just beginning breakfast, hey! Mrs H. and us breakfasted long ago. Egad, those shrimps look fresh-I'll just give Tom a few, they'll keep him out of mischief. Here, Tom, catch hold;" and, as the urchin extended his hands, his father, without the slightest ceremony, emptied half the contents of the plate into them, observing, "You see I make myself quite at home. It's my way, as Dicky Slugs would say." "And who is Dicky Slugs?" enquired Puddicombe, "I never heard that name before."

"You astonish me! I thought every one knew Dick Slugs, the builder at Hoxton. He and I have known each other ever since we were boys. By the bye, I can tell you a good story about Dick:-We were sitting together one evening in the parlour of the RedLion at Hounsditch, when, all of a sudden, I see him fall into what is called a brown study. I knew by this that something was the matter with him, for in general he had uncommon spirits; so says I, Dick, my boy, what ails you? Why, to tell you the truth, Tom,' he says, I'm sadly puzzled to know what name to give that new street I'm building near the church. I'm sick of Waterloo Terraces and Wellington Rows; they don't take as they used to do; besides, Hoxton's got quite enough of 'em already.' Well,' says I, jokingly, if you're really hard pressed for a name, I think I can help you to one. What do you say to calling it Hicks Street? You can't have a shorter or a genteeler name.'—' Hicks street-Hicks street!' says he, repeating the words as if he liked the sound of 'em ; well, I don't much care if I do, if only for old acquaintance' sake""_

"So, then, Hicks Street is really named after you," said Giles, interrupting his companion's narrative.

"Yes," replied the grocer; "Dick gave orders to that effect the very day after we had the talk together."

"Dear me, how odd! I know the street well! a friend of mine's got excellent lodgings there. I hope I may get as good in Margate."

"Oh! true," exclaimed Mr Hicks, "I forgot you were going lodginghunting. Well, I don't think you can do better than try the West Cliff. We've got comfortable apartments there, which a friend engaged for us

a week ago; and, what's very remarkable, they're the same we had last year. And this reminds me that I've a message for you from Mrs H.; we're all going out to the Reculvers this morning, and Mrs H. says you must make one of the party."

"I should be glad enough to do so; but-but-I am rather awkwardly situated just at present.'

"How so? If you mean as regards lodgings, the boat won't sail 'till one o'clock, so you'll have lots of time to look out for them."

"Oh yes, I'm perfectly easy on that score," replied Giles; "but the truth is, I've met with an unexpected loss since I saw you yesterday." He then acquainted Mr Hicks with the catastrophe of the carpet-bag, whereupon that gentleman-who, when his own interests were not concerned, was, like the majority of us, a philosopher

after indulging in a hearty laugh, and cracking divers small jokes at Puddicombe's expense, proceeded to advise with him on his mishap, and shortly after took his departure, accompanied by Tom, with his mouth full of shrimps; but not before he had exacted a promise from Giles, that, when he had replaced his wardrobe and secured his lodgings, he would join the sailing party to the Reculvers.

In

Pursuant to his friend's advice, Puddicombe commenced his search for apartments on the West Cliff; but, there being none vacant there, he descended into the more homely old-fashioned part of the town, keeping a sharp look-out about him, in the hope of encountering the fellow who had made so free with his carpet-bag. this he was unsuccessful; but he was more fortunate with respect to lodgings, for, after a brief search, he secured two small, cheap rooms, in a back street, leading out of the marketplace. He next set about renewing his stock of wearing apparel; and, having accomplished this as well as could beexpected under the circumstances, he took his course to the jetty, where he found the whole existing dynasty of the Hickses standing close by a large pleasure-boat that lay alongside the landing-place. The instant they caught sight of him they went on board, whither he followed; and in a few minutes the vessel stood out to sea, with a merry crew of not less than twenty,

attracted by the breezy freshness of the day, which gave promise of a delightful sail.

For the first half-hour or so, nothing could exceed the gratification of the whole party. Giles, in particular, was in ecstasies, and watched the receding town through a four-shilling telescope which he had purchased on his way to the jetty, with the liveliest emotion; while Mr Hicks busied himself with distributing a bag full of gingerbread nuts among his children, greatly to the amusement of the helmsman, a grave, quiet, old sailor, whose ironical expression of countenance conveyed a world of meaning.

