however, that I might have been of a party who had killed a man. It was a judgment on me for being in such a place, with any less excuse than that of acting Romeo. I took my wife and babe back to Cheshire. We knelt at my father's feet, promising to serve in the shop; fortunately, it was one of his melting days; he raised us to his arms. we formed a tableau generale, and the curtain dropped.

THE PLEASURES OF SPORTING.

THE Consulter of Johnson's Dictionary under the term of Sport, or Sporting, would be led into a great mistake by the Doctor's definition. The word, with the great lexicographer, signifies nothing but Diversion, Amusement, Play-but I shall submit to the reader, with a few facts, whether it has not a more serious connection, or, to speak technically, whether it should be Play or Pay.

When I was a young man, having a good deal of ready money, and little wit, I went upon the turf. I began cautiously, and, as I thought, knowingly. I studied the stud-book, and learnt the pedigree of every new colt; yet somehow, between sire and dam, continually losing "the pony." My first experiment was at Newmarket. By way of securing a leading article, I backed the Duke of Leeds, but the race came off, and the Duke was not placed. I asked eagerly who was first, and was told Forth. The winner was a slow but strong horse, and I was informed had got in front by being a laster. This was a puzzle, but I paid for my Riddlesworth, and prepared for the Derby. By good luck I selected an excellent colt to stand upon, he had been tried, it was a booked thing; but the day before the Derby there was a family wash, and the laundress hung her wet linen on his lines. I paid again. I took advice about the Oaks, and instead of backing a single horse, made my stand, like Ducrow, upon four at once. No luck. Terror did not start, Fury came roaring to the post, Belle was told out, and Comet was tailed off. I paid again, and began dabbling in the Sweepstakes,

and burning my fingers with the Matches. Amongst others, a bet offered that I conceived was peculiarly tempting, 20,000 to 20 against Post Obit, a bad horse indeed, yet such odds seemed unjustifiable, even against "an outsider." But I soon found my mistake. The outsider was in reality an insider, filling the stomachs of somebody's hounds. Pay again! I resolved however to retaliate, and the opportunity presented itself. I had been confidently informed that Centipede had not a leg to stand on, and accordingly laid against him as thick as it would stick. The following was the report of the race : "Centipede jumped off at a tremendous pace, had it all his own way, - and justified his name by coming in a hundred feet in front." Pay again! These "hollow" matters, however, fretted me little, save in pocket. They were won easy, and lost to match, but the " near things" were unbearable. To lose only by half a head, a few inches of horse-flesh! I remember two occasions when Giraffe won by a "neck,” and Elephant by "a nose." I was also tempted to blow out my brains by the nose, and to hang myself by the neck!

On one of those doubtful occasions, when it is difficult to name the winner, I thought I could determine the point from some peculiar advantage of situation, and offered to back my opinion. I laid that Cobbler had won, and it was taken; but a signal from a friend decided me that I was wrong, and, by way of hedge, I offered to lay that Tinker was the first horse. This was taken like the other, and the judges declared a dead rob, — I mean to say a dead heat. Pay again !

A likelier chance next offered. There was a difference of opinion whether Bohea would start for the Cup, and his noble owner had privately and positively assured me that he would. I therefore betted freely that he would run for the Plate, and he walked over! Pay again! N. B. I found, when it was too late, that I should not have paid in this case, but I did.

The Great St. Leger was still in reserve. Somewhat desperate, I betted round, in sums of the same shape, and my best winner became first favorite at the start. Never shall forget the sight! I saw him come in ten lengths ahead of everything, hollow! hollow! I had no voice to shout with, and it was fortunate. Man and horse went, as usual, after the race, to be weighed, and were put into the scale. They rose a little in our eyes, and sunk proportionably in our estimation.

Roguery was sniffed,

the Jockey Club was appealed to, and it gave the stakes to the second horse. All bets went with the stakes, and so- Pay again!

