INTRODUCTORY. n 



hands upon the once-honoured relic. The heir-loom 

 of our club is indeed no more. We made enquiries 

 after its fate, and found that the crazy fabric had given 

 way under the sirloin of a bloated magistrate. Fire, 

 the devourer, has in all probability consumed the craft 

 of its ponderous framework the massive limbs, with 

 their relief of gorgeous imagery. 



But the old, thin-haired man, its occupant, have we 

 forgotten him ? Not so. Well we recollect the spare 

 bending figure of our Saturn the visage with its 

 lustreless eyeballs, wrinkled cheek, and thin, sharp 

 nose. Well we recollect the lofty, solemn forehead, 

 which Time had reverenced. It was a feature of much 

 dignity in our aged ancestor, and contrasted strongly 

 with the other sunken and altered pertinents of his coun- 

 tenance. The freshness of youth, which had deserted 

 them, remained with it. Care, whose witchcraft tells 

 sadly upon the brows of some men, laurelled though 

 these be, across his had laid not a finger. That fore- 

 head ! We speculate upon it even to this day. It 

 was a portion of the genius of the past. Under its 

 shell had been organized the fabrics of a master 

 intellect ; fancy and reason had laboured at the forge 

 below its cavern. But it was of the past ! The 

 argument was over the effect had perished with its 

 cause. It was of the past ! The subtle thought the 

 splendid conception the wit, eloquence, and poetry, 

 were each of the past ! 



Our great-grandfather had been what is termed a 



