vestigation into the principles of the human mind, in a long copy of iambics, in which the stabile spondees have their full weight. I am not, however, prepared to assert, that although the harshness of rhythm has been overlooked, the sense of the ideas intended to be embodied therein, has been, on that account, more distinctly conveyed. In company Allen is silent and reserved, unless when exhilarated by copious draughts from the mantling bowl, which certainly in his case succeeds in unfolding the contractæ seria frontis.

The next member of the club who offers himself to our notice is the Hon. GERARD MONTGOMERY, the son of a rich Warwickshire Peer, whose bodily habits have been rendered weak and effeminate, owing to the over-abundant attentions bestowed on him in the nursery, by his maiden aunt, Lady Deborah Mildmay. This character, with reference to the former two, forms the same connecting link which twilight does between the opposite extremes of day and night. His genius is a brilliant of the first water, but his talents have been suffered to run wild, owing to their very luxuriance. Gifted with wonderful quickness and retentiveness of memory, and an ardent imagination, always on the wing in search of variety, his progress in classical attainments was the theme of universal admiration, and his instructors argued highly of the future reputation of their pupil. But the success which he met with in his studies was the means of preventing him from ever becoming a solid scholar. The facility with which he was able to master all his tasks engendered presumption, and an unbounded confidence in his own powers, than which nothing can be more detrimental to the cause of learning. Hence Gerard indulged in habits of procrastination, because he could write his verses off-hand, and therefore the performance of his duty might be safely delayed till the last moment, and thenslurred over as a disagreeable task. Hence also, not being accustomed to find any difficulties in the mere school busi'ness which was required of him, he determined not to seek for them of his own accord, in the more arduous pursuits of knowledge, which demand effort and application. In his course of reading, he skimmed with volatile eagerness along the gayer and more pleasing paths of literature: he flew from

author to author, as the bee sips the sweets from every flower, without troubling herself with inquiries into the nature and properties of each one that she visits. By these means Montgomery amassed an extensive stock of information on almost every branch of the belles lettres; but in spite of the ability with which he would discuss a question, and support his share of conversation among the members of the Club, he has often been found to be but superficially acquainted with the subject which he has been adorning with all the beauties of a fluent and persuasive eloquence. Eton, however, cannot boast of possessing another youth of whom it may be as truly averred, that he has quaffed copious draughts of the genuine Hippocrene. His natural talent for poetical composition has been greatly improved and strengthened by his acquaintance with the mighty master-spirits of the old time of Greece and Rome. His sense of pleasing emotions was so refined, and his perception of the beautiful and pathetic so acute, that a tear has been observed glistening in his eyes, while contemplating the parting of the Trojan hero with his Andromache, or while tracing the agonizing feelings of the impassioned Dido on the departure of Æneas. But the eagerness with which he delivered himself up to the sway of the potent wands of our own native magicians, Shakspeare and the elder tragedians, with Scott, Byron, and Coleridge of the present day, was carried to an excess. believe he had reached the perfection of human happiness, when, having locked himself in his room, this poetical enthusiast indulged in sentimental tears over some favourite poem which he was reading aloud with energy and feeling. This sensibility often led Gerard into many other extravagancies: and he was looked upon as a romantic visionary by those of the common mould. He would frequently steal away from a comfortable fire-side to wander on a chilly autumn evening in the gloom of Poet's Walk, with his arms folded, to commune with solitude, to watch the fleecy clouds as they passed over the glimmering moon, and, I was going to add, to meditate on some ideal beauty. But no! Gerard was not a shadow hunter: unexistent creatures of the imagination were by no means to his taste, for he knew well how to attach sufficient value to the liquid blue eyes of a substantial Charlotte, or the

I

graceful figure and auburn ringlets of a real Sophia. Hence his pockets were crammed with billet-doux and sonnets on the charms of the adorable Miss R. T-, or the last dying speech and confession of the love-lorn Gerard, previous to his quenching the flames of passion in a cold bath. This amorous disposition led our Romeo into many ludicrous scrapes. He has been shot at for a black cat; has narrowly escaped a man trap; has been well soused by his Juliet, and soundly horsewhipped by the stout old Capulet of the premises.

