small, and his person wanting no recommendation which dress could lend it. He wore his sword according to the last air, and his wig was of the last fashion in length and curl. At the time we speak of, his age was about five and thirty; two or three genteel comedies, which Congreve had seen and sat through, had stamped him for a man of talent; his character as a comic actor had confirmed and increased his reputation for written wit. A successful intrigue with a lady of distinction, young, gay, and fashionable, had added to his consequence and standing. He was always ready to stop up a gap at ombre, and he knew all the little news of the town. He had been admitted within the chosen circle at Wills', and was a foundation member of the new hemisphere of genius at Button's. His vivacity and wit, the gaiety of his manners, and the fame of his amours, made him at times, when behind the scenes of Drury Lane, the centre of a little circle, composed of men like Arthur Maynwaring and Colonel Brett, General Churchill and General Dormer, Sir Thomas Skipwith and the Earl of Macclesfield-representatives in full of the gayer complexion and pursuits of the town.

Mr. Martin has drawn his hero at the age of five and thirty-fooling an idle half hour away with a turn or two in the middle walk of the New Exchange. He has newly commenced a little interlude of compliment and ogle with one of the fair shopwomen of the place. The best millinery in England was to be had at the New Exchange in the Strand, and the prettiest girls in London to recommend the wares. The age of Cibber was a polite but corrupt period in the history of our manners and customs. The prettiest face would rarely redden at the most naked allusion-so that it was couched in the particular language of gallantry, and came from the lips of one whose dress and air were sureties that he was a man of mode-rich in play terms, and well versed in the conduct of a correct and clouded cane. The certain signs of refined gentility were well enough known; but if anything was wanting to make good a claim, the snuff-box, and the air with which it was tapped and opened, set the matter everlastingly at rest. Our actor Colley had all the graces and finish of a dandy-the air and the attitude true to the last arrival. He was the happy parent of certain parts of dress and certain phrases of speech that had their short-lived seasons of fashionable existence. Colley had made many conquests among the fair, many a fair face had been taken away from behind her shopboard by the wiles and wickedness of the clever Colley. O! the ruin effected by that New Exchange

"Thither run

Some to undo and some to be undone."

Many a young wife has dressed herself up for the day as a milliner's girl, and in that character sold wares and trinkets in the New Exchange. There was no crime, it was thought, in such innocent deceit. Vexation when discovered there might be, and there was; but the thing was laughed at, and the fair deceiver played her part at some other time with more skill and without detection. It was at this period that our plays represented our citizens, one and all, as amorous old Fitzdottrels, fit only to make money at one end of the town for their wives to spend at another. The greater portion of the audience frequenting these plays were the wives of the citizens thus ridiculed. money acquired by their husbands at the Old Exchange was expended by their wives on the fashionable wares within the New; while the very writers that ridiculed,

The

and the very players that represented their creations on the stage, were the West-End gallants to the wives and daughters of these city Fitzdottrels.

It would be no easy matter to call up a picture in words of the middle walk of the New Exchange at the period we speak of. Mr. Martin's little episode is an illustration in part of the whole character of the place. Your ears were assailed with cries of "What d'ye buy? What d'ye lack? gloves, ribbons, and essences? ribbons, gloves, and essences-fine Paris gloves, fine Paris perfumes-what d'ye lack? &c." Here a fair milliner was heard with a "What d'ye lack-a pair of gloves such as Mr. Cibber should wear in Sir Fopling Flutter or Sir Courtly Nice? a fair, flaxen, full-bottomed perriwig, like Sir Fopling's last, should be worn with gloves like these'-and so saying she exhibited a pair of gloves of a most delicate primrose colour, emitting a most refined perfume, and glittering on the back with rows of small and polished spangles. The poet-player was at once all eye, admiration and ear. A whole battery of artificial small-talk was played upon the successful vender-an exchange of compliment and look, and a most polite understanding. The gloves were bought, a whisper made, a recognition passed, a parting glance given, and a place of assignation named.

