to the fire, if it were winter, and to the bow-window in summer, and passed between you the huge flat-bottomed decanter that held two good quarts of claret, and yet modestly called itself a bottle of wine! Not, oh venerable and esteemed Ignatius, that you were addicted to the pleasures of the table -falsely so called-or that you degraded the high character of a philosopher and a scholar by an unseemly regard for creature-comforts in a liquid shape, but simply because you knew that the good-natured visitor would be sedate and silent, prepared to swallow with pleasure and edification whatever you chose to pour into him—whether through the medium of a green glass nearly as large as a barrel, and in the shape of prime old Bordeaux-or through your own lips, tipt with celestial fire, and in the shape of an oration to which all the bees of Hymettus had contributed their honey, and no small portion of their hum. Then you knew that you might harangue to attentive ears on all manner of subjects on the adventures of your youth -the studies of your manhood-the reflections of your age-your discoveries in science-your experience in all things-your disappointments in love! For you know you were disappointed, though you sometimes pretend you jilted the widow; Ignatius ! it was the widow that jilted you. You've confessed it a hundred times to Sir Wilfred, and he has a hundred times forgotten the whole concern; for your communicativeness on such topics has generally reached its height when the aforesaid decanter was for the second time in the very act of enlisting in the marines; an incident which had a very remarkable effect on the memory of your friend. But hark! the drawing-room bell is vehemently pulled for at least the twentieth time, and a sharp, clear, precise voice is heard saying to Abraham Slocock"Are you certain you told the gentlemen that tea was ready?"

So Ignatius is a husband?-perhaps a father?-a patriarch with his table quite overshadowed with olive branches? Ah, no! a bachelor has he been, and is likely to be to the end of time. And yet many of the comforts that only the weaker vessels, as we politely call them, can bestow, are in our excellent friend's possession-sour looks when he is not exactly punctual, and

severe reprimands when he omits nearly throttling himself with vast rolls of handkerchiefs if he puts his foot out. of doors after mid-day, especially in an east wind. Yes! we may safely say that Miss Barbara Hubble, a spinster sister of mature years, contrives to make his home as agreeable to him as if he had a wife. The part of children is played to the life by George and Mary Hope-the offspring of a favourite niece whom Ignatius has adopted, and whom all the world has long ago set down for his heirs.

"But the theory of education, my dear Sir Wilfred, is very insufficiently developed. The faculties are treated as if they were potatoes or turnips that had been planted at a particular time, and at another particular time were expected to come to maturity. The faculties, I maintain, on the other hand, vary so astonishingly, so much, and so greatly in the period of their acquiring the fulness of their growth, that sometimes they are in a very imperfect state even in old age. You have met with old people who were stupid, ignorant, duli ?”'

Sir Wilfred looked at his host through the mist that had begun to settle over his eyes, and observing that the old gentleman addressed the question to him in a very pointed manner, answered, "Oh yes, dull enough, my good sir; but with a bottle of such claret as this we can do very well, I assure you."

"Well, sir, the cause of their stupidity, even in extreme old age, is, that they have not completed their education. The generality of mankind are not qualified for any place but school till they are fifty years of age. I myself, Sir Wilfred, was under a strict tutor till thirty-five; I have regretted ever since that he died when I had reached that period, or he might have continued his superintendence of me till the present time."

"He would be a pretty old gentleman if he stuck so long on the perch," hiccuped the listener.

"Not much above a hundred, which, by a recurrence to the patriarchal mode of life, might again be rendered the prime of manhood. I myself, Sir Wilfred, feel as if I were still in the teens of my understanding; and with regard to your boy that you complain of, what is he but a babe ?-a suckling?"

"He sucks me pretty hard," said the baronet, emptying the bottle; "five hundred last term, and no chance that I can see of weaning him."

"An infant without teeth," continued Ignatius, "a creature scarcely in the dawn of existence, fit only for a rattle and long clothes"

"Long clothes!" exclaimed the baronet, who was no dab at metaphor, and could not make out what might be the meaning of all this nursery phraseology," long clothes, my good sir? you mean long clothes-bills-do you know that you are talking of Arthur Hammond, my son, six feet high, strong as a horse, and waiting very impatiently for his first commission in the blues? and where the devil I'm to find the needful, Heaven only "

"You misapprehend me, Sir Wilfred, I speak in figures. I give you the ideal presentment of an intellect still in the cradle, scarcely old enough yet to amuse itself with wooden horses

"A cursed deal too knowing a judge for that; no, Arthur has a good eye for a nag," muttered the father, who was again lost in a fog.

