eyes were dark, fiery rather than bright, and so restless that they never dwelt in the same place for a moment; his mouth was at once the worst and the most peculiar feature of his face: it betokened humor, it is true; but it also betrayed malignancy, nor did it ever smile with out sarcasm. Though flattering to those present, his words against the absent, uttered by that bitter and curling lip, mingled with your pleasure at their wit a little fear at their causticity. I believe no one could be one hour with that man and not feel apprehension. Ridicule, so lavish, yet so true to the mark-so wanton, yet so seemingly just-so bright, that, while it wandered round its target, in apparent though terrible playfulness, it burned into the spot, and engraved there a brand, and a token indelible and perpetual; this no man could witness, when darted toward another, and feel

host, you are melancholy. What is the matter?'-'I mourn for the weakness of human nature,' answered Fontenelle, with an air of patriarchal philanthropy. I told your cook three times about the asparagus; and now-taste it. I told him not to put too much sugar, and he has put none. Thus it is with mankind -ever in extremes, and consequently ever in error! Thus it was that Luther said, so felicitously and so truly, that the human mind was like a drunken peasant on horseback-prop it on one side, and it falls on the other.'-Ha! ha! ha!' cried Chaulieu, le pauvre secrétaire de l'Académie des Sciences! Who would have thought one could have found so much morality in a plate of asparagus?'

THE RED MAN,

the Forget-re-Not for 1830.

"We sat down to supper. Count Hamilton,' said Boulainvilliers, 'are we not a merry set for such old fellows? Why, except Arouet, Bolingbroke, and Devereux, there is scarcely one of us under seventy. Where, but at Paris, would you see bons vivans of our age? Vivent la joie, la bagatelle, l'amour!'* Et le vin de Champagne,' cried Chaulieu, filling his glass; but what is there strange in our merriment? Philemon, the comic poet, laughed at ninety-seven. May we all do the same! You forget,' cried Bolingbroke, that Philemon died of the laughing.'- Yes,' said Hamilton; but, if I remember right, it was at seeing an ass eat figs. Let us vow, therefore, never to keep company with asses!'-Bravo, count,' said Boulainvilliers, you have put the true moral on the story. Let us swear by the ghost of Philemon, that we will never laugh at an ass's jokes-practical or verbal.'' Then we must always be serious, except when we are with each other,' cried Chaulieu. Oh, I would sooner take my chance of dying prematurely at ninety-seven, than consent to such a vow! Fontenelle,' cried our

IT was at the hour of nine, in an August evening, that a solitary horseman arrived at the Black Swan, about nine miles from Leicester. He was mounted on a large fiery charger, as black as jet, and had behind him a portmanteau attached to the croup of his saddle. A black traveling cloke, which not only covered his own person, but the greater part of his steed, was thrown around him. On his head he wore a broadbrimmed hat, with an uncommonly low crown. His legs were cased in topboots, to which were attached spurs of an extraordinary length; and in his hands he carried a whip, with a thong three yards long, and a handle which might have leveled Goliath himself. On arriving at the inn, he calmly dismounted, and called upon the hostler by name. "Frank!" said he, "take my horse to the stable; rub him down thoroughly; and, when he is well cooled, step in and let me know ;"-and, taking hold of his portmanteau, he entered the kitchen, followed by the obsequious landlord. At one side of the fire sat the village schoolmaster-a thin pale peak-nosed little man, with a powdered periwig, terminating behind in a long queue, and an expression of self-conceit strongly depicted upon his countenance. He was amusing himself with a pipe, from which he threw forth volumes of smoke with an air of great satisfaction. Opposite to him sat the parson of the parish-a fat

a

bald-headed personage, dressed in rusty suit of black, and having his shoes adorned with immense silver buckles. Between these characters sat the exciseman, with a pipe in one hand, and a tankard in the other. To complete the groupe, nothing is wanted but to mention the landlady, a plump rosy dame of thirty-five, who was seated by the schoolmaster's side, apparently listening to some sage remarks which that little gentleman was throwing out for her edification.

