"My little girl sleeps on my arm all night, And seldom stirs, save when, with playful wile, I bid her rise and place her lips to mine, Which in her sleep she does. And sometimes then, Half-muttered in her slumbers, she affirms Her love for me is boundless. And I take The little bud and close her in my arms; Assure her by my action--for my lips Yield me no utterance then--that in my heart She is the treasured jewel. Tenderly, Hour after hour, without desire of sleep, I watch above that large amount of hope, Until the stars wane, and the yellow morn Walks forth into the night." * * * * * In the final disposition of his characters, DICKENS excels any living author. There is no confusion--no infringement of the natural. In "Barnaby Rudge," for example, the old lethargic inn-keeper, Willett, retiring in his dotage, and with his ruling passion strong upon him, scoring up vast imaginary sums to imaginary customers, and the lament of the elder Weller at the death of good old Master Humphrey, are not only characteristic, they are perfect specimens of their kind. "And the sweet old creetur," says the elder Weller "has bolted. Him as had no wice, and was so free from temper that an infant might ha' drove 'im, has been took at last with that ere unawoidable fit of the staggers, as we must all come to, and gone off his feed forever!" "I see him," continues the old stage-coach driver, "I see him gettin' every journey more and more groggy. I says to Samivel, says I, 'Samivel, my boy, the Gray's a-going at the knees;' and now my predilection is fatally werified; and him as I could never do enough to serve or to show my likin' for, is up the great uniwersal spout o' natur'!" * * * * * It is poor Tom Hood, if we have not forgotten, who describes a species of "Statistical Fellows" as ----"A prying, spying, inquisitive clan, Who jot down the laboring classes' riches, And after poking in pot and pan, And routing garments in want of stitches, Have ascertained that a working man Wears a pair and a half of average breeches!" Of this kind was the "Scientific Ass-sociate" mentioned in the "Table Talk of the late John Boyle." The Professor is setting forth one of his "various important matters connected with every-day life." The learned gentleman spoke of shaving as follows: