our friend Tobanus Eleazar Von Broech was awakened out of a profound sleep by an unusual noise in the street immediately under his windows. He rose, and on looking out, what was his consternation to behold that the house adjoining that of Van Vleiten was in flames, and that the fire was already extending to the mansion of the latter!

"Sacred powers!" exclaimed Tobanus, "should he be burned to ashes in his bed, what then will become of the future mummy of Leyden?" The thought was overwhelming, and hardly taking time to put on his green spectacles, and wrap a loose dressing-gown round his portly person, he hastened down to the street. Here he found every thing in the greatest confusion; but he had only one object in view, and that he determined to effect at whatever personal risk. Forcing his way through the crowd, he entered the house of Van Vleiten, the door of which he found wide open. A number of domestics and others were collected in the hall, but such was the panic which the fire had created, that not one of them would venture up stairs to ascertain the fate of their unfortunate master. Tobanus eagerly inquired the way to his bed-room, and it was pointed out to him. The house was full of smoke, but he rushed on, and having ascended to the bedroom floor, he speedily found the apartment he was in search of. He flew to the bed, and there, as well as the smoke would permit, he discovered the apparently lifeless body of Van Vleiten, stretched out in listless unconsciousness. "Suffocated by the great ibis!" cried Tobanus. "In five minutes more he might have been reduced to a heap of cinders, but now he is the property of the United Netherlands, and must be carried off by me for the sake of this and future ages."

So saying, he wrapped the body of the most substantial merchant of Rotterdam in a blanket, and lifting it on his shoulders, proceeded down stairs. The fire having by this time gained ground, every body had left the house, and in the street greater confusion prevailed than ever, so that no notice whatever was taken of Tobanus when he came out with his flannel burden, and quietly slipped across the street to his own lodgings. Here, however, no time was to be lost. Having clothed his person somewhat more decorously than his haste had hitherto permitted, he carried out his invaluable prize by a back door in the grey dawn of morning, and hastening to the nearest canal basin, he fortunately found a track-boat which was to start for Leyden at five o'clock. He retreated to a quiet corner of the cabin, and laying down his burden beside him, he never moved from his seat till he felt the boat once more rub against the quay of his beloved Leyden.

The professors and students of that famous university were soon made aware of Von Broech's return, and also of the success which had attended his expedition. They received from him in the course of the day, a special invitation to meet him that very evening in the theatrum anatomicum, when he undertook, so confident was he of success, to go through the process of compounding his mummy before the eyes of them all. Expectation was on tiptoe. Nothing was talked of but Tobanus Eleazar Von Broech, and the wonderful revival of ancient science which was to be achieved by him.

By seven o'clock, P. M., the theatrum anatomicum began to fill. Students and professors, all with grave and earnest faces, walked in and took their respective places. Here and there several small groups might be seen conversing seriously in an undervoice. On the demonstrator's table lay two bodies, one of which had been already partially dissected and lectured upon; the other was entirely wrapped up and concealed in a blanket. Gums, and ointments, and spices, and cerements, and various surgical instruments of curious shape were arranged in due order beside it. At length the private door was thrown open, and Tobanus himself entered the hall. He was greeted with a simultaneous burst of applause, which he received with a quiet dignity, implying a subdued consciousness that it was not altogether undeserved. To the applause succeeded silence the most profound, and Tobanus, without as yet uncovering the body, spoke somewhat to the following effect :

"Gentlemen, you see before you the consummation of the labours of many years. Within the folds of this blanket lies the being destined to supply the only desideratum now existing in our incomparable Museum, and to pass down in the mummy state to all ages, another proof of the triumphs of Dutch science, and of the matchless superiority of this university over all others. I need not recount to you, gentlemen, the difficulties and dangers I experienced before I succeeded in securing this invaluable body; but I may briefly mention that they were enough to have appalled the stoutest heart, and that nothing but my invincible desire to advance the permanent glory of the United Netherlands, could have enabled me to overcome them."

The applause was here renewed, and Tobanus again bowed with dignity.

"I shall now, gentlemen," he continued, "proceed to expose to your expectant gaze this body, so un-) -Dutchlike in its proportions, but so admirably fitted, by the tenuity and sun-driedness of all its limbs, for the purposes to which it is destined. I will venture to say that no one now present has ever beheld a corpse so predisposed to mummyism, if I may use the expression, as that which I shall forthwith disembowel in your presence."

