have been more severe-Tweezle passed the term of his imprisonment in cheerfulness! Happy Tweezle!

This was one of the troubles of his early life; and in manhood he has not been more fortunate. Ill-luck has always followed him. He has been in love, and been jilted; he has played, and been plucked; he has confided, and been deceived; but still, the more that Fortune has frowned, the more stubborn has he been in his defiance of her, and the more eager to console himself, even in Fate's darkest day, by reflecting "that it might have been worse."

Another adventure in which he was concerned will show his turn of mind. The Hon. Major Fitzfiggins, a gentleman who rejoiced in a great stock of assurance, a tolerably handsome person, and a very accommodating conscience, took it into his head to pay some very marked attentions to Miss Julietta Blossom, a young lady to whom Tweezle was engaged. These gallantries of the major towards the fair Julietta were, of course, not very pleasing to my friend Peregrine; and it may be inferred that no great portion of good-will subsisted between him and the major. Peregrine, being an easy, goodnatured man, would never have insulted Major Fitzfiggins; but the latter, being an overbearing_puppy, thought fit to apply an epithet towards Mr. Peregrine Tweezle, which, as a gentleman, Mr. Peregrine Tweezle could not do otherwise than resent. I was in consequence commissioned to bear an invitation to the Hon. Major Fitzfiggins to take a walk to Chalk-Farm on the following morning, where he would find a certain person who would be most happy to exchange the politeness of a shot with him. Major Fitzfiggins was too much of a gentleman to reject so courteous an offer, and next morning, accordingly, the meeting took place.

"Sad rascal that Fitzfiggins!" said Tweezle to me as we arrived upon the ground.

"And a good shot!" said I, like a Job's comforter as I was. "I'm glad of it!" said Tweezle.

I was about to ask him why, when the Hon. Major Fitzfiggins arrived on the field, accompanied by his second. The customary cold and formal civilities passed between the belligerents; the ground was measured by the seconds, and the principals took their places. There was an awful pause. Each man fired, and each man fell! My friend Tweezle was severely wounded in the right arm. I knelt down, and began to bandage up his wound as well as I was able, when the second of Major Fitzfiggins came up Alarm and anxiety were imprinted on his countenance. "For God's sake!" said he, in a hurried tone, "gentlemen,-lose no time-fly, fly-Major Fitzfiggins is, I fear, mortally wounded." "Good God!" said I, "I hope not!"

to me.

"I fear so," answered the second, shaking his head dolefully as he turned to render that assistance which his friend so imperatively needed. To my unsophisticated mind the aspect of affairs was disagreeable enough. Tweezle saw that I thought so; and, looking earnestly in my face, whispered in a confiding tone, "It might have been worse!"

"How?" replied I mechanically, for I was thinking whither we should proceed till the disagreeable business had blown over.

"I might have missed him!" said Tweezle; and he fainted from loss of blood.

I carried him in my arms to a hackney-coach that was in waiting, and we drove away rapidly. Three weeks afterwards we heard that Major Fitzfiggins was slowly recovering from his wound, and that no further fears were entertained for his safety. Not so, however, with poor Tweezle. His wound had proved exceedingly difficult of cure; and at the end of a month he lay in a very precarious state. To add to this vexation, news also reached us that the heart of the interesting and romantic Miss Julietta Blossom had been touched by the dangers which the gallant major had undergone for her sake. Rumour added and rumour for once spoke the whole truth, that the gentle fair one had, after a short siege, yielded her heart, and fixed a day when she would yield her hand to the captivating soldier. This news I thought would prove rather too much even for the comfortable philosophy of my friend, and I hesitated about communicating it to him. By some means, however, it came to his knowledge.

"What's your opinion of my wound, sir?" said he to me one day, after I had returned from a solitary saunter through Boulogne. "Bad enough," said I; "but you will recover in three or four months."

"I doubt it," replied Tweezle; "but still it might have been worse!"

"If he had killed you outright," said I, guessing his meaning.

"Precisely so," replied Tweezle, smiling, and looking quite happy to think he had escaped with life, and had only received a wound which would confine him for six months to his bed.

"And what do you think of womankind in general," said Tweezle again, "and of Miss Julietta Blossom in particular?"

They are false in general," said I, "and Miss Julietta Blossom

is false in particular."

"Ah!" said Tweezle, chuckling, "I am a happy man!"

"I wish you a long continuance of your happiness," replied I. Tweezle looked serious for a moment, and then heaved a deep sigh. "I have lost her !" said he.

"Miss Blossom?" inquired I.

"Yes! and a sweet creature she was! rich, beautiful, and well born! and I-I've lost her!" Tweezle made an effort to look sad. "But it might have been worse!" he added, brightening up.

For my part, I was glad to see him so cheerful; but I could not well see what reasons he had for being so, and I therefore asked him.

"I might have married her!" said Tweezle. Happy, happy Peregrine !

CONUNDRUM.

As a skaiter was sporting his elegant make
In the Regent's Park, he was ask'd this con.:
Why is this sheet of ice like a Canada lake?

Give it up?"-" Because it's the lake you 're on (Huron)."

WHEREIN THE HAPPINESS OF OLIVER AND HIS FRIENDS EXPERIENCES A SUDDEN CHECK.

SPRING flew swiftly by, and summer came; and if the village had been beautiful at first, it was now in the full glow and luxuriance of its richness. The great trees, which had looked shrunken and bare in the earlier months, had now burst into strong life and health, and, stretching forth their green arms over the thirsty ground, converted open and naked spots into choice nooks, where was a deep and pleasant shade from which to look upon the wide prospect, steeped in sunshine, which lay stretched out beyond. The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green, and shed her richest perfumes abroad. It was the prime and vigour of the year, and all things were glad and flourishing.

Still the same quiet life went on at the little cottage, and the same cheerful serenity prevailed among its inmates. Oliver had long since grown stout and healthy; but health or sickness made no difference in his warm feelings to those about him, (though they do in the feelings of a great many people,) and he was still the same gentle, attached, affectionate creature, that he had been when pain and suffering had wasted his strength, and he was dependent for every slight attention and comfort on those who tended him.

One beautiful night they had taken a longer walk than was customary with them, for the day had been unusually warm, and there was a brilliant moon, and a light wind had sprung up, which was unusually refreshing. Rose had been in high spirits too, and they had walked on in merry conversation until they had far exceeded their ordinary bounds. Mrs. Maylie was fatigued, and they returned more slowly home. The young lady, merely throwing off her simple bonnet, sat down to the piano as usual; after running abstractedly over the keys for a few minutes, she fell into a low and very solemn air, and as she played it they heard her sob as if she were weeping.

66

Rose, my dear?" said the elder lady.

Rose made no reply, but played a little quicker, as though the sound had roused her from some painful thoughts.

VOL. III.

20