REVIEW.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XV, Issue 78, 27 December 1856, Page 3

REVIEW.

Memoirs by the Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P., <$-d. Published by the Trusteeß of his Papers', Lord Mahon (now "Earl of Stanhope) and the Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, Mi P. Part I. The

Roman Catholic Question, 1828-9. Murray. it is perhaps too early to pronounce a final judgment on the public character of Sir Robert Peel. The pure light of history has not yet shone upon his name; his contemporaries, adversaries, friends, survive, and are grouped in the political foreground of our age. Events, however, are decisively separating this generation from that which saw Robert Peel take a place in the line of English politicians — from the first a recognised leader, and at last the most popular statesman in England, at the head of the smallest party. His errors of policy are not remembered with bitterness; his defects of character are not referred to with derision. By parentage, by education, by early friendships, by parliamentary interest, he was identified at the beginning of his career with one set of men, with one set of opinions. But nature made him honest as well as courageous, and honesty and .courage made him liberal. When, at the three crises of his life — the periods of Catholic Emancipation, of Reform, and of Corn LaAV Repeal--he saw that, against the traditions of his party, and the remote and legendary reasoning by which he had been taught to uphold them, national necessities had arisen far more direct in their influence, and threatening to become infinitely more formidable, he refused to imperil the nation that he might secure^ a respite for his party. Like the Duke of Wellington, he had no sympathy with the impracticable positivism of the Ultra Tories. Agreeing with them on general subjects from habit, he would not allow that habit of thought to destroy his political faculties, or to prevail at the risk of a social war. Like the Duke of Wellington, however, he gave way on the ground of special necessity. His Toryism crumbled by degrees, but not under the influence of theoretical convictions. He seemed never to regulate his policy by general maxims, or by the recognition of a contrast between true and false principles of government. When he had conceded Catholic Emancipation, he was prepared to resist the Reform Bill; when he had assented to the principle of the Reform Bill, he maintained the Corn Laws. Seldom did he give his exertions in behalf of a liberal cause until he had strained his energies against it. He was perpetually in the front of the battle, and perpetually surrendering. That such a statesman should be liable to imputations of pusillanimity, of selfishness, even of treachery, is not astonishing. But that posterity should connect these frailties and vices with his name seems to us impossible. What was the political culture of Robert Peel ? What were his early associations ? From Harrow and Christ Church, he went to Cashel, brimful of Tory teaching; and, through that little postern-gate of the Constitution, at twenty-one years of age, he entered the House of Commons. There, for nearly twenty years, his father, the devotee of Pitt, had voted one way and followed the Tory leaders. The mansion-house of Drayton was a centre of Tory influence, and Tamworth was its borough.

Young Peel, then, coming into Parliament about the same time as young Palmerston, was led into the ranks in support of Canning, Castlereagh, and Perceval, and in opposition to Tierney, Whitbread, Homer, Brougham, Grant, Romilly, Sir Francis Burdett, and Sheridan, whose tremulous star had paled in the dawn of a new century. The elder Peel, eager to train his son as a captain of ancient politics, soon contrived to involve him with the Tory connexion. The heir of Dray ton Manor became Under-Secretary to the Colonies, in the administration of Mr. Perceval, Irish Secretary and Home Secretary in the administration of Lord Liverpool, and Home Secretary in the administration of the Duke of Wellington. When he next took office it was as Prime Minister. Throughout his official career we find him a friend of public peace, struggling upwards, disengaging himself from family, college, and party doctrines, diverging by degrees — until on many points he passed the Whigs — and detaching himself at length from the high Conservative body. On " the cold flats of opposition," however, Sir Robert Peel seemed to recover the opinions of his youth. He was fierce, declamatory, sometimes insolent. If he yielded, it was when resistance involved the nullification of his influence, or in office when circumstances pressed palpably upon him, when his informants in the provinces told him of riots, of menacing combinations, of the utter futility of military force to repress the national desire. Then, as the tide beat against the Parliament, as public order and confidence were threatened with eclipse, as the horizon blackened, and the Tory party drifted on, relying on its policy of procrastination and resistance, Peel took the colours of the time, changed his course, and steered into serener water. Whether a statesman of genius or not, whether greater or less than the political chiefs of the last century, he did well for England, and passed away with an undimmed fame amid the general sorrow of the nation. We do not find in his character or in his genius all the qualities of public virtue or of intellect which we assign to Burke and to Fox; he never reigned with such indisputable supremacy as Pitt or Walpole ; his temperament was serious, perhaps in a degree cold ; he was not, indeed, a natural patriot ; he was not a politician of the first order : but he never retraced his step*; in mind he was superior to his party ; in disinterestedness he for surpassed Canning. A greater statesman may govern England, but scarcely a better man. la his Memoirs on the Roman Catholic Question, these characteristics are strongly illustrated. Among the papers bequeathed in trust to Lord Mahon and Mr. Cardwell, three only have been selected for immediate publication. The first, on Catholic emancipation, is before us. The second, on the Ministry of 1 834 and '35, and the third, on the Corn Laws, will be produced in their chronological series. All that the literary executors of Sir Robert Peel have done, in the case of these Memoirs, has been to suppress two or three names and passages, of no historical importance. Sir Robert Peel himself prohibited the publication of his correspondence with the Queen and

