vanishes at once. Even here, without this evidence, we hold it utterly impossible for any one to examine carefully the different circumstances related in the note, and believe that there is room for the possibility of the deception of the mirror. A very singular feature in the case is, that the magician did not practice his art for money-this is in itself almost decisive against the idea of legerdemain what object could he have had in maintaining an imposition. We pretend not to account for the effects produced. We are very willing to believe that, "There are more things in heaven and earth Scepticism is not always the mark of superior wisdom-and though we believe the minor explanation of the writer in the Quarterly have certainly very little right to change with credulity those which find a difficulty in assenting to this improbability. Lord Lindsay's scepticism is certainly entitled to some respect; for it is founded on the most rational of all grounds-the failure or the supposed failure of the experiment. But we confess, to our minds, the account given by Lord Lindsay corroborates rather than weakens the mysterious impressious produced by those of others. In the first place, we have an additional testimony to the absence of all collusion-and we have the offer made by the magician, to communicate his power-the flags, too, and the sultan appeared in their due course; and there is just as much difficulty in accounting for these appearances as for any that followed. The first person, too, for whom Lord Lindsay asked, was ac curately described; and subsequent failures and mistakes appear rather to controvert the idea of any illusion of legerdemain. It will be observed, too, that the first attempt of the magician was altogether unsuccessful, and that he was obliged to change the boy to attain even the partial success of his second experiment. On the whole, we confess we see no adequate or even plausible solution of the difficulty. To refer feats of the magician to supernatural agency would be, perhaps, to expose ourselves to the ridicule of this enlightened age; and yet we must honestly confess, that on the evidence at present before us, we can arrive at no other conclusion. We cannot help adding, that a disbelief in what is termed supernatural agency, may often be a mark of a spirit more presumptous than wise. There is at the present day a silly scepticism abroad on such subjects, which appear to be very philosophical, but certainly derives very little countenance from either reason or revelation. The power and personal existence of Satan is perhaps a fact as clearly revealed to us in scripture, as any other truth which it teaches. There can be no question that we are distinctly taught that there is not a principle of evil, but an individual being of deep malignity, and exercising an active influence over the course of our affairs. Of the extent, indeed, of the power we are not clearly informed-but no person can doubt of the existence of the individual being. That there are subordinate spiritual existences, both good and evil, likewise interfering with the affairs of mankind, is just as clearly told; and though we cannot presume to fathom the reasons why such things are or are not permitted, we are given distinctly to understand that we are placed in a state in which spiritual existences put forth power and energies both for good and for evil, affecting our course and destinies in creation. Of the various modes in which this inteference may be carried on, it is manifest we know nothing. The mysterious union between our own souls and bodies may teach us how very far astray any guesses will probably be as to the nature of the by which the spiritual may be connected with the sensible world. However fantastic or apparently objectless the interference may appear, this ought to raise no presumption that it does not exist, unless we are prepared, knowing only one of the two-the spiritual and the sensible (and how little even of that)—to decide upon matters which only would be appreciated in their connexion with both. to We leave the facts of this Egyptian magic to make their own impression on the minds of our readers-it is not for us to explain on account for them. We cannot divest our minds of the impression that they occured in a land where such manifestations seem claim a peculiar locality-the land of Jannes and Jambres-where they "withstood Moses by their enchantments." We confess, too, we could not help being struck by the declaration of Caviglia, which we have already quoted from the volumes before usthat it was only a sense of religion that res rained him from professing the power of the ancient magician. Be this as it may, here we are indebted to Lord Lindsay for two amusing and instructive volumes. We have rapidly brought our readers along with him on his travels, and if they have gone with us in the spirit in which we have proceeded, they will lay down, as we have done, the volumes, and part from our amiable and intelligent companion with regret. CONFESSIONS OF HARRY LORREQUER. At the conclusion of my last chapter I was about to introduce to my reader's acquaintance my friend Mr. O'Leary; and, as he is destined to occupy some place in the history of these Confessions, I may, perhaps, be permitted to do so at somewhat more length than his intrinsic merit at first sight might appear to warrant. Mr. O'Leary was, and I am induced to believe is, a