with disappointment and wounded pride, in a frame worn to the last degree of weakness, produced the attack which led to his dissolution.

It is a sad history, and would afford, if fully detailed, abundant materials for speculation upon the working of uncontrolled wishes, and the wilful tenacity with which they cling to lonely and eager dispositions. There are flaws and dark shades in the most worthy and beautiful of human feelings and motives, for the melancholy task of tracing which, the story here briefly set down would supply full opportunities.

[The following memorandum was added at the foot of the last page of the above manuscript.]

JUNE, 183-.

Yesterday our beloved Ellen was carried to her rest in the grave. She was only twenty-five when she died, yet she long had been eager to depart. Eheu miserrima !

THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNE.

Eternal smiles his emptiness betray:

As shallow streams go dimpling all the way.-POPE.

"COME with me," cried Sir Harry N, the other morning, to young Radnor of the Guards, as they were pacing together the ex-official pavement of Carlton Terrace; 66 come with me, and I will show you the

Temple of Fortune."

"Thank you,” replied the fashionable ensign," I saw it at five o'clock this morning. I make it my duty to adore the rising sun on the steps of Crockford's."

"I have nothing to say to your duties; but my notions of fortune lie wide apart from a gratuitous supper table, frequented at the cost of a guinea a-crumb. My temple of fortune stands elsewhere."

"The Horse-Guards, I presume."

"You presume too much, and too little. You might as well seek promotion at a lottery-office as the War-office, nowadays. Guess again!"

"The House of Commons ?"

"A mere house of industry!"

"What the devil do you mean ?-Almack's?—The Court of Chancery ?-the Soho Bazaar?- -or Coutts's Banking-house?"

"Not one among them all!" cried Sir Harry, who had been gradually conducting his young friend towards Sackville Street; where he now pointed out a square brick house, with a solemn-looking curved doorway, and a somewhat dirty tesselated door-step. "There stands my Temple of Fortune."

"A tailor's, by Jupiter," ejaculated the dandy.

"Wrong again!" retorted his companion," "Tis a dentist's; and, dingy as it looks, to that sober habitation does our friend, Eastonleigh, owe every step of his extraordinary rise in life. People talk of his luck; -they should talk of his dentist!"

"His dentist ?"

"On quitting Eton, to launch himself upon the world, he knew nothing, he had nothing,-not even anything to do."

"And now, he is governor of St. Timothy's, a grand cross, with a handsome wife to take care of, and a still handsomer service of plate." "On the death of old Eastonleigh, who left scarcely a guinea to be divided between his wife and his two sons, Lord Brembridge's interest was asked for the boys; Jack and William were presented in form by the widow, when his Lordship advised Bill to take orders, and promised him a chaplainery; while to Jack, instead of advice or promises, he gave'

"A pair of colours in a crack regiment?"

"My old friend's namesake and likeness has a fine open countenance,' said his Lordship to the Mamma Eastonleigh; I never beheld such a set of teeth! I used to be proud of mine; but it is time I should yield precedence to your son!'

"Poor William, then, was sent curatizing into Merionethshire ?"

"While Jack, finding his progress in his regiment sadly impeded by his empty pockets, set up for a devilish amusing fellow,' and laughed at the stale jokes of the field officers, till he gained the reputation of a wit. One fat Major, grievously addicted to Joseph Miller, used to swear that the very sight of Eastonleigh's white teeth was refreshing to him; and Jack (the stupidest ass alive!) grinned himself into a place at all the supper-parties, picnics, and cricket-matches, given within five miles of the regiment."

"Stupid!—You don't know Eastonleigh; he is as malicious as a parrot or an old maid!"

"I do know him! and had therefore no difficulty in tracing to his illnature the lampoons, scandals, and nicknames, which, soon after his joining, began to set the regiment by the ears. But not a soul in the garrison would believe me! Eastonleigh was such an off-hand, laughing fellow,-such a merry dog! he was incapable of such things."

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People addicted to a broad grin invariably pass for good-natured.” "He soon managed to pass for more! The regiment was employed to put down a riot in one of our great manufacturing towns; in the vicinity of which stood the splendid mansion of its wealthiest woolstapler, not a brick of which was just then expected to stand upon the other. The rioters threatened, the woolstapler trembled, and Eastonleigh smiled! There was comfort in the sight of those auspicious white teeth."

"Lucky dog!"

"Lucky indeed!-The Dives of Leeds had a daughter as well as an estate; inseparable, and both ardently courted by Eastonleigh, and his brother officers."

