the third to non-essentials; and under the fourth will be found hints as to the readiest means of approach, cautions against offending peculiar tastes or prejudices, and much interesting and valuable informa tion. On the first head we have, of course, bestowed by far the greatest portion of our time and labour; the result is perhaps but a few figures, which occupy a small space, but, as in astronomical calculations, the pith and marrow of the whole inquiry depends upon their accurate number and arrangement, and few are aware of the trouble, acuteness, penetration, and research, which have been employed to obtain this accuracy. We have already examined twelve hundred and thirty-four wills at Doctors' Commons; bribed about five hundred lawyers' and bankers' clerks; cross-questioned more than two thousand waiting-women; and perfected a system of espionage, which prudence will not permit us farther to develope. We neglect no circumstance, however trivial, from which a hint may be obtained. We have permission from several milliners, &c. to look over their books, and we immediately commence inquiries concerning every extravagant purchaser. These, however, frequently end quite contrary to expectation: it is by no means the richest who are most lavish in expenditure; and in those suspicious cases which we have dogged into shops, we have generally found that the poorest part with their money carelessly, while a good cheapener and thorough lover of bargains is seldom worth less than 10,000l. On the article of beauty, we have trusted no eyes but our own, well aware that lovers and near relations generally exaggerate a lady's charms, while her intimate female friends as surely depreciate them. Following Dr. Kitchener's example, who boasts of having given no recipe in his cooking-book which he had not previously made and tasted himself, we have conscientiously avoided describing any lady whom our own eyes have not twice attentively surveyed; once in "the pomp, pride, and circumstance" of evening dress, and again in the less deceiving attire of morning deshabille. A more clear idea, however, of our scheme will be conveyed by subjoining a few specimens taken at random from our first number, which will contain about seventy-five articles.

No. 14.

Fortune-10,000l. certain, left by a grandfather: two brothers have the same, one of whom is likely to die before he is of age, which would produce 5000l. more. The father in business, supposed to live up to his income. A rich single aunt, but not on terms, on account of No. 14's love of waltzing. A prudent husband might easily effect a reconciliation.

Person. Fair with red hair, and freckled, nose depressed, brow contracted, figure good, two false teeth.

Non-essentials. Bad-tempered, economical almost to parsimony. Sings a great deal, but has no voice. Dances well; a Roman Catholic. Miscellaneous Information.-Fond of winning at cards. A particular dislike to large whiskers; disapproves of hunting; makes her own gowns, and likes to have them admired.

No. 26.

Fortune.-16,000l. from her father, who is dead, and 10,000l. more certain on the death of her mother, who is at present ill. It is hoped

that her complaint is dropsy, but more information on this point shall be given in our next Number.

Person.-Fair with fine blue eyes, good teeth, beautiful light hair. Tall and well made. Hands and feet bad.

Non-essentials.Weak in understanding, and rather ungovernable in temper. Has been taught all fashionable accomplishments; plays well on the harp; sings Italian. Bites her nails, cannot pronounce her h's, and misplaces her v's and w's. Her father was a butcher.

Miscellaneous Information. Keeps a recipe book, and is fond of prescribing for colds and tooth-aches. Has a great dislike to lawyers. Eats onions. Fond of bull-finches and canary birds. Collects seals. Attends lectures on chemistry. Sits with her mouth open.

No. 43.

Fortune.-60,000l. in her own disposal.

Person.-Aquiline nose, large dark eyes, tall and thin. Fine teeth and hair, supposed false; but the lady's maid has high wages, and has not yet been brought to confess.

Non-essentials.-Plays well on the piano. Good-tempered. Aged sixty-three. Evangelical, and a blue-stocking.

Miscellaneous Information.-Dislikes military and naval men. Fond of hares and trout. Has a great objection to waltzing. Aunt to No. 14. A prudent man might easily widen the breach between them. Attends Bible-meetings and charity-schools. Lame of one leg.

No. 61.

Fortune. An only child; father a widower, with landed property to the amount of 1500l. per annum, and 40,000l. in the Three per Cents. It is possible he may marry again, but as he keeps a woman who was his cook, it is hoped this may not occur. The daughter lives with a maternal aunt.

Person. A decidedly handsome brunette. Tall, and well made.

Non-essentials.--Charitable almost beyond her means; from which, and her wishing her father to marry, she is supposed to be extremely weak. Temper excellent; said to be well educated, but of too retiring a disposition to allow of our discovering the fact without more trouble than the matter is worth.

