"Walk in Miss Gertrude, come bring your beau, we have room enough. Sit by sir," said Mr. Von No, but I have seen my father grit his teeth Veghton, and we were placed at the ample board. with rage when speaking of the traitors. I have "We have no dainties here, only good solid heard him say, how wrathful he felt, when in fightfood. You should come in the winter, in killinging them he has seen some of his old friends and time, that is the time we live."

DIARY

O F

A

BLAS E.

BY THE AUTHOR OF PETER SIMPLE, ETC. ETC.

CHAPTER XV.

Leige, May 30.-How very strange meetings are sometimes! I recollect once, when sitting at a table d'Hote at Zurich, being accosted by a lady next to me, and accused of having forgotton her. I looked with all my eyes, but could not discover that I had ever seen her before. At last, after allowing me to puzzle for some time, she said, "Sir, you and I met at dinner four years ago, at Mrs. K's house in Demarara." It was very true, but who would have thought of running his memory over to South America, to a cursed alluvial deposit, hatching monthly broods of alligators, and surrounded by naked slaves, whilst out of the window before him his eyes rested upon the snow-covered mountains of Switzerland, and he breathed the pure air of William Tell and liberty. This morning I fell in with an acquaintance whom I had not seen for years, and him also I did not recollect. I am very unfortunate in that respect, and I am afraid that I have very often given offence without intending it; but so imperfect is my memory of faces, that I have danced with a lady in the evening, and the next day have not known her because she was in a bonnet and morning dress. Sometimes the shifts that I am put to are quite ludicrous, asking all manner of questions, and answering those put to me at random, to find out some clue as to who my very intimate friend may be. They ought not to be angry at my forgetting their names, for sometimes for a few minutes I have actually forgotten my own. It does, however, only require one clue to be given me, and then all of a sudden I recollect every thing connected with the party. I remember one day as I was passing Whitehall, somebody came up, wrung my hand with apparent delight, and professed himself delighted to see me. I could do no other than say the same, but who he was, and where I had seen him before, was a mystery. "I am married since we parted," said he, "and have a fine little boy." I congratulated him with all my heart. "You must come and see me, and I will introduce you to Mary."

"Nothing would give me more pleasure;" but if he had only called his wife Mrs. So-and-so, I should have had a clue. Let me see," said I, "where was it we parted?" "Don't you recollect?" said he. "At the Cape of Good Hope."

thing came fast like a torrent into my recollection; we had been very intimate, and he was fully justified in showing so much warmth. I could then talk to him about old scenes, and old acquaintances, so I took his arm, and went forthwith to be introduced to his Mary. The knowledge of this unfortunate failing makes me peculiarly careful not to avoid a person who appears to know me, and one day a very absurd scene took place. I was standing on some door steps close to the Admiralty, waiting for a friend, and there was another gentleman standing close to me, on the pavement. A third party came up, extended his hand, and I immediately took it, and shook it warmly-although who my friend was I was as usual very much puzzled to find out. Now it so happened, that the hand which I had taken was extended to the gentleman standing by me, and not to me; and the party whose hand I was squeezing looked me in the face and laughed. I did the same, and he then gave his hand to the right party, and walked off. As, however, we had said "How d'ye do?" we had the politeness to say, "Good bye," both taking off our hats on the broad grin.

I was observing, that I here met with a person whom I could not recollect, and, as usual, I continued to talk with him, trusting to my good fortune for the clue. At last it was given me. "Do you recollect the little doctor and his wife, at Bangalore?" I did, and immediately recollected him.As the story of the doctor and his wife has often made me laugh, and as I consider it one of the best specimens of tit for tat, I will narrate it to my readers.

A certain little army surgeon, who was stationed at Bangalore, had selected a very pretty girl out of an invoice of young ladies, who had been freighted out on speculation. She was very fond of gaiety and amusement, and, after her marriage, appeared to be much fonder of passing away the night at a ball, than in the arms of her little older doctor.Nevertheless, although she kept late hours, in every respect she was very correct. The doctor, who was a quiet, sober man, and careful of his health, preferred going to bed early, and rising before the sun, to inhale the cool breeze of the morn ing. And as the lady seldom came home till past midnight, he was not very well pleased at being disturbed by her late hours. At last his patience was wearied out, and he told her plainly, that if she stayed out later than twelve o'clock, he was resolved not to give her admittance. At this his young wife, who like all pretty women, imagined that he never would presume to do any such thing, laughed heartily, and from the next ball to which she was invited, did not return till half-past two in the morning. As soon as she arrived the palanquin bearers knocked for admittance, but the doctor, true to his word, put his head out of the window, and when I saw the name every and very ungallantly told his wife she might re

But I was still mystified, and after putting several leading questions, I found myself quite as much in the dark as ever. At last I asked him for his card, that I might call upon him. He had not one in his pocket. I pulled out my tablets, and he took out the pencil, and wrote down his address; but that was of no use to me.

"Stop," ny good fellow, I have so many addresses down there, that I shall be making some mistake; put your name down above it."

