and amity with him met together at his interment, with public presents and garlands. The senators carried the bier, on which his corpse was laid, and the priests followed and accompanied the solemn procession. All the rest of the train, among which were a great number of women and children, followed with such lamentable sighs and tears, not as if they assisted at the burial of an aged, worn-out king, but rather as if each of them had then buried his dearest relative in the flower of his age.

FROM THE COMPARISON OF NUMA WITH LYCURGUS.

Thus much of Numa was truly great and god-like, that though an alien, he was thought worthy to be courted to come and take the crown-that he altered the whole frame of the government by mere persuasion, and that he kept the absolute rule over a city consisting of two parties not yet well compacted, which he did without any occasion to make use of arms, or any sort of force; but by mere dint of wisdom and justice brought every one to concur entirely with him, and settled a perfect harmony among them.

GOVERNMENT.

The

In these our days, we travel from London to York, with great rapidity, in perfect personal security, without accident, without even a jolt, and never stopped by flood, or frost, or snow. reason is, because the money and labour expended, have been expended in making a good road, instead of providing against the defects of a bad one. This is an apt emblem of wise government, directing its means to proper ends, and keeping pace with the times; all then goes on simply and well. But now let us suppose the road from London to York left as it was five hundred years ago, and passing through morasses and forests, and over desert moors. What loss of time, what uncertainty, what annoyances, what dangers, what impediments, what expense of horses and carriages and living, would then be the consequences! What smiths, what wheelwrights, what surgeons, what robbers, what beggars, what guards, would be found along the line! What inns for travellers, what hospitals for accidents, what refuges for the poor, what stations for police, would border the now cultivated and smiling country! What botching and patching, and what expedients there would be! What acts of parliament! what acts to amend acts! what committees! what reports! what commissions! what grants of money! We see the parallel continually exhibited in almost all matters of government. Then mole-eyed economists cry out against necessary expense; the profiters by things as they are, strenuously resist

improvement, and find supporters for their own interested purposes; whilst the heads of government are too indolent or too timid, to strike at the root of what is defective. At last, when alteration must come, some false principle is adopted to "skin and film the ulcerous place"- -some Board and its dependences is created to reduce the evil to the bearable point, and there to perpetuate it-or else there comes an overwhelming flood threatening to sweep away both good and bad together.

The prime remedy for the defects in our institutions is to be found in democratic, or self-government fitly organized—that government, which by making each part healthy and vigorous, would unite the whole in health and vigour under the monarchy or key-stone. Then would vanish a chaotic mass of evil, which at present renders sound legislation as impossible as it would be to frame an efficient mutiny act for an ill-organized army. In my observation of even the worst part of mankind, I see so great an aptitude for the right path, and so little aberration, considering the quantity of neglect, that I feel confident an adequate enforcement of the real English principles of government, combined with our advanced state of civilization, would produce moral results as unthought of and as incalculable as have been the physical results from the application of steam. The machinery by which alone this desirable end can be accomplished, must consist of local governments so ordered that those who are most successful in the honourable conduct of their own concerns, would be selected, and being selected, would be willing to give up time sufficient to superintend the affairs of their respective communities. Now this can only be permanently effected by making government a social and convivial affair-a point of interesting union to the men most deserving the confidence of their fellowcitizens. Under such circumstances, the expense of government might be greater than at present, but the expense of want of government would assuredly be more than proportionately less, and the state of society would be healthy and constantly improving. In my next number I shall enter into details, beginning with parochial government.

FORTUNE-TELLING.

There is nothing more silly than a belief in fortune-telling,/ whether we consider the thing itself, or the description of persons who profess the art-an art to which no one of character or education ever pretends. But such belief is scarcely less dangerous than silly, especially amongst young persons of the humbler classes. By exciting false hopes, it leads to false steps; and

unsettled habits, anxiety, disappointment, dishonesty, ruin, and untimely or ignominious death, have been directly or indirectly its consequences. Many are induced to have their fortunes told from mere idle curiosity; but a lucky guess, or a prediction accidentally verified even in part, may take such hold of the imagination that reason cannot resume her former sway-besides that it is inexcusable to give encouragement to a race of profligates, thieves, and children-stealers. A revolting instance of this encouragement is to be witnessed at Epsom races on the part of many elegantly dressed females, and the mixture causes a considerable detraction from the brilliancy of the scene. The following anecdote strikingly shows how difficult it must sometimes be to detect imposition. It will remind the readers of Hamilton's 'Memoirs of De Grammont' of some passages in that work.

