bank, &c." I writhed in a sort of agony as he proceeded, and the benevolent soul out of the profound depths of his compassion drew another expedient:-" Pay your just debt, and seem forthwith to depart; but, instead of so doing, step gently up the stairs that first offer in the passage-take the room upon the right, and accept such protection as I can afford you-be speedy." Whether the melancholy gentleman was a second Howard, or worthy of a still higher point in the scale of philanthropy, I really had not time to decide. There was a tramping of heavy footsteps, and much bustle and confusion in the passage; the cause of which could be nothing less than the arrival of plunder taken by another party of the gang, for highwaymen and housebreakers it was very obvious the melancholy gentlemen took them to be, and, giving full scope to my imagination and fears, I could have sworn, as the suspected group appeared, that Newgate had set its broad seal upon every countenance. Their forms appeared to dilate, and their voices to become doubly loud. Pistols seemed thrust under every fold of their garments, and, could I at the moment have been phrenologically observant, no doubt the organ of destructiveness would have been horribly developed in every successive cranium! I obeyed orders, therefore, with all the alacrity of terror-bade my host a faltering good night, and then darted (rather than stepped) up the stairs of escape to the chamber of refuge-a miserable little den, communicating at the further end with a still more miserable little den, in which any respectable wild beast would have been ashamed to lie down. There, however, upon its miserable and decaying floor (for bed there was none) I prepared to pass the night, after the melancholy philanthropist had joined me with a candle, and secured the entrance with a stout wooden bolt-a medium of security indeed appended to both doors, although the miserable closet was alike empty and windowless. It was left both unbolted and untenanted: for the benevolence of "the second Howard" shrank aghast at the very thought of my being so lodged. I, the stranger and the weary, the young and the tender, was to occupy his bed, and, as its dimensions augured most indifferently for the comfort and repose of our joint persons, the good Samaritan actually wrapped himself in a blanket and travelling cloak, and lay down upon the bare planks; leaving me to the sole enjoyment of his couch, and the delighted contemplation of so much excellence in mortality!

It is charming to think what deep and delicious slumbers are induced by that serenity of conscience which follows the discharge of great Christian duties, even upon the hard floor of a wretched chamber in a very cold spring night! For, certain it is, if ever human ears were sensible of sound, mine were of footsteps, and confused gropings and movements, at different periods of that uncomfortable night, long after the banditti had appeared to take their departure. But every appeal upon such occasions to the

melancholy gentleman only disturbed his profound rest, and drew forth an assurance that not the least sound had broken upon his repose" not a mouse stirring." At last, all was indeed profoundly still. I felt overpowed with fatigue, and having carefully deposited the waistcoat containing my El Dorado under my pillow, I yielded to the influence of the drowsy god. But it was a very brief influence, I believe, being suddenly dissipated by a kind of heaving sensation under my head, not unlike the slow gradual motion of a hand, rapidly and dexterously withdrawn the very instant I gave token of being awake. It might, to be sure, be a dream, but one of so vivid and alarming a nature, that for the next hour and a half I tossed from side to side in miserable restlessness, although satisfied by a convincing grasp that my hoard was in its place. But why bestow further tediousness upon the matter? I had one more drowsy interval, and that which could not be accomplished in one way, was most effectually managed in another. I was startled by a cry of "Fire!" close at my ear-saw a blaze of light in the inner chamber—rushed, naked as I was, to ascertain the cause, and, in one moment, found myself a dupe, a captive, and a beggar! the door being instantaneously closed and bolted-the mock blaze dying away (it was only the conflagration of an old newspaper), and my ears regaled with the sound of steps rushing from the bed-room, in which, it is superfluous to relate, I had left my treasured garment. All further description would be equally superfluous. I was released in due time (after sufficient stamping and shouting) by the astonished landlord; and never, from that hour to this, had another glimpse either of my devoted legacy or THE MELANCHOLY GENTLEMAN !

(To be Continued.)

1. Michelet's History of France. Translated by G. H. SMITH, F. G. S. Whittaker and Co. 1845.

2. Michelet's Origines du Droit Français, et Recherchées dans les Symboles et les Formules du Droit Municipal. Paris.

1 vol. 8vo.

THE first seeds of European civilisation in its modern character, nurtured by human culture and fostered by Christian doctrines, orginated in three countries-Germany, France, and England. Their early constitutions and laws, the early development of their social, moral, and political life, rest upon one common basis, have pursued one common direction, and evince one common tendency, while the distinctive peculiarities of the national character have lent to the various institutions of those countries respectively a colouring more or less in accordance with the spirit and turn of mind peculiar to each of

them. The study of the COMPARATIVE history of these three countries is, therefore, of vast importance, if not even indispensable, to the right understanding of their fundamental laws and institutions; though, we regret to say, no book of such a compass has, as yet, made its appearance in either country; and the historians of the respective countries treat, upon the whole, the history of their own nations as an entirely detached link from the great chain of universal events, though a little careful investigation would at once show them, that we frequently trace the root of some vastly developed institution of one country in a political principle or even moral custom of another. We thus find in the three countries the three pillars of Germanic constitutions-the power of royalty, the prerogatives of the nobility, and the freedom of the citizen. How differently, however, in process of time, have these three fundamental institutions been shaped and developed in each of those countries! In France, the monarchical principle began with destroying the aristocratic, and finished by falling itself a victim to the national or democratic principle. The social principle then moulded another species of royalty, based upon democratism, by which new forms were also given to the aristocratic institutions. In England the lords were, from the first, the supporters of both power and freedom; but were, in process of time, also compelled to bow to the spirit of the age, and shape their institutions on republican principles, not dissimilar to those of France. In Germany, after the old power of royalty had vanished, a portion of the German aristocracy or lords became heirs to the vacant thrones of the divided provinces, while the rest were transformed into statesmen and heads of government. Much has been altered, lost, or added to the previous order of things, in process of time, in the three countries, and more especially as regards the political position of the clergy. But, strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless a fact, that almost every new section in the constitutional history of Germany exactly corresponds, in tenor and spirit, with that of England and France about the same period; and a work setting forth the analogy between the fundamental laws of the three respective countries would, therefore, be a great desideratum for the study of the philosophy of the law-history of Europe. In no country, however, has been done less towards the accomplishment of such a task than in modern France; and it even seems that the study of the ancient laws and customs of that country has been entirely neglected, after a radical reform had been brought about in the French laws generally. The ascendancy of the philosophical spirit was hailed there as the light of an ever-shining day, which has superseded the darkness of the long night of feudal barbarism. The code became, as it were, a law of nature, sanctioned by the state, within the reach of common sense generally, and altogether at variance with the spirit of the ancient laws and customs. By the code, in short, a vast chasm

