dren with dark eyes and brown faces peeping from their little windows as the town was reached. All the Bohemian elements of the country centred for a couple of days in the show-field at Boreton. Gipsies and all other nomads, voluntary or involuntary, flocked to it. Every one who lived on wheels recognized and accepted it as the true trystingplace.

There was rough work there sometimes. The Children of the Roads are somewhat quarrelsome; as ready to strike a blow as to say, "Hail, fellow, well met." Late at night, when drink had done its work, there were apt to be some ugly brawls. Sober and quiet townsmen would gladly have had the fair abolished; but there would have been an approach to barricades in Boreton had the attempt been made. The agricultural poor have not so many opportunities for enjoyment that they can afford to be indifferent even to such a sorry spectacle as that which once a year the fair afforded them. Its gaiety might be very poor; but it was at least the best they knew.

II. IN THE FAIR-FIELD.

The

THE fair was held in October. The weather had been unsettled. roads were heavy with the recent rain, and the fat land was thick and muddy.

The fair-field was more like a swamp than ever. The caravans had all entered the town and taken up their usual positions. The place of honour was occupied, of course, by the Royal Menagerie, as exhibited before all the European sovereigns by J. ROGERS, proprietor. J. ROGERS was a good-natured, fluffy sort of man, who had not been corrupted by his intimacy with the Bengal tiger, which was the chief attraction of his exhibition.

Wax-work had its due temple; and a feeble-minded attempt was always made to convince the public that an inspection of the poor old models was essentially an intellectual and moral employment, from which great

ABOUT SECRET LEGACY.

BY EVERY EMINENT WRITER OF THE DAY.

BOOK IX.-THE COUNTRY FAIR.

certain to arise.

At nine o'clock the field was crowded. Loudly beat the drum of the menagerie; mournfully wailed the Teutonic cornet-a-piston which was attached to the wax-work. The various orchestras indeed were limited in number; and at an early hour half the musicians were somewhat under the influence of liquor. This, however, did not check

Outcast Captain of the Vulture."

I.-BORETON FAIR.

THE course of the story now leads us from New York, where the burglar SYKES was revelling with his rough companions, and from Ireland, where CAPTAIN DOMBEY was deriving comfort from the muscular clergyman, to a quiet English country town.

It was a very quiet town indeed. The stranger was apt to wonder how its inhabitants could live. There were no manufactories, and apparently there was scarcely any trade. The Royal Oak and the King's Arms, the two chief hotels, seemed never to have anybody in them. There were coaches, postchaises, flies, but no one ever seemed to ride. From one year's end to another the little town was scarcely ever stirred from its drowsiness except at fair time.

At fair time, indeed, there was a faint attempt at gaiety. Folks came in from the country round about, clad in homespun grey or wearing the primitive smock-frock. Rosy-cheeked matrons and maidens made little purchases in the shops after an enormous amount of haggling. Rough old farmers chaffered in the market-place and wrangled at the ordinary.

at any rate they played. Their zeal was far in excess of their sobriety.

The honest country folks walked about, vaguely and vacuously gaping at one show after another, sometimes roused to laughter by the funniments of MR. MERRYMAN, and at others moved with horror by the description of the "Kaffir Chief from the interior of Zulu, in Africa, as discovered by CAPTAINS GRANT and SPEKE and MR. DU CHAILLU, whose favourite food it is a rat, as he will devour in the presence of the audience, which but twopence is the charge, the Kaffir Chief alone being worth ten times the money." As ten times the money will only amount to one shilling and eightpence sterling, it is only charitable to suppose that the Kaffir Chief was worth the figure stated; but he didn't look it.

As the happy and wondering rustics passed on, how few amongst them dreamt that in the heart of a woman in a show there was an awful Secret-perhaps that of Bigamy, perhaps even that of Pushing Another Down a Well!

What was the real story of the Woman with the long White Hair?

For

days before the commencement of the fair, the roads were occupied

MOTTO FOR

A FAIR STALL-KEEPER AT A "FANCY SALE."

LIVES OF EMINENT STATESMEN.

No. 64. WILLIAM EWART, Esq., M.P. THERE are few men in Parliament who have done more for fir country, and less for themselves, in the House, than WILLIAM WART. It is too often the case, that the ardent reformer of the seats below the gangway is quite content when he has obtained a moderate reform in the Treasury Benches in the shape of his own advancement to them. The vehement Liberal who so soundly denounced jobbery and extravagance sinks into a seat in the Ministry, and rises to defend the administration of the Admiralty. MR. EWART stands almost alone in his glory. It may be said he has never been tried, but that is rather because he was not found wanting place; for a man who has done so much to improve the laws of the country must have suggested himself to every Liberal minister who ever formed a Government.