Prince Albert during their lives, or without their consent ; he also gave the trustees a discretionary power to reserve or omit altogether the publication of letters and documents committed to their charge) and they have so interpreted their duty as to leave the bulk of the MSS. unpublished. "There are many things in the Peel Papers (hat ought not to be published yet, and many things as affecting other persons that ought not to be published at all."

The Memoir on the Roman Catholic Question was elaborately prepared, by Sir Robert Peel, to be "presented to the public eye" after his death. It takes the form of a narrative, illustrated by correspondence and political memoranda. It is written, moreover, in the spirit of an apology, beginning with a defence of his votes against Emancipation, and ending with a warm and touching plea in vindication of his change of policy. From his entrance into Parliament, in 1809, he had resisted the removal of the Roman Catholic disabilities. He had quoted Pitt and Plunkett against Canning and Grattan, conceiving that the Protestant interest had a peculiar claim to his devotion, on account of his uniform advocacy of it, the confidence reposed in him, his position in Lord Liverpool's government, and his position in Parliament as representative of the University of Oxford. But, when the Ripon administration was dissolved, and when the Duke of Wellington, in 1828, undertook to form a ministry, it is obvious, from. the correspondence here cited, that a change began to work in the mind of Peel. It is a curious study to trace the development of this change. The Duke of Wellington had been told by the King that, with the exception of Lord Grey, he might take into the Cabinet anybody he pleased. " Everything else," the Duke wrote in simple hyperbole, "is open to all mankind." Emancipation was not to be a Cabinet question. Peel's letters to Mr, Gregory at this period are interesting He aided largely in the construction of the new Ministry, on the principle that, as a move in advance was inevitable, the Government ought not to be on a mere Tory basis —

I care not for the dissatisfaction of ultra-Tories. This country ought not, and cannot, be governed upon any other principles than those of firmness, no doubt, but of firmness combined with moderation.

He sends Mr. Gregory a note marked " most private" on the prospects of a Cabinet relying on the unadulterated party of "the gentlemen of England":—

Wbat must have been the inevitable fate of a government composed of (kmlburn, Sir John Beckett, Wetherell, and myself? Supported by very warm friends, no doubt, but those warm friends being prosperous country gentlemen, fox-huntera, &c, &c, most excellent men, who will attend one night, but who will not leave their favourite pursuits to sit up till two or three o'clock fighting questions of detail, on which, however, a government must have a majority, we could not have stood creditably a fortnight.

