tears began to trickle down the cheeks of the commissioner, overwhelmed with the sense of the honor and happiness which were thus descending upon his family, and finding nothing left to wish for but that the whole city had been witness to his felicity. Even the cook came in for some distant rays and emanations of the princely countenance; for the Count FitzHum condescended to express his entire approbation of the supper, and signified his pleasure to von Hoax, that the cook should be remembered on the next vacancy which occurred in the palace establishment.

"Tears, such as tender fathers shed," had already on this night bedewed the cheeks of the commissioner; but before he retired to bed he was destined to shed more and still sweeter tears; for after supper he was honored by a long private interview with the count, in which that personage expressed his astonishment-indeed, he must say his indignation that merit so distinguished as that of Mr. Pig should so long have remained unknown at court. "I now see more than ever," said he, "the necessity there was that I should visit my states incognito." And he then threw out pretty plain intimations that a place, and even a title, would soon be conferred on his host.

Upon this Pig wept copiously, and upon retiring, being immediately honored by an interview with von Hoax, who assured him that he was much mistaken if he thought that his Highness ever did these things by halves, or would cease to watch over the fortunes of a family whom he had once taken into his special grace, the good man absolutely sobbed like a child, and could neither utter a word nor get a wink of sleep that night.

All night the workmen pursued their labors, and by morning the state apartments were in complete preparation. By

this time it was universally known throughout the city who was sleeping at the commissioner's. As soon, therefore, as it could be supposed agreeable to him, the trained bands of the town marched down to pay their respects by a morning salute. The drums awoke the count, who rose immediately, and in a few minutes presented himself at the window, bowing repeatedly and in the most gracious manner. A prodigious roar of "Long live his Serene Highness!" ascended from the mob, among whom the count had some difficulty in descrying the martial body who were parading below, that gallant corps mustering, in fact, fourteen strong, of whom nine were reported fit for service, the "balance of five," as their commercial leader observed, being either on the sicklist, or, at least, not ready for "all work," though too loyal to decline a labor of love like the present. The count received the report of the commanding officer, and declared-addressing himself to von Hoax, but loud enough to be overheard by the officer-that he had seldom seen a more soldierly body of men, or who had more the air of being accustomed to war. The officer's honest face burned with the anticipation of communicating so flattering a judgment to his corps; and his delight was not diminished by overhearing the words "early promotion" and "order of merit." In the transports of his gratitude, he determined that the fourteen should fire a volley. But this was an event not to be accomplished in a hurry; much forethought and deep premeditation were required; a considerable "balance" of the gallant troops were not quite expert in the art of loading, and a considerable "balance" of the muskets not quite expert in the art of going off. Men and muskets being alike veterans, the agility of youth was not to be expected of them, and the issue was that only two guns did actually go off. "But in com

mercial cities," as the good-natured count observed to his host, "a large discount must always be made on prompt payment."

Breakfast was now over, the bells of the churches were ringing, the streets swarming with people in their holiday clothes, and numerous deputations, with addresses, petitions, etc., from the companies and gilds of the city, were forming into processions. First came the town council, with the mayor at their head. The recent order for the reduction of fees, etc., was naturally made the subject of a dutiful remonstrance, and great was the joy with which the count's answer was received:

"On the word of a prince, he had never heard of it before; his signature must have been obtained by some court intrigue; but he could assure his faithful council that, on his return to his capital, his first care would be to punish the authors of so scandalous a measure, and to take such other steps, of an opposite description, as were due to the long services of the petitioners, and to the honor and dignity of the nation."

The council were then presented seriatim, and all had the honor of kissing hands. These gentlemen having withdrawn, next came the trading companies, each with an address of congratulation expressive of love and devotion, but uniformly bearing some little rider attached to it of a more exclusive nature. The tailors prayed for the general abolition of seamstresses, as nuisances and invaders of chartered rights. The shoemakers, in conjunction with the tanners and curriers, complained that Providence had in vain endowed leather with the valuable property of perishableness, if the selfishness of the iron trade were allowed to counteract this benign arrangement by driving nails into all

men's shoe-soles. The hair-dressers were modest—indeed, too modest-in their demands, confining themselves to the request that, for the better encouragement of wigs, a tax should be imposed upon every man who presumed to wear his own hair, and that it should be felony for a gentleman to appear without powder. The glaziers were content with the existing state of things, only that they felt it their duty to complain of the police regulation against breaking the windows of those who refused to join in public illuminations-a regulation the more harsh, as it was well known that hail-storms had for many years sadly fallen off, and the present race of hailstones was scandalously degenerating from its ancestors of the last generation. The bakers complained that their enemies had accused them of wishing to sell their bread at a higher price, which was a base insinuation, all they wished for being that they might diminish their loaves in size; and this, upon public grounds, was highly requisite" fulness of bread" being notoriously the root of Jacobinism, and under the present assize of bread, men ate so much bread that they did not know what the devil they would be at; a course of small loaves would therefore be the best means of bringing them round to sound principles. To the bakers succeeded the projectors, the first of whom offered to make the town conduits and sewers navigable, if his Highness would "lend him a thousand pounds." The clergy of the city, whose sufferings had been great from the weekly scourgings which they and their works received from the town newspaper, called out clamorously for a literary censorship. On the other hand, the editor of the newspaper prayed for unlimited freedom of the press, and abolition of the law of libel.

Certainly the Count Fitz-Hum must have had the happiest

art of reconciling contradictions, and insinuating hopes into the most desperate cases; for the petitioners, one and all, quitted his presence delighted, and elevated with hope. Possibly one part of his secret might lie in the peremptory injunction which he laid upon all the petitioners to observe the profoundest silence for the present upon his intentions in their favor.

The corporate bodies were now despatched; but such was the report of the prince's gracious affability, that the whole town kept crowding to the commissioner's house and pressing for the honor of an audience. The commissioner represented to the mob that his Highness was made neither of steel nor of granite, and was at length worn out by the fatigues of the day. But to this every man answered that what he had to say would be finished in two words, and could not add much to the prince's fatigue; and all kept their ground before the house as firm as a wall. In this emergency the Count Fitz-Hum resorted to a ruse. He sent round a servant from the back door to mingle with the crowd, and proclaim that a mad dog was ranging about the streets and had already bit many other dogs and several men. This answered. The cry of "Mad dog!" was set up; the mob flew asunder from their cohesion, and the blockade in front of Pig-house was raised. Farewell now to all faith in man or dog; for all might be among the bitten, and consequently might in turn be among the biters.

The night was now come; dinner was past, at which all the grandees of the place had been present; all had now departed, delighted with the condescensions of the count, and puzzled only on one point, viz., the extraordinary warmth of his attentions to the commissioner's daughter. The young lady's large fortune might have explained this excessive