ffoon,--whose talents
discerned as yet only by one penetrating eye, were equal to all the
highest duties of the soldier and the prince. But in Hampden, and in
Hampden alone, were united all the qualities which, at such a crisis,
were necessary to save the state,--the valour and energy of Cromwell,
the discernment and eloquence of Vane, the humanity and moderation of
Manchester, the stern integrity of Hale, the ardent public spirit of
Sidney. Others might possess the qualities which were necessary to
save the popular party in the crisis of danger; he alone had both the
power and the inclination to restrain its excesses in the hour of
triumph. Others could conquer; he alone could reconcile."

* * * * *

SNATCHES FROM EUGENE ARAM.

_Love_.--What a beautiful fabric would be human nature--what a divine
guide would be human reason--if Love were indeed the stratum of the
one, and the inspiration of the other.

_The Pathetic and Sublime_.--What a world of reasonings, not
immediately obvious, did the sage of old open to our inquiry, when he
said that the pathetic was the truest source of the sublime.

_Fortune-telling by Gipsies_.--Very few men under thirty ever
sincerely refuse an offer of this sort. Nobody believes in these
predictions, yet every one likes hearing them.

_Gardening_.--'Tis a winning thing, a garden! It brings us an object
every day; and that's what I think a man ought to have if he wishes to
lead a happy life.

_Knaresbro' Castle_.--You would be at some loss to recognise now the
truth of old Leland's description of that once stout and gallant
bulwark of the north, when "he numbrid 11 or 12 toures in the walles
of the Castel, and one very fayre beside in the second area." In that
castle, the four knightly murderers of the haughty Becket (the Wolsey
of his age) remained for a whole year, defying the weak justice of the
times. There, too, the unfortunate Richard the Second,--the Stuart of
the Plantagenets--passed some portion of his bitter imprisonment.
And there, after the battle of Marston Moor, waved the banner of
the loyalists against the soldiers of Lilburn. It was made yet more
touchingly memorable at that time, as you may have heard, by an
instance of filial piety. The town was straitened for want of
provisions; a youth, whose father was in the garrison, was accustomed
nightly to get into the deep, dry moat, climb up the glacis, and put
provisions through a hole,