING HER SING I tremble lest you should be heard, ON THE STATUE OF CUPID. Nay, Chloe, gaze not on his form, PALACE OF CONSTANTIA IN INDIA, AND GENERAL MARTINE. CONSTANTIA is a curiosity in its kind, perhaps as great as any in Lucnow it was built by General Martine, a French gentleman in the service of the late Nawaub, and his predecessor Asoph u Dowlah. Martine was a native of Lyons, and came to India as a private soldier, where he served under Count Lally, and from his own activity and merit, advanced rapidly to a considerable rank; but having been disgusted or alarmed at certain threats which his commander let fall in the course of a negotiation entrusted by him to Martine once during the siege of Pondicherry, he took the earliest opportunity of making his escape and throwing himself on the protection of Sir Eyre Coote, who, doubtless glad to obtain the services and information of a man who had been very confidentially employed by his enemy, received him with distinction, and soon procured him a commission in the English army, in which he rose rapidly to the rank of captain; after which his brevet rank was by special favour permitted to go on till he reached that of major-general. He accompanied Sir Eyre Coote to Lucnow, where he soon was established in the service of Asoph u Dowlah; and being a very ingenious mechanic, as well as an excellent survey or and general engineer, he made himself so useful to that prince, that he could do nothing without his assistance, and in a comparatively short time he accumulated a prodigious fortune. Among the last of his undertakings was the building of Constantia, which was a speculation (like most things he did) in the hope of effecting a sale of it at a great profit to Saadut Allee. The place perhaps did not, under Martine's superintendence, cost above four lacs of rupees, but he demanded twelve as its price; which was refused, and the old man was so indignant at what he termed the meanness of the Nawaub, that he swore it never should be an habitation for him, and gave directions that when he himself died, his re mains should be deposited within if, thus converting it into a tomb, which alone would prevent any Mahometan from occupying it as a dwelling. It soon became necessary to obey these directions: the general only lived to see his future tomb completed; he breakfasted in it one day only I be lieve, and was never after able to enter it. He died, and lies embalmed in a vault which he had constructed: it is said to contain specie. Lights are continually kept burning there, and two statues representing grenadiers, one at the head and one at the foot of the tomb, lean with their cheeks reclining upon the buts of their reversed muskets. Martine was possessed of a very active and enterprizing genius,and a strong and liberal mind; if we are to credit report, he was far from narrow or avaricious, although he accumulated immense wealth. He traded and speculated in every possible way, but with so much judgment and knowledge of his subject, that he seldom failed of success. He was perfect master of the nature and rates of exchanges throughout the country, and united in large transactions of that description the shroffs and moneyed men in various quarters. He was an excellent jodge of jewels; and extraordinary stories are related of the sagacity he displayed in his dealings in this line, and the great profits he acquired by them. There was nothing he failed of turning to account; and he was wont himself to declare, that were he turned adrift on the world without a shilling at the age of sixty, he would not despair of dying rich, if it pleased God to prolong his life to the usual age of man. Neither the amount nor disposition of his wealth, I believe, is accurately known; the former was, however, certainly very great, and the latter par took a great deal of the eccentricity of the owner's character. About fifty thousand pounds were left to his native city; and he directed that the house of Constantia should be kept continually in repair, and that such Chinese mandarin, or a solemn brahstrangers as should arrive at Lucnow min. Yet the effect, though ludicrous, un provided with other quarters, should is not so offensive as might be suphave the option of residing there for posed. Grandeur is indeed lost, but one month; or longer if not claimed by amusement and interest remain. It is fresh arrivals. For this purpose, thir- after the rainy season that these groups ty thousand rupees annually are appro- cut an unhappy figure: the materials priated, and the expenditure of them of which they are composed not being was entrusted to a person of Portuguese of a description to support moisture, family in the King's service. Martine they become miserably injured; legs, left one son, born of a Native woman, arms, and heads drop off, the paint is, to whom, though I never heard any washed away, and the, whole assumes thing amiss suspected, his father, by a very curious appearance, until the some strange inconsistency, left but the annual repairs take place, after which paltry allowance of one hundred rupees the statues recover their lost limbs, a month. and the mansion resumes its gay dress. The ground-floor of this building is calculated for coolness; the apartments are lofty and spacious; the floor is of marble; the high vaulted roof is fretted and adorned with cameo medallions, of white upon a blue ground: the walls are adorned with gold and silver work, mingled with various colours, in a rich and fanciful though somewhat tawdry style. There seems no end to the succession of chambers, small and great, of every form, and as variously fitted up, some with orchestras as for musicians, others with galleries all round. The second story is less lofty, but contains several apartments fitted up with fireplaces or stoves for the cold season, and more calculated for comfort; the major part is, however, divided into a wonderful number of multiform chambers, communicating with each other in extraordinary ways; and all carved, fretted, and