TOPIC' , OF THE DAY.

A Ill r0 (TRITE SUBJECT.

THERE is something very interesting in the occasional revival of'

an old Enstlish custom, which sets our fathers awl mothers rub- bing up their recollections, gives employment to " the oldest in- habitant," or sends us poking for information into the curious

pages of a WALTON or a HONE. Thus, when, a few years ago, archery came into favour as a fashionable amusement, one's inte-

rest was bespoken anew for the entertaining history of Rowtai Hoop and his bold backwoodsmen, the ancient glory of our Eng- lish bowmen wos brought to mind, and Halidown Hill and Crecy passed before us in review.

How touch move interesting, however, when such revival affects the po/ificat glories of our country! when it calls to mind some distant hi•-torical epoch reflecting her mond greatness, and ap- pealing to our associations as the proud inheritors of English liberty !

The ancient office of Royo Parourit,, wbicb, from the time of PHILIP G aVESTON to that ut' Earl 13A7TE, forms so distinguished a feature in the political history of this great country, has perhaps been too long in abeyanee ; for since the resignation of the last- named nobleman, in 1 763, th nigh sotne have approached, none can be considered to have :Maine(' to that envied post. But it is now happily revived—in the nineteenth century ; and the mind (nice more reverts with a new-felt interest to those pages of our history a :Lich idled to du justice to its former representatives.

As wt " belong to those shallow and presumptuous politicians who, fueling history against them, declare against history," we shall of course declart against history on this occasion, leaving to our coosi-tint censors the necessary task of abiding by it. Kings and ()minis nuaht, no doubt, to have Favourites ; and all those disastyrs to the country which history conceives to have flowed from this course are pure chimeras. It is most ridiculous to suppose that our SOMEiliEri, SPENCE123, BUCHINGHAMS, WOLSEYS, Sac. eitjAyed any more than a moderate aed reasoieible share of influence With Royalty, or that the powers they wielded in the state by virtue of that influence, were in any degree oppressive or inconvenient in their operation. To say that Royal Favouritism destroys the ba- lanee of pslitieul power ; that it invades one of the first principles of the constitution, while violating its integrity ; that it foments jealousies and divisions amongst the nobility and dissatisfaction amongst the people, shields mieg,overnment, facilitates abuse, strengthens faction, disseminates the spirit of partiality which it exemplifien, corrupts the pure and inveterates the corrupt,—all this, we are sure, is abominable misrepresentation on the part of history, and ought not to be credited for a moment. No, no; Kings awl Queens ought to have Favourites—it is very proprand becoming ; especially in Queens, whin with the gentleness and susceptibility counnon to their sex, are necessarily more easily led to give away their regard and confidence, and, of course, pro- portionably less liable to be cajole'i by the objects of their attach- ment.

When there is already much discontent in a state, nothing can be better than that the accidents of royal favour should present additienal and unloaked-fer elements of political distrust ; nothing more desirable, than that the private feelings of the Sovereign should become mixed up with pulnic effairs, that the fate of ques- tions of vital moment to the whole eonetry should depend there- from. When iahiihirv is seught for our commercial, manufacter- Mg, and tiller great natimal in rifler long. (lines of trou he and suspen-e, and no one thine- is coveted in the political wo,:d (qually with a fixed, consistent course of administration; tthAt the country, di,osusted with the turmoils of faction, and grown in- different to " distinctions without a Ifference," is even less soli. eitstis abut the professed principles of government than about the respoosibility of its public men and the pursuit of some decisive line on onicy,—neth,res can be better, at that juncture, than that the individual partialities and nersonal sveakoess of the Sovereign should become an neusual and precarious hinge for all the affairs of the empire to swing on.

