A very deserving fellow was cut by one of his acquaintances, who chanced to fall in company with some titled coxcomb. No notice, however was taken of the matter, but the person cut secretly resolved to be even with his vain companion. An occasion soon offered. Some evenings after he chanced to meet an old schoolfellow, who had lately come in for a title and fortune. After strolling together for some time, who should appear but the friend who had acted so vainly on a former occasion: supposing, however, that his conduct had left no impression, and feeling ambitious to be honoured with the acquaintance of the young lord, he made up to his companion with all the freedom of an old chum. The moment of retaliation was too sweet to be avoided, and the cut direct put an end to a friendship, which, under any circumstances, one of the parties, at least, felt now little desire to retain.

But I suspect, my excellent friend Mr. Merton, that I encroach somewhat too far, not only on the space of your very pleasing work, but the patience of its readers; and fearing that I myself may be cut as a bore, if I spin this article to a greater length (a circumstance which I should view with no small regret, as I mean, with your permission, to offer you my occasional lucubrations), 1 shall add nothing to my vale but that I remain, for the present, yours very truly, CUT AND COME AGAIN.

SONG.

The Faithless Lover.

What?-when he heard my sad adieu,
Did he not heave one parting sigh?
What?-when I snatch'd a last fond view
Did not one tear bedew his eye?

Alas! 'tis anguish to discover

That he was but a faithless lover!

Peace, my poor heart! nay, do not swell
As if the strings of life would sever;
Can'st thou not bid a calm farewell'

To pleasures that are lost for ever ?—
Ah, no!---my thoughts still fondly hover
Around thy shade, my faithless lover!

Then let my tortur'd heart-strings break!
Gently lull'd in death's cold sleep
This throbbing breast shall cease to ache,---
These tearful eyes forget to weep.

So shall no eye my pangs discover;--
But grief shall rend my faithless lover!

φευ.

TO BURTONA.

The Spirit of Burton Ale.

BRIGHT Burtona! thou friend of good health and good song,
Of the weary, the sad, and the gay!-

It is thine to impregnate the quick rising throng

Of ideas, ere they vanish away!—

To prompt the moist thoughts, as thy brain-whirling charms
From the caput's best stores lift the veil,-

To stir throat-drying Fancy to metrical arms,

In the cause of thy ex-cellent ale!

Man is prone to exult in his fortune and friends—
In his honours-his lands—or his wealth,—
But the varying joy that on friendship attends,
Or on riches, compared with good health,

Is a name ill applied !-bring them all to the test-
Friends are fickle-and riches but frail !—

But thy touch softens sorrow-gives pleasure a zest-
Dear ex-quisite, double X ale!

When the labours of life with each morn are begun,

Thy sweet kiss spirits languor away,

And when evening smiles, as the lingering sun
Casts his last fondling look at the day,—

Oh! what joy to be stretch'd, casting care to the wind,
In the bounds of one's own garden rail,

Ev'ry wish, ev'ry hope, by contentment confined
To a pipe, and thy soul-cheering ale!

Let the bon-vivants prate of their fifty-year Port,
Poets stanza their bright Nectar forth—

I hold them but cheap pleasures, far falling short

Of the joys 'neath thy white sparkling froth :-
Dearest bringer of ease to the soul-darken'd wight,

May thy influence mild never fail!

And let those who would render life's burdens more light,-
Fill their cellars with double X ale!

E. A. B.

LOVE.

LOVE is a passion that must be free, without which it sickens and soon expires. The object of love must always be near, yet not constantly in our embrace. If love lives without its natural food, it grows to a monster; yet it is delicate and easily surfeited, and may, by improper nourishment or excess, be corrupted in its nature, grow to a gorgeous desire, and surfeit itself with the first appetite. No plant is more difficult to rear; it must have checks in its growth; the superfluous buds and sprouts must be nipt, that they may not weaken the root; each branch must be carefully guided and directed, so as to preserve perfect grace and symmetry; yet all this must be done without the slightest appearance of the pruning knife; nay, so tenacious is it, that the very sight of the doctor would be fatal. This is the delicate passion of love.

