been employed to copy the letters. But the importance of the fact as a circumstance in the chain of evidence is undeniable.

To this may be added the interest which he always took in the work. Upon his decease, the vellum-bound and gilt copies, which formed the only remuneration Junius would receive from the publisher, were sought for in vain among his books. But it is said that the present which he made his second wife on their marriage was a finely-bound copy of Junius.

From "Eminent Statesmen.”

THE ORATORY OF CANNING.

LORD BROUGHAM.

His declamation, though often powerful, always beautifully ornate, never deficient in admirable diction, was certainly not of the highest class. It wanted depth; it came from the mouth, not from the heart; and it tickled or even filled the ear rather than penetrated the bosom of the listener. The orator never seemed to forget himself and be absorbed in his theme; he was not carried away by his passions, and he carried not his audience along with him. An actor stood before us, a first-rate one, no doubt, but still an actor; and we never forgot that it was a representation we were witnessing, not a real scene. The Grecian artist was of the second class only, at whose fruit the birds pecked; while, on seeing Parrhasius's picture, men cried out to have the curtain drawn aside. Mr. Canning's declamation entertained his hearers, so artistly was it executed; but only an inexperienced critic could mistake it for the highest reach of the rhetorical art. The truly great orator is he who carries away his hearer, or fixes his whole attention on the subject-with the subject fills his whole soul-than the subject, will suffer him to think of no other thing-of the subject's existence alone will let him be conscious, while the vehement inspiration lasts on his own mind which he communicates to his hearer-and will only suffer him to reflect on the admirable execution of what he has heard after the burst is over, the whirlwind has passed away, and the excited feelings have in the succeeding lull sunk into repose.

From "Eminent Statesnen."

RELICS AT ABBOTSFORD.

WASHINGTON IRVING.

AFTER dinner we adjourned to the drawing-room, which served also for study and library. Against the wall on one side was a long writing. table, with drawers; surmounted by a small cabinet of polished wood, with folding doors richly studded with brass ornaments, within which

Scott kept his most valuable papers. Above the cabinet, in a kind of niche, was a complete corslet of glittering steel, with a closed helmet and flanked by gauntlets and battle-axes. Around were hung trophies and relics of various kinds: a cimeter of Tippoo Saib; a Highland broadsword from Floddenfield; a pair of Rippon spurs from Bannock burn; and above all, a gun which had belonged to Rob Roy, and bore his initials, R. M. G., an object of peculiar interest to me at the time, as it was understood Scott was actually engaged in printing a novel founded on the story of that famous outlaw.

On each side of the cabinet were book-cases, well stored with works of romantic fiction in various languages, many of them rare and antiquated. This, however, was merely his cottage library, the principal part of his books being at Edinburgh.

From this little cabinet of curiosities, Scott drew forth a manuscript picked up on the field of Waterloo, containing copies of several songs popular at the time in France. The paper was dabbled with blood"The life blood, very possibly," said Scott, "of some gay young officer, who had cherished these songs as a keepsake from some lady love in Paris." From "Crayon Miscellany."

MACHIAVELLI.

LORD MACAULAY.

MACHIAVELLI lived long enough to see the commencement of the last struggle for Florentine liberty. Soon after his death, monarchy was finally established-not such a monarchy as that of which Cosmo had laid the foundations deep in the constitution and feelings of his countrymen, and which Lorenzo had embellished with the trophies of every science and every art; but a loathsome tyranny, proud and mean, cruel and feeble, bigoted and lascivious. The character of Machiavelli was hateful to the new masters of Italy; and those parts of his theory which were in strict accordance with their own daily practice, afforded a pretext for blackening his memory. His works were misrepresented by the learned, misconstrued by the ignorant, censured by the church, abused, with all the rancor of simulated virtue, by the minions of a base despotism, and the priests of a baser superstition. The name of the man whose genius had illuminated all the dark places of policy, and to whose patriotic wisdom an oppressed people had owed their last chance of emancipation and revenge, passed into a proverb of infamy.

For more than two hundred years his bones lay undistinguished. At length, an English nobleman paid the last honors to the greatest statesman of Florence. In the church of Santa Croce, a monument was erected to his memory, which is contemplated with reverence by all

who can distinguish the virtues of a great mind through the corruptions of a degenerate age; and which will be approached with still deeper homage, when the object to which his public life was devoted shall be attained, when the foreign yoke shall be broken, when a second Proccita shall avenge the wrongs of Naples, when a happier Rienzi shall restore the good estate of Rome, when the streets of Florence and Bologna shall again resound with their ancient war-cry-Popolo; pcpolo; muoiano i tiranni! From "Essay on Machiavelli."

ROBESPIERRE.

LORD BROUGHAM.

