About a hundred and fifty years since, a soothsayer or fortuneteller was a public functionary in every town and city in Europe; and many cases on which a lawyer or physician is now consulted, were disposed of by these persons. In all love affairs such counsel was especially requisite, and in this department, a most flourishing trade was carried on by these conjurers or conjuresses, for sometimes the profession was undertaken by the ladies as well as the lords of the creation.

A young lady, who lived in Paris at this era, had adorned herself for the marriage of her eldest sister, and was anticipating, very joyfully, that her turn to play the part of a bride would be very near at hand; unfortunately, she chanced to glance at herself in the mirror, and the conviction suddenly struck her, that she was not so handsome as her sister, and as she had not yet a lover, it was just possible that she might never have a husband. In an agony at this direful foreboding, she flew to her mother, and poured her doubts and fears into her friendly bosom. The result of the consultation was, that Angelique should, forthwith, proceed to the Sieur de Remy, a notable conjurer, who lived in the Marais, and after giving the proper fee, lay the case before him, and VOL. I.-No. 4.

hear what steps were proper to take in such a dilemma.

Angelique proceeded to the abode of the wise man. He was fortunately alone, and the simple Angelique was ushered without delay into his awful presence. The' beating of her heart was almost too violent to permit her to observe the odd costume of the Sieur de Remy, or the extraordinary furniture of his magical apart-. ment. Yet she felt frozen at the glances of his capacious spectacles, terrified at his long beard and flowing black robe, and ready to swoon when he took her by the hand, and seated her in his consulting chair, just under a very queer dried fish, which she firmly believed had some high concernment in her destiny. With a trembling hand the lady presented him with a louis d'or in hopes of receiving, in return, a large proportion of good fortune, but the Sieur was not only a wizard “who could peep and mutter," but a man of strong insight into character, and he forthwith perceived that the very simple, and rather plain Angelique, would stand little chance of being married in a city, where wit and espeiglerie were then, as now, valued before beauty, where beauty stood a poor chance without these indispensable requisites for a Frenchwoman, and a dam

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sel possessing neither, stood none at all—and the Sieur, who set a higher value on the accomplishment of his predictions, than on pleasing his customers, actually told the earnest Angelique, "That from the inspection of the lines of her hand, he saw reason to believe that she would die single." Despair overcame her fears, and she demanded, in a faltering tone, whether his great learning could furnish no spell or charm that might avert so cruel a destiny?

"Such a thing, perhaps, could be done, and if exceedingly persevered in, it was possible that success might follow," replied the Sieur de Remy.

Angelique implored the gifted sage to teach her the charm, as she was determined to leave nothing untried.

The Sieur assured her, that spell-teaching was a distinct branch of his profession, and could not be practised without a fresh fee.

Angelique had but a thirty sous piece remaining in her purse, the sorcerer hesitated-bnt finally, professed himself satisfied, seeing no more was to be had.

"Before you retire to rest," said he, 66 repeat the following matrimonial litany, in which all the saints who have any interest in these matters in heaven's chancery are invoked :"

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Kyrie-I would-Eleison-be married-Kyrie-I pray all the saints-Eleison-that it may be to-morrow."

"I shall never remember all that, Sieur Remy!" cried Angelique, despairingly-for her memory was something like that of Starveling, the tailor, in the "Midsummer's Night's Dream," who wanted the lion's part written out for him, because he was slow of study.

"That is not half the spell, thou foolish maiden," said the Sieur ; " nevertheless I will write it out for thee, on a piece of fair virgin parchment, if thy mother will send me a fat turkey for a fee."

Angelique struck the bargain in her mother's name, and the Sieur proceeded in the litany.

"Saint Mary, all the world would be married; Saint Nicholas, do not let me

be forgotten; Saint Merri, let me have a good husband; Saint Micheal, let him be faithful; Saint Severin, let me live at my ease; St. Rose, let me keep my coach"

"And can she give me a coach?" interrupted the wondering Angelique.

Certainly she can, if she pleases,' replied the Sieur, (par parenthese.) "Saint Boniface, give me a handsome husband; Saint Augustine, let him come to-morrow. That is all."

Angelique conned her lesson so well, that forty years afterwards, when a lonely maiden, she laid on her death-bed, she was heard to repeat, among the prayers for the dying, the Matrimonial Litany she had learnt of the fortuneteller: "Saint Rose, give me a coach! Saint Boniface, a handsome husband! Saint Augustin, let it be to-morrow!" So invincible is habit, strong even in death.

