STRAY LEAVES, BY A SUFFOLK RECTOR.

JrrnorNG from internal evidence, we should not have ascribed this volume .toa, clergyman, much less to a rector. There is nothing about it to sug- gest the classic, the university, or even the diffuse though measured and scholarly style of a divine. The only professional trait is rather medical than clerical ; and consists of that imposing sort of confidence which phy- sicians, or men claiming to be physicians, exhibit at pleasure-towns, where people congregate without any defined position, and those get the foremost place who, like young Cibber in the Duneiad, take it.

Stray Leaves from a Freemason's Note-book smacks a good deal .more of the practised litterateur than of the parish-rector. The leading points of• a subject are seized ; incidents which the :writer has seen, or anecdotes which he may. have heard, are cleverly pressed into his service, and turned to account, -so as to give a dramatic air to the narrative ; ,the style is rapid and forcible, but rather strained than natural. When- ever the author undertakes a story, his characters and incidents are-ex- aggerated, in the manner of a person accustomed to sacrifice truth and probability to a coarse effect; and he does not succeed in impressing the -reader with his accuracy ; so that his anecdotes when professing to be matters of "fact are not.received with implicit confidence. It is probable that he has heard them, notinvented them; it is possible that they may be true ; but a strong doubt lurks in the mind as to whether the writer received. them in the way he represents, which of course raises misgivings as to the authenticity of the stories themselves.

The voinme, as may be inferred from the title, is a set of miscellaneous papers. Except a few tales, they are substantially reminiscences by the ;author; sometimes consisting of a series of anecdotes of an individual, of whom the writer professes a personal knowledge,—as "Sir William Webb Follett in Early Life;" whose schoolfellow he represents himself to have been ; others, like that of "Canning in 'Retirement," are bits of biography, but resting on no authority, and, with the doubtful impres- sion we have already spoken of, they do not produce the effect which as mere literary efforts -they ought to attain. There are a few essays,— as .the -"Half-a-dozen Words about the Poor,"—.specious, but not very practical.; and a few tales distinguished by clever force, but un- truthful exaggeration. Several have already appeared in periodical pub- lications,—as "The Foreign -Sorceress and the -British -Statesman," a German sort of story of-Canning and Huskisson going to a Parisian `fortune-teller and having their deaths exactly represented. "The Mea- sure-Meted -out to others Measured to us again" appeared in Blackwood; and it has•the rapidity, startling effects, and clever management of the narrative, which distinguish the high-spiced tales of the author of the "Diary of a late Physician," with an equal disregard of probability.

Assuming the truth of the following story of Canning, it is not a bad one. The mimicry must have been rich.

" One peculiarity he possessed,which is but partially known—his thorough re- saembrance of a voice, and his ability of connecting it at any interval of time with the party to whom it belonged. More than one instance of this faculty is remembered at Hinckley. "lie was dining with a large party at Mr. Cheshyre's, the medical gentleman before referred to, when a note was brought in and handed to the host, with an intimation that the bearer begged to see him for five minutes.

" Mr. C. left his party with reluctance, and was absent some time. When he returned he prefaced his lengthy apologies by observing, he had been detained by one of the most remarkable men of the day% that the gentleman 'was by accident passing through Mickley, and could not pause on his route'; that he pErposed placing one of his family under his (Mr. Cheshyre's) care '; and that `Jae (Mr. .C.) was obliged to listen to all his arrangements. "I will name him, said Canning, gaily; and then drink his health.' ." The latter point may be very easily managed; but the former will, I believe, baffle even your acuteness, Mr. Canning.'

'"This was said with some degree of-tartness; for among other affectations which the wealthy quack indulged in was that of profound mystery with respect lathe most trivial occurrences.

" Your visitor, Sir, was Wilberforce; said Canning, stoutly. " ' How could you possibly discover that ?' cried his annoyed host. ' We con- versed with closed doors—he sent .1u.no card—as we parted, he spoke but five words.'

" Of which I heard but two.'

