Digby, in a tone of the deepest commiseration; "but I am sure what Catesby advises is for the best. I could not reconcile it to my conscience to allow you to sacrifice yourself thus. Be governed by prudence."

"Oh no, no!" cried Viviana, distractedly. "I will not be stayed. I command you not to detain me."

"Viviana," said Catesby, taking her arm, "this is no season for the display of silly weakness either on our part or yours. If you cannot control yourself, you must be controlled. Father Garnet, I entrust her to your care. Two of my troop shall attend you, together with your own servant, Nicholas Owen. You shall have stout horses, able to accomplish the journey with the greatest expedition, and I should wish you to convey her to her own mansion, Ordsall Hall, and to remain there with her till you hear tidings of us."

"It shall be as you direct, my son," said Garnet. "I am prepared to set out at once."

"That is well," replied Catesby.

"You will not do me this violence, sir," cried Viviana. "I appeal against it, to you, Sir Everard."

"I cannot help you, madam," replied the knight, "indeed,

I cannot."

"Then Heaven, I trust, will help me,” cried Viviana, " for I am wholly abandoned of man.'

"I beseech you, madam, put some constraint upon yourself," said Catesby." If, after your arrival at Ordsall, you are still bent upon your rash and fatal design, Father Garnet shall not oppose its execution. But give yourself time for reflection." "Since it may not be otherwise, I assent," replied Viviana. "If I must go, I will start at once."

66

Wisely resolved," replied Sir Everard.

Viviana then retired, and soon afterwards appeared equipped for her journey. The two attendants and Nicholas Owen were in the court-yard, and Catesby assisted her into the saddle.

"Do not lose sight of her," he said to Garnet, as the latter mounted.

"Rest assured I will not," replied the other.

And taking the direction of Coventry, the party rode off at a brisk pace.

Catesby then joined the other conspirators, while Sir Everard sent off Lady Digby and his household, attended by a strong escort, to Coughton. This done, the whole party repaired to the court-yard, where they called over the muster-roll of their men, to ascertain that none were missing,-examined their arms and ammunition, and finding all in order, sprang to their steeds, and putting themselves at the head of the band, rode towards Southam and Warwick.

457

THE MUMP.

BY HAL WILLIS, STUDENT AT LAW.

THE "Mump" is a slight variation of the "Sponge." The difference is, that the former possesses more sincerity, or impudence, than the latter, and ingenuously commences the invasion with an acknowledgment of his or her intentions. Well, Tom, I've come to mump a dinner with you;" or, " My dear Mrs. B. I intend to mump a dish of tea with you this afternoon. How's the little dears? and so forth. Both Mumps and Sponges are of very ancient origin. The Latins used to call them "muscæ or flies, being always ready to taste of any man's dish without invitation.

Mrs. Wrigglesby was one of the finest specimens (as a naturalist would phrase it) of the genuine "Mump" that ever existed. She looked about sixty, but she declared that "she should never see seventy again;" to the surprise of her friends, for really her gastronomic performances, for one who had entirely lost her molares or grinders, were perfectly astonishing.

She often confessed herself that she could (what she elegantly termed) "play a good knife and fork;" but always shook her head, and expressed her fears that it was a bad sign, which she did not at all like; a sentiment, by-the-by, in which many of the purveyors sympathized. But there was one point in the character of Mrs. Wrigglesby which made her appear in a different light from the generality of "Mumps." Mrs. Wrigglesby was a widow, without "chick or child," had a genteel independence, and no relations! What the amount of her income was no one had been able to ascertain, for everybody declared "that Wrigglesby was very close." Some said that she was worth a great deal, and others went so far as to assert, that the Widow Wrigglesby was worth" I don't know how much ;" which latter kind of intimation is usually intended to convey the idea of a vast sum. The mystery, however, was left to be solved by the opening of her last will and testament, and the expectation of that "mournful occasion," kept up by sundry clever hints and inuendos from the Mump, served to feed the minds of the whole circle of her acquaintance. She possessed an excellent memory; and habit and experience had rendered her such an adept in calculation that she was a perfect rival to the famous "Francis Moore, Physician," the only difference consisted in this material point, that he calculated eclipses and tides on his own tables, while Mrs. Wrigglesby made hers upon the tables of her friends.

She knew to a nicety whether the "hot" or "cold" was in the ascendant, or graced the board on a particular day, and could decide without entering the house (which she never did) when there was a "hash" or a "make up." As she preferred the first appearance of any joint, she usually was what foolish people call "fortunate enough to drop in just as the cloth was laid, and the dinner served.

