could be seen, standing out, cold and grey against the morning sky, the Jew turned back, and stood peering through the darkness for many, many minutes, until at length his quick eye caught the glimmer of a candle through one of the casements, and after watching this for a minute, he turned round and pursued his way in silence, until they gained the village.

The horses had been merely taken from the chaise, and placed in a stable ready harnessed, so that little more was necessary than to awaken the sleepy driver, and within a quarter of an hour from Abednego's watching the light in the bedroom of Mr. Hutton, they were rolling on towards London, quite indifferent to all that was enacting in the place they were leaving behind.

Pestlepolge had crept back to his lair, after he had seen them away, and with his back placed against the wall, for he felt afraid even of himself,-sate for several minutes buried in a moody reverie, looking up from time to time, whenever his guilty ear caught a fancied sound stirring in the house. He knew that, save himself, the entire household were buried in slumber, and gradually his mind began to fall into a train of thought, suggested by the thought, that if suspicion ever pointed to him in the matter, how eagerly would some officious counsel or juryman pounce upon this circumstance, and bring the charge home to him from that fact alone.

Then glancing wildly round again, he imagined the deed to be done, and set himself to think how they would find the body in the morning; it might be forenoon, for aught he could surmise, for the old man was an invalid, and they would not suspect any misfortune at first, and so they would not go into the room until they began to be afraid; then they would steal in on tiptoe, and draw the curtains, and find the bed-clothes all disordered, and the dead body all cold and stiff, with the face blackened, as if he had died in a fit; he would have to go in and see the corpse after that, and then his eager, guilty mind trembled at the thought of being confronted, even unknowingly, with his victim, and he remembered of having read, in his boyhood, of corpses bursting out bleeding afresh when the murderer touched them.

The shrill cry that burst from him, as he arrived at this horrid recollection, made him start and shudder, and then drinking the remainder of the wine, he lighted another candle at that which burned on the table, and striving to persuade himself that he was calm, slunk towards the door.

He happened to glance accidentally in the mirror, as he passed it, and shuddered even in such a moment at his own ghastly visage, and then muttering a fearful oath, stole up the stairs, and stood before the door.

87

France, Piedmont, Italy, Lombardy, the Tyrol, and Bavaria. An Autumnal Tour. By J. S. Buckingham. 2 Vols. London: Peter Jackson, late Fisher, Son, and Co.

Nor many months have elapsed, since we called the attention of our readers to two agreeable volumes from the pen of Mr. Buckingham. At that time we stated Mr. Buckingham's character and claims, and endeavoured to do justice to a man who has done and suffered much-who, beyond most, has laboured to exalt humanity, but who, more than most, has been misrepresented, slandered, and wronged. Mr. Buckingham has again appeared in the field, and it is with real pleasure that we invite the attention of our readers to his "Second Autumnal Tour." It is true that the ground he has gone over is not new, that changes little dreamt of have taken place in the lands of which he writes-that old systems have crumbled into dust-that old landmarks have been swept away; but, nevertheless, an abiding interest attaches to his theme. France, the home of—

“Fair women and brave men ;”

Italy the land of art and classic story, beautiful even in its decay, but still more beautiful now, inasmuch as its old indomitable free spirit is once more rousing it to battle for its rights, are themselves fraught with surpassing interest. We, therefore, welcome Mr. Buckingham's volumes, feeling that he will gather new lessons, though the story be hacknied and full of familiar

names.

History," says Lord Bolingbroke, "is philosophy teaching by example." Never was there a greater falsehood. The example is never studied, the warning is generally given in vain. Not unfrequently the lesson is read backwards. Citizen King Louis Philippe shipwrecked himself, because he sought to govern on principles opposed to human progress; and Lord John, instead of being warned by his fate, on the contrary, more closely imitates his conduct. The abuses which, we may be allowed gently to hint, do in some degree obscure the beauty of our venerable constitution, have a much better chance now than they had previous to the Revolution of February. Their money value is higher, though if history agreed with Lord Bolingbroke's definition, this would not be the case. In spite of com