The stranger soon attracted the attention of the company. He was tall redhaired man, of the middle age; had on a red frock-coat, a red vest, a red neckcloth, and wore red gloves." All red!" ejaculated the parson;-"the gentleman is all red," pertly added the schoolmaster. After checking the flippancy of this speaker by a stern look, the horseman cried out, "Bring me your boot-jack." It was brought, and, when the boots were pulled off, a pair of red stockings were brought into view. The landlord shrugged his shoulders, the exciseman did the same, the landlady shook her head, the parson exclaimed, "All red!" as before, and the schoolmaster would have repeated it, but he had not yet recovered from his rebuke. 66 Faith, this is odd," observed the host. "Rather odd," said the stranger, seating himself between the parson and the exciseman. The landlord was confounded, and did not know what to think of the matter. After sitting for a few moments, the new-comer requested the host to hand him a nightcap, which he would find in his hat. It was a red worsted one; and he put it upon his head. Here the exciseman broke silence, by ejaculating, "Red again!" The landlady gave him an admonitory knock on the elbow: it was too late. The stranger heard his remark, and regarded him with one of those piercing glances for which his fiery eye seemed so remarkable. He then said, "Landlord, may I trouble you to get me a pipe and a can of your best Burton? But, first of all, open my portmanteau, and give me out my slippers." The host did as he was desired, and produced a pair of red slippers. Here an involuntary exclamation broke out from the company. "More red!" proceeded from every lip, with different degrees of loudness. The landlord's was the least loud, the schoolmaster's the loudest of all. "I suppose,

gentlemen," said the stranger, you were remarking upon my slippers."-" Ehyes! we were just saying that they were red," replied the schoolmaster." And pray," demanded the other, "did you never before see a pair of red slippers?" -"But you are all red," observed the parson." And you are all black," said the other. "Your beard is black, your coat is black, your small-clothes, your stockings, your shoes, all are black. In a word, Doctor Poundtext, you are— —“What am I, Sir?" said the parson, bursting with rage.-"Ay, what is he, Sir?" rejoined the schoolmaster. "He is a black-coat," said the stranger with a sneer, "and you are a pedagogue." This sentence was followed by a profound calm.

While the stranger was attending to his horse in the stable, the tongues of the company were loosened, and a storm of words broke forth; but, when he returned, a sudden pause ensued. The first who broke the silence was the parson. "Sir," said he, "we have been thinking that you are- "_"That I am a conjuror, a French spy, a traveling packman, or something of the sort," observed the stranger. Dr. Poundtext started back on his chair, and well he might; for these words, which the Man in Red had spoken, were the very ones he himself was about to utter. Who are you, Sir?" resumed he, in manifest perturbation; "what is your name?""My name," replied the other, "is Reid.""And where, in Heaven's name, were you born?" demanded the astonished parson. "I was born on the borders of the Red Sea."-Dr. Poundtext had not another word to say. The schoolmaster was equally astounded, and withdrew his pipe from his mouth: that of the exciseman dropped to the ground; the landlord groaned aloud, and his spouse held up her hands in mingled astonishment and awe. The strange man arose from his seat, broke his pipe in pieces, and pitched the fragments into the fire; then, throwing his long cloke carelessly over his shoulders, putting his hat upon his head, and loading himself with his boots, his whip, and his portmanteau, he desired the landlord to shew him to his bed, and left the kitchen, after smiling sarcastically to its inmates, and giving them a familiar nod.

His disappearance was the signal for fresh alarm in the minds of those left

behind. Not a word was said till the return of the innkeeper, who in a short time descended from the bed-room. He was encountered by a volley of interrogations. The parson, the schoolmaster, the exciseman, and his own wife, questioned him over and over again. "Who was the Man in Red?-he must have seen him before-he must have heard of him-in a word, he must know something about him." The host protested "that he never beheld the stranger till that hour: it was the first time he had made his appearance at the Black Swan, and, so help him God, it should be the last!""Why don't you turn him out?" exclaimed the exciseman." If you think you are able to do it, you are heartily welcome," replied the landlord; "for my part, I have no notion of coming to close quarters with the shank of his whip, or his great red sledge-hammer fist. This was an irresistible argument, and the proposer of forcible ejectment said no more upon the subject.

At this time the party could hear the noise of heavy footsteps above them. They were those of the Red Man, and sounded with slow and measured tread. The steps continued, and seemed to indicate that the person was amusing himself by walking up and down the room. It would be impossible to describe the multiplicity of feelings which now agitated the minds of the company. Fear, surprise, anger, and curiosity, ruled them by turns, and kept them incessantly upon the rack. There was something mysterious in the visiter who had just left them, something which they could not fathom. "Who could he be?" This was the question that each put to the other, but no one could give any thing like a rational answer. Meanwhile the evening wore on apace, and, though the bell of the parish-church sounded the tenth hour, no one seemed inclined to take the hint to depart. Even the parson heard it without regard, to such a pitch was his curiosity excited. About this time also the sky, which had hitherto been tolerably clear, began to be overclouded. Distant peals of thunder were heard; and thick sultry drops of rain pattered at intervals against the casements every thing seemed to indicate a tempestuous evening. But the storm which threatened to rage without was unnoticed. Though the drops fell heavily; though gleams of lightening flashed

by, followed by the report of distant thunder, and the winds began to hiss and whistle among the trees, yet these external signs of elemental tumult were as nothing to the deep solemn footsteps of the Red Man. There seemed to be no end to his walking. An hour had he paced up and down the chamber, and he was still engaged in this occupation. In this there was something incredibly mysterious; and the party below felt a vague and indescribable dread beginning to creep over them. The more they reflected upon the character of the stranger, the more unnatural did it appear. The redness of his hair and complexion, and, still more, the fiery hue of his garment, struck them with astonishment. But this was little to the freezing and benumbing glances of his eye, the strange tones of his voice, and his miraculous birth on the borders of the Red Sea.

