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This is pretty fair, and abundantly characteristic, but it is right to remark, that there is rather a suspicious resemblance between the above effusion and the following (once popular)

IRISH MELODY.

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,

Were to change by to-morrow and fleet in my arms,
Like fairy gifts, fading away!

Thou would'st still be adored, as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will,

And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still!

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,

That the fervour and faith of a soul can be shown,
To which time will but make thee more dear!
O the heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,

As the sunflower turns on her God when he sets
The same look which she gave when he rose.

It may be imagined, however, that the sentiments conveyed in Lord Palmerston's lyric are not quite so agreeable to the Premier as to the others; but seeing that there is no probability of making any thing by it, he does not press the matter to a division, but is contented to allow the Foreign Secretary's amendment to the proposed oath to be quietly carried. A draught is prepared on the spot, and carefully revised by the Attorney-General. Here

again we think the ingenious author must have had in view Hermia's celebrated vow in the Midsummer Night's Dream, which has been so beautifully set to music by Bishop. At least there is a considerable resemblance between the two passages. Shakspeare's lines, as our readers probably remember (though no one ever tires of seeing even his most familiar passages quoted) are as follows:

"By the simplicity of Venus' doves-
By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves-
And by that fire that burned the Carthage Queen,
When the false Trojan under sail was seen:
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than woman ever spoke,-
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee."

Dibdin's Oath runs thus, and the music, we may notice, has been very scientifically adapted for a brass band of serpents and other instruments :

By the simplicity of Janus' face,

By our own Cupid's never-dyeing grace,

By the chaste fire that warms the Spanish Queen,
When whiskered Muños by her side is seen;
By all the oaths that Talleyrand e'er spoke,
In number more than Louis Philippe broke,
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
(While thou art Premier) I'll be true to thee.

The party proceed to sign the parchment, and during the signatures a distant chorus of attachés is heard in the adjoining apartment; as to the Italian of which, without pretending to be members of the Della Cruscan Academy, we may remark, that it seems to be more of the school of Melbourne than of Metastasio :

:

"O DOLCE FAR NIENTE."

AIR." O cara Armonia."

1.

O dolce far niente
O caro riposar !
Passar allegramente
I giorni senz' affar.
Oziosi sempre vivere,
E star di lieto cuor:
Buon vino sempre bevere,
E coltivar l'amor.

2.

Ma molto più si sente
Squisito il piacèr,
Pel dolce far niente
L'argento ricevèr!
O noi siamo nati

La gioia per gustar,
Dal pubblico pagati,
Niente affatto far.

The compact being thus completed, the party, with perfect unanimity, proceed to consider what new measures or devices can be introduced, for the purpose of being rejected in the usual manner, so as to amuse the Radicals, and at the same time secure "the present company" in office. On several points they are quite agreed, 1st, that that there shall be a committee to enquire whether the vote on the ChurchRates Bill was right or wrong, so as to gain time to consider what is to be its future fate. 2d, That they must forthwith issue another commission to enquire whether any of the former commissions have done any thing. 3d, That a bill shall be brought in for applying all non-existing surpluses to purposes of national utility. 4th, Another for promoting equality between the two religious parties in Ireland by giving the entire ascendency to one of them. 5th, Another for building churches higher by means of removing the foundations. The hint of these plausible and ingenious schemes seems to us to be taken without acknowledgment from the occupations of the courtiers of Queen Whim, whom Pantagruel visited in his celebrated voyage in pursuit of the holy bottle.

I saw there," says Rabelais, "a

great number of the Queen's officers, who made blackamoors white as fast as hops, just rubbing their bellies with the bottom of a pannier." (This seems a parallel case to the celebrated whitewashing operation performed on Whittle Harvey.)

"Others with three couples of foxes in one yoke ploughed a sandy shore, and did not lose their seed.

"Others stroked he-goats by the dugs, and saved their milk in a sieve, and much they got by it." (A clear case of Irish surplus!)

"Others built churches to jump over the steeples.

"Others set carts before the horses, and began to flay eels at the tail" (i. e. passed resolutions first, and then appointed a committee to enquire whether the resolutions should have been passed.)

