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As 'tis, I leave, as thus upon the cairn

I place the tribute stone, that serves to mark it
Amid the wilderness of many a peak,

My humble record, and descend again—
As, reader, so must thou-to yonder vale,

And from the soaring thoughts and sounds of song,
To the flat way that leads us on through life.

Soon after coming down from this hill, went up to Glasgow.

ORIGINAL POETRY.

THE NIGHTMARE.

By William Danby.

I COME in the gleams, from the land of dreams,
Wrapp'd round in the midnight's pall;

Ye may hear my moan, in the night-wind's groan,
When the tapestry flaps on the wall;-

I come from my rest in the death-owl's nest,
Where she screams in fear and pain;

And my wings gleam bright in the wild moonlight,
As it whirls round the madman's brain;
And down sweeps my car, like a falling star,
When the winds have hush'd their breath;
When feel in the air, from the cold sepulchre,
The faint damp smell of death.

ye

My vigil I keep, by the murderer's sleep,
When dreams round his senses spin;

And I ride on his breast, and trouble his rest,
In the shape of his deadliest sin;

And hollow and low is his moan of woe
In the depth of his strangling pain,
And his cold black eye rolls in agony,
And faintly rattles his chain.

The sweat-drops fall on the dark prison wall,-
He wakes with a deep-drawn sigh ;—
He hears my tread, as I pass from his bed,
And he calls on the saints on high.

I fly to the bed where the weary head

Of the poet its rest must seek,

And with false dreams of fame I kindle the flame
Of joy on his pallid cheek.

No thought does he take of the world awake,
And its cold and heartless pleasure,

The holy fire of his own loved lyre

Is his best and dearest treasure.

But neglect's foul sting that cheek shall bring

To a darker and deadlier hue;

The last dear token, his lyre, is broken,
And his heart is broken too.

When the maiden asleep for her lover may weep,
Afar on the boundless sea,

And she dreams he is press'd to her welcome breast,
Return'd, from his dangers free,—

I come in the form of a wave of the storm,
And sweep him away from her heart,
And then in a dream she starts with a scream
To think that in death they part;
And still in the light of her dream-bound sight
The images whirl and dance,
Till my swift elision dispels the vision,
And she wakes as from a trance.

With dreams I affright the startled sight
Of the miser, wither'd and old,
And he strives to arise, with horrible cries,
As he thinks of his stolen gold;
But faint is each limb, and ghastly and grim
Gurgles his stifled gasp,

And his sinews I strain on his bed of pain
Till he faints in my elvish grasp :

An awful one, with a hand of bone,

Seems to beckon him off to the tomb;

And I laugh as I whirl through the night's black furl, And the film of the shadowy gloom.

When the sweet babe lies, with its half-closed eyes
As blue as the sky of even,

And ye know the while, by its innocent smile,
That its dreams are of joy and heaven,-

I steal to the bed where that gentle head
In meek composure lies,

And with phantoms of fright I break the light
Of its visions of Paradise ;-

Oh! the horror and fear of that night so drear
Is long ere it pass away,

And the fearful glare of my fiendish stare
Is remember'd for many a day.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.-We have just received this Institution's notice of its course of lectures for the session 1829-30. The department of languages and general literature is amply and satisfactorily supplied; and lecturers for Zoology, Natural Philosophy, and Mathematics, have been appointed. Only two classes have as yet been opened for the students of law; but the arrangements for the instruction of medical students are extensive. Professors of Logic, and the Philosophy of the Human Mind, Moral and Political Philosophy, History, Roman Law, Mineralogy, and Geology, have not yet been appointed, although all these branches are included in the plan of the University. The library contains already upwards of eight thousand volumes, and is daily increasing. The plan of the lectures and examinations, as announced in the prospectus, is well conceived. We incline, however, to object to the very juvenile age at which students are admitted. In old times, when Universities were the only institutions where instruction was to be obtained, it was right to admit all ages; but now that preparatory schools are every where established, Universities ought to be set apart for those whose object it is to fathom the deeper recesses of knowledge. No person ought to be admitted under eighteen or twenty years of age; certificates of proficiency in certain preliminary studies ought to be insisted on; and the business of the institution ought to be conducted in a manly and liberal spirit. A register, we observe, has been opened at the shop of the University's bookseller, where the names of such persons as are willing to receive boarders are inserted. As yet

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the London University has gone on steadily and sensibly: it has every motive to exert itself, for only by the most undeniable distinction can it earn a legal recognition of its existence.

