requires a very small amount of brain-power to be a good linguist. It requires ear, and a sort of parrotlike method of imitation; but it does not require reason, nor deep thought; in fact, there are so many absurdities in connection with languages, so much that is merely arbitrary both in construction and in other details, that the reasoner is often stopped, where the thoughtless will advance rapidly. Let us take a few examples in connection with masculines and feminines in French and German. The French have but the masculine and feminine, whilst the Germans have also the neuter. Now, as things may be masculine, feminine, or neuter, the commonsense appears with the Germans; consequently, a student has to learn, when studying French, what the French people have chosen to call masculine, and what feminine, and in this there is no reason to guide him. It is true a man is called masculine, and a woman feminine; but why the sun should be called masculine, and the moon feminine, is explicable on no reason whatever; and so we may proceed, finding the most arbitrary rules for this selection, a breach of any one of which causes the breaker to become a subject for ridicule. But, again, if this selection of the sexes of words were universal, there might be some hopes for a student of many languages, but what the French class as feminine, the Germans often put down as neuter, and the Italians as masculine; thus, the sun in German is feminine, and the moon masculine, for what reason it is impossible to say; and thus confusion reigns supreme in this subject, to the total exclusion of reason. Our own case will, we believe, be found similar to that of hundreds of thousands of other people. As a boy, we were taught Greek and Latin, such an amount as enabled us to read a Greek Testament with the use occasionally of a lexicon, and to read freely Ovid and Virgil. But our future career was selected to be one in which Greek and Latin were not subjects for examination; but French and German 'paid well;' consequently, four years were devoted to the study of these two languages-at the end of which time we found ourselves in South Africa, where the only languages of any practical use were Dutch and Caffre. To Dutch and Caffre, consequently, we turned our attention, and after rather more than a year's study, we were able to converse imperfectly in both these. But again were we on the point of finding these later labours useless, for there was every prospect of our services being transferred to India, and we heard from good authority, that we were not likely to get on there, unless we could speak Hindustani, and perhaps understood Sanscrit or Persian. Here, then, were Greek, Latin, French, German, Dutch, Caffre, Hindustani, Persian, Sanscrit, all to be learned, in order that one's own thoughts and wishes should be made intelligible to another person. In our judgment, this is not only a mistake, but it is a mistake which is remediable, and which is a slur upon the common-sense and civilisation of the world. In music, there is but one language. The composition of a German composer can be at once read and translated into sounds by the musicians of the whole world. To an English musician, it is a matter of indifference what was the nationality of the composer; there is in music but one language, and that one simple and intelligible; and yet, what is the importance of making musical sounds, compared to the importance of conveying our thoughts to other people, and making them intelligible; yet there are a thousand different ways of doing the latter, instead of one, and unless a person know at least four or five of these-that is, unless he employ some four or five years of his life in acquiring a knowledge of these languages— he is dumb in many countries. Unfortunately, also, unless a person keep perpetually practising a language, he soon forgets it, and all his past labour, or at least a great part of it, has to be gone over again. When a missionary commences his labours in any savage country, he at once endeavours to learn the language of the people among whom his time is passed; he then usually proceeds to teach the natives his own language. Thus, we have found Caffres who spoke Dutch, German, French, and English, each language having been taught them by the missionaries in their neighbourhood. Of course an Englishman was unintelligible to the Caffre who spoke French, Dutch, or German, and so had to resort to signs. The remedy for this confusion is one quite within the power of modern civilisation. We consider the prospects of a remote future generation as regards their coal, which we are now using extravagantly, so we ought not to be termed Utopian if we propose a method by which our successors will have but little trouble in learning languages. A committee of the scientific men of all nations should be formed, which should decide on a language that shall be termed the universal language. This language may be one at present in existence, or one based upon an existing language.' Let us suppose that German is found to be the most expressive and complete of existing languages, and one decided on as the universal tongue. We commence our education not with a superficial knowledge of several languages, but with a thorough knowledge of German only. All other nations adopt the same course; and we know that wherever civilisation has spread, wherever missionaries have resided and taught, we who speak this universal language will be at once