A little more than sixty years since, a fortune-teller in Paris was roused from his bed at the dead of night by a loud knocking at his door. On opening it he perceived standing before him a man muffled up in an ample cloak, with a large hat slouched over his face. "What do you want?" said the fortune-teller, somewhat alarmed. The stranger answered sternly, "If you are what you profess to be, you can tell me that—” "I can tell nothing without my cards," replied the other. They both walked in, and the fortune-teller having shuffled his cards, and laid them out, after a pause, observed with a tone of deference, "I perceive I am in the presence of an illustrious person.' "You are right,"

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said the stranger; "and now tell me what it is I wish to know." The fortune-teller, again consulting his cards, answered, "You wish to know whether a certain lady will have a son or a daughter." Right again," said the stranger. After another pause, the fortune-teller pronounced that the lady would have a son. On which the stranger replied, "If that prove true, you shall receive fifty pieces of gold-if false, a good cudgelling." A few weeks after, about the same hour and in the same manner, the stranger re-appeared, and before he could speak, the fortuneteller exclaimed, "You find I was right." "I do," said the stranger; “and I am come to keep my promise." So saying, he produced a purse of fifty louis, and departed.

The stranger's mode of proceeding seems to have been designed to put the fortune-teller's skill to the severest test. The circumstance of his coming alone, and at such an hour, makes it probable he had not communicated his intention to any one; whilst his carefulness in concealing his person and face, and his extreme caution to afford no clue to the discovery of himself or his object by conversation, were admirably calculated to render imposition impossible. The history of the case is this. I heard

C

it about seventeen years since from a gentleman in Paris, who learned it from Volney, the celebrated traveller in the East. Volney had it from the fortune-teller himself, who applied to him for some Syriac expressions. On being asked for what purpose he wanted them, he confessed his trade; and Volney finding him a remarkably shrewd person, inquired of him the story of his life. He said, that when he was young, he had a great turn for expense, very slender means, and an inveterate repugnance to anything like drudgery. After long puzzling himself to discover some mode of life by which he could unite certain profit with continual amusement, he determined to set up as a fortune-teller. He commenced by taking a lodging in the obscure quarter of the Marais, and practising in a small way in that neighbourhood, where the blunders of a beginner would not be of much consequence. At the same time he never failed to be in daily attendance about the court, and spared no pains to make himself familiar with the personal appearance and private history of every person of the least note there. After two years of practice amongst the small, and of study amongst the great, he thought himself qualified to begin business on a grand scale, and having by bribery of a servant procured a proper customer, he tried his art in his new scheme with great success. His fame, and of course his gains, increased rapidly, and it was when he was in his zenith that the adventure above related happened. He explained it thus. Whilst shuffling his cards, he purposely let two or three fall, and in rising from picking them up, he contrived to catch a sufficient glimpse of the stranger's countenance to discover that he was no less a person than the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Philippe Egalité, and the father of the present King of the French, who was actually the child in question. He took not the least notice of the discovery he had made, but pretended to ascertain the fact from the contemplation of his cards. Having overcome this difficulty, his practised acuteness made the rest easy to him. was publicly known that the Duchess was near her confinement, and he had heard the Duke was anxious to have a son; he therefore confidently guessed the object of his visit, and after the manner of his tribe hazarded the prediction which he thought would ensure him the most liberal pay. He did not expect the proposed alternative, which obliged him to be on his guard, and he had actually only just returned from learning the news at the palace, and was scarcely in bed, when the Duke arrived, whose faith must have been confirmed by the fortune-teller's anticipation of his intelligence.

It

If the story be true, it is not probable that a man like the Duke of Orleans, having experienced such an instance of fortune

telling, would be satisfied without recurring to it, and it may possibly be that such excitement of ambitious hopes contributed to his, as to Macbeth's, untimely fall.

GOOD BREEDING.

A gentleman is a Christian in spirit that will take a polish. The rest are but plated goods; and however excellent their fashion, rub them more or less, the base metal will appear through.

An Englishman making the grand tour, towards the middle of the last century, when travellers were more objects of attention than at present, on arriving at Turin sauntered out to see the place. He happened to meet a regiment of infantry returning from parade, and taking a position to see it pass, a young captain, evidently desirous to make a display before the stranger, in crossing one of the numerous water-courses with which the city is intersected, missed his footing, and in trying to save himself lost his hat. The exhibition was truly unfortunate the spectators laughed and looked at the Englishman, expecting him to laugh too. On the contrary, he not only retained his composure, but promptly advanced to where the hat had rolled, and taking it up, presented it with an air of unaffected kindness to its confused owner. The officer received it with a blush of surprise and gratitude, and hurried to rejoin his company: there was a murmur of applause—and the stranger passed on. Though the scene of a moment, and without a word spoken, it touched every heart not with admiration for a mere display of politeness, but with a warmer feeling for a proof of that true charity "which never faileth." On the regiment being dismissed, the captain, who was a young man of consideration, in glowing terms related the circumstance to his colonel. The colonel immediately mentioned it to the general in command; and when the Englishman returned to his hotel, he found an aid-de-camp waiting to request his company to dinner at head-quarters. In the evening he was carried to court-at that time, as Lord Chesterfield tells us, the most brilliant court in Europe-and was received with particular attention. Of course, during his stay in Turin, he was invited everywhere, and on his departure he was loaded with letters of introduction to the different states of Italy. Thus a private gentleman of moderate means, by a graceful impulse of Christian feeling, was enabled to travel through a foreign country, then of the highest interest for its society as well as for the charms it still possesses, with more real distinction and