GEORGE WATSON'S HOSPITAL.-The examination of the boys in Watson's Hospital took place on Thursday last, and was exceeding ly satisfactory. The progress which has been made by them during the last year was very marked, and reflects much credit on the diligent perseverance of their teachers. By Mr Brown they have been instructed in English Reading, Religious Knowledge, Geography, and History; by Mr M'Millan, in Latin; by Mr Cunningham, in Greek, Arithmetic, Geometry, and Algebra; by Mr Robertson, in Writing; by Mr Hill, in Drawing; and by Mr Knott, in Vocal Music. It is a truly agreeable consideration, that at this most useful institution the cultivation of the youthful mind should be so efficiently attended to.

A Collection of Spanish and Portuguese airs, by the most esteemed composers of these countries, is announced. It is to be called Peninsular Melodies; the poetry is to be principally by Mrs Hemans; and the work is to be edited by George Lloyd Hodges, Esq.

Early next season will appear the History of the Arab Domination in Spain, by William Fraser, Esq. The work will extend to about two octavo volumes.

Messrs Whittaker & Co. are, we understand, making arrangements for the regular publication of four series of Popular Histories, under the respective titles of Literary, Philosophical, Scientific, and Political History. The co-operation of very distinguished writers has been either promised or procured; and the collection bids fair to be a valuable addition to our national literature.

M. Michel Carrier, an eminent Naturalist of Savoy, has issued proposals for forming, by subscription, a Geological Collection of the whole range of the Alps. The Collection will contain all the minerals, metals, and fossils, which have already been found, or which M. Carrier may discover, in the Alpine Chain; a space occupying 2600 square leagues, in which are situated the highest mountains of Europe, and which contains formations the most rieh in objects of inorganic nature, as well as in the spoils of primeval ages, and composed of strata the most varied, and abounding in interesting geological facts of every kind. Eight years will be necessary to finish this great work; and eighty subscribers at £120 each are required.

Dr Maginn has announced Tales of the Talmud. Blackstone's Commentaries, brought down to 1829, is in the press. A work has been announced in Paris likely to excite some interest; it is a Translation of the Odes of Horace by Louis XVIII.

Mr J. A. Jones is preparing for publication a work to be entitled Tales of an Indian Camp. The long residence of the author among the Indian tribes of North America, has enabled him to collect most of the traditions current among all the nations of the Red Men dispersed over three millions of square miles in that vast continent, exhibiting their notions respecting the Supreme Being; the creation; the origin of their tribes; and comprising an account of their manners, habits, modes of life, marriage ceremonies, and other interesting subjects.

The Earl of Marchmont's papers, which we have already announced as preparing for publication, comprise a variety of original documents, diaries, and letters. Pope, Swift, Gay, Arbuthnot, Bathurst, Bolingbroke, Murray, Pulteney, Warburton, Walpole, Addison, Steele,-in short, all the eminent persons, whether poets or statesmen, who lived at the same time, were his associates and friends. Marchmont, Murray (afterwards Lord Mansfield), Lord Bathurst, and George Arbuthnot, were the executors to Pope's will; and Marchmont being the survivor, to his care and judginent the poet committed all his manuscripts and unprinted papers.

