tanate the peculiarity of his disposition, as may naturally be expected, leads him into occasional embarrassment. Admitted one evening into a private circle, he entered freely into the conversation, which, after exhausting the various topics of the day, at length turned upon an individual who had confided to him the secret of an early attachment, upon a promise of fidelity. To this person the attention of the company was accidentally directed; and it was casually stated, that his marriage was expected with a lady of great expectations. Forgetting the restraint under which he would have been laid by a few moments reflection, he opposed the reports from his personal knowledge, mentioned the real object of affection, and described the prejudices of an " old crusty guardian" as the only bar to the union. These he asserted were unfounded and ridiculous; and after expatiating upon them with much fluency and warmth, he closed with an epithet of no honourable application. A pause ensued-nor was it broken till a gentleman of peculiar gravity of countenance, and of antiquated appearance, acknowledged the lady to be his Ward, and his astonishment at the treatment he received. Honourable as the proceeding had been from its commencement, it now wore the garb in which it had been dressed by incautiousness and precipitation, instead of the garment of truth; while the disdainful expressions of heedlessness and pliancy produced not only for themselves a merited castigation, but carried with them very unfavourable sentiments to a man, who fancied himself competent to judge of another by his books and companions. It would not be difficult to mention many other instances of failure and dis. appointment from the prevailing error of this individual. A few months since, he purchased, at a large expense, a collection of paintings; and as he, with all the pride of possession, introduced a party of friends to the admiration of his taste, a well-known connoisseur detected the imposition, declaring that there were but few of real value, and that his Rembrandts and his Guidos were but copies of those masters, by some second or third rate painter in the estimation of the world. Chagrined at having expended so much upon pictures of little worth, he commenced an action against the dealer, and, thanks to his stars,

obtained a verdict, and a part of the money he had unsuspectingly paid. Still these were not sufficient to correct his unfortunate pliability. An acquaintance, suddenly formed in the saloon of one of the theatres, invited him to the house of a “Friend”—be acceded; and though he felt some surprise, as he did not expect a midnight divertissement, yet the "goodness of his disposition" prompted him to go. A street in the vicinity of Piccadilly was the spot they were to reach; and as a number of "friends" were expected, they were unusually punctual. Mr. Pliable entered the room, which was brilliantly illuminated; and after a few introductions, and observations, he was requested to join in the amusements of the rest. Too refined to be impolite, it was only necessary to solicit the favour, to obtain his consent; and with the feelings already described, he sat down to the pleasures and anxieties of "Play." Success, which usually attends a first effort, began to dawn, and he was already exulting in his good fortune, when, a larger stake having been made at his own request, he found all he had previously gained gone in a moment. Desirous of retrieving his character, and his purse, he hazarded both; and was only interrupted in his course, by a report hastily circulated, that the police were at the door; in an instant the tables were thrown down, and an entrance temporarily prevented-all was confusion-retreat seemed impossible, till one more active than the rest threw up the window, and leaped outdescending safely, his example was instantly followed, and Mr. Pliable among them was so fortunate to escape, without obtaining the appellation of either "Greek" or " Pigeon." This circumstance checked for a time such irregularities; he was more cautious in the choice of his companions, and for a few days he found there was some difference between an occasional companion, and the decided subject of esteem and regard. Here I might enlarge, and present you with "follies" springing from the same source-but I forbear-Mr. Pliable still lives-and I will not enter the path of the biographer-to him, it will be left to penetrate his retirement, to mark his conduct through life, and to pronounce upon his character-future days may display these to the world-but till then the veil had better not be withdrawn.-Still, Sir,

failings like these should not pass be fore us without instruction; the mo

fal they bring with them should be

remembered, because it is calculated to stem the progress of an evil to which many are liable, who never detected it in themselves; for while, like the column of Eddystone, it casts for a season a radiance around it, it also warns us of dangers to be avoided. In the formation of character, constant attention is necessary; youth is the period at which the mind is moulded and formed; and should an improper impression be inside, it may never be erased. I leave it to be decided, whether the evil to which I have alluded originated in this way; but I may be allowed to add, that it is a rock against which many a tender bark his struck-and perished. I would not check the rising smile, I would not array the open and ingenuous countenance with all the shrewdness and severity of age-far be it from mebut I would guard that smile from perversion, and that ingenuousness from abuse. Like a tender plant, I would cherish the first feelings of benevolence, and feel more pleasure in the opening flower; but I would watch i cessantly lest some weed should impede its maturity, or some insect drink at its veins. Nor should those for whom I have professed a disinterested regard be forgotten. The man who at all times smiles in their presence, should never be the object of their choice. NoHe should resemble a fine day in spring, when the sun rises in majesty, casts his light and energy over the surface of the world, and then retires in the sombre tints of evening-we do not admire the beams which wither the fruits of the earth, but those in which all nature seems to rejoice. He who talks upon the same subjects at all times with the same facility, is the butterfly which may inspire, but does not live to enkindle, new joy-he is not desirable as a husband, a friend, or a companion, who bends to every circumstance, and thinks, by a sacrifice of principle and of independence, to win our regards, but he whose firmness and cheerfulness are always in harmony, who never felt the depressions of meanness, or the dangers of

undue exaltation.

