alternative of a failure, which would leave its members chargeable with a poverty of talent, of energy, and of liberal and ingenuous tastes, is one which, as there is no reason to anticipate, it would only be distressing to contemplate, or to point out.

As the Editors are chiefly responsible for the tone and merit of the work, it will of course be understood, that nothing can obtain insertion which is disapproved by them. It is their fixed and unalterable determination to reject whatever would degrade the character of the paper, or pain the feelings of individuals. In declaring themselves willing to receive satirical productions, they would have it provided that the satire be always delicately concealed, and be of that kind which rather tickles than irritates, and sparkles without burning. Assuredly, they will not lend themselves either to excite, or to nourish, private animosities.

The Editors conclude these introductory remarks, by offering their sincere thanks to the body of their fellow-students for the encouragement which has already been afforded them, and by requesting continued assistance, as well as, in the estimate of the manner in which they perform their task, a very indulgent consideration of the difficulties which they have to encounter.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE HAILEYBURY OBSERVER.

DEAR SIRS, I am glad from reports sempiternal
To hear you've determined to issue a Journal
For Poetry-dramatic, and epic, and lyrical;
For Prose-sentimental, instructive, satirical.

I repeat, Sirs, I'm glad, at length has been granted

That lofty tribunal, so awfully wanted,

A censor of morals, a foe to abuses,

And a terror (the phrase pray forgive) to all gooses.

Your far seeing eye will not fail, Sirs, to scan

Each practice which plagues the poor hard Reading Man,
Under which he has long unresistingly groaned,

But which ought to be now, sine die postponed.

I think it is hard, that over my busy pate

As I pace the quadrangle, each witling should dissipate

A jug of cold water, which gives me a staggerer,

And suggests most unkindly the "Falls of Niagara."

I think it is hard, that when any one seeks

The name of a book, to be told it is "Cheeks,'
And on asking what that is, an impudent railer
Should say a "Marine" or the "E. I. Coll. Tailor.".

I think it is hard, to leave Greek or Hindï

On a special invite from a Pro to drink Tea,

And your bow having made, (most dressing of jokes)

To find the Pro's letter,-proh pudor !—a hoax.

I think it is hard, when stretched on one's truckle,

To be roused from soft slumbers, by loud cries of "Buckle,"

A practice which long has discretion outran,

And offends very deeply that worthy young man.

I think it is hard that a fat man should snore
When I strive to gain Legal or Pol. Econ. lore;
But I know you'll exclaim," our patience will fail us"
If I say a word more on this Heliogabalus.

I think it is hard,-but, Sirs, let me restrain,
My praiseworthy wrath, till I write, Sirs, again;
Meantime let the flame-breathing steed of your pen
Ride rough-shod the foes of us hard Reading Men.
Go on, Sirs, and prosper: feared and loved may you be
In the turbulent regions of A B and C.

Write again and again if you find No. 1. do :
Remember that "Vires acquirit eundo."

A, READING MAN.

[We have received the following from a correspondent, and, having decided upon › the admission of political articles, we insert it accordingly but we beg to state once for all, that we are not to be held responsible for the sentiments contained in this, or any other communications from correspondents.]

TO THE EDITORS OF THE HAILEYBURY OBSERVER. GENTLEMEN EDITORS,-Though, from the name which you have given · to your Paper, it might be inferred that your remarks were to be restricted to the little concerns of the College; yet it is difficult to suppose that you will omit to acquaint us, from time to time, with the progress of events and of opinions in the world about us. No one would wish you to be hot, indiscriminate defenders of any political party, or person. But, occasionally, you might endeavour to draw the attention of your readers to the grand principles of the science of government, and to the qualities of head and heart which ought to belong to public servants. When you consider upon what a stage they will hereafter figure, and how important it is that they perform their parts well, nothing will appear more proper, or more expedient than such a proceeding.

In so doing, you would naturally direct their eyes to the character and conduct of the present Ministry. Justly may we boast of rulers, whose rare fortune it is to possess both the favour of the court and the confidence of the people, because the rare merit attaches to them of being not more ardent lovers of liberty, than zealous advocates of order and obedience. They are men of immaculate patriotism, of uncommon capacity for affairs, of large schemes and liberal views of policy. Not at all averse from judicious measures of reform, they have ever opposed a resolute front to hasty, ill-considered and needless innovations. The narrow prejudices which have long obstructed the march of civil equality and religious toleration, the wild theories of a fatuous enthusiasm, which gaping after impracticable perfection in the constitution of human society, loses sight of that excellence which is attainable, seem alike to have been unable to gain any hold upon their vigorous understandings.