He did se,

To the college is annexed a botanical garden.There is nothing I dislike more than a botanical garden. I acknowledge the advantages, perhaps the necessity of them; but they always appear to me as if there was disarrangement instead of arrangement. What may be called order and classification appears to me to be disorder and confusion. It may be very well to class plants and tress for study, but certainly their families, although joined by man, were never intended to be united by God. Such a mixture in one partition, of trees, and shrubs, and creeping plants, all of which you are gravely told are of one family. I never will believe it: it is unnatural. I can see order and ar

main all night. The lady coaxed, entreated, expos- | ed to other institutions abroad. Science is not contulated, and threatened, but it was all in vain. At fined to country or people; like nature, it should be last she screamed, and appeared to be frantic, de- universal. claring that if not immediately admitted, she would throw herself into the well, which was in the compound, not fifty yards from the bungalow. The doctor begged that she would do so, if that gave her any pleasure, and then retired from the window. His wife ordered the bearers to take her on her palanquin to the well; she got out, and gave her directions, and then slipped away up to the bungalow, and stationed herself close to the door, against the wall. The bearers, in obedience to her directions, commenced crying out, as if expostalating with their mistress, and then detaching a large and heavy stone, two of them plunged it into the water, after which they all set up a howl of lamentation. Now the little doctor, notwithstand-rangement when I look at the majestic forest-trees ing all his firmness and nonchalance, was not quite throwing about their wild branches, and defying at ease when he heard his wife express her deter- the winds of heaven, while they afford shelter to mination. He knew her to be very entetee, and he the shrubs beneath, which in their turn protect and remained on the watch. He heard the heavy shelter the violets that perfume all around. This is plunge, followed up by the shricks of the palan- beautiful and natural-it is harmony; but in a boquin bearers. “Good God,” cried he, "is it possi-tanical garden every thing is out of its place. The sible?" and he darted out in his shirt to where they Scripture says, Those whom God hath joined let were all standing by the well. As soon as he had no man put asunder;" now we may add, those passed, his wife hastened in doors, locked, and whom God hath sundered, let no man presume to made all fast, and shortly afterwards appeared at join. I felt as I looked at the botanical garden as if the window from which her husband had addressed it were presumptuous and almost wicked, and as it her. The doctor discovered the ruse when it was was on the banks of the Meuse, I sat down on the too late. It was now his turn to expostulate, but wall and recovered myself by looking at the flow. how could he "hope for mercy, rendering none ?"ing river, and thinking about utility and futility, The lady was laconic and decided. At least, and all that sort of thing and every thing else in then, throw me my cloths," said the doctor. "Not the world," as poor Matthews used to say,—and even your slippers, to protect you from the scor- there I sat for an hour, until my thoughts revolved pions and centipedes," replied the lady, shutting on the propriety of going back and eating my dinthe “jalousie." At day-light, when the officers | ner,―as Mirs. Trollope used to do when she was in were riding their Arabians, they discovered the Belgium. poor little doctor pacing the verandah up and down in the chill of the morning, with nothing but his shirt to protect him. Thus were the tables turned, but whether this ruse of the well ended well, whether the lady reformed, or the doctor conform-" ed, I have never since heard.

CHAPTER XVI.

44

CHAPTER XVII.

As I was walking about in the evening, I perceived a dirty little alley illuminated with chandeliers and wax candles. There must be a ball, thought I, or some gaiety going on: let us inquire. No, sir," replied a man to whom I put the question, "its not a ball-it is a Monsieur who has presented to an image of the Virgin Mary which is up Liege, June 2.-The academy or college establishthat court, a peticoat which, they say, is worth one ed at Liege in 1817 is very creditable to the Liegois.is in honor of her putting it on." The race of fools thousand five hundred francs, and this lighting up Much has been done in fifteen years: the philoso-is not extinct, thought I. I wonder whether, like phical apparatus, collections of minerals and natural history, are all excellant for instruction, al-King Ferdinand, he worked it himself. Belgium though the minerals are not very valuable. The is certainly at present the stronghold of superstition. fossils found in the Ardennes are very interesting, and ought to be a mine of wealth to the Liegois, as by exchanging them they might soon have a val- June, 3.-Went to Harquet's manufactory of uable collection. It is a pity that the various mu- arms, and was much amused. They export all seums of Europe do not print catalogues, not of over the world, and the varieties they make up for their own collections only, but also of the duplicates the different markets are astonishing. They were which they can part with, so that they may be cir- then very busy completing an order for several culated, not only among the national collections thousand muskets for the Belgian troops, which but also among private cabinets; by so doing they load at the breech and fire off without locks or would all become more perfect. It is a well known priming. They showed me a fowling-piece on the fact, that more duplicates have been allowed to same principle, which they fired off under water. perish in the cellars of the British Museum than But the low prices of the arms astonished me.would have furnished all the cabinets in Europe. There were a large quantity of very long fowling. It may be replied, that other cabinets had nothing|pieces with the maker's name at Constantinople, for to offer in exchange; but that is only a surmise: the Turkish gentlemen, at thirty francs each: a and if they had not, they should have been present- common musket was fourteen francs. I perceived

in a corner a large number of muskets, of infamous workmanship, and with locks resembling those awkward attempts made two hundred years back. I asked what they were for. It was for the South American market, and made to order, for the people there would use no others: any improvement was eschewed by them. I presume they have borrowed one of the Spanish muskets brought over by Pizarro as a model, but, at all events, they were very cheap, only eight francs each. God help us, how cheaply men can be killed now-a-days!

