NEXT YEAR, 



Procrastination is the thief of time. YOUNG. 



I REMEMBER reading in some book a German author, I think 

 " Shew me your apartment, and I'll be your fortune-teller." There 

 is much reason in this saying, for assuredly if fortune can be foretold 

 by the character of an individual, in no manner can you form a 

 better estimate than by a glance at his domicile. Let any man of 

 discernment enter the chamber of his friend, and attentively survey 

 the signs and appearances therein, and I am much mistaken if he do 

 not arrive at a more just conclusion respecting the character and dis- 

 position of its occupant, than ever could Lavater by his physiognomy, 

 or another, and more amusing class of speculators, by the lines on his 

 hand, or the development of his tympanum. 



Is the tenant of the chamber extravagant ? it will be indicated by 

 the costliness of its decorations, and the little care with which they 

 are preserved. Is he parsimonious ? by the meanness of its appoint- 

 ments, and the evident appearance of comfort sacrificed to saving. 

 The scholar will be known by his books, and their marks of use 

 the nature of his studies by their contents. Can any one, for ex- 

 ample, desire a more complete insight into the character of Mark 

 O'Gormand than by looking at his table ? Upon it you see Mrs. 

 Mac Murdo's cookery, well thumbed and dog-eared, with an essay on 

 diet and indigestion uncut. There is the story of a man who, to 

 make a more pompous display of plate, placed a pair of silver spurs 

 on his sideboard ; can any thing indicate the vanity of an individual 

 with greater force? In short, whether a man be ostentatious or 

 humble, intemperate or sober, musical or melancholy, may be as 

 easily known in a visit or two, by " signs and appearances," as can 

 the age of a horse by looking into his mouth. 



My friend Will Hopeful is a remarkable truth of what I shall in 

 future call the science of Chamberology. Will's apartment is strewed 

 up and down with half-formed models of ships, half carved plans of 

 mines, unfinished draughts of speeches, petitions to Government for 

 land in the Colonies, penned on the back of proposed mortgages on 

 his own estate, copies of letters for the loan of thousands on the re- 

 verse of dunning notes for hundreds, and amid this chaos of half- 

 digested prospectuses and unaccomplished designs, sits my friend, 

 revelling in all the luxury of an idealist, the delighted architect of a 

 thousand air-built projects. 



From this sketch it will be at once perceived that Hopeful is a 

 great projector ; but he is not so unsuccessful as many of his fra- 

 ternity, for he never, by any chance, attempted to put one of his 

 schemes into practice. They are all to come ; Will has, therefore, 

 never known disappointment. One morning I found him attentively 



M.M. No. 92. 2 A 