MR. EWART was born in the year 1799, the last year of the eighteenth century, the darkness of which he has been so instrumental in dispelling. Liverpool boasts the honour of his birth, and it is possible that he owes to the associations connected with the river, on which the town stands, his success in tempering justice with Mersey, as exemplified in his improvements of the statute law of England. He was educated at Eton, which laid a royal foundation for his after eminence at the University of Oxford, where he entered at Christ Church. At that aristocratic college he bore off the bell-not Big Tom, by the way-for English verse, by obtaining the NEWDIGATE in 1820. The subject of his poem was "The Temple of Diana at Ephesus" -and the verse was probably no worse than is usual with NEW DIGATES. It is a noteworthy fact, that from the year 1768, when we find the first record of a prize for English verse in the Oxford calendar, not above four or five of the prizemen have ever distinguished themselves in after life by their poetry.

MR. EWART passed his final examination in 1821, when he obtained a second class in classics-a distinction, by the way, he has modestly refrained from informing the judicious DoD of; but which may be found in the records of the University. He took his B.A. degree in the same year.

On leaving college, he turned his attention to the law, and was called to the bar of the Middle Temple in 1827. Little did the Benchers know at that time what a viper they were nourishing-one who was subsequently to shake to the foundation that musty structure of law which they held so dear-and also sold so dear.

We are not aware whether MR. EWART ever practised much at the bar. We imagine not; for within a year after his call we find him entering Parliament.

He was elected as M.P. for Bletchingley, and immediately took part in the great Reform Bill contest, which ended in the disfranchisement of his borough among others. He was not long out of the House, for he took his seat, in the same year that he ceased to represent Bletchingley, for his native town of Liverpool. His connection with that borough lasted until the year 1837, when a political divorce was effected between him and his constituents by the late SIR CRESSWELL CRESSWELL.

Two years after this defeat he was returned for Wigan, Radical though he was, and kept his seat for it until 1841, when he was returned for the Dumfries district, which consists of Dumfries, Annan, Kirkcudbright, Lochmaben, and Sanquhar. He still represents these Scot-free and independent electors, and will, we hope, long continue to do so.

In politics, MR. EWART is of the very advanced school. He desires triennial Parliaments, by which he would give one year longer than the two that most M.Ps. have already. He advocates vote by the ballot as a means of preventing vote by the bad lot, who think that there is a reason for votes rhyming with notes, and believe a freeholder ought to have a fee-simple, which simply means a fee.

He is also a strong opponent of the system of capital punishment a system so shortsighted, vindictive, and ineffective, that nothing but the Conservatism inseparable from folly could hope to preserve it long. MR. EWART has taken away a few of the props upon which the unholy and hideous scaffold aw is erected. In 1833 he procured by his able advocacy the abolition of capital punishment in cases of cattlestealing, sacrilege, etc., and in the same year passed the "Prisoners' Counsel Act," which gave even the most hopeless wretch some chance of escape from the murderous hands of the haugman.

We yet hope to see the day when the principles which MR. EWART advocates will triumph, and the gallows, a last relic of the blind and brutal "justice" of the dark ages, shall be swept from the land. Far more severe punishments can be devised for the worst of crimespunishments severe but not cruel, and only restraining the wretched criminal in this world, not risking his soul in the next.

In 1850, MR. EWART passed the Act, which bears his name, for the establishment of schools of design and public libraries in country towns,

/ entirely free and open for all classes of the community. Such a memorial is a far more desirable and honourable perpetuation of a statesman's name than the record in DOD that he was for so many years President of the Poor-law Board or Home Secretary with a salary of one thousand five hundred per year.

Under present circumstances, we should be sorry to see MR. EWART on the Treasury Benches, but when the days of Whiggery are gone by, and a real Liberal Government holds the reins of power, we shall hope to see him where he can be of greater service to his country than ever he can be as an independent member of Parliament.

TOWN TALK.

BY THE LUNCHER AT THE PUBS.

THE CRAWLEY court-martial is to cost the country £50,000, it is reported. A nice little sum to pay for repairing a board, which was composed of blockheads and has contributed to loggerheads. Courtmartial law is likely to earn as high repute in our time as Crowner's quest law did in SHAKESPEARE's day. The inquiry is to be held at Chelsea; it seems quite right that a lame affair which has got into such a hobble should be sent to the military hospital. It is to be hoped the propinquity of the Water-Works will enable the various parties concerned to come into court with clean hands. PATHOS and bathos have been always reputed dangerously near neighbours. The same may be now said of PATTI and BATTY, who are both delighting the same foreign city. The latter is exhibiting his lions, and the lions are all going to listen to the former. Could not something be done by BATTY and PATTI in concert-musical concert of course? The monarchs of the desert might be RAREYfied by the charm of the fair cantatrice's voice as an illustration of SHAKESPEARE'S

"Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast."