intelligible, and able to communicate our thoughts readily. Having but one language to learn and keep up, we should soon think in this language, and should thus be able to express ourselves equally as well as in our native tongue. People also would feel that they could not get on out of their own country unless they spoke this universal language, and thus so practical and essential an advantage would be gained by acquiring a knowledge of it, that it would be to each person's interest to study it. At the present time,. many of us feel indisposed to occupy several years in learning several languages, because we know that our residence in the countries in which these languages are spoken is likely to be of short duration; thus, the return for our labours would not be adequate, and we, naturally, decline to waste our time on such subjects. If, however, we knew that one language would carry us all over the world; that whilst we, in our youth, were studying the universal language, there were also Russians, Turks, Egyptians, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindus, Persians, Caffres, Italians, Norwegians, Swedes, and Greeks, employed in the same manner; and thus that we could readily communicate with a native of each of those countries by simply learning one language, so great a practical advantage would evidently be gained, that every man would have his heart in his work. We are convinced that much of the coldness shewn by young people in learning languages is due to the fact, that they consider a knowledge of a certain tongue is not likely to be of practical use to them, and their conclusion is usually correct. Not long since we heard a youngster exclaim that he was being crammed with Greek and Latin, and a smattering of French and German: 'Of what use will Greek and Latin ever be to me,' he said, 'or French or German, when the army is to be my profession, and, probably, I shall be in India all my life.' It is a question whether this is not a subject of sufficient national importance in all countries to be taken up officially, or at least encouraged by each government. In our improved national schools, in our colleges, and in private instruction, it should be understood, that henceforth some particular language is to be the universal means of communication between men of all nations. Then in a very few years, the English boy of twelve years old would find himself able, by means of the universal language, to chat or play with boys of Russia or Germany, France or Spain, Italy or Greece, and this with scarcely so much labour and waste of time as he now expends on a very superficial smattering of Greek and Latin, French and German, all which mere superficial acquirement fades away rapidly from the memory, and leaves but little useful deposit. The grown-up man who spoke the universal language, would, for business purposes, or for pleasure, find himself as much at home among the men of business or science, of every foreign country, as he would at his own society; and thus, more satisfactory results would be obtained by one year's labour, in acquiring one language, than are now obtained in many years spent in learning several. Organisation and unity are alone required, and these, we believe, are even now obtainable. A RACE FOR LIFE. IN EIGHT CHAPTERS.-CHAPTER I. 'NEVER fear, George-never fear!' said my patron cheerily, as we shook hands at parting on the steps of the brand-new and palatial building which towered in all the majesty of its stone front and noble portico over the irregular roofs of Walker Street. Walker Street, however, is to be reckoned among the most thriving thoroughfares in the important city of St Louis, and there had been erected, at considerable cost, the sumptuous mansion in which the Phoenix Far West Assurance Company had decided on commencing business. The Company was as new as the grand house in which its spacious offices, strong-room and storeroom, and the snug official residences of its manager and secretary, were to be, in American parlance, located. There had been a preliminary Board-day, a sort of trial-canter of the directors and chairman, and resolutions had been moved and carried, and congratulations exchanged, among the chief shareholders. I, George Fern by name, twenty-six years of age, an Englishman, and no capitalist, was by far too humble a personage to claim any right to vote among the members of that august financial hierarchy. My great ambition, on the contrary, was to be their salaried officer, and hence my attendance at this, the first meeting of directors. The manager's place was filled already, but from the outset I had known that it was idle to aspire so high as that. Mr Cushing, the chairman, a New Yorker of undoubted wealth and shrewdness, had secured that comfortable berth for his nephew, Caleb Cushing; and as C. C., as we called him, was an excellent man of business, this piece of nepotism was accepted without much grumbling. But the competition for the post of secretary was a brisk one, and after much canvassing, the list of likely candidates had been gradually reduced to two. By a singular_coincidence, these two would-be secretaries to the Phoenix (of whom I was one) were both Englishmen, old friends, and school-fellows. My competitor's name was Richard Brownrigg. There had been a sort of friendly rivalry between Dick Brownrigg and myself ever since we were in the same form at Shrewsbury, pounding painfully at the same Latin verses. Brownrigg was my senior by