prize of twenty thousand pounds. He was immediately charmed with the idea of giving up business, abandoning the spatula and syringe, the study of the pharmacopeia, and the composition of diuretics and cathartics. For hours at night his busy fancy conjured up honours that would accrue to him, elevating him from an honest burgess to the portly and rubicund dignity of an alderman in his native town; and ascending still higher, she at last presumptuously gave him a seat in parliament. This imaginary distinction produced an actual change of conduct; and while making up pills, he ever fancied himself addressing the Speaker of the House of Commons. Honest Sancho Panza, when asleep, was asked what he was doing, and he replied, "I govern," thinking of his promised island. The poor apothecary, sleeping or waking, always talked of the "Honourable House," and "Mr. Speaker." Whether he dreamed that, after a course of time and long parliamentary service, he should get a peerage, is uncertain. After the day of drawing he went to the post-office, expecting a letter with news of his fortune being consummated. Some wags of his acquaintance, however, had previously obtained and opened it; and finding he had got a prize of 201., they added three cyphers, and again sealed it up. The effect was as might have been expected; the son of Esculapius returned home, and with his cane proceeded to break the utensils of his trade. Gallipots and phials flew into fragments on every side: astringents mingled with laxatives; caustics encountered cooling lotions; electuaries became syrups; pills were metamorphosed into salves; and solutions and decoctions were fabricated, unknown in the art of compounding, but, no doubt, equally efficacious with any of his others in practice. Some days elapsed before the truth was discovered; when the imaginative disciple of Galen, in despite of his losses and the ridicule he had incurred, confessed that the pleasure he had derived from his prospective honours nearly compensated for all his losses. He had certainly the power of bringing imagination and reality into closer contact than any other human being out of Bedlam,

Here, then, is a striking instance in support of my argument, and in favour of the imaginative enjoyments afforded by the lottery. Philosophers well know how to appreciate the value of these; and if life be "a jest," as Gay asserts it to be, or rather, perhaps, a composition of jests, this national game must contribute not a little to heighten their piquancy.

SS.

A WINTER-NIGHT STORY.

FROM THE GERMAN.

TRAVELLING in the North of Germany about the middle of winter, I was once overtaken by a snow-storm, and forced to take shelter for the night at an obscure inn, between Preetz and Kiel. It was a low house of one story; and, as far as the storm allowed me to judge, of a mean and poor appearance. At any other time I might have scorned to alight there; but in my situation then, I was glad of any place, however paltry, that could shelter me from the pitiless storm. On entering, I went into the kitchen to dry myself at the fire, and, to give the Devil his due, found myself in much more comfortable quarters than I had any reason to expect from the outside appearance of the building. As soon as I entered, the hostess heaped more wood on the fire: its light crackling blaze, banishing gloom from every corner, gave a cheerful appearance to the apartment; and, as I toasted my feet at the fire, dressed in the landlord's ponderous big coat, I laughed at the wind howling in the north-east, and driving the large snow-flakes against the little windows. I soon found that my servants and I were not solus (if I may use the expression without being indicted for a bull): one or two more travellers had been forced in by the inclemency of the night. Laying restraint aside, we were soon on the very best terms, and passed a part of the evening pleasantly enough, in trying to settle which would be the best way of amusing ourselves for the remainder. Singing was proposed; but no one could sing. Cards were produced; but I played no game except whist. Dancing I proposed, and had singled out the landlady's pretty black-eyed daughter for my partner; but then who was to play? We were fairly at a stand. "Gentlemen," said an interesting-looking old man, who was sitting in a corner, and wore a tremendous pair of spectacles on his nose, "Gentlemen, if you will allow a poor wandering bard to make the attempt, I will try for an evening to entertain you. Ye may have heard prettier narratives, perhaps; but the will must be taken for the deed."" This frank proposal met our cordial wishes. We seated him in the host's large chair beside the fire; we heaped on more wood, till the cheerful blaze reached the very top of the chimney -we gathered round the fire in silence, and the old man having taken a good dram of Hollands to raise the spirit within, thus began the recital of "The First Spring."

