nobleman the Duc de Cadiz. His extravagance and high ton had thrown the admiring English, particularly the ladies, into ecstasies, by one of whom, having been "caught napping," he was bound over to appear at the Central Court of Hymen, held at St. George's, Hanover-square. Proceeding to the Continent, and wishing to take with him, besides his lovely bride, a perfect specimen of the King Charles's spaniel (then the rage), I was, after some negociation between his Grace's hangers-on and the Jew, duly presented as the " dog of his day."

Great attention had been paid to my "get-up," and there was considerable ceremony in our introduction. His Grace was lounging on a sofa, in a magnificent apartment, and wore a gorgeous brocaded silk robe-de-chambre. He had no stockings on-merely a pair of Turkish embroidered slippers, very loose silk trousers, and a thin pink-flannel waistcoat. He was certainly very handsome, but very silly-looking.

We were announced as (6 The man with the dog, your grace." "Oh! ah! Yes, certainly. Well, we will see him. come too near, my good man.'

Don't

We advanced, therefore, only a step or two. I was then placed on the ground.

"Ah! Yes, très bien! Well, I tink him one vary putty leetle fellow. But I must show him to de Duchess.

He rose languidly; and I was passed to him by the attendant. Being led by a slip, he conducted me into the next room, where her newly-made Grace was sitting before a large cheval glass, whilst two females were busily occupied in dressing her hair.

The Duke, having apologized for the intrusion, said, "My dear Duchess, I bring to you de dog."

On which, without moving, she carelessly replied, "Bring him before me, Duc ;" and I was trotted round to her feet, in front of the glass.

After looking at my reflection-for, her head being in chancery, she could not condescend to interrupt the all-important operation under which she was suffering-she inquiringly asked, "Really the handsomest in London? for I only love dogs for their beauty."

"Oh, yes," responded the equally-affected Duc, "you may depend on dat de best judge say so.

"Well, we had better have him, then," said her Grace.

On reappearing in the sitting-room, still leading me, "Sare, Chew," he asked, "vot is your name and de dog's?" "Isaacs and Prince, your lordship," he replied. "But vich of you is vich ?" continued the Duke; price?"

"and vot is de

"The dog is called Prince, your Highness; and I vants eighty pounds for him," said the Jew.

"Vell, go you down; and my secretary shall bring you de money. But wait! I shall require a beautiful leetle house for him to travel and live in de very best. Can you get von?"

"If yer gives me the monish, vich vill pe about ten pounds more, yer shall have all yer vants, of the very pest quality into the bargain my lord."

The Duke quickly agreed to this; and I at once remained, to make my début in high life.

I led a miserable life indeed with these great people. It was almost all one person's work to look after me; and I soon found that I was only for show; and, excepting when in the carriage in the Bois de Boulogne, or promenading on the Boulevards or in the Gardens of the Tuileries, I was seldom with them.

Still, my vanity, which had not in the least diminished, was daily gratified, for I was universally admired and coveted; and this really often supported me in my affliction. I had the honour even of being patted and caressed by both the Emperor and Empress themselves, with imperial condescension.

The gaieties of Parisian life fully occupied my new master and mistress. They lived for pleasure alone: they possessed no sympathies, no inclination, heart, or tastes for anything save the "beau monde," its pomps and vanities.

I was wretched for the want of a companion. I was looked on by the servants as a bore, and treated accordingly. I pined more than ever for the loss of my beloved Julia, and longed for that rest which had thrown such a heavenly, contented expression, and illuminated her cold and lifeless features.

We were sitting, one morning, under the dark shadow of the trees in the Tuileries, when I observed that we were being dodged by a mechanic, who eyed me most intently. The Duchess was what is termed "flirting" (that is, innocently taking the first step towards listening to the tempter) with an adorable count who had for some days been her chief chaperon, the Duke having thus early cooled into the indifference of a fashionable husband. On two or three previous occasions I had noticed the same man, with the same scrutinising stare: I knew him again by his peculiar Whitechapel cut. He presently concealed himself behind a tree, close to-almost touchingour chairs. Watching his opportunity, and before I was either aware of it or could guard against it, he adroitly cut the slip by which I was tied; and in an instant I felt myself rolled up in an apron, carried for the purpose around his waist. I was completely helpless, and could neither move nor cry out. Tucking me up in its folds, he walked carelessly away until clear of the Gardens, when his pace was more hurried, at intervals running.

