508 London in 1857. 



recollections point so familiar to my imagination that it may lose the 

 horror of its strangeness. 



On the 23rd day of June, 1857, late in the evening-, I returned 

 home. I flung myself on the sofa, quite worn out, and rang for my 

 dinner. Up came my housekeeper with the chill and smokeless re- 

 past it was intended to' be hot naturally spoilt by keeping. I was 

 so drowsy that the vision of her entrance conveyed no definite im- 

 pression to my senses, and it required a hearty shake or two to make 

 me get up, and be sensible that the meal, such as it was, invited my 

 kind attention. I rose and swam to the table ; but it was long, owing 

 to my indomitable sleepiness, before I could find any appetite. At 

 last I shook off a little of the stupor which oppressed me, and began 

 to address myself to that which had been placed before me. About 

 an hour and a half elapsed before I had finished my repast, for I ate 

 lazily, and even every now and then took a five minutes' consulta- 

 tion with myself, whether it was worth while to "lay knife aboard" 

 again upon the joint, though the operation had for its end nothing 

 more or less than the gratification of my own appetite. At last, 

 however, I finished, sent away the paraphernalia, saw tumbler and 

 rum placed upon the table, and moved myself to the fire, where 

 slippers, dressing-gown, and easy-chair, kindly awaited me. Thus 

 passed an hour or two : first a reverie, then a mixture of the liquids 

 that lay temptingly beside me, then a pause to let the tumbler cool, 

 then a stir and pife up of the fire, then a few sips, with intervals of 

 thought, then a half-doze, then a wake-up, reverie, and so on, " same 

 as before," as the doctors say upon their villainous phials. At ten 

 o'clock, or a little after, I rang for my chamber-candlestick, left the 

 fastening up of the house, for the first time in my life, to my trusty 

 Betty, and deliberately and philosophically 



" Bedward plodded my weary way," 



leaving the house to darkness and my housekeeper. 



I slept like a top, or a dead man, and at last started up surprised 

 to see the sunshine look so glaring and noon-like. What a time I 

 must have slept to be sure ! I looked at my repeater, the hand 

 pointed to half-past ten : twelve mortal hours had I been sleeping, 

 as if I had been never going to awake again ! No dreams no 

 partial waking up no thought nothing but a dead dead void. I 

 had never had such a sleep in my life, and I was as much surprised 

 at it as I was displeased and discomforted at the lateness of the hour. 



That traitorous Betty too ! Why had I not been called ? It was 

 invariably my strictest order that seven A. M. should never be let 

 pass without an unceremonious rat tat or thump thump at the door, 

 with the accompanying intimation, " It's seven o'clock, Sir, and your 

 water's getting stone cold." I jumped out of bed and began to dress 

 myself in a terrible hurry, predetermined to have a good scold at 

 my housekeeper the moment I was fit to be looked upon. What a 

 satisfaction there is in these belligerent determinations ! I positively 

 felt all the less angry with her, because I was going to give her a 

 very extraordinary rating ! This complacency was like the oil thrown 

 upon the fire, that cools while it heightens the flame. Dear me! half- 



