to see it. The governor apologised, indeed, very humbly, for offering to her majesty so poor and ugly a figure, which had not even a wax face; whilst the nose had been broken off, and one of the eyes scratched out. But little Mary answered that it would do extremely well; and she proceeded to undress it and put on a new gingham frock, which the governor's wife also brought for it. But she had scarcely commenced her work and bade Matilda, as she called the doll, lie still and not cry while she was dressing her, when she was startled by a loud voice, louder than any trumpet, proceeding from the top of the room, and crying out, Her majesty is playing with her doll.'

Mary quite jumped with surprise when she heard the sound; and she let Matilda fall from her lap upon the floor, while she looked up to see who it was, but she could discover nobody; only just as she was proceeding to take up Matilda again, the voice cried out louder than before, so that it could be heard at a great distance, Her majesty is playing with her doll.' Little Mary could not imagine the meaning of this; but the fairy, observing her surprise, informed her that it was only the newsman; and as Maga did not appear at all startled at it, her majesty proceeded with her play. But scarcely five minutes had passed, when another voice, from the top of one of the houses near, called out, Her majesty has a new doll.' And before this had stopped, ten or twelve others, followed by twenty more, and these succeeded by a whole hubbub of cries, ringing like so many echoes all over the city, burst out in such a clamour that Mary was nearly stunned. They all seemed to take up the words one from the other, but each, as if purposely, added something, or left out something, or altered something, so that the first sentence became at last wholly different from what it had been,-something in this fashion: 'Her majesty is playing with a doll.' 'Her majesty has a new doll.' 'Her majesty has bought another doll.' 'The queen has ordered ten new dolls.' 'The queen has given orders for ten thousand new dolls.' The queen has laid on another tax to buy ten thousand dolls.' queen is starving the poor people by buying golden dolls.' 'The nation is ruined by the queen's dolls.' 'The queen's dolls have turtle soup and champagne every day, while the poor are starving.' 'Down with the queen's dolls.' 'No dolls.' 'No dolls.' 'Down with the queen.' 'Down with the queen.' 'The pretenders for ever.' taxes.' 'No dolls.' 'No queen.' And then burst out such a hubbub of hisses and groans that poor little Mary almost fell down with fright; and even the good fairy became alarmed, and could not help exclaiming, It is all through that provoking newsman!'

'The

'No

Though very much frightened, Mary ventured to ask what was the meaning of all that dreadful noise. But the fairy, who was evidently cross and out of temper, and did not like to trouble herself with answering questions, only replied shortly, that it was the liberty of And when Mary, quite as much in the dark as ever, asked

the press.

what this was, the fairy only added that it was something the common people of Brakara kakara were very fond of that it was like the air they breathed, and without it they would die. But Mary was no less puzzled than before. So at last Maga, though pettishly, and almost forgetting her respect for the Queen, was obliged to inform her that the people were remarkably fond of knowing everything which their superiors did, especially the Queen; and that in order to gratify their curiosity a number of persons were always stationed on the roofs of the houses in the city; and these, by means of trumpets, communicated regularly with six others, who had little sentry-boxes pitched for them on the tops of the chimneys of the palaces, so that they could look down and see all that passed; whilst every now and then others crept unperceived into the palace, and hid themselves under sofas and beds, and then gave information to the public of what they had seen and heard there.

'In fact,' continued Maga, 'your majesty must be extremely careful of everything you say and do, for you are perpetually watched, even when you are in your own closet; and, what is most provoking, the reporters are so ill-natured, that they never tell any good, but are sure to misunderstand and tell stories, to make your loving people believe you are a monster.'

Poor little Mary, who did not at all like to be thought a monster, was ready to cry with vexation at hearing this: but she could not help asking whether she might not buy as many dolls as she chose; and what right the people had to complain of her spending her own money? And as she observed that the fairy made no reply, she asked if it was not her own money that she should have to spend. Maga was not disposed to be very communicative; and accordingly she endeavoured to cut short any more questions by the same lucid and satisfactory style of reply which is generally adopted to inquisitive children by persons who are unwilling to instruct them.

'It was,' she said, 'and it wasn't.'

But as little Mary still persisted in asking for a clearer explanation, Maga proceeded to inform her, that not many years since one of her illustrious ancestors, King Polkas, had given up to the people all that the kings possessed-consisting of great estates, forests, and revenues --thinking that the people would manage them much better than himself; and that the people had promised to pay him in return so many hundred thousand pounds every year; but that latterly the people had begun to forget this, and grumbled very much when they were called on to pay the Queen her revenues, though it was only a just debt, and they themselves were pocketing every year the profits of the estates, which King Polkas had made over to them on this express condition. Little Mary had, indeed, no very clear ideas on the subject of debtor and creditor; but she could not help thinking that this conduct on the part of her loving people was shabby and roguish,

