apes and Apollos, Rossinis and road-makers, Chesterfields and commerce, to make a chaos of the brains of every London apprentice; or, what is, perhaps, worse, their philosophy and politics, menageries and manufactures, their spiders and spinning-jennies, their bears and Bacon, to frighten or puzzle the domestic circle of a cotter's fire-side. In regard to the latter, indeed, I quite agree with a late eminent writer, and friend of the agricultural poor, that it would be much better if we could teach them how to procure and to cat' bacon 'than to read him.”

“He is certainly a Conservative,” thought I; and the last desideratum about the pig almost made me set him down as a Hampshire squire.

“ No, Sir," continued he, “ I hope never to see the Tuileries turned into such a miscellaneous menagerie, such a zoological or wild-beastclub as that. Hay and straw are good enough for them. Silks and satins, bronzes and marbles, crystals and velvet, enamel and or-molu, are made for those who understand the world and the people a little better."

“ That,” thought I,“ is like a Whig."

“ Conceive, Sir,” he continued, stopping again in front of the magnificent pile,“ conceive the splendour of those galleries and saloons, when the brown Holland covers are taken off the furniture, and a flood of light is poured down from a profusion of chandeliers, glancing from mirror to mirror, and shooting a ray from every gilt or polished angle upon the favoured few who are admitted within the royal precincts. There gleams the diamond in the tiara of the fair—the star upon the noble's breast-the gaudy trappings of the warrior's form—the many-coloured beauties of the courtly throng,—these, Sir, are the persons for whom such things were made."

The unction with which he thus expatiated upon the glories of the palace seemed to light up a new fire within him.

“ He is an avowed aristocrat, at all events,” thought I.

“What a scene must the twelfth of August have been in Ninety-two !" he continued ; “and how lucky it was that matters were so quietly managed on the glorious three days! I wonder what the whole would fetch at Christie's ?”

There are moments in conversation as when, with a tight shoe, and a corn on every toe, the foot comes in contact with a projecting stone--an ejaculation, internal or expressed—a pull-up, a limp, and then a fresh start with an altered gait.

I looked in his face to see whether he had hitherto been imposing upon me, or whether I could descry indications of the "out-and-outer, the least sign of a “go the whole," or of anything in short (for which I should have been truly thankful) that would throw light upon the current of his ideas; but all was calm, single-purposed as the face of a child, and an interrogative “ umph ?” calling upon me for an answer, extracted only " Upon my—I don't know.'

That is what my brother-in-law, Sir George, always says when I ask him similar questions about the timber and live stock upon the two estates of Wyvercliffe and Dugdale,” replied Down, quietly.

The conversation then took another turn, but nothing ensued which at all helped to enlighten me; on the contrary, his affairs puzzled me as much as his principle. He talked of his residence in Portland Place,

and of his lodgings in Green Street -of Melton and of joint-stock companies--of the University and the Exchange-of portmanteaus in the country, and of his library in town-of property scattered amongst various funds, yet of having nothing to spend-of an interest in some firm without ever having been member of any

“ house." Confusion worse than confounded presented itself to my mind whenever I attempted to arrange in logical order the various items which made up the complex idea of Solomon Upsyde Down, Esquire.

During a pause, in which I had fallen into a reverie, he said, "I am waiting here for a nephew of mine, who promised to meet me at four o'clock."

“ There, Mr. Down,” thought I, “ you have the better of me at all events. One person at least exists in the world for whom you feel an interest. If my poor sister Kitty had been more discreet, and had lived

“But," added he," I expect little pleasure from the interview, for he is involved in very melancholy circumstances.”

“Ah! Paris Paris !” said I.

“ Oh! not by any fault of his, poor lad ; indeed, the most uncasy part of the business to me is, that, if I had been more successful, perhaps I may say more prudent, in the affairs of the world, he would not now be in the embarrassing situation in which he is.”

“ That alters the whole case, friend Solomon,” thought I.

While we were thus conversing, two young men approached, in whom I descried acquaintance of the last night's adventure—the worthy president, Mr. Frank, and the youth whose melancholy in the midst of the festival had interested me.

George,” said Down, “ I have been waiting for you more than an hour."

The nephew was evidently so full of other affairs of a more engrossing nature that he did not appear to recognise me; but I espied sufficient in the face of Mr. Frank-such a mixture of the comical and the reserved -as convinced me that neither his mental nor corporeal eye was cqually closed.

After a few words of general conversation had passed amongst us, I took my leave, concluding that the uncle and nephew, but especially the latter, would be impatient to enter upon business. Mr. Frank followed my example, and, as we had to go out of the gardens by the same gate, we walked off together.