Their policy at home and abroad has been attended with singular success. Among ourselves party heats have been gradually mitigated. The ill-omened signs of discontent have passed away. Ireland is enjoying a tranquillity which she has not known for many years. The rebellion in Upper Canada has been utterly extinguished. In the East, wars that appeared imminent have been averted by dexterous diplomacy, without any compromise of the honour of England. The ambition of Russia has not been suffered to encroach upon the rights and interests of other nations. The integrity of the Ottoman empire has been preserved inviolate.

That a ministry, having such claims to general approbation as services so great as these constitute, should nevertheless have been maligned as a set of scoundrels and incapables, is grievous, indeed, but not surprising. As if the degree of depreciation on the one side should be exactly proportioned to the degree of merit on the other, it is observable, that the missiles of abuse and scurrility have been chiefly aimed at the nobleman who presides over the administration of affairs. Let him be comforted by the approval of his own conscience. Let him look forward with assurance to the sentence of future generations. That, placed in the delicate and responsible situation of adviser to a youthful and inexperienced Queen, he should have used, without abusing, the implicit confidence which her generous disposition led her to repose in him, and should have demeaned himself towards her so properly, so wisely, so honestly, as to have won the acknowledgment, that she regarded him as a father, with affectionate reverence; that, aspersed and vehemently denounced by the established clergy, his only revenge should have been, to confer upon them the benefit of a commutation of tithe, and to deliver the highest dignitaries of the church from temptations, which their virtue was not always able to resist, though to yield to them was disgraceful, by abolishing the evil practice of translating bishops from one diocese to another;-that, suddenly and fiercely assailed by an old and familiar comrade, who had basely deserted to the enemy, he should have had the magnanimity not to disclose facts, the very mention of which must have effectually bridled the licentious tongue of his unprincipled antagonist, and covered his face with shame and confusion; these are a few of the noble traits, which, however the eyes of contemporaries may be blinded to them by party spirit, will assuredly be recognised and depicted by the impartial historian, and command the admiration of posterity.-I have the honour to be, yours, &c.

PHILALETHES.

TO GREECE.

Land of the Bard who sang Achilles' ire!
Land of the battle-sword and melting lyre!

The patriot's thoughts shall ever dwell with thee,
Birth-place of Heroes and of Liberty !

How long shall cruel tyrant man oppress

The spot, which bounteous Nature loves to bless
With brilliant skies of Heaven's clearest blue,
And sunny plains that gentlest breezes woo?

How long shall Grecia's dark-eyed daughters weep,
And classic valour rest in death-like sleep?

I listened, and the voice of vengeance cried,
"Let Grecia's dark-eyed daughters cease to weep.
"No more shall tyrants revel in their pride,

"Awake! awake! The Turk hath murder'd sleep !!"

-See! slumb'ring Greece is wak'ning from her dream,

The war shout rises, and the lances gleam;

The banners wave, and soon the crimson flood

Shall stain the plains with dying Moslem's blood.

-Strike home, brave Greek! Let Turkish foemen feel

The virtuous wrath of thy avenging steel;

Fight on and conquer, like thy sires of old,

And thy proud tale, like theirs, shall oft be told,
And lovely woman shall reward the deed;

For lovely woman's praise is valour's sweetest meed.

A*****

EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF A STUDENT OF THE EAST INDIA COLLEGE.

As the long middle age of ignorance in these academic walls is about to vanish, and the classic glories of our predecessors, dimly shadowed forth in the columns of the Scrutator, are about to be rivalled in the pages of the Observer, it is a duty which we owe to posterity, to paint in colours, at once vivid and correct, the habits and character of the embryo civilian of the present time. We offer no apology for the publication of the following Extracts from the Life and Adventures of a Student of the East India College, knowing that England, India, and indeed the whole of the civilized world, together with Hertford and Leadenhall-street, peremptorily demanded its appearance.

The author, proud of being above the prejudices of his times, and spurning the flimsy prettinesses by which his brothers in literature veil their ambition and their vanity, at once states, that he presents to the universe what the universe wanted, a true and faithful history, replete with erudition, teeming with interest, enriched with the noblest sentiments, and enlivened by the purest humour.

