vexed with the attempt to cheat me, and the man handing me back the notes, and the office being crowded, caused me to forget to ask who was the little charmer. I was already in the street, and was proceeding to the house of a merchant, with whom I had an appointment, when I recollected that I had not asked from whence Mynheer Veerhuis's music proceeded. I was returning to the money changers, when taking out my watch, to my surprise, I found the hour I had named for the appointment was at hand." Life let us cherish," and "Saw ye my father?" were forgotten, and in less than a week, I was in Altona. In the year 1825, I was returning from a northern tour, when after traversing North Holland, I was again at Amsterdam-and again at my old friends at the "Wapen van Amsterdam." Having more time on my hands than I had when I last visited the city, I was determined to satisfy myself as to the music of Mynheer Veerhuis so, after having well overcome the fatigue of my journey, I repaired to the vechslers, as I had heretofore. There was the same board over the door, and on entering the counting-house, there was every thing just as it was in 1813; there was a person counting the apparently self-same bags of coins at the table, with the perpetual silver coffee-pot alongside him; and there was the same man changing the money at the counter-this was my first impression: but on looking stedfastly at the cashier, I discovered that he was not my old acquaintance, and then, I looked at the little old fellow, wrapped up in flannel, as I thought; but to my astonishment, I found my old friend that cheated me out of the stiver and a half, had taken the old man's place. I had scarcely recognized him as such, before he came towards me, and though he was a jew, and had cheated me out of a stiver and a half, I felt as though I should have liked the man, merely for old acquaintance sake. After having politely asked me what he could do to serve me, he observed that we had been acquainted many years; this led him to remark that his father had been dead eighteen months, and that he, Jan Veerhuis, was then master of the establishment, and that having become possessed of a large property, he meant shortly to retire from business altogether. Whilst thus conversing, the same little voice which I had twice before heard, again commenced, but the air this time was not-"Life let us cherish," neither-" Saw ye my father," but it was our national anthem, which no Englishman can hear in England, much more, unfriended in a foreign country, without feeling enshrouded with a glow of loyalty; and as the little warbling voice continued, a pause in the conversation ensued. Unknowingly, I mechanically took my travelling cap from my head, and foolish as some may think me, would willingly have chimed chorus with the little warbler, to the last stanza, but no sooner was my rough voice echoing in the room, than the shrill notes ceased, and I alone was left to finish "God save the King." A silence of some moments followed, Mynheer Veerhuis stared at me, and as I was placing my cap on my head, I emphatically ex claimed-"For Heaven's sake, Mynheer, do explain to me what charm that is I have just heard; eleven years since, when I first came to Amsterdam, I heard it, and it amazed me-with the euriosity of youth, it really vexed me, because I could not discover from whence the sound proceeded, and, now that my boyish days are over, I feel extremely inquisitive." "I see your astonishment," said the money changer," and will soon satisfy your curiosity;" thus speaking, he took his chair, and making it serve as a step to place him standing on the counter, taking something from the ceiling in the inner side of the iron grating, which I could not see from where I stood, he descended, and to my astonishment placed before me a small dingy little bird-cage, not eight inches square, in which was roosting a blind bull-finch : the mystery was explained! "This little bird," said Mynheer Veerhuis, was given to my father by the Dutch smuggler Donderkin; he received it from an English accomplice of the name of Wormsley, but as you seem interested, and as it is near Change time," if you will accompany me to the Societite, I will tell you some interesting particulars relative to the little bird. I have often been pleased with the music of the songster, but till now, never knew the popular airs he delighted to warble, were those of your country. 