THE MARCH OF TAILORS.-A work on the art of making clothes, is about to be published in Paris, under the following highly interesting title:-L'Art du Tailleur, ou application de la géometrie à la coupe de l'habillement; par M. Compaing. 2de edition, augmentée d'une leçon de coupe d'habillement, faite pour donner l'explication d'une nouvelle fausse équerre, lithographée sur bois, et disposée pour tracer habits, gilets, et pantalons, etc. Elle est proportionnée pour plusieurs tailles, et divisée d'après le système métrique."

FLYING. It is stated, in a letter from Vienna, that a Frenchman is now in that city, who has really brought to perfection the long-desired art of flying in the air. He is said to have reached, in his last essay, a height of more than nine hundred feet, and to have then proceeded with perfect ease a great distance horizontally. We wish this were true.

NEW MUSIC.-"Adieu, fair Isle," a Song, from Mr Sillery's "Vallery," has just been published by Purdie, of Edinburgh. It is the composition of Mr Jolly, organist of St Philip's Chapel, and is of a sacred cast, the music being, in this respect, well adapted to the words. The melody, which is in E flat, is exceedingly pleasing; and we think our fair readers will find it an agreeable addition to their stock of pianoforte music.

Theatrical Gossip.-Very little indeed is doing at present in the theatrical world of London. One or two short pieces have been

adapted from the French at the Haymarket, and a new opera from the German is said to be in rehearsal at the English Opera House. Drury Lane is beautifying for the winter campaign; and Covent Garden is yet without a tenant, and it seems uncertain whether it will be opened next season at all.-Liverpool still continues at the head of provincial places of attraction. Sontag has been giving concerts there, and Miss Foote has succeeded Kean and Miss Smithson. Of this last young lady, who was so much be-puffed on the continent, a judicious Liverpool critic expresses himself in the following terms: "When this young lady appeared formerly on our boards, she took a certain range of comic parts, in which, though her ability was very unequal to play them excellently, yet the beauty of her person, and the absence of all pretension on her part, enabled an audience to witness her performance without impatience, and even with some plea. sure; but now that she comes before us in the first characters of tra

gedy, and with pretensions not indeed assumed by herself in any arrogant manner, but which necessarily attach to one who has been highly applauded, we must say, we have no other words that may ade quately express the quality of her performance, than to say, it is a melancholy failure. There is a singular want of ease in her acting, not to speak of any greater fault, which is alone enough to hinder her from producing any agreeable impression. But, indeed, her judgment is more defective than her execution. Never, surely, since the stage began, was there such an atrocious maltreatment of a scene as hers of the trial scene in the Merchant of Venice. The beautiful didactic passage, beginning

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd,"

was pronounced by her with all the vehemence, or, one might say, the agony, of passion. Had they been any other words than these beautiful words of Shakspeare, we could have laughed outright. As it was, one was rather inclined to weep to witness such a horrible murder perpetrated upon the noble sense of the poet. We do not, in short, know a single point of merit in Miss Smithson's acting, considering her as one assuming to play in the first parts of tragedy. When she would represent simplicity, as in Juliet, she exhibits mere childishness, without grace or delicacy. Pathos, in her delineation, is an ineffective whine, with some fantastic gesticulation. Her tenderness is feeble, and at the same time affected; her passion a rant, accompanied with a certain rolling of the eyes, most disagreeable to behold. One can have no other feeling, in witnessing her efforts on the stage, than distress to see a very fine woman, whom, as a woman, all must admire, make herself be regarded with feelings so nearly approaching to aversion."-We observe that Mr Jones, of our theatre, is at present giving lessons in elocution in London, and is to remain there during the College vacation.-We hear it said, that it is not likely that Mr Thorne will make one of our corps dramatique next winter. It is impossible yet to guess what sort of company

the Manager will present us with.-" Margaret of Anjou, or the Noble Merchants," a Drama in three acts, by Mr John Mackay Wilson, has been very successfully received at the Caledonian Theatre.

TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

THE Communication from Gottingen in our next.-We are afraid we shall not be able to find room for the article which describes the eccentricities of John Graham.-We certainly owe an apology to "R. F." of Kirkaldy, but the multiplicity of our Editorial duties must plead our excuse; we are unwilling to comply with the request he makes in his last letter unless it be insisted on.

