Learn'd philologists who chase
    A panting syllable through time and space;
    Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark,
    To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's Ark.

We would rather Steele than Walker; that
is all. And though it does not alter cant
words to find them in his company, it puts
a halo round them.

          A DEWDROP.

     I DREAM'D that my soul was a dewdrop,
        As a dewdrop I fell to the ground;
     And here, in the hearts of the flowers,
        A grave of sweet odour I found :

     But my sisters, the other drops drew me
       With them, in a silvery throng,
     To their sweet source, dancing round me,
       And, drawing me, danced me along.

     Where my sisters and I went dancing,
       Gay flowers on the green banks grew ;
     And the flowers I kiss'd, and with kisses
       I greeted the gold sand too :

     Till down, with the brooklet, I bounded,
       On the wheel of the water-mill,
     And whirl'd it ; and wander'd, and water' d,
       The thirsty young corn on the hill.

     Thence, over the hill-top headlong,
        As I fell to the hollows below,
      " Here," I thought, " is the end of my journey,
        And my life, too, is ended now."

     But the current drew me, and drew me,
       By forest, and dale, and down,
     And under the turrets and bridges,
       And into the roaring town.

     Onward, and onward, and never
       Any moment of perfect bliss,
     And, with lips that sought love everlasting,
       I snatch'd but a fleeting kiss.

     Onward, and onward, till falling
       Into the infinite main,
     In its fathomless waters I buried
       My love, and my hope, and pain.

     And "here," I thought, "all ends surely,"
       As the great billow bore me away,
     " Here my spirit shall rest, and for ever,
       " From its longing, and labour, and play."

     But anew to the azure of heaven
       Was my being upborne; and anew
     From the heaven to the earth I descended
        In a drop of celestial dew.

    LOOKING FOR GUY FAWKES.

ON the morning of the fifth of November,
1605, as all the world knows, a tall,
dark, suspicious-looking man, Fawkes by
name, and ostensibly coal merchant by
trade, was discovered by Lord Mounteagle
under the Houses of Parliament in the
suspicious company of a dark lantern,
sundry matches, and thirty-six casks of
gunpowder. The world is further aware
of the ignominious end of this personage,
and is annually reminded of the transaction
in which he was engaged, by all the
vagabonds and dirty little boys who can raise
sufficient capital to construct an effigy proper
to the occasion. On the fifth of November,
the trouble is, not so much to look for
Guy Fawkes as to avoid him. On the
remaining days of the year Guy Fawkes is
out of season, and invisible to the eye of man.
How came it, then, that on the eighth of
February in this present year of grace, we
found ourselves engaged in looking for Guy
Fawkes ?

Of all the places with which we are
acquainted, in which it is easy and, as it
were, a matter of course to lose one's way,
the Palace at Westminster is the most
intricate. All the staircases appear to be the
same; there is a dimness of light in the
corridors, very favourable to aimless
wandering; all the courts have exactly the
same look to the unpractised eye; all the
snug little offices into which the wayfarer
peeps, through half opened doors, are alike.
They are all furnished and comfortably, with
the same official table, the same official
chairs, and the same blazing fires. They
would all be improved by a little more
window. There is an air of " attendance from
eleven to three" about them all. To ask
your way is a proceeding worthy only of a
novice. For the inhabitants of Sir Charles
Barry's elaborate puzzle differ in no respect
from the inhabitants of large piles of building
elsewhere. Either they really do not
know their way about, or they take a
malicious pleasure in concealing their
knowledge from the inquiring stranger, or,
knowing their way and being friendly, they
are wholly unable to explain their views.
Whatever the cause may be, trustworthy
topographical information is scarcely obtainable.
It is well to get a clear understanding
with any individual with whom you
have business in the remoter portions of the
building, as to whereabout you are to go,
and then to set forth in the spirit of an
African explorer, resolved to discover the
spot with as few inquiries as possible. More
embarrassment was caused us by the well
meant but vague directions of a friendly
policeman than by the failure of all our own
unaided efforts, feeble as they were. For a
considerable period this worthy official's
misleading directions kept us on the move.
It was not until we had penetrated,
apparently, into two or three private houses,
and had, on one occasion, had an
opportunity of remarking the ease with which
somebody's spoons might have been
appropriated, that a native of this complicated
region took compassion on us. This
Samaritan—he was a butler and we thank
him — well knew the futility of verbal