recti ons, and you will not have to reproach discovered, in a corner of the picture, a yourself with having taken his away from small portion of a Marshal's baton, as if him. Come, come, be a little obliging; we to indicate, that, at least, he merited it."are all sent on earth mutually to assist each "If he had been in the service," whispered other; describe to this gentleman the fea- || I.-" I wish also," continued he, "that my tures and phisiognomy of your father, ac-father may have the appearance of a veteran cording to the best of your recollection; tell him what was unpleasant about him, and what alteration he shall make; add and diminish all that may tend to the glory of your family, and the success of your own individual interest. I will be answerable for his docility in complying with your will."-" Well," said Lambert to the young painter, "I wish my father to be represented as a little man, between fifty-five and sixty years of age; who shall have the appearance of having grown old in the midst of honours, and who, on a blue coat, shall have two General's epaulettes, and five or six ribbons of the most striking colours; if possible, I should wish to be

officer, and the flexible features of an adroit courtier; that his smile may be that of a man of sense, and his whole phisiognomy like that of a man accustomed to courts." "I know, then, how to suit you," replied the modern Apelles; " you will then see, without a doubt, the portrait of a certain personage that walks regularly every day, from two to four, on the Terrace des Feuillans; I expect to meet him on my return; and if, the day after to-morrow I bring you your father-"-" Then," said Lambert, smiling, "I will restore you your's with pleasure."

S. G.

TO THE EDITOR OF LA BELLE ASSEMBLEE.

SIR,-I flatter myself your fair readers will not think you deviate from the principles of an elegant miscellany, though a few columns are occupied by the reflections of a husband and a father, who gratefully offers a testimony to their bliss-imparting virtues. Having

"By blest experience try'd,

"How much the wife is dearer than the bride,"
he wishes his sons may each obtain from
Heaven the precious boon of a partner en-
dowed with qualifications similar to those
that constitute his domestic felicity; and
his excellent mate earnestly prays, that
our little girls may be as early and happily
united as herself. Indeed, I could not help
entertaining a low opinion of the connubial |
qualities, or the sincerity of a pair, who,
independent of family aggrandizement, by
new alliances, were not solicitous for the
marriage of their offspring, as the best se-
curity of every comfort in life. I am not
ignorant, that there are fathers and mothers
to whom the silken bands of wedlock have
proved cumbrous and galling fetters-yet
are they very sedulous to procure splendid |
establishments for their daughters; and
though those worldly-wise parents desire"

only public display, they will, probably, accord an indulgent perusal to an elucidation of the impediments to success for their manœuvres, with the cause of leaving in celibacy such fair creatures as cannot furnish an equivalent to support the increasing expences of an increasing family.

Nearly twelve years have elapsed since my return from a foreign country to take possession of a large estate, devolved to me by the death of a distant relation. I was still young, and had been so judiciously stimulated to diligence, in preparing myself to acquire independence by professional exertions, that I had no leisure for vicious addiction. Prepossessed by the placid affection and concord in the domestic association of my parents, though struggling with a narrow income, to educate six boys, and to maintain an appearance suitable to their highly respectable connections, I naturally inferred, that an affluent fortune could enhance the enjoyments of well assorted marriage; but believe I should have hesitated to reveal those sentiments to my only near relation, a bachelor uncle, if he had not bewailed his own improvidence in

LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

trusting to contingencies for the care of his helpless old age.

"Get married-get married, George," said he, " if you would not, in sickness and decrepitude, throw yourself upon the mercy of a prosing housekeeper and mercenary valet-when, like me, you are unfit to take care of your decayed body, or your affairs. A wife, a daughter, or even a sister, would be worth more than wealth to me, when I can neither think nor act for myself, and am incapable of receiving any comfort, but in tender assiduities, and kind sympathy. As I am at present tolerably well, and the season is mild, I shall accompany you to visit our neighbours. Young ladies are seen, in their true colours, far more readily in rural scenes than in town; and young men, I imagine, are more apt to make a selection among a dozen captivating objects, than when their fancy is distracted by scores of bloomers. Cupid flutters about in assemblies, routs, and theatres, but

33

nor imitation, a similar character. Don't interrupt me, George. I have no evil to say of Louisa; and after you hear some facts of her mother, you will agree with me, that you cannot too warily proceed in your love affair, lest latent foibles may, too late, break the charm. Mrs. Swinburne's father, as a wharfinger, in a West-India colony, acquired a competency which enabled him to give a shewy education to five sprightly daughters: their dashing manners gained them husbands, in dotage or minority. Swinburne was no more than nineteen, when, a few days after his introduction to a belle of five-and-twenty years old, he offered her his hand. He had a valuable property, but the returns depended upon following a system which deceased father, and had successfully con the young man learned from his lately ducted during his tedious illness. While he could prevail with his wife to remain in the island, prosperity crowned his well

his altars are erected only among the house-directed attentions; but the lady had been

hold gods, or in gardens, woods, and fields. I would as soon choose a wife by seeing her picture at an exhibition, as by contemplating her features or figure at public places."

