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rally would be in most instances, you know, especially after the first term, but to have time granted in which to obtain the Capin's consent to appear by authority, he took ccasion to tell Judge Wansley at the last term, which was before the suits were commenced, and Wansley told the rest of us pretty much what I have been telling you.

The Judge finished the punch and his narrative at about the same moment, and shortly afterwards I bade him good night, and went up to my room. knocked at Cranston's door as I passed, and there being no reply, I concluded that

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he had not got home from the Captain's; so, as the window of my room overlooked the front piazza, and commanded a view of the street towards Captain Smith's as far as the brow of the hill, and, in fact, of the upper portion of the house itself, I sat down by it in my rocking-chair, lit a cigar, and began to smoke, to watch for Cranston's return, and it is perhaps needless to add, to build castles in the air, of which ethereal mansions Miss Mary Smith, under the name, style and title of Mrs. Charles Lovel, was invariably mis

tress.

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THE duration and severity of the American Revolutionary War, we are inclined to believe, is more attributable to, apparently, a trifling and insignificant cause, and one very generally overlooked by historians, than to any other. The cause we allude to, and on which we are inclined to place so much stress, was the manners of Lord North.

Many suppose, that in great historical events, causes must have existed commensurate in importance with the events themselves; whereas it has often been the case, that the most important events were traceable directly to seemingly the most trifling causes. The cackling of geese, every one knows, once saved Rome; and we suspect that the peace and war of nations has oftener depended upon the

blooming, cheeks and captivating qualities of fair women, than any particular sense of the justice or injustice about which they were fighting. It was the remark of a very distinguished statesman, that " a chambermaid has sometimes caused revolutions in court, which have produced others in kingdoms." It is said, that if a British officer had not stopped to make love to his sweetheart on the morning of the battle of Bunker Hill, the attack upon the Americans would have been made some three hours sooner, when their works would have been in a very imperfect condition, and the result entirely different. Who is prepared to estimate the moral effect of that battle, or calculate what it might have been, if the rebels had suffered a

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defeat? In the early part of the French Revolution, Robespierre determined on leaving France, and was taking his departure from Paris, when his attention was arrested by a political wrangle in a café. He stopped to take part in it, and events there occurred which prevented him from leaving Paris. How differently might have terminated the French Revolution, if Robespierre had been left out of it.

Disraeli the younger, in one of his novels, gives an account of a distinguished European diplomatist, who was detected in cheating at gambling. The threatened exposure caused his sudden departure from the watering-place where he was staying. As but few were acquainted with the cause of his sudden leaving, his departure created an intense sensation, and gave rise to the most extraordinary conjectures. A wealthy Englishman 66 'sent immediate orders to his broker in England, to sell two millions of Consols. The sale was of course effected the example followed; stocks fell ten per cent. The exchange turnedmoney became scarce. The public funds of all Europe experienced a great decline-smash went the country banksconsequent runs on the London-a dozen baronets failed in one morning-Portland place deserted-the cause of infant liberty at a terrific discount-the Greek loan disappeared like a vapor in a stormall the new American States refused to pay their dividends-manufactories deserted-the revenue in a decline-thecountry in despair-orders in councilmeetings of parliament-change of ministry-and a new loan! Such were the terrific consequences of a diplomatist turning blackleg! This secret history of the late distress, is a lesson to all modern statesmen. Rest assured, that in politics, however tremendous the effects, the causes are often as trifling, and sometimes still more despicable."

We are told of an instance of the duplicity of Fouché with Wellington, which came near changing the fate of Europe, for a time, at least. And we suspect that the manners of Lord North had a more serious effect upon the affairs of the world, than the swindling of any diplomatists who have lived since his time. He was not a man of great capacity, but he possessed a cheerfulness and suavity of manner that nothing could disturb. He was at the head of affairs for many years, during a period of great political excitement and fierce strife;-a fact that is only to be accounted for by his imper