The pursuits of Sir FRANCIS WENTWORTH are perfectly distinct from any that have been hitherto described. This youth was born and bred a staunch Whig. Even in the nursery the true principles were instilled into his expanding ideas with the greatest assiduity. Instead of the common food with which the love of the marvellous, so early evinced by children, is usually served,-such as the astonishing exploits of Jack the Giant Killer, or the adventures of Tom Thumb; little Frank was supplied with political caricatures and electioneering ballads. His laced baby-cap was made in the shape of that of liberty; and whenever he was admitted to the family dessert, to have half a glass of wine on Papa's knee, he was first required to lisp out the patriotic toast of "The cause for which Hampden bled in the field and Sydney perished on the scaffold," long before he could possibly understand the import of the sentence; and to repeat after his uncle, in a shrill voice,-" The liberty of the Press-it is like the air we breathe;"-(while his eyes were evidently turned towards the glass at the latter part of the sentence,) "if we have it not, we die." The labours of the parents met with the success their most ardent wishes anticipated. When he had now reached the period at which boys who are intended for public schools prepare for their debut on a miniature world, his father (the late Sir Marmaduke) was a long time debating with himself at which seminary the future hopes of the family should be placed. At first he was afraid that Eton was situated too near the atmosphere of a Court; and the main consideration was, the danger there might be of Frank's principles becoming corrupted. This school had

also been disgraced, in his eyes, as the nursery of Canning; but when he reflected, on the other hand, that it had had the honour of educating two such "burning and shining lights " in the parliamentary hemisphere as the great Fox, and the kindred spirit who caught the mantle of the departing orator, and with it an inspiration which has raised him to the pre-eminent station which he at present holds among his party, the Earl Grey; all scruples vanished, and Frank was sent to Eton. Here, however, he did not find that coincidence of opinion which he had been in the habit of meeting with at his father's table: nothing is more foreign to the dispositions of the would-be politicians at school, and at Eton in particular, than sycophancy or complaisant concessions in party sentiments. It is an independence of soul worthy the true offspring of Englishmen; and although it is the cause of a good deal of squabbling between the champions of opposite parties, which are as regularly organized here as on the more extensive stage of the real world ;-yet when we consider that these are the minds which will be hereafter summoned to the management of the helm of Legislature, can it be otherwise than beneficial for themselves and their destinies, that they should be exercising those talents here, which will be of so much importance in their maturity elsewhere? Thus young Frank met with those who were both willing and able to grapple with and discuss every notion which he advanced, and had hitherto been taught to consider as incontrovertible as Gospel. Opposition, as one might readily expect, made him more violent, because the foundation had been deeply laid in his infancy; and during the whole course of his boyhood, the most indefatigable exertions had been used to build a firm superstructure upon it. Having therefore been beforehand furnished with arms, and well instructed in the art of wielding them, he had now a field opened for him on which to signalize himself; and so successful did he prove, that he was at length tacitly acknowledged as the Whig Leader of the School. But such a distinction could not be obtained or permanently secured without a close application to the study of political economy. It is true that some, who pretend to take the lead in this line, content themselves with ringing the changes on a certain

string of set sentences, while their mouths are continually full of aggravated philippics against tyranny, taxation and oppression, and theoretical panegyrics upon universal liberty and the unshackled freedom of the press, without being able to bring them to bear really and substantially on the question in debate. This is not the case with the young Baronet. From a close investigation of his darling study, and a sincere desire of information, he has lately learnt a degree of moderation in his assertions which was heretofore a desideratum. He still, however, pushes the same outcries against existing corruptions, boroughmongers, and placemen ;-the extravagance of the expenditure, and the incapacity of Ministers. Step into his room, and you will discover the man from the company he keeps. The first object which strikes. the eye is an immense bust of Charles James Fox, with the "Vincit amor patria" on the pedestal. Look round you at the caricatures, and you will see the Ministers and their satellites falling headlong from their political spheres, like Lucifer and his angels, while the glorious sun of "Opposition" has gained the complete ascendancy in the firmament. His book-shelves are well provided with various works on statistics, from the tomes of Hume and Adam Smith, to the compositions of Malthus, Brougham, and Jeremy Bentham. Though there are some authors of questionable principles, the great majority consist of writers after Sir Frank's own heart; and never perhaps was my Lord Clarendon in such mixed company. The tables were strewed with the Edinburgh Reviews, parliamentary proceedings, files of old Chronicles and Examiners, and pamphlets of all sizes. Here is the room of audience, in which this blooming sprig of Whiggism assembles his friends and followers to breakfast, and communicates to them in confidence the latest despatches which he has received from town of the state of affairs; the new speculations which are afloat; and the general understanding there is that the Ministry are to be turned out--immediately another cabinet can be formed without them: he then reads out, for their edification, Lord Erskine's last publication, or some other text-book; and, having thus strengthened their minds, he sends them forth to fight in the "good cause," as he tells them, like sheep among wolves.