no bad smell, looked at each other in admiration of what this sally might lead to: when Dionigi, falling into a passion at seeing them hold their noses, and glance at him such looks of suspicion, asked fiercely, whether they supposed it was he who occasioned the stink. "Really," answered Giannetto, "if it were not that I am fearful of giving offence, I would, with the leave of this good company, explain what I consider to be the occasion of it." Whereat Dionigi, who being a man for the ladies, and one who passed the whole day in cleansing and adorning and perfuming his sweet person, was quite satisfied in his conscience, eagerly exclaimed, "Say on! say whatever you like you have full liberty."--" Since it is your pleasure," answered Giannetto, "I will proceed, and declare it to be my firm persuasion, that it is that beard of yours which stinks so damnably."-"What do you mean?" retorted Dionigi; "come, explain yourself." -"Hear me out then," said the other; "Those who are in the habit of frequenting taverns to eat and drink, are, for the most part, persons of most evil manners, very dirty and coarse in their habits, and who care not how often they offend against the rules of society, by openly venting their crepitations and eructations at table in the very faces of their companions, holding it sufficient to excuse themselves for every successive breach of politeness, by say ing, This is to the beard of the man who is not in debt.' Now seeing that, according to your own frequent confession, you are not only out of debt at present, but never were in debt in the whole course of your life, (in which respect I verily believe that you are the only person now living in Florence, who can say the same ;) and seeing, moreover, that you have so handsome a beard, and of such length and thickness, that I doubt whether there is any

in the city which may compare with it it follows of course, that every one of these explosions of nastiness, which has been uttered for years past, must have lighted upon it, and consequently that there is not a single hair in all that venerable fabric, but has its own peculiar stink, extracted from the most rotten lungs and the foulest stomachs in Florence. And now I hope you will no longer marvel at us for holding our noses; and you would do wisely, both for your own honour and our advantage, if you were no longer to be seen at our suppers, unless indeed you come to them shaven,or (by'r Lady) in debt."

At the conclusion of this harangue, the whole of the company present were seized with such immoderate laughter, that more than one were constrained to rise from the table and unbutton themselves; and more than one laughed till the tears came into their eyes, especially when they beheld the face of poor Dionigi, who stood like an angry bear, unable to utter a word for pure rage and vexation; and seeing all burst. ing with laughter around him, arose from his chair, (with cheeks puffed out like a basket,) and taking his cloak, without saying a syllable to any one, withdrew from the room before the cloth was removed, or the dessert brought upon the table. And so great and terrible was his anger, that, from that time forward, he would come more to their parties, nor would speak to any of them when they met him in the street, and least of all to Giannetto. They, for their parts, considered themselves as not at all the worse off for being rid of him ; and not only conclud ed that evening with abundance of mirth and jollity at his expense, but ever after held Giannetto in the highest honour and regard among them, for having, by the readiness of his wit, effected for them so blessed a deliverance.

tertainment to the ambassador and suite: and on the day appointed, as is usual in Persia, a messenger came to us at about five o'clock in the evening, to

bid us to the feast. I might make use of scriptural language to commence my narration: A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready.' The difficulty which infidels have made to the passage of which this is the commencement, arises from the apparent harshness of asking people to an entertainment, and giving them no option, by punishing them in fact for their refusal: whereas all the guests to whom when the supper was ready the servant was sent, had already accepted the invitation, and were therefore already pledged to appear at the feast, at the hour when they might be summoned. They were not taken unprepared, and could not, in consistency or decency, plead any prior engagement.--On alighting at the house, we were conducted into a low room, where we found our host waiting for us, with about a dozen more of his friends. The ambassador was placed in the corner of honour, near the window, and the Ameen-ad-Dowlah next to him on his left hand. The other guests were arranged around the room according to their respective ranks.When a Persian enters a mejlis or assembly, after having left his shoes without, he makes the usual salutation of selam aleikum, (peace be unto you,) which is addressed to the whole assembly, as it were saluting the house, (Matt. x. 12.) and then, measuring with his eye the degree of rank to which he holds himself entitled, he straightway wedges himself into the line of guests, without offering any apology for the general disturbance which he produces. It may be conceived that, among a vain people, the disputes which arise on

6

matters of precedence are numerous : and it was easy to observe by the countenances of those present, when any one had taken a higher seat than that to which he was entitled. Mollahs, the Persians' scribes, are remarkable for their arrogance in this respect and they will bring to mind the caution that our Saviour gave to the Jews against their scribes, whom, among other things, he characterises as loving the uppermost places at feasts.— The master of the entertainment has, however, the privilege of placing any one as high in the ranks of the mejlis as he may choose; and we saw an instance of it on this occasion: for when the assem bly was nearly full, the Governor of Kashan, a man of hur ble mien although of considerable rank, came in, and seated himself in the lowest place, when the Ameen-ad-Dowlah, after having testified his particular attentions to him by numerous expressions of welcome, pointed with his hand to an upper seat in the assembly, to which he desired him to move, and which he accordingly did.-A striking analogy will doubtless be perceived here between the Jews, as described by our Saviour in the Gospel, and those of the Persians; and we may hence see the peculiar propriety of the directions: "When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest place ; lest a more honourable man than you be bidden of him, and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place, and thou begin with shame to take the low est place. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher." MORIER.

"Tis a dark and flashing eye,
Shadows, too, that tenderly,
With almost female softness, come
O'er its glance of flame and gloom.
His cheek is pale: or toil or care,
Or midnight study has been there,
Making its young colours dull,
Yet leaving it most beautiful.
Suck a lip! Oh, poured from thence,
Lava floods of eloquence
Come with fiery energy,

Like those words that cannot die ;
Words the Grecian Warrior spoke
When the Persian chain he broke ;

And that low and honey tone,
Making woman's heart his own,
Such as should be heard at night
In the dim and sweet starlight:
Sounds that haunt a beauty's sleep,
Treasures for her heart to keep,
Suited for the citron shade,
Or the soft voiced serenade.
Raven curls their shadows throw
O'er a high and haughty brow,
Lighted by a smile, whose spell
Words are powerless to tell,-
Such the image in my heart,-
Painter, try thy glorious art!

L. E. L.

1.

To see the human mind o'erturn'd,-
Its loftiest heights in ruin laid;
And Reason's lamp, which brightly burn'd,
Obscured, or quench'd in frenzy's shade;
A sight like this may well awake
Our grief, our fear,-for Nature's sake.
2.

It is a painful, humbling thought

To know the empire of the mind,
With wit endow'd, with science fraught,
Is fleeting as the passing wind ;
And that the richest boon of Heaven
To man-is rather LENT, than GIVEN.
3.

To-day he sits on Reason's throne,

And bids his subject powers obey; Thought, Memory, Will,-all seem his own, Come at his bidding, list his sway ;To-morrow-from dominion hurl'd, Madness pervades the mental world!

4.

Till gathering clouds-in awful night Have quench'd each beam of heav'nly light. 6.

There are- whose mental ear has heard The still small voice! yet,prone to wrong, Have proudly, foolishly preferr'd

The sophist's creed, the syren's song ;-
And staked, upon a desperate throw,
Their hopes above,-their peace below.
7

There are, in short, whose days present
One constant scene of painful strife;
Who hourly for themselves invent

Fresh conflicts;-till this dream of Life Has made their throbbing bosoms ache, And yet, alas! they fear to wake.

8.