But who could say too much in praise of the French equestrians at Drury Lane? Not the Poets of Moses, one thousand strongnot the Rev. Richard Cobbold, in the glory of his fine language utterly inimitable-not Mr. Bunn, when his Pegasus moved the most Ducrow-ishly-not Mr. when at his seventh speech and third bottle after dinner.-Those who have read the clever book by Mrs. Dalkeith Holmes-I mean her Tour on Horseback from Paris to Florence-and remember how she was called "Cela," by people, who seeing her in her riding-habit were not sure as to her sex, may have hugged themselves in an impudent English prejudice that French women could not ride.-Let them go and see Mdlle. Caroline. And I question (but this is too unpatriotic!) if the holiday-keeper to whose felicity the unaltered version of " Hot Codlings" is the most essential-will henceforward (forgetting the country of Grimaldi) dare to assume for Old England the monopoly of Clowns, after having rejoiced in the quaintness of Auriol. Disparagement becomes weak, when such perfection is the theme: and the loudest protest to be made on the subject is that of honest, English, gentlemanly G―, whom I caught standing, serious and alone, in the pit of a certain theatre-a few nights after the first English workmen returned home to tell the Chartists all about French freedom.

Well, sir" said he "I think it was all right and proper, the demonstration that they made those French folks make on Monday at Drury Lane.-Sir, they forced them to sing God save the Queen.' And the riders, too!

And with "God save the Queen" fitly may end this first fit of "the London Season." Next month, peradventure, I may be genteeler-and prattle of drawing-rooms, horticultural fêtes, the chestnuts in Bushey Park, the white bait at Blackwall-the Races -and the Operas-as elegantly, as if I were what Rosa Matilda calls, the "unprecedently-qualified authoress of FASHION!”

394

TODDLING MAY.

FIVE pearly teeth and a soft blue eye,
A sinless eye of blue,

That is dim or is bright, it scarce knows why,
That, baby dear, is you;

And parted hair of a pale, pale gold,

That is priceless every curl,

And a boldness shy and a fear half bold,
Ay, that's my baby girl.

A small, small frock, as the snowdrop white,
That is worn with a tiny pride,
With a sash of blue, by a little sight
With a baby wonder eyed,

And a pattering pair of restless shoes

Whose feet have a tiny fall,

That not for the world's coined wealth we'd lose

That Baby May, we call.

A rocker of dolls with staring eyes
That a thought of sleep disdain,
That with shouts of tiny lullabies
Are by 'd and by'd in vain ;

A drawer of carts with baby noise,

With strainings and pursed up brow,

Whose hopes are cakes and whose dreams are toys,

Ay, that's my baby now.

A sinking of heart, a shuddering dread,
Too deep for a word or tear-

Or a joy whose measure may not be said,
As the future is hope or fear;

A sumless venture, whose voyage's fate
We would and yet would not know,
Is she whom we dower with love as great
As is perilled by hearts below.

Oh what as her tiny laugh is dear,

Or our days with gladness girds!
Or what is the sound we love to hear
Like the joy of her baby words!
Oh pleasure our pain and joys our fears
Should be, could the future say,
Away with sorrow-time has no tears
For the eyes of Baby May.

Osborne Place, Blackheath.

W. C. BENNETT,

395

A FELON'S PHILOSOPHY.

DUYSED DHU was esteemed a profound philosopher by his countrymen. This reputation was easily made among a benighted race of Oriental pagans. Of Dhu's studies it is impossible to give any account-so mysteriously and secretly were they conducted; but there can be no doubt of his superiority over the generality of the people about him. He was a shrewd, plausible, eloquent man. He delighted in mysteries, because he knew that ignorant minds were always more or less superstitious; and he practised upon the credulity of his neighbours to his own private advantage. From far and wide men hastened, in their difficulties, to consult the philosopher, Duysed Dhu; who invariably contrived to send applicants from his door with thankful hearts and lightened pockets. With the government he was a man of immense influence, inasmuch as he taught statesmen the art of wheedling taxes from the people without provoking discontent or resistance; and the king had once or twice permitted the sage to eat at his royal table—a distinction usually only vouchsafed to the greatest nobles of the land. This condescension on the part of royalty in no way dazzled Dhu; he merely regarded the honour as part payment for his great services to the crown, and so treated the matter very lightly. This nonchalance provoked the displeasure of the king; and henceforth Dhu was a marked man.

