terrific revelation when we entered the

lunar capital, and, looking under a prodigious fane or hall of adamant, what was my astonishment to behold the Emperor Buonaparte, with all his human expression of body and of countenance, and in his exact earthly costume! On his left arm was a figure, which I immediately recognized, from its resemblance to a picture I had often gazed upon in the print-shop of Messrs. Bowles and Carver, in St. Paul's Churchyard. The high and heavy boots, the large skirts, the stiff hair and long cue, the laced body, and the long straight sword, clearly pointed this out to be the hero of Sweden, Charles the 12th. On Buonaparte's right arm was Alexander the Great, and immediately before him stood, in earnest conversation, Julius Cæsar, Romulus, Cyrus, Cambyses, Tamerlane, Kouli Khan, Aureng-zebe, Hanibal, Charlemagne, Frederick of Prussia, our Henries and Edwards, and a countless number of Marshalls, Generals, and warriors of every description, all of whom were paying the most respectful attention to the conversation of Buonaparte. "But where," said I, "are the shades of Leonidas, of Kosciusco, of Paoli, of Hampden, of Washington?" "Hush," replied my guide, "their glorious names are not to be breathed in our atmosphere.Know, that the souls of exalted heroes who have bled only to defend their country from foreign oppression, or from domestic tyranny, pass not into the moon, but are wafted by angels to the planet Jupiter, where the aerial existence is more exalted and blissful." "But," said I. "why should the souls of great founders of dynasties and empires, men who have led millions of their fellow men to voluntary slaughter, and why should the souls of mighty warriors be confined in this inferior satellite?" "To where," replied my guide, can the souls of lunatics and demi-lunatics be so appropriately destined as to the moon?" At this instant, a trumpet sounded through the air, the dome vanished, and I beheld an immense plain, o'er which were arrayed hundreds of mighty armies, the souls of soldiers who had fought under different leaders. These were put in mortal fight against each other. Here, I beheld the picture of human atrocity. I saw every species of battle-the blood-thirsty conflict of Romulus and

his savage hordes, tearing with knives, spears, and nails, and teeth.-There, was exhibited the mortal shock of the Grecian spear and phalanx. Further on, the Roman legions, with their shields and short swords, were committing dreadful havoc upon their foes. In another spot was exhibited the fight of the turbaned tribes of Asia and Africa, with the cavalry and scimitar. The iron-clothed bill and spear-men, and archers of the middle ages, were seen in their dreadful charge, and personally hewing and hacking each other with terrific fury.-Charles the 12th. and his half-mailed warriors were committing dreadful carnage upon the naked Russian.-On his wing was the slow but precise army of Frederick of Prussia, whose musketry was mowing down whole lines of brave and devoted Germans.-But in a division of the field, more conspicuous than the rest, was Buonaparte, with his armies of incredible numbers. Here, the art of human slaughter had risen to its utmost limits. These prodigious bodies of men were extended in lines, or thrown into masses with wonderful celerity and precision. The army seemed like a vast machine, moved but by one powerful spring, in the hand of a mighty master. Their fire was quick like the lightning flash; the cannon ploughed up human bodies by the thousand; and the charge of the army seemed like the concussion of worlds. The sabre and bayonet reeked with gore, and the hoofs of horses, and the wheels of heavy cannon, were dashed o'er the faces and limbs of the wounded and fallen. I heheld, in the surrounding cities, thousands of women and children, rendered destitute and desperate by want and grief, their devoted fathers and husbands having fallen in these combats. Presently, the battles ceased, and the treatment of prisoners, according to the different usages of nations, and to the different periods of warfare, was exhibited before me. In one part of the field, was an indiscriminate slaughter of every age and sex.—In another army, the prisoners were put into dungeons, some starved, and some baked alive.-Others were dragged by the victor in insolent triumph; whilst, in the more modern army, the prisoners were treated with humanity and care. Thousands of spectators were beholding the agonized features of their