Miscellaneous Information.--Fond of the country. Goes twice to church on Sundays, but this affords no opportunity to a lover, as she never looks about her. Has an uncle a bishop, which may recommend her to clergymen.

Every person who has directed his attention to the subject, must perceive at a glance the immense utility of a work of this nature, conducted, as it will be, by men who pledge their characters on the correctness of the information they convey. When a bachelor decides on marriage, by running over a few pages of our work, he will in half an hour be able to select a desirable match; by applying at our office, and giving testimonials of his respectability, he will receive the lady's name and address; and he may then pursue his object with a calm tranquillity of mind, a settled determination of purpose, which are in themselves the heralds and pledges of success. Or, should he meet in society a lady who pleases his taste, before resigning himself to his admiration, he will make inquiries at our office as to the number under

which we have placed her in our list; and should she be of too little value to deserve a place in it, he will vigorously root her from his imagination, and suffer himself no longer to hover round her perilous charms, "come al lume farfalla."

With what gratitude should I have hailed such a work as "The Bachelor's Vademecum" in my own days of freedom and matrimonial inquiry! What an influence would it have exerted on my comfort and my fate! I remember with horror the anxious days and sleepless nights which doubt, suspicion, and conjecture occasioned me; the fears of advancing too far, the dread of imposition, the vacillation in my conduct and manners which every new rumour produced. One day I was urging myself into ardour, the next studiously cold; one day I courted a smile as a blessing, the next feared it as a lure. And what at length was my fate? I affronted the only woman I ever liked on hearing a false, but general report, that she had lost the greater part of her fortune by the failure of a banking-house; and after unravelling a thousand artifices, avoiding a thousand snares, I was tricked into a marriage with a plain, disagreeable, healthy old maid, by her hoydening niece, whose artless manners I never suspected, and who told me as a great secret that her aunt had 40,000l. in the Bank of England, but did not wish it to be known. It was a spontaneous, unsuggested hoax on the part of the girl, intended to make me ask her aunt to dance; I asked a more important question, was favourably answered, and am tied to a termagant for life, with a paltry 5000l. strictly settled upon her to gild my misery. Let my own hard and unmerited fate be a warning to others; let it prove the insufficiency of caution if unassisted by accurate information; and as no mariner, however wary, could venture to despise the aid of a beacon, neither let the most prudent bachelor reject the proffered aid of our Vademecum. I am, Mr. Editor, Your obedient servant,

W. E.

STATE OF PARTIES.

PARTY divisions, whether on the whole operating for good or evil, are things, we fear, inseparable from a free Government. In this country they have, however, for the most part, been productive of good; but of late years, from the want of the highest grade of talent amongst the leaders, and of consequent union in their followers, their nature, and their results, have tended to lower the standard of public morals, and materially to alter, and, if not checked in time, to hazard the existence of our constitution, During the life of Mr. Fox, except in two wellknown instances (the Mission of Mr. Adair to Russia and the secession from Parliament), his party was of eminent service to the country. Mr. Pitt's party was so far of use, as a body, as to render it disgraceful for an individual to leave whatever banners he first appeared under, from motives of private and personal interest. We are old enough to remember the Irish Parliament in its full pride of power and of profligacy; and have not unfrequently seen the red-hot patriot of one day leading the ministerial band of placemen and pensioners on the following with no compunction and little disgrace. The practice was common, and by use made tolerably perfect. Here, if a party got into

power, it was in a body, and while such a practice continued, the country was benefited by the vigilance, the talent, and even the ardour of a regulated and skilful Opposition. The sagacious Lord Coke well observed, that "an inquiring Parliament" was good for the country; it kept ministers to their traces, and made their opponents attentive and active: the first were aware that no questionable act would be suffered to pass unquestioned; while the others knew that their weight with the country mainly depended upon their real or supposed acuteness and vigilance.

We have been led to these reflections by the change which has taken place in the House of Commons since the death of the two great leaders whom we have named.

Trading politicians have become numerous, who change their flags or their benches as it suits their convenience, and, as Mr. Grattan well observed, "they meander to their points," whenever they can do so with advantage to their own interests. Recent events in our political sphere have given a plausible pretext to these parliamentary girouettes. We have had, from various causes, some physical, some moral four administrations in about one year; and as each has been dissolved by death or disease, by intrigue or imbecility, large numbers have adhered to one ci-devant minister or another. Our Houses, both of Lords and Commons, now resemble a county map; we have four or five subdivisions of each body, each parcelled out and divided with different-coloured lines, and acting under different leaders or banners. We have the "friends" or adherents of Lord Liverpool; the admirers of Mr. Canning; the followers of Lord Goderich; and the "troops" of the Duke of Wellington.

