600 The Dobson Family. 



abruptly what was the matter with me. I began to state my case 

 with the opinions of about fifty medical men, and showed him their 

 prescriptions ; but he very coolly said, ' Tut, tut, Sir, do you think I 

 have time to hear all this nonsense, or to read all that bad writing?' 

 He then felt my pulse. t Good pulse,' said he * got a pain here, 

 Sir?' hitting me on the back. ' Why no, not exactly at present, doc- 

 tor,' said I ; ' but I sometimes feel' ' Never mind how you sometimes 

 feel, Sir. Pain here, Sir ?' continued he hitting me on the right side. 

 ' No, not exactly doctor, but, ' ' Never mind, Sir/ continued the 

 brute, hitting me on the left side ; ' Nothing wrong here, Sir, sound 

 as a drum, Sir;' but, doctor, I cannot be sound, not altogether sound/ 

 ' Very likely not,' returned he, * but, except I give you a fly as I 

 have just given to a lady whom you might have met going down I 

 can do nothing for you.' 



" * A fly, doctor !' said I, in astonishment. * Cured the lady, Sir, 

 at any rate : She came yesterday very bad ; looking up, she had swal- 

 lowed a spider three months ago, could not get him up, always 

 felt him walking in her stomach. I told her to come again to-day ; 

 she came : I had a fly and spider in a pill-box, told her I should put 

 a fly in her mouth, perhaps the spider would come up to catch it. 

 She thought it very probable, told her to open her mouth, threw 

 them in, and then told her to spit into a basin. She did so, and found 

 there a famous large spider. She declared he had grown -and went 

 away quite well.' Did you ever hear of such impudence ? I left 

 the house, and you may be sure never went near him again." 



By the quantity of salt which this worthy hypochondriac devoured 

 at table, it might seern that he had more faith in the muriate of soda 

 than in Abernethy. He had indeed when at Venice, been cured by 

 it of the cholera. *' The physicians made me eat half-a-dozen pounds 

 daily/' said he, " and even injected it into my veins, till I was quite 

 cured.'* 



" Just like a herring/' said an impudent young Englishman, sit- 

 ting near MrJDobson. The grumbling response " Impudent puppy* 

 was nearly drowned amid the loud and continued peals of laughter 

 which followed the youngster's sally. 



Emily meantime was listening to the glowing language of a young 

 German artist just returned from Italy, whose mind was deeply 

 imbued with that deep feeling of romance that ever characterizes the 

 true disciple of the pencil; but all his eloquence, the unaffected elo- 

 quence of the admirer of nature, was thrown away upon her whose 

 only idea of beauty was the round, plump, rosy face she saw reflected 

 in her own looking-glass, and the only sensation conveyed to the'mind 

 of his auditor by his flowing descriptions of " nature in her loveliest 

 garb" was when he spoke of mirrors of ice reflecting back the moun- 

 tain tops with a thousand beautiful tints, continually varying, like the 

 gem-built palace of a fairy tale: it was one of wonder whether it 

 would reflect her equally well. Mr. Dobson had got near a young 

 Englishman, who amused himself by quizzing his countryman, of 

 which pastime the English avail themselves on the continent when- 

 ever it is possible. 



Mr. Dobson was very anxious to learn German, which he bad no 