nearly a year, but we had run neck and neck for a time, and bets of half-crowns and lavish wagers of ginger-beer had been laid as to which of us would win this or that prize. Our companions had bestowed on us the nicknames, borrowed from Esop, of the Hare and the Tortoise; for, though I was quick to learn, still, there was a patient, plodding power inherent in Brownrigg's nature which brought him abreast with me after a while. On the whole, if these school-boy contests are worth mentioning at all, the result was, that while I had the best of it where the living or dead languages were concerned, Brownrigg beat me hollow in mathematics, and outstripped me also in such rudimentary science as was then taught in the dear old school. It was noticed, then, as an odd circumstance, that though constantly pitted against one another in scholastic struggles, there never was a personal quarrel between us. We were a pugnacious race at Shrewsbury when Dr Kennedy first wielded the birchen sceptre, but a ring was never formed to witness a pugilistic encounter between Richard Brownrigg and George Fern. Nay, more, I have had a fight of eight rounds on behalf of Dick, who was awkward and shy, and liable, as sheep-faced, down-looking lads are apt to be, to capricious ill-usage at the hands of school bullies. total of my life, six had been spent in America, Of the twenty-six years that made up the sumand four of these in the service of the Provident, Life, Fire, and General Assurance. This last was one of the small companies which had been recently fused into the composition of the gigantic Phoenix Far West, and our old chairman, Mr Surtees, was now a director on the new Board. His whole fortune had been embarked in the undertaking, and his weight in its councils was due as much to his high credit for sense and integrity as to the number of shares which he held. He, like myself, was English, and on his liking for myself, and the good opinion which he was kind enough to entertain of my capacity for business, I chiefly relied for the prospect of obtaining the vacant place. As actuary to the Provident, I had acquired a considerable knowledge of the country, as well as of the routine of my future work, should I be lucky enough to be elected. On the other hand, if Mr Surtees were my patron, another influential director, Mr Harris, was using every exertion to promote the interests of my old crony and opponent. Brownrigg had been, ever since his arrival in America, clerk to this Mr Harris, whose wife was English, and, I believe, distantly related to Richard. Dick's employer was a wealthy man, an underwriter, in whose office it was customary for the owners of the Mississippi steam-boats to insure their swift steam-vessels and the cargoes, often valuable, that were to run the gantlet of snags and sawyers, of mud-banks and exploding boilers, in the hap-hazard navigation of the Father of Waters. rapid growth of Western wealth and Western civilisation promised a brilliant and lasting success to the concern. The only question for me was, not whether the Phoenix would prosper, but whether I-George Fern-should be allowed to share in, and in my poor way, and to the best of my ability, contribute to the prosperity that I foresaw. The rest of the directors, as well as Brownrigg and two or three other candidates-young Americans these last-had gone home, and I had lingered for a word or two with my good friend Mr Surtees. We aspirants had been permitted to be present in the Board-room, where no discussion of a private nature had taken place, and where a good deal of time had been devoted to practically testing the qualifications of the candidates. We had each of us brought and read aloud a Report on the principles and rules of assurance, had cast up some dazzling columns of figures, and had undertaken at sight to balance books and solve complicated accounts, our success or failure being received in that halfbantering, half-earnest spirit of good-humoured criticism that usually distinguishes a meeting of fairly educated men. 'You were like Eclipse, first; the rest nowhere!' said kindly Mr Surtees, as he took his white sunumbrella from the grinning negro, in his glossy new suit, who was to act as hall-porter. Brownrigg was, as I have always maintained, an admirable right-hand man to a capitalist with much money engaged in a business of great risks and proportionate profits. His prudence really seemed instinctive; and Mr Seth Harris, who had no very lofty idea of the astuteness of Britishers as compared with that of his own quick-witted countrymen, was proud of his clever clerk. He's not bright, sir,' the old man would say; but he's as deep as Lake Superior. Did I tell you how he brought me through that affair of the General Jackson, wrecked on purpose, with a freight of spoiled muslins? Or how he made eleven thousand dollars out of the Beauty of the South, burned down to the water-line, off Island Number Nineteen, and given up for lost, cargo and all, by the 'Not quite that, I think, sir,' I answered ; soft-hearted greenhorns that owned her? An amaz-Brownrigg pushed me hard, when it came to the ingly ingenious, hard-headed youngster, sir, and arithmetical part of it.' deserves to hail from the States rather than from the effete old country. I should have been glad of such a son. And, indeed, rumour said that Mr Harris would willingly have seen Richard assume the position, not exactly of a son, but of a son-inlaw, by taking whichever he chose of the