Only the line happens not to be as above, though generally so quoted, but "to soothe a savage breast," and it isn't SHAKESPEARE'S but CONGREVE'S to throw a proper light on it-being the opening line of the Mourning Bride. I defy the editor of Notes and Queries to question my statement.

IN eight brief months we are to see the hideous viaduct spanning Ludgate-hill. It is enough to make WREN desert his nest in St. Paul's Churchyard, to think that this unsightly structure is to be permitted to shut out the best view of the Cathedral. I wish it were possible to persuade the company that they ought to make the viaduct a work of art, and so get them to place it in the hands of SIR EDWIN LANDSEER to furnish a design. We might then rest assured that we should not see it finished in this century.

THE depravity of the juvenile population of London is alarming to contemplate. Only last week the porter of St. Martin's workhouse, on opening the gates in the morning, found an abandoned child on the door-step. It was not a year old! Such precocity in vice is perfectly terrific.

One

THE usual festivities on LORD MAYOR'S day were kept up with great spirit. The cheer was so good and plentiful that a great many "pictures" after LAWRENCE were scen about the streets. member of the corporation was discovered by the police endeavouring to enter into his own recognizances with a latch-key. Another failing to gain admittance at his residence, owing to his inability to knock up the servants, knocked himself up by walking about the streets all night.

THE wind has recently been so high that meat was blown by it. As the market says, there has been a fall in tiles and chimney-pots and a rise in thatch all over the country. Trees have been uprooted and houses cast down-which is no matter for surprise when we consider what a blow it must have been to them.

I SEE MR. WILLIAMS, the M.P. for Lambeth, has presented a thousand pounds towards a fund for establishing schools and a university in Wales. This is a most munificent act, reflecting great credit upon him, and a corresponding amount of shame upon his detractors, who are for ever running him down, partly from ignorance and partly from a desire to please those in power. There are not many real" Viscounts" who can vie with MR. WILLIAMS in liberality.

BLONDIN has cut the rope and is about to enter into business as a wine-merchant. This is a sudden change from a tumbler to a wine-glass, but I must confess I am glad to hear of it, for it looks as if the high rope were coming down in public estimation.

A RIDDLE FOR “A JOLLY CHRISTMAS PARTY."-(Don't "give it up.")-"How can we make others as happy as ourselves ?"

"BEL DEMONIO."

I.

IT was a windy evening,

And JONES his work had done,
And snug at home in Camden-town,
He supper had begun;

And by him little Walter stood,
Allowed to sit up late, being "good."

II.

He saw his mother take a bill With letters large and round, Which in his father's outer coat She had that moment found; He asked her what it was she found With all those letters large and round.

III.

Old JONES he took it from mamma,

Who stood expectant by;

And then old JONES he shook his head,
And faltered this reply:

"A playbill! Oh! ah! That's, you know, The bill of Bel Demonio."

IV.

"I went to the Lyceum, for

Folks talk of that about;

And, MRS. JONES, 'twas wrong of you
To turn my pockets out;

But SMITH last night and I did go
To see this Bel Demonio."

V.

"Oh! tell us what 'twas all about," Good little WALTER cries;

And MRS. JONES, rebuked, looks up, And to be pleasant tries"And what stands Bel Demonio' for? Just tell us what it was you saw."

VI.

""Twas MR. FECHTER," JONES replied,
"Of that I have no doubt;
But why he had that name, I'm sure
I could not well make out;

But everybody said," quoth he,
"It was the sort of piece to see.”

VII.

"He seemed to be an artist, when A soldier coming by

Said, 'Well, I knew your father, And that father's friend was I, And you're as great as others, though Folks only call you Angelo."

VIII.

"And so they go to find a Count,
Who does near Rome reside,

And boldly ask his daughter's hand
That she may be his bride;

And things like that, you know, must be
In every pretty piece you see."

IX.

"Refused, he marries her in spite,

And when the thing is done,

The Count says she must take the veil,
And go and be a nun;

So then the wifeless Angelo
Says, I'll be Bel Demonio.""

X.

"The leader of a gipsy band

He seems to then become, And from the chapel crypt he takes The rescued lady home, And then the Pope appears, you see, And thus the piece ends happily."

LORD JOHN RUSSELL was a much bigger man than EARL RUSSELL has proved to be. The former could boast of a few bright achievements the latter has only blunders to show. Throughout the whole of the American crisis the Foreign Secretary's policy has been a weak combination of petty craft and ostentatious cowardice. The result is, that the Americans have some reason for crowing over us, and declaring that we seize the rams rather in deference to their wishes than from any belief that their building is illegal. Really the Government is very much to be pitied with a giddy young Lovelace for a premier, a nervous little nobleman at foreign affairs, and a pugnacious roysterer as secretary for Ireland. What can poor dear GLADSTONE think of all these goings-on ?

