sainted HOGGARTY (tears), set in the locket which contains the valuable diamond that you have often heard me speak of. Wear it, dear SAM, for my sake; and think of that angel in Heaven, and of your dear aunt Dosy.'

'She put the machine into my hands; it was about the size of the lid of a shaving-box; and I should as soon have thought of wearing it, as of wearing a cocked hat and a pigtail. I was so disgusted and disappointed, that I really could not get out a single word.

When I recovered my presence of mind a little, I took the locket out of the paper (the locket indeed! it was as big as a barn-door padlock), and slowly put it into my shirt.'

He becomes somewhat more reconciled to the gift, when he is informed that the gold in which the thing is set is worth five guineas, and reflects that he can have the diamond re-set as a breast-pin, for two more; and that a diamond-pin would give him a distingué air, although his clothes are something of the shabbiest. bidden his aunt good-by, he is about to leave for London; but let him tell his own story:

Having

"WELL, I walked down the village, my hands in my breeches pocket; I had poor MARY'S purse there, having removed the little things which she gave me the day before, and placed them-never mind where; but look you, in those days I had a heart, and a warm one, too; I had MARY's purse ready for my aunt's donation, which never came, and with my own little stock of money besides, that Mrs. HOGGARTY's card-parties had lessened by a good five-andtwenty shillings. I calculated that after paying my fare, I should get to town with a couple of seven-shilling pieces in my pocket.

'I walked down the village at a deuce of a pace; so quick, that if the thing had been possible, I should have overtaken ten o'clock that had passed by me two hours ago, when I was listening to Mrs. H.'s long stories over her terrible Rosolio. The truth is, at ten I had an appointment under a certain person's window, who was to have been looking at the moon at that hour, with her pretty quilled night-cap on, and her blessed hair in papers.

There was the window shut, and not so much as a candle in it; and though I hemmed and hawed, and whistled over the garden-paling, and sung a song of which Somebody was very fond, and even threw a pebble at the window, which hit it exactly at the opening of the latticeI woke no one except a great brute of a house-dog, that yelled, and howled, and bounced so at me over the rails, that I thought every moment he would have had my nose between his teeth. So I was obliged to go off as quickly as might be; and the next morning mamma and my sisters made breakfast for me at four, and at five came the True Blue light six-inside post-coach to London, and I got up on the roof without having seen MARY SMITH.

'As we passed the house it did seem as if the window-curtain in her room was drawn aside just a little bit. Certainly the window was open, and it had been shut the night before; but away went the coach, and the village, cottage, and the churchyard, and HICK's hay-ricks, were soon out of sight.

My hi, what a pin!' said a stable boy, who was smoking a cigar, to the guard, looking at me and putting his finger to his nose.

The fact is, that I had never undressed since my aunt's party; and being uneasy in mind and having all my clothes to pack up, and thinking of somebody else, had quite forgotten Mrs. HOGGARTY's brooch, which I had stuck into my shirt-frill the night before.

Thus ends the first chapter. The second tells us how the diamond is brought up to London, and produces wonderful effects, both in the City' and at the 'West End.' Especially does it make the reader acquainted with Mr. JOHN BROUGH, Chief Director of the Independent West Diddlesex Association, a company whose assurance' seems to have been enough for all the similar institutions in London, the financial schemes of which are recorded with infinite truthfulness and humor. We wish we had space to permit Mr. TITMARSH to describe in his own words, the manner in which he was one day whisked into the magnificent carriage of Lady DOLDRUM, and the good luck which enured to him thenceforward. The sketches of that interesting mnemonic old dowager-countess, of the Ladies PRESTON and RAKES, and of the Earl of TIPTOFF, are in THACKERAY's rich vein. But the picture of that PECKSNIFFIAN financier, the chief director of the I. W. D. Ass.,' is the creöwnin' glory' of all; nor is it a character without its prototype, here and elsewhere.' The diamond-pin successively introduces the wearer to a dinner at Pentonville with ROUNDHAND, BROUGH'S chief clerk, a hen-pecked 'spoon' of a husband, and subsequently to a fashionable ball at the residence of the Chief Director of the Ind. W. Did. Ass.' There is something, as it seems to us, of the sly humor of GOLDSMITH in the ensuing scene:

