to what eminence he may in his peculiar and oftentimes arduous vocation, society does not, on that account, court his company; you don't invite him to tea, nor get up a soiree, nor give a dinner in his honour, nor present him with a testimonial, nor build a monument to him when he rests from his labours, as is usual in the case of other great men. Of course I am here talking only of those artists whose operations are confined to the commoner walks of life. If we ascend to the "great masters" who have the will and the power to steal a province or an island, and do it, then the case is very different. There the magnitude of the operation completely changes the character of the act; success is virtue, and misfortune crime"; we live with him on the most friendly terms, entertain for him the highest respect; we visit at his house, partake of his hospitality, and, peradventure, give him our daughter in marriage. His work was accomplished amid the blare of trumpets, the roar of artillery, the shrieks of slaughtered men, and the flames of burning towns and villages; and all that makes such a difference! The poor soul who, in a moment of abstraction, dips his hand into your pocket, and removes your dirty handkerchief; or into your till, and makes away with the few coppers he may chance to find there, is ignominiously lugged into the presence of the "presiding

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magistrate" by a common policeman and consigned to quod. And all that makes such a difference! Ah, well there is a great deal of dust blowing about this rickety old world of ours, and we won't see things clearly until that dust is pretty well laid.

I am aware that with the Spartans, a most renowned nation of antiquity, stealing was considered a virtue; and that among them the art was carried to very high perfection. I wish, indeed, that we moderns could excel in some of the better virtues we talk about, in anything like the same degree. Also, I am aware that in another great nation of our own times, whose doings not long ago filled the world with a great noise,

a

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to be able to do smart thing," that is, a dishonest thing in the way of trade, whereby you walk round a customer with his eyes open all the while, is accounted a creditable effort of legitimate ingenuity, and by no means disqualifies the performer for church membership. Nay, indeed, I am not sure but that among ourselves, in our eager bargain-making and buying and selling, and everything that concerns our unappeasable hunger for money, the thin line that separates honesty from its opposite is not often crossed, and that we chuckle, too, over our success. But then it is in the very highest degree creditable to us that we are ashamed of our roguery-if it is found out. Nor do

I forget that in our own country, in times not very remote, bold reivers and moss-troopers flourished among our mountains and fortresses, sweeping down from time to time, like an avalanche, and lifting the rich plains and valleys, much to the astonishment and grief of the peaceful dwellers there; and that around their exploits genius has thrown a halo of romance in many an immortal song and story, which make the deeds and the men look very fine as seen through the mist of years, in print; although, I warrant you, they presented an exceedingly prosaic appearance to the poor victims. Many of these men, it is true, were no vulgar robbers, who took to thieving for its own sake, and the petty and perilous advantages thence accruing, but men, some of whom, like our own Rob Roy, were animated by a wild sense of justice, and a devout belief that they were born to set matters right between the oppressed and the oppressors :

"Said generous Rob-What need of books?

Burn all the statutes and their shelves;

They stir us up against our kind,

And worse, against ourselves.

We have a passion, make a law
Too false to guide us or control,
And for this law itself we fight
In bitterness of soul.

And puzzled, blinded thus, we lose
Distinctions that are plain and few;
These find I graven on my heart
That tells me what to do.

For why? Because the good old rule
Sufficeth them, the simple plan—

That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can."

Peace to the ashes of the brave and generous outlaw, who, if he lived in these more humdrum days, might find the simple plan more difficult of accomplishment than it was in his own; and who, under happier auspices, and as General Roy Macgregor, might have led a brigade of his gallant countrymen up the heights of Alma; been thanked by Parliament for his skill, valour, and success; been voted a pension and estate whereon to spend the residue of his honoured life; died, followed to his grave by a nation's tears; and, finally, have slept in solemn peace in the national Valhalla, side by side with the great ones whose silent tombs make the name of England glorious throughout every land. Tempora mutantur et mutamur in illis; and who can tell how many great men are lost to the world for want of opportunity-just because they were born at the wrong time.

I know too, that the brigand of modern times-a fellow with a huge sugar-loaf hat, immense beard, and

eyes glittering like the dagger which he will thrust into your doublet with small scruple if you decline to "fork out"-looks very picturesque in a painting with a nicely gilt frame, and that his exploits, particularly in novels, fill the hearts of young ladies with a romantic agitation. And yet brigand is just the sonorous synonym for thief; and a thief of the very vulgarest kind. But thief is a sneaking hangdog word, not at all romantic; and the rose under this name does not smell so sweet. It may be said that all these instances form an abatement from, or modification of, my initiatory proposition; but, in truth, it will be seen on reflection that they are only seemingly contradictory, and confirm the rule. I am therefore disposed to abide by my original axiom, "That thieving, although an art of very ancient date and universal prevalence, has never been accounted a very respectable pursuit."

The foregoing remarks apply, of course, only to material thefts, or annexations, or appropriations, or by whatever other euphemism you may choose to call them; and from these we shall pass by an easy transition, I hope, to another kind of theft which, although immaterial, is yet very important, seeing that it wilfully and feloniously seizes and runs away with your thoughts, and the very dress in which they are clothed--the perpetrator all the while leading innocent people to