As we do not wish to see the revolution, we wish to see the only preventive to it-the party-the constitutional Opposition. The reasons which make us desire to see this body, will clearly indicate the conduct which we desire to see in it. It must take its stand upon the laws and institutions, the religion and right feelings, of the country; and be essentially a protecting body. The nation through this will be guided by it, will be enabled to fight its battles in a constitutional manner, will regain its just influence in the management of its affairs, and will be restrained from seeking a remedy for its ills in insurrection and anarchy. The Whigs-we mean by the name the party in Parliament which consists of Lord Holland, the Marquis of Lans downe, Mr Brougham, Sir F. Burdett, &c. &c., for now there are no Whigs out of Parliament-have in our judgment done more injury to the British empire, than any party ever did before them. We believe in our conscience that these men have done that, which, independently of the evils it has al ready produced, is likely to overthrow the Constitution, and dismember the empire. If this fearful consumma tion can be prevented, the destruction of this party, as an independent and influential one, must be a principal means. Such an Opposition as we have described may accomplish the destruction. By placing them between it and the Ministry, it will compel them to take a side, and they will not be other than its enemies; the country will be divided between it and the Ministry, and they will be disabled for forming a separate party out of Parliament. They will thus be forced upon and blended with the Ministry; and they will be lost in it as its subordinates and mercenaries. In the present session these Whigs have been speechless as an independent party, and they have only been heard as the servile supporters of Ministers. What has been thus commenced, may be soon completed. This, we imagine, will speedily dissolve that monstrous coalition of the borough interests, which has been such a fatal scourge to the empire. Let the Whigs and the Ministerial Tories be fully mixed up as one party, and the impossibility of providing loaves and fishes for the whole, with other causes, will soon produce dis sensions which will send much of the Tory borough interest into Opposition. If the Whig heads be lost in the Ministerial party, the Opposition will be joined by many of their followers. There are other powerful reasons with us for wishing to see a constitu tional Opposition in existence. Union in this body will be a matter of the first consequence. If its members act as they did on the Catholie question-if they divide themselves into parties, and if each disavow the sentiments of his brethren-they will accomplish nothing. Individual ef forts are powerless in Parliament. To be effective, it must be a party agreeing in principle, actuated by common feeling, and going on a well-defined line of operations. To preserve its union and strength, it must beware of pernicious alliances. What such alliances lead to, may be seen in the present state of the Ministerial party. If this Opposition take the right path and exert itself duly-if it zealously employ, both in Parliament and out of it, all the legitimate means of acquiring party strength—it may hope to have the majority in the next Parliament, or at any rate to give a new character to the policy of Government. If its members be ambitious, they have before them the most brilliant prospect which could tempt ambition; if they be patriots, they have it in their power to save their country. We speak on public grounds only. The Constitution, at present, is in a much worse state than one of suspension. The machinery is in complete disorder and derangement, while the moving power is actively at work; and if this be not rectified, it will soon make the whole a mass of ruins. The sentiments of the community-we speak not of the mere multitudemust become those of the Ministry, the Legislature, and the Aristocracy; the convictions of the overwhelming majority must become those of the rulers, or there will soon be a revolu tion which will sweep away the Constitution, and tear the empire limb from limb. In this most alarming state of things, hope is repelled from the Ministry, the Aristocracy, and almost every quarter; we know not where salvation can be found, save in such an Opposition in the House of Commons as we have described. Noctes Ambrosianae, No. XLIV. ΧΡΗ ΔΕΝ ΣΥΜΠΟΣΙΩ ΚΥΛΙΚΩΝ ΠΕΡΙΝΙΣΣΟΜΕΝΑΩΝ ΗΔΕΑ ΚΩΤΙΛΛΟΝΤΑ ΚΑΘΗΜΕΝΟΝ ΟΙΝΟΠΟΤΑΖΕΙΝ. [This is a distich by wise old Phocylides, An ancient who wrote crabbed Greek in no silly days; Meaning, ""TIS RIGHT FOR GOOD WINEBIBBING FEOPLE, NOT TO LET THE JUG PACE ROUND THE BOARD LIKE A CRIPPLE; An excellent rule of the hearty old cock 'tis And a very fit motto to put to our Noctes.] " C. N. ap. Amb. SCENE. The Blue Room.