VEDO.

OUTWARD APPEARANCES.

No one can walk with open eyes, through any popular town, and especially through the City of London, without meeting with innumerable objects to excite attention, and give birth to fruitful speculations. But nothing can be more amusing to the amateur artist, the smatterer in physiognomy, or any other attentive observer, than that animated stream of faces which is continually passing and repassing, in our principal thoroughfares. I am given to understand by Paul Cleary, a streetwalking acquaintance of mine, and a disciple of Aristotle's, that to the practised eye, minute traits, and nice distinctions of gait, dress, air, pace, and expression of countenance, unfold not only the professions and habits, but even the thoughts and circumstances, "the businesses and bosoms," of those by whom they are manifested. And, certainly, the individual who is disposed to question the infallibility of these external evidences, is likely to have his scepticism a little staggered, if he will only step into Bartholomew-lane on a settling day, or promenade Cornhill, from Lucky Corner to the 'Change, the day after the drawing of the lottery for should he be unable to point out the defaulters, or distinguish the gainers of prizes from the proprietors of blanks, he really ought to throw the blame upon nothing but his own obtuseness.

:

While I was yesterday standing in Fleet-street, opposite St. Dunstan's church, watching the countenances of a group of great and small children, who were awaiting the movements of the time-keeping savages, I was accosted by the above-named Paul, who seized the opportunity for giving me an extemporaneous lecture upon the heads assembled there, as if ready for his purpose; but finding me rather slow at entering into his theory, and experiencing that the spot where we stood, was none of the most advantageous for a calm discussion, "If you will only stand aside with me," said he, "under the gateway of the Middle Temple, I shall soon be able to fortify my positions with plain and conclusive demonstrations." Having no desire to thwart his humour, I complied with his request and made up my mind to listen without interrupting his remarks, which were as follow.

"Have the goodness to look at that lean little man, walking at this time of day, in a robe de chambre, with list shoes notwithstanding the mud, and with the remains of an old boot lace as a tassel and knot to his walking-stick; mark his slow pace and abstracted mood, consider well his gray and straggling hair, his parchment-like complexion, but above all, regard his features and their expression; his nostril is expanded, his mouth half opened, his tongue quivers, and he is evidently soliloquizing; then his overhanging brow is uplifted, and his sharp blinking eyes seem in a fierce frenzy rolling,' while their owner appears

You need not be alarmed, however, he is not a maniac escaped from his keeper, but an author, a man of deep research; one that might, perhaps, write histories; and yet a man of exquisite taste, aye, and of fertile imagination; perhaps no stranger to the inspirations of

