republican, for a kingdom and a palace; a libertine, for his
neighbor's wife; a man of palate, for green peas; and a poor man,
for a crust of bread. The ambitious desires of public men, elsewhere
so craftily concealed, were here expressed openly and boldly, side
by side with the unselfish wishes of the philanthropist for the
welfare of the race, so beautiful, so comforting, in contrast with
the egotism that continually weighed self against the world. Into
the darker secrets of the Book of Wishes we will not penetrate.

It would be an instructive employment for a student of mankind,
perusing this volume carefully and comparing its records with men's
perfected designs, as expressed in their deeds and daily life, to
ascertain how far the one accorded with the other. Undoubtedly, in
most cases, the correspondence would be found remote. The holy and
generous wish, that rises like incense from a pure heart towards
heaven, often lavishes its sweet perfume on the blast of evil times.
The foul, selfish, murderous wish, that steams forth from a
corrupted heart, often passes into the spiritual atmosphere without
being concreted into an earthly deed. Yet this volume is probably
truer, as a representation of the human heart, than is the living
drama of action as it evolves around us. There is more of good and
more of evil in it; more redeeming points of the bad and more errors
of the virtuous; higher upsoarings, and baser degradation of the
soul; in short, a more perplexing amalgamation of vice and virtue
than we witness in the outward world. Decency and external
conscience often produce a far fairer outside than is warranted by
the stains within. And be it owned, oil the other hand, that a man
seldom repeats to his nearest friend, any more than he realizes in
act, the purest wishes, which, at some blessed time or other, have
arisen from the depths of his nature and witnessed for him in this