_From Mr. Bulwer's Novel of "Eugene Aram,"_ vol. i.
_Love of Nature_.--It has been observed and there is a world of homely, ay,
of legislative knowledge in the observation, that wherever you see a
flower in a cottage-garden, or a bird at the window, you may feel sure
that the cottagers are better and wiser than their neighbours.
_Humour_.--Where but in farces is the phraseology of the humorist always
the same?
_Conversation Tactics_.--A quick, short, abrupt turn, that retrenching all
superfluities of pronoun and conjunction, and marching at once upon the
meaning of the sentence, had in it a military and Spartan significance,
which betrayed how difficult it often is for a man to forget that he had
been a corporal.
_Music of Water_.--You saw hard by the rivulet darkening and stealing away,
till your sight, though not your ear, lost it among the woodland.
_A fine Fellow_--He had strong principles as well as warm feelings, and a
fine and resolute sense of honour utterly impervious to attack. It was
impossible to be in his company an hour, and not see that he was a man to
be respected. It was equally impossible to live with him a week, and not
see that he was a man to be beloved.
_Marriage_.--The greatest happiness which the world is capable of
bestowing--the society and love of one in whom we could wish for no change,
and beyond whom we have no desire.
_Fatality_.--What evil cannot corrupt, Fate seldom spares.
_Widowhood_.--If the blow did not crush, at least it changed him.
_Comfort of Children_.--As his nephew and his motherless daughters grew up,
they gave an object to his seclusion, and a relief to his reflections. He
found a pure and unfailing delight in watching the growth of their young
minds, and guiding their differing dispositions; and, as time at length
enabled them to return his affection, and appreciate his cares, he became
once more sensible that he had a home.
_Intellectual Beauty_.--Her eyes of a deep blue, wore a thoughtful and
serene expression, and her forehead, higher and broader than it usually is
in women, gave promise of a certain nobleness of intellect, and added
dignity, but a feminine dignity, to the more tender characteristics of her
beauty.
_A Village Beauty_.--The sunlight of a happy and innocent heart sparkled
on her face, and gave a beam it gladdened you to behold, to her quick
hazel eye, and a smile that broke out from a thousand dimples.
_An unformed mind_.--Cheerful to outward seeming, but restless, fond of
change, and subject to the melancholy and pining mood common to young and
ardent minds.
_Dependence_.--What in the world makes a man of just pride appear so
unamiable as the sense of dependence.
_Two modes of sitting in a chair_.--The one short, dry, fragile, and
betraying a love of ease in his unbuttoned vest, and a certain lolling,
see-sawing method of balancing his body upon his chair; the other, erect
and solemn, and as steady on his seat as if he were nailed to it.
_A Soldier's simile_.--Your shy dog is always a deep one: give me a man
who looks me in the face as he would a cannon.
_A Landlord's Independence_.--The indifference of a man well to do, and
not ambitious of half-pence. "There's my wife by the door, friend; go,
tell her what you want."
* * * * *