and half; that he is a
smoker; that he sometimes gets up when other people are going to
bed; that he often stops out all the night; and is too familiar with the
low song--

"We won't go home till morning."

But these are mere eccentricities of greatness, and with all such
irregularities he is "a very delectable, highly respectable" young
fellow; in short,

"A most intense young man,
A soul-full-eyed young man,
An ultra-poetical, super-aesthetical,
Out-of-the-way young man."

Why, he has been known to take the shine out of old Sol himself;
though from his partiality to us it always makes him look black in
the face when we, Alexander-like, stand between him and that
luminary. We, too, are the only people by whom he ever allows
himself to be eclipsed. Illustrious man in the moon I he has lifted
our thoughts from earth to heaven, and we are reluctant to leave
him. But the best of friends must part; especially as other lunar
inhabitants await attention.

"Other inhabitants!" some one may exclaim. Surely! we reply; and
though it will necessitate a digression, we touch upon the question
_en passant_. Cicero informs us that "Xenophanes says that the
moon is inhabited, and a country having several towns and
mountains in it." [49] This single dictum will be sufficient for those
who bow to the influence of authority in matters of opinion.
Settlement of questions by "texts" is a saving of endless pains. For
that there are such lunar inhabitants must need little proof. Every
astronomer is aware that the moon is full of craters; and every
linguist is aware that "cratur" is the Irish word for creature. Or, to
state the argument syllogistically, as our old friend Aristotle would
have done: "Craturs" are inhabitants; the moon is full of craters;
therefore the moon is full of inhabitants. We appeal to any unbiased
mind whether such argumentation is not as sound as much of our
modern reasoning, conducted with every pretence to logic and
lucidity. Besides, who has not heard of that astounding publication,
issued fifty years since, and entitled _Great Astronomical
Discoveries lately made by Sir John Herschel, LL.D., F.R.S., etc., at
the Cape of Good Hope_? One writer dares to designate it a singular
satire; stigmatizes it as the once celebrated _Moon Hoax_, and
attributes it to one Richard Alton Locke, of the United States. What
an insinuation! that a man born under the star-spangled banner
could trifle wi