Mr. Crosbie did not say much; but about five minutes after Mr. Tomkins had left the room, he rang the bell violently, and desired the waiter to tell his master to step up. When he made his re-appearance, the following brief dialogue took place.

"Shall you see your wife's brother again to-day?" said Mr. Crosbie. "I am to meet him at two o'clock, to sign some paper respecting the transfer of the shares," replied Mr. Tomkins.

"I wish you would give my compliments, and tell him I shall be happy if he will dine with me at five," rejoined Mr. Crosbie.

66

Certainly, Sir," answered Mr. Tomkins, bowing; and once more quitted the room.

"It would be ridiculous," exclaimed Mr. Crosbie, after a lengthened rumination," to turn one's back upon a fortune that may be picked up in this way; for grant that I do not want it, and that, as Pope says, I have enough, and more than enough, to provide meat, clothes, and fire, still, when I consider to how many benevolent purposes a good man can always apply riches-on how many hundreds, besides himself, they enable him to bestow the comfort of clothes, fire, and meat, I should consider it sinful to neglect an opportunity thus sent by Heaven, as it were, to make me its factor here and my own hereafter."

What a beautiful thing reason is! It never deserts us when we wish to be satisfied with ourselves; it is our friend when we have no other friend to consult; and, what is infinitely better, it is always certain to take our part against those who are against us. Let a man vehemently desire to do any thing, and what can prevent him from finding reasons for doing it, in the proportion of ten to one of those which any person may bring forward on the other side?

It was even thus with Mr. Crosbie. The finest dissertation upon contentment that was ever written the most eloquent praises of the "golden mean" that poet or philosopher ever pronounced, would not have been able to overcome his own arguments in favour of the gold mine, that had produced a hundred a-day to Mr. Tomkins. All his enthusiasm for ingots, which had been kindled at his first visit to the Great Man, and nearly extinguished by his second, was revived; and once more the Winterfield estate, the lapsed Barony of Travers, and the rounding of Thirlby Park, with the contiguous acres of certain Crown lands, flitted across his fancy.

Five o'clock came, and punctual to the hour came Mr. Tomkins' wife's brother-Mr. Doo, a tall, thin, shrewd-visaged gentleman, with an eye that seemed constantly on the alert to look into other men's minds, and a tongue which was a wary sentinel to guard all the avenues to his own. Mr. Doo soon did what he wanted, because he soon saw what Mr. Crosbie wanted. The Tlapala-hulca-pulca mine had risen seventy pounds per share since the morning. In fact, Mr. Doo had cleared two hundred pounds by Mr. Tomkins' ten shares; and Mr. Tomkins was actually "grilling," as he expressed it, down-stairs in his bar, to think that he had so eagerly snapped at the six hundred pounds.

"To be candid with you," continued Mr. Doo, "I should not have parted with them myself, but I wished to do a service to a very old friend, who has a large family, and has had some heavy losses lately, and there were only those ten shares to be had in the market at any

price, so I let him have them; for the Tlapala-hulca-pulca mine is one of the richest gold mines in all South America, and was worked, even under the wretched management of the Spaniards, at an annual profit of above half a million. You may judge, therefore, what will be its average returns when British skill, capital, enterprise, and machinery are employed, under the vigorous superintendence of the Tlapalahulca-pulca Company."

Mr. Crosbie could hardly contain himself while he listened to this description of the Tlapala-hulca-pulca mine; but his joy was considerably damped by what Mr. Doo had said—that there were no shares to be had in the market at any price; and he mentioned this circumstance to Mr. Doo in rather a desponding manner.

Why," observed Mr. Doo, "when I said there were no shares to be had at any price, I ought rather to have said the price at which they might have been had, was so far beyond my friend's means, that it was the same as no price to him. But I have no doubt, if I could go into the market to-morrow morning, and quietly offer Mr. Bite (of the firm of Bite, Shark, and Snap), who is the principal dealer in them, what he would consider a tempting price, without any fuss.or parade, he might be prevailed upon to part with some. I think, indeed, from a circumstance which came to my knowledge as I was leaving 'Change this afternoon, I could take upon myself to say that I could manage the thing, by going about it with a little tact."

The upshot of the business was, that Mr. Doo was authorized to display his tact in "managing the thing," by buying for Mr. Crosbie five-and-twenty shares at a hundred pounds premium, if he could, but to go as far as a hundred and twenty pounds if necessary.

The necessity for paying the outside price was, of course, unavoidable. In fact, Mr. Bite could hardly be induced to sell at all; but, as a great favour to Mr. Doo, he did consent to take the three thousand pounds, and before twelve o'clock the following day Mr. Crosbie was the undoubted proprietor of twenty-five shares in the Tlapala-hulcapulca mine, with a full right to one four-hundredth part (for the scheme was divided into ten thousand shares) of all the future profits of the said mine.