particularly short, fat, greasy-looking gentleman, with a head as free from phrenological development as a billiard ball, and a countenance which, in feature and color, nearly resembled the face of a cherub carved in oak, as we see them in old pulpits. In green spectacles, the glass of one being absent, and permitting the look out of a sharp, grey eye, twinkling with drollery and good humour, form the most palpable of his externals. point of character, they who best knew him represented him as the best-tempered, best-hearted fellow breathing; ever ready to assist a friend, and always postponing his own plans and his own views, when he had any, to the wishes and intentions of others. Among the many odd things about him, was a constant preference to travelling on foot, and a great passion for living abroad, both of which tastes he gratified, although his size might seem to offer obstacles to the one, and his total ignorance of every continental language, would appear to preclude the other; with a great liking for tobacco, which he smoked all day-a fondness for whist and malt liquors his antipathies were few, so that except when called upon to shave more than once in the week, or wash his hands twice on the same day, it was difficult to disconcert him. His fortune was very ample; but although his mode of living was neither very ostentatious nor costly, he contrived always to spend his income. Such was the gentleman I now presented to my friends, who, I must confcss, appeared strangely puzzled by his manner and appearance. This feeling, however, soon wore off; and before he had spent the morning in their company, he had made more way in their good graces, and gone farther to establish intimacy, than many a more accomplished person, with an unexceptionable coat and accurate whisker, might have effected in a fortnight. What were his gifts in this way, I am, alas, most deplorably ignorant of; it was not, heaven knows, that he possessed any conversation talent. Of successful flattery he knew as much as a negro does of the national debt, and yet the "bon hommie" of his character seemed to tell at once; and I never knew him These, with the addition of a pair of fail in any one instance to establish an Short as is his stature, his limbs compose by far the least of it. His hands and feet forming some compensation by their ample proportions, give to his entire air and appearance somewhat the look of a small fish, with short, thick fins, vulgarly called a cobbler's thumb. His voice varying in cadence from a deep barytone to a high falsetto, maintains throughout the distinctive characteristic of a Dublin accent and pronunciation, and he talks of the "Veel of Ovoca, and a beef-steek," with some pride of intonation. What part of the Island he came originally from, or what may be his age, are questions I have the most profound ignorance of; I have heard many anecdotes which would imply his being what the French call "dia ago mur" but his own observations are shortly limited to events occurring since the peace of "fifteen." To his personal attractions, such as they are, he has never been solicitous of contributing by the meretricious aids of dress. His coat, calculating from its length of waist and ample skirt, would fit Bumbo Green, while his trowsers, being made of some cheap and shrinking material, have gradually contracted their limits, and look now exactly like kneebreeches, without the usual buttons at the bottom. interest for himself, before he had completed the ordinary period of a visit. I think it is Washington Irvne, who has so admirably depicted the mortification of a dandy angler, who, with his beaver garnished with brown hackles, his well poised rod, polished gaff, and handsome landing-net, with every thing befitting, spends his long summer day whipping a trout stream without a rise or even a ripple to reward him, while a ragged urchin with a willow wand and a bent pin, not ten yards distant, is covering the greensward with my riads of speckled and scaly backs, from one pound weight to four; so it is in every thing," the race is not to the swift," the elements of success in life, whatever be the object of pursuit, are very, very different from what we think them at first sight, and so it certainly was with Mr. O'Leary; and I have more than once witnessed the triumph of his homely manner and blunt humour, over the more polished and wellbred taste of his competitors for favour, and what might have been the limit to such success, Heaven alone can tell, if it were not that he laboured under a counterbalancing infirmity sufficient to have swamped a line-of-battle ship itself. It was simply this-a most unfortunate propensity to talk of the wrong place, person, or time, in any society he found himself; and this taste for the mal apropos, extended so far, that no one ever ventured into com pany with him as his friend without trembling for the result; but even this, I believe his only fault, resulted from the natural goodness of his character and intentions; for, believing as he did, in his honest simplicity, that the arbitrary distinctions of class and rank were held as cheaply by others as himself, he felt small scruple at recounting to a duchess a scene in a cabaret, and with as little hesitation wuold he, if asked, have sung the "Cruiskeen lawn," or the "Jug of punch," after Lablanche had finished the " Al Idea," from Figaro. Mauvaise honte, he had none; indeed