was effected between the past and the present; and young France was about to lose even the last vestige of old France. After the lapse, however, of a few years, the spirit of the age took a new turn also in France, where the historical sense was again roused, and the younger generation seem to take a delight in the reading of the history of France's early days. With that bias began also a new period for the study of law; and on its development depends now the entire remodellation of French jurisprudence generally.

This new spirit was called forth by the coincidence of several circumstances; but there can be no doubt that Walter Scott was the first who gave an impulse to that new spirit. In his novels, he painted the past with historical colours, and in a manner both amusing and instructive. The national peculiaritics of other days, the predominant passions, dispositions, and way of thinking peculiar to every class in society, afforded rich materials for the pencil of that great master, who so embellished and practically ennobled the past, that it formed, thus exhibited, a most striking contrast with the prosaic and uniform present. The poetical sense of the French soon caught at the notion, and suggested the plan of re-exhibiting also France's old history in romantic sketches. Thus arose in that country the historical novel, of which Victor Hugo's Notre Dame is universally admitted to be a chef d'œuvre of that class, which has, however, since degenerated into a literature of despair, and descriptions of all sorts of human deformities and mental agonies. French history possesses some fine periods, quite suited to poetical illustrations. Chivalry, old French poetry, the splendour of royalty, the struggles of the League in the 16th century, and even the brilliant despotism of Louis XIV., are subjects of sufficient interest for poetical and romantic conceptions; and the pages of La Vieille France are now read by la Jeune France with some pride and national enthusiasm. It became, in fine, clear to all, that there may be greatness even under those old forms, which are so much at variance with the philosophical spirit of the 18th century; and the old adage, “the past is the mother of the present," was at last understood in spirit and more extended acceptations. It broke down the pride of the 19th century, which imagined itself able to do and create everything by mere force of thinking and reasoning; it became evident to all, that many modern phenomena cannot be solved without borrowing the clue from past events. Even the Revolution appeared at last only as a social evolution, and the farther that great catastrophe receded in the background, the more was it easy to perceive that the present is but a continuation of the past, and that the germs of what is, ought to be sought in what was. The minds of men are now, in fine, open to the grave study of history; and the voice of the historian is no longer heard without interest, or listened to with indifference. The historiography of old France had ceased in 1785 with

Mably; but was resuscitated in 1828 by Guizot, whose lectures on modern history were received by the reading public with all the interest due to the subject.

Guizot's historical works are distinguished for two qualitiesstudy of the sources, and clearness of style. In reading them we fancy we see the social life of a nation assume shape, motion, life, and spirit. We conceive, why things have become just so, and not differently; we find the whole exhibition very attractive, simply because it is natural, bearing the inward character of truth. But it was not Guizot alone who appeared as an historical reformer; at his side stand Rainouard (Histoire du Droit Municipal de France, 1829); Capefigue (Histoire de Philippe Auguste); Amedée Thierry (Histoire de Gaulois), and his brother Augustin (Histoire de la Conquête d'Angleterre par les Normands, and several articles in the Revue des Deux Mondes on French history generally). In these latter articles Thierry, after showing how very partially the history of France has been treated in the last century, attempted himself to clear up a few points in it, in a manner that acquired him acknowledgments from the literary world at large.

A most vigorous impulse to historical study was given also in 1833 by Chateaubrand's Etudes Critiques, giving a most spirited review of the French historians from the 17th century to the present day. It is true, that we miss in his own historical sketches original research and inquiry; but we are, on the other hand, sufficiently compensated for that loss by the admirable method and charming diction of the author.

A new historical school was then formed, which soon developed itself, and branched out into various directions. Barante gave, in his Histoire des Ducs de Bourgogne, a picturesque recast of the chronicles of the 14th century not only do we see in these narrations the exact colouring of the times, but we frequently even fancy we read a romantic fiction instead of historical facts. This romantic way of dressing history had a decisive influence, and greatly contributed to the new editions of the ancient sources. Froissart, Molivet, Monstrelet, De Comines, and even the as yet unedited chroniclers, appeared in the Collection of Buchans, and subsequently also in his Panthéon Literaire. From that moment a regular rush was made to the sources, and every year the historical collections multiplied to a wonderful extent. Petilot's celebrated Collection des Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire de France was no longer the only one of its kind. Guizot edited, in thirty-one volumes, all the old Latin sources of the French history, in a most popular translation. Cimber and Danjou had already published, in 1837, above twelve volumes of a collection of historical official documents, containing the passing events of all classes of society, ever since the time of Louis XI. The Revue Retrospective contains the most interesting memoirs, documents, &c.,-such as the appeal of Louis XIV. to the French