d held his philosophic school
Beneath the "George and Dragon."

When village Solons cursed the Lords,
And called the malt-tax sinful,
Jack heeded not their angry words,
But smiled and drank his skinful.
And when men wasted health and life,
In search of rank and riches,
Jack marked, aloof, the paltry strife,
And wore his threadbare breeches.

"I enter not the church," he said,
"But I'll not seek to rob it;"
So worthy Jack Joe Miller read,
While others studied Cobbett.
His talk it was of feast and fun;
His guide the Almanack;
From youth to age thus gayly run
The life of Jolly Jack.

And when Jack prayed, as oft he would,
He humbly thanked his Maker;
"I am," said he, "O Father good!
Nor Catholic nor Quaker:
Give each his creed, let each proclaim
His catalogue of curses;
I trust in Thee, and not in them,
In Thee, and in Thy mercies!

"Forgive me if, midst all Thy works,
No hint I see of damning;
And think there's faith among the Turks,
And hope for e'en the Brahmin.
Harmless my mind is, and my mirth,
And kindly is my laughter:
I cannot see the smiling earth,
And think there's hell hereafter."

Jack died; he left no legacy,
Save that his story teaches:--
Content to peevish poverty;
Humility to riches.
Ye scornful great, ye envious small,
Come follow in his track;
We all were happier, if we all
Would copy JOLLY JACK.

FRENCH DRAMAS AND MELODRAMAS.

There are three kinds of drama in France, which you may subdivide as
much as you please.

There is the old classical drama, wellnigh dead, and full time too: old
tragedies, in which half a dozen characters appear, and spout sonorous
Alexandrines for half a dozen hours. The fair Rachel has been trying to
revive this genre, and to untomb Racine; but be not alarmed, Racine will
never come to life again, and cause audiences to weep as of yore. Madame
Rachel can only galvanize the corpse, not revivify it. Ancient French
tragedy, red-heeled, patched, and be-periwigged, lies in the grave;
and it is only the ghost of it that we see, which the fair Jewess has
raised. There are classical comedies in verse, too, wherein the knavish
valets, rakish heroes, stolid old guardians, and smart, free-spoken
serving-women, dis