house, more especially, at the top whereof was my abode, resembled a ruin. window glass had been shivered by the heat; and from the blackened walls, cracked and rent here and there, the inhabitants fled in disgust. Many of them besides of those who had got clear off with their goods-owed arrears of rent; and this providential calamity, as they presumed, cancelled their debt to Cæsar. Thus it happened, from one cause and another, that I was left alone in the desolate tenement.

No one came to ask me for my weekly sixpence-and of a truth, the charge would now have hardly been warranted by the accommodation; for the roof had in some places given way, and exposed me to skyey influences,' more applicable to the concerns of poetry than of human comfort. I had some thoughts at length of quitting the house; but the temptation of lodging rent free confined me to my

roost.

One evening, while sitting musingly listening to the distant noises of the street, I heard suddenly the unaccustomed sound of a heavy footstep on the stair. Upward it came-tramp-tramp,-its echoes rumbling through the deserted mansion, till at last it stopped on my own landing-place. First it passed into one room, then into another, the doors opening and shutting with a sound that made my heart quake-for this late visiter, whose approach was like the approach of one having authority, I thought must surely be the landlord! Finally the heavy footstep paused at the threshold of my apartment, and the door flying open, a tall man muffled in a cloak, and his hat slouched over his brow, stood before me.

'You are Peregrine Peters?' demanded he.

'My name is Peregrinus Peters.'

'Why not Petrus also? Because you disclaim the qualities of a rock?' 'Except its poverty and barrenness.'

'Well, said he, with a hard and bitter smile,' You are poor at any rate and I think you simple, if not honest. Can you keep a secret?

'Ifit burthen not my conscience,' replied II will keep it; but, if it touches the shedding of blood-'

Why the shedding of blood?' I could not answer the question. I had been looking in the stranger's face, and the idea presented itself. 'What I require of you,' said he, after a pause, 'is a simple affair. You are to receive this into your custody;' putting into my hands a small box, of fine wood inlaid with silver, and resembling a case of mathematical instruments, only somewhat larger -'which you will deliver, unopened, into the hands of one who will come here to demand it of you. The person I allude to will ask no questions, and you are to promise solemnly to me, that you will not answer the questions of any other.' 'Why do you ask this of me?' demanded I in surprise. What connexion, or acquaintance is there between us, that you should choose a poor grammarian for your agent?'

"A public writer,' replied he, with the same smile I had noticed before, should not wonder at his being known to all the world. At any rate, you are only a stranger among strangers, and it is no more surprising that I should choose you than another. You are poor, secluded from the prying world, and, perhaps, honest. This is sufficient for my purpose. Allow this box to remain with you; keep the terms I have appointed; and when you deliver it up you shall receive a reward, in coined money, that shall content you.' The stranger had no sooner thrown down the small box than he turned upon his heel and suddenly left the apartment; and in another minute, the echoes of his footsteps died away in the distance.

The whole affair did not take more time than I have spent in telling; and I declare to you, that after the stranger had disappeared, I thought for more than one minute, it was nothing better than a trick of the imagination. The box, however, remained, and this was tangible enough. It was about half a foot in length, and of an oblong figure, but scarcely so heavy as a case of instruments of the size. It was, notwithstanding, handsome enough outside with its silver mountings; and after I had grown weary of turning it over and over, and tor

mented myself so long as was possible with conjectures, as to the nature of its contents; I set it upon the mantel-piece for an ornament, and went to bed.

The next morning, before I was well up, the landlord, and a troop of surveyors and masons were in the room to examine into the state of the premises, with a view to repair the house. Their attention was speedily attracted by the box; which was, indeed, a comely object, and the more remarkable, that with the exception of my truckle, or trundle bed, there was only a deal table in the apartment, and a chair of mahogany, that looked, however, as well as ebony. Presently they began to whisper, one with another, and to look with a strange sidelong look at me. I was, indeed, troubled at the expression of their eyes, and rejoiced when they at last departed.