"With but the experience of twoand-twenty years to enable it to grope its way through the dark places of this world; you must indeed, my dear friend, view the slight aberrations of such extreme juvenility with more philosophical eyes. In thirty or forty years more, I have no doubt Mr Arthur Hammond will be a very steady and rational young man. Get him a tutor, 'tis the only way."

"A tutor for a fellow six feet high ?"

"My dear sir, if he were a walking pyramid 'twould make no difference. 'Tis of the intellect I speak-that may be of the very minutest tenuity while the corporeal covering is gigantic as the sons of Anak. But the tutor's business would be to model the plastic clay of the still flexible understanding into what shape he chose; he would curb, restrain, reward, and punish, till the youthful pupil"

"Would probably lay hands on the tutor's collar, and fling him into the nearest pond."

(Ting! ting! ting!" Abraham, are you perfectly sure you told the gentlemen that tea was growing cold?")

"But the old girl gets impatient,

my

dear Hubble," continued Sir Wilfred, slowly rising, "and we can finish the rest of this business some other time."

"No time like the present," replied Ignatius, pushing the madeira to his companion, who resumed his seat once more, "a tutor must undoubtedly be procured, and by way of setting a good example, I am on the point of engaging one's services myself."

"You, Mr Hubble? what do you want with a tutor?"

"I have a nephew, Sir Wilfred, who turns out very differently from what I expected. Instead of feeding himself with solid food that would raise him up a Hercules among the sons of men, he stuffs himself with light unwholesome garbage-would you believe it, Sir Wilfred, he told me himself that he had not the slightest relish for Bacon."

"Very bad taste, that's all; for I think a rasher with a few eggs-or even boil'd with good beans-one of the best dishes a man can sit down to."

"I allude not to eatables, my good sir," replied Ignatius; "'tis food for the mind I talk of. Yes! George Hope has disappointed me. With Buffon and Cuvier in my hands, I have endeavoured for hours and hours to explain to him the formation, qualities, instincts, and habitudes of the animal creation. I even presented him at his repeated request, with two horses on which to conclude his studies in natural history; and in a month, one of them was found suspended by a huge iron spike run through its body on the top of a high gate in the hunting-ground of the Duke of Beaufort. How it got there is a mystery to me to this hour; and the other (seized in all human probability by a fit of delirium to which the equine genus are liable), leapt over fifty hurdles in less than five minutes, and committed deliberate suicide by drowning itself in a broad ditch which intersects a line drawn between this church-tower and Highwell steeple."

"He hunts and rides steeple chases," muttered the baronet, without being audible to the pre-occupied Ignatius. "He's a tight lad, young Hope, I must have him over to Hammondale."

"I may say the same," continued Ignatius," with regard to the principles of buoyancy and suspension. I

purchased a boat for him that he might become experimentally acquainted with the power of resistance offered by water to a body passing through it; that he might see the influence of light currents of wind on the sails. He seemed to attach some importance to the size of the vessel, and professed a strong desire to make his experiments on a large scale. The scene he fixed on was Southampton water in the neighbouring county; and would you believe it, Sir Wilfred, I thought he was busily engaged in taking his scientific observations, till yesterday's post brought me a letter dated from Stornoway, and accompanying an order on me for 150 pounds in favour of Rory M'Tosh, fish-curer and bailie."

"Joined the Yacht Club," snored Sir Wilfred; "go it, George."

"You therefore perceive that a tutor is indispensable.'

"A pilot more likely; those rocky seas are no joke to a young one," said the baronet.

"A pilot, indeed, as you express it, Sir Wilfred, is what both our young men require; a person of firm and decided character to hold the helm steadily in all the storms he may encounter; a person of mature years and great experience. Money would be no object with me could I but procure so inestimable a guide for the wandering steps of my youthful charge. Surely, Sir Wilfred, at one or other of our glorious Universities, a gentleman with these qualifications could be found."

"If you don't grudge the money," said Sir Wilfred, " you can get any thing you require."

