202 Notes of the Month on [Aug. 



that he would be much more at his ease if they were three hundred miles 

 off. Then the first fragments of the " Great Agitator's" dream will be 

 realized : and the dissolution of the Union will be demanded. The realiza- 

 tion of the next fragment will follow witli the same regularity of cause 

 and effect, and with still more speed. But this we leave to tlie contem- 

 plation of our cabinet, which, lamb-like as it is, we cannot believe to be 

 blind to any one of those consequences. 



The rogue who set fire to the temple of Diana knew the nonsense of 

 mankind well. Nothing brings a man so much into the recollections 

 of the world as some excessive scoundrelism. Rowland Stephenson is 

 talked of stiU with a freshness scarcely tarnished by his being three 

 thousand miles off. He has done more than constitute himself the topic 

 of English conversation — his notoriety has made new conquests across 

 the Atlantic; to Europe he has added America; and enjoys, what the 

 Macedonian wept to enjoy, the possession of all the gossip of a supple- 

 mentary world. The American papers give us, as the most interesting 

 intelligence from the " ten millions" of what Cobbett calls the most 

 powerful, free, ambitious, cunning, and circumlocutory set of knaves on 

 the face of the eai-th, a dialogue, something in this strain, between that 

 Ex-patriot, Ex-sheriff Parkins, and the Ex-Banker. 



P. You have robbed me and others of £100,000. 



S. Pardon me, my dear Sir, I did not rob you, I only converted 

 your money to my own objects. 



P. Wliat have you done with my money .'* 



S. Upon my life, all of it that I disposed of was, I have no doubt, 

 laid out to the best advantage. 



P. Aye, your own advantage. IMy money went on pictures, and 

 picnics, villas and shooting boxes, shares in canals, your three buggies, 

 and your four barouches. 



S. Never object, my dear ex-sheriff, to a superfluity of coaches ; but 

 for them you would not have the happiness of being my creditor. The 

 lottery wheel is not the only wheel that has turned up a prize for you. 



P. Poh, there's no arguing with you. You deal in personalities and 

 paper alike : both pushed off with a prodigious deal of impudence, and 

 both of a class that ought to bring you before a jury Will you go back 

 and be tried for your life ? 



S Yes, if you'll bet on my acquittal ; I'll bet fifty sovereigns to one 

 against you, and double the odds as often as you like. 



P. No ; you are too sure of winning. Confound you ! why did you 

 rob me ? Why did you not rob somebody else ? 



The papers proceed to state that Rowland attracts the most universal 

 interest ; and that Lloyd is " quite a favourite !" So much for con- 

 geniality ! 



We feel infinite honour for the spirit of investigation that characterises 

 our country. The newspapers announced that the father of Maria IMar- 

 ten, the wretched profHgate who was murdered by Corder, lately paid a 

 visit to the assassin's skeleton which hangs up in the hospital. " Mr. 

 Marten's arrival in the town attracted much curiosity, and he was fol- 

 lowed to the hospital by the principal philosophers of the place." 



The workmen in digging a conduit in some indescribable part of Lon- 

 don, towards Whitechapel, found the remnants of a body. Public cu- 

 riosity instantly brought the amateurs of the romantic to the spot. It 