It was time to cut the turf, — and I was in a mood for burning it too. I was done by Heath, but the impression on my fortune was not in the finished style. I now turned my attention to aquatics, and having been unfortunate at the One Tun, tried my luck in a vessel of twenty. I became a member of a Yacht Club, made matches which I lost, and sailed for a Cup at the Cowes Regatta, but carried away nothing but my own bowsprit. Other boats showed more speed, but mine most bottom; for after the match it upset, and I was picked up by a party of fishermen, who spared my life and took all I had, by way of teaching me, that a preserving is not a saving. Pay again!

It was time to dispose of The Lucky Lass. I left her to the mate, with peremptory orders to make a sale of her; an instruction he fulfilled by making all the sail on her he could, and disposing of her by contract—to a rock, while he was threading the Needles. In the mean time, I betook myself to the chase. Sir W. W. had just cut his pack, and I undertook to deal with the dogs.but I found dog's meat a dear item, though my friends killed my hunters for me, and I boiled my own horses. The subscribers, moreover, were not punctual, and whatever differences fell out, I was obliged to make them up. Pay again! At last I happened to have a dispute with a brother Nimrod as to the capability of his Brown and mine, and we agreed to decide their respective rates, as church rates, by a Steeple Chase. The wager was heavy. I rode for the wrong steeple leapt a dozen gates and succeeded in clearing my own pocket. Pay again

It was now necessary to retrench. I gave up hunting the county, lest the county should repay it in kind, for I was now getting into its debt. I laid down my horses and took up a gun, leased a shooting-box, and rented a manor, somewhat too far north for me, for, after a few moves, I ascertained that the game had been drawn before I took to it. It was useless therefore to try to beat, -the dogs, for want of birds, began to point at butterflies. My friends, however, looked for grouse, so I bought them and paid the carriage. Pay again!

Other experiments I must abridge. I found Pugilistic

Sporting, as usual, good with both hands at receiving :- at Cocking the "in-goes" were far exceeded by the “out-goes:

and at the gaming-table, that it was very difficult to pay my way, particularly in coming back. In short, I learned pages of meanings at school without trouble, but the signification of that one word, Sporting, in manhood has been a long and an uncomfortable lesson, and I have still an unconquerable relish of its bitterness, in spite of the considerate attentions of my friends :

"From Sport to Sport they hurry me

To banish my regret,

And when they win a smile from me,
They think that I forget."

THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE AT MARY-LE-BONE.

"Do you never deviate?" JOHN BULL.

Ir was on the evening of the 7th of November, 18—, that I went by invitation to sup with my friend P., at his house in High Street, Mary-le-bone. The only other person present was a Portuguese, by name Senor Mendez, P.'s mercantile agent at Lisbon, a person of remarkably retentive memory, and most wonderful power of description. The conversation somehow turned upon the memorable great earthquake at Lisbon, in the year of our Lord and Senor Mendez, who was residing at that time in the Portuguese capital, gave us a very lively picture—if lively it may be called - of the horrors of that awful convulsion of nature. The picture was dreadful; the Senor's own house, a substantial stone mansion, was rent from attic to cellar! and the steeple of his parish church left impending over it at an angle surpassing that of the famous Leaning Tower of Bologna!

The Portuguese had a wonderfully expressive countenance, with a style of narration indescribably vivid; and as I listened with the most intense interest, every dismal circumstance of the calamity became awfully distinct to my apprehension. I could hear the dreary ringing of the bells, self-tolled from the rock

ing of the churches; the swaying to and fro of the steeples themselves, and the unnatural heavings and swellings of the Tagus, were vividly before me. As the agitations increased, the voice of the Senor became awfully tremulous, and his seat seemed literally to rock under him. I seemed palsied, and could see from P.'s looks that he was similarly affected. To conceal his disorder, he kept swallowing large gulps from his rummer, and I followed his example.

This was only the first shock; the second soon followed, and, to use a popular expression, it made us both "shake in our shoes." Terrific, however, as it was, the third was more tremendous; the order of nature seemed reversed; the ships in the Tagus sank to the bottom, and their ponderous anchors rose to the surface; volcanic fire burst forth from the water, and water from dry ground: the air, no longer elastic, seemed to become a stupendous solid; swaying to and fro, and irresistibly battering down the fabrics of ages; hollow rumblings