"I would not grudge the money." "Then leave the tutor getting to me; by George! I'll get you a fellow

"Languages I do not insist on. Those, I can teach him myself; 'tis life! life! life!"

"Send him to Paris, if life is what you want to show him. I learned more there in a fortnight, than the rest of the world could have taught me in a century. Frascatis-Tivoli the Palais Royal-the Theatresah, my dear fellow, I've a great mind to be his tutor myself."

""Tis not shows and spectacles I require. Of these, we have plenty here. I remember twelve years ago, seeing a Swiss giantess in London seven feet high, so that we need not leave our own island for extraordinary sights;-no, the life I mean is the co-existent, yet invisible life within us -the deep caves of reason, sentiment, and reflection, where the metaphysical genii are perpetually at work; rearing subterranean palaces more stately and enduring than those of Aladdin-fit habitation for him who reigns over his subject thoughts, the king of the world of shadows which are more real than wood and stonethe etherial, pure, idealized soul."

"Abraham!" exclaimed the voice we have heard before, "go and tell the gentlemen that the tea is cold, the candles burnt out, and Miss Hope and I gone to bed."

"Then, Abraham," said Mr Hubble, as the faithful domestic, with a fidelity worthy of Homer's messengers, delivered the notice word for word, "bring in some fried bones, and lay the cognac on the table. I believe, Sir Wilfred, you always take it cold"

"Without," continued the worthy baronet, and sipt the last drop of his madeira with a sigh.

"MY DEAR SON,

"Mr Flashy wrote to me to say, that not another shilling could be raised among the tenants, and that, as he was about to separate from his partner, he must clear off all old scores, and therefore sends in his bill. The rascal; he thinks he has his noose too firmly round my neck for me to kick; but he shall find he is mistaken. I

know that, if I am pushed to extremities, you will not refuse me your assistance, and an amazingly good offer has already been made for Ashywell, if you will join me in breaking the entail. This I will not ask you to do, unless the necessity is very urgent; but as I think I see symptoms in Sir Hilary Jupp of an intention to call up his money, you had better run

up for a day or two to London, and visit him in his suburban paradise at Muswell Hill, and pay great attention to the tall young woman I introduced you to at Cheltenham. She is his only child, and they say will have ten thousand a-year; and as the whole of it was made by selling blankets, I don't doubt you would be able with that sum to keep yourselves warm and comfortable. In fact, my dear Arthur, I have certainly held out some expectations of that sort to the old usurer, and I shall therefore consider it a piece of dutiful obedience if you will either marry her without delay, or keep her in hopes of it for as long as you possibly can. The thousand pounds you ask is paid into Drummond's, but for Heaven's sake, my dear boy, be careful; for extravagance is the worst vice a young man can possibly indulge in. The week I spent at Scarfield has answered very well. Old Hubble is a real gentleman, though he has a little more ready money than is quite the thing; but bating that, and a cursed odd way he has of speaking like an encyclopedia, he is a most excellent and worthy man. Your mother continues as much attached as ever to his niece Mary Hope, and talks of asking her here again sometime next month.

His

nephew is at present in Scotland in his yacht, if I can make out old Hubble's story, and is in want of a tutor. If you knew what a great rough Tony Lumpkin sort of a bear he was, you would be some little astonished at the

"DEAR FATHer,

66

old gentleman's fancying a tutor can be found to refine him; but people like Mr Hubble, my dear Arthur, must be humoured in their whims, and I have promised to employ you among the big wigs and wise men in Cambridge, to procure for him a person such as he requires. I shall also write by this day's post to my friend Colonel O'Donahue, who is living near Wallingford, to look me out a bearleader in Oxford, and his task will be easier as I have the name of a person to whom he is to apply-Jerome Whiffle, A. M.-in whom Mr Hubble has such confidence (from having read a book of his on education), that he will engage with him at once, if Mr Whif fle will undertake the charge. In the mean-time, be on the out-look, and if O'Donahue fails in securing Whiffle, you will be prepared with a substitute from Cambridge. I shall desire the Colonel to write to you whether he succeeds in his commission; which will be a saving of time, and also of trouble to me, as letter-writing is not my forte. Be careful of the thousand pounds, and never play high with a bad partner; don't forget to visit Muswell Hill, and I think, on farther acquaintance, the squint you observed will disappear. Believe me, your affectionate father,

"WILFRED HAMMOND.

