plete satisfaction. His father, however, did not do so, and Bob Coates expressed himself quite dissatisfied with his conduct.

"Davy," said he, as he peered with hungry lips into the alderman's tumbler, which was only partially empty, "this won't do at all. There's not half the old fire in you, for you do not dispose of your liquor in the same loyal style at all that you used. Your behaviour reminds me forcibly of the witness who kissed his thumb in order to escape the oath. I may be wrong, but it's no harm to try again. Come now, no heel-taps!" so the glasses once more were charged; and this time old Coates was fully satisfied. "And now, David, my boy," said the veteran toper, "'tis your turn now to propose a toast: come, let's have the good old one; it warms my heart to hear it uttered."

"Which do you mean, Bob ?" asked the alderman, filling up his glass, preparatory to complying with the request.

"Number three, of course; the Constitution,"" returned Coates, refreshing his friend's memory. "First, 'the King;' next, the Glorious, Pious;' and then, 'the Constitution;' that's the right order of succession, you know."

"Oh! yes, to be sure," responded Elliott, rising briskly from his seat, and holding forth his punch glass, while with admirable solemnity of voice and aspect he gave the cabalistic toast of "The Constitution, the whole Constitution, and nothing but the Constitution," which was drunk not only by the two Orangemen, but by

young Elliott also, with the utmost enthusiasm. The apparent fervour of the young man quite overpowered old Mr. Coates, who, unable to contain his emotion, clasped him to his bosom, exclaiming at intervals, while tears of gladness glistened in his bloodshot eyes, "God bless you, my dear young friend; God bless you, my boy; you'll prove an ornament yet to the cause, and an honour to your race. You see, David, he is coming round-he's coming round," said he, addressing the alderman, and intimating in doing so that the film which had obscured young Elliott's mental vision was clearing away, and that he was awakening at length to the glories and advantages appertaining to the Orange system.

The delight of the father at this happy state of things was very great indeed. "Bill, my boy, I am proud of you," said he, pressing his son's hand, while visibly affected; "God bless you, my son," and, by way of subduing his emotion, he raised his glass to his lips, and drained it in a draught.

"Well, I'm very glad I have pleased you, Sir," returned the young man; "but now I hope you'll enlighten me as to what the toast we have just drank signifies; for, although I have heard it more than once before, I protest I am still entirely ignorant of its meaning."

This declaration sadly damped the premature joy of the brethren, whose disappointment was plainly expressed in the many significant glances they inter

changed. Like King Pharaoh of old, young Elliott's heart remained still hardened.

66

Well, what does the toast mean ?" repeated the young man, finding that neither of the brethren had ventured upon an explanation.

"What does it mean!-William Nassau, I'm surprised at you," returned the alderman, evidently in some perplexity himself upon the subject; "why, it means—yes, to be sure it does-the Constitution ;" and he looked for confirmation to his kinsman, Bob Coates, who, quite concurring in the other's definition, nodded his head in token of approval.

"The Constitution means the Constitution," returned young Elliott, drily; "surely, that affords no information. I'm just as much at sea as ever."

"Why, of course it does—what else would it mean— eh, Bob?" and the alderman again appealed for assistance to Brother Coates.

"Certainly-what else?" returned the gentleman appealed to; "it signifies the Constitution, with King William and all that sort of thing," and the Orangemen smiled complacently at each other, and sipped their punch with the satisfied air of men who had skilfully clenched a difficult argument, and completely silenced their antagonist.

Young Elliott, however, who was not to be so easily disposed of, now assured the brethren that they had not at all enlightened his darkness, and that he was still in perfect ignorance as to what the words "the Constitu

tion, the whole Constitution, and nothing but the Constitution," meant; and, putting his question into a more definite form, he again sought for a solution. Old Mr. Coates now, in obedience to a request from the alderman, entered upon an elaborate explanation, in the course of which he got so completely out of his depth, and found himself entangled in such an inextricable web of confusion, that the poor old gentleman quite forgot from whence he had started, or indeed what the object of his attempted explanation was; and, in his embarrassment and confusion, applied so frequently for inspiration to the bottle, that young Elliott, in sheer pity, came to his relief, by assuring him that it was unnecessary to proceed further, as he was now completely satisfied on the subject. And indeed such was the case; for Bob Coates's rambling and incoherent statement had proved to him beyond doubt that the enthusiastic old Orangeman was quite as ignorant of the meaning of the toast in question as he was himself. The old fellow, however, in the course of his wild rhapsody, had succeeded in impressing him with the fact, that, in common with the rest of the Orangemen, he contemplated with steadfast faith the establishment in this country at some future day of an Utopian kingdom, or millennium, presided over by a prince devoted to the Orange cause, in which Orangemen only should be admitted to the dignity of citizenship, and when all who were not orthodox Protestants should be either extirpated from the land, or allowed to exist on sufferance only, to serve as "hewers of wood and drawers of water."

Alderman Elliott was greatly pleased at the success with which, as he conceived, his kinsman had explained the matter, and by way of evincing his satisfaction urged Bob Coates to apply himself more vigorously to the bottle,—an invitation which the jolly old drunkard was by no means slow to avail himself of, as the frequency with which he helped himself to the fiery fluid abundantly testified.