fender in his service, at least till he could provide himself with an efficient and equally honest substitute.

Isaac Goldingham had supplied on that day a topic of discussion to all the surrounding district. It was now necessary to come to some decision, since he had officially announced his arrival by appearing at church, upon the important subject of visiting him, and the debates engendered by this knotty point were not less general than keen and animated. According to established custom in the rural portions of this our happy island, the neighbourhood was divided by party-hatred, jealousy, and stiffnecked notions of gentility and decorum, into various factions, which, though they did not altogether destroy the ceremonies and outward observances of sociability, sadly chilled the kindly feelings which can alone render them valuable. In the present instance, the difficulty was incalculably increased by an invidious rumour, founded probably on the nature of his importations from the Baltic, and industriously circulated by some rustic wag, that the new

settler was neither more nor less than a common tallow-chandler, who had invested the fortune made by candles in the purchase of Goldingham-place, merely because it happened to bear his own name. At a consultation held upon this alarming report by some of the surrounding gentry, Lady Crockatt had bravely volunteered to venture into the enemy's camp, to call at the Place, to extract from his own mouth the truth or falsehood of this imputation, to settle the question of his relationship to the old Goldinghams, and to decide upon ocular evidence whether or not the man were visitable.

It will be recollected that her ladyship had been designated by the fish-vender, (with whom, however, it must be also remembered that she refused to deal,) as a whimsey-headed witch and lack-a-daisical cat, terms which it little became one in his station of life to apply to a female, and especially to one of rank! Fortune had exacted the customary penalty for the great wealth she had lavished upon her ladyship, who having no children, and no occupation, hating

her husband, and possessing nothing in which she could interest her vacant affections, except a fat plethoric spaniel, had fallen into the morbid state of ennui which is so apt to be generated by a surfeit of luxuries, and that pitiable complaint the want of a want. Her present resource against this tedium was a desperate attempt to stimulate excitement in herself, and awaken sympathy in her friends, who began to grow weary of her fantastic conceits, by affecting the invalid, disserting upon the wretched state of her nerves, giving an inventory of her maladies in a lugubrious tone of voice, prophesying her approaching dissolution, and vituperating the world and all its inhabitants.

"I am happy, Mr. Goldingham, to see the place once more tenanted," said the visitant as she deposited her fat pet upon the carpet, and was ushered into the drawing-room where Isaac was looking over some papers. "I knew the worthy old Cavalier, your predecessor, most intimately, and had a high regard for him, but I believe it is my fate to meet with nothing but vexation and annoyance from those to whom I

have shown the greatest kindness. Would you believe, that all I got by sending my new carriage to the funeral, was to have the harness completely smashed to pieces."

"Was the old Cavalier driving it?" inquired Goldingham drily.

“The Cavalier!—bless my heart, no! He had just been buried when it happened."

“Then really, my lady, I see no good reason for making him accountable for the accident."

"Oh, not in the least; only you know, Sir, if he had not died just as I got my new carriage, this provoking event could not have occurred. No, I believe my coachman (nobody to be sure was ever so unfortunate in servants) had been tippling at the Cricketers. He was shockingly hurt, I am told, but I have never inquired about him since, for such is my acute sensibility that my feelings will not, bear to be revolted. I am foolishly considerate for my servants-spoil them all by over-indulgence-but I must say the fellow does not deserve the least compassion. You did not know the old Cavalier, I

believe. Poor Gentleman !"-Here she heaved a deep sigh, applied an embroidered handker chief to her eyes, and after smelling to a bottle of sal ammoniac, continued-" Excuse me, Mr. Goldingham, my feelings, alas! are too susceptible for my peace of mind; a sympathizing bosom is such a Heigho!The coach had only come home a few days before from Mawley's; fawn-coloured pannels, with crimson mantles to the arms, and gilt mouldings. But, God knows, a vehicle is of very little use one in my wretched state of health." "If I might judge by appearances," said Goldingham, "I should pronounce your ladyship to be perfectly free from complaint."

to any

"Proofs of disease, Sir, proofs of disease; nothing is more alarming than that plumpness of the flesh, and freshness of the complexion, to which you allude."

"May I inquire the nature of that malady which declares itself by such unusual symp toms?" inquired Goldingham.neti

Ah, Sir, there's the rub-there's the diffi

culty. Nobody can discover what it is, though