It was hoped that, upon the expiration of the Act against unlawful societies in Ireland, and the announcement of the Catholic question as an open question in the Cabinet, the public agitation would subside. Lord Anglesey's idea was to "keep matters quiet," and "get rid of the bugbear." Peel already counting probabilities, procuring minute information from Ireland as to the operation of the Roman Catholic societies, and as to the prevalence of murder, outrage, robbery; and "political feeling" in that country. Coercion had failed, the prosecutions had broken down, great defections from "the Protestant interest" had taken place in Parliament, and the repeal of the Test Act was I'hastening1 ' hastening the victory of emancipation. On the subject of the Test, Peel seems to have wavered early. " Have you quite made up your mind to oppose ? " writes the Bishop of Oxford, in February, 1828 ; to which Peel replies, in a letter marked " most private " :—: —

The Test Act, &c, is put off till this day week. There is, therefore, time to breathe. The argument against repeal, for a popular assembly like the House of Commons, is threadbare in the extreme. The distinction between the sacrament as an actual qualification for office, and the proof it incidentally affords of qualification, is too refined for the house. It might do very well when people took the sacrament once a month ; but now people take the sacrament (when it is required in the case of office) not for the sake of religion, but for the sake of the office. The b^st argument — mind, I am speaking always of House of Commons' arguments — of arguments for people who know very little of the matter — care not much about it — half of whom have dined or are going to dine — and are only forcibly struck by that which they instantly comprehend without trouble— the best argument is this —

This "best argument" amounts to a special plea : — that, in the absence of religious acrimony between the Dissenters and the Establishment, it would be unwise, by the revival of polemics, to increase the jealousy of one communion and encourage the encroachments of the other. Evidently, Peel was not a great admirer of the House of Commons. But the style of his resistance to the Bishop of Oxford's suggestions is curious : —

The mode in which it is most prudent to discuss any question in the House of Commons must be determined by a variety of considerations, of which it i 3 not easy for persons at a distance to judge. One of those circumstances, and a most material one, is the prospect of being victorious or boing beaten. If you are to be beaten, the higher the tone you take, the more creditable it may be to the individual member who takes it; but, let me add, the more complete is the triumph over the party on whose behalf it is taken. It might have been right to Bay, "the Test Act is essential to the security of the Church ; it recognises the great principle that conformity to the Church should be the qualification for civil trust ; it is the barrier and bulwark, and so forth. Remove it and the Church is gone; the Dissenters will be triumphant ; I disclaim all responsibility for such an issue, aud throw it upon the House of Commons." This is a high line and a good line, the best possible if it succeeds and is supported by a large majority. But if it fails. Of course the Minister taking it resigns, which is a very subordinate part of the consideration. But what is the position of the Church ? and what is the position of the Dissenter, admitted by the Minister to have had a complete triumph ?

As the spring of 1828 advanced, Peel's views on the Emancipation Bill changed rapidly. Sir Francis Burdett's motion had been carried, and Brougham had remarked, at the dose of the debate, that no single member who had spoken in opposition " had affirmed that things could remain as they were." Besides, Peel took count of the speakers, noting that Mackintosh, Lamb, Huskisson, and Brougham, with "the great preponderance of talent and of influence at the future decisions of the House of Commons, were ranged on the other side."

It very rarely, if ever, happened that the list of speakers against concession was reinforced by a young Member even of ordinary ability.

Meanwhile, the Government of Ireland was forced to reckon its constabulary, cavalry, infantry, and artillery ; the election of O'Connell took place ami& a storm of excitement, and Peel went on withhis' calculations : —

There is a wide distinction (though it is not willingly recognised^by a heated party) between the hasty concession to unprincipled agitation, and provident precautions against the explosion of public feeling gradually acquiring the strength which will make it irresistible. " Concede nothing to agitation " is the ready cry of those who are not responsible — the vigour of whose decisions is often proportionate to their own personal immunity from danger, and to their imperfect knowledge of the true state of affairs. A prudent Minister, bejoro he determines against all concession — against any yielding or compromise of former opinions — must well consider what it is that he has to resist, and what are his powers of resistance His task would be an easy one if it were sufficient to resolve that he would yield nothing to violence or to the menace of physical force.