I am not sure that he had any kind of shame whatever, except possibly when detected with a coat that bore any appearance of newness, or if overpersuaded to wear gloves, which he ever considered as a special effeminacy. Such, in a few words, was the gentleman I now presented to my friends, and how far he insinuated himself in their good graces, let the fact tell, that on my return to the breakfast-room, Ah, what a pleasaut fellow was Dick!" said Mr. O'Leary musingly, and with that peculiar tone which made me tremble, for I knew well that a reminiscence was coming. "A pleasant fellow indeed." Is be alive, sir, now." "I believe so, ma'am ; but I hear the climate does not agree with him.” "Ah then he's abroad! In Italy probably?" "No, ma'am, in Botany Bay. His brother, they say, might have saved for he was just then paying his court to him, but he left poor Dick to his fate, a Miss Crow, I think, with a large for tune. Oh Lord, what have I said, it's always the luck of me!" The latter exclamation was the result of a heavy saugh upon the floor, Mrs. Bingham having fallen in a faint-she being the identical lady alluded to, and her husband the brother of pleasant Dick Bingham. To hurl Mr. O'Leary out of the room by one hand, and ring the bell with the other, was the work of a moment; and with proper care and in due time Mrs. Bingham was brought to herself, when most fortunately she entirely forgot the cause of her sudden indisposition; and, of course, neither her daughter nor myself suffered any clue to escape us which might lead to its discovery. When we were once more upon the road, to efface if it might be necessary any unpleasant recurrence to the late scene, I proceeded to give Mrs. Bingham an account of my adventure at Chantraine, in which, of course, I endeavoured to render my friend O'Leary all the honours of being laughed at in preference to myself, laying little stress upon my masquerading in the jack boots. "You are quite right," said O'Leary, joining in the hearty laugh about him, "quite right, I was always a very heavy sleeper-indeed if I wasn't I wouldn't be here now, travelling about, en garçon, free as air;" here he heaved a sigh, which from its incongruity with his jovial look and happy expression, threw us all into renewed laughter. "But why, Mr. O'Leary-what can your sleepiness have to do with such tender recollections, for such, sir, sure that sigh bespeaks them?” "Ah! ma'am, it may seem strange, but it is, nevertheless, true, if it were not for that unfortunate tendency, I should now be the happy possessor of a most accomplished and amiable lady, andeight hundred per annum three half per cent. stock." "You overslept yourself on the wedding day, I suppose." "You shall hear, ma'am, the story is a very short one-it is now about eight years ago, I was rambling through the south of France, and had just reached Lyons, where the confounded pavement, that sticks up like pears, with the point upwards, had compelled me to rest some days and recruit; for this purpose I installed myself in the pension of Madame Gourgeaud, Rue de Petits Carmes, a quiet house-where we dined at twelve, ten in number, upon about two pounds of stewed beef, with garlic and carrots-a light soup, being the water which accompanied the same to render it tender in stewing-some preserved cherries, and an omellette, with a pint bottle of Beauve, 6me qualité, I believe--a species of pyrolignious wine made from the vine stalks, but pleasant in summer with your salad; then we played dominos in the evening, or whist for sous points, leading altogether a very quiet and virtuous existence, or as Madame herself expressed it, une vie tout a fait patriarchale;' of this I cannot myself affirm how far she was right in supposing the patriarchs did exactly like us. But to proceed, in the same establishment there lived a widow whose dear husband had been a wine merchant at Digon-he had also, I suppose from residing in the country, been imitating the patriarch, for he died one day. Well, the lady was delayed at Lyons for some law business, and thus it came about, that her husband's testaments and the sharp paving stones in the streets determined we should be ac quainted. I cannot express to you the delight of my fair countrywoman at finding that a person who spoke English had arrived at the 'pension'-a feeling I myself somewhat participated in; for to say truth, I was not at that time a very great proficient in French. We soon became intimate, in less time probably than it could otherwise have happened, for from the ignorance of all the others of one word of English, I was enabled during dinner to say many soft and tender things, which one does not usually venture on in company. "I recounted my travels, and told various adventures of my wanderings, till at last, from being merely amused, I found that my fair friend began to be interested in my narratives; and frequently when passing the bouillon to her, I have seen a tear in the corner of her eye in a word, she loved me for the dangers I had passed,' as Othello says. Well, laugh away if you like, but it's truth I am telling you." At this part of Mr. O'Leary's story we all found it impossible to withstand the ludicrous mock heroic of his face and tone, and laughed loud and long. When we at length became silent he resumed-" Before three weeks had passed over I had proposed and was accepted, just your own way, Mr. Lorrequer, taking the ball