treat-culling another pearl of speech from our talented Fox, who has been silent actually five seconds-how the sky of our horizon is overcast when his tongue refuses to wag.

The object of his sally smilingly replied:

"Goldy will presently give you the pearl himself, but in the meantime gentlemen, I have a treat in store for you, Dr. Franklin has been persuaded by Chatham to lend the honor of his presence this evening and requested the favor or permission to bring with him a young friend and protege of his, a Mr. Warren Johnson, a scion of the house of Johnson, nephew of Sir William Johnson, the great Indian agent whose family is one of the mainstays of the Colony of New York. You know his Majesty has conferred signal favor upon his family, who are most worthy of such distinction." Knowing Fox's reputation for bringing to light intellectual pabulum of good flavor in the past, this was greeted with applause and he continued:

"Dr. Franklin, I am informed, is a man of learning and parts, who has the questions at issue down pat, and a subject of so much importance, viewed from the side of the defendant will, I believe, be worthy of our earnest consideration."

"Really," said Beauclerc, "if you had heard our friend Burke in the House the other day you would be convinced, gentlemen, there was nothing more to be said upon the subject and there remained but the Royal signature. Chatham tells me that his majesty was about to make Burke

his Lord Chancellor so as to effectually stop his eloquence or all England will soon be clamoring to give everything to the Colonists if Burke makes another speech."

Burke, enjoying the sport at his expense, replied:

"Gentlemen, I know Chatham is a strong ally of the American Colonies and Franklin has had his ear for some days."

Lord Chatham up to the present had been somewhat of a silent participant of this hilarious meeting.

The members were often given to the relaxation from the graver matters to those lighter banterings and repartee that relieves the tediousness of continuous dwelling upon matters profound. He knowing that Goldsmith always had some bonmot that tickled the palates, whether at his own or some one else's expense, said:

"We will now hear from Goldy."

With a twinkle in his eye that forebode good, Goldsmith said:

"In the presence of such world renowned men of wit and learning, who have such an inexhaustible fund of wisdom to draw upon, I feel that poverty of expression in much the same way as in my direst necessity, somewhat earlier in my career, I felt; when conversing with a friend in my humble abode, some one tapped gently on the door and being desired to come in, a ragged little girl, of becoming demeanor, entered the room and dropping a courtesy, said: 'My mamma sends

her compliments, and begs the favor of a chamberpot full of coals' of my poor stock of wisdom or wit you may have the coals."

An outburst of hilarious merriment applauded the above jest. At this moment Dr. Franklin was announced.

I

CHAPTER II.

The Meeting with Chatham and Franklin

SATIRE.

"We build, we paint, we sing, we dance as well,

In every public virtue we excel;

If time improve our wit as well as wine
Say at what age a poet grows divine?"

-Pope.

WAS scarcely more than a lad, having just reached my majority after finishing my college course and a year's travel on the Continent, when I turned my footsteps toward England en route for America. I had been sent at an early age to a French University to be educated, and being of a philosophical turn of mind I had delved deeper than most youths into problems pertaining to metaphysics. The university was under the direction of the Jesuits on the outskirts of Paris, an order that was noted for their deep learning, piety and the austerity of their life. The association with these noble men given to self-sacrifice might also have tended to direct my thoughts in the channels which I had followed almost instinctively and from a thirst for such subjects. I was much given to athletic exercise and possessed a strong, muscular, well-knit form with a height of a few inches over six feet. I had found that I could sustain more exertion and bodily fatigue than most men of my class without hardly any perceptible results. Mental philosophy had an attraction for me and I was given to its pursuit rather than the higher forms of literature. I had

been taught that a good physique and a healthy mind was a fitting background for the metaphysical workings of the soul. My family was of Irish extraction, came of sturdy, good old stock. We had always followed the teachings of the Church of Rome-Papists as we were irreverently called in the Colonies. My early education had caused me to look upon life as one of the graver considerations. Although it must not be understood that I did not enjoy amusements and the pleasures of life. This early training prevented me from being led into the early excesses and vices that surround one in the larger capitols of Europe that would lead to inevitable ruin of the mental and physical.

Old Commodore Sir Peter Warren was my maternal great uncle and I had been named for him. He had much power in the Colonies and was recognized as a man of much influence and very large interests; in fact, he had sent for my uncle, William Johnson, from Ireland, to manage his large estate.

I have not much recollection of my childhood days, except my uncle was a large, powerfullybuilt man, austere of aspect, rarely given to mirth. He was often away from our great stone house in the Mohawk Valley. I can see many stalwart Indian Chiefs and Sachems with their solemn faces smoking their long pipes in moody silence as they sat in council preparatory to decide great matters of state between tribes and between tribes and whites. They were always received with the distinction they merited from the influence and power they swayed with their tribes and other