principles of government, combined with our advanced state of civilisation, would produce moral results, as unthought of and as incalculable, as have been the physical results from the application of steam. The machinery, by which alone this desirable end can be accomplished, must consist of local governments so ordered that those who are most successful in the honourable conduct of their own concerns, would be selected, and being selected, would be willing to give up time sufficient to superintend the affairs of their respective communities. Now this can only be permanently effected by making government a social and convivial affair-a point of interesting union to the men most deserving the confidence of their fellow-citizens. Under such circumstances, the expense of government might be greater than at present, but the expense of want of government would assuredly be more than proportionately less, and the state of society would be healthy and constantly improving. In my next number I shall enter into details, beginning with parochial government.

FORTUNE-TELLING.

THERE is nothing more silly than a belief in fortune-telling, whether we consider the thing itself, or the description of persons who profess the art—an art to which no one of character or education ever pretends. But such belief is scarcely less dangerous than silly, especially amongst young persons of the humbler classes. By exciting false hopes, it leads to false steps; and unsettled habits, anxiety, disappointment, dishonesty, ruin, and untimely or ignominious death, have been directly or indirectly its consequences. Many are induced to have their fortunes told from mere idle curiosity; but a lucky guess, or a prediction accidentally verified even in part, maytake such hold of the imagination that reason cannot resume her former sway-besides that it is inexcusable to give

encouragement to a race of profligates, thieves, and childrenstealers. A revolting instance of this encouragement is to be witnessed at Epsom races on the part of many elegantly dressed females, and the mixture causes a considerable detraction from the brilliancy of the scene. The following anecdote strikingly shows how difficult it must sometimes be to detect imposition. It will remind the readers of Hamilton's "Memoirs of De Grammont" of some passages in that work.

The

A little more than sixty years since a fortune-teller in Paris was roused from his bed at the dead of night by a loud knocking at his door. On opening it he perceived standing before him a man muffled up in an ample cloak, with a large hat slouched over his face. "What do you want ?" said the fortune-teller, somewhat alarmed. The stranger answered sternly, "If you are what you profess to be, you can tell me that-" "I can tell nothing without my cards” replied the other. They both walked in, and the fortune-teller, having shuffled his cards and laid them out, after a pause, observed with a tone of deference, "I perceive I am in the presence of an illustrious person." "You are right," said the stranger; "and now tell me what it is I wish to know." fortune-teller, again consulting his cards, answered-" You wish to know whether a certain lady will have a son or a daughter." "Right again," said the stranger. After another pause, the fortune-teller pronounced that the lady would have a son. On which the stranger replied—“ If that prove true, you shall receive fifty pieces of gold—if false, a good cudgelling." A few weeks after, about the same hour and in the same manner, the stranger re-appeared, and before he could speak, the fortune-teller exclaimed, "You find I was right." "I do," said the stranger; " and I am come to keep my promise." So saying, he produced a purse of fifty louis, and departed.

The stranger's mode of proceeding seems to have been designed to put the fortune-teller's skill to the severest test.

The circumstance of his coming alone, and at such an hour, makes it probable he had not communicated his intention to any one; whilst his carefulness in concealing his person and face, and his extreme caution to afford no clue to the discovery of himself or his object by conversation, were admirably calculated to render imposition impossible. The history of the case is this. I heard it about seventeen years since from a gentleman in Paris, who learned it from Volney, the celebrated traveller in the East. Volney had it from the fortune-teller himself, who applied to him for some Syriac expressions. On being asked for what purpose he wanted them, he confessed his trade; and Volney finding him a remarkably shrewd person, inquired of him the story of his life. He said, that when he was young, he had a great turn for expense, very slender means, and an inveterate repugnance to any thing like drudgery. After long puzzling himself to discover some mode of life, by which he could unite certain profit with continual amusement, he determined to set up as a fortune-teller. He commenced by taking a lodging in the obscure quarter of the Marais, and practising in a small way in that neighbourhood, where the blunders of a beginner would not be of much consequence. At the same time he never failed to be in daily attendance about the court, and spared no pains to make himself familiar with the personal appearance and private history of every person of the least note there. After two years of practice amongst the small, and of study amongst the great, he thought himself qualified to begin business on a grand scale, and having by bribery of a servant procured a proper customer, he tried his art in his new sphere with great success. His fame, and of course his gains, increased rapidly, and it was when he was in his zenith, that the adventure above related happened. He explained it thus. Whilst shuffling his cards, he purposely let two or three fall, and in rising from picking them up, he contrived to catch a sufficient glimpse of the stranger's countenance to

discover that he was no less a person than the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Philippe Egalité, and the father of the present King of the French, who was actually the child in question. He took not the least notice of the discovery he had made, but pretended to ascertain the fact from the contemplation of his cards. Having overcome this difficulty, his practised acuteness made the rest easy to him. It was publicly known that the Duchess was near her confinement, and he had heard the Duke was anxious to have a son; he therefore confidently guessed the object of his visit, and after the manner of his tribe hazarded the prediction which he thought would ensure him the most liberal pay. He did not expect the proposed alternative, which obliged him to be on his guard, and he had actually only just returned from learning the news at the palace, and was scarcely in bed, when the Duke arrived, whose faith must have been confirmed by the fortune-teller's anticipation of his intelligence.

If the story be true, it is not probable that a man like the Duke of Orleans, having experienced such an instance of fortune-telling, would be satisfied without recurring to it, and it may possibly be that such excitement of ambitious hopes contributed to his, as to Macbeth's, untimely fall.

GOOD BREEDING.

A gentleman is a Christian in spirit that will take a polish. The rest are but plated goods; and however excellent their fashion, rub them more or less, the base metal will appear through.

An Englishman making the grand tour towards the middle of the last century, when travellers were more objects of attention than at present, on arriving at Turin sauntered out to

see the place. He happened to meet a regiment of infantry returning from parade, and taking a position to see it pass, a young captain, evidently desirous to make a display before the stranger, in crossing one of the numerous water-courses with which the city is intersected, missed his footing, and in trying to save himself, lost his hat. The exhibition was truly unfortunate—the spectators laughed-aud looked at the Englishman, expecting him to laugh too. On the contrary, he not only retained his composure, but promptly advanced to where the hat had rolled, and taking it up, presented it with an air of unaffected kindness to its confused owner. The officer received it with a blush of surprise and gratitude, and hurried to rejoin his company-there was a murmur of applause-and the stranger passed on. Though the scene of a moment, and without a word spoken, it touched every heart-not with admiration for a mere display of politeness, but with a warmer feeling for a proof of that true charity, "which never faileth." On the regiment being dismissed, the captain, who was a young man of consideration, in glowing terms related the circumstance to his colonel. The colonel immediately mentioned it to the general in command; and when the Englishman returned to his hotel, he found an aidede-camp waiting to request his company to dinner at headquarters. In the evening he was carried to court-at that time, as Lord Chesterfield tells us, the most brilliant court in Europe and was received with particular attention. Of course during his stay at Turin he was invited everywhere; and on his departure he was loaded with letters of introduction to the different states of Italy. Thus a private gentleman of moderate means, by a graceful impulse of christian feeling, was enabled to travel through a foreign country, then of the highest interest for its society as well as for the charms it still possesses, with more real distinction and advantage than can ever be derived from the mere circumstances of birth and fortune, even the most splendid.