ing obstructions to the collecting of it. In justice to the Church, and to his successors, he could not permit his rights to be thus questioned and denied with impunity-and thus, to his sore grief, the worthy old vicar found himself, for the first time in his life, involved in a couple of lawsuits, which he feared, even if he won them, would ruin him. It may be imagined that Mudflint's discomfiture at the assizes was calculated to send him, like a scotched snake, writhing, hissing, and snapping, through the village, at all that came in his way. It is possible that Mr Gammon was not so fully apprized of all these doings, as is now the reader; yet he saw and heard enough to lead him to suspect that things were going a little too far. He took, however, no steps towards effecting an abatement or discontinuance of them. Just at present, moreover, he was peculiarly reluctant to interfere with any of the proceedings of the Messrs Bloodsuck, and confined himself to receiving their report as to some arrangements which he had desired them to carry into effect. In the first place, he did not disclose the existence of his heavy and newly created rent-charge, but gave them to understand that Mr Titmouse's circumstances were such as to make it requisite to extract as much from the property as could possibly be obtained, by raising the rents-by effecting a further mortgage upon the property, and by a sale of all the timber that was fit for felling. It was found necessary to look out for new tenants to one or two of the largest farms on the estate, as the old tenants declared themselves unable to sustain the exorbitant rents they were called upon to pay; so, orders were given to advertise for tenants in the county and other newspapers. Then Mr Gammon went all over the estate, to view the condition of the timber, attended by the sullen and reluctant wood-bailiff, who, though he retained his situation on the estate, mortally hated his new master, and all connected with him. Very little timber was, according to his account, fit for felling! Having looked into

these various matters, Mr Gammon took his departure for town, glad to escape, though for never so brief an interval, the importunities of Messrs Mudflint and Bloodsuck, on the subject of the late verdicts against them, and which he pledged himself to represent in a proper way to Mr Titmouse. On arriving in town, he lost no time in waiting upon the great man to whom he

looked for the political advancement after which his soul pined. He was received with manifest coolness, evidently occasioned by the position in which he had been placed by the verdict in the action for the bribery penalties. What the great man objected to was not Mr Gammon's having bribed, but having done it in such a way as to admit of detection; but on solemnly assuring his patron that the verdict was entirely against evidence, and that Sir Charles Wolstenholme was, in the next term, going to move for a rule to set aside the verdict on that ground, and also on several other grounds, and that, by such means, the cause could be, at the very least, "hung up" for heaven only knew how long to come-till, in short, people had forgotten all about it the clouds slowly disappeared from the great man's brow, especially on his being assured that Gammon's return for Yatton on the next vacancy, was a matter of absolute certainty. Then he gave Mr Gammon certain assurances which flushed his cheek with delight and triumph-delight and triumph inspired by a conviction that his deeply-laid schemes, his comprehensive plans, were, despite a few minor and temporary checks and reverses, being crowned with success. It was true that his advances towards Miss Aubrey appeared to have been hopelessly repelled; but he resolved to wait till the time should have arrived for bringing other reserved forces into the field-by the aid of which, he yet hoped to make an equally unexpected and decisive demonstration.

The more immediate object of his anxieties, was to conceal as far as possible his connexion with the various joint-stock speculations, into which he had entered with a wild and feverish anxiety to realize a rapid fortune. He had already withdrawn from one or two with which he had been only for a brief time, and secretly, connected-but not until he had realized no inconsiderable sum by his judicious but somewhat unscrupulous operations. He was also anxious, if practicable, to extricate Lord Dreddlington, at the proper conjuncture, with as little damage as possible to his lordship's fortune or character: for his lordship's countenance and good offices were becoming of greater consequence to Mr Gammon than ever. It was true that he possessed informationI mean that concerning Titmouse's birth and true positionwhich he considered would, whenever he thought fit to avail him

self of it, give him an absolute mastery over the unhappy peer for the rest of his life; but he felt that it would be a critical and dreadful experiment, and not to be attempted but in the very last resort. He would sometimes gaze at the unconscious Earl, and speculate in a sort of reverie upon the possible effects attending the dreaded disclosure, till he would give a sort of inward start as he realized the fearful and irretrievable extent to which he had committed himself. He shuddered also to think that he was, moreover, in a measure, at the mercy of Titmouse himself—who, in some mad moment of drunkenness or desperation, or pique or revenge, might disclose the fatal secret, and precipitate upon him, when least prepared for them, all its long-dreaded consequences. The slender faculties of Lord Dreddlington had been for months in a state of novel and grateful excitement, through the occupation afforded them by his connexion with the fashionable modes of commercial enterprize-joint-stock companies, the fortunate members of which got rich they scarcely knew how. It seemed as though certain persons had but to acquire a nominal connexion with some great enterprize of this description, to find it pouring wealth into their coffers as if by magic; and it was thus that Lord Dreddlington, amongst others, found himself quietly realizing very considerable sums of money, without apparent risk or exertion—his movements being skilfully guided by Gammon, and one or two others, who, while they treated him as a mere instrument to aid in effecting their own purposes in deluding the public, yet contrived to impress him with the flattering notion that he was most ably guiding their movements, and richly entitled to their deference and gratitude. 'Twas, indeed, ecstasy to poor old Lord Dreddlington to behold his name, from time to time, glittering in the van-himself figuring away as a chief patron-a prime mover-in some vast and lucrative undertaking, which almost, from the first moment of its projection, attracted the notice and confidence of the moneyed classes, and became productive to its originators! Many attempts were made by his brother peers, and those who once had considerable influence over him, to open his eyes to the very questionable nature of the concerns to which he was so freely lending the sanction of his name and personal interference; but his pride and obstinacy caused him to turn a deaf ear to their suggestions; and the skilful and delicious flat

