Now gentle reader, and gentler subscriber,

"I had a dream, which was not all a dream,"

And the Muse, she shall sing, for your smiles can bribe her,

The figures that sported in Fantasy's beam.

Once trees could converse, as the poets rehearse,

And a bridge patter verse, as in Burns may be found; But I, in a trance, beheld Newspapers dance,

And, with bodies, advance to the violin's sound.

Methought I was lounging in Hamilton's reading-room,
(A" foregone conclusion!" I am every day ;)
An apartment I like above all, — but his seeding-room, -
When the COURIER I heard to the GALAXY say,
"Fair Sister, to-night, a few friends. I invite
To come to a slight entertainment and ball;"
And, with jovial intent, on festivity bent,.

The MESSENGER went and invited them all.

At the bar the EUTERPEIAD rosined his bow,

And the preludes he touched would have charmed Ostinelli; And his trumpet the HERALD refused to blow,

Till a dram he decanted, and bolted a jelly. The RECORDER, in black, came up in a hack, Yet out did he pack, when the fiddles begun ; Their music profane inflicted such pain,

That he came not again to the reprobate fun.

The FARMER a harvest of comfort was reaping;
The EVENING expressed his delight by a Clapp ;

And the BOSTON COMMERCIAL, though seldom caught sleeping,
Enjoyed, however, an excellent Knapp.

The respectable DAILY, SO hearty and Hale, he
The hall entered gaily, the glee to partake;
The REPERTORY, jolly, cried " Hang Melancholy!
To laugh is no folly; wake, WATCHMAN, awake!"

The STATESMAN next entered, as merry as any,

His conduct was True, and his costume was Greene; On his arm was a beautiful shadow, called "Fanni," In his pocket a bright little "Tea-Pot" was seen.

With heathenish name the PALLADIUM came,

Old enough to be tame, wild enough to be Young, And, with smiles at command, and heart in his hand, Took a frolicsome stand, the friskers among.

And now, like a CHRISTIAN the REGISTER came
With the TELEGRAPH, fated to die in its prime;
And a MEDICAL personage, well known to fame,
With a cognomination, too long for a rhyme.
The CENTINEL came in, and sported a grin,

Like Death's at Sin, when the supper he saw,
And the tables he eyed, as her MIRROR a bride,
Or a dollar denied a Limb of the Law.

The WEEKLY REPORT now came in, with the CHRONICLE,

Both friends and supporters of "Glorious John;

The COURIER'S salute was a little ironical,

But decorum prevailed, and the dancing begun. Graceful and gay, they footed away,

For care was at bay, and politics barred;

And lighter and faster moved madam and master,
While not a disaster the merriment marred.

The dancing a supper magnificent followed,

With science prepared and arranged with taste;
Some good things were uttered, and many were swallowed,
And Time went, as usual when happy, in haste.
All which I beheld while Somnus prevailed,

And, by Phoebus impelled, in rhyme I relate;
And the dream, no doubt, from the shades came out,
Like Æneas so stout, at the Ivory Gate.

BARRISTER'S FARE.

Dismal and sad are a Barrister's reveries,

Without hilarity passes his life;

Little he sees of mankind, but their deviltries;
All uncharity, discord and strife.

With clamor prodigious, and falsities hideous,
We serve the litigious, the needful to share;
Yet, in sorrowful attitude, find ingratitude,
Not beatitude, Barrister's fare.

For clients reluctantly draw on the pocket,

And I ne'er saw the fee that was tendered in smiles, Nor plenty of cases in Honesty's docket,

Nor the wretch, without money, who justice defiles. Then creditors slay us - · (timeo Danaos)

With, "When will you pay us?” and tick becomes rare, When, to wear an old hat, or a ragged cravat, or

A beard like a grater, is Barrister's fare.

Perhaps some sweet daughter of Beauty and Fashion
Has made in his heart and his quiet a gash;
He well knows, alas! that the fate of his passion
Depends but too much on the state of his cash;
While his scornful enslaver shall bless with her favor
Some fortunate shaver, his PLUNDER to share,
In sorrow to pine, such charms to resign, —
This, this, Tom, is mine, and Barrister's fare.

PARODY.

O think not my purse will be always as light
And as dry of the dibs as it doubtless is now,
For, though long is the face I exhibit to-night,
Yet joy may, to-morrow, enliven my brow.
I a ticket extracted from Gilbert & Sons,

And perhaps, by a prize, may accomplish a dash;
For the man that is sorest beset by the duns,
Is often the earliest to finger the cash.

And they, too, who dream of a lottery ticket,
Will often rejoice o'er the dream they believe;
For a treasure is floating, and I, if I nick it,
Shall beauty, and riches, and honor achieve.

Success to the wheels! while a remnant of truth

Is in dream, or in vision, this hope shall be mine, — That the sunshine of gold may illumine my youth, And the moonlight of silver console my decline.

THE UNITED STATES BANK.

Having undertaken to give an account of the controversies that took place between the Courier and its cotemporaries, the course I followed in reference to the United States Bank, which brought upon me some of the hardest blows I have had to encounter, as an editor, cannot be passed over without a brief notice. With banking operations, and their effects upon the currency of the country, I was never familiar, and the discussion of questions involving the subject of political economy, I generally avoided, lest my own ignorance should be thereby illustrated, and become as apparent as the crude notions and immature decisions of some others.

The embarrassments which overtook the commercial and manufacturing interests of the country, caused, as has been often asserted, and perhaps generally believed, by the war between the two Presidents, Andrew Jackson of the United States and Nicholas Biddle of the United States Bank, are not yet quite forgotten. In the beginning of the year 1836, most of the banks throughout the Union suspended specie payments.

In the autumn of that year Mr. Biddle wrote a letter to Mr. J. Q. Adams, concerning financial affairs, in which he said "I go for the country, whoever rules

it;-I go for the country, best loved when worst governed." Congress had refused to re-charter the United States Bank, as a national institution, and Mr. Biddle had obtained a charter from the legislature of Pennsylvania. The usual routine of the business of the bank was pursued, and he established, in Boston, an agency, to take the place of the branch of the original bank. The purpose was to loan the funds of the bank then existing under the Pennsylvania charter. The loans made at the office of the agency in Boston for the accommodation of the merchants, were generally based on bills of exchange, and, an operation which bankers and brokers understand, compelled the payment of usurious (or extra) interest. The Courier, like most of the newspapers opposed to the administration of General Jackson, had strenuously advocated the re-chartering of the United States Bank, by Congress; but the operations of Mr. Biddle, under the authority of his Pennsylvania charter, were viewed with great distrust. The sentence just quoted from his letter to Mr. Adams was a favorite text, which opened the way for several columns of comments, comparing his declarations with his conduct. Reviewing his dispute with the national administration, and his subsequent operations in finance, I came to the conclusion that his love for his country was graduated according to the willingness of his countrymen to endure his despotism, and that it was manifested chiefly by his using the power he possessed to exact exorbitant premiums on bills of exchange between the principal commercial cities. It was sometimes said, in extenuation of his exorbitant demands of those who