-Time, Eight o'Clock, P.M. TICKLER, NORTH, SHEPHERD, ODOHERTY, and RABBI MOSES EDREHI. NORTH. You are considerably changed, Odoherty. Your hair is decidedly greying-nay, don't trouble the curls, they are very pretty, still; and, in fact, become your present complexion better than black and all black would do. ODOHERTY. Ah! Christopher, I may say as Lord Byron did to Lady Blessington, "The bard in my bosom is dead, And my heart is as grey as my head." Non sum qualis eram, North; I have turned the post fairly, and must henceforth have the stand in view. I feel very, very old-oh! d-d old. NORTH. Boy! I feel as young at this hour as I did at eight-and-twenty. Fill your glass, you stripling. Your third wedding has improved you every way. You are fatter-your skin is clearer-you shew symptoms of incipient paunchyour dress is more grave, true, but it is richer-I admire the chain-upon the whole, you look respectable. I daresay you are playing the devil among the Dowagers. Women are tender in the evening of life. ODOHERTY. Such Eves need no tempter. But my wife is confoundedly sharp, Christopher. Hang it, you old bachelors have no notion of things as they are. NORTH. Bachelors, indeed! Why, then, you don't know that I was ever married? ODOHERTY. If you ever were, you have kept your thumb on the circumstance. Are you serious, old boy? NORTH. About three in the afternoon of a bonny summer day, June the tenth, in the year of grace seventy-and-two, I being then exactly twenty-one, was married upon as sweet a lassie as ever left an honest father's house, raining tears of fear, hope, sorrow, and joy, on the threshold-stone. Oh! Odoherty-I am never weary of living those days over again-those long bright days, full of mirth-those serene evenings-the glorious sunsets on Lochawe-the wild Highland ballad-the utter confidence-the unspeakable smiles-and thenbut no more, my dear. Fill again, and pass the Cockburn. Alas! alas! Fuit Ilium. Ochon! Ochon! SHEPHERD. RABBI MOSES FDREHI (aside.) כפיץ יבין ארעא מתון נסיב איתתא ODOHERTY. Were you in the church at this period? NORTH. Confound you, I never was in the church. I was then owner and occupier of a small, but sufficient lairdship; sat under my own thatch-killed my own mutton-brewed my own beer-sinuggled my own brandy-kissed my own wife, and feared no man. The land was good, improvable, and improving— the arable and the pasture-and I was an active hand at most things, and sported the kilt. ODOHERTY. Which, as Castlereagh told the Dames des halles, when they were sniggling to see the 42d pass, is un habit bien commode, as well as graceful. But what came of Mrs North? NORTH. She went to the devil in the winter of 1773-don't allude to the subject again. 'Tis an old saying of the Talmudists, "When an ass climbeth a ladder, look for wisdom among women." SHEPHERD. A saying worthy of a gowk. Women have far mair heart nor men; and as far as I have seen the warld, they have far mair sense, and discretion, too. As for Mrs North I know what you are going to say-Your proverb, being interpreted, signifies, that "in two bushels of dates there is one bushel of stones-and more.” SHEPHERD. Aye, aye-I perceive what he's at. Weel, after a', they're wise folk thae Hebrews-and yet I think the lang beard has its share. TICKLER. A barbarous practice-and a filthy. I am ashamed to see moustaches, and whiskers, and Charlies, as the puppies call them, coming so much into vogue among ourselves. The beard cannot be suffered to grow, either in whole or in part, without pro tanto obscuring the most expressive part of the human face divine. Rabbi Moses has a mouth, no doubt, and makes good use of it, both as to the putting in and the putting out; but hang me if any one of you can say what is the form of his lips. ODOHERTY (aside). Timothy always piqued himself on the cut of his chops. SHEPHERD. And what for dinna you shave your beard, Rabbi? MOSES EDREHI. Car c'est ecrit-'Scase me, sare-for 'tis said by Moshe baruk lishamo"Dow salt not mar de corner of dy beard." It is in de book Elek Haddebarim, dat you call Levitique. SHEPHERD. But then I hae kent mony a ane o' your folk wha shave-Hoo do they get ower the Command? MOSES EDREHI. Senor Hogg, kennst du night-I mean, do you not know many shentlemen, what are Cristens, dat drink, par exempio, and get vat you call in Inglis -Vass is de daber, the Inglis voce für ivrogne? SHEPHERD. Aiblins ye speak sic a jabber that there's nae making kirk or mill o' what ye say. MOSES EDREHI. Fou? C'est François, mon ami, et pas Anglois-das est mad. SHEPHERD. Nae doot. I hae seen mony a chield as mad as a March hare after a glass. Ye mean to say, then, the Jews wha shave their chins hae nae mair religion than sae mony drucken auld tinckler bodies, who, like ane that sall be nameless, are gi'en to gettin' themselves fou as fiddlers. Senor, si. MOSES EDREHI. SHEPHERD. It is a comical thing, after a', to think that a goat has mair soond Jewish doctrine on his chin than a rabbi after a rawzor. And yet I'll uphaud it against ye, Timothy, it's no bad custom yon of no shaving. For ye ken, Mr Moses-Is na yer Christian name Moses? MOSES EDREHI. I haven't got no Cristin name, sare; for Ich bin nicht a Cristin-God a' might keep us! SHEPHERD. Lord sauf us, I forgot! But yer first name's Moses? Yaw, mynheer. MOSES EDREHI. SHEPHERD. Ye see, I hae mony and mony a time thocht that he wha first introduced shaving amang us was ane of the greatest foes o' the human race. Just think, man, o' the awfu' wark