A METAMORPHOSIS NOT IN OVID.
THE Foreign Secretary of the Morning Chronicle, silenced on the subject of the Ashburton treaty, silenced on the subject of the Afghan war, has betaken himself to the French occupation of Tahiti. In conjunction with certain sectarian meetings, he main- tains that Admiral DUPETIT THOUARS has committed an encroach- ment on the territorial rights of the Missionary Societies. The French Admiral conquered the missionaries by giving a ball on board his ship : warned by this practical illustration of the in- fluence of the Graces in the Pacific, the Societies patch up an alliance with Cupid in England, and Paphos is divided about Tahiti as Olympus was about Troy. The conversion of Cupid into a preacher is no unprecedented metamorphosis; though OVID, 'who lived too early, could know nothing of the parallel cases. When the Church of Rome was gradually insinuating herself into the place of the Pagan hierarchy, Minervas and Dianas were re- gularly transformed into Holy Virgins, and Venuses into St. Mary Magdalenes : the fate of the Cupids was scarcely so fortu- nate; their admission into the Church was, like our Whig Reform Bill, a half measure—the head and shoulders were received, but "the lower orders" were excluded. It is to be feared that this compromise is of bad augury for the modern Cupid. It is written in legendary lore, that when St. Francis d'Assisi (or St. Francis de Salis—we won't be positive which) was summoned by a posse comitatus of those docked Cupids, who are the recog- nized King's messengers of the Roman Catholic mythology, he was just putting the finishing-touches to his great work. His sum- moners saw at once the expediency of allowing him a minute or two to finish the few lines that remained to be written. The Saint, who was a gentleman and a Frenchman, on their consenting to wait, said, " Messieurs, asseyez vous." " Helas ! monsieur," was the reply, " nous n'avons pas de quoi." And in like manner, should our metamorphosed Cupid, at any future time, by the unac- countable chopping and changing of human affairs, find himself in- vited by the Premier of the day to resume his seat in the Cabinet, he may be forced to reply—" Helas ! Monsieur, je n'ai pas de qu oi."
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