And tell him this too: if in midst of winter To make black groves grow green; to still the thunder; And cast out able flashes from mine eyes, To beat the light'ning back into the skies, Up to the stars, when all the winds are still, Of nature and of order-argue power Byr. 'Tis more than strange, To see you stand thus at the rapier's point Laf. Who cannot friend himself, is foe to any, Makes me so scorn'd: but make me what you can, I never yet was traitor to my friends. The laws of friendship I have ever held As my religion; and, for other laws, He is a fool that keeps them with more care Take them amongst ye, minions; but for safety Byr. How fit a sort were this to hansel fortune! And I will win it though I lose myself. Though he prove harder than Egyptian marble, I'll make him malleable as th' Ophir gold." [Exit. "The following speech of Henry is, I think, eminently wise, humane, and, as a poetical composition, truly beautiful. Roiseau has just described the attempts to seduce the duke." Hen. It may be he dissembled, or, suppose He be a little tainted: men whom virtue Forms with the stuff of fortune, great and gracious, Grown crook'd with standing, which to rectify Duke Byron In old time, they that hunted savage beasts Wisdom is simple, valour righteous, And whose grave natures scorn the scoffs of France, The any-way encroaching pride of Spain, "But," resumed Egeria, "it is not my intention to analyze the play; I shall therefore only read to you one or two of the similes.-The state of a man whose fortunes have shot beyond the foundation of his merits is thus magnificently compared :" "As you may see a mighty promontory, When most they should be propp'd are most forsaken, And that security doth worse presage Their near destruction, than their eaten grounds." "And I think the following description of a horse very spirited :—it is Byron's comparison of his own manner." "To whom I came, methought, with such a spirit That hath been long time at his manger tied, Cuts air in high curvets, and shakes his head ; He sees free fellows, and hath met them free." "Henry's blessing upon his infant son is also a very fine passage, and much deserves to be better known." "Hen. Have thy old father's angel for thy guide; Redoubled be his spirit in thy breast; Who when this state ran, like a turbulent sea, Their wraths and envies, like so many winds, The very beasts knew the alarum-bell, And, hearing it, ran bellowing to their home: CHAP. V. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. ONE morning as the Bachelor's Wife, having no other household care, was reading the backs of his books, she paused before a goodly range of reviews and magazines, and said to him, "I do not think it has been half considered by the world how much has been added to our pleasures by the invention of periodical publications. It has domesticated learning, deprived it of all its formality, put the shovel-hat, the square cap, the wig, the gown, and all those antique trappings and devices, which were wont to inspire so much wonder and awe, quite out of fashion. It has made gentlemen of authors, and authors of gentlemen. For this, as well as for its other singular merits, the Edinburgh Review stands pre-eminent. You cannot open a volume without finding some topic of science, or of erudition, treated in a much more popular and engaging form than it was ever done before." In saying this she put forth her hand, and taking down the tenth volume, opened it, and read aloud the following excellent condensed account of the religious sentiments of the Turks. MAHOMETANISM. "The religion of the Turks is Mahometanism in its utmost purity, and in complete preservation from the |