THERE is no use to describe the grand gala, nor the number of lamps in the lodge and in the garden, nor the crowd of carriages that came in the gates, nor the troops of curious people outside, nor the ices, fiddlers, wreaths of flowers and cold supper within. The whole description was beautifully given in a fashionable paper, by a reporter who observed the same from the Yellow Lion,' over the way, and told it in his journal in the most accurate manner; getting an account of the dresses of the great people from their footmen and coachmen when they came to the ale-house for their porter. As for the names of the guests, they, you may be sure, found their way to the same newspaper; and a great laugh was had at my expense because, among the titles of the great people mentioned, my name appeared in the list of the 'honorables.' Next day BROUGH advertised a hundred and fifty guineas reward for an emerald necklace lost at the party of JOHN BROUGH, Esq., at Fulham.' Though some of our people said that no such thing was lost at all, and that BROUGH only wanted to advertise the magnificence of his society; but this doubt was raised by persons not invited, and envious, no doubt. 'Well, I wore my diamond, as you may imagine, and rigged myself in my best clothes, viz., my blue coat and brass buttons, before mentioned, nankeen trowsers and silk stockings, a white waistcoat, and a pair of white gloves bought for the occasion; but my coat was of countrymake, very high in the waist and short in the sleeves; and I suppose I must have looked rather odd to some of the great people assembled, for they stared at me a great deal, and a whole crowd formed to see me dance, which I did to the best of my power, performing all the steps accurately, and with great agility, as I had been taught by our dancing-master in the country. 'And with whom do you think I had the honor to dance?-with no less a person than Lady JANE PRESTON, who, it appears, had just gone out of town, and who shook me most kindly by the hand when she saw me, and asked me to dance with her. We had my Lord TIPTOFF and Lady FANNY RAKES for our vis-a-vis.

'You should have seen how the people crowded to look at us, and admired my dancing, too; for I cut the very best of capers, quite different to the rest of the gents, (my lord among the number,) who walked through the quadrille as if they thought it a trouble, and stared at my activity with all their might. But when I have a dance, I like to enjoy myself; and MARY SMITH often said I was the very best partner at our assemblies. While we were dancing, I told Lady JANE how ROUNDHAND, GUTCH and I had come down three in a cab, beside the driver; and my account of our adventures made her ladyship laugh, I warrant you. Lucky it was for me that I did not go back in the same vehicle; for the driver went and intoxicated himself at the Yellow Lion,' threw out GUTCH and our head-clerk as he was driving them back, and actually fought GUTCH afterward and blacked his eye, because, he said, that GUTCH's red velvet waistcoat frightened the horse.

Lady JANE, however, spared me such an uncomfortable ride home; for she said she had a fourth place in her carriage, and asked me if I would accept it; and positively, at two o'clock in the morning, there was I, after setting the ladies and my lord down, driven to Salisburysquare in a great thundering carriage, with flaming lamps and two tall footmen, who nearly knocked the door and the whole little street down with the noise they made at the rapper. You should have seen Gus's head peeping out of a window in his white night-cap! He kept me up the whole night, telling him about the ball and the great people I had seen there; and next day he told at the office my stories, with his own usual embroideries upon them.'

Mr. TITMARSH became afterward a frequent visitor at the Chief Director's, where on Sunday,' he writes, 'a great bell woke us at eight, and at nine we all assembled in the breakfast-room, where Mr. BROUGH read prayers, a chapter, and made an exhortation afterward to us and all the members of the household, except the French cook, Monsieur NONGTONGPAW, whom I could see from my chair walking about in the shrubberies, in his white night-cap, smoking a cigar.' The result of the pious Chief Director's assiduous attentions to Mr. TITMARSH turns out to be, that Aunt HOGGARTY invests her money in shares of the I. W. D. Ass.;' that all is lost; and that Mr. TITMARSH, now married to sweet MARY SMITH, is thrown into prison for liabilites which he had been induced, at BROUGH's instigation, to incur. The description which ensues of scenes in the prison is as graphic and striking as any thing in the volume. But we must refer the reader to the book itself for particulars,' as well as for the dénouement of the story; in which it is conclusively shown that a good wife is the best diamond a man can wear in his bosom.

It is a curious thing to remark the ease with which one may detect the style and manner of a true observer, like THACKERAY. Whether as the gossiping flunkey, 'CHAWLS YELLOWPLUSH,' the voyager from 'Cornhill to Cairo,' the recorder of the proceedings of 'Vanity Fair,' or the painter of BROUGH, Chief Director of the Independent West Diddlesex Association,' he can never remain nominis umbra.'

EDITOR'S TABLE.

Anniversary Festival of Saint Nicholas.

