Skeffington to this! To be classed with the proud, the noble, and the
great. It seemed a natural query, whether the Bourbon's name were not a
pretext for his own introduction to royalty, under circumstances of
unprecedented splendour and magnificence. It must have been so. What
cogitations respecting dress, and air, and port, and bearing! What
torturing of the confounded lanky locks, to make them but revolve ever so
little! then the rich cut velvet--the diamond buttons--ay, every one was
composed of brilliants! The night arrived: ushered by well-rigged watchmen
to clear the way, the honoured sedan bore its precious burthen to the
palace, and the glittering load was deposited in the royal vestibule
itself. Alas! what confusion, horror, and dismay were there, when the
ticket was pronounced a forgery! All that the considerate politeness of a
Bloomfield or a Turner might effect was done to alleviate the fatal
disappointment. The case was even reported instanter to the prince himself;
but etiquette was amongst the other "restrictions" imposed upon his royal
highness; and, however tempered by compliment and excuse, "the diamonds
blaze" reached not farther than the hall, and were destined to waste their
splendour, for the remainder of the night, in the limited apartments of
Craven-street.

_New Monthly Magazine._

* * * * *


THE VOICE OF NATURE.


I heard a bird on the linden tree,
From which November leaves were falling,