As he thus spoke, Tobanus carefully removed the blanket, and the long, lank, cinnamon-stalk-like figure of Van Vleiten, surmounted by a white night-cap, which he had worn in bed, and which Van Broech had omitted to remove, was fully submitted to the view of the professors and students of the Leyden University. Every one leant forward in his seat, and fixed his eyes upon it, as if he would have devoured it at a gaze. For a minute or so, not a whisper was to be heard, and Tobanus had already lifted one of his surgical instruments, and was about to commence operations, when a young man suddenly threw himself over the benches, and rushing up to the table caught hold of the Doctor's arm, exclaiming vehemently

"Heaven and earth! what is it you are about to do? By the sword of Marlborough! that is Tobias Van Vleiten, the richest merchant in Rotterdam, and my father-in-law that was to be!"

"Young man," answered Van Broech, with that dignity of de

meanour he had preserved throughout, and at the same time disengaging himself from the grasp of Wilhelm, "who this person was during his life-time, or what name may have belonged to him, it is unnecessary now to inquire; the soul has already left its mansion, and the empty body is about to pass into a new state of existence, and to receive the far nobler name of Amenophis, or Tethmosis, or Cheops,

or

"A truce with your unintelligible jargon!" interrupted young Van Daalen, "the worthy Van Vleiten must have died suddenly, and you must have stolen his body, for by no other means could you possibly have become possessed of it. It is ill-gotten property, and I demand its restitution."

"A murmur of dissatisfaction here rose throughout the theatrum anatomicum. Wilhelm was a stranger to all the students, except the one with whom he had that evening accidentally visited the hall, and they were exasperated at the charges he made against the character of their professor, in which they conceived the whole University to be implicated. "Order!" "Silence!" "Shame!" "Turn him out!" resounded from all quarters.

"I shall not budge from this spot," said Wilhelm, "until the body of my deceased and respected friend be delivered up to me."

"Gentlemen," cried Tobanus, a good deal agitated, "the cause of science is at stake; I call upon you for your assistance."

Instantly all was confusion; at least a dozen of the alumni rushed up to Van Daalen, and were in the very act of laying hands upon him, when, all at once, a long, low, deep groan echoed through the room. Every one stood stock still, and silence was restored in an instant. The groan was renewed! it came from the dead body of Van Vleiten! All eyes were bent upon it. The corpse slowly rose, and sat up on the table on which it had been stretched. A pair of dull glassy eyes opened, and fixing a wild vacant stare, first upon the half-dissected body which lay beside it, and then on a skeleton which hung dangling by a cord from the roof, fell back again on the table with another groan.

"Sacred powers!" exclaimed Van Daalen," he is not dead! Back! back! he may yet survive, if the proper restoratives be applied. I beseech you let us carry him to the open air; my aunt's house is not far off; he must be removed thither. You commit murder if you hesitate." Matters were now much changed, and though Tobanus himself stood motionless, the very picture of despair, several of the students did not hesitate to give their aid to Wilhelm, who wrapped the blanket once more carefully round Mynheer Van Vleiten, and had him carried off immediately to his aunt's house. Here the opulent merchant was put to bed, and the best medical assistance instantly obtained. Animation was soon restored, and the physician declared that the patient had been suffering merely under a severe lethargic fit. Intelligence of the fire at Van Vleiten's house, which had fortunately been extinguished before much damage was done, and the mysterious disappearance of the owner of the mansion, was conveyed to Leyden that very night. The fears of the affectionate Wilhelmina regarding her father's safety, were

allayed as speedily as possible, and she immediately set out for Leyden, to assist in his sick chamber.

It was some time before Van Vleiten fairly came to himself, or recovered from the fright he had sustained. For several days he could not be persuaded that the process of embalming had not actually taken place, and that he was not at least as much of a mummy as a living being. He declared that he could never get the better of the dreadful sensations he had experienced when he first opened his eyes in the theatrum anatomicum, and beheld the frightful objects that presented themselves to his bewildered gaze. By constant care and excellent nursing, however, he at length manifested symptoms of confirmed convalescence; and he was no sooner reinstated in his own house than he intimated to the delighted Van Daalens, that as he conceived he owed his life to the intrepid interference of Wilhelm, he did not think he could do less than bestow upon him the hand of Wilhelmina.

It was a merry day in Rotterdam when the respective heirs of the two richest merchants it contained, were united in the holy bands of matrimony. From that day Van Vleiten, to his own astonishment, grew fatter and fatter, till at length he became only a little less corpulent than any of his brother burgomasters; while, on the contrary, the unfortunate Tobanus Eleazar Von Broech grew rapidly leaner and leaner; and though he continued to haunt for some years longer the theatrum anatomicum, he dwindled at length into such a shadow, that, had there been another professor at Leyden, equally versed in the art of embalming, Tobanus himself might have been compounded into a mummy, for the great cause of science, and the glory of the United Netherlands.