fellow men, when a blast from heaven swept off the field every carcass and fragment of the preceding conflict; and on the beat of a drum, and the shaking of a few paltry bits of ribands, myriads of the spectators joyfully rushed to fill those ranks which had just been thinned by the carnage they had witnessed. The leaders themselves, aloof from danger, contemplated the agony of their followers without the least emotion; and they calculated the numbers lost with the most unfeeling precision. Fame blew her trumpet over the heads of the group of kings and leaders, and instantly sprung up from the earth, columns, arches, statues, and domes, inscribed with their names and deeds of glory. At the sight of these, shouts of applause rent the air, and the surrounding multitude left their weeping wives and infants, aud rushed with encreased alacrity to marshal themselves in the ranks for renewed slaughter. "Gracious heavens!" cried I," is the spirit of man at once so wicked and so mean, as to leave the endearing objects of affection, and rush into all the horrid scene of strife-to slay and to be slain, merely to gratify the ambition, and to swell the triumph of some leader, who makes their senseless devotion to his cause the very reason for holding the species as base and servile, and for treating them with the most ineffable contempt as mere machines for his gratification. Alas! the soldiers' fame sinks in that of the mass, who, for paltry hire are bleeding on every occasion-whilst the storied urn and animated bust' rise only for them who have enjoyed the advantages without partaking of the toils or dangers of the field. "What you behold in this planet," cried my guide," is only the repetition of the scenes of human life. Turn your eyes to that more distant spot, and you will there behold the scene of war in miniature---you will there see that the passions and violence of human nature, if not allowed to transpire in regulated warfare, will molest our hearths and poison life at its most sacred privacies.' "See," said my spiritual director," the private exercise of all those passions and demoniac propensities of our nature which recruit our armies, and form the very food of war." I turned with anxiety to the spot pointed out by my guide, and I beheld with pain a scene of private broil and contention.-" Who is that,"

cried I, "prostrate on the earth, the pistol ball has just ploughed into his heart his frantic wife is distracted over the corps, and his mild and beautiful daughter is casting her youthful eyes to heaven with looks of imploring wretchedness and sensibility."-"That,' answered my guide, "is the consequence of an immaterial word spoken to a duellist, who finding that his male and female friends have treated him with even more than usual consideration since his first combat, is desirous of encreasing his consequence by a repetition of the scene-That martial figure in plain clothes," " continued the spirit, "with a rapier through his heart, and at some distance a female of exquisite delicacy, wandering in mute and endless grief, and apparently in the utmost want, is the soul of a brave officer, who had escaped the slaughter of all the fiercest battles of the continent, and retired to support his parent and his only daughter upon his half pay. He was accused of uttering a very immaterial word, and desired to deny the charge, or to confess the word to be improper. He was innocent, but his pride would not allow him to urge such a plea.He met his antagonist and fell-and his parent in consequence died a pauper, and his orphan is an outcast." In a spot a little distant, I beheld a number of Spaniards, Portugueze, and Italians weltering in their blood, whilst their assassins with bloody stilettos were stalking from the murdered victims, some with their faces expressive of every fiendish passion that can distort the human countenance, whilst others seemed as if they delighted in butchery, and many appeared so hardened and insensible, that they performed the deed of blood without any emotion whatever. Contrasted to these were groups of men and women, who, animated with the most frightful passions, and with hideous looks were fighting according to the custom of their different nations. The Dutch with knives were gashing each others' faces-the Americans were gouging out the eyes of their antagonists, and exulting at the sight of the bleeding cavities, whilst the English were engaged in regulated boxing, the surrounding crowds delighted at every ferocious blow, and shouting with barbarous and exulting joy at the discomfiture of each brave but unfortunate combatant. A little removed from these

WHEN the Earl had reached the house of his friend at Kingston, he found the whole establishment in confusion, from the mistress of the mansion having met with a very serious accident. Aware that under such circumstances his presence must be regarded as an intrusion and constraint, he merely left his best wishes; and turning his back on the scene of sorrow, retraced the road to London. In passing along Pall Mall, he stopped at Howard's banking house, in order to compare and settle accounts previously to quitting town; when on inspecting and balancing the respective books, there appeared a deficit in favour of Lord Annesly to the amount of six hundred and seventy pounds, a difference which no one was able to explain away, for it chanced unluckily that one of the clerks was at that time absent from the office, and Howard himself had not visited it at all during the day. It was now nearly five o'clock, and it was not probable that Layton the clerk would return again to the house before it closed for the evening; Lord Annesley, therefore, after conferring at some length with Mr. Twiss, second partner in Howard's firm, concluded that as no time was to be lost in clearing up the mysterious disappearance of the abovementioned sum, a messenger should be dispatched to Twickenham that same evening, and likewise to Layton's residence in the Borough, requesting that both the master and the clerk would attend, as speedily as convenient, at the house of the Earl in Hamilton place; and his Lordship had only time to impart the circumstances of the case to the Countess, and to snatch a hasty dinner, before the summons that had been sent, brought both Howard and Layton to the appointed place of rendezvous, when the Earl conducted the party into his library; and after having proved the existence of the defalcation, in the following manner questioned Layton, who was enabled to afford some information on the subject.

"What then," said the Earl," you say that the identical sum of six hundred and seventy pounds was drawn by a draft in my hand writing yesterday morning?"

Eur. Mag. Vol. 81. June 1822.

"A tall lady, sir."

