tent than any other division of the kingdom. Who, indeed, that ever enjoyed, can forget red mullet and pilchard-woodcock and snipecream clouted, and society cemented, as they have for ages been enjoyed by West country travellers! No, this is certainly the elysium of the ROAD. If the roads themselves are not quite so smooth and agreeable as might be wished, the hilly condition of the highways forms in truth almost the only drawback to the happiness of its busy, perambulating, "cosmopolitish" wayfarers; and whether jogging primitively upon the saddle, quietly in the old, cosy, high-backed, easy, well-poised Stanhope, or ostentatiously in a modern four-wheeled drag, it is and ever has been, the fate of each, and all, to bear visibly emblazoned-not upon an escutcheon, but upon their horses' knees-the Devon and Cornish coat of arms. Since the honours are tolerably well divided, however, it is borne with resignation, and submitted to by—I was going to say Christian, but at all events by commercial -fortitude; and they who have travelled long have or in their day have had-occasion for a stock of that commodity.

But there is sufficient in the West to compensate for all this; and its bracing air, bold but beautiful, and ever varying scenery-by sea and by land-including St. Michael's

Mount, the Logan stone, and Land's EndPlymouth, with its fortified citadel, and hoe, sound, and breakwater, homoaze and catwater, having within her haven during times of peace England's glorious wooden walls, our country's pride and boast, a terror to her enemies ;-the Eddystone and its lighthouse-Torquay and its invigorating southern salubrity-Weymouth and its esplanade (not forgetting Mrs. Luce's sea)-Exeter and its Cathedral-the Dockyards of Portsmouth and Devonport—and indeed all Devonshire, with its many picturesque spots and undulating hills, beautifully and appropriately denominated England's Garden - the round" how be YEAU" salutation of its homely, cider-drinking residents-and the captivating smiles of its ruddy, plump, and playful dark eyed damsels—all have an enchantment, that long lines of chimneys, smoky, densely crowded towns, and the pushing, restless, go-a-head spirit of the northern or manufacturing district man, are utterly without.

Business is the primary object of west country representations, however, as fully as it is those of the north, and is carried on quite as profitably as, though much more quietly than, in districts of larger population and consumption, where the competition is less; consequently, men, from being upon the very best

footing with their clients, have an opportunity, after discharging their legitimate duty-from the almost utter impossibility of increasing their connection or the consumption—for relaxation and enjoyment, and a felicitous admixture of pleasure with business.

CONTEMPTIBLE CHARACTER OF AGED
AGGRESSORS.

THE presence of elderly persons in ordinary society has no small influence over the minds and conduct of those who are less advanced in life; and by the tenor of their conversation and behaviour are generally regulated the bearing and tendency of those who look up to and, in a measure, feel justified-or at least excused-in copying and carrying out all that is exhibited. by seniors and fathers, whether it be for good or evil. From this inherent determination to copy, by the inexperienced, the necessity for refraining from all that would contaminate must at once be obvious to all well-regulated minds; yet, strange to say-and I dare not conceal the humiliating affirmation-there are men--yes,

and I will not hesitate to say, old men-to be found in the commercial world (though, thank heaven, they are now very thinly strewn) to whom vice is pleasing, and debauchery an entertainment; men who seem to delight in the evil influence of their corrupt and pernicious example, or who at all events are constantly endeavouring, by loose unguarded expressions and a grossness of demeanour, to exhibit a moral depravity highly culpable; men who indulge in ribaldry beyond all endurance, and whose libidinous inclination, and obscenity of conversation, are repulsive and abhorrent. And to this is usually superadded a positive, surly, peevish bearing, and moroseness of expression to servants, much to be deprecated, and a liberty with strangers altogether unwarrantable.

A man who so far commits himself as to incessantly exhibit such conduct, and especially before young men whose characters are unformed, sets vicious examples the effects of which are not easily to be eradicated; for all must acknowledge that the propensity to imitation. is strong, the power of evil example great and contagious; and from the established fact that vice is more pleasing to the human heart, and more in accordance with the bent of the inclination, than virtue; and that juniors are of

themselves too willing to follow after evil, the greater necessity exists for correctness and purity of deportment in elders.

The latitudinarian conversation and wantonness of life of some few seniors unfortunately exercise a malignant influence over the less experienced; and the turpitude of their conduct has in a very serious degree contributed to the depreciation of their order. They would shudder at the baneful effects of their example if, but for one hour only, they could be brought to feel the awful responsibility of a parent.

The demoralising tendency of such exhibition is incalculable, and wholly without excuse. Nor will it bear reflection in comparison with the satisfaction which a man enjoys whose mind and manners are pure. I cannot comprehend how the man of depravity is constituted. If he can dare to reflect, his conscience must woefully reproach him. He whose conscience does not thus testify must have fallen low indeed; for to be thus guilty, and yet insensible to the nature and degree of his guilt, and of its effects, is to have sunk to a state almost too deplorable for contemplation. But “as the twig is bent so is the tree inclined, and as is the tree so is its fruit"; for had the mind originally inclined towards virtue such grossness would have been almost, in the ordinary state of