session of my bosom, after ejecting the aforesaid tenant. Think not that I am pleading a sham plea. I can assure you, my passion savours of the realty. It is my wish that you and I should be jointly and severally bound by Hymen in a fidelity bond to Cupid, determinable nevertheless on the demise of either party. I meant to have written to you yesterday; but my ink ran up and down, and secreted itself in my new patent inkstand. Pray, accept a declaration nunc pro tunc, and plead thereto issuably in four days and believe that my attachment, unlike those in the Mayor's Court, is incapable of being set aside on the coming in of Answer. Dated this 20th day of September, 1825. Your loving friend, THOMAS TEMPLETON." This was the first love-letter that Jane Brockman had ever received. She hastened to copy it into her Album, and then ran with the original to get it translated by her maiden aunt, Mrs. Sarah Brockman, who had brought down her portmanteau for a fortnight. The latter understood a little of law, having been sued for giving a wrong character to a maid-servant, and therefore explained to her niece that it was equivalent to an offer of marriage. Jane, feeling the contagion of Ophelia's "love in idleness," was disposed to think it a good match. She had often heard Tom play a very respectable second with a Brobdignag fiddle between his legs, and therefore did not allow her imagination to place him in future as an absolute Spagnoletti, the leader of the legal band; but she had little doubt of his being Vice Chancellor; and a good second fiddle in an orchestra is no bad thing. Miss Brockman the elder was therefore deputed to break the matter to papa. Mr. Giles Brockman thought it a foolish affair, and wondered his sister could encourage any such nonsense, rating her rather severely for her officious interference. Whilst affairs were in this train in the Brockman line, matters were going on in a somewhat similar way in the house of Templeton. Old Templeton had a maiden sister, one Mrs. Sarah Templeton, who, on being applied to by Tom, bustled over from Chapel Place, Ramsgate, in a covered fly, to canvass her brother in favour of his enamoured offspring. "I wonder, sister," exclaimed the inhabitant of Bloomsbury Square, "that you can encourage such goings-on! I don't at all like those Brockmans. That daughter Jane of theirs is not at all to my fancy. Her eyes look two ways: I observed one of them yesterday morning in the Library peeping at Tom, and the other leering upon a mustachioed officer in blue and silver, who pretended to be asking if "Matilda" was at home? "Matilda who, brother?" inquired Mrs. Sarah Templeton. "Oh I don't know who," rejoined the brother: "it's some woman in Italy, I believe, that ran away from her husband." It may (to adopt young Templeton's phraseology) "not savour of the realty," to allege that both Mr. Brockman and Mr. Templeton should have maiden sisters named Sarah. But the fact is so; every family has a maiden Aunt Sarah in it, commonly called My Aunt Sally. I have read much of the crabbedness of old maids; but I must own that, according to my experience, they are the best-tempered creatures living. The whole family, jointly and severally, send for them when there is any misery afloat, but are sadly apt to overlook them when matters go on smooth. There were, in the present case, two Aunt Sallys, who volunteered to encounter a very disagreeable business, purely to oblige their respective nephew and niece; and they got nothing but abuse for their pains. It is the same in all the families in the United Kingdom. If a matron lies in, a husband loses his wife, a young man owes money to his cossack trowser-maker, a girl is to be privately married, or an old man is to be publicly buried, my Aunt Sally is sure to be sent for to partake of the festivity. George Robins is a very good stock obligee in all theatrical mishaps of the sort in question; but for the private purposes of life, my Aunt Sally for my money. Britannia is at present in a ferment, owing to the failure of several of her London bankers; and I feel extremely sorry that she has no Aunt Sally to apply to. She has, to be sure, a sister Hibernia; but I fear, that applying to her for money would be equivalent to asking a highlander for a kneebuckle. Mais revenons à nos moutons. Time now stole on, and the Templetons and the Brockmans returned from the sea-side to their London residences. No sooner had Miss Brockman taken a canter or two in the Albany Riding-house in the Regent's Park, than she felt her love for Tom Templeton considerably on the wane. I have already said that love is local. A young man may be passable at Broadstairs, who