Bourke came down from Sydney with Mr.
Lonsdale, the surveyor, and a few others, and
laid out the plan of the town of Melbourne on
the banks of the Yarra Yarra. However, had
it not been for this system of transportation,
many more years must have elapsed before
the capabilities of this extraordinary country
could have become known. There were no
visible inducements to attract towards it any
private enterprise. It was not until the
Government had, by the aid of the criminals,
caused the country to be opened up, the
fertility of its soil to be made known, and the
suitableness of many of its districts for
pastoral purposes to be quite understood, that
emigration properly began. Sixty-three years
ago, nothing but the existence of Australia
was known — now it is a foremost figure in
our picture of the History that has yet to be
acted in the world.

IGNOBLE CONDUCT OF A NOBLEMAN.

" WHAT should I do," says the philanthropist,
" if my donkey refuses to go? Shall I flog
him?" The philanthropist shudders at the
very idea; and yet, under all the
circumstances, what is a man to do? The animal
won't move; its forelegs are pertinaciously
bent forward to resist any forcible shove in
an advance direction; its ears lie close down
upon its scraggy neck; its eye is dull with
stubborn resolution; and I don't see how it
is possible to abstain from the luxury of
breaking one's cudgel on its back. But after
all, what is a donkey? A donkey is a stupid,
awkward, obstinate, slow-paced animal; dead
to all the ordinary excitement of life; it has
no ambition, and therefore doesn't care who
gets before it in the race; it has no heart,
and therefore doesn't care how much its
abominable conduct injures or afflicts its
benefactor; it has no vanity, and therefore
doesn't care what contemptuous epithets you
heap upon its head, nor how vociferously you
proclaim it to be an ass. You will observe
that in the above definition of the object of
my abhorrence, I have taken care to abstain
from classing it universally and affirmatively
in the list of quadrupeds. The qualities by
which I wish it to be defined are, its obstinacy
in not moving forward when urged to
do so; its heartless disregard of the suffering
inflicted by its obstinate persistence in
standing still; and the excessive inclination
which every one feels to despise, in its
instance, the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals, and to break every bone
in its skin. In fact, the object of my
dislike is not, in the strict acceptation of the
word, an ass; he has only two legs; and
they are acknowledged, I believe, to be
remarkably handsome legs; he has beautiful
auburn hair; the finest hazel eyes that ever
glowed into fire or melted into tenderness;
he is six feet in height; strong as Hercules,
graceful as Apollo ; the eldest son of an
ancient baron and heir to his grand uncle,
the old Marquis of Bartondyke, with a
territorial property of seventy-five thousand a
year. Yes ! Bertram the Normandale is the
person who has roused all the indignation
which I have feebly endeavoured to give
expression to by these allusions to cudgelling
and long ears. But he never reads; he will
never see this slashing attack. If he did, he
would not understand it. He would, perhaps,
think it a compliment. I will lay the case
before an attentive universe and leave the
judgment between us to the assembled
nations of the habitable globe.

In the first place, the man's ingratitude
is astonishing. The noble halls he lives in
— the historic name he bears — the wealth
he is in expectation of — are all owing to
me. I don't pretend that I built Bartondyke
Castle, or inserted him in the peerage,
or drew a check in his favour for a couple
of millions or so of money; but I maintain
that I was the means of putting him into his
present situation, and rescuing him from a
life of vulgar usefulness and unaristocratic
activity as the son of a Yorkshire farmer.
If I had not traced him out step by step,
followed him in the very curious incidents of
his infancy, and saved the reputation of his
sainted mother by the discovery of the
wedding certificate which made her the legal
wife of the Right Honourable Lord Normandale,
he would, probably, at this moment
have been young George Cookson, the
supposed son of the yearly tenant of Yellowleas
farm. I have been the maker of Bertram
de Normandale, and now he thwarts my
wishes in the most mulish and insulting
manner. But you shall hear:

Five-and-twenty years ago, when his
father, Lord Normandale, was at Oxford, he
became acquainted with a young man of
the same college who soon acquired an
extraordinary influence over his mind. The
only son of a poor parish clergyman, Alfred
Winterton was the surprise of the whole
University. Bred up in a rural village, he
seemed to know the great world more
intimately than the lady patronesses of Almack's.
Far from polite society, his manners would
have thrown Chesterfield into despair. Too
poor to have had a stud, he hunted with a
courage and skill which made him the
admiration of the hunting field; he played billiards
like Jonathan; was perfect master of pistol
and small sword; took the best double-first
that had ever been heard of in Oxford; and
was preparing to say farewell to the scene of
so much happiness and so many triumphs
without a single debt! His power over
Normandale was magical.

"You will come and see me, Normandale?'*
he said, as they stood at the door of the
Angle Inn, while the tandem was getting
ready, which was to convey Winterton
towards Birmingham on his way home.