A little garden fenc'd it round,
About a rood of fertile ground,
Where ev'ry bud and blossom grew
That Queen Nymphidia lov'd to view;
And here, for shade, the scab'rus run
Beneath the flow'r that loves the sun;
And where the thyme and parsley grace,
The marygold turn'd up her face :-
In short, this little garden spot
Was fit for pleasure and for pot.
A prattling stream twin'd round about
Where I have sometimes bob'd a trout,
And sat as in an easy chair,

The scoff of fools, unwrung with care.
In this plain hovel dwelt a dame,
And goody Griskin was her name,
To keep herself from workhouse gate,
Where many a worthy meets her fate;
Where sad oppression bars the door,
And hungry wardens eat the poor,-
She stockings knit, with rods of steel,
And sometimes turn'd her spinning wheel;
Or now the needle briskly threw,
To darn her coats with black and blue:
All this she did from day to day,
To keep the ugly wolf away,

So much she scorn'd the parish pay.

While through the year the Dame was seen With shining face and kerchief clean,

Her room was swept, from cobwebs free,

Her window ever clear to see,

Where spearmint sweet in bottles grew,
A very pretty sight to view;

Her chimney (set with tea cups thick)
Display'd one brazen candlestick,
And in its nossel, half burnt out,
A little taper white as clout;
A spinning wheel was here, beside
A rolling-pin in order ty'd ;

A house-broom too, to sweep or scour,

A wooden clock to tell the hour,-
Of which, from some unlucky blow,
The pendium forgot to go;

Some pretty prints the plaster grac'd,
Such as on walls the hawker's paste;
Beside a magpie in a cage

Hung up, her mistress to engage,

[To be continued.]

THE NARRATOR.-No. I.

THE INFLUENCE OF GOLD UPON THE ANIMAL SPIRITS.

Who first to brutal forms shall gold transform?

Speak lovely verity, unclouded speak

Tho' pride and arrogance upblow the storm,

TRUTH dares declare "THE WICKED AND THE WEAK."
Yields gold no heavenly charm mankind to bless ?

Yes! when the hand that deals-relieves distress,

THERE are several young men of my acquaintance who loudly defy the influence of gold, and go so far as to assert that "it has no power over their minds,-but that at all times, and on all occasions, they can make that distinguished metal subordinate to their own inclinations.” For this I am not willing to give them credence: for being temperate in themselves, and having sufficiency for their necessities, they are without the power to discriminate; it must be the needy or the avaricious to set this question at rest. If I were permitted to name a jury on the occasion, I would call together such as had toiled eager for a superflux, and such as had felt the want of its influence after a state of plenty ;—I would select the hungry courtier who can never stand upright in a great man's presence, but like Sir Archy in the play, is always bowing, and bowing to be refreshed by this primum mobili,-one who will say with the powerful blockhead that rises to insult him, that a weasel is a whale, or a whale is a weasel." After him I would call on the thorough-bred tradesman, who has so often experienced its magic, and still to obtain it, would forsake father or mother, deceive his own blood, and, if possible, outjockey a Jew, while he asseverates his geese are all swans, and that where exists the flaw, all is perfection.-And next the barrister, learned in the law, who has often undertaken to defend the helpless, and by the preponderating gravity of gold, betrayed him to his opponent. The farmer too I would have of the party," who by regrating with the mealman and the miller, has taken largely of this honey of Hybla, and is still craving for more. Nor should the statesman be forgotten, he who in ascending the ladders to immensity has sacrificed all the virtues. The ecclesiastic, who by simonious contracts, found at last his brow encircled with a golden mitre. The poet should not be neglected, he who for years has obsequiously waited for the smiles of the manager, and after much insult and loss of time, chagrin and brutality, has suddenly obtained a splendid benefit. The successful adventurer,-the young heir just emergent from the cell

of restraint, the desponding gamester after an unlucky throw, the unfortunate cuckold who has just exchanged an extravagant shrew for the widower's state with peace and plenty, and to make up the panel, I would call in the finisher of the law-who, after a windy vacuity, has been successful in his lofty profession. With those I would venture to try the cause, and in defiance of my juvenile friends, anticipate this verdict-"Of all other metalic substances, gold has the strongest influence on the animal 'spirits."

Since this irresistible mineral is acknowledged to be the impetus to the actions of more than the half of mankind, why should we wonder when we behold a blockhead advanced to the highest seat in the Sanhedrim, while Satire stands by with his broad grin, shaking his combined locks at the partiality of Fortune. Divine metal! be it mine still to sing thy praises, for ́thou canst change the sentiments of the angry patriot,-double the docility of the pliant courtier, playing with our passions as the master shewman with the puppets of his circumscribed theatre, raising our spirits like the tides of the ocean, and depressing them to the lowest depth of human misery! As the thermoscope shews the heat and the cold of our atmospheric regions, so doth thou, delectable gold, describe the predominating bent of inclination in all the tribes of the universe!

