impertinence that he dared not confute. With his ears ringing with
blue-stocking literature, threadbare sophistries, forms erected into
important principles, mediocrity elevated into consideration, and the
pre-eminence of the vain, the ignorant, and the contemptible, he will
shut himself up in his solitude, and say with the Englishman at Paris
_Je m'ennuis tres bien ici_. Against the recurrence of these annoyances,
day after day renewed, what nerves can hold out? As life advances, time
becomes precious, every moment is counted, every enjoyment is computed;
and while the effort necessary for pleasing and being pleased becomes
greater, the motive for making that exertion grows less. When the
sources of physical gratification are dried up, and the illusions of
life are dissipated, there remains nothing for enjoyment but a tranquil
fireside, and the mastery of our own ideas and of our own habits in the
privacy of home. But then, to enjoy these, you must not have a methodist
wife, and you must have a porter who can lie with a good grace, a fellow
who could say "not at home," though death himself knocked at the door.
Neither should you read the newspapers, nor walk the streets. The times
are long gone by since "wisdom cried out there." Folly, impertinence,
sheer impertinence, has exclusive possession of the king's highway; and
a dog with a tin-kettle at tail has as good a chance as the wretch who
dares to tread the pavement without partaking of the ruling insanity.
Oh! Mr. Brougham, Mr. Brougham! your schoolmaster has a great deal yet
to do: pray heaven his rods and his fools' caps may hold out!--_New
Month. Mag._

* * * * *

TO "BEAUTY."

The morn is up! wake, Beauty, wake!