merchant's three daughters, Rosa, Irene, and Belinda Harris, but that none of these young ladies could be brought to regard their father's favourite otherwise than with that intuitive feminine aversion which defies reasoning. Brownrigg was not, I must own, a very popular person with the fair sex, though it is hard to say why. It could hardly have been on account of the homeliness of his appearance, for I have known men who were excessively ugly to distance him in drawing-room approval. Perhaps a certain gaucherie and timidity of manner, which had belonged to him as a boy, and of which he could never wholly divest himself, put him at a disadvantage, particularly on a first acquaintance; but when once the ice had been broken he could talk, and very well too. Men rated him higher than women did, however, and he was never so thoroughly at home as in business-hours, or at his work. The meeting had gone off pleasantly. There had been no differences of opinion serious enough to disturb the harmony of the Board; and it was pretty plain to me, who had been used to the proceedings of such assemblies, although of course on a much smaller scale, that the chairman, with Messrs Surtees and Harris, and two or three other men who had brains as well as money, would find it an easy task to manage the financial affairs of the fire-new Company as their experience might dictate. The Phoenix was starting well on her first flight, with strength in her radiant wings that could hardly fail to make its way. There was a large paid-up capital; the connection was a wide one, and capable of immense extension, and the My patron laughed. Brownrigg is a good accountant, I grant you that,' he answered, in his genial way; but it was when you handled the books that the fellows round the green table saw the difference between you. You see your old practice at the Provident stood you in good stead, for you knew the details of your work, and that is more than Master Dick, with all his cleverness, did. You are the man for us, George; and if the vote had been taken to-day, your majority would have been within one or two of what our French friends call acclamation. The poll will be on the 1st of September, but it will be more a matter of form than anything else. Cushing, the chairman, whispered to me before he left that it was as near a certainty as anything could well be. Good-bye, my boy; call on the Yankee directors from time to time; shew yourself in town, and don't get knifed or pistolled by rowdies-not that that is probable, with a steady fellow like yourself-and if you are not installed there in three weeks' time, my name is not Ralph Surtees.' And the old gentleman, with his umbrella pointed up to the verandah-shaded range of windows overhead, five in number, which belonged to the secretary's apartments, and with a chuckle of goodnatured triumph, went on his homeward road. I confess that I was myself very sanguine of success, and that on that very day, during the inspection of the newly-built mansion, which had preceded the Board meeting, I had looked at the secretary's rooms with all the interest of proprietorship. Spacious rooms they were, and handsomely provided, and quite pretty and commodious enough for the reception even of a bride within their freshly decorated walls. And, to tell the truth, that was precisely the purpose for which, in all my day-dreams of happiness soon to come, I had designed them. If I coveted this desirable appointment, with its liberal salary and contingent advantages, it was more for the sake of her I loved, of dear Annie Morgan, than for my own. I had loved Annie now for two long years, and our engagement was nearly of as old a date; but till lately I had not seen a prospect of making her my wife within any reasonable time. Annie was the daughter of old Captain Morgan, the English Vice-consul at St Paul's Port, North Carolina; and I had become acquainted with her through the accident of my being selected to wind up the affairs of an insolvent planter, who had mortgaged his rice-swamps and tobacco-fields to the Provident, and who could neither pay nor comprehend his muddled accounts. At the Company's desire, I had spent three months and more at St Paul's Port, in striving to reduce the chaotic confusion of our debtor's affairs to something like order, and when I came away, I carried with me a prize more precious than riches, Annie's loving faith, which was destined to be my comfort and stay in many a dark hour. Not that I had had, as yet, any reason to be dissatisfied with my lot, which, as compared with that of many young Englishmen in the United States, was a sufficiently prosperous one. America is not an El Dorado to the foreigner who brings to its shores no capital beyond his brain and muscle; but it is a country in which industry and temperance can scarcely fail to realise the means of living, at least as a bachelor. There was the rub. As an unmarried man of inexpensive habits, I was well off. But the father of my intended was a prudent old gentleman; his Caughter, the last of four children who had accompanied their parents to America, was a delicate, tenderly nurtured girl, quite unfit to 'rough it,' as the phrase is; and it had been clearly understood from the first, that Annie should not marry until her husband had the wherewithal to maintain her in comfort. Now, comfort, for a young and needy married couple in America, is even harder of attainment than it is at home in England; rents are high, clothes are