It is very seldom that you now meet with a name beginning with an X, but one caught my eye as I was walking through the streets here. Urban Xhenemont, Negociant. I perceive there are still some to be found in Greece; the only one I know of in England is that of Sir Morris Ximenes, who, I presume, claims descent from the celebrated car

dinal. The mention of that name reminds me of

the songs of the improvisatore, Theodore Hooke, and his address in finding a rhyme for such an awkward name as Ximenes. I shall not repeat it here, as most people know it, and those who do not have only to ask when company are present, and there will be more than one who can inform them. Few possess this talent. In Italy it is more common, because the Italian language admits the ryhme with so much facility, but a good improvisatore is rare even in that country.

ent we are in an unhealthy state, and chiefly arising from the unlimited use of machinery. Let us lose that advantage, and if not richer, at all events we shall be much happier. We are now suffering under a plethora of capital at the same time that we are oppressed with debt. As for Mr. Cockerell, it may be very well to cry out about patriotism, bat the question is, would not every other nran have done the same? Had he not a right to bring his talents to the best market? and before he is accused of having had no regard for his country, it may first be fairly asked, what had his country done for him?

rest.

mind will not.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Spa, June 10th-Here we are, and for a time at Rest! no, the wheels of the carriage may rest, even the body for a time may rest, but the wherever we go. Like a steam-engine, the mind We carry our restlessness with us with less rapidity of motion, but still it goes on, works, and works, and works, sometimes, indeed, goes on in its ever continued labor; waking or sleeping, no repose; until the body, which is the mechanical part of the engine, is worn out by constant friction, or the steam of the mind is exhausted. And people tell you, and believe that there is rest in the grave. How can that be? The soul is immortal, and cannot exist without conscious

ness. If not conscious, it does not exist, and if

conscious, it must work on, even beyond the grave,
and forever. To assert that there is rest in the
And what a contemptible, base slave the body is to
grave, is denying the immortality of the soul.
the soul! I was going to say, that he could not
call his soul his own, but that would be Cata-
chresis, and I hate and abominate a cat, and every
It is singular that
thing which begins with cat.
they are all unpleasant, or unlucky, or unsafe; for

instance

Cat-acombs remind you of death, funerals, and
mummies.
Cat-alogue

and devastation. Cat-arih

of the glands. Cat-echism

17

sale of effects, some

a boil poulticed.

sore eyes, Sam Patch,

head stuffed, running

About four miles from Liege is the celebrated manufactory of Seraing, belonging to Messrs. Cockerell. It is beautifully situated on the banks of the Meuse, and was formerly the summer palace of the Prince Archbishop. But it is not only here that you observe these symptons of the times-all over France you will perceive the same, and the major portion of the manufacturers have the arms of princes or nobles emblazoned over the facade, while the interiors which once were the! abode of refinement and luxury, are now tenanted by artisans and appropriated to utility. The utilitarian system was however more fully exemplified before the Belgian revolution, for William of Naspoor devil done up. sau was, in fact a partner of Mr. Cockerell. I pre-Cat-aract Cat-aplasm sume his portion of the capital was furnished out of the million of industry with which the nation was taxed. Mr. Cockerell, the father, who is now dead, came over from England before the peace, bringing with him either the machinery for spinning cotton or the knowledge necessary for its construction, so jealously guarded by our manufacturers. He established himself at Liege and soon gained patrons. The firm has now three or four manufactories at Liege besides the one at Seraing. Large as was the bishop's palace, it has been added to behind about three times its original size; it reminds me more of Portsmouth yard than any other place.— The number of workmen employed in this manufactory alone is between fourteen and fifteen hundred. They make every variety of steam engines, and not only supply this country, but Prussia, Austria, France, and even Russia. People talk of Mr. Cockerell having done much mischief to his country by furnishing foreigners with the machinery which enabled us to undersell them. I doubt it Five o'clock in the morning,-the sun has not very much; I consider that the sooner other coun- yet appeared above the hills, but the mist is rising tries are enabled to compete with us to a certain gradually. The bell of the church in front of my extent the better it will be for England. At pres-window is tolling-it ceases, and the pealing of the

youth and marriage.

Cat-egorical

detestable.

equally unpleasant in

argument, which is beasts who foul na

Cat-erpillars

Cat-erwaul
Cat-gut

gurdy.
Cats-paw

in sight.

As for a cat itself, I cannot say too much against it; and it is singular, that the other meanings of the single word are equally disagreeable, as to cat the anchor is a sign of going to sea, and the cat at the gangway is the worst of all.