*

*

*

[NOTE. We have here omitted some admirable passages on the ideal, and the true, in composition,-together with a masterly review of English literature, and East India College Examination papers. We have also dispensed with all the valuable reflections with which the work abounds, and have confined our extracts to events. We are, however, happy and proud to be enabled to state, that the whole work will be shortly published, in one volume, 8vo. by J. Madden and Co. with illustrations by A. W. Phillips, and A. C. Travers, Esqs. In the exercise of a sound discretion, we have also passed by the early education of the hero, and the reader will therefore please to imagine him to have been educated at a private school, and to have entered his eighteenth year.-ED. Observer.]

On the fifteenth of December, 18-, Arthur Fielding was summoned from a parlour boardership, at a romantically situated school, to undergo the necessary examination for a Writership in the East India Company's

service.

Although a youth of fair talents and considerable assiduity, yet from the private nature of his education, he had about as vague a notion of a public examination, as an Oxford undergraduate has of the Integral Calculus. Not a little, therefore, was he alarmed, when told that he must be prepared "to go in and win" before another calendar month had elapsed. The intervening time was spent in alternate hopes and fears, in running from Euclid to Paley, from Paley to Walkingame, from that respectable gentleman to Magnall's Questions, and from thence to every bookseller's shop in town, in search of aids, synopses, and translations, and five minutes' advices, and brief views, and tabular views, and comprehensive views, and analyses, and every thing which could make a young man satisfactorily acquainted with every subject in twenty-one days.

A few days previous, however, to the ordeal, it was incumbent to comply with a necessary form, entitled, "the Presentation of Petitions." Our hero found this but a very slight affair, merely consisting in giving full

scope to the reflective faculties during the space of four hours. The speculative have sought to place another interpretation upon this ceremony, but the acute have always considered that, for any less excellent purpose than the one above-mentioned, the royal family of Leadenhall-street would never drag young gentlemen from their studies at so critical a period, to ask them whether they were the sons of their fathers, whether they had ever had the small-pox, and whether their handwriting was their handwriting.

The awful day at length arrived, and, contrary to novelistic custom, was of a very every-day appearance. Several times before our hero left his home did he endeavour in secret to discover the decree of fate, by the rotatory motion of a penny piece; head for success,-their antipodes for defeat. Nor could all the caresses of his kind relations quite dispel the gloomy forebodings, which the continued appearance of Britannia seated on the edge of her shield shed over his superstitious temperament. At length he found himself at the appointed field, surrounded by about thirty young men of his own age, the majority of whom, by certain silver sounds, and by the nationality of those garments which can only be expressed to ears polite by a periphrasis, he soon discovered to be natives of

"The land of brown hills and shaggy wood.".

A tedious pause now ensued, which some employed by telling others where they had been at school, some in devouring with all the ferocity of despair question-and-answer editions of Paley's Evidences, whilst all, in their secret heart of hearts, felt their situations to be very similar to that of the criminal who hears the rack preparing in an adjoining room Exactly at half-past eleven A.M., the engagement commenced by the distribution of arithmetical and mathematical papers of questions, and by each of the three Inquisitors simultaneously seizing a victim for a vivá voce examination.

As, however, one day's trial will enlighten our readers as to the nature of the ordeal, we will therefore, with his permission, describe the third and last day. On this day, a paper of questions on History and Geography was placed in our hero's hands, which demands a more minute attention, It appears that the Examiners, finding their task to be one not very amusing, determined to relieve the monotony of their labours by a slight infusion of comedy.

With this view, the gentleman who proposed the questions on the third day, and who must most decidedly have been a wag of the first water, enlivened the natural dulness of History, and threw a charm over the sinuous perplexities of Geography, by specimens of humour, of which the following are examples:

QUESTIONS.

Compare a square mile with the area of this paper ?

A map in relief is sometimes so constructed, that a mile in a horizontal direction is represented by a line much shorter than that which represents a vertical mile-on the other hand, in looking at an actual country the eye is pointed in a direction nearly horizontal; on a map we look down. Does this difference in the line of view aggravate or compensate for the errors produced on the map in the appearance of a mountain?

The little river at Shoreham in Sussex, after almost reaching the sea is compelled to move parallel to the coast before it finds an exit-give