The question of policy became thus a question of power. The Government could not count upon the Irish army, and Peel was forced to count on the weather. He wrote from Whitehall on the 13th of July, 1828 :— I hope that the 12th of July was as unfavourable a day for public processions in Ireland as it was with us. It rained here almost the whole morning. He was now determined upon concession, and placed his views upon record in a letter to the Duke of Wellington, dated the 11th of August in the same year. To this is appended the following note : —

Twenty years has elapsed since the above letter was written. I read it now with the full testimony of my own heart and conscience to the perfect sincerity of the advice which I then gave, and the declarations which I then made — with the same testimony also to the fact that the letter was written with a clear foresight of the penalties to which the course I resolved to take would expose me— the rage of party — the rejection by the University of Oxford—the alienation of private friends — the interruption of family affections. Other penalties, such as the loss of office and of royal favour, I would not condescend to notice if they were not the heaviest in the estimation of vulgar aud lowminded men, incapable of appreciating higher motives of public conduct. An elaborate memorandum is enclosed. " Frightful reports " from Ireland stimulated the activity of the paity that had resolved upon the concession of Catholic claims. Peel's confidential correspondence with the Lord-Lieu-tenant and the Chief Secretary, forming in an historical point of view the most important contents of the volume, is full of remarkable details on this subject. But the King continued to hold out, and the Duke's administration was weakened by the secession of Mr. Huskisson and the Duke of Clarence : —

In the month of August the Duke of Clarence (the heir presumptive to the Throne) had been removed from the office of High Admiral. The circumstances which led to that removal are explained in the following letter from the Duke of Wellington of the 13th of August : —

"Duke or WeliilUgtox to Mb. Peel.

"August 13, 1828,

My dear Peel — I return you your correspondence with the Duke of Clarence, and I send you mine in regard to his recent cruise, which has ended in his resignation of his office of Lord High Admiral. After writing to the King on the Ist instant, as we had settled in the Cabinet that I should write, I intended to take no more notice of what had passed, unless the Duke should by his conduct render some notice necessary upon his arrival in London. He came to London on the 7th, and behaved very rudely to Cockburn — in short, laid him aside altogether, sending his orders to the Council through Sir Edward Ov\en. I saw Cockburn and Crocker on that afternoon and next morning, and both agreed in stating that the machine would no longer work. I therefore consulted the Cabinet on the Bth, and, witli their concurrence, wrote to the Duke the letter of the Bth upon finding that he had left town before I went to him. The correspondence will explain the rest. I sent it to the King as it passed, and I received on Sunday the King's last letter, which I forwarded to the Duke at Bushy, aud he answered me immediately, and wrote to the Lord Chancellor to tell him that a meeting which he had fixed with his lordship for to-morrow, the 1 lth, would not take place, as he had resigned. It was quite obvious that the Duke had misunderstood the King's letter, which certainly held out an alternative to obey the law or resign ; and as I saw the King yesterday, I suggested to his Majesty to explain the meaning of his letter to the Duke. The King made this explanation in the presence of the Lord Chancellor, and urged the Duke not to decide that he would not obey the law. The truth then came out that his Royal Highness would not remain in office unless Sir George Cockburn was removed, nis Eoyal Highness repeated the same afterwards to the Lord Chancellor. He said he would do whatever was wished ; that he had no reason to complain of me or of the King, but that of Sir George Cockburn he did complain, and that he must be removed. I spoke to the King after dinner, and explained to his Majesty that his Royal Highness had now put the question upon its true footing ; but that I must tell his Majesty that it would not answer to remove from his office a gentleman who had performed his duty, for no reason excepting that he had remonstrated against a breach of the law by the Duke. His Royal Highness is therefore out of office. We must consider of the arrangement to be made in consequence, and this without loss of time.

Thus, it being proposed to the Duke of Clarence that he must obey the law or resign, he chose to resign, as the lesser of two evils. His brother, the King, who had told Lord Eldon that England "might get a Catholic king in the Duke of Clarence," wrote to Mr. Peel .—

November 19, 1821

The sentiments of the King upon Catholic Emancipation are those of his rev.ered and excellent father ; from these sentiments the King never can, and never will deviate.

George the Fourth permitted his ministers to consider in cabinet council' "the whole state of Ireland." But he resisted Mr. Peel's arguments, laid before him in a memorandum, as is shown in a characteristic note from Lord Bathurst : —

It i 3 certainly what the King seemed to admit it to be— a good statement ; and I should say an argumentative one, if my gracious master had not denied it to be one.

