not quite ready to abandon all thoughts of the relaxation I had promised myself. I hesitated, when Leicester suggested the facility with which it was possible for me to return. The promptitude, which I was called upon to exercise, had the effect of overthrowing my resolutions. There is something immeasureably startling in the idea of being immediately compelled to put our noble theories into practice, or to abandon them altogether. It is well enough to talk of what is right, and to think of some remote period when it is probable that we may execute our plans; but, to be told, ere the words are scarce uttered, "Now is your opportunity; do it: the season is at hand when you may prove your sincerity;" -to be taken thus promptly to our words disconcerts us, and unsettles our resolutions. Of the truth of this I was an eminent example; for I wavered, and hesitated, and doubted, when called upon to act with decision. It is probable that, if more time had been allowed me, I should have determined upon a different conduct; but the suddenness of Leicester's appeal unarmed me, and I suffered the coach to pass by.-"No," I said, "I will not turn back; I have gone thus far, and I retrace not my steps."

We reached the metropolis about dinner timebetween the hours of six and seven. Leicester

drove up to the hotel, and ordered our meal to be served up immediately. He appeared to be well known by the waiters, for he called each individual by his name, and his orders were obeyed, as I observed, with a remarkable degree of alacrity. Our repast was served up on massive silver, and comprehended, to use a newspaper expression, "all the delicacies of the season." It was nominally covers for two;" but there was enough for the mess of a regiment. Leicester was even more vivacious than he had been during his visit to Heathfield. The wine, which he freely imbibed, gave an additional raciness to his conversation. He touched upon all subjects which were likely in any way to interest me; and I, in turn, was not behind hand in acting my part of the dialogue. Leicester complimented me upon my sprightliness; he commended the sallies of my wit; and declared himself highly delighted, inasmuch as that I had listened to his advice, and had not been so silly as to return. The wine was peculiarly good, and I drank a much greater quantity than I had been accustomed to, without knowing that I had in any way exceeded. I was flushed and heated when I rose from the table, but my reason was not in the least degree unsettled; I was physically, not mentally discomposed; my body had received a slight shock,

though my intellectual energies were unaffected. I felt a slight oppression at my chest; and a heaviness about the regions of my forehead, which a bottle of Seltzer water had the effect of speedily removing. Leicester, more accustomed to the vinous fluid, was, in no measure, acted upon by what he had drank.

"Well, Jerningham," exclaimed my companion, when I had declared my unwillingness to drink more, "if you really have had enough of this Burgundy, I propose that we make a start for the opera; this is the first night of the new ballet, and I would not miss it for a king's ransom. By the bye though, we must sacrifice to the graces, a few minutes before we go forth. If you have not brought clothes enough to town, we are much of a height, and I can serve you." And he rang the bell, for the chamberlain to show me the way to my apartment.

I had nearly completed my toilet, when Leicester entered the room. I should not have known him again. He had undergone a complete metamorphosis since we parted, and if he had not spoken, I should have regarded him as a perfect stranger. By the simplest contrivance in the world, he had so admirably stripped himself of his individuality, that a mother would not have recognized her offspring under the fictitious character he had assumed. He had dressed himself in a complete suit of black, the coat of which was buttoned up to the chin, and surmounted by a stiff white cravat, above which appeared an inch or two of shirt collar, protruding on either side in advance of his chin, and forming an acute-angled triangle. In addition to this he had put on a pair of immense tortoise-shell spectacles, and had parted his hair down the centre, having straitened it as much as he was able, and plastered it with a profusion of pomatum. His whole figure now wore that starched and precise appearance, which fixes upon a man the name of "a prig," and which is more frequently to be met with amongst members of the medical and ecclesiastical professions, than amongst any other body of men. He put me in mind somewhat of Peregrine Pickle's travelling tutor, whom the genius of Smollett has immortalized. There was something about him sublimely eccentric, and I greeted the entrance of my friend with a roar of hilarious laughter.

"Why, my good fellow," I exclaimed, when I was sufficiently recovered to articulate, "in the name of Momus, what is the meaning of this? By all that is most frolicsome, explain the meaning of this disfigurement. If you had not said you were going to the opera, I should have thought that you were in character for a masquerade. Why, you look, for all the world, Leicester, like Doctor Pangloss, in the days of his youth."

"I'll tell you all about it," replied my companion, "as we go along, for I see that you are ready. The fact is, that I happen to know a great number of people in London, -a multitude of my father's friends, whom I am not very anxious to be accosted by; and who, most of them being people of fashion, are likely to be at the King's Theatre to-night. Now, Jerningham, we will go into the pit; and there we shall be able to see audience and performance well enough, -to enjoy all that is going on, without running a chance of detection; for I defy the devil himself to find out Harry Leicester in this guise."

"Do you often appear in this dress?" I inquired, " or is this the first night of a new costume?"

"Whenever I wish to be unknown, I don the precisian immediately. In one or two places of public resort, I am known by the name of " the little Doctor." I have more than once passed by my father in this disguise, undetected; nay, once, when he fancied that I was in bed, I sat in the same box with him at a coffee-house, and had the courage to ask for a pinch of snuff; I never shall forget that evening; for I no more expected to