t. The mission to
England was promised him by the reigning powers, when, on the very eve
of securing his prize, a stick was put in the wheels of his progress,
and by a brother's hand. Another legal personage, practicing at the same
bar, that of New York, and a friend, did the deed. "Chloe was false,
Chloe was common, but constant while possessed"; but here Chloe was
without the last quality. In 1868, General Grant's election pending,
Chloe was affiliated with the Democratic party, and had been chosen one
of the captains of its citadel, a sachem of Tammany. Scenting success
for Grant, with the keenness of the vulture for his prey, he attended a
Radical meeting and announced his intention to give twenty thousand
dollars to the Radical election fund. This sum appears to have been the
market value of a seat in the Cabinet, to which ultimately he was
called. When the English mission became vacant by the resignation of the
incumbent, disgusted by British ingratitude, Chloe quitted the Cabinet
to take it, and Alberoni was left wearing weeds. Yet much allowance is
due to family affection, the foundation of social organization.
Descended from a noble stock, though under a somewhat different name,
Chloe from mystic sources learned that his English relatives pined for
his society, and devotion to family ties tempted him to betray his
friend. Subsequently Alberoni was appointed to a more northern country,
where he may find congenial society; for, in a despotism tempered only
by assassination, the knees of all become pliant before power.

It is pleasant to mark the early steps of nascent ambition. In the time
of the great Napoleon every conscript carried the baton of a marshal in
his knapsack; and in our happy land every rogue may be said to have an
appointment to office in his pocket. This is also pleasant.

Since the spring of 1873, when he gave himself up to the worst elements
of his party, I have not seen President Grant; but his career suggests
some curious reflections to one who has known him for thirty-odd years.
What the waiting-woman promised in jest, Dame Fortune has seriously
bestowed on this Malvolio, and his political cross-garterings not only
find favor with the Radical Olivia, but are admired by the Sir Tobys of
the European world. Indeed, Fortune has conceits as quaint as those of
Haroun al-Raschid. The beggar, from profound sleep, awoke in the
Caliph's bed. Amazed and frightened by his surroundings, he slowly
gaine