An hour had scarcely elapsed when my attention was caught by a small quick foot upon the stair, and presently a little boy broke hastily into the room. 'Master, said he, (for he was an ancient pupil of mine,) if you have stolen the box, run for your life!' I was thunderstruck with surprise at the lad's audacity.

'Come,' continued he,' you have no time to stand staring; for the case, they say, at the police, is clear against you. You were seen prowling up and down on the night of the fire, and lo! there is suddenly found in your room a silver box filled with bank notes to the lip!' It was clear enough, indeed, if the box contained money-which was not impossible from the unlucky stranger's harping so much about my honesty, I should certainly suffer death; and if, on the other hand, its contents were documents of importance, was it not my duty, as well as my interest, to make every effort to fulfil the tacit engagement into which I had been driven?

'Boy!' said I suddenly, 'I am an innocent grammarian, but I must yield to fate.

To fate? What is fate?-a halter ? '

'Fatum est quod dii fantum-Adieu!' and hastily wrapping up my property in my pocket-handkerchief, and concealing as well as I was able the ill-omened box in the breast of my coat, I rushed into the street.

1

My grand object was to get clear of the town, till the noise of the event should die away; and seeing a countryman, whose son I had taught the humanities, riding homewards in his cart, I persuaded him to let me mount beside him. soon, however, repented me of this plan, for methought every eye was turned upon me. I knew not whether my conscious imagination may not have played me a trick on the occasion; but, at any rate, my tall and spare figure, philosophic countenance, and raiment of decent black, that I had received as a gift from my grandmother on reaching man's estate, might well have attracted attention, perched upon the front of a turnip cart.

As we got further and further from the town, the curiosity of the passers by seemed to increase. This awakened the attention of the countryman with whom I rode; and perceiving that I was an unwelcome passenger, I got down and crept away along the side of a hedge.

Having walked till I was weary and faint, I stopped near a village, and went into the church-yard to rest. I had not been long seated when some boys, and afterwards some women, came to look at me. They were especially struck with the appearance of the box which lay beside me; and the feminines, after communing together in an indignant manner, threw such glances towards me as made my flesh creep.

'I tell you they are surgical instruments,' I could hear them exclaim, as they walked tumultuously away. It is plain enough what he is prowling here for, and why, of late, folk cannot rest in the village, even in their graves! Bide a bit!' added the termagant, shaking her clenched hand at me, as they left the consecrated ground.

I did not abide; for I have observed that one might as well be suspected of robbing a woman of her living child, as of her dead; and in either case, there is no animal in the creation, more fierce, bloody and relentless. I made my way over the wall; and wrapping up the box in my bundle, (which I regreted I had

not done at first,) skirted round the village, and regained the road at some dis tance beyond it.

I was at length faint with hunger, as well as weary and way-sore, and went into an ale-house to comfort the carnal man. There were a good many countrymen and pedestrian travellers in the room: but I was rejoiced to find from their conversation that the news from Bristol had not reached so far, and I pleased myself with the thougths that I might quaff my ale in peace. I had no sooner laid down my bundle, however, than a mastiff-dog-may he die the death!— came smelling to it with more than human curiosity. In vain I removed it; in vain I drove him away; in vain I bribed him with bread, and even cheese-he only became more eager and, at length, with a sudden spring, catching at the bundle with his teeth, he dragged it down, and the wretched box rolled upon the floor. At this sight, the monster sprung upon me, with a yell, that might have alarmed the dead, and had not the company come to my rescue, he would certainly have torn me to pieces. Even when beaten away by his master, he crouched himself before me at some distance, in the attitude of springing, and while his eyes were rivetted upon me, emitted, every now and then, a short smothered howl that made me tremble.

All this, no doubt, seemed very surprising to the guests; and they began to converse apart: I thought it, therefore, better to depart; and, with a heavy heart, I buttoned my coat upon the accursed box, and, shouldering my bundle, trudged away.

Before I had done communing with myself, on the strange fatality of which I appeared to be the sport, the shadows of the twilight came gloomily down upon the earth, and I was right glad to reach a village. As I was entering the inn, an old gentleman was just coming out.