Next to Giles sat a portly, goodhumoured dame, with a face like a full moon; and right opposite to him, two slim young ladies, dressed out in all sorts of fine colours, and manifestly inoculated with a notion that they were both pretty and genteel. They were attended by their brother, a raw dandy in a rough pilot coat, who kept smoking cigars, and jesting between whiles with a smart negro boy, for which unbecoming familiarity his sisters reproved him every now and then, with a significant nudge with their parasols. This interesting group maintained an icy reserve towards the rest of the party, whence it was clear that they were East-end exclusives of the first water, who had no notion of mixing themselves up with low tradesmen and "sich-like;" and, indeed, their black footboy sufficiently betokened their quality, for he had a gold lace band round his hat, at least twice as broad as the order of the Garter.

When the vessel had got about six miles from Margate, she began to plunge and roll under the influence of a freshening wind; which had the ef. fect of putting a gradual stop to the talking and laughing that up to this period had been prodigious. The young ladies ceased their lisping prattle about "the last new novel;" their brother threw away his cigar with an air half-swaggering, half-sheepish; Mrs Hicks stopped her remonstrances with her husband, for allowing the children to eat till "they were fit to burst;" Giles looked like Othello, "perplexed in the extreme;"-in short, a subdued gravity, betokening an apprehension of some impending calamity, to which however no one as yet ventured to allude, took place of the former spor

tive demeanour of this predestined party; and many a wistful glance was cast towards the distant coast.

Matters were in this state, when suddenly a yellow tint, succeeded by a faint bluish one, was observed to creep across the cheeks, and finally to settle in the nose, of one of the fair exclusives, who, taking out a vinaigrette, and turning her face to the wind, said to her sister, with a sigh," very delightful, love; isn't it?"

"Very, indeed!" was the reply, followed, however, by a wan, pensive smile, that indicated far less of pleasure than embarrassment.

"Damn that cigar," exclaimed their brother, "I shouldn't wonder if I were"

"Don't mention it, George; there's a dear,” said both his sisters in a breath, at the same time yawning so profoundly, as to set a dozen others yawning from very sympathy.

Giles watched these symptoms with much uneasiness, which were still further increased, when, on glancing a hasty look at the plump dame at his elbow, he observed that her nose was tipped with a bleak, blue tint, and pinched in at the bridge, as though it had been just subjected to the gentle compression of a pair of tongs.

"I hope, Marm," he said, in a low, compassionate tone," I hope you don't find the rocking of the ship too much for you?"

"Oh dear, no," rejoined the lady with unexpected vivacity, "I don't mind being a little sickish; indeed, I came out for that purpose, for my medical man in Lunnun says as it's good for"

"Bless my heart, Marm! What, come out in order to be"-- for the life of him, Puddicombe could not complete the sentence.

When he had somewhat recovered from his bewilderment, he looked anxiously about him with a view to secure a more eligible situation, for the lady's frank confession had filled him with alarm; but vain was his scrutiny; every seat in the boat was occupied ; so he had nothing left for it but to remain where he was. Scarcely had he made up his mind to this cruel alternative, when a pathetic, "Oh God, what shall I do?" issued from beneath a bonnet next him. He turned, and lo, his fair neighbour succumbing with evident reluctance to that fiendish visi

tation, which but an instant before she had so ardently desired! The majority of the crew were not slow to follow her example. Mrs Hickspale, drooping floweret! hung her affectionate head on her husband's shoulder; the children lay stretched about, like logs, in all quarters; the young ladies evinced symptoms of going off in hysterics and their brother muttered" curses, not loud, but deep," on the cigar, which, he observed, was the sole cause of his indisposition. But decidedly the worst of the lot was the negro foot-boy, who, in the intervals of every paroxysm, kept faintly crying out, "Oh my Gorr'omighty, me just dead! Me bring my heart up out of my mouth. Cus dis sickness! Nebber me feel any ting like it!"

The sight of all this suffering was too much for the Christian spirit of Puddicombe. The cold sweat stood on his forehead; and swinging himself round, he shot his head over the ship's side, with a force and suddenness that seemed the result of a galvanic shock. When his first attack was over, he ventured to look about him, and saw old Hicks laughing heartily at his mishap. "Come, cheer up, man," exclaimed that worthy; "don't give way, but take example by me. I'm a capital sailor; and all because I wont give in. Mrs Hicks, for God's sake, don't lean so heavily-depend on it, them that make up their minds not to be sick, ain't sick; that's my maxim. I remember once-Oh, the devil, I'm booked at last!"

It was too true. Just as the "capital sailor" was beginning his anecdote, the vessel gave a sudden, heavy roll, and compelled him, despite his boast, to follow the fashion set by the fat dame. Poor Giles, however, was in no mood to exult over the abashed grocer, for he felt, as he afterwards said, as if he had no life left in him. "Oh Lord, have mercy upon me!" he fully ejaculated, every time he lifted up his head, "I wish I had never come out. They call this a party of pleasure! Deuce take all such parties. Would to God I had staid at home and stuck to the shop, instead of Ah, there I go again!" and no longer able to hold up, he flung himself along the floor in the midst of the little Hickses, where he lay gathered up, like a hedgehog, and did not once stir 'till the vessel reached the Reculvers.