"Was she young or old ?"

"I can hardly tell, but she appeared to be quite young.'

"Why do you say you can hardly tell," observed the Earl; surely you can see the difference between an old woman and a young one?"

"The lady wore a thick veil."
"What was she drest in ?"
"All in black, my Lord."

At this part of the examination the Earl turned to Twiss, and desired him to take notes of the evidence, while he thus pursued his interrogatories.

"At what time did the lady come?" Layton paused to recollect, and then replied, "Soon after eleven o'clock in the forenoon."

"Had the lady got any one with her?" "No, my Lord."

"Did she come in a carriage, or walking?"

"In a hackney coach."

"How do you know that she came in a hackney coach ?"

"I could see through the window, as I sat next to it."

"And could you not discern the features of the lady in the least? Had she any bloom in her face?"

"No, sir; I think she appeared to be pale."

"Do you believe that you would know her again?"

"If I were to see the same person in the same dress, I believe that I should; but I might be liable to mistake other ladies for her."

"What did she say?"

"She merely laid down the cheque, saying in an under tone, From Lord Annesley;' and when I gave the money, she thanked me."

"Was there any thing particular in her voice, or manner of speaking? Recollect yourself, young man.'

"There was nothing striking or

SY

particular in her manner; she appeared to have an agreeable voice, so far as I could judge from those few words; and she had a slight drawl in her speech, but it was very slight.'

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Did it sound like a provincial accent ?"

"It might have been that-I cannot say.

"Did you inspect the draft minutely? Did it occur to you that the writing was in any respect dissimilar to my usual mode of signature ?"

"Not an idea of the kind entered my brain; I felt satisfied on the first glimpse, that it was the hand writing of the Earl of Annesley, and should not have hesitated in cashing it, though it had been five times the sum."

Here his Lordship desired to look again at the cheque, which had been filed off in the ordinary way; and having re-examined the writing, and compared it with some of his own, protested that there was not the smallest discernible difference between them; and that unless he had known to the contrary, he should have acknowledged the forged instrument to be of his own execution.

After addressing a few more questions to Layton, without eliciting any further intelligence, it was agreed to dismiss him; though the Earl, and Howard, and Twiss continued in debate for some time afterward; but the result of their discussion and speculation was very inconclusive and unsatisfactory. As yet Lord Annesley could not even direct the eye of suspicion to any person; it was only obvious that the forgery had been committed by some one who had studied, and was well acquainted with the hand writing of the Earl; and farther than this, even conjecture did not extend.

It was determined, however, that the next step to be taken, must be to try to discover the driver of the coach; for which purpose a number of hand-bills were ordered to be printed that same evening, and largely circulated about the town, and among the various stands of coaches; as also advertisements to the same effect to be inserted in the newspapers. Twiss proposed that any further depositions should be made in the presence of a magistrate, but this suggestion was negatived by the Earl, merely assigning as a reason, that it was his wish to have the investigation conducted privately at first, as it would

not be advisable to make the case public until they had themselves gained more information, and were able to form some opinion on the subject: Howard and Twiss acquiesced in his views, and the trio shortly afterwards separated. Before twelve o'clock on the following day, Howard was again in Hamilton-place, bringing with him the driver of the identical vehicle which had conveyed the fair incognita on her nefarious errand, and accompanied also by Layton, the confidential clerk. The party being again closeted in the Earl's library, Lord Annesley himself thus renewed the investigation:

"What is your name?" asked his Lordship, addressing the coachman. "Thomas Cater," was the answer. "What was the occasion of your coming here?"

"Coming here! why, because one of our lads shewed me a printed paper this morning, that desired me to repair without delay to some house in Pall Mall; so when I got there, this gentleman— but I've got the bit of paper in my pocket."

"It is all right enough," interrupted Howard; "let him go on."

"Are you the owner of a hackney coach," inquired the Earl.

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No; I drive for my master." "What is the number of your coach ?" "No. 2435."

"Can you recall to recollection what fares you took up on Wednesday last, that is, the day before yesterday?"

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Mayhap I can, sir, if you'll give me a little time to think a bit. In the morning, yes, in the morning before nine o'clock, I was called off my stand to the Bell and Crown, to carry a gentleman and some luggage to the White Horse Cellar."

"Pray where is your usual stand?" "A bit below Middle Row, in Holborn."

"What, I suppose you live near there?"

"Yes, just behind Hatton Garden." "Very well; and pray what did you do after setting down at Hatchett's?"

"I drove on to Hyde-park corner, as being the next best stand, and then a lady summoned me to

"Ah! a lady; what sort of a lady was she?"

"I don't know; I did not see any thing particular about her."

"What was she drest in ?"