ring and send for a doctor. Do, pray!' And she rushed towards the bell.

'No, dear,' I said, give me a spoonful of brandy. "Tis only a spasm that I am subject to. I shall be better presently.'

The sweet creature instantly did as I desired, and in a few moments I felt relieved.

'Now, Jim,' said she, when, coming a little to myself again, I began to smile, 'I am sure you have caught cold. Do you know I am afraid those trowsers that you put on this morning were not aired. You don't look well at all. You don't indeed.'

I rather think, dear, I must have caught cold, or something of that sort. What could it be else?'

'Come, now, Tootsicums; you shall let me make you some rum and honey; and then put little toots into hot water, and go to bed like a good boy; and then to-morrow you'll be all well again.'

Who could have refused to take such affectionate advice, even if there had been no occasion for it? The hot water was fetched in, and placed before the fire. Laura insisted upon wrapping me up in her flannel dressing-gown, and binding my head with a silk handkerchief, besides putting me on one of her nightcaps, for fear of 'tic.' Then she mixed the rum and honey, and made me drink it down hot, which I would not do, however, till she had first had some of it herself. So there I sat, with my feet in the tub, and the tumbler, with a spoon in it, in my hand; my Laura sitting before me on a little stool, and renewing the hot water from time to time from the kettle; until she thought that it would weaken me to remain where I was much longer. The day having been thus delightfully spent, (my slight indisposition at the close of it being more than counterbalanced by the pleasure which I derived from Laura's fond solicitude), my Tibby and her Tootsicums betook themselves to the couch of slumber.

'TO THE EDITOR OF BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY (PRivate).

'1 April, 1842. 'Sir,-If my wife, who has given me a good deal of trouble, and for whose engagements I have been obliged to state publicly that I am not responsible, should call at your office, and claim in my name the money for the paper, entitled "My Honey Moon," sent to you some time ago, pray be so good as not to let her have it.

'I am, sir, your obedient servant, THE AUTHOR.'

CURE FOR THE AGUE.

BY H. R. ADDISON.

In no country on earth is the ague felt with greater violence than in India. Heaven help the unfortunate person whom it attacks! Nothing but a trip to Europe will shake it off: and even that sometimes fails to establish a permanent cure. Once visited by this dreadful malady, the unfortunate sufferer seldom escapes without several returns, even though years elapse between the intervals of this paralyzing disorder. The native who sees a white man thus

affected sincerely believes that he is so tortured by a devil that has taken up his abode within his person, and consequently recommends him to try every sort of charm to scare the demon away. The English doctor, when consulted, is sure to prescribe a sea-voyage as the best chance of recovery. I once knew a lady who was a martyr to this horrible, this torturing, complaint. It had attacked her just as she was slowly recovering after her confinement. She applied to her physician, who ordered her instantly to return to Europe. The Brahmin who happened to be on her domain at the time, laughed at the remedy, declaring that Unless Master Debbil him choose to fly away, change of air no good.' The lady's husband explained to the Hindoo priest that he looked upon him as a goose. He shook the doctor by the hand (for he was an excellent husband,) and immediately began to prepare for his wife's departure.

It unluckily so happened, however, that the disorder had arrived at such a height that Mrs. A- had not been able to move from, or almost in, her bed for six weeks. It was, therefore, determined that she should wait until a lull in her pains permitted her removal to the boat, which was to convey her on board the first ship of the season returning to Europe.

Now, as ladies who have long resided in India are considered far more delicate in their tastes and habits than the rosy nymphs who have passed their days in northern climates, Mr. A began to lay in a stock of what is styled 'private store,' consisting of eatables and drinkables of the most dainty description, for the use of his wife; not but that he knew the living on board a homewardbound Indiaman to be luxurious beyond description, and as unlike the coarse feeding in an outward-bound vessel as

'Hyperion to a satyr.'