I remain, Sir,

ine for August, page 92, a statement, that the late Right Hon. George Rose "was brought up, until bis 18th year, by his uncle, Dr. Rose, who for many years conducted a very large seminary, of considerable repute, at Chiswick;"-and I beg leave in inform you that this sentence contains two errors: the late Treasurer of the Navy not being the nephew of Dr. Rose, and not having been educated at that gentleman's school at Chiswick.

T

I am, Sir, your's,&c. A RELATIVE. CURIOUS ARITHMETICAL QUESTION. HREE men walking together, and talking of their appetites, spied, in an adjacent field, 5 oxen, 7 sheep, and 11 lambs, grazing; the first remarked, that he could eat of an ox in a month; the second replied, that he could eat of a sheep in a week; and the third said, that he would be bound to eat of a lamb in three days.-Now supposing ox equal to three sheep, and 2 sheep to three lambs, in what time would these three gormandizers clear the whole meadow, if they all set at it together?

A solution is required by the principles of common arithmetic, without the assistance of algebra. J. R. YOUNG.

To the Editor of the European Magazine

SIR,

Kent-road, Sept. 7, 1818.

T page 112 of your Magazine for August, is a Mathematical Query, whose object is to find whereabouts a given cone must be cut, so that the segments may be equal, the section being parallel to the base. Permit me, Sir, to offer the following SOLUTION:

Because the section is parallel to the base, the original coue, and the segment cut off the top, will be similar; but similar solids are as the cubes of their homologous sides (Euclid, book 12, prop. 8), and in the present case, the solids are as 1 to 2, therefore 1: 2 :: 179 (4913): a3 ( being put = the longest side of the smaller cone), 179 3

and x =

= 13:494 = 5}

feet nearly, the distance of the vertex from the point of section, measured along the longest side.-Q.E.I. I remain, Sir, your's respectfully. J. R. YOUNG.

with its weight, whose condemnation be had procured without the smallest attention to that principle of justice, which requires that no man shall be judged without being previously heard in his own defence. He proposed that Mr. Reeves should be ordered to attend at the bar of the House, not to defend himself against a sentence already passed, but to hear that party, prosecutor, and judge, repeat his sentence, with such comments as would be appropriate to the act; or, in other words, to receive a reprimand from the Speaker. He did not think it necessary that the party accused should be allowed to defend his cause: not to expose the unwarrantable manœuvres of his accusers, in order to pervert facts, to disguise the truth, and to fix on him intentions foreign from his heart; not to impeach their motives, as every person accused has a right to do; nor to demonstrate his own innocence, either by arguments or evidence, which is a constitutional privilege of which no British subject can be deprived without the most flagrant violation of law and justice; but as he had condemned without hearing, he would proceed to the last office of a judge, and punish also ;-for whether, as he insinuated, it was only his intention to get Mr. Reeves's name struck out of the commission, as a magistrate, or whether, as was at first most reasonably supposed.* he meant to deprive him of his official situations, as a penalty for his exertions in 1792, it amounted to the assumption of a judicial power to inflict punishment without trial; for a man cannot be tried, without being present, and without being allowed to speak, or to adduce evidence, in his own defence. He assigned, as a reason for objecting to a prosecution, his wish to set an example of lenity and mercy. Mr. Reeves must have a strangely-constructed mind, if he did not consider this assertion as the addition of insult to injury. At all events, every subsequent declaration from this quarter, expressive of regard for the liberty of the press, or of respect for the trial by jury, could not fail to be considered

Indeed, Mr. Sheridan expressly said, he submitted to the Ministers themselves, whether this should not be followed up by an address to his Majesty, to remove him from any place of trust."-Woodfall's Reports, December 14th, p. 502

66

Mr. Dundas, who had been absent during the former debates, expressed his opinion of this motion, in the most decided and manly terms. He condemned that complication of power which the House were advised to assume. He conceived censure to be more becoming the character of the House than punishment. He noticed the swarms of libels which had lately deluged the town many of which were, in the highest degree, contumacious, and levelled directly at the proceedings of the two Houses of Parliament, though the discerning eyes of Opposition had not taken them into view. In one of the papers the following paragraph had appeared ;- Last night, the bill for repealing the British Constitution passed the House of Commons.' Suppose Mr. Reeves were to attend that House, how was he to make his defence to evidence which had been already taken ex parte upon the subject? How did it accord with the principles of justice, that a man should be brought before a popular assembly, who must, in justice to their own proceedings already had, be allowed to be inflamed against him in some degree? How could he have that impartial audience, which justice required before his case should be decided upon? The question really was

whether the Commons would, in a case in which they themselves were parties, proceed to decide by their own power, or would refer the matter to a trial, by another judicature?—The resolution which passed on a former night, had pronounced the book to be a malicious and seditious libel; no one, then, could deny, that it was a fit subject for legal inquiry, and that another jurisdiction would, more properly, more soberly, and more temperately, take up the matter than the House. Mr. Dundas observed, that there was not a single topic of accustomed attack, which Mr. Sheridan had not contrived to force into his speech. Mr. Reeves, the Association, Ministers, Judges, Justices, all these were the sports of his invective that night. He

need not have taken the trouble to own, that, not the pamphlet, not the supposed author, merely as author, but that Mr. Reeves, the head of the Loyal Associations, was the object of his aversion. There was no one who had the least doubt that Mr. Sheridan's reason,