absurdly dear, and servants, in our English sense of the word, are all but unattainable, even by the wealthiest. I could not but own that Annie was not adapted to a struggling make-shift life, especially in the hot and heavy air of that river-basin, where much physical exertion is a severe test to European constitutions. I murmured, as lovers in all ages have complained of the tyranny of cautious fathers, but I could not avoid acknowledging that the old vice-consul had the best of the argument. But what the actuary of the Provident, who had his bare salary, without allowances, percentage, or residence, could not do without grievously sinning against the forethought which the very name of his institution implied, would be reasonable enough in the secretary of the Phoenix Far West. The fine rooms and the fine furniture were surely meant for a married man. The silk curtains, the velvet sofas, the walls so prettily picked out in white and gold, the pictures, the polished maple and satinwood, suggested a lady's occupation of the apartments. The tall French mirrors seemed to have Leen put up expressly to reflect Annie's sweet face, and the glossy braids of her soft hair. And then, how handsome and imposing was the approach, up those broad white steps, across the cool hall, floored and pillared with red and white marble, and up those stately stairs, with their banisters of massive, parcel-gilt bronze, until the inner door was reached that gave access to that enchanted spot-home! When I reached my lodgings-had I been by birth an American, I should have called them my hired rooms'-to my surprise, I found Brownrigg awaiting me. 'My dear fellow!' he said, stepping forward with extended hand. 'Fern, I wish you joy!' It is an Englishman's impulse to place his hand, willingly enough, in the kind grasp that is offered to him; and besides, I had always had a friendly feeling towards Brownrigg-Old Dick! The very sight of him brought back pleasant bygone days the football, the 'fagging out' at cricket, the furious straining of our young arms, and the quick bending of our young backs, as we beardless oarsmen did our best upon the silvery Severn. But, now that I look more calmly back upon that youthful period of bad iambics and good cricket, I doubt if honest Dick Brownrigg's figure was by any means conspicuous in our muscular sports. He may have played at football-he was quite robust enough, for did he not lift the big box that had bothered both myself and Cox Major, a strapping fellow with whiskers. But, somehow, when we rowed a match, I always remember Brownrigg on the bank bawling: Well done, Blue! Pull away, Blue! Go it, Blue!' And the colour of my boat-the six-oar in which I had then the honour of pulling the bow-oar-was azure. He was not much of a cricketer, but he wore the ribbon of the Eleven round his straw hat; and never did I come limping back, bat in hand, and walking awkwardly towards the tent, because of the stiff leg-guard, tight braced, without a friendly pat on the back from Brownrigg, and a loud congratulation on the score I had just made. And there he was-dear old Dick! patient as ever, waiting to say a cordial word to me on the subject of my apparent victory over himself as well as others-over my likelihood of winning the race that was of such moment to George Fern, and that might have had some deep, hidden interest, for aught I knew, to his competitor. For Brownrigg was a close fellow. When we were at school, I am sure that he was quite well aware of the names of my two sisters-poor things, both of whom died early-and of little Willy, my babybrother. But Richard was not so communicative; and I only knew, in a vague way, that he was a Nottinghamshire man, and that his uncle, who had something to do with wool, had paid for his education at Shrewsbury. 'I say, Fern, my old chum! I wanted to be the first!' said Dick, wringing my hand in a vigorous grasp. 'I don't say, mind you, that I should not have liked to win; but I had rather be licked by George Fern, as I have been before, than by any man on either side of the Atlantic. You deserve to be secretary, Fern, and you are as good as appointed.' The Ides of March are not past, are they, Dick?' answered I, in that modest manner which befits a winner. There is something of the Nolo episcopari in the bearing of us all, unless we are boastful churls, when we seem within arm's-length of the prize. 'No, they are not,' abruptly returned Brownrigg, with a very remarkable look. I say, a very remarkable look, because my school-fellow had a peculiarity which is worthy of mention. He was a down-looking man, as he had been a down-looking boy. Everybody knows the sort of provoking person who raises his eyes, probably, breast-high or so, but whose gaze never frankly meets yours. This trick of manner springs as often from shyness or natural timidity as from guilty secretiveness, or from a shameful sense of evil-doing. I have known brave boys look down, and knavish cowards confront one with bright, wide, open eyes. But it is a habit bad in itself, and which creates a prejudice against him who is a slave to it. The young in especial are harsh in their judgments of those who flinch from observation. Why, you whelp, you, can't you look a fellow in the face?' was the question I have heard addressed, more than once, by some six-form boy to Brownrigg, while he was still a junior, and such queries were apt to be pointed by the sharp discipline of a hockey-stick or a monitor's cane. But