So, also, are the prices; for the lady in question, with her maidservant, had voyaged out for two hundred pounds. In returning, she had agreed to pay for herself, her two children, and two maidservants, one thousand pounds! So certainly she had a right to expect better entertainment; but, with all this, her princely husband thought it better she should have a private stock of luxuries, in case her appetite should be delicate. He, therefore, got pickled oysters, choice Burgundy, portable soups, and all kinds of delicacies, packed up to take with her. He judged, however, rightly, that no wine, no eatable would be half so acceptable as good water on board a ship; · for, despite of all filters, and every other remedy, water long preserved tastes very nasty, the percolation only removing the objects floating in the liquid. Whatever exists in a state of solution is irremediable, so that the bilgy water of the long-encased pseudo fresh, is quite as disgusting as if no pains had been taken to cleanse it.

The water of Chittagong is the only water which never changes. At the end of three years it is quite as clear and fresh (that is, when well bottled) as it was when first taken from the spring. To ensure his wife this luxury, Mr. sent all the way to Chittagong, and procured three hundred dozen of this refreshing beverage, which, previous to packing in hampers, were placed on the long rows of banqueting tables which stood in the grand hall of his residence

near Moorshedabad. His wife's sleeping-room opened into this hall, while her newly-born child, only two months old, inhabited a room on the other side of the building.

On the evening of (whatever date you like,) Mrs. A― was suffering more than ordinarily. So acute were the semi-rheumatic pains which accompanied the ague, that she was actually unable to turn in her bed, and her doctor began to shake his head, and talk gloomily about the probable result. Mr. A was in despair. The hope of being able to reach Europe was almost given up by the patient herself, who began to believe, though usually of a sanguine disposition, that she was beyond the hope of cure.

It was just past midnight, and the sufferer had fallen into an uneasy sleep. The nurses and other faithful watchers were snoring soundly, when a sudden crash shook the whole building, a crash more terrific than that of the loudest thunder, or the roar of a whole park of artillery. The house shook as if moved by an earthquake; the noise seemed like that of a wing of the mansion falling in.

How beautiful, how pure is the mind of woman! - how superior to that of the male sex! A man thus awakened would have instantly thought of self. Mrs. A- was a mother, a fond mother.

The

thought of her infant instantly flashed across her mind. My child! my boy!' cried she, distractedly, and with one bound she sprang from her bed, and before her alarmed and astonished attendants had recovered their wits, their mistress-their late bed-ridden mistress

-was half across the marble hall, up to her ankles in water, rushing forward with anxious cries, towards the chamber of her child, whom she found lying quietly sleeping, the smile of happy innocence playing round its mouth, in its cradle, unalarmed, unconscious of the appalling sounds which had disturbed and frightened everyone else.

The revulsion of feeling was so strong, the joy so great, that Mrs. A fell down perfectly insensible. In this state she was found by her astonished husband, who could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw what maternal love could effect. Yes! the adoration of a mother had done that which art had vainly essayed. When Mrs. A. again became sensible, the malady had left her; she was perfectly cured.

The noise had arisen from the tables having given way beneath the enormous weight of the bottled water, which, breaking on the marble floor, had caused the dreadful crash which had alarmed the sufferer. Under the greater alarm of danger to her child, her own feelings had yielded, and pain had fled, overcome by a mother's fond affection.

The black people swear, even to this hour, that it was 'the devil escaping from his victim' that upset the tables, and threw down the bottles; for, as Jessaree Mahomed (the aforementioned Brahmin) wisely argues, If debbil not fly away, how debbil missee fly to her chuckerah?' (child.) Dr. M.- doubts this assertion, but still can give no satisfactory reason for the sudden, yet permanent, disappearance of the dreadful malady, which had been so long tormenting his fair patient.

Mrs. A lived many years happily and healthily in India after this occurrence, and ate and drank her sea-stores on Eastern land. As to her child, he grew up to bless his parent, and write this sketch.

RICHARD SAVAGE.

A ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE.
EDITED, WITH OCCASIONAL NOTES,

BY CHARLES WHITEHEAD,

AUTHOR OF THE SOLITARY.'

CHAPTER XXX.

Richard Savage makes the acquaintance and secures the friendship of a worthy peer, and is for the present raised out of want into affluence.