Peel paid the penalty of his recantation by losing his seat for Oxford, and had a near escape of missing that for Westbury : — Ycvy shortly after my 'return had been declared by the proper officer, the arrival of a' Protestant candidate in a chaise-and-four from London was announced. It he had entered the town a few hours earlier, it is highly probable that I should have fared no better at Westbury than I had done at Oxford.

We must add to our extracts from these important "Memoirs" Sir Robert Peel's picture of George the Fourth in the cabinet : —

On the evening of Tuesday, Ihe 3rd of March, the Kiug commanded the Duke of Wellington, the Lord Chancellor, and myself to attend his Majesty at AVindbor at an early hour on the following clay. We went there accordingly, aud on our arrival wcro ushered into the presence of the King, who received us with hi 3 usual kindness and cordiality. He was grave, and apparently labouring under some anxiety and uneasinesp. His Majesty said that we must bo fully aware that it had caused him the greatest pain to give his assent to the proposition made to him by his Cabinet, that they should be at liberty to oiler their collective advice on the Catholic Question, and still greater pain to feel that he had no alternative but to act upon the advice which he had received, His Majesty then ob-

served, that as the question was about to be brought forward in Parliament, he wished to have a previous personal conference with those of his Ministers whom he had summoned On this occasion to attend him, and whom he must regard as chiefly responsible for the advice tendered to him. He said that he desired to receive frOm us a more complete and detailed explanation of the manner in which we proposed to effect the object we had iv view. * * The King observed, that he could not possibly consent to any alteration of the ancient Oath of Supremacy — that he was exceedingly sorry that there had been any misunderstanding on so essential a pomt — that he did not blame us on account of that misunderstanding— that he did not mean to imply that in the explanation which we had previously given to him in writing there had been any concealment or reserve on this point : still the undoubted fact was, that he had given his sanction to our proceedings under misapprehension with regard to one particular point, and that a most important one, namely, the alteration of the Oath of Supremacy ; and he felt assured that our opinions would be in concurrence with his own — that a sanction so given ought not to be binding upon the Sovereign, and that His Majesty had no alternative but to retract his consent, if the measure to which it had been given under an erroneous impression were bond fide disapproved of by his deliberate and conscientious judgment. In answer to this appeal, we expressed our deep concern that there had been any misunderstanding on so important a matter, but our entire acquiescence in the King's opinion, that liis Majesty ought not to be bound by a consent unwarily given to important public measures, under a misapprehension of their real character and import. After a short lapse of time, His Majesty then said, "But after this explanation of my feeling 3, what course do you propose to take as my Ministers ? " He observed that notice had been given of proceedings in the House of Commons for the following day ; and addressing himself particularly to me, who had charge of those proceedings, said, " Wow, Mr. Peel, tell me what course you propose to take to-morrow."

Upon this the Duke of Wellington and his colleagues resigned their offices. Next evening, however, the question was settled by a change in the King's intentions. The Bill was carried.

Sir Robert Peel, drawing his Memoir to a close, says : —

Of my own motives and intentions I may be allowed to speak. Pusillanimity — the want of moral courage — would have prompted a very different course from that which I pursued. If I had been swayed by any unworthy fears — the fear of obloquy — the fear of responsibility — the fear of parliamentary conflict — I might have concealed my real opinion —might hare sheltered myself under the dishonest plea of a falae consistency, and have gained the hollow applause which is lavished upon those who inflexibly adhere to an opinion once pronounced, though altered circumstances may justify and demand the modification or abandonment of it. If I had been stimulated by personal ambition — that sort of ambition, I mean, which is content with the lead of a political party, and the possession of official power — I might have encouraged and deferred to the scruples of the Sovereign, and might have appealed to the religious feelings of the country to rally round the throne for the maintenance of the Protestant religion, and the protection of the royal conscience. From the imputation of other motives, still more unworthy, the documents I now produce will, I trust, suffice to protect my memory. I can with truth affirm, a3 I do solemnly affirm, in the presence of Almighty Grod, "to whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid," that in advising and promoting the measures of 1829 I was swayed by no fear except the fear of public calamity, and that I acted throughout on a deep conviction that those measures were not only conducive to the general welfare, but that they had become imperatively necessary in order to avert from interests which had a special claim upon my support — the interests of the church and of institutions connected with the church — an imminent and increasing danger. It may be that I was unconsciously influenced by motives less perfectly pure and disinterested — by the secret satisfaction of being, when the waves went high,

A daring pilot in extremity. But, at any rate, it was no ignoble ambition which prompted me to bear the brunt of a desperate conflict, and at the same time to submit to the sacrifice of everything dear to a public man, excepting the approval of his own conscience, and the hope of ultimate justice.