" ' What were they?' " ' Conventional arrangement,' said Canning, imitating Wilberforee's distinct negation, and dwelling on each separate syllable." -Here are traits of Follett in boyhood. The master of the -school watt the-Lempriere of the Classical Dictionary. " Equally judicious was the Doctor's estimate of the late Attorney-General. Webb Follett.is not brilliant, but he is solid: he will not snatch, but he will earn distinction. I shall not live to see it; but it will be so.' "-Now, this conclusion was the more curious because Follett was not one of those sgrits who hit peculiarly. the Doctor's taste. Folett, as a boy, was rather slow. There is no use in denying it. There was at school nothing dashing or brilliant about him. His articulation in boyhood was-thick; and his demeanour somewhat sluggish. Now, sharpness, quickness, and readiness, the Doctor de- lighted in. Again; Follett was not fond of classics: the Doctor revelled in them. And yet be appretiated his pupil and did him justice. In proof of this, I well -recollect that when one of the under-masters (Osborne was the-reverend gentle- man's name) said to the Doctor, after a hasty. perusal, Webb Follett's verses, Sir, want imagination,' the rejoinder instantly followed—' But, Sir, they possess, —what many verses do not, sense!'

" There was one peculiarity about the late Attorney-General in boyhood, which, I am inclined to think, accompanied him in after-life. He possessed the entire confidence of our little community. The sentiment he inspired, generally, was respect. Well ! that's Webb Follett's opinion,' was a dictum which settled many a boyish quarrel and stilled many an angry difference. Perhaps this might mainly be owing to his manner; for even in boyhood he was calm, and grave, and self-possessed. There was a composedness about him which no petty irritations could ruffle. Webb Follett in a passion would have been a rare spectacle on. the play-ground."

The following anecdotes are attributed to the Duke of Sussex, and are professed to be told to the author during a visit to Newstead, by a " middle,aged military-looking man." They are " curious if true."

" THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.

"The-Prince Regent had little real affection for his daughter. The fact is, lee feared her! The day after he learnt her demise, his comment on the event.tp one of his intimates was this= The nation will lament her, -but to me it is relief!' "

"THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AND LORD CASTLEREAGH.

" The regard which the. Duke felt for Lord Castlereagh was great, endissem- bled, and enduring to the last. It puzzled most people. No one could well ac- count for it, because no two men had less in common as to habits and character. The Duke, all soldierly frankness: the Foreign Secretary, steeped in tracasserie finesse, and diplomatic manceuvres. The Duke speaks, and you seize at once his meaning: Lord- Castlereagh rounded sentence after sentence, and you knew as much of his real bent and object when he had finished as when he began! It shows, however, how deeply the Dake had studied the diplomatist, since he was the first to notice Lord Castlereagh's aberration of intellect. He mentioned it first to the King, and then to his colleagues. His impression was deemed ill- founded: so fixed, however, was it in the Duke's mind, that, some days before tffe event, he said to a dependent of the Minister—one of his secretaries, if I mistake

not= Watch his Lordship carefully: his mind is going.' • * " THE LATE QEEEN CAROLINE.

" One and not the least curious feature in the affair was, that the Regent was

kept fully informed, by some unsuspected agent, of the daily life of his unfortu- nate consort. He was in full possession of all her movements. She never had a party but he knew who composed it. She never took a journey without the route and the incidents of travel being reported to him-in detail. Every escapade-of hers was duly chronicled, and faithfully too; for when proceedings were finally, taken, the subordinate law people—those who had the getting-up of the case- foand the Ting more aitfais of the whole business than they were themselves. Amend that, said he,.on one occasion; you are wrong as to time. The date of that transaction is so and so,'—naming .the day accurately; and -the parties present were there'; and he repeated-their names one by one. Great pains were taken to ascertain the King's informant; but in vain;"

Some of the papers. are defensive or illustrative of masonic character and virtues, so far as these may be unfolded to the uninitiated. The pro- fits of the book are to be devoted-to the fund for the projected "Asylum for the Aged and.Decayed.Freemason."