There are persons with whom, by some inexplicable freemasonry of the human sympathies, one immediately feels that freedom of intercourse which years cannot accomplish with others who are apparently more adapted to our habits and characters. Whether my grave and starch exterior-or some inkling of my peculiar habits (for the believe, have a sort of instinct given them in place of experience)-or whether it was solely the recollections of the preceding festive night which tickled his fancy-or what it precisely was in him that interested me, I cannot say ; but a few minutes were sufficient to complete an acquaintance. We talked of indifferent things, it is true, but we conversed upon them like persons who had long known each other. Opinions may be given, expressions used, mere forms and turns of phraseology employed, upon the most trifling subjects, which intluence our sympa

young, I

thies (unknown sometimes to ourselves) more than the elaborate exposition of sentiments or thoughts, consonant with our own, upon matters of the highest importance. Between some persons, in short, without being able to assign any precise reason for the fact, the progress

of conversational intercourse is, from the beginning to the end, like a journey over a jolting road--between others, like canter on a May-day turf. Such was the case in the present instance, and the consciousness of it seemed to be quite mutual.

Instead of leaving the gardens by the nearest gate, we lingered some time in the walks, but when we approached the hotel, and had to ascend the same staircase, the association of ideas with the affairs of the last night was too close for Mr. Frank's gravity, and, after a hearty laugh, and many apologies, he pronounced that for the future I might go to bed without any fear of similar disturbances.

“ The party,” continued he, was got up chiefly in the endeavour to rally poor George Gilbert's spirits; but we did not know, and he did not communicate, the circumstance of Madame Le Fleur's illness. I suppose Mr. Down has told

you

all. Ermenie's mother-" “Mr. Down," I interposed, “ during the short time I was with him, did not mention the subject.” And as I supposed this to be said under a mistaken notion of such an intimacy existing between George's uncle and myself as might be consistent with further communications, I took the opportunity of an interruption, occasioned by some one passing on the stairs, to wish him good evening; but the acquaintance was not to end here, and on my return from a walk on the following day I found upon my table the card of Mr. Francis M. Delaroue,

CRAP. IV. It is one of the peculiarities of great cities--those modern representatives of Babel as well as Babylon—that impressions and events so rapidly succeed each other as to leave no one time to take a deep hold upon its recipient. In the retirement of the country, or the restricted circle of a provincial town, the case is otherwise. A piece of news, a piece of slander, a quarrel, a make-up, a faux-pas, or a failure, not only seize upon the unoccupied feelings, and stamp" the image of themselves” upon the carte-blanche of many an idle empty head; but, long after the life and interest of the events themselves, and the impressions they have made, become defunct, the topics continue to exist as subsidiary supports of conversation, and, by a kind of galvanised animation, are ever and anon called up again to fill the pause between first and second course, or to cover the delay of the footman between the deportation of the tea-tray and of the urn. In London or Paris the direct reverse of all this takes place. In public or in private affairs-in politics or in piques-our feelings 'appear to become completely callous by constant friction. If a Rothschild were to fail, or a kingdom be overthrown, it would only form the hasty topic of remark between two uplifted hats in hurried salutation : and some other event would probably supersede it in half an hour. The political feuds and discussions—the jealous heart-burnings of female rivalry, or of fashion, which make people look shy of each other across the extent of a whole country, are mixed up, merged, and forgotten in the midst of the fervent buzz, the rapidlysucceeding events, the glittering equipages, and manifold excitement of

a metropolis. If the daughter of your nearest neighbour in the country should elope with the footman from Grosvenor Square, you would, comparatively, know or care little about it; and, if your next-door neighbour were to die, you would scarcely be aware of the melancholy fact.

In the midst of the French metropolis, then, and after the agitating events which succeeded my arrival, it will be matter of little surprise to the reader when I state that not only the peculiar opinions, but even the existence, of Jeremiah Figgs had almost passed away from my recollection. I had never met him since we parted in the dark at the Poste aux Lettres, when, by the light of a lamp, I saw his thin figure take a south-easterly direction, followed by a porter who carried his scantily-furnished carpet-bag.

A little more than a week after I had been in Paris, while wandering about in my usual tenor of mind, chance led me to the Halle, where the great fruit and vegetable market is held. It is a pretty sight as far as the verdant and mellow productions of Nature and manure go, but, as usual, “man,” or in this case woman, spoils all.” It is the very Billingsgate of Paris, and neither in word nor deed, neitheir in alacrity to resent, nor in phraseology to express offended feelings, yields one jot the palm to the far-famed emporium upon the banks of the Thames. A few more piquant faces, it must be confessed, are to be seen amongst the young-a certain smartness of dress, a tucking up of petticoatsa daintiness of foot and ankle, and a manner, at first sight, calculated to deceive; but the old--oh! the old-witchcraft and broomsticks, harpies and furies, are words but of faint import to convey adequate ideas of this part of the Parisian community. As I approached I heard a confused din, laughing, screaming, mixed with shouts of indignation, clapping of hands with hisses and groans, everything that some unusual commotion of a compound nature could call forth. “A bas les Capucins ! à bas les Capucins !” cried some; “ A la fontaine ! à la fontaine !” others. In the distance, elevated over the heads of the crowd in the part where it was thickest, and upon a seat made of baskets reversed, I saw a spare figure in black-no hat-coat-flaps flying to the wind--a pair of thin legs every now and then thrown up by the oscillation of the baskets-and arms at full distension in the frequent but vain attempts to obtain a hearing. What was my dismay as the cortège approached, to perceive that it was no other than Jeremiah Figgs, whom the mob were thus chairing, or rather basketing, round the place. Intolerant, it seems, not only of his peculiar opinions, but of any instruction within those verdant precincts, the genii loci, the nymphs and their swains, had taken these means of resenting the encroachment. After they had carried him about in this manner some time, to the imminent risk of life and limb, they let him down, with a roar of laughter, plump upon a heap of refuse vegetables ; but, like a half-worried cat, Jeremiah sprang upon his legs again, and in a trice was on a barrel to resume his discourse. “A la fontaine !' (duck him! duck him !) was the cry; and I perceived enough anger mixed with other feelings of the mob to become apprehensive of the consequences for my poor fellow-traveller. At that moment I thought he caught a sight of me from his elevated position, but, seeing no sign of a voluntary descent, I, with some difficulty, pushed my way through the crowd. It was in vain that I remonstrated with him in the few words which the mob would permit me to say, and, as they immediately began to associate me cage”

with him in the vocal expression of their sentiments, I soon wished myself in any

other part of Paris, from Notre Dame to the Boulevards extérieurs. The tumult was evidently on the increase, and just at the critical moment when some decisire measure of the rabble seemed imminent, very fortunately for all parties the gensd'armes arrived. They conveyed us both, Figgs and myself, to the guard-house. From there, in consequence of Jeremiah's pertinacity and extravagant conduct, (for his state of excitement may be conceived,) we were transferred, as the day closed in, to the night-room of the police.

Was ever man born to such a star as mine? I exclaimed to myself when we were turned into this general receptacle with every prospect of spending the night there. Am I for ever to be involved in the consequences which ensue from the follies of other people, as well as my own bad luck? 0, Fortune, Fortune ! what has Tristram Dumps, or any of his progenitors, done to merit thus thy chastisements? The interior of the "-a cage of unclean birds," as Jeremiah appropriately called it—was sufficiently miscellaneous. Old men whose grey hairs and emaciated countenances betrayed a long career of debauchery and vice--young hollow-cheeked libertines, in all the dishevelled smartness of worn-out wardrobes--half-military-looking men-pale delicate females in all the faded finery of the Palais Royal. Such an opportunity as this was, of course, not to be lost by Figgs ; and either their own curiosity, or the ennui of the place, induced the inmates to listen to him with some patience. During a vehement rhapsody, to which his visionary opinions grafted on the previous excitemerit gave full flight, I had an ample opportunity of perceiving the extent of poor Jeremiah's fanaticism, and the frail tenor upon which he appeared to hold the possession of what remained of his wits.

While he was thus holding forth I was particularly struck by the interesting appearance of a young female, whose physiognomy and manner appeared wholly at variance with every circumstance by which she was surrounded. Her age seemed to be about twenty-five, and her form one of those which in ripening into womanhood lose nothing of the delicacy and lovely freshness of the girl ; a pair of large, blue, sentimental eyes, which struck me the more, perhaps, after a short absence from the regards of my fair countrywomen, were pensively turned to the ground, as, supporting her head upon her hand, she sat gently inclined forward in deep attention to Jeremiah's harangue. Yet, whenever I looked towards her, I thought I perceived that she hastily withdrew those soft beaming luminaries from me. What can have placed so fair a creature in such a situation ? said I to myself. What series of faults or misfortunes in this wretched world can have conducted, step by step, to such a consummation one whom Nature seems to have marked out for the choicest of its destinations ? At the end of the discourse she detained Jeremiah some time apart in a long interview, to which she appeared to give her earnest attention. Nevertheless I still could not but imagine that she constantly cast that kind of look towards me as if she wished to have a second opinion upon the main article of Figgs' prophecy, to which every one would agree in applying at least the newspaper term of " important, if true.” “That poor Rahab,” said Jeremiah, as he rejoined me," for such I suppose her to be, is truly of an inquiring mind.” In a few minutes she came and stood in the recess of a window near us, and Jeremiah going to the other end of the