In _Chapter X_, Mr. Wheelwright marries an heiress—a rich widow worth thirty thousand pound sterling in prospectu—in _Chapter XI_, sets up a _Philomathian Institute_, the whole of the chapter being occupied with his {457} advertisement—in _Chapter XII_, his wife affronts the scholars, by “swearing by the powers she would be afther clearing them out—the spalpeens!—that's what she would, honies!” The school is broken up in consequence, and Mrs. Wheelwright herself turns out to be nothing more than “one of the unmarried wives of the lamented Captain Scarlett,” the legal representatives being in secure possession of the thirty thousand pounds sterling in prospectu. In _Chapter XIII_, Mr. Wheelwright is again in distress, and applies, of course, to the humane author of the “_Ups and Downs_,” who gives him, we are assured, “an overcoat, and a little basket of provisions.” In _Chapter XIV_, the author continues his benevolence—gives a crow, (_cock-a-doodle doo!_) and concludes with “there _is_ no more charitable people than those of New York!” which means when translated into good English—“there never was a more charitable man than the wise and learned author of the ‘_Ups and Downs_.’” _Chapter XV_, is in a somewhat better vein, and embraces some tolerable incidents in relation to the pawnbrokers' shops of New York. We give an extract—believing it to be one of the best passages in the book. To one who would study human nature, especially in its darker features, there is no better field of observation than among these pawn-brokers' shops. In a frequented establishment, each day unfolds an ample catalogue of sorrow, misery, and guilt, developed in forms and combinations almost innumerable; and if the history of each customer could be known, the result would be such a catalogue as would scarcely be surpassed, even by the records of a police-office or a prison. Even my brief stay while arranging for the redemption of Dr. Wheelwright's personals, afforded materials, as indicated in the last chapter, for much and painful meditation.