Then she made such careful "minutes" of the respective hours of feeding-time observed in the different families, that she was infallibly in "pudding-time."

She always made it a rule to pat the children on the head, or, wanting them, the pet-dog or cat of the family, and never forgot the names of any of them. A wonderful example of what the actors technically

VOL. IX.

2 H

denominate a "quick study," especially when it is considered she had to play so many parts at so short a notice.

Although, like many other people who have nothing to say, she talked a great deal, she was invariably listened to with great deference, and no one ever intimated the slightest indication that she was esteemed a bore.

--

Opposite to the house where she rented her ready-furnished "sitting-room and bed-room, with the use of the kitchen," which she never used, for she gave no unnecessary trouble-lived the family of the Diggses. Diggs was an honest man in a "situation." Mrs. Diggs was a shrewd, bustling housewife, who could make a guinea go as far as most people, and had brought her dear man a numerous progeny. Notwithstanding there were so many mouths to feed, the thrifty Mrs. Diggs having made Mrs. Wrigglesby's acquaintance at a friend's in the next street, was always glad to see Mrs. Wrigglesby to take a snack with her in her homely way, or a dish of tea, or a bit of supper; and Mrs. Wrigglesby, whose whole life was devoted to her friends, good-naturedly obliged her with more frequent calls than any of the rest of her acquaintance. There were two other cogent reasons besides her natural good-nature which prompted this marked predilection. The climate of our tight little island being rather variable, just crossing the road in any weather was attended with slight inconvenience either to Mrs. Wrigglesby's body or apparel, and secondly, although the Diggses were but middling people, they lived well; and there being a large family, the consumption was great, and hot joints were consequently more prevalent.

Many people looked with rather a jealous eye upon these frequent visits; but what was a source of disquiet to others, was one of selfgratulation to the managing Mrs. Diggs, who prided herself upon her

tact.

One evening, when Diggs had gone to his club, and the children were all abed, Mrs. Diggs had the infinite pleasure of having Mrs. Wrigglesby all to herself; and Mrs. Wrigglesby complaining of spasms (having been pressed by her host to take part of a capon and sausages, a favourite dish of hers,) the bottle labelled with "brandy" was produced with the accompaniments of hot water and sugar, and the two ladies set in for a gossip. The spasms of course went off, and the Mump began to be very confidential and conversant.

Mrs. Diggs hugged herself with the idea of extracting some important communication. She drew herself closer to the fire.

"Do you feel any draught where you sit, my dear Mrs. Wrigglesby?" inquired the kind-hearted Mrs. Diggs. "Do take the sofa now. I know you will feel more comfortable."

With many thanks, Mrs. Wrigglesby availed herself of the polite offer, for her supper had superinduced an inclination to a reclining posture.

"You don't drink, my dear Mrs. W." continued Mrs. Diggs as she brewed her dear friend a third tumbler of "stiff" brandy-and

water.

"Thank'ye, my dear Mrs. D. There! there!-hold! that's enough," cried the faintly-resisting Mump. "Really, now, you have made it too strong. I vow I shall never reach my apartments tonight."

"Oh! Diggs shall see you home when he returns."

"-But he will be quite offended if you refuse. You are such a favourite of Diggs, that I assure you if you were a few years younger I should be a little jealous. He is always talking about you."

The latter part of Mrs. Diggs' assertion was strictly true: for her husband often complained of the expense of "keeping up such an acquaintance," and used to talk in rather a murmuring strain of "looking after dead men's shoes"; that some old women, like cats, had nine lives; and other unqualified expressions, that indubitably proved his doubt of his partner's skill in being enabled to bring the main object of her ambition to bear. Mrs. Diggs, however, "ruled the roast," and persisted in the propriety of her conduct, predicting a golden harvest to her family from her clever exertions.

But to resume. Mrs. Diggs was resolved to carry on the war with spirit; and therefore zealously plied her dear Mrs. Wrigglesby with the strong potation, expecting every moment to unlock the depository of the widow's secrets. Like a skilful artist she was well aware that a wet sponge or varnish applied to an old painting will infallibly bring to view the lights that age has enveloped in dust and obscurity.

"And you have really no family, no kindred, my dear?" said she, with a sympathetic sigh; at the same time fixing her scrutinizing eye upon her friend's venerable physiognomy as if she were about to extract not only a truth, but a tooth.

"How lonely you must be!"

