bidding his clerk prepare to take down the deposition of the prisoner; but Winky Boss declared he would save him that trouble, as he had changed his mind for the present; adding, however, that if his worthy friends, the mob, would do him the favour to call at the same hour, on the following day, he should have no objection to tell them all he knew, as he calculated that by that time the object of their search would be completely beyond their reach.

The previous wrath of the populace, was a halcyon serenity, compared to the fury with which they were seized, at being thus defied and cajoled. Again were their long knives brandished in the air, as they demanded the prisoner with loud cries: in vain did the magistrate implore them not to sully the hall of justice with murder. They rushed impetuously towards their intended victim; when the justiciary, who feared that he might be rendered, in some way, responsible for an assassination committed in

his presence, opened a private door, that communicated with his dwelling-house; pushed the prisoner in, closed it again, and placing himself before it, declared that he would allow no one to pass, but that he would hold himself accountable for the production of the supposed delinquent, whenever his examination could be safely resumed.

At this moment, two or three voices cried out, "To the Boompies! to the Boompies! Let us attack the Burgomaster's house !" and the versatile mob, attracted by the hope of plunder, instantly echoed the cry, and sallied forth to wreak that vengeance upon the property of the master, which they had been prevented from inflicting upon the person of the servant. Miss Vanspaacken, who had, at her own request, been left in charge of the mansion, having received some obscure intimations of the meditated attack, had already ordered all the doors to be closed; and no popular assault would have

easily forced a massy structure, originally built for defence, had due preparations been made for repelling it. Nothing of this sort was meditated, Miss Vanspaacken relying sufficiently upon the effects of her oratory, to believe that she could tame the savageness of the mob, and induce them to spare the house which she inhabited, as religiously as the Spartans respected the abode of Pindar, when they sacked the city of Thebes. To give this experiment a fair trial, she betook herself to a lower gallery, whence she harangued them in a speech, as neat as her own formal habiliments. Every syllable was distinctly articulated; the double a's were expanded to their full breadth, and she had never been more happy in the strict grammatical use of the subjunctive mood. But the mob, unfortunately, were in the imperative mood; they commanded her to open the doors, and their mandate not being obeyed, they proceeded to pelt her with objectionable missiles, and to batter the princi

pal entrance with the beam of a crane, which they tore down for that purpose. Soon obtaining admittance, by this rough expedient, they rushed into the house with loud cries of triumph, exhibiting the same blind and brutal rage in the work of pillage and demolition, that led them, at a subsequent period, to assault and massacre their best friend, and the last remaining champion of their liberties, the illustrious De Witt.

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Such of the costly furniture as could not be conveniently carried off, was broken and destroyed; the rare exotics and rich roots were thrown from the balconies and windows, the museum, with all its curiosities and quaint devices of clock-work and mechanism, was scattered and trampled under foot; the matchless marbles, and exquisite statues of the gallery, were barbarously cast down and mutilated. In the progress of this work of devastation, a party of the rioters approached a door, before which Miss Vanspaacken was keeping guard. During

her long domiciliation with the Burgomaster, his generosity had enabled this lady to amass a considerable sum, which he had repeatedly urged her to lay out in some secure investment; but she knew so much better than any body else the best disposition to make of her property, and, moreover, was so perfectly well acquainted with the insecurity of all the methods recommended to her for its profitable employment, that she preferred hoarding, and suffering it to lie unproductive, to incurring the smallest risk. This over-caution, as is not uncustomary in such cases, defeated its own object: in vain did she assure the marauders that the apartment she was guarding was exclusively her own, and contained not a single article belonging to Mr. Beverning; in vain did she endeavour to propitiate their favour by declaring that she had always detested his politics, that she believed him to be guilty, and hoped he would be apprehended and punished. This sordid and un