WE have once more the pleasure, as the elected official organ of the Saint Nicholas Society, to present our readers with a brief record of the proceedings at their anniversary festival, held at the City Hotel on the evening of the seventh ultimo. The Society, with their invited guests, assembled at the appointed hour; and after the election of new, and reëlection of old officers, proceeded, to the sound of inspiring music, to the banquetting-hall, where they were marshalled to their seats by the stewards. When the company were all seated, it was remarked that each of the four long tables, running lengthwise of the hall, was just comfortably filled. At the centre of the raised table, on the dais, sat the PRESIDENT, looking as happy as he felt, with his venerable cocked hat and brave insignia of dignified office; while mounted before him, with head turned due 'no'th-east-by-no'thhalf-no'th,' stood that Determined Cock, which was presented to the Society at their last anniversary by WASHINGTON IRVING. The chaplains of the Society, with the presidents of the several sister societies of the metropolis, were on each side of the President, and with their different orders and badges, added not a little to the picturesque affect. Grace was invoked by the Rev. Mr. JOHNSON, one of the chaplains of the Society; when there straitway ensued a great rattling of plates and popping of corks; and a goodly number of colored gem'man, clad in the quaint garb of old PETER STUYVESANT were about,' with marvellous ubiquity. When the viands and fluids had been sufficiently discussed, the President arose, mounted his hat, and addressed the Society as follows:

'BROTHERS OF ST. NICHOLAS: Another year has again brought us together to celebrate the anniversary of our patron Saint, and to welcome to our festive board the representatives of those societies whose origin and purposes are, like our own, founded in charity and benevolence. In expressing the gratification I have in meeting so numerous an assemblage of the members of our Society, I may, I trust, be permitted at the same time briefly to express the feelings of a just pride at the honorable distinction which it has been your pleasure again to confer on me, by electing me for a second term to preside over this Society. My best thanks and my whole duty are all that I can offer in return. It gives me great pleasure to be able to inform you that the funds of the Society are gradually increasing, and are from time to time

safely invested; that our actual members exceed three hundred; and although it is true that but small demands for aid have as yet at any time been made upon our treasury, still, while we cannot but rejoice that such is the case, it is no less our duty, as it is our practice, to husband our means against the day of need, and for acts of charity, which doubtless, in the course of years, we shall be called upon to dispense. These great societies are among those which distinguish and add character to our great commercial city, where men of all nations congre. gate, and uniting their skill, their enterprise and their capital with the old Dutch stock, increase and render permanent the prosperity and wealth of the common hive. During the present year we have had cause to rejoice in the return of peace; the waste of war has dis. appeared, and in its place have come repose and quiet, and the gathering together of the means of this great and free people for the arts of peace and the bold and well-planned adventures of commerce, as well to its ancient haunts as to those distant and newly-acquired settlements where our language, our laws and our freedom are to be planted and cherished by the hands of Americans. We have, too, unlike the ancient world, recently and quietly gone through with an election for the Chief Magistrate of the Union; a result arrived at through the ballot alone, and acquiesced in as the will of the majority; the two great principles of our govern. ment, and upon the preservation of which depend the prosperity of our country and the perpetuity of our institutions. Amidst the general welfare, we have to mourn the loss of several of our most distinguished members. Since we last met, HENRY BREVOORT and DAVID S. JONES have finished their mortal career; but they have left with us the memory of their great personal worth, and excellences in their different spheres of life, and each, in his peculiar character, the taste, the knowledge and the fitness which adorned the places they filled among us.' When the President had concluded these remarks, and the applause which they elicited had subsided, he proceeded to give the following regular toasts, which were repeated by the Vice-Presidents, and received with tumultuous acclamation; several of them, indeed, with nine hearty cheers:

ST. NICHOLAS: Our Patron Saint, long canonized in our affections: May his genial worship be extended among our descendants.

OUR CITY: Her destiny is onward; it shall be the effort of her sons to make her fully worthy of her ancestry.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK.

THE ARMY: Honor to the names and the deeds which constitute its glory.

THE NAVY: The Lakes, the Ocean and the Gulf, bear witness to their valor and their skill. THE EARLY FATHERS OF NEW AMSTERDAM: The stem they planted has become a giant tree : through all the grafts it still shows the vigor of the parent stock.

OUR SISTER SOCIETIES: ST. NICHOLAS Welcomes them right heartily to his board, and in the cup of good-fellowship again pledges them to advance the city of their adoption.

THE NATURAL ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND ENGLISH SETTLERS IN AMERICA: Its beginning, the hospitality shown in Holland to the emigrants of the Mayflower; its consummation, the union of their descendants here.

OUR BROTHER THE GOVERNOR-ELECT: The hereditary successor in office and character of the illustrious STUYVESANT.

THE DAUGHTERS OF EVE: The Mother tempted one man out of Eden: The Daughters make for us a Paradise of the world.