ON THE GENIUS AND POETRY OF THE NOSE.

No man I apprehend will be tempted to deny that the nose is a most interesting feature; it is certainly a prominent one, and, as some very sapient philosophers maintain, strongly indicative of moral, intellectual or physical capabilities. An essay, therefore, on noses, would make a valuable addition to the literature of the day. If it be true, as it is generally admitted, that the features serve in a great measure to indicate individual character, most assuredly the nose must exercise considerable influence in guiding the observer to the formation of a correct judgment. The nasal organ is certainly a composed, sober, and serious feature, although, by a strange fatality, it is continually exciting the risible propensities of the community. There is indeed an anomaly in the nose, that cannot be reconciled to the every-day rules of ratiocination. You drink with the mouth, and yet the nose bears the stigma attached to excessive potations. This is highly unjust, but, like most other things equally inequitable, bids fair to remain uncorrected to the termination of time. fruitful fancy of Mother Nature has been taxed to produce an inexhaustible, a miraculous variety, I may say, in the construction of noses. We have the Roman,

The

Grecian, aquiline, flat, pug, snub, &c., besides a multitude of others, which bear no precise name, but which present a wonderful diversity in form and character. Grecian and Roman noses have taken possession of the liberal arts; they exclusively monopolize painting and sculpture; they certainly preside over beauty. From the flat-nose, little is to be expected; a pug-nose, or a snub, is easily studied, and satisfactorily defined; coquetry and coxcombry, irritability and sarcasm, with now and then a quantum of ill-nature, are most assuredly the attributes of such noses. Xantippe and all the celebrated scolds of ancient and modern times, must have possessed determined snubs. But how am I to define the true nose of genius? The nose of learning and poetry, of wit and humour, is like genius itself, wayward and unfettered by common rules, despising form, and original in every respect. It is in fact sui generis. Perhaps one full, rubicund, strongly developed, extensive and sonorous, is the character which genius more generally affects, in the selection of a nose. Indeed whenever I perceive an olfactory feature of this creditable appearance, I immediately set my wits to work, in order to discover the merits and peculiarities of the great man who possesses the enviable article, as I unhesitatingly conclude the owner to be some extraordinary personage.

The first pantomine I saw at Covent Garden Theatre, filled me with wonder and delight. I longed to become acquainted with the artist. The very next day I was favoured with an introduction to him; I gazed with admiration on his nose; my astonishment at the excellence of the pantomine ceased, and my belief regarding the genius of that feature was materially strengthened. Covent Garden has always been celebrated for, and unrivalled in the merit of its patomimic performances,—and why? Surely there are capital painters, and machinists, clowns, scene-shifters, candle-snuffers, and writers at other theatres? Certainly, but then no other theatre in the metropolis can boast the command of a nose like Mr. Farley's. It is undoubtedly by the nose that you can scent out the merits of an individual. What great man was ever known to fail in the possession of a peculiar nose? Let us go back to ancient times, and what do we find in the ornaments of those ages? Why a curious collection of singular and characteristic noses: Esop, Socrates, Cicero, Ovid, cum multis aliis suddenly come before the mind's eye, displaying amazing genius in the organ of scent. Indeed so vividly impressed are their noses on my imagination, that whenever I pass by a masquerade warehouse, I cannot help fancying they appear in striking array at the window, to excite my respect and veneration. It is unquestionably a compliment paid to those worthies, and a tribute granted to their genius, thus to perpetuate the remembrance of their most meritorious

noses.

In modern times, what benefits owe we not to the nasal apparatus! It is indeed to the nose, that we are indebted for "the School for Scandal," "Candide," and numerous other immortal productions. Among the multifarious deserts for which Sheridan was conspicuous, his nose will decidedly claim a distinguished place; the same may be said of **, **, **, and many others, whose names it would be superfluous to recount. Considering the importance and influence of the feature, it is not surprising that it should have been made the subject of much debate and speculation. A good deal has been written on this very interesting topic, on both sides of the question: praise and abuse have alternately fallen liberally on the nose, and it would be a curious task, no less than a real service to mankind, to collect the various pieces in prose and verse, that have been composed on the subject. The witty Spanish poet, Quevedo, was never perhaps more felicitous than in the first line of his sonnet on this theme: