e silent
contempt he merited?'

"'That is all very well, Mr Bullfrog,' said my wife, slily; 'but
in that case where would have been the five thousand dollars which
are to stock your drygoods' store?'

"'Mrs Bullfrog, upon your honour,' demanded I, as if my life hung
upon her words, 'is there no mistake about these five thousand
dollars?'

"'Upon my word and honour there is none,' replied she. 'The jury
gave me every cent the rascal had; and I have kept it all for my
dear Bullfrog?'

"'Then, thou dear woman,' cried I, with an overwhelming gush of
tenderness, 'let me fold thee to my heart! The basis of
matrimonial bliss is secure, and all thy little defects and
frailties are forgiven. Nay, since the result has been so
fortunate, I rejoice at the wrongs which drove thee to this
blessed lawsuit--happy Bullfrog that I am!'"

FOOTNOTES:

[12] _Views and Reviews of American Literature._ By the author of
_The Yemassee, &c. &c._
_The Wigwam, and The Cabin_. By the same.
_Papers on Literature and Art_. By S. MARGARET FULLER.
_Tales_. By EDGAR A. POE.
_Mosses from an old Manse_. By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE.

[13] For that strong nationality which ballads and other rude
productions written in a rude age exhibit, America comes, of course,
too late. But we doubt not that an attentive examination would already
detect in the productions of the American mind as striking traits of
national character as are usually seen in the works of civilized
epochs. A new species of wit is one of the last things which a student
of Joe Miller would have thought it possible to invent. Yet this the
Americans have achieved. Whatever may be the value attached to it,
many a laugh has been created by that monstrous exaggeration, so
worded as to give a momentary and bewildering sense of possibility to
something most egregiously absurd, which as decidedly belongs to
America as the bull does to Ireland. "A man is so tall that he has to
climb a ladder to shave himself." Not only is the feat impossible, but
no conception can be formed of its manner of execution, yet the turn
of the expression for an instant disguises, before it reveals, its
most flagrant nonsense. There is also a certain grave hoax, where some
fabulous matter is most veraciously reported, in which the Americans
have shown great success and something of a national predilection.
Some time ago we were