Iffavouritism is good, it is all so much the better when the Sove- reign is young awl inexperienced—better still, when a female. Here again, as usual, we must " declare against history." For as resnsets the age of the Sovereign, who can doubt but that the yntith and inexperience of Enwion the Sixth derived useful support froin the counsels of the ingenious Lord SEVM01710— Who, by dint of those arts a insinuation by ehich old and crafty statesmen eticd to be able ti circumvent young monarchs, gained so valuable an ascendancy over the mind of the King, as, at one time, to have induced him to wrins an autograph letter to both houses of Parliament requesting that the noble and ingenious Lord mioht be appointed governor over him? And how foolish to believe, what old chronicles relate, that the young King was far too good and wise to have signed, of his own accord, the death- warrant of the poor old Kentish woman that was burned for a heretic, and had never done so bw for the undue influence of CRANAIER. Again, need we doubt that the country was exceed- ingly indebted to that ainiable nobleman the Duke of NORTHL7NP. BERLAND for the complete dominion he so happily obtained over t he mind of his yeuthful and virtuous Sovereign ; who, like our gracious Queen, was a young Batimmer too; but who, neverthe- less--whether by means of long walks on Windsor Terrace, or what, we are not able to ascertain—was brought to connive at, md even actively to promote, the wholesale corruption of the re- eresentative body in 1552, and other works equally laudable, and eonsistent with his nature' character. Those who, fastening on euch unimportant facts, would infer that juvenile Sovereigns, albeit gracious and good, cannot be safely left to the sole guidance and exclusive iulluence of old awl cunning 11Iinb,ters, are very much be pitied, no doubt, for the shallowness of their judgment.

As for the result of the same ereponderance of personal intik:- znee at Court, where the Sovereign is not only eoung, but also of

ehe weaker sex, our history cannot enlighten us because it offers leo case in point. The only way in which we might form an idea, aould be, by combining the facts of young EDWARD'S reign with

inose recorded of our female Sovereie;ns in counexiou with the

ante subject, when we should doubtless have reason to be grati- Sed at the prebability that the citcumstances of age and SCX, which meet in the person of our ycung Queen, may, under a con- tinuance of the present tuteleee, unite all the politicel conse- quences of both conjunctures, a:discovered to us in that review.

As it is a part of the philosophy f this age to allow that Kings ;re men, so Some tiny think perhaps they do Lot liozard over- enuch, in submitting that Queens may he women. Such sophists would probably go on to persuade you that there is a stricter tie

ef regard between man and woman than between man awl man ;

srid that if a Queen (ceninine gentler) takes into her peculiar gocd graces a Minister (ruateuline), and wally, and talks, and

rides, and dines with Lie, for months together, by confession of the Gazette, Laving no other materninieter in the mean time to 'Elide her attention or i:hare her regard,— this may be neither

eery correct in her Majesty Toad Queen, nor altogether pudent //ocui woman ; and that, by the same rule, if the said man- minister accepts and profits of such monopoly of the said walks, &c. such conduct may neither be quite proper in him quoad !minister, ner quite 'lair (pow/ man. But it is enouell to reply to 4uch stnfi, that the Qucen, being young, stands in need of iust rue- lion and protection ; and tint the long v:-icati.al enables THE FA- VOURITE to in:part lessens in political economy and the other branches of a female education, wilt singular cirect, and with a 4egree of benefit to the rt.) al recipiLeit, surely far above the price ef the dinners, or any other IIIVOL11.6—mentioned at least in the +Gazette.

History was certainly wrung in attributing any inconveuiences, moral or political, to the old evetein of Rey al Fat ourites—now .hupeily restored; awl Moral l'iniosophy has always been both ',wrong and itale, iii w,cribing to women any natural weeknesees- seelt as a fondness for thittery, awl the like. We have, therefore, merely to "declare egaiiist" both, in order to feel perfectly satis- .."ed with the present state ef things.

Perfect satisfaction being restored, it only remains to classify this new and wilco:lie specimen of a race thought to be extinct.