He was now a happy man. If, thought he, only ten shares produced Mr. Tomkins six hundred pounds in six days, what must fiveand-twenty produce in a twelvemonth, even after deducting the three thousand pounds that had been paid? The calculation was as easy as the result appeared to be certain. The first thing he did was to write to his wife, desiring her to send up his will; for he resolved to add a codicil to it at once, portioning out the shares to his children as their respective fortunes. He considered it better not to say any thing about the Tlapala-hulca-pulca mine in his letter, but to leave the disclosure for an agreeable surprise when he returned himself. His wife, however, as might be expected, was alarmed at the nature of his request, and naturally concluding, though he was silent upon the subject, there must be some serious cause for wanting his will in such a hurry, she set off for London with it herself.

When she arrived, things had strangely altered. She found Mr. Crosbie in good health, but in very bad spirits. The Tlapala-hulcapulca mine had gone to a discount; and the shares, instead of being at a hundred and seventy pounds premium (which price they actually

touched for about five minutes, a day or two after Mr. Crosbie had made his purchase), had fallen to thirty pounds discount! And, what was very odd, though the Directors received the most gratifying accounts of the flourishing prospects of the mine-though the agent at Tlapala-hulca-pulca wrote home by every vessel from Vera Cruz, that the moment the steam-engines and the workmen arrived—and as soon as they could find fuel and water-and after they had made roads to convey the ore to the sea-coast, ship loads of bullion would be sent every two or three months, yet the shares continued to dwindle away, till at last Mr. Crosbie saw the propriety of relinquishing all his interest in the Tlapala-hulca-pulca mine, by paying 7467. 14s. 103d. as his proportion of the debts incurred by the Company up to the period at which he renounced his shares.

Nor was this all; Mrs. Crosbie, when she brought him his will, brought him a letter, which had arrived at Thirlby Manor-house the same day as his own. It was from his cousin, Ralph Winwood, Esq. and ran thus:—

"MY DEAR CROSBIE;

"I am a ruined man! utterly, irretrievably ruined! But it shall never be said I suffered the friend, who generously stretched forth his hand to save me from sinking, to be injured by his kindness. No, Crosbie! the thousand pounds you lent me last year I have snatched from the wreck of my property, and I shall feel a proud consolation in restoring it to you. Come to me the moment you receive this, for besides doing an act of justice, I would fain implore from you an office of friendship when I am so distracted I cannot write more, than to repeat my earnest prayer that you would come to my house instantly. "James Crosbie, Esq. Yours ever, R. WINWOOD."

Poor Winwood! It was at an early hour of the morning he wrote this letter, and before the sun went down, the increasing agony of his feelings drove him to self-destruction. He was found by his servant at midnight, after a long and anxious search, in a retired part of his own grounds, stretched upon the earth, with a loaded pistol grasped in one hand, and another, that he had discharged through his brain, a few yards from him. His creditors seized the whole of his property for the benefit of all; and Mr. Crosbie coming in only for his dividend among the rest, received, two years afterwards, five pounds fourteen, instead of the thousand pounds which his cousin had set aside for him, besides having the bitter reflection, that had he been upon the spot, his timely presence, his friendly advice, and the farther aid he would unquestionably have proffered, might have averted the sad catastrophe.

Mr. Crosbie, however, gained something by his endeavour to make more of that which was already enough; he gained the knowledge of perceiving that enough was sufficient. He is now contented with four thousand a-year; contented to let the Hewardines be better off than the Crosbies; contented with Thirlby Park; contented that any body who likes should purchase the Winterfield estate; contented even with his right leg, though the fracture in healing has made it nearly an inch shorter than the left-and, above all (which Mrs. Crosbie very properly considers as her triumph in the business), contented to acknowledge that a man may follow his wife's advice, and find himself the better for it. MEPHOSTO.

HISTORICAL DETAILS Of the polisH REVOLUTION.*

THE first symptoms of a plan formed to excite the Poles to open rebellion against their Muscovite oppressors, occurred on the 24th of October, when printed handbills began to be circulated in Warsaw, calling upon them to vindicate their national honour, and enumerating a variety of grievances, for the correction of which it was shown that no alternative was left but a desperate effort to shake off the Russian yoke. Placards were put up on the night of the same day, against the walls of the Grand Duke Constantine's palace, announcing that by the first day of the new year, that house would be "to let." The Grand Duke was at first far from thinking that any thing serious could be the consequence of such means of excitement; but he thought it was as well to endeavour to make himself more popular among the Poles than he had good reasou to believe he had till then been. He therefore appeared in public more frequently than he had done since his last marriage, entered into familiar conversation with persons of all conditions, and infused a suavity into his tone and manners which did not naturally belong to them. At the same time he deemed a few precautions not unnecessary, in order to arrive at some conclusion as to the real state of the public mind, and adopt such measures as circumstances might call for. His Russian guard was increased; his own Russian regiment put in a state of readiness to act at a moment's notice; the number of his spies was considerably multiplied, and the ordinary price set on their services doubled. The excitement, however, was becoming very general, and the Grand Duke in a short time thought that measures of severity must be resorted to in order to strike terror among those who mostly participated in it. Thirty students of the university were arrested under suspicion of being among the chief promoters of a general conspiracy, and a military commission, composed of five general officers, was appointed to examine them, and report to the Grand Duke the result of their investigation. Far from denying the truth of the charge of seditious designs brought against them, the students admitted all facts upon which they were questioned. They even informed the president of the commission, General Roznietzki, that if the plot formed for the attainment of Polish liberty had succeeded, he (General Roznietzki) would have received the punishment awarded to traitors to their country for his blind devotion to the Russians, and his memorable treachery in passing over to them with four regiments during Napoleon's last campaign. On the General's asking the young conspirators what they intended doing with him, supposing they had made him their prisoner, they unhesitatingly declared that they would have hanged him immediately in the principal square of Warsaw. These youths were all sent to St. Petersburgh, there to abide by the decision of the Emperor.