"Relations are not always friends," replied Mrs. Wrigglesby; "and, for my part, I have received so much kindness, and experienced so much affection from my friends, that I have no reason to regret or complain of my loneliness. Indeed, I am so rich—”

Yes, a good income is certainly a consolation and a comfort,” interlarded the anxious Mrs. Diggs.

"I do not allude to money," said Mrs. Wrigglesby, "but friends. I am so rich in friends, that my worldly wealth is as nothing in the comparison."

Mrs. Diggs bridled up with a proud consciousness that she formed a portion of the widow's boasted wealth. The widow laid her long bony fingers upon her neighbour's broad red hand, and continued in a strain of maudlin confidence

"And I assure you from my heart, my dear Diggs, that you - you are the first of those friends in my estimation. No daughter could have behaved more kindly than you have done no mother have received more delicate attentions than I have at your hands. You shall not find me ungrateful. Your name, Mrs. Diggs, is—”

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat! went the knocker at this interesting juncture, and quite startled poor Mrs. Diggs, whose ears and nerves were stretched to the most nervous pitch of hungry expectation.

"Confound the man!" exclaimed Mrs. Diggs, as she rammed her spoon into her tumbler with mingled fright and vexation, "to come with such a—”

Rat-tat-tat-tat! went the knocker again, her dear husband being rather valorous in spirit, and unreasonably impatient.

Mrs. Diggs ran to the door-down dropped the chain with a sort of rattling accompaniment to the confusion of her scattered thoughts. Mrs. Wrigglesby heard Diggs' voice in alt,—and a sotto voce reply from his rib, in which the complimentary terms of " you fool!" were

alone audible above the sweet tenor of her gentle greeting. She then led the gentleman into the parlour. Fortunately the moony state of Mrs. Wrigglesby's optics prevented her from observing his flushed cheeks and grog-moistened lips; and she received his salutation with a composure which it would have been utterly impossible to have felt, if she had marked the "light in his laughing eye.'

"

Hastily putting on her things, with Mrs. Diggs' assistance, the Mump took the proffered arm of her guide, and he saw her home. The pleasant lecture which awaited him on his return I shall leave to the imagination of my reader. That it was neither moving, nor irritating, nor clamorous, we may charitably deduce from the fact, that Diggs fell fast asleep in the middle of it, and replied to the climax of his spouse's interesting monologue with a snore that resembled the sustained note of a juvenile trombone.

Whether Mrs. Diggs had really anything to regret from the abrupt manner in which her dear guest's confidential communications had been cut short is doubtful; for the habitual caution of Mrs. Wrigglesby had become so natural to her, that it is scarcely within the pale of probability that she would have made any satisfactory disclosures. Certain it is, that what she had "dropped" tended greatly to ingratiate her in the favour and affection of the Diggses.

The Wigginses was another family in whose good graces she had particularly insinuated herself. They kept an excellent table as well as the Diggses. She usually sat in their pew, and excused herself to the Diggses (who kindly proffered her a seat) by solely attributing her preference in this respect to its proximity to the pulpit. Now the Wigginses and the Diggses were not on speaking terms, an admirable point in the Mump's tactics, for it prevented any comparison of notes; and indeed she sedulously avoided visiting anywhere when she discovered any existing acquaintance; for disagreeable consequences might possibly have ensued; and Mrs. Wrigglesby was such a good soul, that she utterly abhorred all tale-bearing and detraction. Among the few valuables which Mrs. W. was in the habit of displaying, was a gold watch with an E. W. (Elizabeth Wrigglesby) engraved on the back. It was a curious circumstance that Miss Wiggins' name was Eleanor, and she very pointedly remarked one day to the widow that the said initials happened to be hers likewise. Upon this hint the goodnatured Mump spoke with great effect.

"And the watch, Eleanor, shall be yours," said the condescending Mrs. Wrigglesby; "and that you may not be kept in suspense until my will is opened, for I intend to live a few years longer,-I'll give it you directly-"

"Oh! my dear Mrs. Wrigglesby!" exclaimed Miss Wiggins, her large grey eyes gloating upon the back of the pendent watch.

"Nay, I'll give it you directly,"-continued Mrs. Wrigglesby,"directly you are married!"

Miss Wiggins drew in a long breath, and the blood crimsoned her pallid pock-marked physiognomy as she viewed the watch-at a distance! The Mump either did, or pretended to mistake the cause of her confusion.

"Ah! you may blush, my dear; but these things, you know, will happen in the best regulated families." And having uttered this sly inuendo, she patted Miss Eleanor on the cheek.

The truth is, the chances were rather against this consummation;