sorts." Chap. 104.In fact, the wonders they saw were so manifold and bewildering, that the poor man says it would be impossible to enumerate them at that time, although he would certainly resume the subject, and give a more detailed account upon some future occasion; a pledge which he shortly after redeems with the following touching expression of his regret that he should have committed himself to so difficult a task.

"This city of Pekin, of which I have promised to speak more fully, is so prodigious, and the sights to be seen therein so remarkable, that I almost repent my undertaking, which, to say the truth, I hardly know how to set about; for we are not to suppose that it is such a city as Rome, Constantinople, Venice, Paris, London, Seville, or Lisbon; nor that any European city, however populous and famous, can be compared with it. Neither can any of the celebrated. places beyond the confines of Europe pretend to rival it in its stupendous buildings, excessive riches, wonderful abundance, innumerable population, its great commerce, and infinite vessels; its courts of peace, justice, government, and other institutions. By the chronicles of the king of China, it appears that this city is thirty leagues in circumference, without reckoning the suburbs, in which latter are many astonishing things, whereon I might enlarge if I thought proper. It is enclosed with a double wall of hewn stone, of great thickness, with three hundred and sixty gates, each having a barbican of two very high towers, surrounded by ditches, over which there is a drawbridge.

At each gate is an officer, with four halberdiers, who are obliged to give an account of every thing that enters or passes out. Within these walls are three thousand eight hundred pagodas or temples, where are continually sacrificed a great number of birds and beasts, all wild, which they hold to be a more acceptable offering than the tame ones, according to the assertion of their priests, who thus pass upon them a great abuse for an article of faith. This city has, moreover, twelve hundred canals, made by the kings and people of former days, which are three fathoms deep and twelve broad, traversing the streets in every direction, over which are bridges built upon arcades, with columns at each end, and benches for the passengers. Four fairs every day are held in the different quarters, where we saw an immense abundance of silks, brocades, cloth of gold, linen and cotton goods, skins of martens and ermines, musk, aloes, fine porcelain, gold and silver plate, pearls, gold in ingots and dust, and such like articles, whereat we were all much astonished. I should want words were I to attempt a description of the quantities of the other things, such as metals of all sorts, coral, cornelian, crystal, quicksilver, vermilion, ivory, cloves, nutmegs, mace, ginger, tamarisks, cinnamon, pepper, cardamoms, borax, flower of honey, sandal, sugar, fruits, conserves, venison, fish, flesh, and fowl, as well as fruits and vegetables of every variety. There are one hundred and sixty meat markets, not only provided with the customary flesh, but with that of horses, buffaloes, the rhinoceros, tigers, lions, dogs, mules, asses, cha

mois, otters, and zebras, every sort being eaten in this country. There are also immense cellars filled with hams, smoked meats, pigs, boars, and birds of every description; all which I only record to show how liberally God has supplied the wants of these poor blind infidels, in order that his name may be glorified for ever."-Chap. 106.

THE THREE BLIND TIPPLERS.

THREE sightless inmates of the sky,

Whose names were Justice-Fortune-Cupid,
Finding their public life on high

Somewhat monotonous and stupid,

Resolved one morning to unite

Their powers in an Alliance Holy,
And purify the Earth, whose plight
They all agreed was melancholy.
Quoth Justice Of the world below
I doubtless have the best idea,
Since in the Golden Age, you know,
I ruled it jointly with Astræa;
While, therefore, we on earth abide,

For fear our forces should be parted,
Let me be your perpetual guide:-
Agreed, nem. con. and off they started.
Love first, and Fortune next, descends,
Then Justice, though awhile she tarried,
When Cupid cries-This flight, my friends,
Has made my throttle somewhat arid:

Beneath each wing, before our trip,

I popp❜d a golden vase of nectar,
And I for one should like a sip;
What says our worshipful director?
The proposition, 'twas decreed,
Redounded to the mover's glory,
So down they sate upon the mead,
And plied the flagon con amore ;
But not reflecting that the draught

With air of earth was mix'd and muddled,
Before the second vase was quaff'd,

They all became completely fuddled.

Now reeling, wrangling, they proceed,
Each loudly backing his opinion,
And 'stead of letting Justice lead,

All struggle fiercely for dominion:
Whereat her sword in wrath she draws,
And throws it in her scales with fury,
Maintaining that the rightful cause
Requires no other judge and jury.

Fortune, purloining Cupid's darts,

Tips them with gold for sordid suitors,
Making sad havoc in the hearts

Of matrimonial computers;
While Love on Fortune's wheel apace
Plagues mortals with incessant changes,

Gives flying glimpses of his face,

Then presto! pass!-away he ranges.
Their pranks, their squabbles, day by day
Gave censurers a bitter handle,
Till Jove impatient of their stay,
And anxious to arrest the scandal,
Bade Fortune-Justice-Love return;
But to atone for their miscarriage,
Lest men for substitutes should yearn,

He sent them down Luck, Law, and Marriage.

THE LAST OF THE FOOLS.

"This fellow 's wise enough to play the fool,
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time ;

And like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practice
As full of labour as a wise man's art!
For Folly, that he wisely shows, is fit,
And wise men, folly-fallen, taint their wit.

Twelfth Night.

THE reader is requested not to be under any apprehensions; nothing personal is intended either to himself or his friends: there is no fear that stultiloquence shall be hushed, or of the race of fools becoming extinct:-Heaven forefend! for in that case our occupation would be gone indeed, and we periodicalists, who live to shoot folly as it flies, might cease to extract quills from one goose in order to point them against another. The last man of the genus can never be ascertained until the conclusion of the world; it is of the last of a species that we are about to speak,—of one who still lives, and will close in his person a race and a profession long since thought to have been extinct; of one who, in the pride of his former office, and of his octogenarian survival of all his competitors, has ordered this inscription to be engraved upon his