"And the young lady was bit by the white teeth?"

"In six weeks she became Mrs. Eastonleigh; in six months, Jack had purchased a half-pay company, and given the regiment his room instead. He now sought the otium cum dignitate of the woolstapler's villa; showed his teeth (without biting) at all the county meetings; and had at length the impudence to stand, upon the strength of his smiles and his popularity, for a neighbouring borough.'

"And to succeed!"

"Once in Parliament, his ivories were so lucky as to dazzle the eyes of the public. Eastonleigh's row of pearls were sure to catch the Speaker; while little fellows, like Perceval, and Michael Angelo Taylor,

1

rose, and tiptoed again and again, unnoticed. His name, too, was always at the top of the reporters' pens. They never forgot that the gentleman with the fine set of teeth,' was the gallant Captain Eastonleigh ;' and the gallant Captain Eastonleigh' figured in the newspapers till his popularity with the press had made him a gallant Colonel.'

6

"But what made him a K.C.B. ?"

"His teeth!-still and always his teeth. He continued to exhibit them one bleak winter at Brighton, in the teeth of the east wind.” "The Regent invited him to the Pavilion; was captivated by his good manners."

"And in twelvemonth's time, Jack became Sir John Eastonleigh, C.B., K.C.B., K.G.B.-K. all sorts of things!"

"Those plausible grinders!"

"And even now, since his party has been shoved to the wall, only admire how he has managed to keep the crown of the causeway!"

"By maintaining his mechanical smile; while all his brethren are looking as glum as a cat in the mumps!"

"Sir John has never ceased to grin at the levee, let who would reign in Downing Street. His row of unimpeachable teeth are his Majesty's old and very particular friends. Other men and other names may be forgotten. Sir John Eastonleigh has a distinguishing trait to impress him upon an official memory. The government of St. Timothy's was doubtless given to that distinguished officer with the fine soldierly countenance, and remarkably fine set of teeth."

"You are right, my dear Sir Harry," cried the ensign. "This is the Temple of Fortune. Would that I could guess what offering to place upon the shrine. Thanks to cigars and the Meerschaum, my teeth are as black as a Malay's!"

"Pooh! you might convert them into fangs of gold; and without grazing on Hymettus. You do not yet appreciate the kernel of my nut. Last summer, soon after His Excellency Sir John Eastonleigh sailed from Portsmouth to his new government, under a salute from the batteries, I received the following billet, marked ship-letter:

"In the hurry of my departure from England, my dear Sir Harry, I was obliged to neglect several important points connected with my private affairs. Pray oblige an old friend by calling for me at No. Sackville Street, and ordering me a new set of teeth, (walrus ivory,) not like the last, which have worn ill; but exactly on the pattern of a set made for me by Parkinson's father, just after I went into the army, which lasted me nearly ten years. I enclose you a cheque on my banker for the amount. It is a sort of bill one does not like to have standing against one!'

"And they are literally not his own!—I might have guessed as much by the pains he takes to show them."

"And why not? Your father is fond of exhibiting his gallery of pictures; and when you visit me in Dorsetshire, you will probably accuse me of parading to you on the beauty of a farm I purchased the other day. Eastonleigh has as good a right to pride himself upon the accessories purchased with his own money, and selected by his own judgment. Society has acquired a very agreeable member, per favour of the art of Parkinson. Had Jack remained toothless at five-and-twenty, he must have dismissed the good-humoured smile which rendered him a handsome man; and would probably have degenerated into a morose, superannuated lieutenant, the perpetual blister of the mess-table."

"Too true! He has certainly acted on the Utilitarian principle. His walrus teeth have promoted the greatest happiness of the greatest number. But for an aid-de-camp to laugh at his jokes, old would have had half his garrison in the black-hole; but for Colonel Eastonleigh and his teeth, to put a good face upon the matter, Government would never have carried through that unpopular business in land! A chacun ses moyens de parvenir ! Were the basis of every temple of Fortune, elevated within the last twenty years, to be examined, many might be found to stand on foundations far blacker, and to consist of rafters far more corrupt than those of his Excellency of St. Timothy's ! Le bon temps viendra !"

SCOTTISH BANKRUPTCY BILL.