is not to be spoken with at the corner of Portland Place. It is the same with every thing else. I have known many a prunella gownsman cut very respectable jokes at the assizes at Hereford, who could hardly open his mouth before their four lordships in banco. It makes all the difference, whether a man plays Hamlet at Dunstable, or at Drury. Tom Templeton too, on his return to Gray's Inn, found that Answers in the Exchequer, Leases and Releases, Declarations in assumpsit, and gettings in of outstanding terms, not to mention Mazurier in Jacko, Madame Vestris in Don Giovanni, and Liston in Paul Pry, had a natural tendency to eradicate Jane Brockman from his cidevant too susceptible bosom. Each felt miserable at the thoughts of the misery which a declaration of indifference would inflict upon the other. At length each plucked up courage to plunge the fatal dagger. The two Aunt Sallys were employed to state the repulsion, as they had heretofore alleged the attraction. They met with suitable formality and circumlocution. They each alleged that our affections are not in our own power; that candour at present might save a world of misery hereafter, &c. &c.; and, to their mutual astonishment, found their notices received with mutual satisfaction. General releases were executed and exchanged; and I need not add, that all the blame for first fostering the flame, and then casting ridicule and discredit upon the two families by being aiding and abetting in its extinguishment, fell upon the lean shoulders of the two Aunt Sallys. STANZAS ON THE NEW YEAR. I STOOD between the meeting Years, The same in many a sleepless night, Thank Heaven! I have no prophet's eye For Sorrow like a phantom sits How much of grief, how much of ill, Shadows of faded Hopes flit by, And ghosts of Pleasures fled : How have they chang'd from what they were! I think on many a wasted hour, On worse than nought employ'd. Oh Vanity! alas, my heart! I think on many a once-loved friend And what can mark the lapse of time Perhaps 'twas but a careless word That sever'd Friendship's chain; And angry Pride stands by each gap, Lest they unite again. Less sad, albeit more terrible, To think upon the dead, Who quiet in the lonely grave For faith, and hope, and peace, and trust, Though broken is their bond of love, Thus thinking of the meeting years, 1 needs must ask the future one: There came a sound, but not of speech, That to my thought replied, "Misery is the marriage-gift That waits a mortal bride: But lift thine hopes from this base earth, This waste of worldly care, And wed thy faith to yon bright sky, L. E. L. THE LATE RUSSIAN AUTOCRAT. [It is rather singular that the Author of this Sketch, a gentleman well acquainted with Russia, and who has minutely studied her politics, brought the manuscript to Mr. Colburn on the 15th instant, and very particularly begged that it might be inserted in the present Number of the New Monthly Magazine. He said "political reasons" prompted this desire; and he now tells us, that, whether the Tsar fell by the hands of assassins, or not, a storm has long been gathering against the "too good Alexander," the causes of which he proposes to treat of in his second sketch ] UNDER the reign of Alexander, Russia has apparently reached the zenith of her glory, and seems to have acquired such a vast and unnatural magnitude as to be incapable of remaining much longer undivided-i. e. as a single empire. According to the experience of ages, such an extensive realm, comprising so many tribes and nations, must fall by its own weight. Indeed it is probable, that the overthrow of the Russian empire is at no great distance. Under such impressions, we have been induced to compose a few sketches of the life and reign of the Emperor Alexander, in which we trust our readers may find amusement and instruction. Alexander, when an infant, needed not the appendages of royalty, which often lend charms where they are deficient, to render him interesting. Nature had formed him in a beautiful mould, and his features were expressive of beauty, gentleness, and innocence. He was reared with the greatest tenderness by Madame Gesler, (a Scotch lady, married to a German,) who acted as his wet-nurse; and his infant days were eagerly watched by numerous attendants, and more especially by his Imperial Mother the present Dowager-Empress. When a very little boy, he was sometimes dressed in uniform, and was the object of general regard. As soon as Alexander could walk, an Englishman, Mr. Parland, was appointed his Diadka, a term which may be translated Run-after, but which has by some been interpreted by the expression Man-Nurse.