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BATHOS. 

 A ROMANTIC TALE. 



"BATHOS, the art of sinking in poetry; the profound/' Johnson' s Dictionary . 



WHEN a man has been earnestly pursuing any important investi- 

 gation, whether metaphysical, scientific, or topographical, and has 

 succeeded in arriving at a satisfactory conclusion ; that man, on 

 that particular result, has an unquestionable right to be dogmatical : 

 hence I do assert, with the firmness of one who has made up his 

 mind after an extensive and pains-taking experience, that the 

 only locality for making love is Kensington gardens ! 



Shall I ever forget my first visit to those umbrageous shades ? 



" The last trace of feeling with life will depart, 



Ere the charm of that moment shall pass from my heart." 



It was a lovely day. The sun shone brilliantly the birds carolled 

 merrily the nursery-maids simpered bewitehingly ! As I traversed 

 the great walk, I felt the superlative consciousness of being the 

 happiest fellow within the bills of mortality. I had just risen from 

 a luncheon at the " Three Compasses," Bayswater, which, as I was 

 going to drive out, was a slight one, a mere snack three chops 

 and a pint of sherry. In the exuberance of my content, I flung 

 myself upon a garden-seat to moralize upon the satisfactory state of 

 my'mind. But who can philosophize without a cigar? I drew 

 one from my case. <l Blest," thought I, " with the certainty of a 

 present competency, and the contingency of a future independence, 

 with a rich aunt in promising ill-health a case of the finest 

 Havannahs ever imported from Houndsditch and a portable tinder- 

 box that never misses fire how could I be unhappy ? Pleasure has 

 " marked me for her own" who shall remove the broad arrow of 

 felicity ? 



Vain question ! Delusive dream of delight ! I was just lighting 

 my third cigar, when, at the end of a long avenue, rny eyes caught A 

 FORM ! and from that moment to the end of the next three weeks I 

 was doomed to misery \ 



No philosopher, from Pythagoras down to Sir Richard Philips, 

 has ever yet accounted for the properties of the loadstone. When 

 that discovery is made, I am inclined to the opinion that an intimate 

 connection will be found to exist between it and the human affections. 

 Some extraordinary attractive influence I certainly felt on beholding 

 THE FORM. For as the figure approached me I was irresistibly im- 

 pelled towards it: and as our contiguity increased, so did my agi- 

 tation. 