"Avoid the Arcade! pass not the Piazza!" Within an hour our fair milliner was sitting in a mask in the side box of old Drury Lane.

We shall not pursue this intrigue through all its mystery and crimes. mystery and crimes. The offended husband, having missed his wife, had traced her to the Exchange, and from the Exchange to the Theatre: she was all but detected, and had been completely so, but for the timely interference of Lord Macclesfield and Colonel Brett, who, aware of the danger their friend Cibber was in, had managed to inveigle the husband within the bar of the Rose Tavern, where, what with drink and mad sayings, they detained the forgetful Fitzdottrel till such time as Colley could have seen his fair milliner at her own door, within Broad Street Buildings. The tables were turned,-Brett and Macclesfield sent home a drunken husband to an upbraiding wife, Cibber had the fame of a new intrigue to administer to his vanity,* and Macclesfield and Brett the delight of thinking that they would lay Colley before long under a similar obliga

DOCTOR W, the Bishop of Cashel, having occasion to visit Dublin, accompanied by his wife and daughter, determined to perform the journey by easy stages, in his own carriage, and with his own sleek and well fed horses, instead of trusting his bones to the tender mercies of an Irish post-chaise, and the unbroken garrons used for drawing these crazy vehicles.

One part of his route was through a wild and mountainous district; and the bishop, being a very humane man, and considerate of his cattle, made a point of quitting his carriage at the foot of every hill and walking to the top. On one of these occasions he had loitered to look at the extensive prospect, indulging in a reverie upon its sterile appearance, and the change that agriculture might produce, and in so doing suffered his family and servants to be considerably in advance; perceiving this he hastened to make up for lost time, and was stepping out with his best speed when a fellow leaped from behind a heap of loose stones, and accompanying the flourish of a huge club with a demoniac yell, demanded "Money!" with a ferocity of tone and manner perfectly appalling.

The bishop gave the robber all the silver he had loose in his pocket, hoping that it would satisfy him; but he was mistaken, for no sooner had the ruffian stowed it away in a capacious rent in his tattered garment, than with another whirl of his bludgeon, and an awful oath, he exclaimed

"And is it with the likes of this I'm after letting

you off? a few paltry tinpennies! It's the gould I'll have, or I'll spatter your brains. Arrah, don't stand shivering and shaking there, like a Quaker in the ague, but lug out your purse, you devil, immediately, or I'll bate you as blue as a whetstone."

His lordship most reluctantly yielded his well-filled purse, saying in tremulous accents, "My good fellow, there it is, don't ill use me-I've given you all, pray let me depart."

"Fair and softly, if you plase; as sure as I'm not a good fellow, I hav'n't done with you yet. I must sarch for your note case, for I'll engage you have a few bits of paper payable at the bank; so hand it over, or you'll sup sorrow to-night."

It was given up a glance at the road showed that all hope of assistance from his servants was unavailing, the carriage had disappeared, but the bishop made an instinctive movement as though anxious to escape from further pillage.

"Wait awhile, or may be I shall get angry with you; hand over your watch and sales, and then you may trudge."

Now it happened that the Divine felt a particular regard for his watch,-not so much from its being of considerable value, but because it had been presented to him by his first patron,-and he ventured to expostulate.

Surely you have taken enough; leave me my watch, and I'll forgive all you have done."

"Who ax'd your forgiveness, you ould varmint? Would you trifle with my good nature? Don't force me to do anything I'd be sorry for,-but, without any more bother, just give me the watch, or by all that's holy

And he jerked the bludgeon from his right hand to his left, spat in the horny palm of the former, and re-grasped the formidable weapon as though seriously bent on bringing it into operation; this action was not unheeded by his victim, he drew forth the golden time-piece, and with a heavy sigh handed it to his spoiler, who, rolling the chain and seals round it, found some wider aperture in his apparel into which he crammed it; and giving himself a shake to ascertain that it had found, by its own gravity, a place of safety, he said

"And now be off with you, and thank the blissed saints that you lave me without a scratch on your skin, or the value of your little finger hurt."

