dogs riseth with fleas--not a day passes but thou takest a step up Jack Ketch's ladder: punishment is lame, but it comes. Mark me, boy; I have read what the stars have written in the palm of thy hand-under the sign of the Bear wert thou born, and under that sign shalt thou perish. Stand aside-he who spitteth against heaven, it falls in his face." So saying, she put on her cap, gathered up her garments, and with a wild look of inspiration, as of an ancient Pythoness, stalked out of the room.

"Bravo!" cried Harry; "bravo, ranting Moll!-Egad! it is as good as a tragedy."-" Better," said Charley, "for there's nothing to pay-but what did the old witch mean by your perishing at the sign of the Bear? There's the Black Bear in Piccadilly, as well as the White; but you never goes to neither.""Mean?" replied Harry; "there's seldom much meaning comes out of the mouth, after fourteen or fifteen tosses of blue ruin have gone into it; and I warrant she hasn't had a drop less." So saying, they resumed their conversation, and finally arranged the time and method of their attack upon the farmer's house at Finchley Common,

The unconscious object of their deliberation was one of those stout, surly, stubborn yeomen of the old school, who are about as amiable as one of their own bulls in a pound. He quarrelled with his wife if she let him have his own way, stormed outright if she thwarted him, and, though he was notoriously miserable before his marriage, did nothing but extol the happiness of his bachelor days. He would not let his

daughter Dolly marry young Fairlop, a neighbouring farmer to whom she was attached, simply because he had not first proposed the connexion himself; and insisted upon her having Mr. Gudgeon, a smart London fishmonger, who drove down to his cottage upon the Common in his own gig, not out of regard to the man, but out of opposition to his daughter. On the very evening of the meeting at the Wig and Water-Spaniel, he came growling home to his house, when the following colloquy ensued between him and his wife.

"Thought you were all dead-couldn't you hear me at the garden-gate? Where's Clod ?"

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"Gone out, my dear, but he'll be back directly." Always sending him out of the way on some fool's errand or other."- "He is gone to the village, to

get your favourite dish for supper to-night."

"Get the devil for supper to-night!-Shan't eat any: you never get one any thing to drink."-"Yes, my dear, I tapp'd the ale on purpose."

"Shan't drink any.-What are you staring at?why don't you help me off with my coat ?"And then, having eaten and drunk most copiously of the food which he had just said he would not touch, he drew his easy chair to the fire, stretched his legs, and, to the old tune of the Hunting of the Hare, roared out his favourite song of

Bachelor's Fare.

Funny and free are a Bachelor's reveries,
Cheerily, merrily, passes his life;

Nothing knows he of connubial devilries,

Troublesome children and clamorous wife.

Free from satiety, care and anxiety,

Charms in variety fall to his share;
Bacchus's blisses, and Venus's kisses,
This, boys, this is the Bachelor's Fare.
A wife, like a canister, chattering, clattering,
Tied to a dog for his torment and dread,
All bespattering, bumping, and battering,
Hurries and worries him till he is dead;
Old ones are two devils haunted with blue devils,
Young ones are new devils raising despair,
Doctors and nurses combining their curses,
Adieu to full purses and Bachelor's Fare.
Through such folly days once sweet holidays

Soon are embitter'd by wrangling and strife;
Wives turn jolly days to melancholy days,
All perplexing and vexing one's life,
Children are riotous, maid-servants fly at us,
Mammy to quiet us growls like a bear;
Polly is squalling, and Molly is bawling,

While dad is recalling his Bachelor's Fare.

When they are older grown, then they are bolder grown,
Turning your temper, and spurning your rule:
Girls, through foolishness, passion or mulishness,
Parry your wishes and marry a fool;-

Boys will anticipate, lavish and dissipate,
All that your busy pate hoarded with care:
Then tell me what jollity, fun, or frivolity,
Equals in quality Bachelor's Fare?

The following Wednesday, which was the night fixed on for the robbery, happened to be the monthly meeting of Bruin's club, whence he seldom returned till a late hour, on which account it had been selected by Dolly's lover Fairlop as a favourable opportunity for paying his mistress a visit, to concert measures for

procuring her father's consent to their marriage. No sooner had he seen the farmer stumping out of the garden gate, with his dog Growler by his side, a lantern in one hand, and a pistol in the other, his usual accompaniments when he had occasion to go to Finchly by night, than he tapped at the window, was ushered into the parlour up-stairs, received the renewal of Dolly's assurances that she never would marry Mr. Gudgeon, and devised plans for their support, if, as he implored, she consented to wed him without her father's approbation: all which she participated with so much satisfaction, that in the unconscious happiness of the moment they both began singing, and their thoughts involuntarily arranged themselves into the following duet :

Dolly-I care not a fig for all their clacket,

I never will marry the London fop.
Fairlop.-A jackadandy! I'll lace his jacket,
Over the Common I'll make him hop.

Dolly.-'Tis sad, no doubt, to quarrel with father;
What can a loving maiden do?

Sad as it is, I own I'd rather

Quarrel with him than part with you.

Fairlop. I care not a straw for all your money,
Ill-temper'd Dad may pocket his pelf;
I'll toil like a bee to gather honey,

And leave the old wasp to sting himself.

Both.-Love shall afford us wealth and pleasure,
Every hour shall bring delight;

While the great folks, who roll in treasure,
Gamble all day and toss all night.

Lovers are the worst chronometers in the world. When they meet, Cupid seems to lend Time his wings; and the old gentleman, upon the occasion we are recording, plied his double pinions with such velocity, that Fairlop, startled by the sound of the midnight clock, was just pronouncing a hasty adieu when he' heard the gruff voice of Bruin growling at the foot of the stairs for a candle. Escape was impossible-Dolly, frightened out of her wits, had none left to employ when they were most wanted; and Fairlop, who knew that her father, always violent, generally returned from his club with a pistol in his hand` and liquor in his head, was really terrified for the personal safety of his mistress. The only place of concealment that offered itself was the chimney, up which he hastily climbed, begging Dolly, when the coast was clear, to return and apprise him by the signal of a sneeze.

"Where's your mother ?" growled Bruin as he entered the room. Dolly informed him that she had retired to bed some hours before. "Then I'll sit up," was the reply; "but the night's raw, so light a fire here, and I'll smoke a pipe."-"Had I not better light it in the bed-room?" said the trembling girl."You had better do as you're bid," he answered. "What are you gaping and shivering at? Here, give me the candle, I'll light it myself."-Dolly, knowing his spirit of contradiction, had presence of mind enough to exclaim-" On reflection, I think it would be better to light it here, and I'm glad my opinion agrees with yours."-" You think, Miss saucebox! what do you know of the matter? I say it shall be