The king was an absolute monarch-a man who boasted the blessed privilege of sacrificing human life to satisfy personal pique or lust of wealth; and who, moreover, did not scruple to take advantage of this privilege at every opportunity. Poor men were comparatively safe: but the rich were in daily fear of the bowstring, inasmuch as the law of the land willed the confiscation of the property of malefactors to the sovereign. When Duysed Dhu heard that he had offended his royal master, he laughed at the fears which his brethren entertained on his account, and said that he dared the king to do his worst. This defiance struck terror to the hearts of all who heard it, and people began to shrink from the approach of the sage, lest, being seen in his company, they should be suspected of aiding him in a plot against the govern

ment. Dhu despised this cowardice on the part of his neighbours, and gave them to understand that he no longer valued their friendship nor wished for their society; whereupon he was called a fanatic, a madman, and a reckless visionary. Dhu heeded not these interpretations of his conduct: he felt his moral power and reposed peaceably therein.

:

Suddenly a state bubble burst: Dhu was concerned in it, arrested, and brought to trial. It appeared in evidence against him that he had been engaged in conjunction with others (secretly abetted by the king) buying over the soldiers of a rival state to his master. The foreign prince with whose soldiers Dhu and his colleagues had tampered, had discovered the plot, and demanded an immediate explanation from the king. The king, who marked out Dhu for vengeance, saw here a fitting opportunity to satisfy his rage: he therefore denied all knowledge of the matter, and promised the foreign prince that the base directors of this disgraceful trickery should be brought to condign punishment. The only point that could be brought home against Duysed Dhu was that he had received certain moneys from the king for which he had not accounted that he had expended it in bribing foreign soldiers was a mere conjecture. However this conjecture alone would have sufficed to put a full stop to Dhu's career, had not the nobles of the land interfered on his behalf. Pardoned for having been an object of suspicion Dhu was arraigned as a thief, convicted, and sentenced to be bowstrung. The king declared that it was utterly impossible to pardon an offence that had done injury to the royal exchequer had the crime been merely the murder of a plebeian, or some such trivial offence, he might have felt disposed to show some degree of mercy to the prisoner; but as the case stood, he could promise no commutation of the sentence, and the prisoner must prepare for an inconveniently tight neckcloth in the shape of a bowstring. This sentence was received by the people in silence: they did not dare to plead for a felon, inasmuch at they knew that their sovereign regarded felony as the blackest of all sins.

The ministers were glad to get rid of Dhu. He was too popular: his influence with the people was too powerful. His intellect mastered their own, and they feared that ere long he might take precedence of them, should he be allowed to live. Besides, he was the sole depositary of some ministerial secrets, the promulgation of which would place them in a very awkward and alarming predicament. They had a difficult part to play. They promised

Dhu to exert their influence with the king on his behalf and they did exert that influence to obtain-his immediate execution.

When Duysed Dhu heard the final determination of his sovereign, he could not repress the utterance of an oath. This was the gratitude of a king!-this the reward for a long life of ceaseless labour in the cause of royalty! He had sacrificed honour to serve his master. He had stolen from the people to fill the royal exchequer, and in consideration of these services he had received some empty honours; yet for his first offence against the crown he was condemned to die! He had been the tool of ministers for years; he had wrested property from the merchants, and wives from their lawful husbands, to satisfy the avarice and passion of his master; and were these services not to be weighed in the balance against him? -was he to die like the common herd of plebeian sinners?

Duysed Dhu sat in the darkness of his prison and revolved in his mind the possibility of escape. Physical victory over his keepers was impossible; he therefore determined to save himself by stratagem. It has been written that Dhu was a philosopher, and we opine that this has been written of him with justice. Being a Hindoo and far removed from the civilised world, Dhu had not amassed his mental wealth at the shrines of our great philosophers-Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Shakspeare-these were names unknown to Dhu! He was a philosopher, nevertheless. He had studied the hearts of his fellow men; he had looked through the surface of things; his books had been the great actors about him, and he was thoroughly acquainted with them. Their weaknesses, their sins, their affections, and their antipathies had been bared by Dhu; and now, in the moment of peril, he determined to turn kis knowledge to account. He sent for his jailor, and told him he had an important secret to communicate to the king; and that, having fulfilled this duty, he should be ready to die.

The jailor straightway went to the sovereign, and delivered the prisoner's message; whereupon the monarch was pleased to order that Duysed Dhu be brought into his august presence.

"We have sent for thee that thou mayest have an opportunity of disclosing this boasted secret. Thou must die this afternoon,

so lose no time.'

"My royal master, answered Duysed Dhu, "I have discovered the means of producing trees that shall bear gold."

At first the king laughed at this impudent assertion; but being