He left to his infant successor a famished and miserable people, a
beaten and humbled army, provinces turned into deserts by misgovernment
and persecution, factions dividing the court, a schism raging in the
church, an immense debt, an empty treasury, immeasurable palaces, an
innumerable household, inestimable jewels and furniture. All the sap and
nutriment of the state seemed to have been drawn to feed one bloated and
unwholesome excrescence. The nation was withered. The court was morbidly
flourishing. Yet it does not appear that the associations which attached
the people to the monarchy, had lost strength during his reign. He had
neglected or sacrificed their dearest interests; but he had struck their
imaginations. The very things which ought to have made him most
unpopular,--the prodigies of luxury and magnificence with which his
person was surrounded, while, beyond the enclosure of his parks, nothing
was to be seen but starvation and despair,--seemed to increase the
respectful attachment which his subjects felt for him.--_Edinburgh Rev._
(_just published_.)

* * * * *


THE GRAND SECRET OF SUCCESS IN LIFE.


For all men doubtless obstructions abound; spiritual growth must be
hampered and stunted, and has to struggle through with difficulty, if it
do not wholly stop. We may grant too that, for a mediocre character, the
continual training and tutoring, from language-masters, dancing-masters,
posture-masters of all sorts, hired and volunteer, which a high rank in
any time and country assures, there will be produced a certain