"Others made a virtue out of necessity, and the best of a bad bargain, which seemed to me to be a very good piece of work." (Neither Pantagruel himself nor any one of Queen Whim's projectors understood this half so well as the present administration.)

"Others in a large grass plat measured exactly how far the fleas could go at a hop-step-and-jump, and told us that this was exceedingly useful for

Rabelais, Book v. Chap. 23.

the ruling of kingdoms, the conduct of armies, and the administration of commonwealths; and that Socrates, who first brought philosophy out of heaven, used to spend half his philosophizing time in measuring the leaps of fleas, as Aristophanes the quint-essential affirms." Apparently these people were government commissioners, making up statistical returns.

"We heard," adds Rabelais, "that they did not think it a bit strange that two contradictions in mode, form, figure, and time should be true; though I'll warrant the sophists of Paris had rather be unchristened than own so much." The sophists of London, however, are not in the least disturbed by the scruples at which their Parisian predecessors startled: -witness Joseph Hume's celebrated undertaking to swear that black was white, or vice versa, as required.

"But we prattle something too wildly," and must not forget our modern dramatist in the old physician. These projects having been submitted with much approbation to the meeting, they determine to take

the proper steps for having them put into the most plausible shape for

the House"-when unfortunately the idea is started by Morpeth, that they have not yet received the sanction of O'Connell. A very uncomfortable sensation seems to pervade the assembly on the mention of this name; the Premier moves about uneasily, like Rudolph under the influence of Zamiel, and some half-suppressed murmurs of indignation are heard on the part of others of the company. But at this moment the door flies open; O'Connell enters with a grim smile, and pushing Melbourne from his stool, coolly seats himself in his place at the head of the table. All present stand up and make a low bow; while the band perform Weber's "Ruler of the Spirits." After a pause, O'Connell's countenance relaxes; he motions to the company to take their seats, gives his sanction to the different bills, the substance of which is explained to him by Lord John Russell, and helping himself to a bumper, he delivers the following address:

AIR," Paddy Whack."

(Crossbones and Cleavers.)

I sing of Old Erin, a theme worth your hearing,
Ye Downing Street drones who so richly regale;
Nor let your mirth lade ye to mock those who made ye,
For what had you been without me and my tail?
To office I've sped ye, I've fill'd and I've fed

ye,

Nor ask'd my own share when you rifled the Mint;
To places and pensions I make no pretensions,
Content with my country's applause-and the Rint.

(CHORUS.)-Singing, Paddy, my honey, come down with your money, It's all agitation from bottom to top;

Your very last shilling, I know ye'll be willing,
To spend like a prince in O'Connell's own shop.

Och, raly it's pleasant to see the poor peasant
Spontaneously forced to contribute his store;
A groat or a guinea, a pound or a penny,
I take all he has, if he has nothing more.

As to how he may raise it, provided he pays it,

The thought, I confess, does not bother me much;

Though the man that is dying sell the bed where he's lying,
The beggar his blanket, the cripple his crutch.

(CHORUS.) Then Paddy, my honey, come down with your money,
It's all agitation from bottom to top;

Your very last shilling, I know ye'll be willing,
To spend like a prince in O'Connell's own shop.

But though you bleed freely, and pay me genteelly,
I give you full value for all that I draw;
By word and example I've taught you to trample
On quiet and industry, order and law.
Discontent and suspicion, dissension, division,
I've planted and rear'd as a patriot should:
The storm I've been sowing I gladly see growing,
For ill is the wind that blows nobody good.

(CHORUS.) Then Paddy, my honey, come down with your money, &c.
From Emancipation to Appropriation,

Some new botheration we've constantly tried,
At present our trust is in clamours for "Justice,"
I mean Irish justice-that's all on one side.
Then Pat, at my fiat be ready to riot,

As near treason's brink as you safely can steer,
What good it will do ye-hereafter I'll shew ye,—
To me 'twill be worth a few thousands a-year.