ROBESPIERRE was, beyond most men that ever lived, hateful, selfish, unprincipled, cruel, unscrupulous. That he was not the worst of the Jacobin group may also be without hesitation affirmed. Collot d'Herbois was probably worse; Billaud Varennes certainly, of whom it was said by Garat: "Il fauche dans les têtes, comme un autre dans les prés" (he mows down heads as another would grass.) But neither of these men had the same fixity of purpose, and both were inferior to him in speech. Both, however, and indeed all the revolutionary chiefs, were his superiors in the one great quality of courage; and while his want of boldness, his abject poverty of spirit, made him as despicable as he was odious, we are left in amazement at his achieving the place which he filled, without the requisite most essential to success in times of trouble, and to regard as his distinguishing but pitiful characteristic the circumstance which leaves the deepest impression upon those who contemplate his story, and in which he is to be separated from the common herd of usurpers, that his cowardly nature did not prevent him from gaining the prize which, in all other instances, has been yielded to a daring spirit.

Such was Robespierre-a name at which all men still shudder. Reader, think not that this spectacle has been exhibited by Providence for no purpose, and without any use! It may serve as a warning against giving way to our scorn of creatures that seem harmless because of the disproportion between their mischievous propensities and their powers to injure, and against suffering them to breathe and to crawl till they begin to ascend into regions where they may be more noxious than in their congenial dunghill, or native dust!

From "Eminent Statesmen."

THE COURT OF CHARLES II.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL.

THE Court of Charles II. carried the dissolution of morals to the greatest pitch. And the stage at that time united the profligacy of French with the coarseness of English manners. The king loved to practise, and was forward to encourage, the most unbounded license in conversation as well as in conduct. The loosest jest and the most indecent words were admitted into polished society, and even disgraced the literature of the day. Nor was it found possible to import the gallantry and dissipation of other climates without some mixture of the darker vices. Sir John Denham and Lord Chesterfield have both been accused of murdering their wives by poison, and the latter is said to have added deeper horror to his crime by administering death in the cup of communion. These stories, whether true or false, could only have found belief in a profligate age. It seemed as if the domestic character of the nation was about to undergo an alarming change.

But the mass of English gentry did not follow the example of their sovereign; and he who examined beneath the surface would have found the soil rich in honor and virtue. The same age which produced the poetry of Rochester and the plays of Dryden, gave birth to the writings of South, Taylor, and Barrow. And whilst the wits of the court were ridiculing the epic poem of Milton, that sublime work was passing through the hands of thousands, and obtaining for its author that better sort of immortality which is gained by uniting the sentiments of a good man with the inspiration of a great poet.

THE CHARACTER OF JAMES I.

SANFORD.

JAMES has been called a "learned fool," and his lucubrations on government and royal authority, when we consider the position in which he was he was practically placed, certainly entitle him to the epithet. Royal despotism seems to have possessed for him all the attraction of forbidden fruit, and the mortifications which he was constantly compelled to undergo from insolent nobles and presuming preachers, appear to have had only the effect of impressing more strongly on his mind a sense of the theoretical irresponsibility of the crown. His chimerical design was no other than to subvert the constitution of England, and to establish in its place a despotic monarchy. A dissembler by nature and by long habit, he dissembled badly, and only succeeded in destroying all confidence in his most solemn assurances. With all his boasted state-craft, he was never able to conceal his projects until a favorable moment for their execution; and by

the pompous language with which he heralded them, called forth an opposition which stifled them in the birth. He was a coward, both morally and physically; and this fact exercised a material influence on the character of the contest during his life. His vanity led him continually to assume to himself in words a sovereign power entirely inconsistent with the constitution, and accommodated to some theory of his own brain; while the same love of seeming power induced him frequently to interfere with the privileges of the House of Commons, and when prompted by his necessities to have recourse to various illegal means of raising money: but, when called to account for this language and these proceedings, he gave way, not as Elizabeth, but in a manner congenial with his own spirit; a great deal of bluster was always followed by an agony of terror and humiliation.

THE POLICY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

LORD MACAULAY.

If such a man as Charles I. had been in the place of Queen Elizabeth when the whole nation was crying out against the monopolies, he would have refused all redress. He would have dissolved the Parliament, and imprisoned the most popular members. He would have called another Parliament. He would have given some vague and delusive promises of relief in return for subsidies. When entreated to fulfil his promises, he would have again dissolved the Parliament, and again imprisoned his leading opponents. The country would have become more agitated than before. The next House of Commons would have been more unmanageable than that which preceded it. The tyrant would have agreed to all that the nation demanded. He would have solemnly ratified an act abolishing monopolies for ever. He would have received a large supply in return for this concession; and within half a year new patents, more oppressive than those which had been cancelled, would have been issued by scores. Such was the policy which brought the heir of a long line of kings, in early youth the darling of his countrymen, to a prison and a scaffold.

Elizabeth, before the House of Commons could address her, took out of their mouths the words which they were about to utter in the name of the nation. Her promises went beyond their desires. Her performance followed close upon her promise. She did not treat the nation as an adverse party, as a party which had an interest opposed to hers, as a party to which she was to grant as few advantages as possible, and from which she was to extort as much money as possible. Her benefits were given, not sold; and, when once given, they were never with