No sooner, however, had he landed, than, as if by magic, he recovered all his energies; and after lunching with his party at the inn, accompanied them on a ramble about the neighbourhood, 'till it was time to return to Margate. Luckily, the sail back was far different to what it had been in the morning; for, the wind having abated, the sea was comparatively smooth, and the crew once again in the highest spirits, with the exception of the young ladies, who seemed to think it incumbent on them to look as much as possible like delicate and interesting invalids.

As it was late when the vessel reached Margate, Mr Hicks insisted on Giles going home to take pot-luck with him, to which the latter acceded; and, in the evening, they all went out for a stroll in the bazaars, where Puddicombe's good-nature was put to a sore trial by the importunities of the young Hickses, who dragged him about the rooms, intreating him to buy them whatever toys struck their fancy, and kept bawling out his name in a way that made him the object of general attraction, and covered him with blushes. In vain their mother remonstrated, and their father threatened them with "a licking;" the darlings were neither to be coaxed nor bullied; so the irritated Puddicombe was fain to give them the slip, and make a precipitate retreat from the Bazaar, under the pretence that the heat of the rooms gave him a headach.

On reaching his lodgings, the landlord-a tall, gaunt, melancholy-looking old tailor, with a slouching gait and a stoop in the shoulders-entered the room with lights; and, in reply to a question from Giles, as to whether Margate was not fuller than usual, replied with a sigh, "Full? Ay, pretty well, considering; but nothing like what it used to be. Them steamers have been the ruin of Margate."

"How so? Don't they bring down lots of company?"

"Yes, but what sort of company? People as go and take what they call fashionable apartments in those gimcrack new houses on the cliffs, instead of coming and lodging with me in these nice, tidy rooms, as they used to do thirty years ago. Those were the times for Margate! My lodgings never stood empty then for weeks together, as they do now; if I put up a bill one day, it was sure to be down

the next; but them steamers have put an end to all this. They've been the ruin of Margate." Having thus given vent to his spleen, the querulous churl withdrew; and Puddicombe occupied himself till bedtime in penning a letter of busi

ness to his apprentice, and another to a friend at Holloway-a retired drysalter-in which last, he expressed himself respecting his week of pleasure in terms which showed that, as yet, it had not quite answered his expectations.

The lodgings of Margate have, it is well known, many desirable points; but as nothing on earth is perfect, they have one material drawbackthey are apt to be infested with fleas, who, during the summer and autumn months, when it is vulgar to be seen in London, leave their town-houses, and come down by thousands to the seaside, in the carpet-bags, portmanteaus, &c. of the unconscious cockneys. Quitting the metropolis in a delicate state of health, it is astonishing how soon these interesting insects begin to pick up strength-a painful fact, of which my unlucky hero was but too soon made aware, for he woke shortly after daybreak, in a state of indescribable irritation produced by their gluttonous assaults. They allowed him, indeed, not the slightest respite, but stuck to him so perseveringly that he was compelled in self-defence to quit his pillow, and dress himself, as well as he could, by the faint light that came struggling in at the window, Having huddled on his clothes, he descended to his sitting room, where he threw himself on a sofa, in the hope of being enabled to have his sleep out; but, finding this impossible, he just waited till the day had fully broke, and then left the house, and bent his steps towards the sands, by way of wiling away the time till breakfast.

It was a bright, serene, autumn morning; but, being too early yet for the Margate folks to be stirring, not a living object was to be seen, with the exception of a reaper or two, who, on their way out to the corn-fields that lie along the highlands between Broadstairs and Ramsgate, took the direction of the shore, as enabling them to indulge in the luxury of a cheap bath. As Puddicombe pursued his course along the sands, which are here only accessible when the tide is fully out, he soon forgot the night's annoyances; for the air, which had that sharp, healthy, bracing feel that sends the

blood spinning like quicksilver through the veins, blew freshly against him, breathing of heaven, and inducing the most cheerful thoughts. A more enlivening morning, indeed, was never seen. The long range of cliffs looked of dazzling whiteness; the distant wave broke with the softest murmur, spilling itself, like creamy champagne, along the beach; the sun, from behind the transparent, gold-edged clouds, that just tempered without obscuring his radiance, threw down long lines of light upon the smiling waters; and the only sounds that came to the ear, were the sudden, exultant leap of some heavy fish, the crowing of the cock from the small farms that are scattered along the heights, or the clang of the gull as he shot abruptly out from his nest among the rocks.