it's on a cauld Saubath morning, when the week's bristles are as sturdy as the teeth of a horse kame, and the burn watter winna boil, and the kirk-bell's ringing, and the wife a' riggit out, and the gig at the door, and the rawzor haggit like a saw-Trumbull o' Selkirk makes good rawzors, but the weans are unco fond of playing wi' mine, puir things-Od keep us! it gars me grew but to think o' the first rasp-and after a' the sark-neck's blacken'd wi' your bluid, and your face is a bonny sicht to put before a congregation, battered ower wi' brown paper, or tufts o' beaver aff yer hat-Oh! I'm clean for the lang beard. TICKLER. Well, you have a good opportunity now; for I understand many of the leading Protestants have resolved never to shave until the late bill be repealed. You are aware that thousands of the Cavaliers followed the same reverend fashion on the murder of the King, and never smoothed their chins till the day of the Restoration. Indeed, not a few of our own old Jacobites took to the flowing mane again, upon the sinful expulsion of King James II. I myself remember several patriarchal figures in the Highlands. SHEPHERD. If I were sure that Lord Eldon, and Mr Sadler, and Lord Chandos, would keep me in countenance, I would swear a muckle aith this very minute, it I would, and wag a bonny beard in Yarrow kirk or the winter Sacrament. But I'm jalousin you're at your jokes, Mr Tickler. Wull ye say as sure's death ? ODOHERTY. I can answer for him this time. I with these eyes saw several men of the highest eminence sporting beards Aaronic in Bond Street only a week ago. There was, for example, Lord Harborough. SHEPHERD. Blessings on him! Weel, I'm really glad, just glad, to hear there's sae muc kle o' sincere principle left in the land. Sanders Trumbull, ye've seen the last of my aughteen pennies! But, pity me, surely the hair has been gleg at the growing. ODOHERTY. Oh! they left off shaving the moment the King's speech came out ; and tears, you know, are very nutritive to the whisker principle. MOSES EDREHI. Carrajo! I glaube dare has bin mehr wein d'Oporto dan watters off de Tribulation. ODOHERTY. Ay, Mosey (which, by the way, is a mighty neat name for a bull), sorrow is dry. I was obliged to drink double tides to keep myself in any thing like common temper at the sight of so much vermin as infested us on all sides.Rat-rat-rat-nothing but rat. SHEPHERD. After a', the most awfu' ratton is the Deuk. I'll never say we were yearsbairns agen. אמר נבל MOSES EDREHI. NORTH. Yes, Rabbi; it is a fool who hath spoken. The Duke is no rat. If I could have opposed the carrying of the Roman Catholic bill by baring my bosom to the blow, I would have done it; but I cannot impute low motives to the Duke of Wellington. He-alter his opinions for the ordinary and dirty temptations which sway the Dawsons and Peels, the Bathursts and the Westmorelands, and the other very small and miserable deer who are so well designated by the name of vermin, base and not to be trusted-He, the hero of all the fields of Spain, the hero of Waterloo, the topmost spirit of the world—he RAT! James, James, I should have blushed to hear the word from you, if in those old vellum cheeks there was blood enough for a blush. But, Christopher TICKLER. NORTH. Your pardon, dearly beloved friend-I wish the Duke had not voted and legislated as he has done; but he has a right to give his opinion on a great state question, and to alter his opinion, Mr Tickler. He has matter of high, perhaps of culpable ambition, to sway him-for aught I know the Standard may be right there-but never of low. He may be capable of being an USURPER -never of being a RAT. Who ever confounded Fouché with Napoleon? What infant will ever mix up the motives of a Peel with those of Wellington? Fill your glass, Mr Edréhi. I do not think you have any Glenlivet in Jerusalem ? Some idiots have been babbling about Scott's ratting. I know that Scott, ten years ago, said the Irish Papists should get what they clamoured for. Nor is it wonderful that a man whose imagination lives, if I may say so, among the feelings of those who call themselves the oppressed-among the Saxons, the Cavaliers, the Gael, the Jacobites, &c. &c., should take a poetical interest in the case of the Irish Papists. It is his natural bias as a novelist. But whether it was, or was not, I shall always contend that Scott is in that class of minds that may-nay must choose for themselves in the politics of this world; in fact, he is one of us, one of the great men of the earth—who, though not exempted from the ordinary feelings of humanity, may perhaps upon questions great or small, err as grossly as the most ignorant, nay often more grossly. SHEPHERD. Ay, true's the auld sayin'-The greatest clerks are no the wisest folk. NORTH. I say, these men-the Duke of Wellington and Sir Walter Scott, for instance, are not to be judged by rules which are infallible upon Peel or Pattmore, or Bob Wilson, or Bob Waithman-or any of the xabaguarous offscourings of politics or pus. TICKLER. The Times people published a passage of some Life of old Cumberland, some time since, as a proof that Sir Walter had long entertained the opinions which |