you, if you will subscribe to my conditions," said the apothecary.

"I will most cheerfully do that," said the other. "In fact," thought Welkin, "I would do any thing at this moment."

"Be under no apprehensions, Doctor Welkin," continued Squaggs; "we have got on our books now the Duke of

"That will do; it's quite sufficient," interrupted the physician.

"Stay a moment," resumed the triumphant apothecary, "there's Lady Downford, Sir Thomas

I

My good friend," said Welkin, "you forget. know all these tricks of old. I intreat you to forbear all these high names.

"Well, well," returned Mr. Ambrose, reaching his hat, "I shall go down stairs with rather less difficulty I hope, than I got up.

"You should have a rail road and steam carriage in your house," said the physician, "and then you might move about from one story to another without feeling your asthma.

"That might do very well, Welkin," observed the other, "but that I am so much in other people's houses." "Good!" exclaimed the doctor.

"But I must tell you," said Squaggs, preparing to depart, that I have just succeeded in securing the Clanalpines, a family of some distinction in Wales."

"Now you're going to begin again," said Welkin; "and besides, is that the fashion of talking-to secure people?"

That's the way, doctor, I can assure you," replied the apothecary. First of all, they send to us for a box of pills; perhaps the housemaid or the housekeeper is taken ill, then I go, and am as insinuating as possible to the servants; by and by, my lady hears of me, and then another order comes, and another; at last my lady is really taken ill; she doesn't know whom to send for; her husband is distracted; a consultation ensues; the companion or some confidential servant mentions my name. The point is gained, send for Mr. Squaggs; and if the doctor has an ounce of brain in his pericranium, he will never lose his advantage. Then, perhaps, in spite of all our skill, the patient gets worse; perhaps

death may be at hand. Now we dare not take

re

sponsibility upon ourselves—a physician must be,

called

in-if we have some of the great Dons, why, you see they recommend their own apothecary; at least, they are very apt to do so. So, as in your case, I shall try to introduce you upon such an emergency."

"Thank you, Squaggs, particularly when the patient is dying," said Welkin.

"Oh! there are many stages short of dying when the physician may come in safely. But as I was sayingto be sure if the family insist on having a great man (no offence to you, I hope), we can't help it, but otherwise I shall say, give me leave to recommend a most clever young man, whom I know very well. He is quite emancipated from the notions of the old school; is a perfect worshipper of quinine; gives very little opium, and still less calomel; and so on.

Why how did you find out my ideas of practice?” asked the doctor.

You are

"Never mind that," said Squaggs; "I have long been aware of your condition and intentions. better known than you imagine; and, besides, you're the very man I want. Do you think I should have come all this way into the City, if I had not been acquainted with my errand? Come, good morning, good morning.

"Good morning, Squaggs," and the apothecary departed with infinitely more ease and apparent satisfaction than could have been expected, considering the labour and difficulties of his introduction. "And I say, Welkin," Mr. Squaggs could not help stepping back for a moment to give his friend a parting admonition "whatever you do, have somebody to open your door sooner another time."

The doctor, however, lost no time in carrying on his contract with the lucky apothecary of the West End. On the morning of the following day, he repaired to the laboratory of his patron, and after some further conversation, he even ventured upon ordering a carriage for a limited time. Squaggs failed not to feed up his friend with hopes of the highest order; and when he beheld the native cheerfulness of his beloved physician, he could not help drawing the most favourable auspices, and most sincerely congratulated himself upon a foresight as provident as it was fortunate in its accomplishment.

He had not parted with Welkin longer than a quarter of an hour, when he was suddenly called for by no less a person than the butler of the Clanalpine family, and to attend a member of that house of no less a rank than Lady Clanalpine herself. Squaggs was engaged at the moment of the summons in dispensing his advice to a poor patient; but no sooner did he learn the nature of the message, than he snatched up his hat, hurried into the first coach, and was at Portland Place, where the Clanalpines lived, in ten minutes.

CHAPTER III.

THE CLANALPINES.

"To a mind fond of rural and romantic prospects, nothing can give a greater pleasure than the face of nature in and about the Lakes of Killarney." Tour in Ireland, 1780, p. 239.

WE must now leave the apothecary and his protégé for a short time, that the reader may become acquainted with the family of Clanalpine, to whose house Mr. Squaggs had been summoned, as we have related in the last chapter.

Sir John Clanalpine was an Irish baronet, of ancient extraction, and of a good estate, which he managed better than his rich countrymen in general, if it were only for his determined perseverance in residing at least nine months in the year upon his property. He behaved with benevolence and kindness towards all within his circle, whether high or low; and though he was neither ostentatious nor familiar, the poor thought they had met with a friend in him. True it was, that although Sir John did not seem to mix more with the labouring classes than others, they valued him because he was perpetually amongst them. His manners, indeed, were rather haughty; at all events, especially for an Irishman, he might have been thought reserved, but even this failing lost him apparently no regards, for he was constantly found in the midst of his tenants and neighbours: where they were, he might almost always be seen; when they went out, they met him; when they returned home at night, Sir John was in the way, to have many a parting salutation. If there was a merry-making, the baronet

er.

presided at, or patronised it; if a funeral, he forgot not the widow and the orphan. He was but a moderate scholar; yet as there was an abundance of learning in his family, this absence of knowledge signified very little. He was often heard to say, that he could sign his name to a receipt; and after a pause, he would add, that he could read his Bible, and that these were stores of talent which his ancestors had never been so fortunate as to reach. Being also of a contented habit, and fond of the sports of the field, it may be easily supposed that a great portion of human happiness lay within his powHis marriage, however, with Lady Laura Himmalaya Thebes, the daughter of a very literary nobleman, who possessed estates near Sir John, did not seem at first sight calculated to increase that peace of mind which Clanalpine had inherited from nature. If he lacked the ordinary information of a scholar, the Lady Laura absolutely overflowed; if he scarcely knew the geography of his own county, she was mistress of all latitudes from the Great Bear Lake to the blue hills of Australasia; if he managed with difficulty to return thanks in decent Anglo-Irish after a state dinner, she could pursue all tongues-Italian, French, Spanish, German-into their inmost recesses, with a volubility at times truly. formidable; if he failed in an attempt to compose a letter to his solicitor on business, she could not only do this for him, but keep the lawyer at bay besides. She wrote his defences in the newspapers to some fugitive libels which had gained strength through his incapacity; she was even suspected herself of being the authoress of some political lampoons; and by dint of one or two volumes, which confessedly issued from her fruitful pen, she contrived to acquire a reputation which those of her sex are accustomed to regard rather with dread than complacency.

We have been unable to discover the origin of an acquaintance which led to the union of parties so widely dissimilar in their habits. Some have said that the lady's profound intelligence and power of sarcasm terrified all her suitors: others, that in her love of literary lore, she actually forgot the marriage state till time warned her against any longer tarrying; whilst a third class of story-tellers aver that the delights of literature yielded their sway, without a struggle, to a softer dominion.