to self-complacency when we have succeeded in giving a witty or energetic expression to it.

Wit and Sensibility. Sorrow is never more sorrowful than when it jests at its own misery. Indeed, vividness of wit has its origin in quickness of sensibility. Thus, the most brilliant flashes of wit come from a clouded or incensed mind, as lightnings leap only from an obscured firmament. Or, as has been elsewhere more touchingly said, "A simile may be bright

while the heart is sad the rainbow is beautiful in the air while beneath is the moaning of the sea."

Wit and Wisdom-Wit is better as a seasoning than as a whole dish by itself. Fully to respect the wit, we must feel that he is capable of something better than wit. The charm of even Shakspeare's wit is in its being so generally associated with something nobler — his wit with wisdom, his humor with sentiment, with

I felt all the anguish of undeserved and unnecessary defeat, which has been so pleasantly described in the 'Miseries of Human Life.' This, thought I, would have been an answer befitting a poet, and calculated to make a figure in biogra phy."

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taste, with sensibility. A flash of wit is best when it is also a flash of truth.

It is just possible to be a trifle too wise, or wise out of place.

"Devout at play, wise at a ball,"

says Dryden, in one of his satires. So also, it is possible to be too witty to be earnest, and too earnest to be witty. What Bacon says of love, applies as well to the vanity of wit-"Great spirits and great business," he says, "do keep out this weak passion.'

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And finally One cannot be witty always: equally impossible is it to be wise always. In our efforts to retain the wisdom we have acquired, an embarrassment arises like that of the little boy who was scolded for having a dirty "Blow your nose, sir.'

nose.

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Papa, I do

blow my nose, but it won't stay blowed."

traits and grotesque evolutions of character — Americans have little; of humor of manners

the humor that consists in eccentric habits of action and modes of speechexcept in certain parts of New England - still less. The most amusing presentation of some of the most racy peculiarities of "Yankee" speech, character, and manners, is of course to be found in the "Biglow Papers." Besides exhibiting certain grotesque elements in American life and character, there is also a wonderful truth of serious portraiture in these humorous sketches of Lowell. His humor is as bright as a flame, but also as consuming. His satire wraps its subject around like a conflagration. It plays with it, with a cruel glee, till it reduces it to a charred mass, or a blackened cinder.* Of American wit,

* Indeed, the "Biglow Papers" of Lowell, like the "Yellowplush Correspondence " of Thackeray, have more admirers abroad than at home. Both humorists are too disparaging in the tone of their humor. People do not like to have their peculiarities hit off too sharply. Intending to refer to that peculiarity of Americans of speaking through their noses "Mrs. B.," said I, to a charming woman, "do you know that you have a nasal twang to your voice?" The lady colored; then looked surprised, and then indignant. I hastened to explain. "Most Americans have, and you, as an American, only share the peculiarity." But the explanation came too late. The general truth was disregarded, and only its personal application taken notice of. A proper rebuke for an ungentle way of sug

there is, in individuals, much more, and of the finest quality. Not to mention the exquisite touches of Washington Irving, witness the altogether characteristic vein of Hawthorne, and the keen flashes of Oliver Wendell Holmes. The stream of his wit, like a river bathed in sunshine, glitters as it flows.

WOMEN.

TEXT to God we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making

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worth having.

Women and their Beauty

it

Women regret

nothing so much as the want or the loss of beauty. Nor is it to be wondered at. Do they covet power? Beauty is power. Do they covet love? Beauty excites it. And indeed it must be a proud thing, not to be able to turn but where admiring eyes and subject hearts are there to greet the queen that captivates them.

The beauty of some women is even of that

gesting it! Especially to a lady, chiefly those truths should be told that have something flattering in them.

kind that improves by time, and that promises to reach its perfection only when time shall be no more. In the "daily beauty" of their lives, we read a foreshadowing of that happier existence beyond, where all is pure, and noble, and progressive.

Women and their Beaux-It is a circumstance of which intelligent men take notice with a mixture of envy and jealousy, that superior women so readily accept the attentions of inferior men. I once asked a charming miss, who was herself no exception to the rule, the reason of this, when she replied that ladies were fond of attentions, and so long as they received them, they were not so particular as to the sources they came from. Besides," said she, "however excellent men of sense are as husbands, they make very indifferent beaux: they are so dreadfully in earnest in what they say or do, and overpower you so much with their sense, that it is a positive relief to turn to one of these more amusing gentlemen." "Well," said I, a little nettled by this explanation, "if sense is so little appreciated, teach me to talk nonsense, that may make my

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self more agreeable to you."

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"Oh," said she,