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of the work to which he had so mainly contributed, ere his spirit left his frame, as though he had apostrophised his country- Let now thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation!' The chords of sympathy have been rudely strained by his loss, though the days he had numbered were many.

We have given insertion to the above remarks without entering at present into that more detailed criticism which the works of Bentham require, and will shortly receive, at our hands; nor have we commented on the manner in which this wonderful man collected and built up, from the opinions he found dispersed and scattered, a systematic and stupendous pile of his own.

And now, it is hardly possible to conclude this article without drawing something like a comparison, not only between the two eminent men we have been speaking of, but between the manner-in which each passed his existence. One we see distinguishing himself almost as a boy-distinguishing himself how variously!-in the closet as the author; at the bar or the chair as the philosopher; in the seat of justice as the judge; on the bench of the House of Commons as the orator and the legislator-versatile, eloquent, persevering. He dies after a long career, and all of a sudden he appears to us to have been rather squandering away his time and abilities than purchasing from them any solid happiness or real glory. Nothing remains of him he has perished; nor can we believe that in the fret and fever of a life which belied his character, for the life was active, and the character indolent, he found that pleasure which a calm philosophy should have brought. His speeches may be ransacked by some youthful orator to find materials for his own; but to the great bulk of mankind they exist no longer; and even if they did, there is necessarily so much that is personal and passing; so much of the spirit of party; of the desire for power, in a political career, that the pure beauty of the doctrine is sullied and effaced by the passions of the individual. How much more holy, how much more satisfactory, if it were in the ordinary possibility of man to obtain it, were that intellectual retirement, in which every treasure that the mind acquires is accumulated and retained for a great and immortal purpose-a purpose which gives a general tone to every feeling, an universal character to every thought; which makes of the Philosopher's mind the mirror of the Universea purpose such as was that of Mr. Bentham's life-the benefit of mankind-the instruction of the human race!

* Sir James Mackintosh

PETER SIMPLE.

BY THE AUTHOR OF NEWTON FOSTER.

IF I cannot narrate a life of adventurous and daring exploits, fortunately I have no heavy crimes to confess, and if I do not rise in the estimation of the reader for acts of gallantry and devotion in my country's cause, at least I may claim the merit of humble and unobtrusive continuance in my vocation. We are all of us variously gifted from above, and he who is content to walk, instead of running, his allotted path through life, although he may not so rapidly attain the goal, has the advantage of not being out of breath upon his arrival. Not that I mean to infer that my life has not been one of adventure. I only mean to say, that in all which has occurred, I have been a passive, rather than an active, personage; and if events of interest are to be recorded, they certainly have not been sought by me.

As well as I can recollect and analyze my early propensities, I think that, had I been permitted to select my own profession, I should in all probability have bound myself apprentice to a tailor; for I always envied the comfortable seat which they appeared to enjoy upon the shopboard, and their elevated position, which enabled them to look down upon the constant succession of the idle or the busy, who passed in review before them in the main-street of the country town, near to which I passed the first fourteen years of my existence.

But my father, who was a clergyman of the Church of England, and the youngest brother of a noble family, had a lucrative living, and a 'soul above buttons,' if his son had not. It has been from time immemorial the heathenish custom to sacrifice the greatest fool of the family to the prosperity and naval superiority of the country, and at the age of fourteen I was selected as the victim. If the custom be judicious, I had no reason to complain. There was not one dissentient voice, when Iwas proposed before all the varieties of my aunts and cousins, invited to partake of our new-year's festival. I was selected by general acclamation. Flattered by such an unanimous acknowledgment of my qualification, and a stroke of my father's hand down my head which accompanied it, Í felt as proud, and alas! as unconscious, as the calf with gilded horns, who plays and mumbles with the flowers of the garland which designates his fate to every one but himself. I even felt, or thought I felt, a slight degree of military ardor, and a sort of vision of future grandeur passed before me, in the distant vista of which I perceived a coach with four horses and a service of plate. It was, however, driven away before I could decipher it, by positive bodily pain, occasioned by my elder brother Tom, who having been directed by my father to snuff the candles, took the opportunity of my abstraction to insert a piece of the still ignited snuff into my left ear. But as my story is not a very short one, I must not dwell too long at its commencement. I shall therefore inform the reader, that my father, who lived in the north of England, did not think it right to fit me out at our country-town, near to which we resided; but about a fortnight after the decision to which I have referred, he forwarded me to London on the outside of the coach, with my best suit of bottle-green and six shirts. To prevent mistakes I was booked in the way-bill to be delivered to Mr. Thomas Handycock, No. 14, St. Clement's-lane carriage paid.' My parting with the family was very affecting; my mother cried bitterly, for, like all mothers, she liked the greatest

fool which she had presented to my father, better than all the rest; my sisters cried because my mother cried; Tom roared for a short time louder than all the rest, having been chastised by my father for breaking his fourth window in that week; during all which, my father walked up and down the room with impatience, because he was kept from his dinner, and like all orthodox divines, he was tenacious of the only sensual enjoyment permitted to his cloth.

