A Retrospect.

And Darrell studies , week by week , His Mant , and not his Manton ; And Ball , who was but poor at Greek , Is very rich at Canton . And I am oight-and-twenty now ;—The world ' s cold chains have bound me And darker shades are on my brow ,

And sadder scenes around me : In Parliament I fill my seat , With many other noodles ; And lay my head in Jermyn Street , And sip my hock at Boodle's . But often , when the cares of life Have set my temples aching

, When visions haunt me of a wife , When duns await my waking , When Lady Jane is in a pet , Or Hoby in a hurry . When Captain Hazard wins a bet , Or Beaulion spoils a curry , — For hours and hours I thiuk and talk

Of each remembered hobby ; I long to lounge in Poets' Walk , To shiver in the lobby ; I wish that I could run away Prom House , and Court , and Levee , Where bearded men appear to-day Just Eton boys grown heavy , — That I could bask in childhood ' s sun

Ancl dance o'er childhood ' s roses , And find huge wealth in one pound one , Vast wit in broken noses , And play Sir Giles in Datchet Lane , And call the milk-maids houris , — That I could be a boy again , — A happy boy , —at Drury ' s .

And some in city journals war j And some as politicians bicker ; And some are pleading at the bar , For jury-verdicts , or for liquor . And some on Trade and Commerce wait ; And some in schools with dunces battle ;

And some the Gospel propagate , And some the choicest breeds of cattle ; And some are living at their ease ; Andsome were wrecked in "the revulsion ;" Some serve the State for handsome fees , And one , I hear , upon compulsion . Alas , for young ambition's vow ,

How envions Fate may overthrow it!—Poor Harvey is in Congress now , Who struggled long to be a poet ; Smith carves ( quite well ) memorial stones , Who tried in vain to make the law go ; Hall deals in hides ; and " Pious Jones " Is dealing faro in Chicago .

And , sadder still , the brilliant Hays , Once honest , manly , and ambitious , Has taken latterly to ways Extremely profligate and vicious ; By slow degrees— -I can't tell how—He ' s reached at last the very groundsel , And in New York he figures now , A member of the Common Council

Climbing The Great Pyramid.*

CLIMBING THE GREAT PYRAMID . *

BT CHARLES WARREN STODDART . THE business of climbing Cheops is begun as early in the day as possible : not that it is a long or difficult task , but because the sun pours his hottest beams in a baptism of fire over the desert , and there is no shade , no breath of fresh and fragrant air , no cooling draught at hand . You ali g ht at

the base of Cheops , and are immediatel y besieged by an army of Bedawees , who are famous bores . For more than fort y centuries these Bedawees have besieged the pyramid climbers from every quarter of the earth ; they have a smattering of all languages at their tongues' ends , and their hands are filled with old coins and new scarabasi , which they swear are old . The sheik is your onl y hope ; every village , every communit y has its sheik , ancl his word

is law . Purchase his friendship—you can do it with a couple of francs— -and yon are perfectly safe . He orders three of his " howling savages " to take you in hand , ancl conduct you to the summit of Cheops . According to the agreement with the sheik , you were to pay so much into his hands upon your return to earth , after having reposed as long as you think fit at the top of the pyramid . Meanwhile no fee is to be given to the three fierce and athletic