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OLD BOGY." 



What is there among things material or immaterial, animate or 

 inanimate, real or unreal, whose antiquity can be compared with that 

 ancient ideal creation of a terrified fancy, the venerable Bogy, or, in 

 vulgar parlance, " Old Bogy ?" In comparison to the age of this 

 evergreen and universal terrorist, that of the flesh-and-blood Methu- 

 selah becomes absolute juvenility — mere boyhood; in short, our hero's 

 origin may be dated from the creation of man, or perhaps, more strictly 

 speaking, the fall of man. We say hero, in our personification, be- 

 lieving that the masculine gender has always been assigned to this very 

 extraordinary ideality. Whatever doubts may be entertained as to the 

 precise period of his birth, there can be none with regard to the woful 

 extent of his influence and power; inasmuch as the latter has been 

 experienced by all, in a greater or less degree, through every stage of 

 this " fleeting life." But it is in our infantine days that we more 

 especially entertain the most profound awe of his terrific attributes, — 

 his immediate province being the nursery-room, where his presence is 

 frequently invoked by the voice of exhausted patience to curb the tire- 

 some freaks of a little, unruly urchin. And where is the heart that has 

 not palpitated on the mere mention of " Old Bogy's coming !" during 

 the tender period of infancy and childhood ? Most surely, no where : 

 for the dread of his imaginary advent has been felt by every son and 

 daughter of our great progenitors. 



But it is necessary to state, that the term " Bogy" Is of a generic 

 kind, comprehending all those terrific immaterialities known by the 

 cognomens of " Ugly Ben," " Old Gooseberry," &c. Moreover, there 

 have been at various epochs of the world's history tangible objects to 

 which his evif spirit has transmigrated — animated representatives of 

 his sublime highness — at least, according to the imaginations of weak- 

 minded persons, old and young. For instance, the popes have for 

 ages been considered, by a vast number, to possess the paring qualifi- 

 cations of Bogyism. 



But with regard to the people of this country, no being of human 

 form ever embodied its startling peculiarities so faithfully in their esti- 

 mation as " Le Grand Empcreur." What unspeakable terror did the 



M.M.— No. 3. P 