Dick was thrashed in vain-he only looked up now and then. He looked up now. He was not a handsome young man, as I have said before; but there was nothing repulsive in his pale, fat, intelligent countenance. He had very light hair-by this time growing thin over the temples-prominent eyes of a light blue, and thin firm lips. His school nickname was 'Doughey;' and, indeed, his colourless cheeks had a pasty, unwholesome tint, which recalled that of unbaked bread; but for that I cared nothing; I liked Brownrigg much, and it was my belief that the liking was mutual. But for a moment the queer expression of those pale-blue, deep-set eyes perplexed me: an instant later, the impression had grown faint, and I only saw the familiar face of my old companion confronting me kindly, as he said: 'No, Fern; the Ides of the ticklish month are not past, and that is why you had better not be as certain of success as your friends are sure that it is yours. Don't you recollect the French prize, in that hot midsummer when there was not water to float your boat between the isle, by Glendower's Oak there, and the river-bank? You remember? We both fagged like tigers, and so did Vaughan and Blissett; and we two were first favourites-you ahead, as usual-and that little, pink-eyed Williams, with a face like a rabbit, beat us all to bits when the exercises were sent in! You never can be sure in this world. Suppose Cushing, the chairman, has a fit of apoplexy before the first! He may. I never saw such a corpulent, sanguine man for a Yankee. Or there might be a smash as regards the funds! There are twelve hundred thousand dollars, belonging to the Phoenix, now lodged in the St Louis bank; and suppose the manager skedaddles to Mexico with the cash!' I burst into a laugh, and held out my hand again to my school-fellow, whose dry way of talking I knew so well. Boys are boastful, noisy creatures; and I have no doubt we young male animals at Shrewsbury were as clamorous and self-assertive as our compeers elsewhere; but Brownrigg never spoke without weighing his words, and they were seldom without a double meaning. I'll take my chance, Dick,' I answered lightly, of cataclysms of all sorts. But, seriously, old boy, if I do get this secretaryship that I have set my heart upon-you well know why-and marry, and settle down here in St Louis for many a long year, what will you do? I hope, old chap, I shall not lose my friend by winning the object I am trying to attain, if I do win it.-Don't for a moment misunderstand me,' I added, fancying that Brownrigg's face darkened a very little as I spoke; and, pray, do not think that I allude to the probability of a coolness between us on account of this contest. Boys, and men too, may compete to the uttermost, and be good friends still, I hope.' 'Ay, that they may,' answered Brownrigg, fixing his eyes on the second button of my waistcoat'stanch friends.' But what I had meant, and what I presently contrived to express in sufficiently clear language, was that I hoped, if I won, that Dick's unavoidable defeat would not be the cause of his leaving St Louis. Mr Harris, his employer, had, as I was well aware, determined on making over his lucrative business to the Phoenix, since an American Life and Fire Assurance Company is even more versatile than its insular prototypes; and nothing seemed more natural than that we should insure the steamers snorting and splashing their hurried way down the endless river, as well as the earthly span, or the incombustibility of the domiciles, of the dwellers on its banks. Richard Brownrigg shook his head when I suggested that he might still, probably, remain a resident of St Louis, even should he fail in obtaining the secretary's post. 'No, no,' he said resolutely; I must "make tracks," as the Western men say, and try my luck in other hunting-grounds. This is an infernally expensive place for a poor man, and I shall be poor. Harris shuts up his countinghouse so soon as the outstanding affairs can be arranged; and I have promised him that, by the middle of October at latest, the books shall be squared up. He is sorry to part with me, and I with him; but that can't be helped. I must go South, or West. There is some talk of an agency at Grand Gulf, or at Memphis, dependent on the New Orleans branch of the Phoenix; and if so, I should like very much to be the agent; and as I know the river and the people, if you, as secretary, would help a lame dog over a stile' Help the dear old fellow over a stile! I remember that we shook hands at this point; but what I said I don't precisely remember. Very soon after this, Brownrigg, declining my offers of claret, or Catawba, or an eye-opener, accepted a cigar, lighted it, and went away. MARKED MEN. Ir may or may not be generally known that about seven or eight years ago, our government, not content with providing board, lodging, washing, and attendance for a certain portion of Her Majesty's subjects (who are not at all grateful for these advantages), determined, before men and women finally quitted the shelter provided for them at public expense, they should leave a memento of their visit in the shape of a carte-de-visite, in order that they should be more readily recognised, should they again require the prison authorities to take care of them, and not have the mortification of being treated as mere strangers. Strange to say-such is the perversity of human nature!-the objects of this attention are by no means flattered at having their features |