It needed no persuasion to induce the bishop to turn his back upon the despoiler of his worldly goods, and having no weight to carry he set off at what equestrians term " a hand canter;" scarcely, however, had he reached the middle of the precipitous road, when he perceived his persecutor running after him. He endeavoured to redouble his speed. Alas! what chance had he in a race with one whose muscles were as strong and elastic as highly-tempered steel?

Stop, you nimble-footed thief of the world!" roared the robber,-" stop, I tell you! I've a parting word with you yet."

The exhausted and defenceless clergyman, finding it impossible to continue his flight, suddenly came to a stand-still. The fellow approached, and his face, instead of its former ferocity, was lit up with a whimsical rogueishness of expression, as he said,-"And is it likely I'd let you off with a better coat on your back than my own? and will I be after losing the chance of that elegant hat and wig? Off with them this moment, and then you'll be quit o' me."

The footpad quickly divested the bishop of his single-breasted coat,-laid violent hands upon the clerical hat and full-bottomed wig,-put them on his own person, and then insisted on seeing his late apparel used in their stead; and with a loud laugh ran off, as though his last feat had been the most meritorious of his life.

Thankful at having escaped with unbroken bones, his lordship was not long in overtaking his carriage; the servants could not repress their laughter at seeing their master in such strange and motley attire; but there was in his face such evidences of terror and suffering, that they speedily checked their risible inclinations, particularly when they learnt by a few brief words the danger he had undergone. "My dear W--!" exclaimed his affectionate wife, after listening to the account of the perils to which her husband had been exposed, "for Heaven's sake take off that filthy jacket, and throw it out of window. You can put my warm cloak over your shoulders till we reach the next stage, and then you will be able to purchase some habit better suited to your station and calling." "That is more easily said than done, my love," he

replied; "I have lost all the money I possessed; not a single guinea is left me to pay our expenses to-night. My watch, too, that I so dearly prized! Miserable man that I am!"

"Never mind your watch, or anything else, just now-only pull off that mass of filth, I implore you; who knows what horrid contagion we may all catch if you persist in wearing it?"

"Take it off, dear papa," observed the daughter, "but don't throw it away; it may lead to the detection of the wretch who robbed you."

The obnoxious garment was removed; the young lady was about to place it under the seat, when she heard a jingling noise that attracted her attention, and on examination, found secreted in various parts of the coat, not only the watch, pocket-book, purse, and silver, of which her father had been deprived, but a yellow canvas bag, such as is used by farmers, containing about thirty guineas.

The surprise and joy of all parties may be imagined; they reached the inn where they proposed stopping for the night, and as the portmanteaus had escaped the dangers of the road, the bishop was speedily able to attire himself canonically. Before the party retired for rest, intelligence arrived that the highwayman had been taken, after a desperate resistance, the notice of the police being attracted by the singular appearance of a man of his station sporting a new black coat, and covering his shaggy, carroty locks with the well-powdered and orthodox peruke of the right reverend the Bishop of Cashel.

HE deadly animosity which existed between the French and Prussians during the occupation of France by the allied army, can hardly be conceived by any but those who were spectators of it; - it showed itself in a thousand modes,-not merely in contest in the field in the serious antagonism of war, but in the most trivial and insignificant actions of ordinary life. The hatred was reciprocal. I have seen a Prussian officer, when his load of wood came to his quarters, make the carter wait an hour, to his own inconvenience, before he would allow it to be unloaded; the man standing all the while in the rain, swearing with the peculiar grace and volubility of that period,-a fashion so extraordinary, that those who have only visited France within the last twenty years cannot form to themselves an idea of the extent to which the accomplishment may be cultivated. The man in his turn would contrive to place all the worst pieces of wood to come out first, so as to give the impression that the whole was of inferior quality; and when the Prussian had exhausted himself with complaints and remonstrances, and the Frenchman with oaths and exclamations, (that the worst wood in the world was too good for a Prussian,) he would ostentatiously place all the fine pieces uppermost, with a smirk which seemed to say"Now, you can't make a complaint to the authorities, for the wood is better than average, and I have had my revenge by worrying you."