* This gentleman is now living at Petersburgh, after having experienced the Imperial bounty in many ways, and is placed not only in comfortable, but in affluent circumstances. At the age of fifteen, Alexander was a very imposing youth, and had become a universal favourite among all classes of society. He was early placed under the guardianship of Count Soltikof, an enlightened man, who was well fitted for the duties of that high and important station; and the future sovereign, no doubt, benefited much by his sage counsels and his exemplary conduct. That the Emperor was highly pleased with his guardian, was proved by the veneration in which he held the Count during life, and by his condescension in following his corpse to the grave in the year 1816, on foot and bare-headed, along with the other chief mourners. These facts, as well as many others which need not be mentioned, A Diadka is attached to the son of almost every rich nobleman. His duty consists in accompanying the young nobleman every where; in making him occupy himself with the preparatory lessons, in keeping all his clothes and books, &c., and in putting him to bed at night, and rousing him in the morning, at regular hours. Indeed the Diadka seldom quits his ward; but he has nothing to do with his education. Jan.-VOL. XVI. NO. LXI. show that gratitude was no stranger to the breast of the Autocrat of all the Russias. Under able tutors, appointed with the consent of Count Soltikof, the then Grand Duke was taught Russian, French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek, and also a little English; besides the principles of the Greek religion, geography, history, political economy, military tactics, the duties of a sovereign, and some of the sciences. He was reared at the Russian court, under great awe of, and subordination to, his talented grandmother, Catherine II.; under much filial respect for his tender and careful mother; and in absolute dread of his father, the late Emperor Paul. In the days of youthful and impetuous passion, in the midst of a voluptuous court, surrounded by almost all the beauty and fashion of Russia, unawed by examples of chastity and private virtue in the highest individuals of the realm, seduced by the temptations and facilities of gratification-it is not to be wondered that the young and blooming Alexander should have had numerous love intrigues at an early period of his life. On the contrary, it may seem surprising that the young prince, placed in the midst of so much evil example, so much depravity, and so great a deficiency of moral principle, should have wandered so little as he did from the path of virtue. The above circumstances being taken into view, it might naturally enough be supposed, that early marriage was recommended to the heirpresumptive of the Russian crown; and accordingly, he was married when 16 years of age, Oct. 9th, 1793, to the Princess Louisa of BadenDurlach, two years younger than himself, and still the reigning Empress. The princess, on becoming of the Greek religion, assumed the name Elizaveta Alexievna. The marriage was a political scheme of Catherine II. and, though the young bride was handsome, beautiful, and interesting, there was a coolness in her manner, which ill accorded with the warmth of Alexander's passion, and which rendered her not exactly the object of his choice. By her Majesty, the Autocrat had two children, both of whom died in infancy. Since their death, to the regret of the imperial couple, and of the Russian nation," God has given" no additional offspring. At his marriage, Alexander was a tall, handsome, and imposing youth: while his noble forehead and expressive eyes bespoke intelligence, patience, and determination, he was the very picture of rosy health and good-nature. His appearance and deportment were the more remarkable, because they were constantly contrasted with those of his brother, the Grand Duke Constantine, whose short face, pug-nose, knitted eye-brows, and sunk eyes, render him the very representation of impatience, fury, and severity. As his deeds have proved, he has not belied his natural features. He has, indeed, proved himself the true heir to his father's likeness, passions, folly, and illiberality, without a great share of his redeeming virtues-goodness of heart, and paroxysms of remorse, which led the father to make compensation for insults and injuries. With great truth, and, at the same time, with much felicity of language, Dr. Clarke has depicted the extraordinary whims of Paul; whims which rendered it evident to all, that this monarch was hurrying, with rapid strides, to the end of his mortal career. His caprice and his bounty gained him some friends; but the same caprice, joined |