As she said this, the poor woman put her apron to her eyes; and in a minute or two afterwards a lady came from church, and entered the cottage. She was an old friend of Mary and of the family, and now expressed her regret at observing Mary's swoon, which had caused herself to leave the church before service was concluded. I have not had time to call for you yet, my dear Mary,' continued the lady; but the moment I heard of your arrival, I sent a basket of fruit, as a token that I had not forgotten you. I was sure, my love, you would at once know from whom it came. Why, Mary, my dear, you are still very pale!' 'Ono! better, better! thank you,' murmured Mary; but in reality her emotion was renewed by this speech, which, she knew, would reveal to Miss Stanley the folly of their mutual conjectures, in one point at least.

A

What with Mary's indisposition, and the old woman's talkativeness, more than an hour had passed away since the party had entered the cottage. When our heroine felt herself able to go away, the congregation were seen leaving church. The old woman went with her visitors to the door of the phaeton, which was waiting for them. Mary turned to bid the dame a grateful adieu, when, behold the object of her last week's idolatry appeared in the act of crossing the street towards them. suspicion on the instant passed through Mary's mind. Almost involuntarily she kept her eye upon him. He approached the poor old woman; and one look, one word, was sufficient to assure Mary of the relationship between the parties-to convince her, in short, that the interesting stranger-her perfect gentleman-her exalted hero-her insinuating attendant of the steam-boat-was no other than the widow's Johnny' and the precentor!

As in these utilitarian days a story is naught without a moral, we are happy to have it in our power to say, that these incidents formed a memorable lesson to the party chiefly concerned, and we may therefore hope that others may extract from them the like benefit. They taught poor Mary to long less eagerly for romantic adventures, to form acquaintances and attachments with more caution,

and to seek always for better gronds of judging than appearances. In fact, the young laa -for she is still a very young lady-is now in a fair way of becoming a good, commonplace sort of a body; and a certain worthy gentleman, of the most quiet and domestic habits, is firmly of opinion that she will make an excellent wife. He means shortly, we believe, to put his opinions to the proof; and from what we have observed, we are strongly impressed with the belief, that Mary will grant him the opportunity of witnessing the practical operation of the conjugal virtues he conceives her to possess.

NAPOLEON IN HIS COUNCIL OF STATE. WHILE the military talents and exploits of Napoleon have been amply described, his not less extraordinary abilities and triumphs as a legislator have been scarcely touched upon, even by his greatest admirers. Nevertheless, Europe is at this day, and must long continue to be, greatly affected by the codes of law which the hero of so many fights has left to his own and several other nations. We propose to remedy the defect of popular knowledge on this subject, by presenting a brief account of Napoleon's Council of State, and of his proceedings, and personal demeanour, as its president. It took its rise at the commencement of his life-consulship, and included some of the most eminent men of science then in France-as Chaptal, Gassendi, Fourcroy, Gay-Lussac, and Tronchet. When he became Emperor, he added to it the princes of his own family, the grand dignitaries of the empire, and the ministers of state. It met twice a week, in one of the halls of the Tuileries; and, what may be an unexpected piece of intelligence to many, the public were as freely admitted to it as to the courts of law. Cambacérès, the High Chancellor, presided in the absence of the Emperor.

The council-chamber was a large room, having a door at one of the extremities, communicating with the palace, and it was by this that the Emperor always entered. The members entered by two small doors at the opposite end. The walls of the room were embellished with various allegorical paintings, representing Justice, Commerce, Industry, &c.; and in the front of the Emperor's seat was a painting of the battle of Austerlitz, as if to denote that the chief personage of the state held with equal firmness the scale of justice and the sword of the warrior. The councillors were seated around, according to seniority, commencing from the right. At the extremity of the hall, opposite to the Emperor, were seated the Masters of Requests, on a set of carpeted steps, slightly elevated above each other, and running across the room; and behind them sat the auditory, upon benches still more elevated; the Emperor's seat faced the great entrance. A table, covered with a cloth of plain green velvet, and an arm-chair elevated on a platform of four steps, represented the imperial throne. On the platform were also the places for the High Chancellor and the High Treasurer-the first on the right, the second on the left; and right in front of the Emperor's platform was a small table placed upon the floor of the room for M. Locré, the secretary. The sittings were generally announced for mid-day, but they seldom commenced before one o'clock; they generally lasted until six, but frequently till nine, ten, and even eleven at night. On such occasions, a table, covered with eatables and other refreshments, was always brought into the little saloon, that served as an antechamber to the council-chamber; thither the members would adjourn to refresh themselves at six o'clock, and the Emperor would himself set the example, by soaking a biscuit in a glass of Madeira wine. It was seldom, too, that, on the close of any of these sittings, he did not retain some of the members to dine with him.