Shall we liuk his name with the "gentle Mortnantn" of Queen XSNISEI.I.A, or compare him with the unfortunate Troubadour of Scottish celebrity ? In these unromantic times, we suspect, what-

ever other points of resemblance might be found, that the career sf the modern Faeourite will be marked by no such interesting vieissitudes as rendered the fortunes of the former ill-fated couple matters for the ballad-monger. We have no idea, in these days at gas-lamps and railroads, that it will ever be " our painful duty

announce" such a disaster as that— 'Lie ticeehorous Governor of Wind,or Castle having at the dead af night admitted Lyndhurst and Wellington through a subterranean Tussage into the Castle, the gentle M—' was dragged from the tuyat presence which be was adorning, and, amidst the heartrending eries of his distracted mistress, hurried away by his Tory foes to cer- rain death."

Qr- ." Ire regret to say, that yesterday evening, while her Majesty zmt wiping with the Duteliess of Kent, and listening, as usual, to ti e seraphic strains of The Favourite, Lord Brougham, lead- big the way up a private sudrease at the head of a small body iifRadical IletOrmers, suddenly entered the Queen's apartments,

rid approaching the unhappy noblemati, glared on him for sonic

:ithe with loo!.:s indicative of the wee st intentions. His unex- pe..ted appearance and the constant twitching of his nose inspired it greatest alarm ii the mind of the Qm.en; who, however, was too mach unified to call out, until Roebuck and other assassins stepping forear&,in r Majesty, in a trembling voice, demanded the object of tbeir proceeding. Roebuck made no reply, but ordered The Favourite nit a plate of which he was unworthy.' The Favourite readily Te!eeiveil the dreedful nature of his situation, and tremblingly clasmd ti' e robes of the Queen ; who tit the Sallie time endeavoured to scrun tie, from his pinstiers. But Brougham, at that iustant drawing a digger fruit the pocket of his plaid trousas, and rushing on the -wretched man, plunged it into his hosorn; sbiveling his lute to atoms, by the force of the blow, while the Queen filled the royen with her et;es. The other Radical RtiOl'IllerS then setting on him, tore him irftIll his royal protectress; and, dragging him into the ante-chamber, .4ere, with the assistance of the learned and inhuman nobleman, dee %latched him with six-and fifty wounds."

But may we compare him, then, eith the young and handsome -ESSEX, the brave and accurupliehed Esssx?—No doubt, with ettteh propriety. And the two royal mistresses, one with the -.Sher ?—The only exception to the parallel seems to be, that in he former instance the Queen was old, the Favourite young ; eveth us the Queen is young, the Favourite old. Again, Eet zemerie, it may be urged, was not only old but ugly, and not only ugly but twasculine awl a shrew ; our well-beloved Queen, on the con- trary, is not only young but pretty, and not only petty but feminine and good-natured. For the last reason, it may be doubted also, whether her Majesty ever boxes Lord M--'s Cars; and even supposing she were to do so, on some sufficient prevoca- tion, it may be doubted whether Lord M-- would clap his hand to his sword and swear "he would not take it from her father." It may he conside!ed more probable that the Lamb-like Lord would " turn the other cheek."

Lastly, can we liken the modern Favourite to the famous Earl or LEICESTER ?—Oh ! fie, no. What ? LEICESTER—deSeribed as " possessed of neither virtue nor obit it ies!"—But perhaps one happier point of resemblance between the circumstances of the two noblemen may induce you to tolerate the cumparison. It is remarked, we think by HUME, that if the paramount in- fluence in the state enjoyed by LEICESTER was an evil for the country, it was in a great measure counterbalaneed by the extra- ordinary merits of his contemporaries and official colleagues— the gifted BURLEIGII and the celebrated Chancellor BACON. So, if any one should be of opinion that the glorious life and slippered ease—the " otium cum (sine ?) dignitate”—of the Major Demo of Windsor Castle, are at all at variance with the arduous duties of a Prime Minister of England, such person, we conceive, must derive comfort the moment he reflects, that his Lordship is assoc iettel in office with the great GLENELG and the immortal COTTE N II AM.