finished at a London boarding-school, and she languished for gaities, of which having only partial glimpses, her imagination pourtrayed as the ne plus ultra of enjoyment. She wheedled her husband, at the To abbreviate my egotisms, I shall pass over intermediate occurrences, to tell, inland. He was a Creole, brought up on the end of four years, to take a trip to Eng. few words, that a slight acquaintance in-spot of his nativity; and a total stranger in

clined me to prefer the ever-gay and insinuating Louisa; and her mother seemed more pleasantly amusing than Mrs. Islesworth, with all her advantages of person, and greater fortune. My uncle perceived the nascent passion.

the emporium of pleasure and profusion, he depended entirely on his wife's guidance. She became, and still is, a fine lady, a very fine lady; but an usurper of altitude in society is no more to be tolerated than the usurper of a throne; since, in both cases, we may discern the absence of a pure and high moral rectitude. I condemn all that sport away, in personal adornment and selfish gratification, the superfluity of wealth that would relieve the distresses of many indigent fellow-beings-but immeasurably more culpable is she, that has cajoled a tooeasy husband to desert his most important interests, and who squanders his revenue in giving routs, and playing cards with

"Wait," said he, "till you become a little intimate in both houses: I have a moral certainty, that, in general, the most accommodating mothers, or the most attractive daughters, are not always the most delightful companions in daily intercourse. I am a downright Englishman, and always thought Mrs. Swinburne over anxious to recommend herself and her daughter to rich young or old men; and I have seen her haughty as a Spanish Princess to penny-peeresses, when she should be acting her less merit: but my old friend, Adleeron, | part in economizing for the benefit of her whom I have not seen these seven-andtwenty years till last Monday, gave me a history which should deter you from yielding your heart to her eleve, until assured she has, neither by hereditary disposition, No. 112. Vol. XVIII.

progeny, and taking care of their health,
and forming their minds. All Mrs. Swin-
burne's children died, except Louisa. Dis-
sipated mothers seldom bring to maturity
more than one or two of the creatures they
E

point out the most deserving matron with a marriageable daughter?"

"You are a sly rogue. You very well know my favourite; and should I do any justice to Mrs. Islesworth, you will say I am in love with her, or have predestined her Isabella for you. You smile: well, I shall even give you that opening, to retort severities. Mr. Islesworth was the ward of Mr. Cavendish, and had frequent opportunities of seeing his lovely daughter. They formed an early attachment; but Mr. Cavendish did not think Isleworth's estate equal to the pretensions of his daughter; he was, however, moved by her uncomplaining dejection, and consented to her union with Islesworth: warning him that a few thousand pounds was all the portion he intended to bestow. In this resolution he persevered to the day of his death; but Mrs. Islesworth and her husband prudently suited their style of living to their income.

usher into existence, only to pine and expire-and had all the young Swinburnes been now living, they could be but slenderly provided for. The expenditure of their parents far exceeded their remittances, but both had acquired a taste for high life. Money was borrowed, at usurious interest. I need not expatiate upon the consequences. Swinburne died suddenly; some aver his own hand terminated his unhappy career. The widow had securities on his plantations, and a quondam admirer, who drew out the settlements, took a friendly concern in winding up, for her behoof, the neglected business of the deceased Swinburne. He sold the land, the negroes, and moveables to great advantage, and embarked for England to claim his reward, but died on the passage. Mrs. Swinburne's annuity, and the reversion for her daughter, allows her to live some weeks in London with acquaintances, who make reprisals by passing months at her decorated cottage in summer or autumn. This is all I have to say, George; but it is quite enough to make a judicious young man very cautious. You are not the first that has been enchant- | going to see him when attacked by a putrid

ed by such a girl as Louisa; but all who
have so much reason left as to remember,
that a lover and a husband must draw
their happiness from different sources, will
inquire the real character of a mother; and
I have known several relinquish a pursuit,
on finding she was ill-tempered or extrava-
gant. Good conduct in the mother, is the
best recommendation for the daughters."
"Do then, my dear uncle, inform me
where I may find a faultless mother."

"Isleworth behaved to his father-in-law without servility, but with the complacency of an affectionate son; he lost his life by

fever. The same distemper made Mrs. Islesworth an orphan and a widow in one week. She inherited her father's estates, and has had more than one tempting offer from admirers, who prized her for her own sake. If we had more such matrons, celibacy would be less frequent; and that you may not think me a surly bachelor, unjust in the most amiable portion of rationals, I will say, that if we had more such husbands as Islesworth, we should have few or no frivolous extravagant wives."

"Fauitless! George; now I see you are angry at my blunt sincerity. All mortals, male and female, are faulty; but the kind and degree of failings, you will acknow-1 ledge, make an essential difference in their merit or demerit."

"True, my dear Sir: will you, therefore,

The reader will have anticipated that Mrs. Islesworth was my mother-in-law; and beg leave to add, that the best recommendation for marriageable fair ones will always proceed from the worth of their parents.

FUGITIVE POETRY.

The Arctic Expedition. By Miss Porden. 8vo. Murray.

sen a very interesting subject; for the warm wishes of every Englishman are keenly exMISS PORDEN is well known to the cited, and their bosoms glow with every literary world, as the author of a Poem anxious wish for the success of their bold entitled The Veils; and she has now cho- || countrymen who have undertaken the

FUGITIVE POETRY.