66 66 Reader, if thou likest the introduction to the mysterious bullfinch, thou perhaps shalt have its history in some future number of this work. Till then, adieu ! ALBUM TRIFLES FOR FRANCESCA. IV. Oh! pass but lightly o'er the sod, Beneath the clustering violets bloom, Perchance his mother's memory dwells, Some gentle being's trust, Alas! that earthly hopes and loves, Are the songs hushed, in which our voices blended, And do they bring the joyance that attended, Ah! o'er thy loved guitar another leaneth, And his lips breathe those melodies with thine, Whilst every gentle pause that interveneth, Flings o'er his heart the smiles, that erst were mine: Must the Lethean wave my mem❜ry cover, Well, be it so, if it can give thy bosom, The halcyon calm that I would wish for thee, Be thine the wreaths of happiness-be mine *K* THE SHIP. The ship-the ship-the gallant ship! And to her sails, the fresh'ning gales We are borne away on the dancing spray, The restless waves are bright and fair, As sorrow's brow, a smile will wear, As if the wealth we seek, possess'd But 'tis indeed with heavy hearts, For there were ties, we fondly hoped Would last for evermore. Still, still, upon the rolling sea, The festal cup we'll sip, And toast the home, from which we roam, In the ship-the gallant ship! British Channel, August 1832. ON AFFECTATION. ANGLO-TASMANICUS. My gentle Reader, was it Sir Richard Steele? or equally humorous Smollett? or immortal Addison ?—or, if neither the one nor the other of them, pray who was it, by whom it has been truly said that "no man ever made himself ridiculous by appearing in his real character?" No matter! perhaps your memory, like mine, is less retentive than it was in our gone-by youthfulness; but why do I presume to say our! perhaps you are yet encircled by all the brightly beaming joys of adolescence;-joys which when time shall have removed them from you, (as he has from me,) never, never can return! By the bye, this reminds me of a modern poet's beautiful reflection "Another year fresh fruits and flowers will bring, but all this is digressive. For, it matters not (as already observed) whether we remember or forget an author's name, provided that we hive the instructive Hybla-like treasure of his wisdom; and advance no other claim to it, than that which is furnished by admiring. adoption. To proceed then unceremoniously to my subject, I look upon affectation as on a vice, or, rather, a combination of vice and folly, peculiar to that portion of human beings who may be classed as civilized; for, in vain may it be sought for amongst absolutesavages! I consider it as the offspring of misdirected ambition, contemptible vanity, and cowardly meanness; for, whilst it seeks unmerited distinction, it seeks it with falsehood; which is both paltry and pusillanimous. It is unquestionably the parent of innumerable evils, both to society at large, and to the individual by whom it is personated. None who identify themselves with it can be respectable-and none who extenuate it can deserve to be excused. It bears, in fact, on its very feature, a brand of ignominy, and from without proclaims, WITHIN IS FOLLY! The most affected person, of either sex, whom you ever saw, was decidedly also the most addlepated and worthless one: for a well-regulated mind must ever be accompanied by a wellregulated heart; and such a heart must spurn affectation for its turpitude, as such a judgment must utterly despise it. And yet, mirabile dictu! notwithstanding the impossibility of concealing it from even the most ordinary observer; I ask who (if not altogether devoid of rational discrimination) can deny its being common in almost every, if not in every class and calling of reclaimed society? From the cherry-colored, ribbon-bedizened and smirking dairy-maid, to the hysterical and always-ailing dame of do-nothing aristocracy, from the fopling apprentice of Ross,the artist, who adorns the exterior of empty craniums, to the pompous peer who glancing from adventitious elevation on his numerous and muchoppressed peasantry, cries-" may a man not do as he pleases with his own?"-from the mud hut of labour to the pavilion of royalty, it may be traced in one unsevered line; modified, it is true, as to form and application, but unchanged in its design, which is to alter that of nature Really when I look out from my "loop-hole of retreat," on the great and bustling world, I cannot avoid considering it as one vast masquerade, in which the untutored "DOMINOS" of the wilderness, alone act naturally; and, upon withdrawing my gaze, I feel relieved from beholding my enlightened fellow-creatures, incessantly employed in acts of reciprocal deception. But, I may be told there are some quite innocent, and, therefore,. not censurable degrees of affectation: the offspring of an amiable desire to please!-that a lady's rouge or carmine, her newly-made purchase of love ringlets, her bussle, her artificial bust and hips, are justifiable; and that a gentleman's cork-leg, (to say nothing of a glass eye or sham calves) is equally irreprehensible: the object of using each of them being to repair the defects of nature, or to restore what time or casualties may have ravaged. In reply, how |