No matter--'tis a comfort, though,
To know he will take _one_,
And even tho' Bess and Bella go,
He still may fix on Fan.
I'll have him in the family,
That's sure--But, why, you look--
"Oh, madam, Mr. Thomson's just
Got married to his cook----"

_Tait's Edinburgh Magazine._

* * * * *


THE WAVERLEY NOVELS.


Perhaps no writer has ever enjoyed in his lifetime so extensive a
popularity as the Author of Waverley. His reputation may be truly said
to be not only British, but European--and even this is too limited a
term. He has had the advantage of writing in a language used in
different hemispheres by highly civilized communities, and widely
diffused over the surface of the globe; and he has written at a period
when communication was facilitated by peace; while to the wonder of his
own countrymen, he has to an unexampled degree established an ascendency
over the tastes of foreign nations. His works have been sought by
foreigners with an avidity equalling, nay, almost exceeding, that with
which they have been received among us. The conflicting literary tastes
of France and Germany, which twenty years ago seemed diametrically
opposed, and hopelessly irreconcilable, have at length united in