A row of the largest pieces of artillery was placed along the Quai Voltaire, and all that side of the river down to the Chamber of Deputies. Night and day stood by the side of each a man with lighted match, and it was understood that they were loaded to the muzzle with grape shot. Directly in front of them, across the river, were booths, swings, stalls for fruit and confectionary, printsellers (not the most decent), rope-dancers, mountebanks, and all other caterers for the public amusement; while enormous crowds of grown men and women were amusing themselves with all the enthusiasm of children, apparently unconscious of the existence of the deadly instruments of warfare

which pointed their brazen throats at them. The indifference to danger generated by habits of warfare is inconceivable by those who have never seen it. Every individual of the motley throng knew that on any sudden "emeute" he might be blown to atoms before he could reach a place of safety, but he trusted it would not happen, like the dwellers on Vesuvius: and if the guns were fired, perhaps he might be able to get out of the way in time" If not, not," and so he continued his amusement.

With those whose patriotism was too powerful for restraint, and who felt the utter impossibility of open resistance by arms, it was some consolation to walk behind the row of cannon, just out of the reach of the bayonets of the sentinels, and empty their hearts in execrations. I was often tempted to go to listen to them, from the extraordinary energy and eloquence of their vituperation, which was curiously composed of words (not sentences) without the slightest meaning; occasionally, however, the orators would break out into threats of revisiting Prussia, and wreaking their vengeance; but as these threats were unintelligible to the soldiers, they excited no more attention than the preliminary oaths. The Prussians knew that the words were intended for insult, because the pantomime was so perfect that it did not require the aid of language to make itself understood; but they generally bore it with the most philosophical indifference. I was always apprehensive, however, that the patience of some one individual soldier might be unable to last out the succession of execrators, and that the human overcoming the military feeling, might vent itself in an explosion, and I might thus come in for a stray shot, which would have been a disagreeable reward for my anxiety to complete my vocabulary of French.

It was really a very extraordinary exhibition, and such as I verily believe could exist only in Paris. The crowds of swearers and threateners gave way at the approach of the large patrols (incessantly traversing all parts of the town), and vanished-how or where, used to astonish me, for the moment the patrol had passed they made their appearance again like a swarm of gnats, and resumed their occupation. The thing seemed to give them great relief; and if so, as it did nobody any harm, it would have been a pity to inter

rupt their expectoration. A Parisian mob is, perhaps, the only collection of human beings in the world which could feel consoled by the process.

In remote parts of the country, however, the animosity was less lively and more deadly, and assassinations were frequent. The Prussians had so many deep injuries to avenge, that it is not extraordinary they should occasionally exercise the spirit of retaliation, and in the small bodies of their troops dispersed in the villages personal conflicts were common, in spite of military discipline. A large part of their troops were landwehr (militia), and even landsturm (levy en masse), so that discipline was necessarily imperfect. I was at this time quartered in the house of a gentleman who was secretary to a branch of the municipal government, and he often showed me petitions from towns and districts, entreating to be relieved from the presence of the Prussian troops, and to be allowed English in lieu of them; still more frequently came petitions for English instead of French, whose tyranny and exactions were intolerable. Defeat had exasperated them to madness, and they wreaked their vengeance indiscriminately on friends and foes. The state of demoralization of the French army was complete.

Occasionally a Prussian officer would take care to let his hosts feel that France was not safe from experiencing some of the miseries she had inflicted on other nations; and the hatred of Blucher was so intense for everything connected with Frenchmen, that offenders were pretty sure of impunity when complaints were carried to head-quarters. The Duke of Wellington's general orders at this period show his great anxiety to establish better discipline, and his fears lest the severity of the Prussians should excite a general revolt, and jeopardize all the fruits of his hard-earned victory and arduous negotiations.

