offspring of pride and timidity, which, while it makes one think himself an object of universal attention, conveys an irresistible impression that he is some way or other ridiculous. How often have I envied those impudent fellows, whom I saw sailing about the ladies, and laughing, chatting, or flirting, with as little apprehension as a moth flutters round a candle! I would have pawned every grain of sense I had in the world for just as much brass as would have emboldened me to pick up a lady's fan, or sweeten her tea.

I had remained in this situation just long enough to get into an agony of perspiration, when my good friend came over to me, with a request to introduce me to a lady, who sat on the opposite side of the room. I made fifty excuses, but all would not do; he had told her of his intention, and it would look rude for me to decline. Despair, for I verily believe it was nothing else, gave me sufficient strength to rise from my chair; my friend led me up to the lady, introduced me, pointed to a chair next to her, and left me to my fate. My hands shook, my forehead became wet with cold dew, my tongue clove to the roof of my mouth, and a roaring in my ears announced that commotion of the nervous system which always foretells the approach of a nightmare. I attempted to speak, with as little success as I had often had in trying to call for help in my sleep, when under the dominion of that foul fiend. Our eyes at length happened to meet, and there was something in a little mischievous smile, that sparkled in her eye, and played in the corner of her lip, that called to mind a vision I thought I remembered to have seen before. "I believe you don't recollect me, Mr. Roebuck," said a voice that almost made me jump from my chair, though it was as low and as sweet as a distant wood-dove's. I have heard men extolled for marching up to the mouth of a loaded can

non without flinching; but no wellauthenticated instance of heroism, in my opinion, ever came up to that I exhibited on this memorable occasion, when I answered, in a voice that I almost think was audible, looking her almost in the face the while "Indeed I have not that honor, madam." The effect was decisive, my hands became steady, my forehead resumed its natural warmth, the roaring in my ears gradually subsided, my pulse beat heathfully, and my nerves settled down into something like self-possession. My neighbor followed up my reply, by reminding me that we had been at school together a long while ago-though I recollected that she was much younger than myself-spoke of many little kindnesses that I had done her at that time, and how vain she was of being the pet of not only the biggest, but the handsomest boy in the school. "You are much altered," said she, "and so am I-but I recollected you as soon as you came into the room. I was determined to renew our acquaintance, and to make the first advances-for I remember you used to be a shy boy." "Yes," said I," and I am a shy man, to my sorrow; but I can still feel delighted at meeting my little favorite again, in the shape of a fine woman"-and I believe the very d-l got into me, for I seized her hand, and squeezed it so emphatically that she blushed, and smiled mischievously, as I continued begging her pardon for not recollecting her, and apologizing for being such a shy fellow. The recollection of past times and youthful days, the meeting of old friends, and the recalling of early scenes and attachments, come over the heart of man, as the spring comes over the face of nature-waking the early songsters, touching the little birds and blades of grass with her magic wand into sensation, and putting the whole vivifying principle of expansion, growth, warmth, life, love, and beauty, into sprightly and exulting acti

vity. As the ice-bound brook signalizes its release from the cold, rigid, inflexible chain of winter by its eternal murmurs, so did my enfranchisement from the tongue-tied demon of silent stupidity, by an overflow of eloquence such as alarmed my very self. I reveled in the recollections of the past; a dawning intimation of the future danced before my awakened fancy, distant, obscure, and beautiful. Í talked like a Cicero of congress, whose whole year's stock of eloquence has been frozen up by a Lapland winter, and suddenly set going by a spring thaw-lamented my shyness-and again shook her hand most emphatically, to corroborate my assertion that I was the shyest man in the world. I think I may truly affirm, that I enjoyed more of actual existence in one hour after this recognition, than I had for the last fifteen years, and was swimming in the very bosom of Elysium, when, happening to look towards my merry friend, I caught him in the very act of laughing at me most inordinately. O reader, if thou art peradventure a bashful man, or, what is still more rare, a bashful woman, thou canst tell what it is to have the cold water of a mischievous laugh thrown on the warm embers of a newly-awakened sentiment just lighting into a blaze. Like the traveller of the Swiss valley, thou wilt find thyself, in one single moment, at one single step, transported from the region of flowers, fruits, and herbage, to the region of eternal ice-from the glowing embraces of laughing spring, to the withering grasp of frowning

winter.

I was struck dumb, "and word spake never more "that night. My little school-mate, finding she could get nothing more out of me, changed her seat, and left me alone, howling-no, not howling-but lost in the silent wilderness of stupefaction, where I remained, to see, as I thought, my host and the lady making themselves right merry at my expense. I thought I could tell by

the motion of their lips that they were talking of me; every word was a dagger, and every look a winged arrow tipt with poison. People. may talk of the rack, the knout, the stake, the bed of Procrustes, and the vulture of Prometheus, but all these are nothing compared to the agonies of a sensitive, bashful man, when he thinks himself an object of laughter.

With a mortal effort, such as I never made before, and never shall again, I got up from my chair, made my bow, and rushed out of the room, in a paroxysin of wounded sensibility and unappeasable wrath. The next day, my merry, pleasant friend came to see me, and inquire how I liked his party, and what I thought of my little school-mate. I was grim-horribly grim, mysterious and incomprehensible; I was too proud to acknowledge my wounds, or to do anything more than hint at her being a giggling thing; I could not bear to see a woman always laughing, nor old friends that took such liberties with people_as some people did. short, I was as crusty as Will Waddle, after his half year's baking.

In

Hey-day!" cried my merry friend, (6 which way does that perverse weathercock of thine point now? What is the matter with the 'shy gentleman'-hey?"