painted like those below. The third story is in the same taste, but contains fewer rooms; and a succession of narrow stair-cases and ladders lead first to the balconies and terraced roofs, and thence to the lofty look-out above all. Constantia is a vast pile, situated on the banks of the Ghoomtee, overlooking a rich well-cultivated country, and in an extensive enclosure, well wood-ed with mango and other fruittrees. Upon the portico of entrance may be seen the motto of the General, "Patientia et Constantia," to the spirit of which he fully conformed in his life. The building consists of a main body, and two wings rising in many stories of very fanciful architecture to a great height, and diminishing gradually to a fantastic look-out, resembling, at a distance, the crownlike steeples of some old churches, upon which is erected a flag-staff. The walls of the wings, and of each story in the main building, are balustraded, and surmounted with gigantic statues representing human beings and animals, in such multitudes that they appear to cover the whole upper part of the building with a fringe of filagree work, and thus produce a singular effect. These statues, cast in clay, and painted, mimic almost every living thing to be found on earth. Among them may be discovered copies of the most celebrated statues of The whole building is calculated to antiquity, figures of men and women facilitate defence, and prevent surin the costumes of almost every coun- prises in case of attack in an insecure try, with birds and animals of all country, without carrying the appearsorts and the arrangement of them ance of a formal fortification: it is fireis at least as bizarre as the quantity is proof, not having a piece of wood used confounding. A Venus de Medicis, in its whole construction; the roofs an Antinous, or a Mercury, may be are all vaulted, and the doors and winseen close to a Dutch dairy-maid dow shutters are of iron. There is churning butter, a burgomaster, or a no grand staircase; a defect both in Swiss peasant; or a French petit- appearance and convenience; but a maître, exchanging civilities with a vast additional means of security, for, the only means of communication between the stories being by narrow spiral staircases, a single man could defend them against an army. Many of the passages from one apartment to another have been made thus poor and narrow upon the same principle; and there are multitudes of secret places for concealment, formed in the thickness of the walls and in the corners of the house. It is indeed a place quite unique in its kind, and the grounds, considering the country, are almost as singularly laid out. A large garden in the old French taste, divided into numerous alleys, bordered with trees cut into various fantastic forms, stretches behind it; while in front has been excavated a large oval tank, in the centre of which rises a pillar of more than one hundred feet in height, erected by direction and according to the plan left by the late General Martine, which serves as his monument. ON METROPOLITAN AUCTIONS. A N auction is no new subject to descant upon. Buyers of bargains were well ridiculed in the Spectator; and the eagerness of ladies (and gentlemen, too, for that matter), at a sale, when anxious to possess themselves of any article on which they had set their hearts, even bidding upon themselves, has before now furnished writers for the public eye with the means of amusement for their readers. Unquestionably there is considerable pleasure to be derived from attending an auction, by a close observer, who goes there without the intention of purchasing, and who moreover is resolute enough not to be caught with a great bargain. The quick, ready eye of the auctioneer; his wit, if he has any, and for which there is great scope, though some of the present race are dull enough;-the contrast in the behaviour of his audience:-the cool and and apparently indifferent manner of the old attendants and good judges; -the precipitation of the young and inexperienced ;-the plots, counterplots, and manœuvres of various parties in the room to outwit each other in bidding for and procuring what they are in want of;-the remarks and opinions, right or wrong, of the talkative portion of the company; the absolute sway of the auctioneer during the period of his exaltation,—are all fraught with much that is interesting and entertaining. I have often smiled to see the pretty little tricks of some of the thoroughpaced and well-known attendants at sales, to prevent dealers in the same commodity from knowing when they make a bid. These people seldom bid vivá voce: for they will contrive to get between their opponent and the auctioneer, keeping an eye upon each, taking care that the one towards the auctioneer is not out of sight of the other bidder; with this eye they wink their bids most dexterously, while the opposing party will be looking about, and wondering who is bidding against him;-others do the thing with a silent nod;-another sort get quite out of sight, behind the pulpit, and tug at the auctioneer's coat-tail at every bið, to the great danger of his skirts, each pull going for sixpence, a shilling, or half-a-crown, as the case may be;and others again will get on one side of the hammer-armed gentleman, and poke some part of his body with the end of a pencil, for the same purpose. With these and with sundry other sorts of "inexplicable dumb show," which is explicable enough to the auctioneer, I have seen great quantities of goods bought and sold but there is still another sort, who go even nearer the wind than all these, and who, after looking at the goods, will leave a list of prices with the salesman or his clerk, who will buy for them, and then declare the name, when the party is not even in the room; but, in this case, they must be well able to trust the auctioneer, who would otherwise run them up to the extent of their price. My last remark reminds me of a sad trick of very many auctioneers— that of running, as it is called. If they |