In a short time I found myself in an English public-house, close to the Italian Opera, nearly insensible, and half-suffocated. Some pal" was evidently expecting us; for he said, on entering, "I've got him, Bill. Come on and stow him!" and I was at once carried to an outhouse, and locked in the dark, bewildered and trembling.

Fortunately for them, they received the timely "office" that the police, to whom a tickling reward had been held out for my recovery, were in strict search after me, and about to visit this particular house. My quarters were at once shifted; and I was taken down below, into the cellar in front.

Bad as was the other hiding-place, this arrangement brought on me fresh miseries. It was scarcely bearable, and amounted to cruel punishment. After knocking out the bottom of an empty beer-barrel, and tacking inside it part of an old sack, they thrust me in, and

replaced it on the settle, against the wall. Thus, cold, damp, and with hardly sufficient air to breathe in, I was left to my sad reflections on the mutability of life.

They had not long accomplished this inglorious feat, when I heard over-head the authoritative tread of the detectives. After completing a fruitless search above, they descended below, turning over various lumber, and pulling about and deranging every impossible spot of concealment, looking, as usual, into every place but the right, under and over the barrels, each in turn, until they came at last to where I lay half-dead, and where, the sacking acting as a preventive against the noise of my scratching or other sound, it was out of my power, even had I been able, to warn them of my whereabouts.

"Empty," said Bill; "so come, now you have done, and have a drop of good English porter."

This appeared to meet their views; for one, with a laugh, replied, "Allons, done! du portaire Anglais;" and, with many a joke and friendly greeting, they shook hands, and drank to "international fraternité, et ces chiens d'Anglais" in particular, Bill slily remarking, "Them slops is flummoxed."

The same night I was carried up to the "missus's" bed-room,_and comforted with the knowledge that she was going to take me to England the next morning, and which she cleverly succeeded in doing in a small hand-basket, throwing lightly over me, at starting, an open pocket-handkerchief, a bag of biscuits, and a few grapes.

Notwithstanding all my vicissitudes and troubles, on my arriving once more in London I felt relieved, and comparatively happy. There is a love of country even in a dog. The language, manners, and habits of foreigners are never sincerely adopted by a true-bred "tyke," though I confess with shame, when abroad, to having occasionally run against a few Brummagem cosmopolite curs, who, vainly assuming the freedom and airs of the natives, attempt to pass for true citizens.

This woman, with considerable tact, sold me at once to a celebrated "fancier" at Knightsbridge for forty pounds; to ease whose mind, the history and particulars of my abstraction from France were fully related. Being satisfied that I was rather "too hot," or, as he termed it, "crooked," to show publicly at first, he kept me for those purposes for which my beauty, nature, and sex so well adapted me. He was a great dealer and breeder of spaniels; and, having made what use he could of me, and having two or three of my choicest sons, to supply my place in case of accidents, he sold me one morning to a country clergyman, who required a companion for himself and a pet for his children.

With this kind, good man, in the bosom of his family, I passed two or three years, cherished and indulged by all around; for the sweet spirit of gentleness dwelt in the hearts of all. We were almost constantly together. In his study I was a great comfort to him; and he became affectionately attached to me, proud of the admiration I attracted, and loving me for my faithfulness.

My constitution regained its former vigour; my appearance greatly improved; and that lightness and gaiety of disposition so natural to my temperament once more returned. My passions, anxieties, and

cares were dispersed by a serene resignation, a peaceful regularity, and a propriety of conduct, the delights of which I had never before enjoyed.

Alas! how little can we calculate on the fate that awaits us, or of the good or evil that lies hid in the unfathomable mystery that surrounds us! Patience and submission to the uncontrollable afflictions that crush and annihilate us, are all that the poor dog can boast of, to support him against the unalterable.

