Although it does not appear that Madame
de Staal was particularly gifted with beauty
yet it seems that her admirers were numerous
and passionate, and many poems were written
in her honour, which to an English reader
appear the perfection of insipidity and false
taste. Hyperbolic inanities in praise of
beauty which did not exist, and of virtue
and wisdom often entirely imagined, were
the fashion of her time, and a fashion which
lasted only too long in spite of Molière's
wit. After her marriage she became very
celebrated by her dramatic pieces and her
verses; but her memoirs are far more entertaining
and attractive than any other of her
remains.

Madame de Staal died in seventeen hundred
and fifty.

LISTENING ANGELS.

BLUE angainst the bluer Heavens
Stood the mountain calm and still;
Two white angels, bending earthward,
Leant upon the hill.

Listening leant those silent angels,
And I also longed to hear
What sweet strain of earthly music
Thus could charm their ear.

I heard the sound of many trumpets,
And a warlike march draw nigh;
Solemnly a mighty army
Passed in order by.

But the clang had ceased; the echoes
Soon had faded from the hill;
While the angels, calm and earnest,
Leant and listened still.

Then I heard a fainter clamour:
Forge and wheel were clashing near,
And the reapers in the meadow
Singing loud and clear.

When the sunset came in glory,
And the toil of day was o'er,
Still the angels leant in silence,
Listening as before.

Then, as daylight slowly vanished,
And the evening mists grew dim,
Solemnly from distant voices
Rose a vesper hymn.

But the chant was done; and, lingering,
Died upon the evening air;
Yet from the hill the radiant angels
Still were listening there.

Silent came the gathering darkness,
Bringing with it sleep and rest;
Save a little bird was singing
In her leafy nest.

Through the sounds of war and labour
She had warbled all day long,
While the angels leant and listened
Only to her song.

But the starry night was coming,
And she ceased her little lay;
From the mountain-top the angels
Slowly passed away.

HONOURABLE JOHN.

THE friend of whose character and acts I
am about to present an outline, is more
commonly known (especially in the East,
where his immense estates are situated),
under the name of John Company. He
prefers the title of Honourable John. I have
known my friend for very many years, and
confess that until quite recently I entertained
a profound respect for his character,
and a great admiration of his abilities. If my
opinions have undergone a change, and now
differ very widely indeed, the fault lies not
at my door, but at his own huge stone
portals.

Honourable John's ancestors were merchants
of great repute, who amassed enormous fortunes
by trading to the East. They began
life in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and, by
the middle of the last century—that is, a
hundred years ago—were merchant princes
by reason of having had a monopoly of trade
from Great Britain to nearly the whole of
Asia. I do not care to inquire too particularly
into their private history, nor their
commercial dealings of those days. I shall
not ask whether they used the good old
Dutch standard of weights when buying from
native dealers, recorded by Mr. Knickerbocker
in his excellent history of New York,
namely :—a Dutchman's foot as equal to
two pounds, and his hand for one pound;
although I have heard it whispered that
in each of my friend's factories a corpulent
heavy-limbed Hollander was to be seen
in close attendance on the scales: neither
will I ask whether the cutlery they sold was
made for sale or use; whether their Coventry
ribbons were half cotton; or whether they
sold their calicoes by good old English yards
or by Flemish measure? I will let bye-gones
be bye-gones, and simply state the fact that
when my honourable friend came of age;
which he did in April, one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-three; he possessed enormous
landed property in the East, with a huge
and costly oriental staff of servants, and two
rather expensive establishments at home: one
in Westminster, the other in the City. His
ancestors had at various times borrowed considerable
sums of money, the interest on
which amounted to a large income; but,
inasmuch as his rents covered all his outgoings,
and left a yearly balance of a million
and a half sterling, there really was not
much fault to be found.

The will under which Honourable John
came into possession of his vast property in
eighteen thirty-three, expressly stipulated
that he was no longer to engage in commercial
pursuits, but stick to his land, and