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turbable good nature, and his amiable and pleasing manners. Men of much greater ability, but with less good nature and affability of manner-men with the temper of Burke, Canning or Brougham, for instance-could not have kept the place for six months. A man of marked capacity, but of a less indolent and easy temper than North possessed, could not have weathered the storm that Burke, Fox, and others, raised against the minister on account of the American war. But he received all with a bland smile, or slept quietly through the denunciations, invectives, and sarcasms that were showered upon him by the opposition. Men soon get tired of assailing another with such a disposition as this. leaving the house, upon a certain occasion, after a loud and stormy debate, in which the minister preserved his equanimity and humor to the last, Burke said, "Well, there's no denying it, gentlemen, this man has certainly more wit and good nature in him, than all of us put together." He would reply to attacks the most bitter and virulent, in a manner calm and gracious, and with facetiousness and pleasantry that no political animosity could withstand. It was this easy temper that nothing could ruffle, joined to his bland and insinuating manners, which kept the tomahawks and scalpingknives of the savages so much employed between the years 1776 and 1783. It is doubtful if any other minister could have continued the American war half as long; and it will therefore be safe to suppose, perhaps, that every one of his gracious smiles cost America the life of a patriot. It was fortunate for the United States that there was one event which the courtesy and good nature of North could not avert. Clive committed suicide just after North had given him the command of the English army in America. If the consummate abilities of that great soldier had been brought to bear against the people of the United Colonies, then feebly struggling for liberty, the history of the Revolutionary war might have been very different from what it now is, and the pleasing manners of North still more disastrous to this country.

It is well known what three requisites the ancient orator said were necessary to make a good speaker; and the same variety is necessary to make agreeable and winning manners. Good nature, amiability, and kindness of heart, are three qualities no less important and indispensable in producing them, than action, action, action, in the estimation of the distinguished

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ancient in producing the good orator. The most elaborate, assiduous, and untiring endeavors to cultivate in a young man pleasing and attractive manners, where there is but little benevolence of heart, is utterly impossible. A generous nature is "the leaven that leavens the whole lump." Wherever we find a man who enjoys a wide popularity, we may be assured, however bad his reputation may be, that he has some good qualities, in an eminent degree. Yet it is not unusual to hear the man who is popular with the multitude, and odious with the (soi disant) respectable few, denied all merit. They have

"Observed his courtship to the common people ;How he did seem to dive into their hearts, With humble and familiar courtesy;"

but it was only art (they say)-cool, premeditated design, that prompted the courtesy. Now it would not seem to require a great deal of wisdom to know that counterfeit virtue will not pass current any better than a counterfeit coin or counterfeit bank bill; and the common people" probably detect the counterfeits sooner than the exclusives, because they are under a greater necessity to keep them circulating.

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A French writer, we believe, has the credit of first having said, in speaking of style in authors, "The style is the man." Every peculiarity a man has, of course, must be part and parcel of the individual; and the idea of regarding them as a sort of extraneous adjunct, which might be dropped or resumed at pleasure, is very idle. Tuckerman has written a very ingenious and interesting essay on "The Hands." The particular disposal one makes of the hands in walking, sitting, talking, is full of expression, and constitutes an important part of one's manners. And the manners are but the disposition and character, sticking out, as it were, all over the person. The feet, even, are made expressive in our manner of using them. Ulysses says of Cressida:

"There is language in her eye, her chook, her lip; Nay, her foot speaks."

"Manners make the man," is a very old saying. It is a proposition that is undoubtedly true; but the converse of it is equally true, and much more plausible, as it strikes us. The man makes the manners. A man with such a character as Cato's, will be likely to have manners like Cato; and a man with a character similar to Cæsar's, will have similar manners to Cæsar. We recol

lect no instance of the union of a character like Cato's, with the manners of Cæsar, though John Hampden comes nearer to such a union than any that now occurs to us. Aaron Burr, we think, resembled Cæsar very much in character, and he certainly did very much in manners. John Jay, Hamilton, Judge Marshall, Pickering, resembled Cato more in character as well as in manners. All the training in the world, we suspect, from infancy upward, could not have infused into Cato the manners of Cæsar, any more than the persevering efforts of Chesterfield in coaxing, flattering, sneering at and threatening his son, could drive "the graces" into that slow-witted, pedantic lout. How impossible it would have been for Voltaire to have had the manners of Dr. Johnson, and vice versa. What a combination it would have made for each, if Pitt and Sheridan had changed manners. Supposing such a thing possible, we are inclined to believe that neither of them would have died so much in debt, and that the debt of Great Britain would be something less than it now is.

Bad men, as well as good men, undoubtedly sometimes have very agreeable manners; but we should be unwilling to believe, that very bad men could long prove agreeable companions. Nature has bounded and circumscribed hypocrisy to very narrow limits, and keeping within them any very great length of time, is extremely difficult. We suspect, if those persons who have had the reputation of being very fascinating in manner, and very vicious in character, were fully understood and appreciated, they would be found to possess more than an ordinary share of kindness.