In the height of my happiness I was struck down with a cold, which, in spite of the tenderest care and nursing of this kind-hearted and lamenting family, destroyed the sight of one of my eyes, and left an incurable dimness over the other. This calamity undermined my whole system. I sank a complete wreck. My vanity was foundered; and old age set in with unprecedented rapidity.

I had now no hopes of returning beauty; and, my eye discharging with a disgusting odour, I was no longer retainable within-doors. With much reluctance, when sufficiently strong, I was handed over to the coachman to dispose of, on condition that I should be well cared for. My day was come; and I bade farewell to my friends and the world I once shone in, resolved to bear my misfortunes without complaining.

I was taken to the proprietor of a sporting beer-shop, where I now am, in a sea-port town not far from the parsonage. His house is much frequented by grooms, small betting- and indifferent fightingmen, besides all sorts of characters of a worse description. He is a man that has been everywhere, seen everything, and lived anyhow. Still, he thankfully accepted me, and treats me kindly-for him, at least-expecting, through me, to obtain one of the breed.

A more detestable wretch I never saw-hump-backed, shockhaired, carroty, very long in the arms, though with singularly tapering fingers, and large, strong legs. He has been the associate and maker of thieves all his life, has been "lagged" more than once, and is now a retired prig, a cunning fence, and a bold smuggler. Up to this time, he has escaped his deserts, and even commands that respect which wealth, however ill-gotten, always obtains from the uneducated and low. I cannot find a redeeming point about him; for I have never known him do a single good or charitable action since I have been with him.

This is my terrible, degraded, fallen position, and the painful end to a life begun with the brightest prospects. My consolation, however, is great indeed, as I sit watching this successful burglar ruminating over some villany or swindle, to think to myself that

"I'd rather be a dog, and bay the moon,

Than such a"-man.

Southampton.

A. H. B.

THE GAME OF CRICKET.

"Lo! cricketing its fame extends like ray-lines from the sun;
If the round world has claim to ends, thither its courses run;
The stumps are raised far off and wide, the sound from bat and ball
Is heard where runs the lava tide and roaring waters fall."

SONG OF THE CRICKETER.

Wherein lies the great charm of this immensely-popular game? What is the source of all its fascinations? It cannot be either in the ball or the bat: a ball is but a boyish toy, and a bat can scarcely be considered a fit plaything for a man; the wickets are but the necessary accompaniments of the two others. The charm itself then does not lie in the instruments that are used in the game, but in the skill, science, and manly dexterity that are required for playing it well. It is these that have made the names of Englishmen famous throughout the Universe as unequalled cricketers; and it is also the same that have given Englishmen a great name in the annals of manly sports and recreations.

The game of cricket is peculiarly one of science and dexterity, and the acquisition of these is the pride and delight of every aspiring cricketer; they are, in fact, ambition's aim-the soul of genius. The same inherent passion which stimulates men to noble exertions in the great concerns of public life, urges them on to efforts in the cause of cricket: and it is truly a noble game, worthy of the greatest men of our own or any preceding age.

The science and dexterity that belong to good cricketing are not creatures of sudden or rapid growth; far from it: they are the noble scions that have sprung from an uncultivated sapling bequeathed to us in rustic garb by a little band of athletic Englishmen, over whom the turf has long since been laid, and the grass grown these many, many years. We wish in our hearts we could trace the true inventor of the game, for it would be delightful to honour him, even at this remote period, as having sown the seeds and reared the sapling from which has sprung one of the greatest games that is known in the universe. History affords us no clue to the identical inventor of the game, and therefore the memory of the individual, whoever he was, cannot be honoured with a monument, as he otherwise would be: his honours are buried with him in silence, and it probably never will be known who he was, nor where he lived and died. We have some traces as to the date at which the game was originally played; but none of them are either certain or satisfactory. As these have been so often quoted, we do not purpose to repeat them.

Cricket in its early days possessed but little of that undoubted science that is now the very soul of the game. The skill and dexterity that exist among the perfect players or the present day is but of modern growth. When it was found what art there was in good cricketing, and how far superior was the play of one possessed of such qualities in