Mr Brydson's communications will be attended to.-We have received this week two poetical effusions to the Ettrick Shepherd-one from "Paisley," and the other from the "Braes of Angus." Both have merit, and may appear on a future opportunity.-We shall endeavour to find room for the Lines by "R." of Aberdeen.-We are under the necessity of postponing our notice of Hugh Ainslie, with extracts from his Manuscript Poems, for a fortnight.-The Verses by "A Student of Glasgow," and by J. G. M." will not suit us.-We must request" T. B. J." of Glasgow, to allow us ten days to form an opinion on the Manuscript he has sent us.

"

In one of the many poems we receive weekly, the following stri king verses occur:

"Oh! the hands of my love are white and soft,
And I have with rapture compress'd them oft;
But when to her lips I dared to aspire,
Their pressure envelop'd my heart with fire.
"But my wayward mood delights for to roam,
While my love's thoughts are all fix'd at home;
And I fear that I could never abide

To settle at home, though she was my bride."
We think this poet must be a very naughty man.
We have received the volume from Forres, and shall notice it as
soon as possible.

Several interesting articles are in types, but unavoidably post.

poned.

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We think the first volume the best, in point of execuMemoirs of Vidocq, principal agent of the French Police tion. We also think that it, and the part of the second until 1827, and now proprietor of the paper manufacture which contains Vidocq's adventures up to the period when at St Maudé. Written by himself. Translated from he entered into the service of the police, are the most inthe French. In four volumes. Hunt and Clarke; teresting. The remainder of the Memoirs derive what Whittaker, Treacher, and Co. London. 1828-9. interest they possess chiefly from the adroitness and courage displayed by Vidocq. The earlier part of the narrative is of importance, as it throws much light on the constitution of the dishonest portion of society.

THERE are readers who mistake slang for wit, and the flippant tale of a blackguard for cleverness. The memoirs of Vidocq are full both of slang and flippancy; and had this been the whole, we should have left them to sink or swim as the fickle taste of the amateurs of the Newgate Calendar might decree. They contain, however, amid a sickening mass of abominations, much food for deep and serious reflection, and the consciousness of this alone has upheld us in the task of wading through them.

Eugene François Vidocq is extremely anxious to pass for an honest man. He lets slip no opportunity of vindicating his title to this character. Nay, he quarrelled with a literary gentleman whom he engaged to correct his manuscripts, and accuses him of having entered into a conspiracy to blast the fair fame of an innocent and calumniated man, upon no better grounds, that we can see, than the retrenchment of those wordy pieces of special-pleading, which, without wiping out one stain, encumber and retard the narrative in the last volumes of the work. Vidocq was plunged, by early and precocious passions, into the practice of libertinism. He commenced his career of public villainy by robbing his own parents. He continued, for a long period of years, to herd, in the prisons and at large, with the most depraved of his kind. He left this society only to be its destroyer,-to acquire which character he had to become a living lie. This is the brief abstract of his career, and not one of these facts does he in substance deny. He only attempts, by using the language of a convenient morality, to white-wash this sepulchral receptacle of bones and rottenness. He allows that he was criminal-but at first only by the impulse of passion, afterwards only by the necessity of circumstances. He allows that he wound himself into the hearts of his victims, by false shows of friendship; but then they were monsters of villainy, and he was fired by zeal for public justice!

