that truth of character, and that natural purity and elegance of language, which show that he possessed, in a superior degree, the essential prerequisites of an author. He has been accused of willfully misrepresenting the religion of his country, and extending his incredulity even to atheism. But in all his writings he seems to be constantly persuaded of the existence of a Deity, and his work entitled "Decide we must; or the principle of action," contains some of the most decisive proofs of the existence of a God. With the modern Unitarians, he conscientiously believed that human happiness depended upon the belief of one God, and the practice of moral virtue; and that all religious faith beyond this, ought to be discarded. His admiration of a Supreme Universal Being, did not admit of his entangling himself within the meshes of polemical divinity. He saw that in the stupendous arrangement of the Universe, there was something more than a mere fortuitous concurrence of atoms, and he was satisfied that nothing beyond this could be fathomed by the line of human intellect.

However differently his character may be estimated at the present day, in view of the circumstances we have enumerated, with their bearing upon the more prominent acts of his life, we are confident that the verdict of posterity will be fully in accordance with that which is to be found in the Student of Bulwer: "Had he been born in England, I doubt if Voltaire had ever attacked Christianity-had he been born two centuries before, I doubt whether his spirit of research, and his daring courage, would not have made him the reformer of the Church, and not its antagonist. It may be the difference of time and place, that makes all the difference between a Luther and a Voltaire."

It has been customary to attribute all the horrors of the French Revolution, as well as the subsequent political convulsions which have made Europe quiver to its extremities, to the writings of Voltaire. But there is not a syllable to be found in any of his works, that can, in the remotest sense, be said to countenance the atrocities brought about by that fearful crisis. It was the infuriated, broken-loose Parisian mob, exasperated solely by the recollection of their own wrongs, that gave the revengeful blow to the ecclesiastical and regal orders in France. We talk, indeed, of the enmity of Voltaire to religion! But what was that in France which was called religion, and what had it been for ten centuries previous? Let the appalling records of history, the recollection of which even now harrows the soul of "shuddering humanity," give the reply.

THE WHIMWHAMS OF A BOOKWORM IN A RUSTY COAT.

Not long since, as I sat in my easy-chair, devouring with the avidity of a cormorant that epicurean luxury of romance readers, "the last new novel," I was startled by the rare and unusual sound of a rap at the door of my humble apartment. The knock was repeated thrice in quick succession, and was aristocratically loud. "What great man can it be," said I to myself, proceeding to the door with eager haste, "who seeks admittance into the garret of an obscure student?"

Raising the latch, I stepped back and put myself in a most graceful attitude, in order to give a suitable reception to the distinguished visitor, when, lo, who should enter, but a servant in livery, and as black as the ace of spades. He honored my room and then my person with a broad and most impudent stare-a look that expressed surprise, mingled with contempt, and which said as plainly as a look could say, "appearances here show that this fellow is a mere nobody." Having scrutinized my old coat, and examined, with a curious eye, each yawning rent in it, he again glanced at certain movables, whose rickety condition seemed to bespeak that they were designed neither for use nor ornament. He very naturally came to the conclusion, from the apparent poverty of my circumstances, that I could present no valid claims to the world's high regard, and consequently I had no legitimate right to expect that he should conduct himself towards me with the abject servility with which he usually approached those to whom fortune had been less niggard of her gifts. I was not a little amused by his ludicrous assumption of important airs; yet I was somewhat provoked, and I demanded his business with me, in no very musical tone of voice.

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I tink," he replied, gazing round the apartment, while a broad grin lighted up his ebony face, rendering its darkness more glaringly visible, "I tink I hab mistaken dis hole ob yours for anoder room: I wish to find Mr. D."

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Upon my informing him that such was my name, he took another and rapid survey of my proportions, and handed me a note, while his manner indicated that he strongly suspected me of imposing on his innocent credulity by a deliberate falsehood. The written message proved to be an invitation to an evening party to be given by a fashionable citizen on the following Thursday. I immediately wrote an answer, in which I signified my acceptance of the proffered honor. The servant de

parted, and I followed him to the head of the stairs for the benevolent purpose of aiding his descent by a lusty application of my right foot to that part of his body which, for the want of a more appropriate name, is sometimes called the seat of honor. Suspecting my charitable intention, and not wishing to submit me to any unnecessary trouble purely on his account, he suddenly sprang forward beyond my reach. At one leap he had cleared six steps of the staircase, when, from some accidental cause he fell, and tumbling heels over head, rolled down with accelerated speed, until the natural force of gravitation brought his body with some degree of violence to the floor beneath. He lay for a moment groaning with anguish, and then arose and walked off, crying out, " de rascally white puppy! to treat a gemman ob color in dis way." It did not occur to me at the time I despatched my answer, that my old thread-bare coat, in the last stage of decrepitude, was the only one I possessed; and the difficulty it presented was of no trifling moment. In this dilemma three or four of my friends came forward, and each generously offered to loan me his coat for the night in question. I was thus happily relieved from my embarrassment. Thursday evening arrived: I was almost delirious with a strange but delicious feeling at the thought of the extraordinary sensation my presence would create, in the brilliant circle of beauty and fashion in which I was to display the rare accomplishments of my mind and person. The clock struck the hour of eight. With trembling eagerness I seized the four coats which my kind friends had left in my room, and one by one tried them on. But what tongue can describe my disappointment; not one of them would answer. The two first were so small, that in my attempts to squeeze into them I rent each in twain. The third was large enough for my bulky grandfather. The fourth, a chimney sweep would have disdained to touch with his scraper ; it was ten-fold more rusty than my own. Thus was the cup of my anticipated triumphs dashed to the ground. For three long days I had been sedulously employed in committing to memory some of the choicest passages in Byron and Moore, to pour into the delighted ears of the fair creatures by whom I was to be surrounded. The ambition had seized me to outshine every man, woman, and child, and I had no manner of doubt that I should be regarded as the "bright, particular star" in the galaxy of wit and fashion that evening. But alas! who could have foreseen the bitter miscarriage of all my hopes and expectations. The thought excited me to phrensy. I stormedI raved-I was mad-stark mad. I seized the four rejected