We are too much of an optimist to feel a very great distrust of the world's judgment; yet we cannot help looking upon a good many characters famous in history, as well as a good many more humble individuals of our acquaintance, in a more favorable light than they are regarded by the world generally.

The more familiar we become with the wickedness and tyranny of the nobility of France previous to the French Revolution, the more charity we feel towards Marat and Robespierre. Shakespeare's poaching and supposed backsliding at the country inn, the world is disposed to regard more leniently, than the error he committed in handing down to posterity that worthy monarch (as it now appears he was), Richard the Third, as such a monster of iniquity.

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Lord Chesterfield was a man against whose reputation the most violent anathemas and denunciations have been hurled. He has been preached against as the cold-blooded and systematic corruptor of his own son; as a man utterly without religion, virtue, principle, or morality. But he was much too wise a man to have been near as wicked as many have represented him. A candid and careful examination of his life and works, leads us to believe, that however much he may have been wanting in virtue and morality, he was not, in these respects at least, far behind many other distinguished men of his time. And in brilliant, if not solid qualities, he surpassed them all. Now if Chesterfield had been the heartless monster many believe him, and yet possessed of such an engaging address, and such fascinating manners, it would have been truly surprising.

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The ideas most commonly associated with Chesterfield, are, that he was a man possessed of a highly cultivated but superficial intellect, and the perfect master of every accomplishment; that he was an effeminate, fastidious, highly polished gentleman-a sort of combination of the dancing-master and the statesmancross between Beau Nash and the Duke of Grafton. A lady's boudoir, many have supposed, was the field best calculated for the exhibition of his exploits—a field on which a brilliant display of his powers was sure to be afforded, and his utmost capabilities elicited. They have supposed that he could make a bow with inimitable grace, compliment a lady with the most exquisite delicacy, and utter a witticism with charming sang froid. The popular fancy has painted him as an exceedingly handsome man, dressed with the utmost taste and elegance-" the glass of fashion and the mould of form," but a man of such keenly nervous susceptibilities as to be greatly shocked by contact with the least approach to rudeness and vulgarity.

Now it appears to us, that no very profound knowledge of human nature is necessary to know, that however graceful and accomplished a spooney may be, he cannot be a very fascinating man. Women contrive to elicit some amusement from shallow fops in the way of ridicule and bantering, but they seldom feel any admiration for a man, who does not command the respect of men.

Women almost always require some gumption (to use a homely but expressive term) in the men upon whom they bestow their admiration.

To be sure,

the Queen of Spain was enamored with that handsome booby, Godoy; and the Duchess of Castlemaine was smitten with the fine proportions, strength and agility of the rope-dancer, Hall; but these women could appreciate nothing but animal qualities in a man. Lady Essex never would have fallen in love with the handsome person of the adventurer, Carr, but for the love letters Sir Thomas Overbury wrote her for him. It was not an idle boast of Wilkes's, that he was an overmatch for the handsomest man in England, in winning the affections of a woman, although he was one of the ugliest men in the kingdom. But he was a good-natured rascal, with very fascinating

manners.

The impressions stated above in regard to Chesterfield, we suspect, are wholly erroneous. He was a free and easy careless gentleman, with all classes; had no troublesome weight of dignity to preserve, and was an exceedingly agreeable companion to whomsoever he might be thrown among. He would exhibit no less gusto in cracking a joke with a beggar in the street, than he would grace and elegance in exchanging repartees with the lady in her parlor. He was as popular with the Irish squireens at Dublin, as he was with Frederick the Great and Voltaire; as much admired by his servants and dependants, as he was by Lord Hervey and Lady Suffolk. The man whose society is much sought after by the fashionable and the great, must have in him elements of popularity with the multitude; for he must possess a large share of good nature which the high and low equally appreciate. Politeness has been defined as benevolence in little things-a definition which comprehends the full meaning of the word. That Chesterfield was a kindhearted man, his life and writings clearly show.

We give a description of Chesterfield by two different parties-both very reliable authorities. The reader can reconcile the dissimilarity in the descriptions as best he may; we cannot help him much. Perhaps, however, Lord Hervey, who wrote the first description, may have had a prejudice against Chesterfield, for some reason or other.

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His person was as disagreeable as it was possible for a human figure to be without being deformed. He was very short, disproportioned, thick and clumsily made, had a broad, rough-featured, ugly face, with black teeth, and a head big enough for a Polyphemus. One Ben

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