One of the instances of this tyranny and resistance will show that it is not always safe to indulge a spirit of retaliation in an enemy's country, however completely it may seem to be subdued. There was no part of France where there appeared less chance of collision between the foreign troops and the peasantry than in the province of Normandy. Prussian troops took up their quarters in the towns and villages of that country with as much tranquillity and composure as in their own, and they no more contemplated opposition from the inhabitants, than an English regiment would expect it in Scotland. Being in very small bodies, the officers were enabled to exercise a close surveillance over their men, and whatever license they might allow to themselves, they maintained strict discipline among the private soldiers.

A Prussian officer, with whose friends I am acquainted, was quartered in the house of a widow, who, since the death of her husband, continued to conduct a large establishment for the manufacture of crockery (Fayence) at B. This hard and heavy, substance requires the greatest possible heat for its vitrification, and the furnaces are of gigantic magnitude and strength. The men employed in the manufactory lodged and boarded in the house, and, like the miners in Cornwall, were not mere servants, but a sort of fellow adventurers, whose gains depended in some measure on the success of the establishment. These men, whose laborious occupation was incompatible with any but great bodily strength, felt the honour of the head of the establishment to be in some sort their own, and

that they were bound to maintain the cause of the widow and the fatherless. Madame L's family consisted of one son only, about fifteen years of age.

The servant of the officer, having seen the indulgence to others for similar freaks, determined to exercise a little of the pleasure of authority himself, and after his master was gone to bed was in the habit of keeping up the family to prepare his coffee, which he did not choose to take till two hours after the time they usually retired to rest; he would sometimes take it into his head to be hungry at three o'clock in the morning, and insist on having something grilled for supper, which if not done to his taste he would throw into the fire, and command them to take more pains with the next. Madame L- at last determined to make a formal complaint to the officer.

Whether the mode of stating her grievances did not please him, or the narration excited recollections which awakened a dormant spirit of revenge, he received her remonstrances with haughtiness. Madam," said he, "my servant shall call you all out of bed six times every night if I please, and you shall wait upon him yourself. I am sorry that you have no daughters, that you might learn how your infernal countrymen behaved to my sisters. My mother was a widow with four daughters; six officers of your brutal and uncivilized nation were quartered in her house-she had lost her only other son in the battle of Jena, and I was far away. The conduct of your countrymen would have disgraced the lowest savages-my mother and sisters were subjected to loathsome indignities, and made to perform the most abject menial services for their brutal guests. My mother's heart was broken-she sank under the horrors she was compelled to witness; and while her corpse yet lay in the house the officers endeavoured to dishonour my sisters; but I should go mad were I to begin a list of the atrocities committed by your army. You shall know a little of the miseries of war-to-morrow you shall have a couple more officers and half a dozen soldiers to maintain-see that you prepare for them. Take care to let me have a turkey dressed at half-past two in the morning, and coffee at four."

The lady slunk away, terrified at the aspect of the infuriated Prussian, and retired to think of the best mode of pacifying him: she rightly conjectured that the attempt would be most likely to be successful after she should have prepared him a dinner with unusual care, and given him time to subside; set herself to the task with the determination to please him, if possible; and hoped that a more humble entreaty in the evening might avert the dreaded infliction with which she had been threatened.

Not so her son, who had been listening at the door, attracted by the loud voice of the officer. He heard all; but in his attempts to rouse the workmen to resistance did not think it at all necessary to repeat the officer's account of French cruelties in Prussia-he dwelt only on the threats held out to his mother, and the tyranny of the servant-and he succeeded in inspiring them with a determination to take a safe

revenge.

The lady went on with her preparations for the officer's dinner, and was deeply engaged in larding a fine fowl, when horrible screams assailed her ears. She rushed to the door of the kitchen-it was fastened; to the door which led to the manufactory-tha