We had intended to examine the provisions of this preposterous Bill at some length; but the execration which has been poured on it by every commercial community in the country, by causing its withdrawal, has rendered our intended task unnecessary. But it is impossible to allow this gross specimen of Whig incapacity and jobbing to pass over without notice. Under the present system of mercantile sequestrations, nothing gives greater disgust, or occasions more useless expense, than the necessity of continually having recourse to the Court of Session to sustain matters of mere form, or proceedings to which the creditors-the only body interested— have agreed to. But instead of rendering application to that Court less frequent, and allowing creditors to manage their own concerns in their own way, Mr. George Joseph Bell, the learned Professor of Scots Law in our University, by whom the Bill is understood to be drawn up, has devised a system by which the creditors are to be deprived of the choice of the person to whom the bankrupt estate is to be intrusted, and twentyeight official trustees are proposed to be appointed, at the expense of the creditors, to manage all the bankruptcies in Scotland. The appointment of these officials would, of course, furnish a fine field for the exercise of Whig patronage; and care is taken to make the office worthy of acceptance. In the first place, whether a single shilling is ultimately received by the creditors, five per cent. of the gross funds of every bankrupt estate is to be set aside for payment of these officials; then they are to receive, as we understand the matter, the whole dividends which are unclaimed after a certain period. Out of this fund the trustee is to receive a certain fixed per-centage on the sums he may have realized from the estate of which he is trustee; and the remainder is to be divided among the other official trustees, whether they have done anything for the money or not. Farther, when the trustee on an estate has had trouble unconnected with the receipt of money, he is to be entitled, independently of the per-centage from the general fund, to remuneration from the creditors. These official trustees are to be chosen by the crown from a list of lawyers, merchants, or accountants," recommended by the chamber of commerce, or other mercantile association of the towns in which they are to act. But the creditors are not even to be allowed to choose which of the official trustees is to be intrusted to act for them; for he is to be named by the Judge in awarding sequestration, according to a certain rotation. There are only twelve towns in Scotland which are to be entitled to the privilege of official trustees. In all bankrupt

cies in other places, one or other of the four Edinburgh trustees must be named. By this device the monopoly of the Edinburgh lawyers would be greatly increased, and great expense, confusion, and delay created. But the absurdity of the scheme does not end here. An Accountantgeneral is to be appointed at Edinburgh, to whose credit every sum realised from bankrupt estates is to be placed in the Bank chosen by the creditors; and not one shilling can be drawn without the check be signed by him. How expeditiously and economically a bankrupt estate in Shetland would be managed under this system! The Accountantgeneral must be a principal clerk of Session, an office which Professor Bell holds; but nothing is said regarding the emoluments for the performance of the duties. The learned Professor cannot, of course, conceal from himself that the proceedings in a bankruptcy in Orkney or Wigtonshire would be very indifferently conducted by an Edinburgh lawyer; and, therefore, the sheriff-clerk of the district is also to be employed, and no doubt paid by the unfortunate creditors; and, after all, they are also empowered to choose what is called a sub-factor, whom they are also to have the pleasure of paying. We may refer our readers to the provisions for proving the debts, which would render it often necessary for creditors to travel a hundred miles or two, to appear before a sheriff or an official trustee; to those for making states of the bankrupt's affairs, rate of living, dealings, and balances; the expense of which would exhaust many estates. But it is impossible for us to particularize onetenth part of the absurdities of the bill. It ought to have been entitled "A bill for saving the creditors of bankrupts in Scotland the trouble of managing their debtors' estates, by dividing the whole funds among the lawyers in Edinburgh, and certain supporters of the Whigs in the country."-We never perused such a mass of crude and indigested absurdity in the same compass. No one can read two pages of the bill without discovering inconsistencies, errors, or omissions; and the only apology we presume that can be made for the Lord Advocate, for bringing it into Parliament, is, that he never read it.

THE ROMANCE OF POLITICS.

Ir is well known that, upon the abdication of Charles X., Béranger, the most philosophic of modern poets, exclaimed, "On a détrôné la chanson!" The ludicrous had disappeared with the ancien régime. In like manner did we exclaim, when the Lord Mayor's feast of 1830 decreed the downfall of the Tories, "The romance of politics is at an end." No more petticoat ministries; no more Rosa-Matilda pensions! There was a rumour of an ex-Chancelloress at the feet of Lord Durham-the echo died away-and from that day to this, Cupid has been superseded in the Cabinet Council. The romantiques among the young reporters are therefore sadly to seek in those tender episodes which enlivened the holidays of Walmer Castle. The laurels of the Woolsack disdain a single rose; and were it not for the loveliness of Lady G, the Whig Ministry would make a sorry show, even in the annals of the drawing-room.

A very tender subject is, however, beginning to agitate the sensibility of the weavers of political romance. The Heiress Presumptive is advancing towards the age when princesses are wooed, and kingdoms won;