LET me not step forth from Newgate before I acknowledge the kindness of many friends, some altogether unknown to me, who, during my confinement in that place, sent me considerable presents, out of which I was able not only to support myself more luxuriously than is usual with persons in a like condition, but to procure such medical advice, and purchase such delicacies for my friend Gregory, as his ill state of health rendered necessary to him. Honest Dagge! keeper of his Majesty's gaol at Bristol,-perhaps, ere I conclude this familiar abstract of my life, I may pass an eulogium upon thee! For, sure, if a man in prison has little reason to expect friendship from those who are without its walls, still less has he to look for it from him who has him in custody. And yet, from thee, good fellow, have I received benefits, unasked of thee, that shall one day, if my life be spared, and fortune at last relent in my favour, meet & handsome reward; but no such reward, I take upon me to assert, as thy heart has already bestowed upon thee, which is, I know, all that thou desirest.

In a few weeks after our liberation, Gregory was made happy in the possession of his Martha, and shortly afterwards obtained a more lucrative appointment at the Custom-house than the one he had heretofore enjoyed.

In the meantime I was greatly shocked and grieved at hearing of the lamentable end of Merchant, who was found drowned, closely wedged between two barges near Westminster Bridge. It was doubtful whether he had fallen or had thrown himself into the river.

My first impulse, on leaving Newgate, was to threaten my mother with so public an exposure of her infamy as would terrify her into a compliance with a certain demand I resolved to make upon her,a demand of money; but no such sum as would have satisfied me years before, and as would then have purchased my silence. I determined to raise my price; since it was hardly reasonable in her to expect that I should permit her to enjoy gratuitously the luxury of persecuting me, or that I should tamely submit to endure any wrongs she might please to inflict upon me. I designed, therefore, to propose for her approbation the following alternatives, to wit,either to consent to be exhibited before the world, with all the poignancy my malice, my wit, and my invention could supply, as the

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or to

most detestable woman that ever outraged human nature; make me an allowance properly, nay, legally secured to me, for the term of my natural life, not exceeding, and not falling short of, five hundred pounds per annum. I could by no means forego the gratification of my revenge for a penny less money. It was fairly worth five hundred a year; not to speak of my claim of relationship upon her, which I dutifully held as worth nothing.

But from the prosecution of this scheme I was withheld by a variety of pleasing and social engagements that courted my acceptance, and during several months engaged my attention.

My indolence during many weeks favoured my mother; and it was not until I had been for the space of a month without a lodging, in which time I fared very ill both as to bed and board,—the butcher's stall more frequently contributing to my repose than to my subsistence, it was not, I say, till I found that my affairs were in a state of the most pressing necessity that I sat down and addressed a letter to Mrs. Brett, in which I candidly unfolded the design I had upon her, and in which I enclosed a copy of verses, by way of specimen of my abilities, in the flaying strain.. However, she deigned not to return an answer; although, I was given to understand, my threats had not a little terrified her. I urged my demands a second time, and despatched another copy of verses. These were, I admit, shocking couplets, such, indeed, as, had she not in a manner capitulated, I had hardly dared to publish, being, as they were, altogether as unworthy of me as they were worthy of her.

These verses had the effect intended. On the evening following the day on which I had transmitted them, calling at the coffee-house at which I had directed any communication she might be pleased to make to me to be addressed, I found a letter lying for me. It was from Lord Tyrconnel, and requested that Mr. Savage would do him the honour of calling upon him at an early hour next morning, his Lordship having something very particular to say to him, in relation to two letters he had recently forwarded to his mother.

I waited upon Lord Tyrconnel punctually at his appointed time. I have mentioned that his Lordship had been very civil to me on several occasions, when I had met him at taverns and coffee-houses, and that he appeared in my favour on the trial. There was no diminution of cordiality in his reception of me now; on the contrary, he was excessively friendly, himself setting me a chair, and kindly complaining that I had not before visited him. We talked for some time on general topics; at length, drawing forth his pocketbook, his Lordship selected from amongst other documents my two letters to my mother, and holding them towards me, said, with a smile,

You know these, I presume. Mrs. Brett has put them and their inclosures into my hands. Oh! they are too severe. Upon my soul, now, too bitter, Mr. Savage.'

'The degree of bitterness is best decided by the provocation,' I returned. They are not too bitter, my Lord, I assure you. Nay, they were not written to wound her feelings, but to excite her fears. I designed them as a punishment, not as a correction. You do not know, my Lord, how basely I have been treated by this lady.

I believe I know all,' he replied. The glosses she puts upon her own conduct I can see through, and despise. But now

He