́we often wonder that our adversaries have not the sense and sagacity to discover our weak points, and smite us on the midriff. But they seem all as blind as báts, and keep fluttering in vain gyrations round our head, occasionally coming into contact with our "right shoulders forward," and then down into the dust they drop, with blinking and bleary eyes, at once piteous and disgustful, and are loathsomely kicked away in amongst the toads. Why do they not settle our business once for all-by taking one of our long, stupid, Leading Articles-say on the Catholic Question-or Free Trade, or the State of the Country, or the Politics of Europe, and so shew it up, through all its false statements and illogical arguments, seriatim, and in detail, that the whole civilized world shall burst out into one universal guffaw, in the face of Maga, who, burning with blushes, like a very meteor, into which an evil spirit or fiend has been transformed, forthwith careers away into the solitude of uninhabited space, and hides her unhappy head in everlasting oblivion? Instead of acting in this manly and murderous manner, the poor creatures keep yelping at her, like so many curs at that other monthly luminary, the moon. "Oft in the stilly night," travellers see the collies sitting on knowes, and whining dolefully against Luna, walking like a queen along the sky. The brighter she shines among the extinguished or faded stars, the more angrily yelp the curs-while an occasional mongrel gets suddenly alarmed at Diana, and scampers off to

his kennel, as if the moon were chasing him-for fear is a presumptuous passion, and in the heart of what is called a dumb animal, is felt absolutely to connect him in all his hairiness, with the brightest of the heavenly bodies.

To conclude-why will the true Tory newspapers persist in calling upon Mr Peel for a public declaration of his opinions on the question of Catho lic Emancipation? It is not handsome-and it is absurd. Mr Peel never in all his life said or did one single thing to justify the slightest suspicion of apostacy from that great cause of which he ever has been-is-and will be-the changeless champion. If his character is not sufficient security to us of his Protestantism, then no Minister in England can hope for the confidence of the people. Therefore silence, at this season, becomes the Man. Whenever it was necessary, for the sake of the Constitution, to speak, he has spoken-and when that necessity returns, which it will soon do, he will be heard to speak again—and his voice in many ears will be as thunder. But he will not confine himself to speaking-he will act. So will Wellington. The two together will move forwards at the head of the whole army-and in that " March of Intellect," traitors and rebels will be overthrown. The British-for there will be no need to follow up the victorywill then fall quietly back, and take up for the winter a position, at once offensive and defensive, on Constitution Hill.

To the enlightened and discriminating mind, it must necessarily occasion considerable surprise, that a propensity to indulge in the fascinating pastime of killing flies, should ever have been imputed as a grave offence to the Emperor Domitian; for, putting the amusement to be derived from such a pursuit entirely out of the question, there are few of the minor virtues which are more calculated to engage the sympathy, and command the ap probation of mankind, than that hostility to dipterous nuisances which characterised the last of the Cæsars; and we may perhaps regard the feelings which led the august fly-catcher to employ his leisure moments in the persecution of those obnoxious insects, as atoning, in some measure, for the commission of a thousand crimes for licentiousness, tyranny, and fratricide. With what a thrilling sensation of delight must the ruler of the world have sunk exhausted upon his couch, after having, on one occasion, as we are informed by his historian, exerted himself in his favourite occupation with so much energy and success, as to remain untroubled by the company of a single fly! What a delicious consciousness, that no winged pest would interfere to disturb the repose in which he doubtless took that opportunity of indulging, must at the moment have pervaded his imperial bosom! This desirable consummation we confess that we have never yet been able to attain, though most devoutly have we wished, and most ardently have we striven for it; -though, when solicitous of a midsummer-day's dream, we have never consigned ourselves to the embraces of the most seductive of Merlin chairs, without having taken the precaution ary measure of crushing and annihilating, as we fondly imagined, every insect that existed intra quatuor parietes, yet have we notwithstanding been Invariably disturbed from the placid slumbers which are the fruit of virtuous actions and a good conscience by the malicious pranks of some little winged monster, which, having contrived to escape the general slaughter of his comrades, had doubtless been allured by the bland expression of our not uninviting counte

nance to make that its gymnasium; nor has there consequently ever been. a modern Bibius, who, if he were asked on any afternoon between April and October, what happy creature was at that time being blest with our society, could conscientiously reply, "Ne musca quidem."