Thus much we will concede in his favour: that he was brave; that he was by nature far from cruel; that his sense of pleasure was keen and overpowering; that he would not have done a dishonest action, if he could otherwise attain his ends with ease to himself; and that he had a sense of shame, and a desire to live on good terms with society. More we cannot say for him, and more we will not say against him. If he has sinned, he has likewise suffered. We cannot conceive a more dreadful state of existence, than that which he paints in the latter portion of his Memoirs. He is obliged to wear the mask continually, to be ever awake, lest he forget his assumed character. He is exposed to the infuriated assaults of the wretches whose apprehension is the employment of his life. If he appear in his real character among honest

Under the present frame of things, there necessarily exists, in every old country where the executive branch of government has obtained the due ascendency, a large body of men who live by crime, a state within the state, governed by its own laws and customs. We allude not simply to men originally of good principles, and placed in a respectable rank of society, who are impelled by their own passions, or external seduction, to the perpetration of crime; but more particularly to that unfortunate class which, born of parents who had supported themselves by dishonest means, have been regularly educated to commit crimes. To repress and keep this class within the narrowest possible limits, is the object of all police establishments. It is a sort of savage class, living within the pale of civilized society, unaffected by its advances in knowledge and moral training. Circumstances had impressed a very peculiar character upon this part of the French nation, at the period which immediately preceded the Revolution. The increase of luxury had broken the slender fortunes of many young men accustomed to selfindulgence, and not strongly disciplined in morals. The gaming-table, intrigue, and forgery, offered resources to them. The theatre, the opera, and different branches of art, were daily raising talented and unscrupulous individuals into wealth and notoriety. These two classes coalesced to flatter and prey upon their wealthy protectors. The lax morality of the times admitted them to a certain status in society. This body of genteel rogues were frequently obliged to seek the agents of their schemes among more vulgar and commonplace persons; and thus a sort of alliance, offensive and defensive, was maintained between these respectable fraternities. The government of the time, directed by favouritism, and much more anxious to exert its powers to secure its own permanency, than perform its duty to society, dealt towards them with a leniency that is scarcely credible. Our author thus speaks of it:

MM. de Sartines and Lenoir employed to constitute the "I know not what species of individuals they were whom police, but I know very well that under their administration thieves were privileged, and there were a great number of them in Paris. Monsieur the lieutenant-general took little care about checking their enterprises;-that was not his business: he was not sorry to know them, and, from time to time, when he found them to be clever, he amused himself

with them.

"In those times of happy memory, M. the lieutenantgeneral of police assumed no less vanity from the skill of his thieves, than did the late Abbé Sicard from the intelligence of his dumb pupils; great lords, ambassadors, princes,

the king himself, were present at their exercises. Now-adays we bet upon the fleetness of a horse, then people betted on the adroitness of a cut-purse; and if persons wished to amuse themselves in society, they borrowed a thief from the police, in the same way they now do a gendarme. M. de Sartines had always at his elbow some score of the most skilful, whom he kept for the private pleasures of the court; they were generally marquises, counts, knights, or at least people who had all the fine airs of the courtiers, with whom it was so much more easy to confound them, as at play a similar inclination to cheat established a certain parity be

tween them.

this kind was the company of the gallant Roman, haunting between Aix and Toulon, of which our readers may find an account at the end of the first volume of the Memoirs. The last important branch of this empire of misrule, consisted of those banditti who exercised their trade without any false pretext, and trusted for concealment to their practice of disbanding during the day, and affecting to pursue the ordinary avocations of life. All ranks might be found at times in this motley group, whom ungovernable passions and consequent ruin had reduced to despair. The most atrocious were the Chauffeurs. We have several times rubbed our eyes, and given ourselves a shake, while reading the accounts of their atrocities, impressed with the belief, that, having fallen asleep with Vidocq in our hands, our fancy was labouring under a nightmare visitation, inspired by his reminiscences. The more efficient police, however, introduced by Napoleon, soon succeeded in disbanding these incroyables: thus justifying his almost dying declaration, that his elevation to the throne of France was the first step towards an anti-revolution-to a return from disorganization to the re-establishment of that energetic power, which, whatever limits it may be thought necessary to the union was broken up, the individual miscreants who composed it yet remained in fearful number. And let us here do justice to Vidocq; their subsequent diminution was mainly owing to his exertions. Let his motives have been what they may-and we have already confess that we are suspicious of them-he has been useful in his day and generation.