Many a modern fair one will smile at the enduring faith of the simple Angelique; but let us not boast ourselves too much. Credulity is a weed very difficult to eradicate, even from the intellects of strong-minded men. A lingering belief in omens and predictions seems left in the human heart to lower and confound the haughty self-sufficiency of the great.Napoleon notoriously believed in fortunetelling. Lord Byron used to relate, with all the earnestness of conviction, that his future destiny was foretold him by a young lady, who playfully told his fortune, with a pack of cards in one of his college vacations. These instances show that this folly is not confined to weak confiding woman, and in the times of poor Angelique, kings, statesmen, and heroes shamelessly consulted fortunetellers. Cromwell and Charles the First alternately sent to Lilly, the conjurer, to know the disposition of the stars on their several enterprises, and the impudent impostor, who adverse to the king's party, and personally hated Cromwell, sent the most insolent messages to them both, and thought himself a greater man than either. A little earlier than this epoch, Sully, the great and wise minister of Henry Quartre, records a curious scene that befel him with

a fortune-teller, before he arrived at the eminence he afterwards attained. The passage is a curious one.

"Entering an inn at Maubisson without any attendants, when I was on my road to meet the king, I went into a large chamber, where I found a man walking about very fast, so absorbed in thought, that I supposed he did not observe my entrance. Looking at him with more attention, every thing in his person, manner and countenance appeared to me very uncommon, his body was long and slender, his face thin and withered; his beard white and forked; he had a large hat on his head, which shadowed his face, a cloak buttoned close at the collar; boots of an enormous size; a sword that trailed on the ground, and in his hand a large double bag, like those that are carried at saddle-bows. I asked him whether he lodged in that chamber, and wherefore he seemed in such profound contemplation? My man, affronted at the question, without deigning to look at me, answered me rudely, that he was in his own chamber, and that he was thinking of his affairs, as I might do of mine. Although surprised at his impertinence, I desired him very civilly to permit me to dine in that chamber, a proposal that he received grumbling, and rudely denied. At that moment three of my gentlemen, my pages, and some footmen entered the room in quest of me; my brutal companion then thought fit to alter his looks and words, pulled off his hat, and eyeing me with a fixed regard, asked where I was going? I told him to meet the king.

"Pray tell me," he said, "the day and hour that the king sent for you, when his letters were written, and the precise time you set out?"

It was not difficult to discover an astrologer by these questions. I was further obliged to tell him my age, and to allow him to look at my hands.

After all these ceremonies were over"Sir," said he, with an air of surprise and respect, "I resign my chamber to you very willingly, and before it be long, many more persons will quit their places to you with more regret than I do mine." The more I pretended to be astonished at his great abilities, the more he endeavoured to give me proofs of them; he promised me riches, honours, and power, (astrologers are seldom niggards), and

added, that if I would inform him of the hour of my birth, he would tell me all that had ever happened to me. He never asked my name, but suddenly bounced out of the room, and I saw no more of him. I diverted my wife with an account of this little adventure in the first letter I wrote to her."

In the nineteenth century generals and prime ministers do not submit to have their fortunes told thus openly, but there is more folly of this kind rife in the world than is generally believed. At the close of the eighteenth century, an Astrologer's Magazine had a great circulation, and our enlightened and sceptical metropolis contains believers, even now, in judicial astrology. Aye, at this moment, and for many previous years, one of our best landscape painters in water colours, casts nativities, in which he firmly believes.— He has many visitors who require specimens of his skill, some out of curiosity, and many more from credulous motives.

The etiquette of his studio is, that if a nativity is calculated, a small drawing is purchased, for which, from one to two guineas is paid, and the worthy purchaser departs, highly satisfied, having obtained an insight into futurity, and a valuable ornament for album or scrapbook, at a low rate, considering the merit of the performance.

It seems singular that the most absurd species of divination should have lingered thus long among us, for a moment's reflection will show that these nativities are still more ridiculous than even a pretended spirit of prophecy. They depend upon the position of the planets, according to their astronomical places in the heavens in the precise moment of an infant's birth, and from these positions the astrologer foretells the events of the child's life. Now, as there must be, in a large city, a number of children born at the same moment, and as the planets must be in the same state for all in the same latitude of situation, it would follow that, perforce, the destiny of all the children would be precisely alike; they would marry the same persons, meet the same accidents, and die the same kind of deaths, in short, be living doubles of each other. Dryden calculated the nativity of his son Charles, and foretold that he should once be nearly drowned; once wounded nearly to death by a stag, and at last drowned abroad; all this came