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There is such a thing in nature, I am convinced, as sick Whist.

"At such times, these terms which my old friend objected to, come in as something admissible-I love to get a tierce or a quatorze though they mean nothing. I am subdued to an inferior interest. Those shadows of winning amuse

me.

"That last game I had with my sweet cousin (I capotted her-dare I tell thee how foolish I am?) I wished it might have lasted for ever, though we gained nothing and lost nothing, though it was a mere shade of play: I would be content to go on in that idle folly for ever. The pipkin should be ever boiling that was to prepare the gentle lenitive to my foot, which Bridget was doomed to apply after the game was over; and, as I do not much relish appliances, there it should ever bubble. Bridget and I should be ever playing."

Here we close our paper: is the reader vexed? If so then let him remember the moral advice engraved on the old Whist Markers-KEEP YOUR TEMPER.

ART. III.-BRILLAT-SAVARIN.

Physiologie du Gout, ou Méditations de Gastronomie Transcendante; ouvrage théorique, historique et à l'ordre du jour, dédié aux Gastronomes Parisiens Par Un Professeur, membre de plusieurs Sociétés savantes. Edition précédée d'une notice par M. Le Baron Richerand, suivie de "La Gastronomie," Poème en quatre chants, Par Berchoux. Paris Charpentier. 1842.

"Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain,
Our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain;
Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise!

Each stamps its image as the other flies."

True for you, Sam, and we feel it now; even as we look upon the title page of the book before us, one memory is awakened, and a thousand others come welling up from the mind's "countless chambers." Brillat-Savarin! Physiologie du Gout. How the bright Paris of twenty years ago rises before us, when we could test the teachings of our author with a breakfast at Véfour's or the Trois Frères; with a dinner at Véry's or the Café de Foy; with a supper at the Café de l'Opéra. Bright times when Grisi and Mario could sing, when Dejazet acted as none acted since Peg Woffington, when Rachel was the glory of the stage. Sunny times before we had heard of lace stockings or thought of colchicum. Sunny days when our appetite was deep as Sir Walter's, and when nothing came amiss from suprême de volaille to boullebasse and vin ordinaire. And if we did feel seedy, if carafes became to our "somnia vera" as desert fountains to the panting Arab, we had our remedy for that horrid flavor of "the lime burner's wig," and here it is :

One ounce of camphor julep,

One tea spoonful of sal volatile,
One ounce of Murray's fluid magnesia,
One tea spoonful of tincture of capsicums.

Mixing these and drinking, we were fresh for the day. But now, well no matter, its all past and over,

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For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest,"

Therefore we return to Brillat-Savarin

In the work before us he has drawn a most interesting and faithful picture of himself; the principal events of his own e and times are here so pleasingly and minutely recorded, tha little is wanted to complete his history.

Brillat-Savarin, (Antheleme) Counsellor of the Court of Cassation, member of the Legion of Honour, of the society for encouraging national industry, of the society of antiqueries d France, the emulation society of Bourg, &c., &c., was born the 1st of April, 1755, in Belley, a small tower situated at the foot of the Alps, near the banks of the Rhone, which, in this place, separate France from Savoy. Following the examples of his ancestor, who, for centuries, were devoted to the profession of the bar and the bench, he distinguished himself as a lawyer, when in 1789, he was unanimously elected by his fellow towns men, member of the constituent assembly, which was composed of the most distinguished and enlightened men that France at that time possessed. Being a practical philosopher, a disciple rather of Epicurus than Zeno, he was never known to connect himself with the memorable events of that time: he was not however, inactive, always associating himself with the most sensible and moderate party.

At the close of his legislative career, he was appointed pre sident of the civil tribunal for the department of Ain, and afterwards raised to the Court of Cassation then lately instituted.

An upright magistrate, an impartial and firm administrator of the laws, and, above all, being of a mild, conciliating and amiable disposition, he was well calculated to calm the asperities of civil strife, if the rage of political parties had been guided by his example and adhered to his counsel always for prudence and moderation.