"More than once, at the solicitation of a duchess, a renowned robber was released from the cells of the Bicêtre; and if, when put to the proof, his talents equalled the utmost expectation which the lady had formed of them, it was seldom that M. the lieutenant-general (whether to keep up his credit or aid his gallantry) refused freedom to so valuable a member of society. At a period in which there were pardons and lettres de cachet in every person's pocket, the gravity of a magistrate, however severe, was not opposed to the knavery of a scoundrel, if he were at all criminal and adroit. Our ancestors were indulgent, and much more easily amused than ourselves; they were also much more simple and much more candid; this is, no doubt, the reason why they thought so much of whatever was neither simple nor candid. In their eyes, a man who, for his ex-prescribe to it, is indispensable in society. But though ploits, was condemned to the wheel, was the ne plus ultra of all that was admirable; they felicitated, they exalted, they loved him, and related or listened with pleasure to the relation of his deeds of prowess. Poor Cartouche! when he was led to the Grève, (place of execution,) all the ladies of the court shed tears-it was a perfect desolation!"

Vidocq has taught us two important lessons. The first is not exactly new, but has frequently been placed by him in a new and more striking light. It is, that there exists

One might think that Vidocq gave his satirical pened too great a license-that these were the reckless words of one at war with his kind; but he is borne out by the memoirs of the period, by the autobiography of Casanova, and the documents regarding Cagliostro. The troubles during the early stages of the Revolution, and the weak-in the bosom of civilized society, beneath all the external ness of the government established after the overthrow of appearance of quiet and security, superinduced by the the monarch, threw these reprobates almost entirely loose strict exercise of the law, a large and affianced body, the from the bands of society. For a while they carried on end and aim of whose existence is crime. He has given the war against the honest portion of the community, and us much valuable information respecting the various conagainst the executive government, in some measure on a stituents of this body, the nature of their union, and their footing of equality. At times, the exceeding boldness of modes of action. The second lesson taught us regards a gang, or individual robber, might render it necessary for the best way of dealing with these people. The necessity the local police of a province to exert itself, or the internal of holding a high hand over them, and awing them at government, ashamed of its own inefficacy, might make least into comparative inaction, is admitted on all sides. an unavailing effort; but, in general, amid the march and But an attempt has been made of late to unite instrucdin of armies, hastening to all the frontiers of France, tion to punishment. We are more than doubtful of and over the ruins of the old institutions which used to the feasibility of this scheme. The criminal receives incontrol them, cheats and robbers of all descriptions walk-struction but for a limited period; he receives it with ed in triumph. A large body of military men, of every ill-will, as connected with and forming a part of his rank, from the general to the private soldier, with com- punishment; he brings no capabilities for receiving it; missions and certificates of their own fabrication, travel- his better feelings, upon which it should work, have been led from town to town, changing from army to army, ac- paralised. Even allowing that his heart should be touch cording as they liked the commandants with whom they ed, the moment he is again let loose on society, the imencountered, subsisting by the gaming-table, and, when possibility of earning an honest livelihood, the suspicion need was, other modes of industry. This was the famous with which the respectable part of the community hold "Armée de la Lune." This body, by incorporating it- aloof from him, and his return to his old companions, self with the regular army, whence desertion speedily speedily efface all compunctious visitings. Nay, even in freed any one who became suspected, continued in exist- the prison he may receive the moral infection. The best ence for a short time after Napoleon had assumed the classification must be regulated by what is known of the Imperial title, and was, even under his energetic govern- prisoners' previous conduct, and by their outward deportment, exterminated with difficulty. Another portion of ment; but these are most fallible indications. The the brigands united themselves into bands, who, under smoothest knave is frequently the deepest. We repeat, the pretext of being in arms to forward a political reac- therefore, that we believe it is impossible to unite advan tion, exercised a most extensive brigandage. These were tageously instruction and punishment. It is true that the "Chevaliers du Soleil," the "Compagnie du Jesus," these are the two grand instruments by which crime is to &c. The mere accession of the Emperor, by blasting, for be diminished; but they must be applied independently of the time at least, the hopes of the royalists, robbed these each other, and from different quarters. Punishment of their mask. Let us, however, do justice to some of paralises the activity of the evil disposed-it keeps them these bands, who, whatever the habit of living in oppo- in comparative inaction. Education, extended to all classes sition to the regular government might eventually trans- of society, goes indirectly to work, and, by stretching its form them into, were originally what they gave them-influence within the pale of this savage colony, insensibly selves out for,—men who, rather than yield to what they esteemed a parricidal usurpation, betook themselves to the woods and mountains, with nothing but Heaven and their arms to trust to for sustenance and defence. Of as they were.