Sir Robert Peel is not exhibited in this " Memoir " as a statesman with an extensive political coup d' 'ceil, a grand and systematic creed, or a profound knowledge of the principles of empire. It is as a vindication of personal conduct that the volume is chiefly remarkable ; but it throws a full and bright light on the parliamentary history of England during two important years.

The Lion's Feast — A Bridal Tragedy. — Among the Arabs, when a high-tent man marries, he invites a number pf people, who go and fetch the bride at her parent's house to bring her to her new dwelling, a ceremony which is performed in a palanquin, numberless shots being at the same time fired on the road. Every marriage, however, is not alike. If some are accompanied by a numerous retinue, if sometimes the happy couple number among their guests many handsome horsemen, at other times, as with us, more than one bridegroom has not even enough to pay the fiddlers who escort him. Such being the case with Smail, who had paid down the day before his very last shilling for his bride's marriage portion, he assembled only his nearest relatives, and proceeded with them on foot to the abode of his future father-in-law. Having regaled themselves plentifully with mutton and couscoussou, and the marriage being concluded, they fired off a few cartridges by way of salute, taking care to keep a few for the journey back. There was no signing of the marriage-contract, for the very simple reason that none of the assistants knew how to write ; and in the evening they all parted, wishing each other good fortune and happiness. The bridegroom's douar was but a league distant; the moon shone beautifully bright; the bride's escort numbered nine guns ; what was to be feared on the way ? But it is not unfrequently at the very moment one expects him the least that an intruder will present himself. Smail was walking in front, beside his bride, to whom he was speaking in a soft, low voice about the happiness which awaited them under his tent. The friends of the husband were following discreetly some paces behind, firing at times a shot in the air ; and the young wife seemed quite gratified with this little offering of powder burnt in her honour. Everything, in short, went on in the most satisfactory manner. But, all of a sudden, a jealous individual — the dcvil — who had not been invited, and who delights in mischief, presents himself under the shape of an enormous lion, stretched across the 1 very path these ! happy young folks were pursuing ! They were about half-way between the two douars, and it was fully as dangerous to go forward as to draw back. What was to be done? The opportunity presented to the bridegroom of winning for ever his wife's affections by a noble act of devotedness was too f . good to be lost. Balls were, accordingly, rammed down the barrel of every gun, the bride was placed in

the centre of a sort of square formed by the assistants, aud the escort marched bravely forward, headed by Smail. Already they had advanced to within thirty yards from the lion, who never moved. Smail now ordered his friends to stop, and saying to his young wife, " See now if you have married a man," he walked straight up to the lion, and commanded him to clear the way. At twenty paces, the lion, until then crouching and motionless, raised his monstrous head, and was evidently preparing for a spring. Smail, regardless of his wife's screams and the entreaties of his relatives, who called to him to retreat, put one knee to the ground, levelled the barrel of his gun towards the animal, took a steady aim, and fired. In an instant the wounded and furious animal bounded forward on the unfortunate Smail, knocked him to the ground, and tore him to shreds in the twinkling of an eye, then rushed madly towards the square, in the centre of which stood the wretched bride. "Let no one fire," cried Smail' s father, "until he touches the barrels of our guns." But, added the narrator of this episode, where is the man sufficiently self-possessed to await without flinching that hurricane called a lion, as he rushes on towards his prey with immense bounds, with mane floating in the wind, expanded jaws, and eyes inflamed with fury? The whole party now fired at once, without heeding in what direction their balls went ; and the lion dashed on the square, which he quickly overthrew, smashing the bones and tearing the flesh of all whom he found before him. Some of the meu had managed to escape, dragging after them with much difficulty the poor bride, almost dead by this time with fright, but they were quickly followed by their insatiable enemy, and torn to pieces ; one only, more fortunate than the rest, having contrived to reach the foot of a steep rock, upon which, thanks to his efforts, the woman also found a refuge. He had already climbed the rock some little way, when the lion again advanced, if possible still more furious, and at one spring caught the right leg of the man, and dragged him down with him to the ground ; while the unhappy bride, crawling with hands and feet to the summit of the rock, was doomed to witness from her inaccessible retreat the woful and hideous spectacle of the death-agony of the last of her defenders. After two or three useless attempts, the lion, finding he could not get at the woman, returned to the body of his last victim, and began tearing it in bits, as if to revenge himself for the loss of the last living prey which was thus eluding his grasp. The remainder of the night passed away without any new incident. As soon as day began to dawn, the lion left the foot of the rock and retired towards the mountains j but he went off very slowly, aud did not finally abandon his post without stopping more than once on his road and throwing back a wistful glance on the prey he was leaving behind. A short time after the animal's departure, a troop of horsemen came across the plain ; and on Smail's widow making signals of distress with her veil, for she was now without strength or voice, they galloped towards her, and took her back to her father. The poor thing, however, expired on the following day. — Life of Jules Gerard, the Lion-killer.