Have you got the box?' said he, quickly laying his hand upon my shoulder. My heart leaped to my mouth; I grew sick, and felt as if about to fall.

That is not the porter, sir,' remarked a servant in livery; but the box is found, and already on the coach.' Relieved, and yet ashamed, I went into the house. There were no dogs, Heaven be praised!" and the guests took but little notice of me.

'I say my friend,' said the servant in livery, who had come in soon after me, 'what was the matter with you when master asked after the box? Why you looked all sorts of sky blue!'

We have some guess of that!' remarked two men entering the room. I thought I should have swooned, and the words of the celebrated ballad came ding-dong in my ears

"And Eugene Aram walked between,
With gyves upon his wrist!"

These men, however, were persons who had seen me at the last public-house, and had no authority to apprehend me. Nevertheless, they so grieved and alarmed me by their hints and half-charges, that I could stay no longer in their company, but retired to the room where I was to pass the night. Just then a thought of deliverance suddenly came into my head. I saw by the moonlight, that the yard behind the house, opened upon a wood, and I determined instantly to go there and bury this fatal box till it would be required of me by the appointed person. Gliding down stairs, I reached the wood unobserved. Here it occurred to me, that if one would bury, he must have wherewithal to dig; and, while pausing in perplexity, I lost the opportunity, for two persons came so suddenly from the interior of the wood, that I had scarcely time to conceal myself behind a tree before they were upon the very spot where I had stood. They were a young lady and a young gentleman; and, having so premised, I need hardly say that they were engaged in some love conspiracy.

I would implore you, dearest,' said the young man, to fly with me for the second time, but alas! I am no longer so able as I have been to protect you.'

Why not?' demanded the girl, in alarm-' I understood that you had completely recovered from your wounds.' The lover, withdrawing his left arm from his cloak, held it up. It was without a hand! His mistress all but fainted.

* On that dreadful evening,' said he, when we were pursued to Scotland by your father and your suitor Sir M- while waiting in a bedroom to arrange

SO

my dress, till the person who was to join our hands was found, I saw a man come in, and carry away my cloak. The thought passed through my mind, that it was a servant who wanted to brush it; but after a while, it struck me, as being a little odd, that in so miserable a public-house they should think of doing without orders; and presently the idea flashed across my brain like lightning, that the man resembled one of Sir M- -'s servants! I rushed to the door and found that I was locked in. Knowing well the character of the resolute and quick-minded villain, a suspicion arose, which even now I cannot think of without horror. I threw myself repeatedly against the door, and at length succeeded in bursting it open. You were not in the room where I had left you. You had been torn from almost my very grasp-but when I was informed that your only companion in the carriage was your father, I blessed heaven for its inercy; I threw myself upon a horse, and swept after you like the wind. I overtook Sir M- , who was riding alone after the carriage; and when he saw me at his side, he pulled in and dismounted immediately. We both walked into a woodcutter's shed by the road-side. What is your pleasure?' said he. To settle for ever our dispute,' was my reply; and, pulling out my pistols, I gave him his choice. He took one on the instant, and, presenting it at my breast, pulled the trigger. It missed fire. I lost a moment in surprise and horror, and that moment was fatal. He caught up a hatchet from the ground. In one instant I was down, and in another my hand was severed, and 1 fainted.'

During this recital the young lady was dissolved in tears.

'Did the suspicion you have hinted at,' said she, after a while, never recur to you? It was correct! In the dusk, I may almost say in the dark, bewildered in mind, ashamed, and terrified-wretch that I am!-I believed I saw you enter the room wrapped in your cloak; and, clinging to you for support, I hid my face on your shoulder. I became a wife-the wife of Sir M-, and from that moment have never seen my husband! The rage of the young man at this intelligence became so ungovernable, that his mistress drew him back into the wood to prevent his cries from being heard at the house. The last words I could hear her say were these-There is yet some hope-I have more to tell you-' when her voice was lost in the distance, and, leaving these unhappy lovers to their sorrow, I returned to my chamber.

