with which the poem opens. They possess, indeed, some violation of prosody, and bear evident proof of the carelessness of the author's mind; but these faults are rendered excusable by the happy turn of the periods, and its general fluency of language.

" 'Tis known, at least it should be, that throughout
All countries of the Catholic persuasion,
Some weeks before Shrove Tuesday comes about,
The people take their fill of recreation,
And buy repentance, ere they grow devout,

However high their rank, or low their station,
With fiddling, feasting, dancing, drinking, masquing,
And other things which may be had for asking.
"The moment night with dusky mantle cover's

The skies, (and the more duskily the better),
The time less liked by husbands than by lovers
Begins, and prudery flings aside her fetter;
And gaiety on restless tiptoe hovers,

Giggling with all the gallants who beset her;
And there are songs and quavers, roaring, humming,
Guitars, and every other sort of strumming.

"And there are dresses splendid, but fantastical,
Masks of all times and nations, Turks and Jews,
And harlequins and clowns, with feats gymnastical,
Greeks, Romans, Yankee-doodles, and Hindoos;
All kinds of dress, except the ecclesiastical,

All people, as their fancies hit, may choose,
But no one in these parts may quiz the clergy;
Therefore take heed, ye Freethinkers! I charge ye.
"You'd better walk about begirt with briars,
Instead of coat and small-clothes, than put on
A single stitch reflecting upon friars,
Although you swore it only was in fun :
They'd haul you o'er the coals, and stir the fires
Of Phlegethon with every mother's son ;

Nor say one mass to cool the cauldron's bubble

That boil'd your bones, unless you paid them double."

The following extract is from whence the subject of the plate is taken, and with it we shall conclude our remarks. Laura and the Count, her protector, are at the carnival; and while she

"thus was seen and seeing, smiling,
Talking, she knew not why, and cared not what,
So that her female friends, with envy broiling,
Beheld her airs and triumph, and all that;
And well-drest males still kept before her filing,
And passing bow'd and mingled with her chat;
More than the rest one person seem'd to stare
With pertinacity that's rather rare.

"He was a Turk, the colour of mahogany;
And Laura saw him, and at first was glad,
Because the Turks so much admire philogyny,
Although their usage of their wives is sad.
"Tis said they use no better than a dog any

Poor woman, whom they purchase like a pad ;
They have a number, though they ne'er exhibit 'em,
Four wives by law, and concubines ad libitum.''

QURIKA. Paris. Chez l'ADVOCAT. 1824.

The

AT Paris, "Ourika" is a kind of talisman, that excites both the high and low, and rich and poor. You hear of nothing but "Ourika bonnets," and "Ourika dresses."' In short, all Paris is "Ourika” mad, so great an interest has this little story excited. Mr. Irving's popularity here was nothing to it. We have examined its merits minutely, and really are not able to discern any thing that could interest our neighbours the other side of the water so warmly. Its principal character is simplicity, quite different, as we all know, from the usual French taste; and, therefore, its success is more surprising. story is founded in the times of the French Revolution. The heroine, Ourika, is a negress, who has been brought up in the family of the Chevalier de B. She tells her story herself, in the intervals of disease, to her medical attendants, and represents herself as being considered the personification of a union of the Muses and Graces. In short, if it was not for her unfortunate complexion, she would be nothing less than a divinity. This affords her a constant source of disquietude: the reflections that are caused on her first becoming acquainted with her unfortunate drawback are worth quoting :

66

I was

'Oh, how I felt my whole existence changed! How lost I was when the illusions I had so constantly dwelt in vanished! They resembled the light of day, and when they fled, utter darkness succeeded.So great was the confusion of my mind under the new thoughts that assailed it, that not one of my usual ideas ever occurred to me. struck with terror. To be an object of pity to the world! not to be fit for the rank I lived in! perhaps to meet with a man, who, for the sake of money, would consent to have negro children! These thoughts kept rising successively over my mind, pursuing me like phantoms. But the bitterest of all, was the certainty of belonging to no one in the world. To be alone! ever and for ever alone! Madame de B. had owned it, and I repeated the words over and over. What cared I to be alone but a few minutes before? I knew it not, I felt it not; I had need of the beings that I loved, but I was unconscious of their not wanting me. Now my eyes were opened, and with misfortune came mistrust into my soul.

"When I returned to Madame de B.'s apartment, every body was struck with the change in my appearance. I pretended to be ill, and was believed. Madame de B. sent for her physician, Barthez, who my pulse, questioned me carefully, and then abruptly declared that nothing ailed me. This quieted the uneasiness of my benefactress

felt

PREFACE.

eyes of Our How it

A PREFACE to the Second Volume of THE LITERARY MAGNET! What a delightful sentence! How it must charm the publisher! How it must warm the hearts of our readers! refreshes our own soul! We had once felt the frost of age slightly obstructing the genial current in our veins; but the sentence which we

have just put to paper is like the first sun of a new summer we are all over in a thaw. We shall positively get younger every day we continue to live. A Preface to the Second Volume of THE LITERARY MAGNET! 'Tis a renewal of the lease of our existence; and you, dear Public, are the lessor. Oh! most amiable, most generous, most discriminating Public, how much, and how sincerely, do we thank you.

We look back upon our career with the most pleasurable feelings. A twelvemonth ago, our publication was not even in existence; now we have beheld the completion of its Second Volume. At first it was a delicate unpresuming weekly magazine: now it is a sturdy pugnacious monthly. We positively fear it will run into corpulency, and ultimately become a bulky quarterly.

Now to business-a word of which we have as great a dread as Falstaff had of the word security. We beg to assure our readers that our exertions will be unabated.

Success shall not make us relax in

our duty. We may have done much; we know we have much more

to do. The improvements which we purpose to effect in our next volume, are such as will, we trust, give satisfaction to those who are so much deserving of it. In the typographical and more mechanical parts of our magazine, there will be many considerable alterations: in the literary department we shall be assisted by some of the most celebrated writers in the country. All that we have further to say on this subject, will it not be written in our January number?

For the kindness we have already experienced, our friends have our sincerest acknowledgements; and of the encouragement we may continue to receive, we shall prove ourselves fully sensible by the increased energies which will be brought to bear upon our Third Volume.

65, Paternoster Row,

1824, Dec. 1.