diminishes their numbers. Any attempt to accelerate the operations of nature, by an arbitrary union of these two discordant elements, can, at the best, only leave matters

To these remarks we subjoin, as a specimen of Vidocq's style, his account of the gipsies-the most picturesque band of miscreants whom he introduces to our notice. In his days of vagabondage, he had engaged to travel with a person who gave himself out for an itinerant doctor. Vidocq, having observed something ambiguous in this worthy's conduct, pressed him to explain, which, with considerable reluctance, he did as follows:

ral toilet was made.

But for their prominent features, without their raven-black tresses, and that oily and tanned skin, I should scarcely have recognised my companions of land vests, with leathern sashes like those worn by the men the preceding evening. The men, elad in rich jockey Holof Poissy, and the women covered with ornaments of gold and silver, assumed the costume of Zealand peasants: even the children, whom I had seen covered with rags, were neatly clothed, and had an entirely different appearance. All soon left the house, and took different directions, that they might not reach the market-place together, where the country-people were assembling in crowds. Christian, seeing that I was preparing to follow him, told me that he should not have need of me the whole day, and that I might go wherever I pleased until evening, when we were

to meet at the house of the Duchess."

In the fair, Vidocq met an old acquaintance, who gave him further information respecting his new friends. "It was in the prison (Rasphuys) of Ghent, where I passed six months, some years since, at the end of a game at which some doctors (loaded dice) were discovered, that I made acquaintance with two men of the troop now at Malines.

These people come from the country about Moldavia. Their name changes with their change of country; they are zigenners in Germany; gipsies in England; zingavi in Italy; gitanas in Spain; and Bohemiens in France and Belgium. They thus traverse all Europe, exercising the lowest and most degrading trades. They clip dogs, tell fortunes, mend crockery, repair saucepans, play wretched music at the public-house doors, speculate in rabbit-skins, and change foreign money which they find out of the usual circulation.

"They sell specifics against the illness of cattle, and to promote the business, they dispatch trusty envoys, who, under pretences of making purchases, get into the stables, and throw drugs into the mangers, which make the cattle sick. They then present themselves, and are received with open arms, and knowing the nature of the malady, they easily remove it, and the farmer hardly knows how to be adequately grateful. This is not all; for before they quit the farm, they learn whether the husbandman has any crowns of such and such a year, or such and such a stamp, promising to give a premium for them. The inte