When the council had met, the rolling of drums under the arcades of the Tuileries was the signal of the

Emperor's approach; then the folding-doors of the chamber were thrown open, and his arrival was announced by a military officer crying 'L'Empereur !'

He was always attended by two aides-de-camp, and as many pages, and all present arose on his entrance, and remained standing, until the Emperor, having actively ascended the platform, bowed to the right and left, and signed to them to be seated, saying: 'Now, gentlemen, let us begin.' The order of the day was always presented by the High Chancellor; and the Emperor having signified the subject with which he wished to commence, the member charged to report upon it gave in his report, and the discussion opened. Never was there greater liberty of speech at the Parisian tribunes, nor in any legislative assembly, than at these councils of state. Every member might speak when he pleased, and freely give his opinion; there were no written discourses, and every one was expected to speak from the impulse of the moment. This frequently gave rise to animated discussions; and in order that the members might be freed from all restraints, the Emperor generally took no part in the proceedings, but, leaning back in his chair, hacked his pencil to pieces with a penknife, or amused himself with stabbing the table-cloth before him. At other times, he would amuse himself with drawing grotesque figures upon the paper placed on his table. These manual occupations of the Emperor were always the signal for the discussion to become more and more animated, and each speaker then gave full way to his feelings. All of a sudden, however, Napoleon would put an end to the wordy warfare, by rising and saying 'Enough!' He would then give a clear, faithful, comprehensive, and concise summary of the whole proceedings, and put the question at once to the vote. When it happened that the will of the majority was at variance with his own opinion, he never resisted it, but would say: 'Well, I must endeavour to persuade myself that I am in the wrong?' After these sittings, the more juvenile portion of the

auditory generally had a scramble for the bits of paper upon which the Emperor had been scribbling.

Frequently, when the Emperor saw that a proposition which he had submitted to the council did not meet the reception he wished, there was a sort of impatience manifested in all his movements. Unable to remain still in his elbow-chair, he endeavoured, by a thousand innocent distractions, to divert from its object the curiosity which invariably attached itself to him. In these cases, so soon as he saw the eye of one of the members fixed on him, he would hold out his arm, and agitate his thumb and forefinger, to indicate that he wished for a pinch of snuff. The person addressed would of course pass his snuff-box to him with the usual rapidity with which an emperor's wants are satisfied. Napoleon would take a pinch, and then turn the box round and round in his hands, throwing about the snuff which it contained: in his abstracted mood, he always concluded by putting the box into his pocket. So many as four snuff-boxes have in this manner disappeared during a single sitting; and it was only after going out of the council-chamber that he would become sensible of his inadvertency. The snuff-boxes always returned to their owners, and in doing so, would sometimes undergo a very agreeable metamorphosis. On coming out from the imperial pocket, a wooden or tortoise-shell box was usually converted into one of gold set round with diamonds, or into one of the same material, having the Emperor's miniature upon the lid.

Notwithstanding this munificence, some of the council, whose snuff-boxes-from being either family-pieces, or presents from foreign princes-were considered to be particularly valuable, by themselves and families, hit upon the plan of carrying papier-maché or wooden boxes, such as are exposed in the shops for twenty-five sous, or about one shilling sterling. The Emperor pocketed these all the same; and one day on going out from the chamber, where he had experienced more than ordinary contrariety of opinion, he attempted to put his