Delighted-how could he be otherwise?with his walk, Giles strolled briskly on, humming all sorts of lively tunes, while the tawny sea-weed crackled under his vigorous tread, and the sidelong crab shot from his path into the crystal pools left by the receding tide. On rounding a projecting point of the coast, he came upon a small sheltered bay, where there was a fine expanse of smooth sand, and where the cliff was scooped out into holes and caverns, some of which ran inland for many yards.

Puddicombe halted when he reached this spot-it was so secluded-the sand looked so soft and grateful to the naked foot, and the dry caves formed such a convenient hiding-place for his clothes, that he resolved-being rather heated by exercise-to cool and refresh himself by a "swim out" into the sea. Accordingly, after looking carefully about him, and ascertaining that no one was in sight, but a solitary individual who seemed to be catching crabs, and was a great way off, he leisurely proceeded to undress

and, having deposited his clothes in one of the caves, scampered across the

sands, which are here nearly a quarter of a mile broad, and flung himself headlong into the water. How delicious was his first plunge-bracing all his muscles, stimulating his nerves into the healthiest action, and diffussing a generous glow throughout his frame! So pleased was he with his bath, that he remained upwards of half an hour in the water, frolicking about with all the rampant vivacity of a young grampus; when, feeling a chill begin to creep over him, he cut half a dozen energetic capers on the sands, like Don Quixotte among the Brown Mountains, and then darted into the recess where he had hid his clothes.

What a spectacle here met his gaze! The only dress visible was a reaper's! "Oh," he exclaimed, "there is some mistake here; I have come to the wrong place;" and off he went, examining successively each nook and crevice in the cliff; but, alas! no clothes were to be seen in any one of them, and not a soul was near; though, at about the distance of half a mile, the dim outline of a man might have been observed, rattling along with great rapidity-no doubt for the sake of the exercise.

With feelings of inconceivable dismay, Giles returned into the cave, and, sitting down upon a bit of rock, cast a bewildered glance at the shapeless heap at his feet. What to do he knew not. He was two miles from Margate, and the people, attracted by the beauty of the morning, were already beginning to collect on the sands and along the cliff. After much painful rumina tion, in the course of which he imprecated a thousand impassioned curses on the rascal who had eloped with his best Sunday suit, he came to the conclusion that he must adopt one of two alternatives-either put on the reaper's dress, or else walk back to Margate like unfigleaved Adam, in a state of unsophisticated nature! This last scheme was, of course, not to be thought of, so he decided on making a virtue of necessity; and, with an expression of face that might have drawn tears from Democritus, he prepared to put on the detested garb. As, with this view, he examined each separate article of apparel, he was well-nigh going mad with rage. There were no stockings; the shirt, which was shorn of its tail, was as yellow as a canary;

the shoes had each a big hole at the toe; the hat was without a crown, the coat without a collar; and as for the trowsers, it seemed a moot point, so rotten was the cloth, whether they would hold together till Giles reached Margate.

Hark! footsteps are approaching; and, peeping like a sly bag-fox out of his hole, Puddicombe beheld three or four people rounding the projecting point of the cliff, not a hundred yards off him! Further delay was now out of the question, so he commenced his inglorious toilette. Fortunately, the length of the trowsers precluded the necessity of stockings; but, there being no braces, he was forced, like Sir Charles Wetherell, to give them a hitch up every now and then. Having completed his picturesque equipment, he quitted the cave, and, with his eyes bent on the ground, as if absorbed in admiration of his toes, which kept perversely protruding from his shoes, he sneaked back towards Margate, while more than one person who passed him, felt strongly disposed to hand him over to the constabulary authorities on the mere strength of his looks and his dress.

"I say, Thompson," observed a middle-aged gentlemen, to a friend who was walking with him on the sands, "do you see that fellow there, skulking along close under the cliff? Mark, my words, if ever there was a thief, he's one!" and he pointed with his cane towards Giles.

"He does, indeed, look a thorough rogue," replied the other, with a scowl of virtuous abhorrence; " and what a bloody-thirsty expression of countenance the fellow has !"

Flattering epithets these; but no wonder. Puddicombe was in rags, and looked sorrow-stricken; and poverty and suffering have always something criminal in their aspect!

The forlorn young man was now within sight of Margate, when, on lifting up his eyes, for the first time since his exit from the cave, whom should he see, bearing directly down upon him, but all the family of the Hickses!

The children were the first to recognize him, and pointed him out to their father, who, stopping short at the distance of a dozen yards, and staring at him, as if he had been a ghost, said, "My stars, Mrs H., who