The hostler now entered, in manifest alarm. He came to inform his master that the stranger's horse had gone mad, and was kicking and tearing at every thing around, as if he would break his manger in pieces. Here a loud neighing and rushing were heard in the stable. "Ay, there he goes," continued he. "I believe the devil is in the beast, if he is not the old enemy himself. Ods, master, if you saw his eyes! they are like—”.

"What are they like?" demanded the landlord.-" Ay, what are they like?" exclaimed the rest with equal impatience. "Ods, if they a'n't like burning coals !” ejaculated the hostler, trembling from head to foot, and squeezing himself in among the others. His information threw fresh alarm over the company, and they were more agitated and confused than ever.

During the whole of this time the sound of walking over-head did not cease for a moment. Had there been any increase or any diminution of rapidity in the footsteps, they would have been endurable; but there was no such thing. The same deadening, monotonous, stupifying sound continued, like clockwork, to operate incessantly above their heads. Nor was there any abatement of the storm without. The elemental noise was indeed frightful, and it was heightened by the voice of the sable steed, like that of a spirit of darkness.

After a variety of conjectures, the company seemed to think that the stranger was an emanation of the tempter him

self. "Only look to his dress. What Christian would think of traveling about the country in red? It is a type of the hell-fire from which he is sprung.""Did you observe his hair hanging down his back like a bunch of carrots?" asked the exciseman. "Such a diabolical glance in his eye!" said the schoolmaster. "Such a voice!" added the landlord: "it is like the sound of a cracked clarionet." "His feet are not cloven," observed the landlady. "No matter," exclaimed the landlord; "the devil, when he chooses, can have as good legs as his neighbours.". "Better than some of them," quoth the lady, looking peevishly at the lower limbs of her hus

band.

Meanwhile the treading continued unabated, although two long hours had passed since its commencement. There was not the slightest cessation of the sound, while out of doors the storm raged with violence, and in the midst of it the hideous neighing and stamping of the black horse were heard with preeminent loudness. At this time the fire of the kitchen began to burn low.. The sparkling blaze was gone, and in its stead nothing but a dead red lustre emanated from the grate. One candle had just expired, having burned down to the socket. Of one which remained, the unsnuffed wick was nearly three inches in length, black and crooked at the point, and standing like a ruined tower amid an envelopement of sickly yellow flame, while around the fire's equally-decaying lustre sat the frightened coterie, narrowing their circle as its brilliancy faded away, and eyeing each other like apparitions amidst the increasing gloom. At this time the church-clock struck the hour of midnight, and the tread of the stranger suddenly ceased. There was a pause for some minutes-afterwards a rustling-then a noise as of something drawn along the floor of his room. His door opened; then it shut with violence, and heavy footsteps were heard trampling down the stair. The inmates of the kitchen shook with alarm as the tread came nearer. They expected every moment to behold the Red Man enter, and stand before them in his native character. The landlady fainted; the exciseman followed her example: the landlord gasped in an agony of terror; and the schoolmaster uttered a pious ejaculation. Dr. Poundtext was the only one who

VOL. X.

preserved any degree of composure. He managed, in a trembling voice, to call out, "Avaunt, Satan! I exorcise thee hence to the bottom of the Red Sea!""I am going, as fast as I can," said the stranger, as he passed the kitchen-door on his way to the open air. His voice aroused the whole conclave from their stupor. They started up, and by a simultaneous effort rushed to the window. There they beheld the tall figure of a man, enveloped in a black cloke, entering the stable. He remained there about three minutes, and came out leading forth his fiery steed thoroughly accoutred. In the twinkling of an eye he got upon its back, waved his hand to the company, who were surveying him through the window, and, clapping spurs to his charger, galloped off furiously, with a hideous and unnatural laugh, through the midst of the storm. On going up stairs to the room which the devil had honored with his presence, the landlord found that his infernal majesty had helped himself to every thing he could lay his hands upon, having broken into his desk and carried off twenty-five guineas, a ten-pound Bank of England note, and sundry articles, such as seals, snuff-boxes, &c. Since that time he has not been seen in these quarters, and, if he should, he will do well to beware of Dr. Poundtext, who is a civil magistrate as well as a minister, and who, instead of exorcising him to the bottom of the Red Sea, may perhaps exorcise him to the interior of Leicester prison, to await his trial before the judges of the midland circuit.

