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The stranger kindled into enthusiasm, and into eloquence. "What," said he, "what is so iniquitous as these pre-ordinations of our fate against our will? We are born to a certain line-we are accomplished to that line alone-our duty is confined to a certain routine of execution-we are mewed up like owls in a small conventual circle of gloom-we are paid sufficient for what we perform-we have, therefore, no incentive to our enterprise and ambition-the greater part of our life is a blank to us. If we stir abroad into more wide and common intercourse with mankind, we are perpetually reminded that a stamp is upon us-we cannot consult our inclinations-we must not marry as we please we can never escape from ourselves-" "And," pursued the philosopher, who liked to talk himself as well as to listen; "and while so unpleasant to yourself are these dangerous and hateful hereditary distinctions, what mischiefs do they not produce to your fellow-creatures !-condemned to poverty, they are condemned to the consequences of poverty;-ignorance and sin -they offend, and you hang them!" "Hang-them!" "Ah!" the benevolent stranger covered his face with his hands. "What philanthropic tenderness!" said the philosopher; "Pardon me, Sir, I must introduce myself: you may have heard of me; I am the author Slatterenobigioso; you, so enlightened, are probably an author yourself; perhaps you have turned your attention to Morals, and are acquainted with the true nature of crime." "Ay," groaned the stranger, "I am acquainted with its end." "Or perhaps biography, the great teacher of practical truths, made you first learn to think. For my part I amuse myself even now by taking the lives of some of the most remarkable of my contemporaries." "Indeed!" said the stranger with inexpressible dignity, and then putting on his hat with an air, he stalked out of the room, saying over his left shoulder in a voice of conscious pride-" And I, Sir, have done the same.'

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CHAPTER VIII.-THE JEALOUSY.

"She wrongs his thoughts."-THE CORSAIR.

"Ah, miss!" said the tailor, as he passed through the country town on a high trotting horse, and met the unfortunate Laura walking homeward with "The Sorrows of Werter" in her hand: "Ah! so the spark has carried himself off. How could you be so taken in? What! marry a know what you

You knew him, then."

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would say," interrupted Laura haughtily, "and I beg you will be silent. Ay, by sight. I have seen him on trying occasions, sure enough. But you will meet him no more, I guess he is wanted in town to-morrow morning." "Gracious

Heaven! for what?" said Laura, thinking the Marquis de Tête Perdu was again apprehended for not having been hanged sufficiently. "Why-be prepared-Miss, he is going to tie the noose." "Wretch! perfidious wretch!" shrieked Laura, as her fear now changed into jealousy; "do you mean that he is going to lead another to the altar?" "Exactly, Miss!" said the tailor, and off went his high trotting horse.

CHAPTER IX. THE DENOUEMENT.

"It is not for myself I do these things, but for my country."

PLUTARCH'S APHORISM WHEN IN PLACE
Common Aphorism among all Placemen.

"Poor cousin Jack!" said the lawyer, as he was eating his breakfast; "he has been playing very naughty pranks, to be sure: but he is our cousin, nevertheless. We should pay him all possible respect. Come, girl, get on your bonnet; you may as well come with me: it will divert your mind." "La! papa: but, to be sure, there will be a great crowd. It is a most affecting sight; and, after all, I think a drive may do me good." "That's right, girl," said the father: and they were soon on the road to the capital. They arrived at an open space, but filled with spectators; they beheld a platform, raised above the heads of the people; Laura grew very faint with anxiety and heat. She heard the spectators talking to each other. "They say," observed one," that it is with great difficulty he was persuaded to the calling-it has been four hundred years in the family-he took himself away, but came back when he heard the fees were augmented-you know he gets all the clothes." "There's poor cousin Jack," quoth the Attorney: "how pale he is!"'

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Laura looked. To the side of cousin Jack, who was about to be hanged, moved a well-known figure. "The Marquis de Tête Perdu !'' cried the Lawyer aghast? "My lover! my lover!" screamed Laura. "My eye! that's the Hereditary Hangman!" said a bystander with open mouth. "Hereditary Hangman!" said an English Lord, who was by chance an attendant at the spectacle. "Hereditary Hangman!—what a burlesque on the Peerage!" Is it a burlesque truly, or is the one about as wise as the other? New Monthly Mag.

THE FRIARS OF DIJON.

WHEN honest men confess'd their sins,

And paid the church genteelly

In Burgundy two Capuchins
Lived jovially and freely.

They march'd about from place to place,
With shrift and dispensation;
And mended broken consciences,

Soul-tinkers by vocation.

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They bow'd and bless'd the dame, and then Has made the sinners, in a trice,

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Men left their beds, and night-capp'd heads Explaining lost but little breath :

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THE BANK NOTE.*

"ARE you returning immediately to Worcester ?" said Lady Leslie, a widow residing near that city, to a young officer who was paying her a morning visit." I am; can I do any thing for you there"-" Yes; you can do me a great kindness. My confidential servant, Baynes, is gone out for the day and night; and I do not like to trust my new footman, of whom I know nothing, to put this letter in the post-office, as it contains a fifty-pound note.”—“ Indeed! that is a large sum to trust to the post."-" Yes; but I am told it is the safest conveyance. It is, however, quite necessary that a person whom I can trust should put the letter in the box."-" Certainly," replied Captain Freeland. Then, with an air that showed he considered himself as a person to be trusted, he deposited the letter in safety in his pocket-book, and took leave; promising he would return to dinner the next day, which was Saturday.

On his road, Freeland met some of his brother-officers, who were going to pass the day and night at Great Malvern; and as they earnestly pressed him to accompany them, he wholly forgot the letter intrusted to his care; and, having despatched his servant to Worcester, for his sac-de nuit and other things, he turned back with his companions, and passed the rest of the day in that sauntering but amusing idleness, that dolce far niente, which may be reckoned comparatively virtuous, if it leads to the forgetfulness of little duties only, and is not attended by the positive infringement of greater ones. But, in not putting this important letter into the post, as he had engaged to do, Freeland violated a real duty; and he might have put it in at Malvern, had not the rencounter with his brother-officers banished the commission given him entirely from his thoughts. Nor did he remember it, till, as they rode through the village the next morning, on their way to Worcester, they met Lady Leslie walking in the road.

At sight of her, Freeland recollected, with shame and confusion, that he had not fulfilled the charge committed to him; and fain would he have passed her unobserved; for, as she was a woman of high fashion, great talents, and some severity, he was afraid that his negligence, if avowed, would not only cause him to forfeit her favour, but expose him to her powerful sarcasm.

To avoid being recognized was, however, impossible; and as soon as Lady Leslie saw him, she exclaimed, "Oh! Captain Freeland, I am so glad to see you! I have been quite uneasy concerning my letter since I gave it to your care; for it was of such consequence !

* From "Illustrations of Lying in all its branches. By Amelia Opie." 1925. 2 vols. 12mo. Sweet doing nothing.

+ Night bag.

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