Cruelty to animals is a subject which has deservedly attracted parliamentary investigation. It is not beneath the dignity of a Christian legislator to prevent the unnecessary sufferings of the meanest of created things; and a law which is dictated by humanity can surely be no disgrace to the statute-book. Who that has witnessed the barbarous and unmanly sports of the cock-pit and the stake the fiendlike ingenuity dis played by the lord of the creation in teaching his dependents to torture, mangle, and destroy each other for his own amusement-the cruelties of the greedy and savage task-master towards the dumb labourer whose strength has decayed in his service-or the sufferings of the helpless brute that drags with pain and difficulty its maimed carcass to Smithfield-what reasonable being that has witnessed all or any of this, will venture to affirm that interference is officious and uncalled for? Yet it is certain that Mr Martin acted properly and wisely in excluding flies from the operation. of his act-well knowing, as he must have done, that the feeling of the majority was decidedly averse from affording parliamentary countenance and immunity to those descendants of the victims of Domitian's just indig nation; although it is understood that such a provision would have been cordially supported by the Whigs, they being advocates for universal toleration. The simple question for consideration would be, whether the conduct and principles of the insect species have undergone such a material change as to entitle them to new and extraordinary enactments in their favour? Have they entirely divested themselves of their licentious and predatory habits, and learnt now for the first time to distinguish be tween right and wrong? Do they understand what it is to commit sacrilege? To intrude into the sanctum

The

sanctorum of the meat-safe? To rifle and defile the half-roseate, half lilywhite charms of a virgin ham? To touch with unhallowed proboscis the immaculate lip of beauty, the unprotected scalp of old age, the savoury glories of the kitchen? To invade with the most reckless indifference, and the most wanton malice, the siesta of the alderman or the philosopher? To this we answer in the eloquent and emphatic language of the late Mr Canning-No! Unamiable and unconciliating monsters! wildest and most ferocious inhabitants of the desert may be reclaimed from their savage nature, and taught to become the peaceful denizens of a menagerie-but ye are altogether untractable and untameable. Gratitude and sense of shame, the better parts of instinct, have never yet interposed their sacred influence to prevent the commission of one treacherous or un◄ becoming action of yours. The holy rites of hospitality are by you abused and set at nought; and the very roof which shelters you is desecrated with the marks of your irreverential contempt for all things human and divine. Would that (and the wish is expressed more in sorrow than in anger) -would that your entire species were condensed into one enormous bluebottle, that we might crush you all at a single swoop!

Many, calling themselves philanthropists and Christians, have omitted to squabash a fly when they had an opportunity of so doing; nay, some of these people have even been known to go the length of writing verses on the occasion, in which they applaud themselves for their own humane disposition, and congratulate the object of their mistaken mercy on its narrow escape from impending fate. There is nothing more wanting than to propose the establishment of a Royal Humane Society for the resuscitation of flies apparently drowned or suffocated. Can it possibly be imagined by the Saint or the Liberal, (we believe the accusation may be confined to these two classes, and the more aged of the softer sex,) who has succeeded after infinite pains in rescuing a greedy and intrusive insect from a gin-andwatery grave in his own vile potations, that he has thereby consulted the happiness of his fellow creatures, or promoted the cause of decency, clean

