208 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



'strutted/ but the quotation would be inapplicable his ' little hour' in 

 that elevated position/ 



"' May I inquire the cause of such an accident?' 



"' Oh, certainly, Sir ; I need have no reserves with one of your respecta- 

 bility. It was my fate some months since to be detected in certain verbal 

 inaccuracies touching the amount of a few Corporation subscriptions for 

 the Humbug Charity School, and to be publicly exhibited, in consequence, 

 to the gaze of the most unpolished rabble I think I ever saw.'j 



" ' They certainly did let fly uncommon sharp/ interposed the turnkey ; 

 ' the cabbage-stumps flew like any thing/ 



" ' Vulgar beast !' whispered the fatalist. 



" ' You scarcely could have expected otherwise, Mr. Stubbs / I replied, 

 ' the pillory is no place for the cultivation of the gentilities/ 



" ' Sir, your position is unanswerable. After the most impartial consider- 

 ation I can give to the subject, I find it impossible to reconcile myself to 

 the idea that it is either an elegant or creditable exhibition. Still, like every 

 thing else, it has its redeeming points/ 



"How so?' 



" ' Why, Sir, if it panders to the malignant tastes of the oppressors, you 

 must at least allow that it teaches the oppressed a lesson of forbearance ; 

 enables him to put in practice the receipts of philosophy ; to endure adver- 

 sity with becoming resignation/ 



" ' Sweet are the uses of adversity/ I observed. 



" ( You are right, Sir ; and the poet who broached that wholesome truth, 

 must himself have tasted them in the pillory. It is the very Paradise of 

 such sweets/ 



" ' You seem to entertain a very soothing recollection of them/ 



" ' And why not ? On me, Sir, the pillory had no effect but what was 

 strictly salubrious. Conscious that I was the victim of destiny. I bade 

 a philosophic defiance to the storm that hurtled round me. Besides, I re- 

 flected that the pillory was classic ground, and derived inexpressible com- 

 fort from the consideration that though I was nearly pelted out of all shape 

 there, I yet had not my ears cropped like that illustrious sage, De Foe/ 



" ' Why, no,' said I, with an arch smile, f it is plain they are as long 

 as ever/ 



"' You're a wag, Sir, I conjecture, and inasmuch as a little seasonable 

 facetiousness in no wise detracts from, but rather give an agreeable relish 

 to, the grave discourse of wisdom, I partake your mirth. By the way, 

 talking of such trifles the bye-play of the mind, as the learned Helvetius 

 calls them could you oblige me with a shilling ?' " 



We would earnestly recommend the author of this book to apply himself 

 to the composition of a novel. In our opinion he possesses every qualifi- 

 cation for the task. His style is sparkling without apparent labour or 

 effort; and the more effective, that it is never strained for effect. We can 

 honestly assert that we have not for many years seen a work of fiction so 

 good in itself, and yet so full of promise of better things, as the " Exile of 

 Erin," which we strenuously advise our readers to peruse forthwith. 



A NEW GUIDE TO SPANISH AND ENGLISH CONVERSATION, &c. BY 

 J. ROWBOTHAM, F.R.A.S. SMITH, ELDER, AND Co., CORNHILL. 



A VERY unpretending simple little volume, giving to the learner a very 

 sufficient conversational vocabulary of perhaps the most dignified expres- 

 sive language in Europe, to the study of which the events of each suc- 

 ceeding day add a fresh interest. 