After the regular toasts were gone through with, the Presidents of the Sister Societies, present as guests, responded on behalf of the associations which they represented. Taking the hint from a suggestion by the President of ST. NICHOLAS, they spoke with brevity and to the point. We regret that care was not taken to preserve a copy of their remarks for publication; but this was overlooked; as it was also in the case of the brief but felicitous speeches of the Vice-Presidents, which formed an excellent feature of the evening. The subjoined are the toasts by the Presidents of the sister societies, and other invited guests:

BY MAYOR HAVEMEYER: Our Dutch Ancestors: The prosperity of our city is a tribute no

less to their sagacity, which laid its foundations, than to the enterprise which has raised the superstructure.'

BY DR. BEALES, PRESIDENT of ST. GEORGE'S SOCIETY: New-York: May her future equal her past career.'

BY MR. IRVIN, PRESIDENT OF ST. ANDREW'S: The Virtues of the Settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam: A good foundation for a great and virtuous community.'

BY MOSES H. GRINNELL, PRESIDENT OF THE NEW-ENGLAND SOCIETY: 'Saint Nicholas: The best-tempered and broadest-bottomed saint in the calendar.'

BY MR. ZIMMERMAN, DUTCH CONSUL: The Constitution of the United States and the Fundamental Law of the Netherlands: May other nations learn from them that no government, however free, can be permanent, unless its laws protect the property as well as the social rights of individuals.'

BY JAMES REYBURN, PRESIDENT OF ST. PATRICK'S SOCIETY: The Dutch Settlers of New-Amsterdam: While selecting a snug home for themselves, they established a haven for the exiles of all nations.'

BY MR. CONNARD, PRESIDENT OF THE GERMAN SOCIETY: The Old New-York Gentleman: A living example to the rising generation. May the race never expire.'

BY THE REV. DR. SCHOONMAKER, (in sonorous Dutch :) Het Santa Claes Geseldschap von Nieuw Amsterdam, alle heyl en voorspoet tot desselfs leden: Lanck mogen sy betrachten Fatherlandts onwankelbaer oprechtigheyt, eerlyckheydt van voornemen, en liefde tot deughtsaemheydt, vryheiten relesie.' (The St. Nicholas Society of New-Amsterdam: Health and prosperity to its members. May they long cultivate that unbending integrity, honesty of purpose, and the love of liberty, virtue and religion, which has elevated the national character of Fatherlandt.)

BY A GUEST: Our Dutch Ancestors: The first founders of civilization, science and religion in this State. Their institutions will shine with increasing brightness to the remotest generations.'

BY MR. ZABRISKIE: The late Emigrants from Holland: Like the Pilgrims of New-England, they fled from the land of their fathers and the endeared associations of birth, in quest of civil and religious liberty. We welcome them to our shores, the land of their choice and the future home of their children.'

BY HENRY J. BRENT, A GUEST: The Hudson River: Like the Flag of the United States, may it wave to every land the blessings and bounties and liberties of our country.'

BY DENNING DUER, OF THE COMMITTEE OF STEWARDS: The Sons of St. Nicholas: Let them but be true to the customs of their ancestors, and all will be well with themselves and their descendants.'

BY A GUEST: The returning sense of public justice, manifested by the reëlection of the Dutch to power, in the election of a Dutch Governor and a Dutch Mayor.'

While the company were yet enveloped in the warm smoke that curled lazily upward from the long pipes sent over by Messrs. WAMBERSIE AND CROASWYCK, of Rotterdam, and presented to the Society by GILBERT DAVIS, Mr. CHARLES KING, one of the Vice-Presidents, rose, and in conclusion of a few well-expressed observations, touching the power and glory of England, proposed the health of Hon. MAURICE POWER, member of the British Parliament, who was present as an invited guest. The gentleman thus honored responded as follows to the toast, in a manner which bespoke him an accomplished orator:

MR. PRESIDENT, Vice-Presidents and Gentlemen of the ST. NICHOLAS SOCIETY: I need not, I am sure, here express how deeply sensible I am of the high honor that has just been done me; an honor which is in no small degree enhanced by the eloquent and complimentary terms with which you, Sir, have prefaced the toast, and the cordial and enthusiastic manner in which it has been received by the gentlemen of this Society, whose history, or rather the history of whose ancestors, both of the old world and the new, I have read and pondered over with admiration and delight. In that history, Sir, I found a people, who, with nothing save the force of character, of virtue and of enterprise to rely upon, converted the undrained marshes of Holland into smiling meadows and rich pastures; a people whose stock in trade consisted only of a few fishing-boats, which were soon exchanged for those noble ships, with which the Dutch were