tended over the major part of shoes, well-shaped and rather accurately fitted. His upper garment, less than any other, betrayed subserviency to the Parisian idol; for the placid artist whom he delighted to honor, establishing each primal pattern as a precedent absolute, and "nursed at happy distance" from, or paying platonic indifference to, conflicting Reports of Fashion, never tortured his patron's body or kindled ire in his flashing eye, by chasing a fugitive comme il faut for the more becoming decoration of his person. That unreasonable (and, were it not for custom, unseemly) item, which, without the recommendation of comfort or elegance, humanity has so long chosen, under one contour or another, for the conservation of the cranium from ungenial elements or casual assaults-that formal and vacant product of a block, which Englishmen call hat, as it appeared on the personage of whom I speak, was in keeping with the ensemble. That part of it which the half-gallon measure at a potato-shop most strikingly illustrates, was rather low than lofty, and would have made a lucrative gauge for the merchant if employed in such a dispensation of his wares. Its margin was capacious, and, slightly aiding gravity, served also to render less evident to first-sight the swift vicissitudes of visionary expression to which I

have adverted; but, in further reference to this “ peculiar eye," its keenness of perception (I would aver with humility) was not surpassed by the Wanderer's in the Excursion. In youth it had been subject to short-sightedness; and now, from causes clear, I believe, to oculists, Time, so far from clouding, clarified its powers. Indeed, the vigor of this faculty in one so old was almost incredible; nor was it until after long intercourse that I, who met him oft, was made to comprehend the full reach of that tremendous organ, and then by an acquisition of intelligence more sudden and startling than the stoppage of a bank to an American. My friend-for in sooth he and I were soon

"A pair of friends, though I was young
And he was sixty-two❞—

my friend (I mention it to thee in a whisper, fair Reader,) existed in a state of celibacy, sometimes miscalled single blessedness; [a man who knew what happiness meant so well as he, lived not designedly so, you may be sure-but of the causes, peradventure, anon:] and there came occasionally to brighten the old Sponsor's abode by her presence, and make it more melodious with the sweet outpourings of her

solicitude than it was wont to be with poets' voices, a Visitant, lovely enough to be ideal, but happily of more perdurable material than "dreams are made of." With this fair form, when acquaintanceship had duly ripened into familiarity, I commenced a kind of telegraphic correspondence-the signals consisting of amatory glances and sighs; and confiding too implicitly in the denseness of that curtain which Old Age lowers, with hasty or gentle hand, on eye and ear, we saw in the Ancient's presence no absolute impediment to all communication. -So we continued to exchange dispatches, till the conspiracy demanded a dénouement, and we resolved-she, of course, reluctantly-that" the catastrophe should be a nuptial.” That only which allied perplexity with passion was the unquestioned fact, that Mary's godfather was as profoundly in the dark about her leaning" to the soft side of the heart," as (if there be truth in tory tattle) was wont to be a merry ex-chief-minister, touching the movements and projects of his righttrusty and well-beloved co-mates in the executive.

The happiest day of one's life is not invariably approached by pleasurable steps. The business of oral confession is embarrassing to the most voluble tongue, if the tale it tells to the ear mostly concerned be one

of truth; but the embarras augmenteth mightily if another avowal be expedient. However, having to leave town for an indefinite space, and reflecting that wishes" had not a body in them" to make confession by proxy, I racked up my resolution to the highest degree of desperation, and with stammered accent and in paralytic phrase besought to inform him of-thatwhich—“ he had read (if outward signs of things within could be read) connectedly, from alpha to omega, and of which he flattered his discernment he could have given me the earliest information!"

He was a bachelor, but he loved-the poets and his godchild in particular, all mankind in general. His conversation, when it turned not on practical subjects, was poetic in conception, and often poetic in expression, and was enriched and stimulated by an exuberancy of quotation. It is some of such that I shall endeavour, from crude and hasty notes, to transcribe. Where there may appear intelligence, the praise be his; where insipidity, the reproach be mine: and this must, I fear, frequently occur-for charms of voice, impressiveness of gesture, and eloquence of eye, are efficient auxiliaries to any theme-too subtle, alas! to be "turned into shape" by any but a "poet's

B

pen;" and even by that inspired instrument, are seldom in strict fidelity transfixed on the poet's page.

It only remains, among preliminaries, to relate how I became acquainted with the individual I have very imperfectly described; and here a fitting occasion presents itself (at least, in my opinion, which I submit with deference,) for some elucidation of the first person in the singular number in this narration. My dramatis personæ are limited, and the expediency of personal portraiture will consequently, and perhaps fortunately, be unfrequent. Nevertheless, where a prolonged intercourse is probable, it is preferable to foreknow something of one's camarade;―nay, it is desirable, though he be but the convive of a festal hour, or the companion in a stage-coach.-In steamcarriages such prescience is a matter of indifference, —so is a pleasant prospect and a brawling brook,— everything, in short, except the bursting of an engine or sepulchral symptoms in a tunnel.

Be it then known unto thee, friendly Reader, by these presents, which come greeting, that the part I was to act upon the stage of life (provided I should retain an essential principle,) was appointed for me ere I had emerged from swaddling-clothes. At what precise period in the present century I made my début