So Paddy, my honey, while paying your money,
Keep up Agitation from bottom to top,

A nate insurrection, to help the Collection,

Will ne'er come amiss to O'Connell's own shop.

The assembly are evidently struck with the disinterested conduct of O'Connell, and all coldness or bad feeling is at an end. The personages join hands, and the piece concludes with the following

GRAND CHORUS.

AIR," All hail to Masaniello."

(Sackbut, Psaltery, Dulcimer, and all kinds of Music.)

All hail to Dan O'Connell,

The master we obey:

Who, quite content with his Irish Rent,

To us leaves place and pay.

In office he secures us,

Of Quarter-day assures us:

Then hail great Dan O'Connell,

Still reign with gracious sway

You're free to seize what power you please,

But leave us place and pay!

[After parading several times round the stage, O'CONNELL remaining seated, the Characters form pictures, and the curtain drops.

REVOLT OF THE TARTARS; OR, FLIGHT OF THE KALMUCK KHAN AND HIS PEOPLE FROM THE RUSSIAN TERRITORIES TO THE FRONTIERS OF CHINA.

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THERE is no great event in modern history, or perhaps it may be said more broadly, none in all history, from its earliest records, less generally known, or more striking to the imagination, than the flight eastwards of a principal Tartar nation across the boundless steppes of Asia in the latter half of the last century. The terminus quo of this flight, and the terminus ad quem, are equally magnificent; the mightiest of Christian thrones being the one, the mightiest of Pagan the other. And the grandeur of these two terminal objects, is harmoniously supported by the romantic circumstances of the flight. In the abruptness of its commencement, and the fierce velocity of its execution, we read an expression of the wild barbaric character of the agents. In the unity of purpose connecting this myriad of wills, and in the blind but unerring aim at a mark so remote, there is something which recals to the mind those Almighty instincts that propel the migrations of the swallow, or the life-withering marches of the locust. Then again, in the gloomy vengeance of Russia and her vast artillery, which hung upon the rear and the skirts of the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of Miltonic images-such, for instance, as that of the solitary hand pursuing through desert spaces and through ancient chaos a rebellious host, and overtaking with volleying thunders those who believed them selves already within the security of darkness and of distance.

We shall have occasion farther on to compare this event with other great national catastrophes as to the magnitude of the suffering. But it may also challenge a comparison with similar events under another relation, viz., as to its dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in romance or history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the complexity of its separate interests. The great outline of the enterprise, taken in connexion with the operative motives, hidden or avowed, and the religious sanctions under which it was pursued, give to the case a triple character: 1st, That of a conspiracy, with as close a unity

in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in the moving characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as belongs to Venice Preserved, or to the Fiesco of Schiller. 2dly, That of a great military expedition offering the same romantic features of vast distances to be traversed, vast reverses to be sustained, untried routes, enemies obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely prefigured, which mark the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses-the anabasis of the younger Cyrus, and the subsequent retreat of the ten thousand to the Black Sea

the Parthian expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus and Julian-or (as more disastrous than any of them, and in point of space as well as in amount of forces, more extensive) the Russian anabasis and katabasis of Napoleon. 3dly, That of a religious Exodus, authorized by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia, an Exodus, therefore, in so far resembling the great Scriptural Exodus of the Israelites, under Moses and Joshua, as well as in the very peculiar distinction of carrying along with them their entire families, women, children, slaves, their herds of cattle and of sheep, their horses and their camels.

This triple character of the enterprise naturally invests it with a more comprehensive interest. But the dramatic interest, which we ascribed to it, or its fitness for a stage representation, depends partly upon the marked variety and the strength of the personal agencies concerned, and partly upon the succession of scenical situations. Even the steppes, the camels, the tents, the snowy and the sandy deserts, are not beyond the scale of our modern representative powers, as often called into action in the theatres both of Paris and London; and the series of situations unfolded, beginning with the general conflagration on the Wolga-passing thence to the disastrous scenes of the flight (as it literally was in its commencement)-to the Tartar siege of the Russian fortress Koulagina-the bloody engagement with the Cossacks in the mountain passes at Ouchim

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