gestion of the weak and decrepid. In disparagement of this plan, and to give demonstrative disproof of its desirability, some declare that it tends to the detriment of the sick, or to debilitate those who are already suffering from debility. Decent food is the great desideratum; for dough of the most deleterious description is their chief delicacy. 60

Mr. the great distiller, has met with public disapprobation from his delinquencies and disabilities. His young wife has

His dividends will be small. done a good deed in dispossessing herself of her diamonds. My sister, who went to a druggist's this morning to buy dentifrice and diachylon plaster, met her there in dishabille, and with her hair dishevelled, 73 a great desight. She was dolorous and dejected, but said that no one could dissuade her from her purpose; for her husband dreaded dishonor worse than the depths of a dungeon: but that, notwithstanding the disparity in their age, their indissoluble affection softened the derision of their deceitful foes. Nothing was deducible from the dialogue, except that he has dissembled the causes of his downfall.

I do not find much difference between Paris and London. Fashion is in both places the deity or divinity to whom deference is deemed due. A man, when decoyed into marriage with a demure and dutiful daughter, devoted to personal decoration, naturally demands a large dowry. This is declared despicable. The parents often wish the marriage to be deferred, and displeasure and disquietude are the result; and disinterestedness is said to be a delusion.

The debates in the Assembly are discussed without danger; but the emperor's policy, though said to be divulged, cannot be deciphered. A dignitary of a southern diocese is in disgrace for daring to express his detestation of it, and to decide that it is indefensible. In other days, he might have been decapitated for thus declaiming. But it is indisputable that the emperor dallies both with Rome and Austria, whilst the decree which accepts the declaration of Italian independence, is definitely decisive as to the safety of the Italian duchies. The delegates at Turin are in a delirium of delight, and address him as their deliverer. The demise of the decrepid pope would doubtless solve the emperor's dilemma, and be followed by the departure from Rome of the French dragoons, who, though dauntless as dragons, must feel their duties to be dreary drudgery. They have demeaned themselves well. Drunkenness and dram-drinking have nearly disappeared, whilst they are driven to relieve their dulness by ditties and drolleries.

You know that I like to dabble in politics and art, though I do not dogmatize about them, but always speak with diffidence, and would no more pronounce dogmatically upon them, than upon a doctrinal dogma, such as the indefectability of the Church. There is a deficiency of artistic taste just now. Dense shadows and dazzling lights, without general density and depth of tone, are to be seen in the daubs placed in the shop doorways. I have discovered a diptych, painted by Giotto; and, after deliberating long, I

have given discretionary powers for its purchase. It was painted for an Italian ducal family. The last descendant is just dead. His property is divided and dispersed, and the owner of the diptych, who is dwarfed in intellect, and can scarcely distinguish a daffodil from a distaff, has no more distinctive ideas of art, than of the history of the Decretals, or the meaning of decemvirate.

Distribute my regards to all my friends. I think of you daily. Write to me duly every week. My sister keeps a diary, so that we have a diurnal record of the divers objects which we see, and the diverse opinions which we form of them. The dual number is very pleasant for travelling, though my sister has rather dronish habits, and is inclined to drowsiness and dreaminess. Once it was different: then she rose at dawn, visited the dairy, and discoursed by her digits with the deaf and dumb dairy-, maid. Strong as a dromedary, and fleet as a doe or a deer, she rambled to a distance over the dewy meadows, dexterously jumped over deep ditches, and from dizzy heights, and came back in disarray. She never needed to be dieted, and would have sung a dirge of despair, if denied the delight of dancing to her dulcimer. We dubbed her the deity of the woods; and dedicated to her doggerels and distichs. But since the day when she came home dripping and half dazed after fishing for dace with the Dean of Derry, and had such difficulty in drying herself, she has dismissed the hope of health.

This seems a digression; but I desired to state,

that we found Doctor Green's direction in the directory, and went to him; but he is undoubtedly in his dotage, and unworthy of his diploma. He was dressed in a remarkable doublet, and talked dribbling nonsense; and I hear he is universally decried. He devotes himself to dice, and to dramatic amusements, so that he is in debt, and duns are for ever dunning him. It demanded some dexterity, and what may be deemed a dodge, to free ourselves from him. Your friend, Mr. Deacon, has determinately and doggedly taken up his defence, and has nearly fought a duel for him, though duelling is out of fashion. But he is a devotee to Dr. Green's plan, and in fact is called his disciple; though he understands it no more than he does the Hebrew of the Book of Deuteronomy. I hear also that Dr. Green is divorced from his wife, and is a deist, and that deism is on the increase; but some deduction must be made from common report. The dial-plate of my watch warns me to use diligence. I trust my letter may dispel your anxiety about me, and that some pleasure will be derivable from it. I am writing after dessert. When my plans have received their full development, you shall hear more. My letters are diffuse and doleful. I know my dulness increases: but I am no dissembler; and nothing, I feel, will dissever our affection. My disbursements are heavy, and make me wish I could hide in a desert. Adieu. Yours,

A. B.

P.S.-Is the borough of

to be disfranchised?

and will the dissenters and other dissidents unite to oppose the ministry? Can your nephew obtain letters dimissory? Should diaresis be printed with a diphthong? Forgive these discursive questions. Good night, I go to my dormitory. That dunce, Daniel Dawson, has sent me a duplicate copy of my uncle's dissertation on the diameter of the moon. If I could deposit it with any one here, I should leave it behind me. There are some curious remarks at the end, about the deltas made by great rivers when they disembogue through various mouths.

LETTER XII.

FROM A. B. TO C. D.

MARSEILLES, March, 1865.

My dearest Friend,- Each epistle that I receive from you makes me eager for more. I earnestly exhort you to be equally energetic with myself in keeping your epistolary engagement. You fear being egotistical, but I cannot too emphatically express my opinion that everything you say is edifying. After this eulogistic exordium, you will need no more entreaties.

We have had an enchanting, easy, and expeditious journey to Avignon, a city of excessive ecclesiastical interest, having been erewhile, in a time of emergency, considered eligible as a residence for the popes, who embellished it extremely. My equability and equanimity were however exhibited most exemplarily in the endurance of the extraordinary esca