mon sense and the past, Louis Philippe went on backsliding, till old and weak he lost his kingdom and his crown. Mr. Buckingham very properly observes :-" Ever since the Revolution of 1830, France has been under the influence of two opposite tendencies. On the one hand, the king and his government becoming every year more and more absolute, hostile to liberty, suppressing public sentiment by persecutions of the press, corrupting the legislative and judicial authorities by bribes of power and place, purchasing, or overawing the constituencies by the most shameless and profligate expenditure, and crippling the national energies by excessive taxation, increasing military force, and enormous increase of debt. On the other hand, the people becoming more and more disgusted with royalty, because of the falsehood, treachery, and corruption, practised in its name and under its auspices; and seeing in their monarch only the ruling passion of self-aggrandizement for his family, and their enrichment at the public expense, with an utter disregard to the condition and capacity of the nation to bear the heavy burdens which both his foreign, colonial, and domestic, policy imposed on them. Thus the people have been growing more and more, every year, republican, till at last the fatal period arrived, in which the Revolution, begun with but little bloodshed in February, has ended in the fearful slaughter of June. And even now, though the insurrection of 1848 has been attended with a smaller sacrifice of human life than that which flowed during the first great revolutionary struggle from 1789 to '92, and the long and bloody war to which this gave rise; yet the fearful condition to which it has reduced France, in its paralysis of all industry, its annihilation of commercial confidence, and its increased thousands of the hungry and ungovernable masses of unemployed men, and women, and children, make it doubtful whether a much larger amount of suffering than was at first anticipated, may not yet have to be borne, before, out of these discordant elements, general prosperity can be again fully restored. For all this, the government of Louis Philippe and his ministers must ever be held responsible; for no one can doubt, that if he and they had been faithful to the charter to which he pledged his royal oath, and had governed in the true spirit of a "constitutional monarchy, supported by republican institutions," which was the solemn promise made by him at the Hotel de Ville, when there presented to the acceptance of the people by General Lafayette, in August, 1830-France would now have been one of the most wealthy, prosperous, and powerful, of the nations of Europe, instead of being so shaken in all the material elements of her greatness, as to require as many years, perhaps, as she was subject to the misgovernment of the House of Orleans, fully

and perfectly to repair." These remarks are as sensible as true -but, alas! generally, there is but little attachment between common sense and the powers that be.

Mr. Buckingham reached France viâ Boulogne. Here he was immediately annoyed by a system which cannot be too often exposed and condemned. On landing, we were met by a friend sojourning at Boulogne, and taken to reside with his family during our stay, but before being permitted to enjoy the pleasures of domestic comfort and repose, we had the usual penance to perform of exhibiting our passports to be certified, and clearing our baggage from the custom-house; a process which, for the whole of the passengers, occupied eight hours, and was wearisome and humiliating to the last degree. Every package, even to the carpet-bags, had to be opened, and in most of them the contents probed to the bottom, without the discovery of a single contraband article; though the searchers at last got so tired and vexed, that they vented their spleen against all who manifested the least impatience. In my own case, I very narrowly escaped being detained, because there happened to be three new merino shirts in my trunk, that had not been worn, which the searcher insisted on were merchandise; and, though I assured him they were for wearing only, and that it would be absurd to suppose a trader would set out to smuggle so small a stock, he was unrelenting, and was only, at last, silenced by being shown, among my baggage, a handsomely bound volume inscribed as a presentation copy to the French minister, M. Guizot, to whom I said I should relate this petty detention; on which the functionary began to relent, and the three new shirts were restored. Often as this rude and barbarous system of passports and baggage examination has been denounced and exposed, no one should ever land in France or England where the latter annoyance is just as great as in any other country, though we are happily free from the firstwithout reiterating his condemnation of both, as utterly unworthy the dignity of any nation pretending to be great, and, moreover, entirely inefficient for the attainment of the end in view, as the very worst characters elude all vigilance by false passports, and smugglers triumph over all the difficulties which this petty examination imposes. To boast of having achieved a free trade while this system continues, is at least premature, and all friends of an unfettered intercourse between nations ought never to cease their demands till it is entirely abolished." We are glad Mr. Buckingham has adverted to this crying evil-it is one by which every traveller has been more or less annoyed. The day of its removal, we fear is far distant. When human brotherhood is better understood; when we shall look upon