Meanwhile, the other conspirators foresaw that strict orders would soon arrive from the Russian capital, to arrest all who were suspected of being concerned in any intended attempt against Russian authority, so that there was no other chance of escape but by hastening the signal of general revolt. On the night of the 29th (October), a party of young men, accompanied by thirteen students, all armed with pocket-pistols and daggers, proceeded to the Grand Duke's country house, at Belvedere, situated about two miles from the city, where they obtained admission by killing the two sentinels, and overpowering all who came in their way. In the hall of the chateau they were met by Generals Legendre and Fench, and the vice-president Lubowedeczki, who, on asking what brought them thither, were answered by a general attack which covered them with wounds, and laid them prostrate on the floor. Some of the conspirators, who were well acquainted with the localities of the chateau, and the Grand Duke's habits of living in it, then pushed forward, dagger in hand, to his closet, for the purpose

The following account has been transmitted to us by a gentleman actively engaged in the service of the Poles, from the commencement of the Revolution to the present

time.

of dispatching him without loss of time. The Grand Duke, however, on hearing the noise made by the scuffle in the hall, immediately locked his door, and then jumped out of a window into the garden, and ran towards a camp formed by his own regiment, half-way on the road between Belvedere and Warsaw. Here he found his soldiers defending themselves against another party of about one hundred and fifty confederates, who had attacked them so suddenly and with such vigour, as to throw the whole camp into confusion. The Grand Duke, not knowing the numbers of the assailants, and believing that a general movement among the populace had taken place in Warsaw, ordered his regiment to retire, and left the daring handful of assailants masters of the field, a couple of pieces of cannon, and a good number of arms with ammunition. The victors instantly returned to the city, where already another band of their associates had called upon the people to rise and assert their independence. Most of the men composing the party who had so boldly and successfully attacked the whole regiment of the Grand Duke Constantine, were young men of respectability, who held a rank in the Polish regiments raised by the Grand Duke, and to whom he had given lessons in military tactics, which this occasion enabled them to show how well they had profited by. On their return to the city, finding the whole populace in motion, and ready to act, they divided them into different parties, and themselves into companies, each of which led the people to the different stations of the Russian Garrison, for the purpose of so directing their movements, as to drive the enemy from every one of his holds, and compel him to evacuate the town. One of these parties proceeded to the arsenal, which was guarded chiefly by Polish soldiers, who joined the confederates without hesitation, and enabled them to become masters of this important hold without any difficulty. Several Polish generals, however, accustomed to passive obedience, and who had received favours from the Grand Duke, made some attempts to quell the riots, by appearing among the populace and advising them to desist. They were told that if they themselves did not take part with the patriots, they would be instantly put to death. Many of them did so, and have since bravely fought the battle of their country; others who refused, fell a sacrifice to the popular fury. Among the latter was General Hawke, Minister of the War department; his principal Aide-de-Camp, Colonel Mectzoffski; and Generals Brembitzki, Blumer, Tiemenski, and Petrotzki. General Nowetzki, a Polish officer highly esteemed by his countrymen, and who would probably have taken an active part with them, was killed by mistake. He was passing in a coach, and being met by a party of insurgents and his name hastily inquired after, the insurgents mistook it for that of Lowetzki, the Russian General, Commandant of Warsaw, and instantly fired a volley into the coach which deprived him of life. The conspirators having become masters of the artillery, and other important implements of war contained in the arsenal, soon cleared the whole city of Warsaw of the Russians, and re-. mained masters of the place. Particular search had been every where made after General Roznietzki, the late president of the military commission, by whom the case of the thirty students had been investigated; but he was no where to be found. He had effected his escape by disguising himself with a cloak and an old hat of his servant. After the evacuation of Warsaw by the Russians, the movement against them ceased to have the character of a mere conspiracy, and an universal rising of the inhabitants of Warsaw took place. With the exception of a few native officers who had so deeply implicated themselves in the misdeeds of the tyrant Constantine as to stand no chance of forgiveness on the part of their infuriated countrymen, and who therefore had thought it prudent to fly, not a single Pole of any condition thought of quitting Warsaw.

The prisons in Warsaw, which had been lately filled with victims of the spying system resorted to by the Grand Duke, were thrown open, and their inmates instantly prepared to assist in their country's cause. Materials were supplied in sufficient abundance from the arsenal to arm a large portion of the population of Warsaw, and on the evening of the 30th of October, forty thousand Poles were equipped and ready to take the field, independent of the regular Polish regiments which soon after formed an army of no unimposing kind. Meanwhile every house lately in the occupation of obnoxious Russians, was attacked by the