In the middle of that night, when I was dreaming that the accursed box, expanded to the size of a tombstone, was lying upon iny breast-I was suddenly awakened by a glare of light falling upon my eyes. I thought I beheld an apparition, and my bones trembled, and the hair of my head stood up.

Old man, said the lady of the wood, be not afraid. Give me the box! I have only this instant heard a report that it is in your possession.' Recovering my presence of mind, I demurred to the demand, on the score of my uncertainty of her being the person appointed to receive it.

Here are my testimonials,' said she, read this note.' It ran thus ;- You will find, at No. 13, Fag-end Lane, Bristol, in the possession of a schoolmaster, a simple fellow, who is too great a fool to be a rogue, a box, in or-moulu, the contents of which, as young ladies say, will enchant you. I send you the key of the box, and I give you the trouble to go so far to open it, that I may have time to get out of your way, by a vessel which sails in a day or two for- -the island of the Blest.' I could no longer doubt, and drawing the fateful box from beneath my pillow, the young lady opened it with a trembling hand. A strongly perfumed note lay upon the top, which she eagerly read thus:

'I am not so unconscionable as to play the dog in the manger. Being about to quit this country for ever, I cannot enjoy your fortune, which is tied up; and as for your person, I never cared about it. Lest, however, you should be scared from matrimony by a bugbear, (for, in reality, our marriage was never consumated,) and imagine that, being rather a whimsical person, I may return one day to claim your hand, I now put into your possession the evidence of a hand which will effectually exclude me from the pleasure of your society, at least in England. This I owe to the daughter of that man of whom I have made, for

some years past, so egregious an ass. romantic lover, if he be still alive.

Present it, with my compliments, to your

'Your ex-husband, M.'

My curiosity was now excited to such a pitch, that, sitting up in the bed, I seized upon the other contents of the box, which were wrapped in coarse paper and dragged them forth without ceremony. And what do you think they were? A human hand! a cold, dead, livid, gory, ghastly hand! I declare to you, I should have swooned with horror, had not the lady prevented me, by breaking into such screams of hysterical laughter as brought the whole house about us in their chemises. The situation was awkward. At my time of life one does not like to have young ladies caught in one's room-not to talk of the injury such a circumstance might do to a follower of the scholastic profession.

Nevertheless, I was comforted by the sum of coined money I received in the morning; and all I can tell further on the subject of the lovers is contained in the following paragraph, extracted from a Bristol newspaper: The reports of a certain wealthy heiress having been married to Sir M are, it appears, incorrect. She eloped, yesterday, with an old sweetheart; and her father, it is said, tired of the whims of a marriageable daughter, has determined to receive the young couple into his good graces.'

A TIGER HUNT.

AFTER breakfast, a party of five started in gigs, and drove to the vilhge, where we mounted our elephants, and entered the forest. We found immense quantities of game, wild hogs, hog-deer, spotted deer, and the niel-ghie (literally, blue cow.) I also saw here, for the first time, the jungle-fowl, or wild poultry, in appearance something between the game-cock and bantam. We, however, strictly abstained from firing, reserving our whole battery for the nobler game, the tiger. It was perhaps fortunate we did not find one in the thick part of the forest, as the trees were so close set, and so interwoven with thorns and parasite plants, that the elephants were often obliged to clear themselves a passage by their own pioneering exertions. It is curious, on these occasions, to see the enormous trees these animals will overthrow. On a word from the Mahout, they place their foreheads against the obnoxious plant, twisting their trunks round it, and gradually bending it towards the ground until they can place a foot upon it-this done, down comes the tree with crashing stem and upturned roots. The elephant must be well educated to accomplish this duty in a gentleman-like manner, that is, without roaring sulkily, or shaking his master by too violent exertions.

On clearing the wood, we entered an open space of marshy grass, not three feet high: a large herd of cattle were feeding there, and the herdsman was sitting, singing, under a bush-when, just as the former began to move before us, up sprung the very tiger to whom our visit was intended, and cantered off across a bare plain, dotted with small patches of bush-jungle. He took to the open country in a style which would have more become a fox than a tiger, who is expected by his pursuers to fight, and not to run; and, as he was flushed on the flank of