BEATRICE,

a Tale founded on Facts; by Mrs.
Hofland. 3 vols.

THIS lady deserves the encomium that was bestowed by our great moralist on Richardson:- she teaches the passions to move at the command of virtue. The emotions which her narratives excite are favorable to the best principles of our nature, and tend to refine the soul and purify the heart.

The present story is as agreeable as any of her former tales; the plot is well conducted, and the interest is well sustained; but, instead of giving a regular analysis, we shall merely extract short scene, and some remarks on overeducation.

4 L

a

Mrs. De-Lester,-the wife of a profligate gamester,-"had been during the whole evening in that dreadful state, which may be conceived as affecting one whose health was so delicate, whose heart was so worn, whose all was set on one awful cast. The sultry state of the atmosphere, the distant roll of thunder, the fear that something might prevent Alice and Beatrice from arriving, and the remembrance that, in all probability, her last hope, her last chance, was over, contributed so to agitate her, that many times in the course of the evening it might be said her poor frame shook almost to dissolution;' and often did she wish the struggle was over, even by the surrender of an existence so long rendered miserable. At length, in the dead of night, when her very soul might be said to centre in her sense of hearing, she heard a light yet distinct step it ascended the stairs to Alice's room; 'doubtless it was she, who was in the first place seeking a cloke or other necessaries.' In a few minutes this doubt vanished-it was De-Lester's tread; 'unquestionably he had discovered their design; he had sought Alice as the first victim of his wrath, and not found her; he was coming alone, in this hour of darkness, to wreak it upon her.' Gasping for breath, conscious of increasing faintness, Eleanor tore the handkerchief from her throat, and tried to rise from the sofa on which she was sitting, that she might approach the window for air; but every step which bronght her husband more near, doubled the beating of her heart, the indistinctness of her perceptions; and, at the moment when his hand was laid on the handle of the door, she sunk lifeless on the pillow of the sofa, with her head so thrown as to render her position dangerous. There was a chamber-lamp in the room, which, together with the candle in his hand, shewed De-Lester the form and situation of his wife. For a moment he started horror-struck, as thinking she was dead; but, on looking at her closely, he was convinced she had only fainted, for he had seen her several times in a similar situation. Doubtless she had heard him, and, knowing the house was unguarded, had been terrified by the fear of thieves. What! if she never should recover?-would it not be well if she never did? Her will might be now established-Maria might be his: the

world was before him in all its splendor of promise.'-A busy meddling fiend' was at the gamester's heart; the most tempting stake he had ever thrown for was before him; the prize, the splendid prize, by which he might win a world of wealth, could be obtained, and, as it appeared, without risk for the future; the future of time he meantthe future of eternity he thought not of." Whilst he gazed on her pale countenance, and on her long small neck now exposed by her position, he perceived a slight motion of the eyelid indicative of returning life; he sprang forward, and his heart whispered, that motion must be the last.' Instantly clasping her neck with his hands, which yet trembled as they murdered, he pressed her closely; a deep gurgling sound rose from the stomach, and seemed struggling in the throat, whilst the body, as by a convulsive effort, rolled from the sofa upon the floor. Starting, as if the dead had risen from the grave to reproach him, he suddenly let go his hold and fled from the room-from the house."

6

The following observations are rather exaggerated, but are not altogether unfounded.-"Of all the acts of folly and cruelty of which parental blindness can be guilty, there is none more to be lamented than that which, from the pride of display, or even the more generous desire for improvement, induces any one to press on infancy the tasks fitted for youth, or demand from youth the wisdom of manhood. It is rending and scattering the blossoms in order to reach the fruit, which, if obtained, is immature, unnatural, and therefore unpleasant; it is the conduct of an Egyptian taskmaster, demanding a work without the materials which form it; an arraigning of the wisdom and providence of God, who, in rendering man the most perfect of his creatures, has yet evidently made his progress the slowest toward the attainment of his powers. That indolence must be conquered, industry excited in children; that Dr. Johnson truly said,

idleness was the fault of human nature;' and it is a fault every wise and kind parent will seek to eradicate, there is no denying; but we speak in pity to that class of children who are stimulated because they are willing-goaded whilst running. Can the recitation of Greek verses at ten years of age, the power of playing difficult music at sight by fingers