II. BONAPARTE.

He knew no motive' but interst'; acknowledged no criterion' but success';
he worshiped no God' but ambition'; and with an eastern devotion', he
knelt at the shrine of his idolatry'. Subsidiary to this, there was no
creed' that he did not profess'; there was no opinion' that he did not
promulgate': in the hope of a dynasty', he upheld the crescent'; for the
sake of a divorce', he bowed before the cross'; the orphan of St. Louis',
he became the adopted child of the republic'; and, with a parricidal
ingrati-tude', on the ruins both of the throne and the tribune, he reared
the throne of his despotism'.

At his touch crowns' crumbled'; beggars' reigned'; systems' van-ished';
the wildest theories' took the color of his whim'; and all that was
venerable' and all that was novel', changed places with the rapidity of a
drama'. Nature had no obstacle' that he did not surmount'; space, no
opposition' he did not spurn'; and whether amid Alpine rocks',--Arabian
sands',--or Polar snows',---he seemed proof' against peril', and empowered
with ubiquity'.



III. HAMLET ON SEEING THE SKULL OF YORICK.

Alas, poor Yorick'! I knew him', Horatio'; a fellow of infinite jest', of
most excellent fancy'. He hath borne me on his back' a thousand times';
and now', how abhorred my imagination is'! My gorge rises' at it. Here
hung those lips that I have kissed', I know not how oft', Where be your