"Autumn was coming on, when Adam and Eve descended weeping from the heights of Paradise. They were quitting its gay blooming flowers, and verdant prairies ever smiling in the robes of spring, for a dreary and desolate clime-and its woodlands and brakes where innocence loved to sport, were to be exchanged for wild forests already struck with the curse of the Creator. Their look was lost in terror at the gloomy depth of the valleys they were henceforth to inhabit.

A drizzling haze spread itself before them, exhaling a freezing dampness which chilled their blood, and covering the whole country with a veil of a cold pale whiteness. Eve turned round: Adam turned back likewise; and both, for the last time, cast in mournful silence a long and lingering look on Paradise. Light airy clouds were hovering over it, gilded with the last rays of the setting sun. The cherub had lowered the point of his flamy sword. He raises it again, and seems to shut out hope for ever. At the sight a faintish sickness entered her heart, and the first cold shivering ran through the veins of our common mother.

"They descend from the mountain amid the darkness of night. They hear the crash of the hurricane among the trees, and the torrents sweeping over the pointed cliffs, and foaming and dashing from rock to rock, and hurrying down to the bottom of the valley; behind them, like the lightning, glistens the terrible sword of the cherub. Its distant blaze dimly and partially flashing on the savage scene around them, throws on it an appearance even still more awful and terrific. By its light they distinguish their own shadows stretching themselves far before them. At the sight they are troubled; Eve is seized with new fear.

"When they had reached the bottom of the valley, the angel of the Lord approached them. 'Adam,' said he, receive these grains from Paradise; thou hast been commanded to cultivate the earth by the sweat of thy brow :' and he presented him some grains of wheat in the shell of a cocoa-nut. Immediately he takes flight. His sword cleaves the air with a noise like the roaring thunder, and is reechoed with tenfold violence from rock to rock and from valley to valley.

"Adam and Eve prostrate themselves on the damp earth: darkness environs them, and their prayer is wafted to heaven on the dews of the evening. Then they saw before them, rising majestically above the pines of the mountain, the star of night sailing in all her glory, and following a steady course amid an ocean of pearls. For the first time was she a source of consolation to weary man. The eyes of Eve are suffused with soft tears, and, rising, she tenderly supports herself in the arms of Adam.

"The propitious light of the moon enabled them now to perceive close at hand a grotto, hollowed out in the face of the rock. The ivy and the wild vine clambered around it, and, falling back in long rich clusters, were washed by a clear brook that trickled past, and the light branches undulating in the opposing stream, raised a soft gentle murmur inviting sweet repose. Adam and Eve felt as if invited to enter this asylum: they had learned to profit by the impulses which the unseen hand of Providence still vouchsafed them-they entered. Their eyes were closed in slumber: light visions of bliss flitted around them, and dissipating the clouds of melancholy, brought balmy consolation to their souls.

"The night was tranquil; but at day-break Adam was awakened by the sobs of his wife. It is then true,' said they, looking around, ' it is then true; we are banished from Eden-we have fallen, alas!

from our state of innocence.' They rose

again they looked at

the scene before them-they wished to commence the labours of the day, and they had not courage to do so. Adam tried to soothe his

companion, again to re-animate her soul with hope; but his pale cheeks, his quivering lips, his faltering voice, exposed what was passing in his breast, and shewed that the sentiments of his lips were far, far removed from the thoughts of his heart.

"Meanwhile they sought for roots and wild herbs to support exhausted nature. But here the trees were not clothed with that tender greenness which formed so fresh, so beautiful a feature of Eden revelling in everlasting spring. The foliage of the forest turned day by day of a more sombre hue: even that was soon exchanged for the pale yellow dye of departing autumn. Already did the exiles hear the hurried rustle of the leaves, as the wind swept them along the ground. Eve, in gathering an apple, tore off by chance the frail bough which supported, and the dry leaves which surrounded it. 'See,' said she, trembling, to Adam, and pointing to the withered scene around, see! in gathering an apple have I stripped the earth of its fairest ornaments.'

"Yet,' replied Adam, all trees have not faded away; look at the orange-tree, the holly, and the laurel: see how the cedar and the pine of the mountain still tower above the forest, covered with their rich, though gloomy foliage-the simple ivy creeping over our rocky dwelling still rejoiceth us, as we rise from slumber, with its dark-green leaves and even the drooping branches of the willow beside the brook preserve still fresh the greater part of their covering.