liness, good order, and domestic comfort? Let him watch the career of the mischievous little demon which he has thus been the means of res storing to the world, when he might have arrested its progress for ever. Observe the stout and respectable gentleman, loved, honoured, and esteemed in all the various relations of father, husband, friend, citizen, and Christian, who is on cushioned sofa composing himself for his wonted nap, after a dinner in substance and quantity of the most satisfactory description, and not untempered by a modicum of old port. His amiable partner, with that refined delicacy and sense of decorum peculiar to the female sex, has already withdrawn with her infant progeny, leaving her good man, as she fondly imagines, to enjoy the sweets of uninterrupted repose. At one moment we behold him slumbering softly as an infant"so tranquil, helpless, stirless, and unmoved;" in the next, we remark with surprise sundry violent twitches and contortions of the limbs, as though the sleeper were under the operation of galvanism, or suffering from the pangs of a guilty conscience. Of what hidden crime does the memory thus agitate him-breaking in upon that rest which should steep the senses in forgetfulness of the world and its cares? On a sudden he starts from his couch with an appearance of frenzy!-his nostrils dilated, his eyes gleaming with immoderate excitation -an incipient curse quivering on his lips, and every vein swelling-every muscle tense with fearful and passionate energy of purpose. Is he possessed with a devil, or does he meditate suicide, that his manner is so wild and hurried? With impetuous velocity he rushes to the window, and beneath his vehement but futile strokes, aimed at a scarcely visible, and certainly impalpable object, the fragile glass flies into fragments, the source of future colds and curtain lectures without number. The immediate author of so much mischief, it is true, is the diminutive vampire which is now making its escape with cold-blooded indifference through a very considerable fracture in one of the panes; but surely the person who saved from destruction, and may thus be considered to have given existence to the cause of all this loss of temper

and of property, cannot conscientiously affirm that his withers are unwrung! Mercy and forbearance are very great virtues when exercised with proper discretion; but man owes a paramount duty to society, with which none of the weaknesses, however amiable, of his nature should be allowed to interfere. It is no mercy to pardon and let loose upon the community one who, having already been convicted of manifold delinquencies, only waits a convenient season for adding to the catalogue of his crimes; and what is larceny, or felony, or even treason, compared with the perpetration of the outrages above attempted to be described?-We pause for a reply.

Summer is a most delectable-a most glorious season. We, who are fond of basking as a lizard, and whose inward spirit dances and exults like a very mote in the sun-beam, always hail its approach with rapture; but our anticipations of bright and serene days-of blue, cloudless, and transparent skies of shadows the deeper from intensity of surrounding lightof yellow corn-fields, listless rambles, and lassitude rejoicing in green and sunny banks-are alloyed by this one consideration, that

Waked by the summer ray, the reptile

young
Come winged abroad. From every
chink

And secret corner, where they slept away
The wintry storms; by myriads forth

at once, Swarming they pour. Go where you will, it is not possible to escape these "winged reptiles." They abound exceedingly in all sunny spots; nor in the shady lane do they not haunt every bush, and lie perdu under every leaf, thence sallying forth on the luckless wight who presumes to molest their "solitary reign;" they hang with deliberate importunity over the path of the sauntering pedestrian, and fly with the flying horseman, like the black cares (that is to say, blue devils) described by the Roman lyrist. Within doors they infest, harpy-like, the dinner-table

Diripiuntque dapes, contactuque omnia

foedant Immundo

and hover in impending clouds over the sugar basin at tea; in the pantry it is buz; in the dairy it is buz; in the kitchen it is buz; one loud, long

continued, and monotonous buz! Having little other occupation than that of propagating their species, the natural consequence, as we may learn from Mr Malthus, is that their numbers increase in a frightfully progressive ratio from year to year; and it has at length become absolutely necessary that some decisive measures should be adopted to counteract the growing evil.

