been holding all the while a basket in his hand, exclaimed-" Harkee, Sir Ambrose, you asked me, t'other day, for a Bellonia spaniel-one of the right sort-black mouth and muzzle, bushy tail, small round feet, straight legs, deep chest, white coat, liver-coloured spots, brown shag ears." 66 Precisely the kind of creature I am commissioned to procure for Lady Laura Lovell, who wants it to match a four-footed friend that she has already got," said Sir Ambrose. 66 Whoop! then your business is done. I have a beauty in this basket, and if he suits you, you are perfectly welcome to him." 66 "My dear Sir," said Sir Ambrose, gently disengaging himself from her ladyship's grasp, you have not only done me a singular service, but conferred upon me a favour which I feel most fervently. Permit me to examine your precious present." So saying, he stooped down with a look of expectation, and gently opened the lid, when a large badger sprung out, and snapped at his hand, and Sir Ambrose not knowing, in the first impulse of his surprise and terror, what sort of a wild beast it was, took suddenly to his heels, followed by the scared animal, dragging after it the basket, to which it had been attached by a string. The Squire pursuing the fugitives across the bowling-green as fast as his convulsions of laughter would permit him, presently recaptured the badger, and returned with it to Lady Crockatt, who exclaimed with a scream-" Oh! the horrid, ugly creature. I protest it's just like Sir Carrol: pray put it to death instantly. It has almost frightened me into hysterics. My drops, my drops!" By this time Sir Ambrose returned, pale with dismay, and out of breath with his flight, and yet endeavouring to assume an air of dignity and composure, as he said, bowing and panting, "Mr. Hartfield, I am particularly proud to call you my friend, but you must allow me to say, that such practical jokes are neither pleasant nor profitable. I am neither a foe to frolic nor a hater of hilarity; but really, thus to let an animal fly at me, whose baneful bite "Buzz! Sir Ambrose, do you fancy he has got some of the wild Irish in his mouth, whom you were so afraid of on the night of the landing? Look at him, man; he couldn't draw blood from a blind puppy. I have broken every one of his teeth before I turn him out as a trail for some young hounds that I am going to enter. Nay, man, why do'st look so glum? Out of humour because I beat you at shuffleboard? Whoop! you mustn't mind a frolic, for, sink me! if I could help it, I'm in such rare spirits this morning. Hey, yoicks! tantivi! tally-ho! here comes Chervil with the dogs. Curse that young hound, was there ever such an awkward whelp? Look at his legs, 'sblood! the fellow's out at elbows;-he'll never stoop to a scent, know a rate, stop easily, or become handy: and yonder couple, I fear, will be little better than babblers or skirters. Send back old Trimbush, Chervil; he 'll never be a staunch stag-hound again, since you suffered him to stoop to a hare. Hey boys, hey! hark forward! hark forward!" Taking no further notice of his visitants he hastened away, in order to head the dogs with his trail-badger, while his sten torian voice was heard shouting an old catalogue of a pack of hounds, whose names he had applied to the numerous whelps that were following him : "Singwell and Merryboy, Captain and Cryer, Gangwell and Ginglebell, Fairmaid and Fryer, The conversation of the party he had left behind, now turned to that which formed the predominant subject of interest at the time-the progress of the insurrection; and Goldingham having collected all the latest news and rumours of the day, returned home in a most disconsolate frame of mind, when he adverted to the probable fate of Reuben. A few days after the battle of Sedgemoor, when the country was beginning, in some degree, to recover its tranquillity, the Squire invited a large party to play a grand match of bowls at the Rookery for a round sum, and to dine with him afterwards. On the morning in question he sallied forth with his fowling-piece at an early hour, as was now become his wont, for the purpose of shooting the rooks, which pertinacious visitants, although their nests had been destroyed, continued to haunt the denuded premises, obstinately perching upon the stumps of the trees, or the chimney-tops, appearing loth to quit the old mansion to which they had been accustomed from the time they first quitted the shell. To the Squire's apprehensions, irritated and rendered morbid by excess and vexation, there was something ominous in their croaking, which he imagined to become louder and more angry whenever he drew near to them, as if they were reproaching him for the demolition of a colony that had flourished amid the lofty boughs for ages. Their harsh upbraidings were the more annoying, because they recalled to his mind the destruction that he was rapidly entailing upon his ancient family, who might probably, like these feathered dependents, be soon ejected from their venerable dwelling-place, through waste and misconduct. Upon this point he was ever more keenly sensitive than his own |