/ When the King, who at first hardly trusted his eyes,
Had somewhat recovered the shock of surprise,
He shook his thick head

At the Cardinal, and said,

In tones in which something of anger still lurked,

"How's this? Why, God bless me, I thought you were burked!" "Had such been my fate," quickly answered Richelieu, "Had they made me a subject, the rascally crew, My liege, they'd have soon made another of you. Look here!" and he pulled out the nobles' despatch, Who felt that for once they had met their match, And exclaiming, "’Öd rot 'em,

The scoundrels, I've got 'em!"

Read it out to the King from the top to the bottom.
Next morning twelve scaffolds, with axes of steel,
Adorned the fore-court of the sprightly Bastille;
And at midnight twelve nobles, by way of a bed,
Lay snug in twelve coffins, each minus a head-
A thing not uncommon with nobles, 'tis said.
Priest Joe got his see,

And delighted was he,

For the bishoprick suited his taste to a T;

And Richelieu, the stern, unforgiving and clever,
Bullied king, church, and people, more fiercely than ever!

Such the theme which Sir Lytton

Has recently hit on,

To expand his rare fancy, and feeling, and wit on;
And the moral is this-if, conspiring in flocks,
Silly geese will presume to play tricks with a fox,
And strive by finesse to get rid of the pest,

They must always expect to come off second best!

COME BACK TO ME!

Oh! where are ye, bright happy days,
Ye gay, and radiant hours?
When life to me was as a dream
Of sunshine and of flowers.
Alas! how little then I thought

How transient ye would be ;
How soon that I should sigh in vain:
Come back-come back to me!

Oh! where are ye, my early friends,
The dear, the true, the loved,
Who shared my happy childhood's mirth,
Have ye, too, transient proved?
No, no! that thought I could not bear,
For, oh with heartfelt glee

I cling to hope, that whispers still,
Ye will come back to me !

M. C. M.

VINCENT EDEN;

OR, THE OXONIAN.

BY QUIP.

CHAPTER III.

THE FRESHMAN'S INTRODUCTION TO OXFORD SOCIETY.

EDEN returned to his college, pondering on the peculiarities of his new acquaintance, and more than half inclined to wish that the parent of the illustrious Henry Brougham and Arthur Wellington had never taken it into her head to make his portmanteau her substitute for a General Post. With the image of Mrs. Myrtleby rose that of the young ladies' seminary, at which the intimacy between that matron and his own mother had first sprung up. The thoughts of school na. turally led him back to those of college! and this train of reflection— together with a series of calls on the authorities of Trinity, (who took care to absent themselves when these little marks of respect were fly. ing about,) and a stroll in search of a cap and gown, which he first astonished the tailor by paying ready money for, and then every one he met, by wearing the former article hind side before,―lasted till the dinner.bell rang.

Dinner passed away without much worthy of remark. This being the first general meeting in Hall, there was a great deal of shaking hands across the table among some recent arrivals; and, to judge by their own accounts, there never had been, or could by any possibility be again such a pleasant vacation as they had all spent, or such fine fellows as they had shown themselves therein. Then it was amusing to see those gentlemen who had stopped up to read, looking as if they had just now remembered for the first time that they had a great deal still to do, and bolting their dinner as if they thought indigestion would help them to do it. The Freshmen, too, were equally entertaining in their way. Some took every opportunity of sneering at the dinner, particularly when anybody was looking at them; as much as to say how utterly unworthy it was of them, and what much better ones they got at home. Others called each other "sir" so often, that Eden's little scout, who waited at that table, began to think there was no necessity for his calling them so at all, and, having taken his beer before instead of after dinner, actually went so far in his familiarities as to say "Directly, Duggins," to one young gentle. man, who having been at a public school, was the only one who dared to ask for a clean plate. As for Eden himself, having (in spite of his walking into the kitchen by mistake for the Hall) been the first at table, he was guilty of the gratuitous piece of politeness of waiting for the rest before he began,--an interval which he beguiled by taking

the brass stand bearing the college arms, and stationed in the centre of the hall, for a most capacious and comprehensive plate-warmer; so that when he did begin, the meat was all cold. He consoled himself, however, with the idea of making up with pastry; and, on being requested to choose between tarts and pudding, and deciding on the former, found that they existed merely in the scout's imagination; and, falling back on the latter, had the satisfaction of learning that it was all gone.

Youth, however, and natural good-humour, and, it may be, the anticipation of a supper at Raffleton's,-for it does not do to probe motives, even a Freshman's, too severely-easily consoled him for these minor misfortunes; and at the appointed hour he sallied forth in quest of his friend's lodgings.