When Mayor of Belley, towards the end of 1793, he courageously opposed anarchy, and saved, for a time, his native place from the frightful reign of terror; but borne down by the revolutionary torrent, he was compelled to fly, and take refuge in Switzerland from the fury of his persecutors.

We may well picture to ourselves the state of society during

weathose fatal days, when this man who never made an enemy for himself, was forced to leave his country to save a life always devoted to its service.

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It is now that the fine character of Brillat-Savarin appears Sr in its true light: exiled, a fugitive, without any pecuniary resources-for he had scarcely time to save his life-we see him always gay, consoling his companions in misfortune, holding up to them an example of courage in adversity, and lightening and its weight by labour and the pursuit of honest industry.

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However, the times becoming still more stormy, and his own situation more unpleasant, he sought in the new world, for Ho that repose which Europe could not afford him; he embarked hes for the United States, and settled in New York, spent two Byears there, giving lessons in French, occupying the

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first places in the orchestre of one of the theatres-for he was a skilful musician-and, like other exiles, made what formerly served as an agreeable pastime, now contribute to his support. Brillat-Savarin always referred with pleasure to this period of his life, during which he was in full enjoyment of everything that can constitute happiness, peace, liberty, and ease, acquired by toil; and like the philosopher he could say, "I carry all about me." The love of country alone could induce him to give up such an agreeable existence. Happier days seemed about to dawn on France, he hastened to return, and arrived of that Havre in the beginning of September, 1796. During the reign of the Directory, Brillat-Savarin was successively employed as secretary at the general head quarters of the repubelican army in Germany; afterwards as government commissioner to the tribunal of the department of Seine-et-Oise, at Versailles : he occupied this post on the 18th Brumaire; a memorable day when France thought to purchase her repose at the expense of her liberty.

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Called by the unanimous decree of the Senate to preside shade at the court of Cassation, Brillat-Savarin held this distinguished position for the last twenty-five years of his life, enjoying the respect of his inferiors, the friendship of his equals, and the love of all who had the happiness of his acquaintance. A man of profound wit, an amiable guest, always gay and cheerful, he was the delight of all who had the happiness of meeting him; willingly yielding to the pleasures of society, which he never resigned, but for the still purer enjoyment of private friendship. Whatever leisure moments he had after

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discharging his official duties, he devoted to the Physiologie du Gout, to which he did not think it necessary to affix his name, but imperfectly concealed under the transparent veil of anonymous; however, there was nothing wrong in keeping his name from the public. Happy result of agreeable study, the Physiologie du Gout on its appearance, met with that success it deserved. The admirable simplicity which distinguishes this composition caused it to be favourably received by all classes of readers, and disarmed the severest critics. Simplicity of style, this gift so rare in works of genius, and which in our literature is becoming still more so every day, was the principal cause of the favourable reception which this charming badinage obtained. We should, indeed, have formed but a very erroneous opinion of the author if we imagined for a moment that he intended us to entertain, as serious, those precepts which he penned for his own amusement, and which were but the effusions of his gayest hours. Well skilled in what Montaigne quaintly styles "l'art de la gueule," Brillat-Savarin was by nature temperate: the most frugal repast sufficed to appease his healthy appetite, which never required the assistance of the culinary art to provoke it. He in no way resembled those he so amusingly describes. "To gratify the appetites of individuals, with stomachs of papier mache; to infuse life and energy into those skeletons who have no appetite at all, or if they have, it is all but extinct, would require more genius, more judgment and labour on the part of the cook, than would be necessary to solve one of the most difficult problems of geometrical infinity."

Great was the surprise of the fashionable world, in whose eyes Brillat-Savarin was but a plain, good-humoured man, to find in his work an amount and variety of information but seldom met with in the works of even professional writers. How could this man, after having fulfilled the laborious duties of his profession, find time to indulge in the pleasures of society, and surrounded by amiable women, like the old man of Ieos sporting in the midst of the Graces, how was he able to acquire so much from meditation and study? But the author had already the advantage of having composed several other works in which his name did not appear, with the exception, however, of two small treatises, the Historical and Critical Essay on Duelling, according to our laws and

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