Nothing more passed; they parted; the lieutenant pursued his walk, and the ad miral his. Upon inquiring at the admiral's house, the lieutenant was informed that he was out, but desired to sit down till his return, which was not many minutes afterwards. His situation may be more easily imagined than described, on seeing the admiral in the person he had so lately encountered. The admiral perceiving his embarrassment, avoided the least hint of the affair, entered into familiar, converse with him, and afterwards testified his regard for him, by using his interest in getting him promoted to the command of a ship in the royal navy.

LINES.

Alas! poor mortals, still in vain,
From scheme to scheme you rove;

You vainly try that bliss to gain,
The virtuous only prove.

VOL. III.

Nor in, the city, nor the grove,
The village, nor the cell;
'Tis not with solitude, nor love,
That pleasure deigns to dwell.

To no one spot is peace confin'd,
All ranks her favors share-
Alike the monarch and the hind,
The homely and the fair.

From place to place we vainly fly,
This heav'nly prize to win;
New scenes for ever vainly try-
This blessing dwells within.

FRENCH POLITENESS.

A French secretary of state (Le Marquis de Castrus) had a peculiar method of refusing people their due. An officer, broken by old age, and the toils of war, solicited a pension for his long service. He painted his distress in the most affecting colours,

said he had served his country for upwards of forty years, and that he had a wife and six children, for whom he was unable to provide; he added, with a tear, that he himself had not made a passible meal for more than six months. The courtier thus addressed the unfortunate soldier: "Sir, you may be convinced, that when I find myself delivered from the multiplicity of complicated affairs that now assail me, which I trust will be in something less. than a year, I shall embrace the first

opportunity of taking your service into consideration." "But, my lord," exclaimed the officer, "I cannot exist for so long a time: for, want of the common necessaries of life will soon bring me to the grave, and then my widowand children will have no claim to the bounty of his Majesty." "I am mortified, dear sir, that I have it not in my power to be of service to you, at present; but I request you may look on me as your particular friend, and believe me to be wholly your's."

Is it in the nature of an English minister to answer merit in distress in so unbecoming a manner?

A LAWYER'S OPINION OF LAW.

Counsellor M-t, after he retired from practice, being one day in company, where the uncertainty of the law became the topic of conversation, he was applied to for his opinion, upon which he laconically observed-" If any man was to claim the coat upon my back, and threaten my refusal with a law suit, he should certainly have it; lest, in defending my coat, I should, too late, find that I was deprived of my waistcoat also."

Anecdote of Thomas Middleton, Dramatie Poet..

This writer, having produced his sati rical play of the Game of Chess, the ob

tique reflections it contained against the Church of Rome, occasioned the Spanish faction to get it suppressed, by order of King James the First, and by the influence of his Queen, the poet himself committed to prison-Here, he remained sonre time; but at length, obtained his liberty by this whimsical petition to the King.

"A harmless game, caus'd only for delight,

Is play'd between the black house and the white ;

The white house won-yet still the black doth brag,

They had the power to put me in the

bag;

Use but your loyal hand, 'twill set me free,

'Tis but removing of a man-that's me.

Curious Account of a Ventriloquist.

A ventriloquist is a person, who by drawing the air into the lungs, has the