Upon the whole, he would not perhaps be considered to speak rashly or unadvisedly, who should affirm, that no earthly creature, of the same insignificant character and pretensions, is the agent of nearly so much mischief as the fly-a modern Whig only excepted. What a blessed order of things would immediately ensue, if both the one and the other were to be entirely swept away from the face of the earth! This most wished-for event, we fear, it will never be our lot to witness; but it may be permitted to a sincere patriot, in his benevolent and enthusiastic zeal for the wellbeing of his country, to indulge in aspirations that are tinged with a shade of extravagance. With respect, however, to the first mentioned vermin, the idea of their total annihilation may not be altogether chimerical. We know that the extirpation of wolves from England was accomplished by the commutation of an annual tribute for a certain number of their heads; and it is well worth the consideration of the legislature, whether, by adopting a somewhat similar principle, they may not rid the British dominions of an equally great and crying nuisance. The noble Duke, now at the head of his Majesty's Government, has it in his power to add another ray to his illustrious name, to secure the approbation and gratitude of all classes of the commu nity, and to render his Ministry for ever memorable, by the accomplishment of so desirable an object. In the mean time, let the Society of Arts offer their next large gold medal to the person who shall invent the most ingenious and destructive fly-trap. A certain quantity of quassia might be distributed gratis at Apothecary's Hall, as vaccinatory matter is at the Cow-pox Hospital, with very considerable effect; and an act of parliament should be passed without delay, declaring the wilful destruction of a spider to be felony. (Mr Peel's act

has happily taken away the benefit of clergy.) Spiders are an ill-used and much calumniated race; they are the most diffident and unobtrusive creatures in the world; and, if not decidedly handsome, have at least some thing exceedingly interesting in their appearance. We are not quite sure that they should not be regarded with as much veneration, on account of their meritorious labours, as ever the Ibis was held in by the Egyptians, because it was in the habit of destroying serpents and other obnoxious reptiles. Yet females have been known to fall into hysterics at the very sight of a spider; and the housemaid sweeps away its beautiful web without compunction! The above random hints

may or may not be adopted by those for whom they are intended; but should we have been the means of inducing a single disciple of the saintly school to renounce the vulgar prejudices-the feeling sentimentality of his sect, and to become accessary to the death of a fly without an ejaculation, and without a shudder-then shall we consider that we have lived not altogether in vain ; and, in future, we shall be animated in our humble endeavours to cherish and uphold the public good by the reflection, that we have already contributed to promote it in no inconsiderable degree.

Southampton Buildings.

Κνων.

ABOUT twenty years ago, while wandering in foreign lands with the vain hope of escaping from the cares which clung round my heart, I found myself in a part of the South of France, at that time little frequented by stran gers. After a weary day's journey through an uninteresting country and execrable roads, without the interruption of one incident that could divert my thoughts or soothe my sorrows, I began to feel in great want of refreshment and repose; and the postilion having got off his horse to walk up a hill, I inquired of him how soon I might expect to reach the next stage, and what hope I might have of good accommodations for the night. His consoling reply was, that "twenty minutes would bring me to the end of my day's journey, and though the village inn was but small, it was renowned for its Parisian cook, excellent beds, and moderate charges." Good! thought I; and the bare idea of such a place, after the miserable lodgings of the last two nights, assisted to raise my droop ing spirits, already improved by my attention having been drawn to external objects. Leaning forward therefore in my cabriolet, I first perceived those changes in the surrounding scenery which mark the approach to a village, and regretted that the increasing darkness prevented me from distinguishing the novelties of the place, and the varieties in the countenances and dress of the inhabitants. VOL. XXIV.

However, I determined, if I found the country pleasant, and the inn as comfortable as it was represented, to stop for a few days, and enjoy (as I had often done before) the liberty of the unfortunate, who have no friends to expect their arrival, no loved object to embrace at the end of their jour ney.

The road, in consequence of an impassable torrent, and several undisturbed rocks of great height, proved to be longer than I had reason to expect, and the postilion apologized for his mistake by informing me, that owing to the melting of the snow on the neighbouring mountains, the usual passage, which would have brought us straight to the village, was interrupted, and he was obliged to turn off another way. At length, after jolting about in the dusk for what appeared to me a considerable time, and having run the risk of several overturns, I had the satisfaction of finding myself really in a street, where even that tiresome sound, the barking of dogs, by testifying the vicinity of human habitations, was welcome to the ears of atired traveller.

In a few minutes we stopped at the door of an inn, where I expected to settle myself at least for that night; but, to my great disappointment, the fat, smiling landlady, who hastened down the steps, assured me she was "in despair at not being able to receive me, but that it was unfortunate50