_Suspense._--Of all the conditions to which the heart is subject, suspense is the one that most gnaws, and cankers into the frame. One little month of that suspense, when it involves death, we are told, in a very remarkable work lately published by an eye-witness,[7] is sufficient to plough fixed lines and furrows in a convict of five-and-twenty--sufficient to dash the brown hair with grey, and to bleach the grey to white. [7] Wakefield on "The Punishment of Death." _Consolation._--Her high and starry nature could comprehend those sublime inspirations of comfort, which lift us from the lowest abyss of this world to the contemplation of all that the yearning visions of mankind have painted in another. It is a fearful thing to see _men_ weep. We are seldom sadder without being also wiser men. What is more appalling than to find the signs of gaiety accompanying the reality of anguish. _Consolation._--If we go at noon day to the bottom of a deep pit,[8] we shall be able to see the stars which on the level ground are invisible. Even so, from the depths of grief--worn, wretched, seared, and dying--the blessed apparitions and tokens of heaven make themselves visible to our eyes. [8] The remark is in Aristotle. Buffon quotes it in, I think, the first volume of his great work. _Progress of Crime._--Mankind are not instantly corrupted. Villany is always progressive. We decline from right--not suddenly, but step after step.--_Aram's Defence_. * * * * * SKETCHES FROM THE TOUR OF A GERMAN PRINCE, VOL. III. _Mrs. Fitzherbert._ "A very worthy and amiable woman, formerly, they say, married to the King, but at present wholly without influence in that quarter, but no less beloved and respected, _d'un excellent ton et sans pretension_." _Her Majesty._ "The Duchess of Clarence honoured the feast with her presence; and all pressed forward to see her, for she is one of those rare princesses whose personal qualities obtain for them much more respect than their rank, and whose unceasing benevolence and highly amiable character, have obtained for her a popularity in England, of which we Germans may well be proud--the more so, since in all probability she is destined to be one day the Queen of that country." _The King._