this tasteful, and elegant emporium?" Count Salmoni finished the sentence he had commenced, rose slowly from his leaning posture over the table, turn'd deliberately round towards Wyliehart, raised his glass to his eye, and after examining him minutely, said in a measured tone" and who the deuce are you?"

66

Why you must have a short memory, Count," said Wyliehart slowly withdrawing his hand and smiling determinedly, "it was only three weeks ago that we met at Lusher's, you see my memory is more retentive."

66

“At Lusher's, aye, aye, very true," said the Count, "I thought you had been one of the tailors or saddlers, or one of those curs that are always barking at one's heels-let me see-at Lusher's " and he raised his glass again to his eye, "aye it was at the wine party and you could'nt stand it. Ha, ha, what a devil of a fool you made of yourself when you felt the seas rushing over you, ha, ha, you swore you would never get drunk, but the demon of a deed was done,' as it says in the play," and here he laugh'd again. Wyliehart siezed the opportunity of earnestly assuring the Count that he had mistaken the person altogether, that it was not at a wine party they had met but at a soiree-but the Count cut his sentence short, by telling him that his friend was a regular blood," and that he would think all the better of him for having ventured out of his depth, although it was late in life for him to commence. Here Wyliehart felt completely at fault; if he disclaim'd all idea of ever being drunk, it was pretty evident he should be cut by the Count Salmoni, whose face bore on its every feature the motto "I drink;" on the other hand, there stood that provoking mass of flesh and blood Tom Rumball, listening to every word with his mouth wide open, laughing as if to kill himself, and ready to blaze about the whole affair to every creature he came near. At length he determined to brave the Count's opinion on this subject, and make himself agreeable on some other. Unfortunately" said he, "I was not at the wine party, a professional engagement kept me away. I think you were admiring this groupe of bronze." "Professional engagement!" scream'd the Count with upraised eyes, "then I suppose you are one of my blood-suckers-one of my rascally lawyers. Let me catch you within half a mile of a horsepond! Sudtz! where's my riding whip?" "Not so fast, Count," said Wyliehart with a most imperturbable smile, "you have made a mistake again, my name is Wyliehart, you may perhaps recollect passing a joke upon me for being a surgeon. 'A surgeon! "echoed the Count, "then what can you possibly want with me? Sudtz! do I owe a surgeon's bill?" Sudtz replied in the negative. "Glad of it, devilish glad— hope I never shall-surgeons I hate mortally-may I die a natural death!" He turn'd his back to the mortified Wyliehart, took up a pair of primitive looking spurs to which he was originally directing his friend's attention, and thought no more of the interruption to his conversation.

"And that's what you call a Count!" said Rumball, “I should call him a hog, but you and I look at brute beasts with different eyes." "Oh! he's a very good sort of fellow," replied Wyliehart, "when he's in the humour, but he's rather queer sometimes, not quite right. I should not be surprised if he were to go mad. Dear me! we have

been here more than three hours, I must make haste home." Just as they left the house they met an acquaintance of Wyliehart's, who stopp'd to speak to them, and ask them of the articles for sale, "I am in want," said Wyliehart, "of a good series of anatomical drawings, my pupil will not be able to make much progress in his studies without them; this accounts for my being in such an unprofessional, idling place. But you'll excuse me leaving you so abruptly, I have so much to do, that I am almost run off my legs. Oh, Mr. Mildway, better be a street sweeper than a surgeon!" so saying, he shook him heartily by the hand, said he should call on him soon, and taking Rumball's arm walk'd towards home. And mauy a good laugh they had before they reach'd Wyliehart's house, no doubt it was at the expense of the good but credulous Mr. Mildway.

THE HOUR OF PRAYER.

I stand upon the stormy height that overlooks the plain,
Where Granada's old terraced Town, the boast of southern Spain,
Uprears its time-ennobled head, and proudly courts the storm :-
And many a tempest I have seen its verdant vales deform!
There stands, too, as in mockery of Man's creative powers,
Th' Alhambra, once the Moslem's pride: its terraces, its towers,
Its Moorish arches, groined roofs, its column-lifted halls,
Its tesselated marble floors, and its high storied walls;——
These eloquently tell, although fast hast'ning to decay,
Much of the Moor's magnificence; now nearly pass'd away!

How beautiful the scene below! Above me how sublime!
There clust'ring vines and olives grow, here rocks as old as Time,-
The Sierra Nevada lift their white heads to the sky,

And like the stars, and like the sun, Time's ravages defy.

But hark! I hear the vesper-bell: it is the hour of prayer.
What silvery sounds those Convent-bells, now tinkling every where,
Send up to me whilst each green hill reverberates the sound!

A blessed and a holy calm reigns every where around.
Now every creature lifts his heart, and breathes a pious prayer!
The traveller on the mountain stops; his heart's his altar there.
The muleteer, too, bares his head and pauses while he prays;—
Nay, e'en the Bandit, if he hears, th' uplifted dagger stays,

And learns to spare at that bless'd sound, him he had doomed to bleed!
The very sheep stand motionless; the wild-deer checks his speed:
The Shepherd stops, as down the hill his flock he leads to fold;-

And now, in every Convent-home the Brethren's beads are told,

And all the holy Sisterhood their ave-Marys say:

Yea, every soul in all the land finds leisure now to pray!

Serene and holy vesper-hour! Here solemn grandeur dwells,—

A transient gleam of Holiness-awakened by those bells,

Those Convent-bells that gently tell of sins to be forgiven,

That sweetly murmuring on the breeze, speak silver-tongued of Heaven! The sun in all his glory clad sinks o'er the western main,

And seems to ask, as he descends, God's leave to rise again.

EDWARD DENNYS.

RESEARCHES IN THE CITY OF LONDON INSTITUTION, JOURNEY THE SECOND.

BY SUBSCRIBER, NO. 2,500.

NEVER was there a prouder moment in our life than that in which a Deputation, consisting of one rejected Committee-Member, two newly admitted 15-year-olds, and the under porter, waited upon us at our Apartments, in New Grub-street, to tender their thanks to the "highly talented individual who had so ably described the wonders of the Institution." But our felicity grew insupportable, when the spokesman of the deputation presented us with a square Robin, signed by eight members, earnestly praying that we would "favour the terrestrial globe with a continuation of our splendid article." We were overpowered- we looked unutterable things; but recovering our composure, assured the Deputation that, with the permission of the worthy Editor, we should avail ourselves of the first opportunity of resuming our labours. We dismissed the applicants with a quotation from the Sanscrit, and now hasten to redeem our pledge-although we usually defer that until Saturday night. We, therefore, propose to select a few more of the most prominent marvels of the Institution, begging our readers to bear in mind that we shall flit about from object to object-now revelling in the wonders of the French Class Room, and then groping in the obscurity of subterranean apartments, as may best suit our lawless fancy. We shall commence with,

THE ENGLISH ELOCUTION CLASS.

This Class has long been celebrated as the Cradle in which some of the greatest prattlers, within the limits of the Twopenny Post have been nurtured. Need we point to the illustrious Rum Fum, Esq., whose wonderful recitations of Nursery Ballads have been known to set in motion a thousand pairs of heels and hands at a time -a feat of arms which was never transcended even by the renowned Signor Orpheus of old, whom every Schoolboy knows to have been the first-fiddle in Greece. Need we remind the Veterans of the Institution of the memorable occasion when Mr. Hector Meltem, actually pumped out a shower of tears from the eyes of a porter, now retired, by his touching Repetition of the story of Little Red Riding Hood, although the aforesaid porter was standing at some distance in the passage. Has not this class been the Alma Mater of many a man whose voice has been heard on the stage, and at the bar? Bear witness, thou illustrious Stammers! whose splendid declamation, at the Old Bailey on thy recent trial, softened the hearts of two out of twelve inhuman jurymen! And thou, most persuasive Diddle, whose surpassing elocution has been known to extract a loan from a vindictive creditor at the very time when he was threatening to deposit thy body in gaol! The Spirit of Oratory, however, still flutters its wings in this sacred Amphitheatre. A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of imbibing a few draughts of double-distilled Elocution to the great delight of our mental palate. We regret that we cannot lay before our readers the Bill of Fare presented to us on that occasion; but we

trust they will receive the following as entitled to the average credit of Newspaper Reports.

PROGRAMME.

[Flourish of "How-d'ye-do's?-Overture of Coughs, Cheers and Cries, with Buzzing by the Million.-The taking of the Chair.]

A Miltonic-Byronic-Address to the Sun, Moon and Stars-Heathen Gods and British Petticoats.

Mr. O'Tooley

Mr. Strand

Tripp.

