harmlessly, if he has repented not next morning. My companion, as I was about to observe, threaded his way along the avenue of tables, and, having reached the upper seat of all, whence the President of this worshipful society dispensed his laws, like a monarch to his subjects, Leicester shook hands with "mine host," took a vacant chair on his right hand, and motioned to me to be seated. My friend had evidently resorted to the Cider Cellars, time after time, before this.

"You see, Jerningham," said he, "that after all I have not introduced you amongst the rogues and sharpers, whom you spoke of. The company which frequents these rooms, as you see, is eminently respectable. Look you, not many tables off I see the Marquis of Q--, and by his side is Lord P--; they, I assure you, are constant attendants. Do you see the men to whom I allude?"

I cast my eyes in the direction towards which my attention had been diverted. "Do you mean that man in the cloak? Why, Leicester, - yet surely it cannot be, how like that person is to Delaval."

The cheek of Harry Leicester was suddenly dyed with a crimson hue. No dissembler, however astute, can control the spontaneous excursions of his blood. The tide of life, as it rushes through the multitudinous veins and arteries of our bodies,

and mantles in the human countenance, making it an unerring index of the mind, tells many an unbidden story, which we would fain not betray to the world. I saw plainly enough that my companion had marked the figure of the man whom I indicated.

"Nonsense! nonsense!" he replied; "Delaval here! it is ridiculous! I should as soon think of seeing his Majesty here or his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury."

"Nevertheless, I am sure it is he;" and as I said this, the individual, to whom I alluded, rose suddenly from his seat, and folding his cloak around his form, although it was the middle of the summer, and the atmosphere of the room was remarkably close, prepared hastily to depart in manifest confusion of mind. I had no more doubt that I looked upon Delaval, than that Leicester was sitting by my side. His countenance was of no ordinary stamp; once seen, it was not to be mistaken. Nature had marked the individuality of his face with lineaments peculiarly distinguishing; and those remarkable characteristics of feature, or rather, I should say, of form and expression combined, I had studied too often myself, upon this occasion, to be deceived as to their identity. Ientertained a deeply-rooted conviction that Mr. Delaval had just quitted the room.

Here then my inquisitive mind naturally began to distract itself; and to ask a variety of questions to which I was totally unable to respond. What could have brought Delaval to a place of this nature? What was there in such a situation as this which at all harmonized with his sensitive disposition? What attractions could a tavern hold out to a mind so constituted as Delaval's? What could there possibly be in these scenes of boisterous revelry and unrefined riotous mirth to accord with the tremulous, delicate feelings of the usher, which shrank from all noisy excitement, and which revolted at any thing sensual? What charms,what allurements, could there be in an obstreperous and unintellectual crowd, to entice the unsocial scholar from the silence and solitude in which he delighted? The more frequently I asked myself these questions, the more incompetent I felt myself to answer them. That I had seen Delaval I was confident; I could not have laboured at the time under any delusion of mind. If the person I had seen was not the usher, why then was the cheek of Leicester crimsoned as he looked upon the man? A stranger could not have awakened so sudden a display of feeling in my friend. Again, it was certain that the individual, towards whom I had directed the attention of my companion, was overwhelmed with confusion and dismay, when he saw

that he was the object of our scrutiny. He had suddenly taken his departure, under manifest symptoms of inquietude, and had displayed an extraordinary anxiety to disguise the lines of his figure, as he passed down the centre of the room. I had distinctly seen the face of the man, as he sat there with his head uncovered; and my discernment was of that order which might warrant a rational conjecture that the phrenologists' organ of individuality was eminently conspicuous in my head. I was not a person to be mistaken about the identity of anybody I had once seen, and Delaval was the last in the world who was likely to elude my sagacity. So that, however unaccountable might have been his appearance, I could not question the accuracy of my senses; and they unhesitatingly informed me that I had seen Mr. Delaval at the Cider Cellars.

"Come, Jerningham," exclaimed Leicester, seeing that I had become suddenly thoughtful, and wishing to divert the current of my thoughts from the channel which he knew that they had entered, we are sitting here doing nothing, with empty glasses before us; nothing to eat, nothing to drink: we don't come here to be idle. What is your favourite beverage, my boy; and what will you have by way of supper? Here, waiter; quick, you dog! Kidneys, and port-wine negus

for two." Then, turning round to our president, "Mr., will you give us a song?"

"Certainly," replied Mr. —, "when the waiters have taken their orders."

And in a few minutes I heard a song, which more than compensated for the head-ache of the next day; and that is saying a great deal for the singer.

The rattling of an hundred glasses ringing upon the thumped tables manifested the applauses of the community. The approbation expressed at the excellence of the song was of the most tumultuous and uproarious nature. The noise of the president's hammer, calling to order, was drowned in this whirlpool of clamour. Silence, however, was restored at length, though only to be broken through immediately; for a Babel of voices now arose, calling out discordantly for "goes of brandy;" "kidneys;" "Welsh rabbits," &c.; which lasted for several minutes. When the several claimants for victuals were supplied with what they wanted, the whole assembly, intent upon eating and drinking, exhibited remarkable decorum. Presently, Mr., the last singer, who, as I have before remarked, was our president and host, addressed himself to my companion, and said, "Mr. Leicester, will you favour us with a song?" My friend, not in the least abashed, assented