A

garments, and with a maniac's fury tore them into shreds. favorite cat, in the terror of the moment, caused by my wild and frantic actions, fled to the top of my bureau in a corner of the room. There she sat watching me, with eyes glowing like coals of fire, and which I thought gleamed with human intelligence. I had a confused notion that my brains were turned upside down; and it was more than my nature could endure that there should be a living witness to the effects of my despair. My four footed friend was determined, in defiance of the angry looks I darted at her, to keep a watchful eye upon me, and see the end of my insane pranks. I gnashed my teeth with vexation. A horrible thought suddenly took possession of my mind I resolved to embrue my hands in the blood of my The ties which had hitherto bound us together as friends, she had rudely severed. Nothing short of her death could appease my resentment.

cat.

"None are for me,

That look into me with considerate eyes,"

I shouted, in the language and very spirit of the blood-thirsty Richard, as I bounded forward to grasp the fear-stricken animal. Perceiving my intention, she leaped from the bureau before I had time to reach the spot. I was now in hot pursuit, screaming with rage. But to get her in my clutches was no easy matter. She flew round the room with the speed of lightning, and baffled every attempt I made to obtain possession of her. At last, in a fit of desperation, she made a rush at the window, shivering a pane of glass into atoms, and was making her exit, when I caught her by her hind legs, and held her fast. vile, wretched imp of darkness," I roared, while every fibre of my body quivered with ungovernable fury; "you foul, detestable, abominable blot upon the face of creation, your hateful and poisonous existence shall no longer be a blight-a living curse upon the habitation of man. Prepare to die."

"You

So saying, I suspended her by the tail, and held it with a firm grasp, while I drew back my arm to gather sufficient force to dash out her brains against the wall. At this critical moment, a sense of my supreme folly suddenly burst upon my mind, and puss dropped unharmed from my hand. I sank exhausted into a seat. I rested my throbbing and aching forehead on the edge of my little table. I never knew till that moment the value of a fashionable dress coat;" I would have given a thousand worlds for the use of one for that evening. I brooded long over my blighted hopes, and thought, with a saddened feeling,

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upon the inconveniences and miseries resulting from a worn-out garment, and by imperceptible degrees slid into a train of ideas on coats and dress generally. I raised my head, and almost unconsciously began to commit my reflections to paper. I continued to write, and soon forgot the party, my disappointment, and even myself. Hour after hour had glided away, when a single stroke of a neighboring clock proclaimed, with startling effect, that it had passed the "witching time" of midnight. was admonished that it was time to pause; and I retired to The following thoughts, comprising incidents and scenes from real life, form the result of that night's labors. They were not written with the remotest view to publication; but having shown the manuscript to my estimable friend, Philemon Castleton, one of the most elegantly dressed gentlemen of the day, he was religiously of the opinion that it contained sentiments worthy to be transmitted to future generations, and counseled me by all means to print it. With becoming diffidence, therefore, I submit it without further preface to the impartial judgment of the readers of the Yale Literary Magazine.

rest.

"Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy."

Hamlet.

When a well dressed man goes forth into the world, he carries upon his back the credentials that entitle him to respectability. His neat and handsome coat, made after the latest fashion, is a sufficient letter of introduction to secure the civility due to a gentleman. This necessary article of dress, while it yet retains some portion of the freshness and beauty that it exhibited when it came from the plastic hand of the skillful and tasty "artist," is the easy passport to the confidence and respect of the multitude; it is the current coin that passes among them for character and moral worth; it betokens the claim of the possessor to a certain degree of consideration, and the claim is generally admitted without dispute or inquiry. Moralists and divines may declaim against the vanity of dress, yet a superfine broad-cloth coat commands, and has commanded from "the time to which the memory of man extendeth not," more respect from the world than a seedy garment, or one that is termed in common parlance, "shabby genteel," which at the most is considered a very equivocal index of the flourishing state of the owner's exchequer. Behold the stranger, habited in a rusty coat, with the arms peeping out at the elbows, and a greasy hat on, which time and wear have left melancholy proofs of their ravages. He approaches a throng of his fellow beings, con