At last I tore myself away. I had blubbered till my eyes were so red and swollen, that the pupils were scarcely to be distinguished, and tears and dirt had veined my cheeks like the marble of the chimneypiece. My handkerchief was soaked through with wiping my eyes and blowing my nose, before the scene was over. My brother Tom, with a kindness which did honor to his heart, exchanged his for mine, saying with fraternal regard, Here, Peter, take mine, it's as dry as a bone. But my father would not wait for a second handkerchief to perform its duty. He led me away through the hall, when having shaken hands with all the men and kissed all the maids, who stood in a row with their aprons to their eyes, I quitted my paternal roof.

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The coachman accompanied me to the place from whence the coach was to start. Having seen me securely wedged between two fat old women, and having put my parcel inside, he took his leave, and in a few minutes I was on my road to London.

I was too much depressed to take notice of anything during my journey. When we arrived in London, they drove to the Blue Boar, (in a street the name of which I forget.) I had never seen or heard of such an animal, and certainly it did appear very formidable; its mouth was open and teeth very large. What surprised me still more was to observe that its teeth and hoofs were of pure gold. Who knows, thought I, that in some of the strange countries which I am doomed to visit, I may fall in with and shoot one of these terrific monsters? with what haste shall I select those precious parts, and with what joy should I, on my return, pour them as an offering of filial affection into my mother's lap!—and then, as I thought of my mother, the tears again gushed into my eyes.

The coachman threw his whip to the ostler and the reins upon the horses' backs; he then dismounted, and calling to me, 'Now young gentleman, I'se a waiting,' he put a ladder up for me to get down by; then turning to a porter, he said to him, 'Bill, you must take this here young gem'man and that ere parcel to this here direction. Please to remember the coachman, Sir.' I replied that I certainly would, if he wished it, and walked off with the porter; the coachman observing, as I went away, 'Well, he is a fool-that's sartin.' I arrived quite safe at St. Clement's-lane, when the porter received a shilling for his trouble from the maid who let me in, and I was shown up into a parlor, where I found myself in company with Mrs. Handycock.

Mrs. Handycock was a little meagre woman, who did not speak very good English, and who appeared to me to employ the major part of her time in bawling out from the top of the stairs to the servants below. I never saw her either read a book or occupy herself with needle-work, during the whole time I was in the house. She had a large grey parrot, and really I cannot tell which screamed the worst of the two-but she was very civil and kind to me, and asked me ten times a-day when I had last heard of my grandfather, Lord Privilege. I observed that she always did so if any company happened to call in during my stay at her house. Before I had been there ten minutes, she told me that she

'hadored sailors-they were the defendours and preservours of their kings and countries,' and that Mr. Handycock would be home by four o'clock, and then we should go to dinner.' Then she jumped off her chair to bawl to the cook from the head of the stairs-Jemima, Jemima!-ve'll ha'e viting biled instead of fried.' 'Can't marm,' replied Jemima, 'they be all hegged and crumbed, with their tails in their mouths.'Vell, then, never mind Jemima,' replied the lady.— Don't put your finger into the parrot's cage, my love-he's hapt to be cross with strangers. Mr. Handycock will be home at four o'clock, and then we shall have our dinner. Are you fond of viting?'

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As I was very anxious to see Mr. Handycock, and very anxious to have my dinner, I was not sorry to hear the clock on the stairs strike four; when Mrs. Handycock again jumped up, and put her head over the bannisters, Jemima, Jemima, it's four o'clock!' I hear it marm,' replied the cook; and she gave the frying-pan a twist, which made the hissing and the smell come flying up into the parlor, and made me more hungry than ever.

Rap, tap, tap! There's your master, Jemima,' screamed the lady. I hear him marm,' replied the cook. 'Run down, my dear, and let Mr. Handycock in,' said his wife. 'He'll be so surprised at seeing you open the door.'

I ran down as Mrs. Handycock desired me, and opened the street door. 'Who the devil are you?' cried Mr. Handycock in a gruff voice; a man about six feet high, dressed in blue cotton-net pantaloons and Hessian boots, with a black coat and waistcoat. I was a little rebuffed, I must own, but I replied that I was Mr. Simple. And pray, Mr. Simple, what would your grandfather say, if he saw you now? I have servants in plenty to open my door, and the parlor is the proper place for young gentlemen.'