London Streets in Shakspeare's Time. — The Elizabethan streets were filled by itinerant salesmen, many of whose trades have long since passed away ; charcoal sellers from the country, buyers of old lace, sellers of " hot peas," and Irish applemongers. The open stalls were piled with rapiers, and targets, and Italian armour and poignards, and silk points, and ruffs, and feathers, roses for shoes, scarves, and a thousand other articles of finery now mouldering in quiet country vaults, or treasured here and there with wrong dates attached to them in the wardrobes of old show mansions. The paths were filled by jostling servingmen, French pages, and watermen, and wounded soldiers from the Dutch wars, 1 Spanish gallants, Greek merchants; and- here and there an astrologer or an alchemist came out for a moment to breathe a purer air than the poisonous atmosphere of his cellar or his turret, that reeked with fuming mercury. There were actors, and bear wards, masters offence, bullies, and gentlemen pensioners, and gay citizens' wives, and bona robas, and falconers all bright, coloured, shifting, motley, and picturesque. There was no dull monotony and stereotype of dress, face, and manner ; but a never-ending variety, shifting and brilliant as the dyes of a kaleidoscope. There were beards of all classes and professions — the spruce, the pointed, the round, grey, black, and cream-coloured. All dress marked class : the 'prentice passes with his round cap and truncheon ; the citizen with his trimmed gown and gold chain ; the noble with his silk cloak, and scented doublet, gold spurs, and spangled feather ; the needy adventurer with his rusty sword, and greasy buff, or half Indian robe; the scrivener with his rusty black coat and unfailing bag; the divine with his cassock and his bands; the yeoman with his unbarked staff; and the court lady rolling by in her ponderous gilded coach. — Thornbxiry 1 s Sketches of Social History.

Nonsense for Nonsense'. — Suvaroff, the half-mad, half-savage Russian general, used frequently to ask the young officers and soldiers the most absurd questions, considering it a proof of smartness on their part if they gave a prompt reply, and hating above all things " I don't know" as an answer. He one day went up to a sentry, and, as the man presented arms, Suvaroff said, "Tell me how many buttons there are on the uniforms of 50,000 men ?" — " I can't say," replied the soldier, very naturally ; upon which the marshal, according to his custom, began to abuse him and rate him for his stupidity. The soldier, however, knowing Suvaroff s character, took courage, and said, " Well, sir, perhaps it's not every question your excellency could answer yourself ; for instance, there arc my two aunts — would you please to tell me their names?" The man's quickness atoned for his impudence in the eyes of the general, and the soldier was made a corporal next morning. Matrimonial Breeze. — "Arrah, Pat, and why did I many ye, just tell me that, for it's myself that's had to maintain ye ever since the blessed day that Father O'Flannagan sent me home to yer house?" — " Swate jewel," replied Pat, not relishing the charge, ""and it's myself that hopes I may live to see the day when ye 1 re a widow, waping over the cawld sod that covers me; then I'll see how ye get along without mo, honey."