and that if a common person were to do the same he ought to be put in the pillory; also, she said to herself, that if she had been King Polkas she would never have given up her estates in such a foolish way. And she began to doubt whether, after all, she should have as much money to spend as she should like: accordingly she asked the fairy how many thousand pounds she should have to spend every year. And Maga replied, about nine hundred thousand pounds; but that nearly all this would be required to pay the salaries of her ministers and her troops, and to keep up her ten royal palaces; and that she would be expected to give large sums of money in charity: so that at the end of the year, unless she was very economical, she would probably run in debt: and that as she could spend nothing without letting the parliament see her accounts, and examine even into the quantity of sugarplums and barley-sugar which she bought in the year, it would be necessary for her to give no cause of offence, since, if the parliament thought her extravagant, they would threaten to cut off her allowance. She added, that there was one gentleman in particular who always made it his business to look into the accounts very sharply, and who would insist on knowing how much she spent in gingerbread-nuts-how much it cost to mend her stockings-how many holes she made in her new pocket-handkerchiefs; all which information was printed every year at a vast cost, in large blue-covered books, and published throughout the empire. After which, as the fairy told her, the people generally became discontented, and probably would abuse her very much. But this, Maga added, she must learn not to mind, for it was so common that she would soon become accustomed to it.

Little Mary looked very grave at this, for it was different indeed from what she had expected; and perhaps she would have asked many more questions, and have received equally satisfactory answers, but, to the great alarm of the fairy, the governor of the Tower entered the room in a great hurry, with the perspiration running down his forehead, and his sword drawn in one hand and a great red box in the other, which contained some despatches that had just been brought from the palace by a dragoon, riding at full speed, and were to be opened by her majesty without a moment's delay. The fairy saw clearly that there was something the matter; and little Mary also was rather frightened. However, though her hand shook, she took the key, which the governor presented to her on one knee, and opening the box, she found it to contain a letter to herself, sealed with three large red seals, and bound round with silk ribbon. The fairy begged her to break it open and read it; but Mary had sadly neglected her reading, as well as her writing, and as she found some difficulty in making out the contents, the fairy took the letter, but had no sooner read it half-way down than she dropped it from her hands, uttered a loud scream, and, falling back into the arms of the governor, she kicked and struggled frightfully, as if she was in a fit, calling out for

water, and salts, and brandy, and eau-de-Cologne, and declaring that she should certainly faint.

Poor Mary was sadly frightened at this; but the sight of the fairy was nothing to the real news; for the letter was from the prime minister himself, informing her that a dreadful conspiracy against her life had just been detected—that they did not know who were engaged in it, or when it was to break out-but that it was clear that her majesty had many traitors about her—that even some suspicion rested upon the fairy herself. The prime minister, therefore, begged her majesty to be very careful, and to return to the palace as soon as she could.

The fairy, after screaming for some time, and drinking two tumblers of brandy-and-water, recovered herself; and though extremely indignant at the charge thrown upon her, of being concerned in a conspiracy against the queen, she begged permission to attend her majesty home, and declared that she would without delay face her wicked calumniators and disprove their accusations. The carriages, therefore, were ordered to the gate of the Tower, and the royal party drove off in great haste, while the soldiers presented arms, and the drums beat, as they passed through the great court of the fortress.

(To be continued.)

VOL. 31.

27

ᏢᎪᎡᎢ 184.

No more words were needed: the two brothers understood each other perfectly.

Balbus was waiting for them at the hotel: the journey down had tired him, he said: so his two pupils had been the round of the place, in search of lodgings, without the old tutor who had been their inseparable companion from their childhood. They had named him after the hero of their Latin exercise-book, which overflowed with anecdotes of that versatile genius-anecdotes whose vagueness in detail was more than compensated by their sensational brilliance. 'Balbus has overcome all his enemies' had been marked by their tutor, in the margin of the book, 'Successful Bravery.' In this way he had tried to extract a moral from every anecdote about Balbus-sometimes one of warning, as in 'Balbus had borrowed a healthy dragon,' against which he had written Rashness in Speculation '-sometimes of encouragement, as in the words 'Influence of Sympathy in United Action,' which stood opposite to the anecdote 'Balbus was assisting his mother-in-law to convince the dragon' and sometimes it dwindled down to a single word, such as Prudence,' which was all he could extract from the touching record that 'Balbus, having scorched the tail of the dragon, went away.' His pupils liked the short morals best, as it left them more room for marginal illustrations, and in this instance they required all the space they could get to exhibit the rapidity of the hero's departure.

6

Their report of the state of things was discouraging. That most fashionable of watering-places, Little Mendip, was 'chock-full' (as the boys expressed it) from end to end. But in one Square they had seen no less than four cards, in different houses, all announcing in flaming capitals ELIGIBLE APARTMENTS.' 'So there's plenty of choice, after all,' said spokesman Hugh in conclusion.

'That doesn't follow from the data,' said Balbus, as he rose from the