"No news yet from the Horse Guards-but we may expect to hear very soon."

Many thanks for the draft on Drummonds, which I will keep as long as it will stay by me, as a memorial of your fatherly regard. The hint about Miss Jupp shall be attended to, and the squint as little observed as possible.

As to George Hope and his tutor, I rejoice very much you told O'Donahue to write to me as to the success of his enquiries, as I should have assuredly failed in getting any one so qualified for the place as Mr Whiffle. The Colonel writes me on the subject, so your mind may be quite at rest. Young Hope will obtain all the polish and experience that the pride of Oxford can impart, and the old gentleman's experiment on the slow de

velopement of the mental powers on which you have told me he is so eloquent, can be carried on under the most favourable auspices. I am glad my mother is going to ask the young girl, Miss Hope, to visit her again. I thought her society was of great use to the old lady last summer, and I have no doubt will be equally agreeable this. I am pushed for time, as Euclid is waiting, and I remain, dear father, your affectionate son,

"ARTHUR HAMMOND."

"So far, so good," said Sir Wilfred on receipt of this missive from his son. "Old Hubble will see that I have exerted myself to oblige him. The ten thousand a-year will reconcile

Arthur to the squint-the villain Flashy shall be paid off, and all will go well-I'll run up for a few days to town, and get a horse for Tom Herrick in place of Brown Tiger, which is certainly grown groggy. Another conversation with Sir Hilary will do no harm at the same time. I wish I had told the boy at once, I had made an arrangement for him to marry the girl. That last five thousand could'nt

have been had without it; the next, I fear, won't come without the actual marriage; for the old blanket-maker begins to ride rusty."—

A pity that plans so deeply laid, should be so completely overthrown as were those of poor Sir Wilfred; as we are under the disagreeable necessity of explaining to the reader in the course of the following pages.

It is much to be lamented that ladies begin to require spectacles just at the time when they grow most inquisitive. The prying propensities of fifty, joined to the clear eyesight of twenty-five, would have made our hitherto invisible friend Miss Barbara Hubble, perfectly intolerable. As it was, people were astonished at her powers of vision. With a particularity that only belongs to an eye-witness, she could describe events that occurred at the same moment at opposite extremities of the parish; and it was remarked, that if a slight degree of impropriety could be elected in the events of which she was an observer, the perspicacity of her vision seemed supernaturally increased. She could see it at five miles' distance, though invisible to any eyes but her own. Miss Barbara, in short, was one of those pure and happy creatures that one reads of in fairy tales, who have no means of understanding in their own persons what faults or imperfections may be, and are therefore forced to study them in the characters and conduct of other people. It will easily be imagined that Miss Barbara, having freed herself from all the blots and blemishes that human kind are liable to in this world, had come to the conclusion that she was a chosen vessel, and sure of felicity in the next; a felicity which, according to the old adage, must be very much inhanced in value, however diminished in enjoyment, by the very few people whom she allowed to share it. For heaven, according to some notions, is something like a religious tea-meeting, to which only a very small and select party can be admitted; where the share of the toast and muffins that falls to each is computable by simple division; and where each has, therefore, an interest in keep

ing the number of guests as low as possible.

One day, about a fortnight after Sir Wilfred's visit to Scarfield-indeed it was on the 15th day of August, 1838-Miss Barbara had occasion to go to the upper portion of the village to enquire into certain rumours touching the behaviour of one of the inhabitants, and was accompanied, as far as the little stream on which the village is situated, by her grand-niece, Mary Hope. A basket slung over her arm, and a fishing-rod in her hand, showed that she intended

"To ply the sport

Which that sweet season gave;"

and Mary was indeed allowed to be one of the best casters of a line that fished on the Scarfield water. In fact, if you looked in Mary's face, you would allow her to be any thing in the world-for such faces and figures are not seen every day, and we have a very poor opinion of the fish that did not catch hold of her hook immediately, that they might have a nearer view of such a beautiful creature. we were a fish--but we shall not mention what a lot of foolish things we should be inclined to do,-suffice it to say, that Mary Hope was the prettiest girl in England; dark hair, blue eyes-step like a fawn, smile like an angel-and for all other particulars, as to shape and figure, we refer you to the Venus of Canova.

If

"Remember," said the old lady as they-parted at the little foot-bridge, "that I consider your conduct highly blameable, and"