The Dying Speech and Confession of
Reuben Tripp, who was hung for horse-
stealing at Lancaster, 1790
Advertisement of a Sale by Public Auction, Geo. Robins.
Extract from a Bill in Chancery

Paddy O'Whackem's Address to his troops

Lyndhurst.

before a fight at Donnybrook Fair O'Whackem. Selection from the Cries of London inter

spersed with Indian War-whoops - Various.

We can only refer to two or three of these elocutionary explosions in the way of criticism. The Hottentot Lyric was extremely interesting as the composition of a rising poet of that nation, who had commenced and completed it in a Kraal or Cattlefold. It was followed by half-a-round of applause. The splendid oration in behalf of the oppressed mastiffs was delivered with terrific emphasis, and its merits were greatly enhanced by a clever imitation of their bark: we regret, however, that the talented gentleman, whose object was doubtless to enlist the Christian Sympathies of the Institution-Public on behalf of the Canine Race, did not produce one of these interesting but persecuted quadrupeds, and prevail upon him to favour the audience with an oration, or at least a few "bow-wows" of his own. Is there not an "honorary" dog attached to the Institution? If not, we humbly submit that one should be elected forthwith, in order that the Official Body may be rendered complete. This recitation was honoured with about 100 "bravos" and perhaps 20 "encores." The dying speech and confession of the celebrated Tripp was however the chef d'œuvre of the evening. Here the representative of the betrayed sufferer overpowered his audience by his pathetic Recitative, aided, as it was, by frequent and affecting allusions to his neck. But when he proceeded to shew how "he had only prigged a matter of fifty osses in the course of his practice, and YET the sharks wouldn't let him alone," the fountains of sorrow were unsealed, and the sounds of mourning were heard throughout the noble amphitheatre. Even we were moved into audible lamentation. So general indeed was the wailing that we compute the quantity of tears shed on the occasion at not less than 8 or 10 pints. Only one circumstance was wanting to

render the effort complete-a rope suspended from the gallery; for if the orator had placed himself upon a chair, and recited through the noose, we are inclined to think the illusion would have been as perfect as it could possibly have been, without hanging himself "right out." We respectfully submit to the Class that a few artistical adjuncts of this nature would stamp the recitations with an air of reality highly conducive to their success. We are almost afraid to speak of the approbation which followed this masterpiece of Elocution; but one of our friends present declared that there were no less than seven distinct rounds of applause-there might indeed be something overbut seven we think there certainly were. The chairman then wound up the proceedings by some brief but eloquent remarks upon the anatomy of the tongue, and the absence of vocal organs in the sturgeon and other fishes. He trusted that the lungs of the class might continue to flourish in undecaying vigour; whereupon the lungs aforesaid delivered a valiant joint-stock shout of "Bravo," which, with the usual quantum of uproar, terminated the meeting.

If we might be allowed to use the critical freedom which accompanies the royal "We," it would be for the purpose of suggesting to some of the elocutionists that they might, perhaps without any detriment to their recitations, somewhat moderate the fierceness of their looks. We approve highly of a few savage glances scattered at intervals through a discourse; but we must confess that our timid soul is apt to quiver when we catch a glimpse of a countenance, the muscles of which have been wound up to the highest pitch of ferocity, in order to give effect to the repetition of a Nursery Ballad. We have been terribly alarmed when some Mr. Shakemwell, for instance, has stepped forward with knitted brow, clenched fists, and murderous aspect; shaking his "gory-locks" and raising his Basilisk-eyes to the ceiling, he has thundered out a series of objurgations which must have sorely tried the strength and equanimity of the glass in the sky-light on such occasions we have been absolutely horrified, and retiring behind the door-where practicable-waited patiently until the storm has blown over. From such volcanic bursts, we always anticipate a plentiful crop of hysterics. We trust, however, when we remind the Elocutionary Staff of the Institution that a large proportion of the audience is of the feminine species, and that those who are immediately in front of the stage, have no direct mode of escape, they will generously be pleased to allow of a trifling reduction from the excessive ferocity of their visages on these occasions. Just a shade or two less of the Banditti expression on their faces would harmonize better with the tint on the walls. Before we conclude our notice of these delightful meetings we may perhaps be allowed to intimate-most respectfully-to the Ladies who honour them with their presence, that much of the Enthusiasm displayed in these recitions is due to their countenance and support-we should say rather to their countenances-for it is difficult to suppose that the martial looks and vehement articulations of the Elocutionists would be squandered on a whiskered auditory. In the name therefore of our brother-members and fellow-countrymen; and in the name of Humanity at large, we beg to present our thanks to the Ladies of the Institution for their patronage at these assemblies. At