at the hop, the very same way you did at Cheltenham, the time the lady jilted you, and ran off with your friend Mr. Waller; I read it all in the news, though I was then in Norway, fishing." Here there was another interruption by a laugh, not, however, at Mr. O'Leary's expense. I gave him a most menacing look, while he continued-" the settlements were soon drawn up, and consisted, like all great diplomatic documents, of a series of gains and compensations;' thus she was not to taste any thing stronger than kirsch waisa, a Nantz brandy; and I limited myself to a pound of short-cut weekly, and so on; but to proceed, the lady, being a good Catholic, insisted upon being married by a priest of her own persuasion, before the performance of the ceremony at the British embassy in Paris; to this I could offer no objection, and we were accordingly united in the holy bonds, the same morning after signing the law papers." "Then, Mr. O'Leary, you are really a married man." "That's the very point I'm coming to, ma'am; for I've consulted all the jurists upon the subject, and they never can agree. But you shall hear, I despatched a polite note to Bishop Luscombe, and made every arrangement for the approaching ceremony, took a quartier in the Rue Helden, near the Estamiret, and looked forward with anxiety for the day which was to make me happy; for our marriage in Lyons was only a kind of betrothal. Now, my fair friend had but one difficulty remaining, poor dear soul-I refrain from mentioning her name for delicacy sake; but poor dear Mrs. Rain could not bear the notion of our going up to Paris in the same conveyance, for long as she had lived abroad, she had avoided every thing French, even the language, so she proposed that I should go in the early Diligence,' which starts at four o'clock in the morning, while she took her departure at nine; thus I should be some hours sooner in Paris, and ready to receive her on her arriving; besides sparing her bashfulness all reproach of our travelling together. It was no use my telling her that I always travelled on foot, and hated a Diligence;' she cooly replied that at our time of life we could not spare the time necessary for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for so she supposed the journey from Lyons to Paris to be; so fearing lest any doubt might be thrown upon the ardour of my attach ment, I yielded at once, remembering at the moment what my poor friend Dick Bing Oh Lord, I'm at it again !" 66 After a most tender farewell of my fair bride or wife, I don't know which, I retired for the night with a mind vacillating between my hopes of happiness and my fears for the result of a Journey so foreign to all my habits of travelling, and in which I could not but tremble at the many casualties my habitual laziness and dislike to any hours but of my own choosing, might involve me in. "I had scarcely lain down in bed, ere these thoughts took such possession of me, that sleep for once in my life was out of the question; and then the misery of getting up at four in the morning-putting on your clothes by the fleckering light of the porter's candlegetting your boots on the wrong feet, and all that kind of annoyance-I am sure I petted myself into the feeling of a downright martyr, before an hour was over. Well at least, thought I, one thing is well done,-I have been quite right in coming to sleep here at the Messagerie Hotel, where the diligence starts from, or the chances ten to one that I never should wake till the time was past. Now, however, they are sure to call me; so I may sleep tranquilly till then. Meanwhile I have forgotten to pack my trunk, my papers, &c. laying all about the room in a state of considerable confusion I rose at once with all the despatch I could muster; this took a long time to effect, and it was nearly two o'clock ere I finished, and sat down to smoke a solitary pipe, the last as I supposed, it might be my lot to enjoy for heaven knows how long, Mrs. R. having expressed, rather late in our intimacy I confess, strong opinions against tobacco. "When I had finished my little sac of the weed,' the clock struck three and I started to think how little time I was destined to have in bed. In bed! why, said I, there is no use thinking of it now, for I shall scarcely have lain down ere I shall be obliged to get up again. So thinking, I set about dressing myself for the road; and as the season was winter, and the weather dreadfully severe, took care to array myself in all the covering I could lay hands upon; and by the time I had enveloped myself in a pair of long hungarian gaiters, and a kurtcha of sheep's wool, with a brown bear skin outside, a welsh wig, and a pair of large dark glass goggles to defend the eye from the snow, I was not only perfectly impervious to all effects of the weather, but so thoroughly defended from any influence of sight or sound, that a volcano might be hissing and thundering within ten yards of me, without attracting my slightest attention. Now, I thought, instead of remaining here, I'll just step down to the coach, and get snugly into the diligence, and having secured the corner of the coupé, resign myself to sleep with the certainty of not being left behind, and, probably, too, be some miles on my journey before awaking. I accordingly went down stairs, and to my surprise found even at that early hour, that many of the garçons of the house were stirring and bustling about, |