442 ADVENTURES OF A SERKNADER. 



multiplied to my anxious eye, I threw the blame of the delusion on that 

 very anxiety, and was satisfied with the dramatic unity of my amour. 

 If, too, any noise or noises assaulted my ear, little agreeing with the 

 assumed character of my incognita, I charged the elements with the 

 unkindness, and moved a little farther from that obstreperous Laurestinus. 

 I confess that my voice was growing a little that is a very little, out of 

 order, and my execution began to disgrace the fingers once disciplined 

 by Martial Bruni, when the salutation of the handkerchief was again 

 proffered. Nearer still marched I. That a sign should next be commu- 

 nicated perhaps an intimation in writing perhaps actually a word 

 of favour, "of such sweet breath composed!" I had not a doubt. 

 Underneath the window I took my stand, and with wistful eye contem- 

 plated the deity at whose shrine my devotion was offered. A moment 

 more and .as I gazed with hushed breath at the window pop! 

 down fell an ocean of inconceivable liquids ; my cheek was at the 

 same time grazed by a china vase in its descent ; my poor guitar was 

 smitten by the enemy, and I myself, blinded, wounded, and exasperated, 

 was solaced by a roar of laughter from the civil engineers above. My 

 first impulse was that of revenge ; my next, that of fear. For as I was 

 the aggressor, I could expect no satisfaction ; and, as if to corroborate 

 this persuasion, a general muster of lights, and medley of voices from 

 within, arrested my attention. Male and female, treble and bass, 

 shrieks of laughter, and growls of rage, united in one glorious concert. 

 I faresaw readily that the matrons would sneer and the maidens would 

 quiz ; that the old men would threaten, and the young ones thrash me ; 

 so, without delay, I seized my prostrate and mangled instrument, wiped 

 my eyes most tragically, and galloped from the scene of my disaster 

 another Buonaparte from another Waterloo ; at once a sadder and a 

 wiser man. When I had regained the inn, so ignominiously treated a 

 little while before, I discovered that my guitar had suffered a compound 

 fracture, and that my face was indeed a quaint spectacle, varigated with 

 some donations of mud from my boots, and many parti* coloured fancy 

 patterns, engraven thereon by the cataract of strange waters with which 

 I had been deluged. I marched up to bed, and grumbled through the 

 night, rose in time for the next morning's coach, and having learnt from 

 the waiter all the particulars of the family so hospitable to me on the 

 preceding night, I made a solemn vow, to which I have adhered most 

 religiously, never again to serenade the second wife of i retail tallow 

 chandler ! 



FILIAL AFFECTION, AND PARENTAL LOVE. 



THE extensive authority of parents under the Chinese laws is well 

 known. A Chinese of forty years old, whose aged mother flogged him 

 every day, shed tears in the company of one of his friends. " Why do 

 you weep ?" " Alas ! things are not as they used to be. The poor wo- 

 man's arm grows feebler every day." 