The supporters of Lord Eldon and prerogative; of emancipation in religion, and liberality in commerce, headed by Lord Lansdown in one House and Mr. Huskisson in the other.

The adherents of Lord Goderich, veering and tacking, after the example of their unsteady leader, between both the foregoing; and the band of our late Commander-in-Chief, now our prime minister; as obedient to his "orders," as if engaged in a military, instead of a political campaign.

Each and all of these parties, except the last, range occasionally under the "Grand divisions" of Whig and Tory, of Ministry and Opposition. The Whigs, purely as such, are reduced to a small, but able and compact force. We have a detachment of the young nobility, classed under Lord Althorpe; of reformers, under Brougham and Tierney; of accountants and scrutineers, under Hume; of emancipators, under Lord John Russell; while Sir J. Macintosh and M. A. Taylor, aided by a detachment of rising lawyers, keep up an unremitting and powerful fire on the inveterate abuses and complicated chicanery of the Court of Chancery. The remainder of the Whigs consist of various denominations, some more, some less active and ardent, but few "of sufficient mark" to be separately enumerated. In the House of Lords we have the stern and fiery, but able and constitutional Lord Grey; the mild, sagacious, cool, and lucid eloquence of Lords Lansdowne and Holland, enlivened, sometimes by the wit, and always by the acuteness of the latter, and of Lord King; but we have to lament the want of cordial feeling, and sacrifice of personal, to public opinion,

where so much talent is still to be found; and above all, we want the concentrated effort of a united body under an acknowledged leader.

In the Tory party there is considerable talent, and even energy; though we think both to be so mingled and oppressed by such narrow views of national policy, such selfish aspirations after ranks and ribands, or even more solid rewards, such a keen scent after pensions and places that we expect little good from such a body, while we fear much danger. The danger we anticipate is from the divided state of the Whigs-no master-mind to calm or awe them into quiet or obedience, and to constitute a powerful phalanx vigilant and united; while on the other side all is union and concentration, because all have one common end and object, to rule their King, and the country in his name, henceforth, as they have hitherto done, with little interval, for nearly half a century; making its best institutions, its press, and its Parliament, the engines of their own power, the sources of their own wealth, and the causes of national degradation.

To the Tories we owe an accumulation of debt almost beyond calculation. They found England with, perhaps, a useful debt of two hundred, and left it tottering under the oppressive weight of one amounting to near nine hundred millions!

They found us with a small standing army, proportioned to our wants as possessors of colonies; and with a powerful fleet, the natural guardian of an insular position. Our fleet is now turned into a sort of hospital for the "incurables" of our aristocracy. Our army has been encreased till it has become an object of rational fear to its country; while, from the nature of things, it never can be so numerous as to enable it to take an eminent station on the Continent of Europe; or, as the Great Frederick said of a military nation, so powerful as not to let a shot be fired in Europe without its permission. The army, too, has been made, by certain officers, more remarkable for their rank than for any military talent or quality, a source of great expense to the country, and we think a means certainly not of improving the military character of our soldiers. Some of our troops are made, in appearance, to resemble Russians, Prussians, or Germans; and considerable sums have been paid for mouse's skin, and other artificial modes of giving whiskers and moustaches to particular regiments; as if, after the severe lessons which both our cavalry and infantry have given to the best troops in Europe, the well-shaved lip and smooth chin of a ruddy English soldier does not present as formidable an appearance, and certainly a much cleaner one, to an enemy, than any other that he can meet in the field of battle. At the gigantic contest of Waterloo, our Horse Guards, in their cloth coats, encountered and destroyed the French cavalry, cased from their chins to their hips in steel; they picked, as we heard a soldier say, "the fish out of these lobster shells," and the next thing done, by some of our inilitary men-milliners, was to case our fine fellows in these shells, which had been insufficient to protect their original wearers in that sanguinary conflict! This we have noticed here as connected with our subject, because it marks a desire to make our men resemble the troops of the Continent, while, in fact, they should have been preserved as "purely English" as possible; and, like our tars, in their "plain blue jackets," the ornament and defence of their own country, rather than the silly copyists of the fashions or the follies of any other.