teries of Mr Gammon and others, seconded by the substantial fruits of his various speculations, urged him on from step to step, till he became one of the most active and constant in his interference with the concern of one or two great speculations, such as have been mentioned in a former part of this history, and from which he looked forward to realizing, at no very distant day, the most resplendent results. Never had one man obtained over another a more complete mastery, than had Mr Gammon over the Earl of Dreddlington, at whose exclusive table he was a frequent guest, and thereby obtained opportunities of acquiring the good-will of one or two other persons of the Earl's status and calibre.

His lordship was sitting in his library (his table covered with letters and papers) one morning, with a newspaper-the Morning Growl-lying in his lap, and a certain portion of the aforesaid newspaper he had read over several times with exquisite satisfaction. He had, late on the preceding evening, returned from his seat (Poppleton Hall) in Hertfordshire, whither he had been suddenly called on business early in the morning; so that it was not until the time at which he is now presented to the reader, that his lordship had had an opportunity of perusing what 'was now affording him such gratification; viz. a brief, but highly flattering report of a splendid white-bait dinner which had been given to him the day before at Blackwall, by a party of some thirty gentlemen, who were, inter nos, most adroit and successful traders upon that inexhaustible capital, public credulity—as founders, managers, and directors of various popular joint-stock companies; and the progress of which, in public estimation, had been materially accelerated by the countenance of so distinguished a nobleman as the Right Hon. the Earl of Dreddlington, G.C.B., &c. &c. &c. When his lordship's carriage-containing himself, in evening dress, and wearing his red riband, and one or two foreign orders, and also his son-in-law, the member for Yatton, who was dressed in the highest style of fashionable elegance— drew up, opposite the door-way of the hotel, he was received, on alighting, by several of those who had assembled to do him honour, in the same sort of flattering and reverential manner which you may conceive would be exhibited by a party of great East India directors, on the occasion of their giving a banquet to a newly

appointed governor-general of India! Covers had been laid for thirty-five; and the entertainment was in all respects of the most sumptuous description-every way worthy of the entertainers and their distinguished guest. Not far from the Earl sat Mr Gammon—methinks I see now his gentlemanly figure-his dark-blue coat, white waistcoat, and simple black stock-his calm smile, his keen watchful eye, his well-developed forehead, suggesting to you a capability of the highest kind of intellectual action. There was a subdued cheerfulness in his manner, which was bland and fascinating as ever; and towards the great man of the day, he exhibited a marked air of deference that was indeed, to the object of it, most delicious and seductive. The Earl soon mounted into the seventh heaven of delight; he had never experienced any thing of this sort before; he felt GLORIFIED-for such qualities were attributed to him in the after-dinner speeches, as even he had not before imagined the existence of in himself; his ears were ravished with the sound of his own praises. He was infinitely more intoxicated by the magnificent compliments which he received, than by the very unusual quantity of champagne which he had half unconsciously taken during dinner; the combined effect of them being to produce a state of delightful excitement which he had never known before. Mr Titmouse, M.P., also came in for his share of laudation, and made-said the report in the Morning Growl-a brief but very spirited speech, in return for his health being proposed. At length, it being time to think of returning to town, his lordship withdrew, Sir Sharper Bubble, (the chairman,) and others, attending him bareheaded to his carriage, which, his lordship and Titmouse having entered, drove off amidst the bows and courteous inclinations of the gentlemen standing on and around the steps. Titmouse almost immediately fell asleep, overpowered by the prodigious quantity of champagne and claret which he had taken, and thus left the Earl, who was himself in a much more buoyant humour than was usual with him, to revel in the recollection of the homage which he had been receiving. Now, this was the affair, of which a very flourishing though brief account (privately paid for by the gentleman who sent it) appeared in the Morning Growl, with a most magnificent speech of his lordship's about free trade, and the expansive principles of commercial enterprize, and so forth: 'twas true, that the