I have observed a vain and impudent boaster, the while he has been rattling the guineas in his breeches pockets, to talk as high as an Alexander, and in the most positive manner dictate, to his more modest superiors, when it was well understood that he himself was a coward, an ass, and a noisy idiot. In affairs of love, thou canst wrinkle the brows of the philosopher, and shew thou hast more persuasion than all the volumes of his wisdom. I remember a poor farmer's daughter, who possessed every thing to recommend her but gold, when the squire admired her and made her the most honourable offer; but he was hideously ugly, and his solicitation often rejected; the protuberance of his back was a great impediment to his suit, and the flexure of his legs enough to accommodate a wheel-barrow ;-all this, most horrible to her discriminating eye, and yet he told his love, while she, inexorable as the frowns of winter, was not to be moved by his ardent solicitations: at length, when almost deprived of hope, and on the very brink of despair, he reminded his Sylvia of her father's humble rank in life, and of his inability to raise her above the milking-pails; and painting the miseries of poverty in still stronger terms, laid before her his bags of gold: all these, said he, are thine, and ten times more.-At this moment all was enchantment, the animal spirits mounted to the top of her bent, his ugly face, his crooked legs, the hump upon his shoulders, became too

diminutive for observation, she took the mass-irresistible influ» ence!-she gave her hand!

Ausonius, master of the Emperor Gratian, in one simple effusion, has shewn us the influence of gold upon the animal spirits with more true effect and perspecuity than any other writer who has, or may attempt the subject.

A miser, says that author, had saved up a pot of gold, and could take but little rest for fear of losing it. At length his genius appeared to him in a dream, and advised him to bury it deep beneath the surface of the earth: for that end Gripus stole slily into a neighbouring wood, and having singled out a wide spreading tree, dug a hole between its roots, and therein deposited his soul; but before he could cover the earth upon it, he was disturbed by the approach of a melancholy and misera ble figure, bearing a rope in his feeble hand; the miser, for fear of being discovered, retreated behind a thicket,-the despond ing wretch came to the tree and made fast his halter to the bough, and then was about to place his neck in the noose to end his worldly miseries, when casting his eyes below he beheld the pot at his feet, and stooping to examine its contents, found them to be pieces of gold; the man was instantly transported, and snatching up the casket, went dancing and singing out of the wood: the miser returned to finish his labour, but finding the treasure gone, hung himself in the pendant rope left behind by the late miserable but now rejoicing man.

But if a stronger instance be required to shew this irresistible influence on our animal spirits, let us turn to the sapient king, with whose observations we shall conclude this paper :-

"When the body is in want, the mind goes heavily; but to drink soberly at the fountain of plenty, makes the heart glad."

T. N.

AT Lausanne I met with Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who honoured me with his friendship, and proposed to take me in his carriage all the way to Brussels, free of expence, if I would accompany him on foot in an excursion among some of the most mountainous cantons in Switzerland. I eagerly embraced this flattering proposition.

We first repaired to Berne.-The way passes through a garden, one of the finest I have ever seen. The trees on both

sides bend under the weight of the rich fruits with which they are overcharged, and the golden grain waves over the fields, where they spread out to a wider distance. It was a holidy. The peasants, in their best attire, were making merry in the houses of public entertainment, smoking their pipes, carousing with wine, and joyously shouting through the air-"Thus lives the jolly Switzer !"

As we passed the town of Murten, our guide, who carried a change of clothes, asked, "Would you not choose to see the remains of our enemies?". "Where?".-"Here, to the left." We followed his steps, and through a large iron trellising saw a heap of human bones. Their origin was this :-Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, was one of the most powerful princes of his time, and personally one of the most daring and heroic; bnt his ambition made him the constant terror of his neighbours, and a scourge to the human race. In the year 1476, he determined to make war on the Swiss cantons, and to crush their Proud liberties under the iron sceptre of tyranny. His army marched. Their banners blazed in the sky, and the earth groaned under the movements of their engines and artillery. The troops of Burgundy were drawn out in array on the banks of the lake, and Charles looked with envious eye towards the vales of Switzerland, already counting them his own but at once the signal was given, and the alarm pervaded all Switzerland." The enemy approaches!" was the general cry. The peaceful shepherds left their cottages and their flocks, seized their battle axes and spears, and while the love of their country swelled their hearts, rushed down like the alpine torrent upon those hosts of foes that menaced the passages of their hills. Charles's cannon played upon the Swiss, but they came on unappalled. The Burgundian ranks were broken, and their fire was silenced.The duke plunged himself on horseback into the lake, and his stout courser conveyed him safe to the further shore. A few trusty servants were the attendants of his flight he was reserved to perish afterwards by his own hand. Looking back to the field of carnage, out of which he had escaped, and beholding the general slaughter of his army, he indignantly cried-" Shall I be such a dastard as to survive their fall?" and with a pistol put an end to his existence. The Swiss afterwards gathered up the bones of their slaughtered enemies, and deposited them together in a heap, which still remains there. I, for my part, exulted in this triumph of liberty; but, although Lord Edward was an innate and professed lover of freedom, it was not so with him: he shuddered at the sight of such a monu ment of the errors and miserable mortality of man. "And you, men of Switzerland," exclaimed his lordship, "how can