There, there! By heaven I knew it, I knew how it was—I'm not quite so blind as some people think me-I'm not deaf—”

"No, nor dumb either, faithI'll say that for you, friend Tom ; you talked last night for the next hundred years. But how do you like my cousin? She has done nothing but talk of you this morning-'

"Yes-and she did nothing but laugh at me last night." Out it came; I could hold no longer.

"Laugh at you! with you, you mean; why, you were the merriest couple in the room.'

Except yourselves, after she left me

"Well, what if we did laugh

you can't expect to have all the laughing to yourself."

"O no-by no means not I; you may laugh till doomsday; only I wish you would find somebody else to laugh at."

"Somebody else!-Why, what do you mean, Tom?"

"Why, sir, I mean that you were laughing at me, from the moment she left my side," cried I, stalking about the room in great wrath.

"No such thing upon my serious honor; we should both scorn such ill manners, and particularly towards you. She was describing the airs and affectation of a party of fashionable upstarts she met in the steam-boat, returning from the great northern tour."

"What did you keep looking at me every now and then for?"

"She was comparing you with what you were at school, and saying how little you were altered, except for the better."

Now, Harry, upon your honor, remember-"

"Upon my honor, then, this is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth-except, indeed-"

"Except what?"

"Except that she expressed her pleasure of again meeting you, and her hope that she should see you often. What say you to paying her a morning visit-hey?"

"With all my heart-for she's a fine woman."

I repeated my visits day after day, till I began to feel myself quite easy in the society of my little school-fellow, who gained vastly in my good graces ever since I heard she thought me so much altered for the better. I remembered, at our first interview, she told me how proud she was in being the favorite of the biggest and the handsomest boy in the school; and if I was handsomer now than then, I concluded, much to my satisfaction, I must be a tolerably good-looking fellow. A woman who can make a shy, awkward man once feel easy 36 ATHENEUM, VOL. 5, 3d series.

in her company, can do anything with him. But if she can add to this the miracle of making him satisfied with himself, his happiness and devotion will be complete. From feeling perfectly easy in her society, I soon began to be very uneasy. I began to be in love, and a shy man in love is as great a torment to a woman as he is to himself, if she cares anything about him. I certainly was something of an original in my amour; for while I used as much pains to hide as others to display their love, I took it into my head that the lady ought to behave as if I were an accepted lover, and eschew all the rest of mankind. I was affronted with her three times a week for some imaginary display of indifference; became inordinately jealous; and, I confess honestly, played such capricious pranks, that, had she not been the best-tempered creature in the world, she would have forbidden me her presence. Yet she treated me with a charming indulgence, humored my follies, and forgave my insolent irritability sooner than I could forgive myself. Three several times I swore to myself that I would confess my love and ask her hand, and as often did the fates interpose to prevent me-once in the shape of a rainy day, which I thought a good excuse for delay; once in the likeness of a hole in my silk stocking, which I observed just as I was on the point of knocking at the door, and which so damped my spirits that I turned about and went home disconsolate; and a third time in the semblance of one of those worthy persons, who lend their wits to such as have money, and let them into the secret of turning it to the best advantage. He propounded to me a cotton speculation, by which a fortune would be made, as certain as fate, in three months at farthest.

To tell my readers a secret, the management of my property, although of great advantage to my health, had redounded very little

"No!-why?"

"She has twice the merit-twice the fortune-and a hundred times the beauty I have; the balance would be all on one side."

"Very well, we shall see," answered he, and away he went, leaving me in a flutter of timidity and hope. This is not intended for a love tale; I shall therefore hurry over this part of my story. It is sufficient to say that my little schoolmate behaved nobly. I went to see her. "You would have bestowed your fortune on me when you was rich-I will bestow mine upon you now you are poor. True it is but little-but I will make it up in prudence and affection." We married, and I entered into trade with my active merry friend. For some years we toiled through the vexatious routine of bargain and sale, buying and selling, and not making much for our pains. In the meantime a little flock of boys and girls sprung up about me, and, like the fresh brooks and fountains, which attract the roots of the old trees that lack refreshing moisture, called off my gnawing anxieties and carking cares towards objects that excited a more

wholesome, gentle, nay, delightful solicitude. Toil, exertion, and economy, became pleasure, because I had somebody to strive for; and I found myself every day gaining courage, confidence, strength, and hilarity, in the busy scuffle I was engaged in. I can safely say that, during the whole of this period of delightful anxieties, I never once imagined myself sick; I had no more heart-beatings and heartburnings-no tremblings, trepidations, and cold perspirations-nor was I once ridden by my old enemy, the nightmare. When the cares of the day were past, I could sit down and enjoy the refreshment of ease; and it was delightful, after the keen encounters of skill, sagacity, and bargaining, which occupied the day, to open my heart among those I could trust with my whole soul, and rely upon with the faith of a martyr.

In short, my

By degrees, owing to the good management of my merry partner, and something to my own care and attention, fortune began to smile upon us, and our acquisitions gradually grew to exceed all our wants. Every year now adds to the means of educating my children well, and leaving them a competence when I shall be no more. tale is at an end, and its moral completed. I am now happy in my wife-happy in my children, who, I am determined, shall never pine, if I can help it, in the enjoyment of perfect ease. I am in excellent health, almost as gay as my merry partner and friend, and have no fear except that of getting so rich that I shall be tempted to retire from business before I am old enough to enjoy a life of ease.

{The following brief history of the unsuccessful attempts lately made by the Spanish patriots to bring about a revolution in their oppressed and degraded country, will be read with interest and regret

by every American. We are in the full enjoyment of all the rich blessings which they are striving to procure for their countrymen, and we cannot consistently do less than earnestly wish that