WESTON WISDOM.

WESTON-SUPER-MARE has been initiative of a capital movement, which all small localities in England would do well to follow. It has established a village hospital, to which the working classes have contributed among them £160. The remainder has been made up by well-to-do residents and visitors-and they lay out their money wisely. Loss of labour, through the indisposition or chronic illness of workmen, will be far less frequent than is the case now, when the sick bread-winner gets unskilled nursing and no comforts in his unhealthy home. Besides this, we must remember that the spread of infectious diseases will be checked. And all this will be effected without any loss of independence on the part of those benefited, for they will have probably contributed their mite to the institution, thus feeling a sort of part-proprietorship; and will feel beholden to no Lord or Lady Bountiful in particular. We hope to see the example, to which we have called attention, widely followed. There are few difficulties in the way, medical men are always to be found, ready and willing to forward such schemes for the benefit of the sick poor; and we have no doubt that the wise and good people who started the hospital at Weston will give the aid of their experience and advice when required. FUN, with infinite respect, doffs his cap and bells to the wise men of Weston, and wishes them all success in their undertaking, and many imitators all over England.

DIREFUL DAIRIES.

CONSIDERABLE complaints are made about the unwholesome state of London milk, derived from diseased cows in undrained, ill-ventilated dairies. It is even alleged that the milkmen put water in their cans in order to dilute the poison they carry, and save themselves from the risk of prosecutions for manslaughter. We understand that an attempt will be made to save a portion of the International Exhibition early next session. Provided it be turned into a cow-shed (from which it differs little in appearance), we have small objection. There will be plenty of ventilation, for, of course, air can come in where water does; and that came in all over the building. If, therefore, the cucumber frames, which did duty for domes, were removed to the neighbouring Fulham Nurseries, we see no objection to retaining the cow-sheds, and putting them to their natural and obvious use. A statue of the architect might be erected on the spot, in connection with the water-supply, under the form known to dairymen as the black cow with the iron tail."

Pam.-The really important question is what answer we shall send. Our friend across the channel has a strong passion for intelligibility. What shall we do, eh?

Russell. I should say, let us rest and be thankful. (Goes to sleep.) Gladstone. For what?

Granville.-Would it not be an excellent idea to ask the EMPEROR over here, and give him a nice little dinner? No sovereign is really insensible to such delicate attentions.

Pam.-What shall we do, GLADSTONE?

Gladstone.-We have three courses open to us.

Pam.-Yes, I know; but which of the three shall we take? Sir Charles Wood (still thinking of LORD GRANVILLE'S proposition).-Do you think three courses would do? There's soup, you know; and I suppose he'd like some fish; and

Sir George Grey (sharply).-Don't expose yourself in that manner, CHARLES! Hold your tongue; and you'll almost pass for a statesman. And it's most necessary that you should, considering that you married into our family, and have been allowed to govern an Indian Empire in consequence !

Pam.-Gentlemen, these little family disputes waste time. Would the Lord Chancellor suggest any definite course? Lord Chancellor.-I should keep on writing him letters until I tired him out!

Gladstone.-Three letters would be best.

Russell (talking in his sleep).-I once wrote a letter to the BISHOP OF DURHAM. I forget what it was all about. I forget most things. I must remember, though, to ask PALMERSTON for a diplomatic appointment. There's another ELLIOT to be provided for. Yes. Magna Charta. The late MR. BURKE. Rest and be thankful.

Sir Charles Wood (pinching EARL RUSSELL).-Come, JOHN, you must wake up. We all look to you, you know, like Poles to the Needles. You're the head of our set.

Russell (waking).-I should write something insulting to everybody, and then tell 'em that I wouldn't fight. The English always like a display of pluck.

Wood, Grey, and other old Whigs.-Capital, JOHN ! Capital!
Pam.-Well, suppose we adjourn the question?

The Majority.-Yes; certainly; adjourn everything. Good-day. [Exeunt; as MR. GLADSTONE is about to retire, the Premier stops him.]

Pam.-No; not you! Do stop, GLADSTONE. The matter really isn't a joke. And it certainly is rather hard upon a man of my age that he has to conduct the Government of England with only one Minister in his Cabinet whose advice is worth a rap.

Earl Russell (re-entering).-By-the-bye, I forgot. I must really, on behalf of the party that I represent, insist upon the summary dismissal of LORD LYONS.

Pam.-The dismissal of LORD LYONS! Why? Russell. I want his berth for a young friend of mine. Don't suppose you've heard his name before. It's ELLIOT.

[Scene closes: the reply of the Premier not being exactly adapted for publication.]