26Q CANADIAN NOMS-DE-PLUME IDENTIFIED. 



witli tlie sight of a present plenty and tlie prospect of its undimin- 

 islied succession. To whom, do these woods and meadows, these 

 streams and valleys, these smiling homesteads, these flocks and herds, 

 belong 1 Does their possessor reside in some baronial hall — the rural 

 king of his surrounding tenantry 1 Or is the soil the property of a 

 few, while the many rise up early and lie down late, and eat the 

 bread of carefulness^ The inequalities of condition and wealth — 

 the characteristics of an old and densely-peopled country — are not as 

 yet known in Upper Canada." 



The following has reference to the Duke of Wellington : " We 

 are prepared to view him meditating gigantic schemes and laying 

 down the plans by which they are to be accomplished. We find no 

 more than we expected when he compresses a life of truth and 

 experience into a single hour, and with an intuitive glance foretells 

 the catastrophes of the various dramas enacting on the world's wicje 

 stage before him. We perceive no catise for special wonderment in 

 lus untiring sagacity, in his combination of the aggressive vigour of 

 Marcellus with the defensive caution of Fabius, in his imrivalled 

 practical sense, his unshaken magnanimity, and his lofty disinterested- 

 ness. These, it must be confessed, are signal and noble qualities, but 

 they fill us with esteem rather than with afiection ; they dazzle rather 

 than fascinate our eyes ; and their combination is not a novel feature 

 in the character of the world's foremost men. The traits which these 

 Despatches exhibit to us for the first timey and which previously were 

 not in general accorded to the Duke of Wellington, are those which 

 add love to admiration, and heighten national gratitude into personal 

 attachment. It is ennobling to our species, and delightful to our 

 ■feelings, to find that the highest excellences of private station are 

 not irreconcilable with the stern career of the victorious warrior, and 

 that the hoiisehold virtues and the peace-loving humanities of life 

 may be found among the demoralization of camps and the carnage- 

 covered fields of battle." 



I select one more passage from this excellent master of English 

 style. It is from a paper in a humorous strain, entitled, " A Defence 

 of Little Men," and it professes to be, not by Alan Fairford this 

 time, but by Sir Minimus Pigmy. " Perhaps some tall gentleman 

 is laughing at what I have written," Sir Minimus says, " but he had 

 better take care not to laugh in my face. Little men are as choleric 

 as Celts ; and Sir Jejfferey Hudson (a name ever to be venerated by 



