us study
and in special cases infinitely amusing, passes on to the next article
in the Cyclopaedia.

* * * * *

It is sufficiently obvious that it requires neither fame nor greatness
to excite public curiosity. A notorious criminal or an unusually
eccentric lunatic frequently gives rise to a larger share of
newspaper-comment and general discussion than the wisest and most
virtuous of mankind. It must be well remembered by those who have read
Tom Taylor's Life of Haydon that a dwarf was attracting thousands to the
Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, while the historical painter, stung
to madness by the neglect of the frivolous crowd, committed the hideous
and ghastly suicide which threw a tragic darkness over the close of his
strange and troubled existence. The desperate and dangerous frequently
succeed in placing themselves on a bad eminence, from which they are
conspicuous enough; and if to be talked of and pointed at be the sole
object of their ambition, they can, of course, be congratulated on their
success. Virtue may sit in humble and obscure usefulness at a thousand
quiet firesides, while the work of the incendiary may be seen to spread
widely, and the tumult of his mischief be heard from afar. And so any
public man or politician, whose taste is so morbidly depraved and whose
aim in life is so debased as to prefer notoriety to honest, useful
service, may revel in the questionable enjoyment of being the especial
theme of public debate and private conversation. Hence it happens that
so many of our fellow-countrymen are at this moment asking the question
with which we head these pages,--"Who is Roebuck?"

An unhappy culprit, who combined with an innocent taste for green peas a
thievish method of acquiring their usual savory accompaniment, is
reported to have been addressed by an English judge in the following
felicitous terms:--"Prisoner at the bar, Providence has endowed you with
health and strength, _instead of which_ you go about the country
stealing ducks." Providence has endowed John Arthur Roebuck, member of
the Parliament of Great Britain, with fair talents and some power of
speech, _instead of which_ (to use the accurate judicial ellipsis) he
goes about using violent and vulgar words of menace against those who
have never offended him, and scattering firebrands as if there were no
gun-powder anywhere to ignite and explode. This would be a mean and
mischievous occupation for