Meanwhile the company had already assembled. At the top of the table, his face spattered with gravy, and perspiring with excess of anxiety and exertion, sate the host, cutting and carving for, and taking the wine with, everybody all round. It was a day of triumph for Raffleton. Two noble lords from Christ Church, in consideration of sundry bets lost to them by that gentleman for the express purpose of i securing their acquaintance, and furthermore, of their own wine not having arrived from town, had actually vouchsafed to sup with him; and there they sate, not paying mnch attention to their host, it is true; but, as far as eating and drinking went, condescending to make themselves most completely at home. The posts of honour had been, of course, assigned them. At the bottom of the table, his handsome face overshadowed with a profusion of dark clustering hair, such as many a woman might have envied, sate the courted of Crockford's and Almack's-the richest among the young nobility of the day-the gay Lord Wynyard while on the right of Mr. Raffleton was the somewhat undersized and boyish-looking Earl of May.

Then there were two gentlemen from London, foreigners, of whom nothing farther was known than that they rejoiced in the imposing names of the Count Pichantosch, and the Chevalier Lief biwitz-that they had come down to Oxford on private business of their own—and that they were very fond of whist; on which occasions the Count invariably turned up the ace of hearts in dealing, and the Chevalier as invariably remarked how odd it was; probably because if he had not said so, other people might have thought so. Beside Wynyard sate a friend of his, a tall, pale, gentlemanly looking man, from Trinity, with dark hair, and an enormous appetite, which for the present completely disabled him from answering, as his godfathers and godmother had fully intended he should do, to the name of Mr. Richardson Lane. The remaining places were occupied by a number of young men individually unremarkable, but who by dint of great united exertion had procured for themselves the familiar college appellation of "Bricks ;"

and who were for the present cemented together by a theoretical and practical predilection for dogs and horses-a medical certificate of hebdomadal fever on hunting days- and a far stronger disposition to make themselves sick on Messrs. Sheard's and Sim's claret than to pay for it.

The costume, too, like the dispositions and habits of the party, although slightly varied according to the taste of the individual, partook of the same general character; being a sort of " Oxford mixture" of the troubadour picturesque style with that of Mr. Charles Mathews dressed for genteel comedy. Coats of a fanciful cut and colour; liveries of sundry clubs, rivalling in number and splendour of apparel the ancient orders of knighthood-magnificent satin neckcloths à la Field of the Cloth of Gold-breast-pins, which might respectively have done duty as Solomon's sceptre, or the Lord Mayor's mace-together with the deep tone of devotion to the fair sex, which the conversation occasionally assumed-all seemed to mark the birth of a new age of chivalry in Oxford.

It was in the presence of this august company that, after twenty minutes spent in alternately losing and inquiring his way, our Freshman at length found himself; and having apologised to Raffleton for his delay, was accommodated by him with a seat on his left hand and the claw of a lobster, and then formally introduced to the company. Count Fichantosch and his friend, Liefbiwitz, bowed very low at the introduction, and still lower on hearing that he was a Freshman; for which there did not appear any very distinct reason, except that Freshmen might justly be supposed to know less of foreigners, and their little winning ways, than anybody else. Mr. Richardson Lane, who was the "capital fellow of his own college," to whom Raffleton was to introduce him, being a Freshman of already one term's standing, did not bow at all, but nodded patronizingly, by way of doing the civil to his new acquaintance, and then took wine with him, by way of doing the same to himself. To the two noblemen, Raffleton did not seem to consider it necessary to introduce him at all-probably feeling how useless it would be, from a recollection of the time, trouble, and expense, which it had cost him to become acquainted with them himself. "Ohe! jam satis est," cried Wynyard, pushing back his chair, on the cloth being withdrawn, and looking very much as if he had eaten more than was good for him, and was about to do the same in the drinking department.

"Don't," said Raffleton, catching the words indistinctly from the other end of the table, without being aware who had uttered them. "Don't do that again, whoever you are.”

Don't do what?" asked somebody near him.

"Talk Latin," said Raffleton, Then, finding out for the first time that it was a lord who said it, he exclaimed very loud, that it was the very best thing he had ever heard, and laughed still

louder, by way of backing his opinion; after which he began to think seriously of talking Latin himself, only he didn't happen to remem ber any just at that moment, and Willett wasn't there to help him.

The fact was, talking Latin was a new freak of Wynyard's. Having lately become the proprietor of a reading-desk, a reflecting-lamp, and a private tutor, the noble lord actually flattered himself he was rapidly recovering the few stray leaves of the tree of knowledge which had fallen to his share under the influence of that patent circulator of blood and Latin grammar, that schoolboy's Memoria Technica, the flogging block. The delusion was already complete in his own case-it was to impress his more sceptical associates with a similar belief that he was in the habit of occasionally favouring them with miscellaneous remarks from the dead languages.

"Who'll sing us a song?" said Raffleton, as soon as he had recovered from the confusion consequent upon the idea of having offended a lord. "Come, Carlton, you will, I know. One of your own, that's a good fellow!"

Eden turned to the person thus addressed, whom in his hurried introduction he had not before observed. He was apparently not more than one-and-twenty, with a mild, thoughtful-looking face, and an eye, which, by an occasional quick, bright glance, seemed to give the lie to the pensive and almost melancholy expression of his features. He quietly and readily complied with Raffleton's request, and sung as follows: