shakebag for you!—he was bred by red-nosed Ralph, my coachman, one of the best feeders and cock-masters in England;-sink me! if I wouldn't pit him for a hundred guineas in a battle royal or Welsh main." He tossed the bird upon the carpet, and taking the other from its confinement, continued, "Now this was bred by Jem Yates, of Seaford, and a large heavy bird he is, as you may all see; but he has a craven eye, and sink me, if I don't think from this feather in his tail that there's a cross of the dunghill in him."

As if in immediate refutation of this calumny, the bird seeing an opponent before it, sprung from his hands and instantly commenced a furious attack, which was as fiercely retorted by the other. 'Whoop! a ring, a ring!--and fair play for both sides," cried the Squire, clapping his hands and putting back the company;

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fifty to thirty on red-nosed Ralph-Bravo, Ralph !—Well fought, Jem Yates!"

"Oh! I shall faint-I shall die," exclaimed Lady Crockatt; my poor nerves could never bear the sight of blood.-Eugh! I am sick to

'death' at the very thought of such cruelty.-— My dear Sir Ambrose, do for Heaven's sake

'seize one of those nasty creatures and wring its neck."

"It may not be desirable to destroy it," said Sir Ambrose; "but since your Ladyship is so flurried by their fighting, for which indeed this is no appropriate place, I will beg Mr. Hartfield's leave to put one of the birds back into its bag." While he was very formally and deliberately stooping for this purpose, the game cock, fluttering upwards to avoid its assailant, entangled its claw and spur in the Baronet's tie wig, and in its efforts to liberate itself only became the more inextricably fettered. Sir Ambrose rose up in considerable dismay at a clatter above his head which half blinded him with pulvilio and scattered feathers; the other bird thinking its antagonist was attempting an escape, flew up at it, fluttering, pecking, and spurring with increased fury; while, as the unfortunate Sir Ambrose sprung from one side of the room to the other, the Squire followed him shrieking with laughter, clapping his hands,

1

and shouting "Whoop! bravo, red-nosed Ralph! well fought, Jem Yates-touzle him, touzle him; whoop! haugh! haugh! haugh!" · Sir Ambrose at length having succeeded in disentangling his assailant, and throwing it out of the open window, through which its pugnacious antagonist flew instantly after it, walked up to the Squire with a most dishevelled wig, and a countenance rendered ghastly by a mixture of pulvilio and perturbation, and thus addressed him with great solemnity," Mr. Hartfield, I have a real respect, a rooted regard for yourself, and far, very far be it from me to blame the behaviour of the birds, but I have a motion to make concerning the conduct of these cocks, to which, such is the character of the case, I am compelled to call the consideration of the company. Little did I think, and less did I imagine.—” ››

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Whoop! buzz!" interrupted the Squire, "twasn't my fault,- so you needn't speechify. I told you Jem Yates's was an ill-bred bird, and so_you_found him. Haugh! haugh! haugh! 'Sblood! Sir Ambrose, you have got off cheap,

for if any boys had been passing, and seen the
poor bird tied by the leg, sink me! if I don't
think they would have taken it for a Shrove
Tuesday cock, and have thrown half a dozen
cudgels at
your head."

"May I lose a front tooth!" said Sir Harcourt, as he offered his sprunking glass to the disordered baronet, and busied himself in arranging the back of his tumbled peruke, “if it be not a most harrowing spectacle to see such a prostration of curls; but you must allow me to say, my dear Sir Ambrose, that the wig scarcely merited a better fate. You should rejoice that it is defunct, and pr'ythee let your new one be more jaunty and debonair, unprofaned by powder-wavy, not curled, and of a flaxen hue like mine. Chedreux is your artist; the only one in Europe. I allowed him to exhibit mine for a single morning in his shop window; and run me through! if he could get out of his own house for the mob that besieged it." Goldingham, who had been absent from the room during this disturbance, now made his appearance, and expressing the greatest regret at

the occurrence, assisted the Baronet in making his toilet, which was no sooner completed than the dinner was announced. It came most opportunely to restore the interrupted harmony of the meeting, for the repast would have done honour to any caterer; the wines were pronounced to be unrivalled; the host, assisted by his nephew, did the honours of the table with. great cheerfulness and hospitality, and the guests seemed well disposed to enjoy such a pleasant combination of circumstances. Mrs. Chatsworth told scandalous stories of the whole neighbourhood, always excepting the present company;- Lady Crockatt, in the intervals of hearty feeding and complaints of the heart-burn, aggravated some of these charges by her vindications, declaring that she believed the parties to be innocent, at least to a certain extent, but confessing that they were tainted with selfishness, a vice that she held in particular abomination, and one which she considered much worse than any thing she had heard imputed to the delinquents; the Squire tossed off bumper after bumper with increasing praises of the