"My country?' said he, answering my latter question; I have none. My mother, who was hanged last year at Zemeswar, belonged to a gang of gipsies (Bohemiens,) who were traversing the frontiers of Hungary and Bannat, where I was born in a village on the Carpathian mountains. I say Bohemiens, that you may understand, for that is not our proper name; we call ourselves Romamichels, in a language which we are forbidden to teach to any person; we are also forbidden to travel alone, and that is the reason why we are generally in troops of fifteen or twenty. We have had a long run through France, curing charms and spells of cattle, but this business is pretty well destroyed at present. The countryman has grown too cunning, and we have been driven into Flanders, where they are not so cunning, and the difference of money gives us a finer opportunity for the exercise of our industry. As for me, I have been at Brussels on private business, which I have just settled, and in three days I rejoin the troop at the fair of Malines. It is at your pleasure to accompany me: you may be useful to us. But we must have no more nonsense now! "Half embarrassed as to where I should shelter my head, and half curious to see the termination of this adventure, I agreed to go with Christian, without at all understanding how I could be useful to him. The third day we reached Malines, whence he told me we should return to Brussels. Having traversed the city, we stopped in the Faubourg de Louvain, before a wretched-looking house, with blackened walls, furrowed with wide crevices, and many bundles of straw as substitutes for window-glasses. It was midnight, and I had time to make my observations by the moonlight, for more than half an hour elapsed before the door was opened by one of the most hideous old hags I ever saw in my life. We were then introduced to a long room, where thirty persons, of both sexes, were indiscriminately smoking and drinking, mingling in strange and licentious posi-rested countryman, like all persons who but seldom find tions. Underneath their blue loose frocks, ornamented with red embroidery, the men wore blue velvet waistcoats, with silver buttons, like the Andalusian muleteers; the clothing of the women was all of one bright colour: there were some ferocious countenances amongst them, but yet they were all feasting. The monotonous sound of a drum, mingled with the howling of two dogs under the table, accompanied the strange songs which I mistook for a funeral psalm. The smoke of tobacco and wood, which filled this den, scarcely allowed me to perceive in the midst of the room a woman, who, adorned with a scarlet turban, was performing a wild dance with the most wanton postures. "On our entrance there was a pause in the festivity; the men came to shake hands with Christian, and the women to embrace him, and then all eyes were turned on me, who felt much embarrassed at my present situation. I had been told a thousand strange stories of the Bohemiens, which did not increase my comfortable feelings: they might take offence at any scruples I should make, and might get rid of me before it was even known where I had gone to, since no one could trace me to such a haunt. My disquietude became sufficiently apparent to attract the attention of Christian, who thought to assure me by saying that we were at the house of the Duchess, (a title which is equivalent to that of mother amongst such comrades,) and that we were in perfect safety. My appetite decided me on taking my part at the banquet. The gin bottle was often emptied and filled, when I felt an inclination to go to bed. At the first word that I said, Christian conducted me to a neighbouring closet, where were already, on clean straw, several Bohemiens. It did not suit me to be particular; but I could not prevent myself from asking my patron why he, who had always before selected such good quarters, had made choice of so bad a sleeping place? He told me that in all towns where there was a house of Romamichels, they were constrained to lodge there, under pain of being considered as a false brother, and as such punished by a council of the tribes. Women and children all slept in this military bed; and the sleep that soon overtook them proved that it was a familiar couch.

"At break of day every body was on foot, and the gene

an opportunity of getting money, spreads his coin before them, of which they invariably contrive to pilfer a portion. What is almost incredible is, that they are seen to repeat with impunity the same trick frequently at the same house. Indeed, what is most villainous of all in their transactions, is, that they profit by these circumstances, and their knowledge of the localities of the country, to point out to burglars the detached farms in which there is money, and the means of getting at it; and it is needless to add, that they come in for their share of the spoil."

Vidocq resolved to steer clear of the connexion, and we hear no more of the gipsies till at an advanced period of his police career. Information is given of a burglary. Vidocq learns, on making enquiries, that some unknown people had not long before cured the mistress of the house, and given a premium for some old coins. These circumstances set him on the look-out for his Brussels friends, whom he succeeded in apprehending and delivering into the hands of justice.

The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, from the Restoration to the Revolution. By the Rev. Robert Wodrow, Minister of the Gospel at Eastwood; with an original Memoir of the Author, Extracts from his Correspondence, a Preliminary Dissertation, and Notes. By the Rev. Robert Burns, D. D., F. A. S. E., Minister of St George's, Paisley, Author of Historical Dissertations on the Poor of Scotland, &c. In 4 vols. 8vo. Glasgow. Blackie, Fullarton, & Co. 1829. Vols. I. and II.

WE are glad to see so much accomplished of this valuable and interesting work, and if it is not already known to most of our readers, we would the more earnestly recommend it, as one highly worthy of general encouragement. The superior execution of the present edition, and the moderate price at which it is offered to

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