"But the time came, when the favourite weeping willow lost its pale foliage too. What then was the grief, the hopelessness, that sickened the hearts of our first parents! The flowers-the trees, which werê like companions in their exile, were all faded, or fast fading away, leaving them solitary and helpless beings, amid bleakness and desolation; and they expected soon to see the orange, the laurel, and the pine, despoiled also of their covering. Adam, however, in obedience to the angel, sowed towards the south the grains he had received from Paradise; but this duty he performed more with the passiveness of despair than the light exultations of hope.

"Some days after he is filled with astonishment and joy, at seeing a tender braird peeping above the soil of the first field laboured by man. Thus did the two spouses pass their first winter, taking charge of a little flock, and with pain and difficulty seeking sustenance for themselves. In dreams were they taught the elements of the first arts necessary for life. It was thus they learned to find in the flint and wood the source of fire, by which they were warmed and cheeredthat Adam was instructed to fashion the bow for preserving his flock from the wolves. It was thus that the lovely Eve was taught to load the distaff with the soft wool of her lambs.

"One day Adam having uprooted a tree, was about to cleave it into billets. A sharp flint served him for a wedge, a large stone for a Eve approaches him, holding in her hand a basket filled with roots and the produce of her rude dairy. She wipes the moisture

mace.

from his burning brow with the sweet-scented leaves of the orangetree, and soothingly allures him to take a little nourishment a little repose. He seats himself on the trunk of the tree: Eve is about to place herself beside him, but suddenly she exclaims, 'Adam! hast thou sown here too the grains of paradise? See-see how their verdure shews itself in the midst of that withered-up spot, like the sun rising to the world after a long and stormy night!' 'No,' said Adam, I have sown nothing here; what thou perceivest must be new grass.' It had grown in little tufts, under the shelter of the tree which Adam had recently struck down. Joy flushed the cheeks of his and throwing herself with rapture into his arms, she exclaimed, ‘Adam, God hath blessed thy labour-the sweat of thy brow hath moistened the earth as the dew of heaven; and the kindness of the Most High hath fertilized it like the rays of the sun.'

6

spouse;

"Adam reflected a moment. Eve,' said he, we have been blinded by grief. For some days past I have seen the banks of the rivulet clothed with fresh verdure, but my cast-down soul heeded not what I saw. Thy discovery, Eve, hath vanquished my doubts.' Rising, they went onwards, sometimes embracing, sometimes stopping to look at the quickening scene around them;-suddenly they hear a noise--they turn back-a young ram was struggling in vain to extricate his horns fastened in a thick tuft of the pliant cornel: it had been allured by the young shoots of that tree, its yellow flowers, and the buds already green of the cytisus. Adam disengaged it, and it bounded away to its flock. Eve sat down on the renovated turf: Adam sat down beside her-the hearts of both were bursting with joy, and with gratitude they offered up their prayer to heaven; for they had seen the young buds of the cypress-they had perceived, for the first time, the yellow flowers of the cornel-tree. Icy winter was melting away, and flowers, fair as the morning, were again visiting the earth. They ran to the bower near their grotto-it was bursting into verdure; the willow was covered with buds, and all around was variegated and enlivened by the flowers of the wood-anemone and the primrose.

"From this time every day came to them loaded with new flowers, with new verdure. If perchance their hearts were at times puffed up with vain pride at this seeming return of the days of paradise, their cheeks were soon suffused with the blush of shame and repentance— a blush which mounted up to heaven, the place whence it had come. Then the recollection of the days of their innocence humbled their souls to the dust; again they felt themselves solitary, insignificant strangers on the face of the earth, whose only wisdom was foresight -whose only happiness was hope.

66

Already were the trees half-clothed with a foliage of the softest green; already those destined to furnish food to the exiled pair were covered with a snow of rich blossoms ;-the sweetness of their odour perfumed all around, and seemed as incense offered to the Deity for the return of genial spring.

"One fine evening, after the labour of the day, they sat themselves down at the foot of a palm-tree which grew near their rural abode. The evening-star was glancing through the branches lightly waving in