combs, to display the brisk locomotion of Columbine, or the tortuous
attitudinizing of Punch;--these are the occupations of others, whose
ambition, limited to the applause of unintellectual fatuity, is too
innocuous for the application of satire, and too humble for the
incitement of jealousy.

Our refectory will be found to contain every species of fruit, from
the cooling nectarine and luscious peach to the puny pippin and the
noxious nut. There Indolence may repose, and Inebriety revel; and
the spruce apprentice, rushing in at second account, may there
chatter with impunity; debarred, by a barrier of brick and mortar,
from marring that scenic interest in others, which nature and
education have disqualified him from comprehending himself.

Permanent stage-doors we have none. That which is permanent cannot
be removed, for, if removed, it soon ceases to be permanent. What
stationary absurdity can vie with that ligneous barricado, which,
decorated with frappant and tintinnabulant appendages, now serves as
the entrance of the lowly cottage, and now as the exit of a lady's
bed-chamber; at one time insinuating plastic Harlequin into a
butcher's shop, and, at another, yawning, as a flood-gate, to
precipitate the Cyprians of St. Giles's into the embraces of
Macheath? To elude this glaring absurdity, to give to each
respective mansion the door which the carpenter would doubtless have
given, we vary our portal with the varying scene, passing from deal
to mahogany, and from mahogany to oak, as the opposite claims of
cottage, palace, or castle may appear to require.

Amid the general hum of gratulation which flatters us in front, it is
fit that some regard should be paid to the murmurs of despondence