'Law Mr. Handycock,' said his wife, from the top of the stairs, 'how can you be so cross? I told him to open the door to surprise you.' 'And you have surprised me,' replied he, with your cursed folly.'

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While Mr. Handycock was rubbing his boots on the mat, I went up stairs again, rather mortified, I must own, as my father had told me that Mr. Handycock was his stock-broker, and would do all he could to make me comfortable; indeed he had written to that effect in a letter, which my father showed to me before I left home. When I returned to the parlor, Mrs. Handycock whispered to me, 'Never mind my dear, it's only because there's something wrong on 'Change. Mr. Handycock is a bear just now.' I thought so too, but I made no answer, for Mr. Handycock came up stairs, and walking with two strides from the door of the parlor to the fire-place, turned his back to it, and lifting up his coattails, began to whistle.

Are you ready for your dinner, my dear?' said the lady, almost trembling.

'If the dinner is ready for me. I believe we usually dine at four,' answered her husband gruffly.

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'Jemima, Jemima, dish up! do you hear Jemima?' 'Yes, marm,' replied the cook, 'directly. I've thickened the butter;' and Mrs. Handycock resumed her seat with Well Mr. Simple, and how is your grandfather, Lord Privilege?' He is quite well ma'am,' answered I, for the fifteenth time at least. But dinner put an end to the silence which followed this remark. Mr. Handycock lowered his coat tails and walked down stairs, leaving his wife and me to follow at our leisure.

'Pray ma'am,' inquired I, as soon as he was out of hearing,' what is the matter with Mr. Handycock, that he is so cross to you?'

Vy, my dear, it is one of the misfortunes of matermony, that ven the husband's put out, the vife is sure to have her share of it. Mr. Handycock must have lost money on 'Change, and then he always comes home cross. Ven he vins, then he is as merry as a cricket.'

Are you people coming down to dinner?' roared Mr. Handycock from below. Yes my dear, replied the lady, 'I thought that you were washing your hands.' We descended into the dining-room, where we found that Mr. Handycock had already devoured two of the whitings, leaving only one on the dish for his wife and me. "Vould you like a little bit of viting, my dear?' said the lady to me. It's not worth halving,' observed the gentleman, in a surly tone, taking the fish up with his own knife and fork, and putting it on his plate.

'Well I'm so glad you like them, my dear,' replied the lady meekly; then turning to me, there's some nice roast weal coming, my dear.'

The veal made its appearance, and fortunately for us, Mr. Handycock could not devour it all. He took the lion's share, nevertheless, cutting off all the brown, and then shoving the dish over to his wife to help herself and me. I had not put two pieces in my mouth before Mr. Handycock desired me to get up and hand him the porter-pot, which stood on the sideboard. I thought that if it was not right for me to open a door, neither was it for me to wait at table-but I obeyed him without making a reinark.

After dinner, Mr. Handycock went down to the cellar for a bottle of wine. O deary me,' exclaimed his wife, he must have lost a mint of money-we had better go up stairs and leave him alone; he'll be better after a bottle of port, perhaps.' I was very glad to go away, and being very tired, I went to bed without any tea, for Mrs. Handycock dared not venture to make it before her husband came up stairs.

The next morning Mr. Handycock appeared to be in somewhat better humor. One of the linendrapers, who fit out cadets, &c. on the shortest notice,' was sent for, and orders given for my equipment, which Mr. Handycock insisted should be ready on the day afterwards, or the articles would be left on his hands; adding that my place was already taken in the Portsmouth coach.

Really, sir,' observed the man, 'I'm afraid-on such very short notice

Your card says "the shortest notice," rejoined Mr. Handycock, with the confidence and authority of a man who is enabled to correct another by his own assertions. If you do not choose to undertake the work, another will.'

This silenced the man, who made his promise, took my measure and departed, and soon afterwards Mr. Handycock also quitted the house.

What with my grandfather and the parrot, and Mrs. Handycock wondering how much money her husband had lost, running to the head of the stairs and talking to the cook, the day passed away pretty well till four o'clock; when, as before, Mrs. Handycock screamed, the cook screamed, the parrot screamed, and Mr. Handycock rapped at the door, and was let in-but not by me. He ascended the stairs with three bounds, and coming into the parlor, cried Well Nancy, my love, how are you?' Then stooping over her, Give me a kiss, old girl, I'm as hungry as a hunter. Mr. Simple, how do you do? I hope you have

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