poetry; perhaps but he is no longer in sight, so turn we to the next subject, namely, that young gentleman yonder in the genteel undress, who sometimes looks up, and sometimes down; who first takes a few long steps, and then a few short ones; who now looks flushed-but the crimson tide has already ebbed, and left his cheeks paler than Paris plaster.' He seems pensive, and cheerful; sighing, and smiling, all in a breath. Now I take upon me to pronounce him a lover, a desperate, timid, ardent, sentimental lover; and his mistress, though not in sight, is, beyond all doubt, one of those enigmatical ladies, whose conduct being revolved, appears in some respects encouraging, in others disheartening, till he who dwells upon it is bewildered in uncertainty, and begins to despair of ever obtaining any definitive token of her aversion or esteem. Did you observe how he suddenly assumed a steadier walk-at that moment, I warrant you, he resolved to be no longer trifled with, and the cruel object of his tender passion must possess extraordinary powers of evasion, if she is not this very evening driven beyond all redemption or retraction, into a plain and positive aye or no. On the other side of the way you may behold a general lover; one who, after distributing nods, winks, and simpers, in all directions, and after admiring every female of tolerable pretensions to beauty, has still a good store of love in reserve for himself, and not a little complacency for his own pretensions to be considered elegant, exquisite, interesting, and irresistible. From the crown of his hat, to the rowel of his spurs, all is neatness and exactitude: not a hair out of place, not a crease in his cravat, not a spot on his coat. He seems perfectly satisfied with himself, and also satisfied that all beholders must partake of the self-same satisfaction. His easy port nothing can exceed, unless we except the infinite and indescribable grace with which he applies his glass to his roguish, half-knowing, halfsimple eye. Oh! the blessings of short-sightedness! or rather the delicacy of that refined modesty which recoils from gazing with the naked eye, at the blushing damsel. Do pray look at that lovely young creature, who is now exposed to his unfeeling stare. What symmetry! —what a face!—she smiles bewitchingly, and endeavours to appear careless and unrestrained: she is even now affecting to join in the loud laugh of her vulgar, tawdry companion; but it will not become her. Alas! see through that smile, a sorrowful heart; her flaunting but ill conceals the anguish of her soul:-but I had rather turn away---I have already seen enough---too much. I cannot bear to contemplate wretchedness, however disguised, and at the same time feel that the pang which arises at the sight of it, is rendered far more acute, by the certain knowledge of its being a wretchedness beyond my power, or yours, to alleviate. Who is this that rushes along in breathless speed? and is just now driving in the corner of that fat lady's huge bonnet? Ify you had but caught a glimpse of his anxious countenance, bedewed with a profuse perspiration, and had seen how he started as the chimes announced three quarters past four, you must have agreed with me that he is a tradesman, hurrying to take up a bill---or rather to save his reputation, the credit of his house, and therein the bread of his children, from the disastrous effects and consequences of a notarial visitation.-Now do, I beseech you, mark the composure, and the stateliness

of that highly respectable gentleman, with powder and a queue, who is slowly advancing. His firm step and consequential gait, bespeak some landed interest; his significant leer intimates the power of making money; and the placid expression of his whole face bears witness, that he has no reason to be dissatisfied with the account to which he has turned that invaluable property. Stocks, shares, and securities, may be read in every lineament of his visage, which also seems to be varnished over with a sort of Provident Assurance.' The economical habits of this subject, are most clearly developed even by those things which are of a concealing nature; for instance, his umbrella, which, no doubt, is of rich silk, is saved by a cotton case; his coat is saved by a spencer; and his hose' are well saved' by a pair of gaiters. He is turning into the Middle Temple, there to give instructions for securing an investment on the mortgage of some poor great man's patrimony.

6

6

، But not to weary you with examples, which, indeed, crowd uponus rather too plentifully, I shall now give you some idea of the nice distinctions I am able to make, in cases which the careless perambulator is apt to consider as precisely similar. There are the tailors, and shoemakers, who formerly would fardles bear;' I note that they no longer groan and sweat' over the contents of a bundle handkerchief; but now carry home their suits in blue bags, such as of right pertain only to lawyers' clerks. But mark the difference: the tailor carries his bag in a sinister manner, as if conscious of its prostitution; and as if he every moment dreaded an exposure of its contents. Your man of law, on the other hand, swings about him with the confidence of a person accustomed to courts; who knows that he has got the law in his own hands, and is prepared to enforce it with all its weight, upon that individual, whoever he be, who presumes to push him from the wall, tread his shoe down at heel, or poke the ferule of an umbrella in his legal eye.

"As for my more general classifications, I note that strutters and swaggerers are, for the most part, cowards; creepers and crawlers are sometimes men of reflection; bustlers are a set of people who do very little; trudgers are the real men of business; peepers are idle fellows, that stand by the hour together at print-shops, or old book-stalls, looking at the prints, or dipping into every volume they can lay their hands upon, and very often buying nothing after all."

Í here begged leave to wish Mr. Cleary a very good day, having reason to fear, that if he enlarged upon the subject of peepers, I should begin to think his remarks rather too personal.