sideration of dress or priestly adornment, if the heart was in the right place they were satisfied; and so one fine morning, of early summertime, when salmon and trout-fishing were in full swing, the two lads and the B.A. started on their travels, with feelings somewhat akin to being transported across the seas, for which of their sins they knew not, while Daddy Pig returned to his solitary domicile, and, 'tis said, shed a manly tear and drank an extra glass of "toddy-with."

Their continental travels, however, were of no long duration, probably six months, during which time the lads were expected to learn French, dance probably a cotillion, and receive no end of foreign polish. I must now refer to the journal of their worthy tutor, lent me in order to continue this history. He speaks like a man, and evidently was an amiable B.A.; however, I fancy he must have been a sportsman, in as much as instead of the custom of the present day when saints, unknown to the world at large, turn up afresh each sabbath, I find he calls on his patron St. Hubert:

By St. Hubert, if our forefathers or even our respected parents were to rise from the dead, what different ideas they would have of human nature, and how utterly disgusted would they be at the idea of continental polish, gastronomy, or economy in the days we live!

Be it as it may, we started one-score-years-and-ten lang syne on our travels. My two young lairds were a wee bit down-home-sick if you will it and I own that, being somewhat peculiarly ignorant of foreign manners, I was not precisely elated. I had, however, a duty to perform, and the lads were good lads; aye, and merry lads as the world goes, but where we were going and how we were to get there were questions not so readily defined as in the days we live and smoke, and, in sorrow be it also said, of railway smashes. Meanwhile, their worthy Dads-a far better appellation than governor-had some idea the amiable B.A.—that is, your humble servant-they had selected was well up in European geography across the channel. I admit they did me an injustice; at all events I had studied the map of France, au reste" theory by practice soon becomes fact, and so I endeavoured to convince myself they were correct.

I will pass over the misery of crossing the channel in bad weather; it is wretched enough when fair, even in a good steamer. I therefore at once confess, from my birth upwards, having considered the sea very pleasant to look at and bathe in, as long as it produces turbots, soles, and lobsters, I would rather leave its enjoyments-such as I am told they are, though I confess never having discovered them-to mariners and yachtmen; in fact, were I a rich man, desiring to visit the Imperial city called Paris, I should proceed to Dover or Folkstone, take up my abode at the best hotel, order an appropriate little repast, imbibe a bottle of Burgundy, and tell my servant to call me in time for the boat, provided the so-called glorious ocean was in a state of absolute calm. If not, why I should remain, read the papers, smoke my Havannah, eat fresh shrimps, and pass my day as agreeably as human nature ought to do having the means. Consider then, ye sportsmen, who live at home at ease, the horrors of a stinking sailing packet, rough sea, and foul wind. The young lairds, fresh from broiled salmon, Finnon haddies, marmalade, and Scotch feeding, succumbed in ten minutes; while I, a "B.A.," am bound to confess that I soon

followed their example-my dignity was considerably over-balanced. By St. Hubert I never swear, but I should like to know where a man's dignity is when suffering from sea-sickness. I note that a rough sea is the only means of bringing a prince to the level of a chimney sweeper.

My friends, you are well aware time was, and that not lang syne, when express trains and steam boats were not, and no buffet, with hot cutlets and cold chicken to receive you, presented itself at Calais or Boulogne, unquestionably not the most lively towns of France, where now you pay half-a-crown for the wing of a half-starved fowl, and well nigh as much for a bad cup of tea; and I only wish I had some shares in those concerns. But in the year of our Lord, when I first landed on the Gallic shore with my youthful charges, knowing very little French, and in sad plight from the effect of the internal sufferings we had endured, these conveniences were not, and I believe if the truth was known we should have gladly returned forthwith in a balloon, or any other conveyance, not across the sea, that could possibly have conveyed us safe once more to Heatherbank Hall, N.B. Even now, after the lapse of so many years, I never think of that voyage of three or four hours, without feeling an inward all-overishness that literally subdues me for the day; and having on one occasion the temerity to allude to it to my dear friend and patron Piggy the younger, he replied, and his temper is generally of the best, " B.A."-he calls me always B.A.-"the very thought of the sufferings I endured that evening is such that it takes away my appetite for a week." "Does it?" I replied, "I can assert that it did not take away your appetite for two hours. It must be the idea, my dear friend, the fact was proved beyond doubt at the hotel to which that very lazy-looking commissioner conducted us." Moreover, a sixteen-year-old stomach and spirit soon recovers itself, the weather cleared, and the novelty of the scene did much; but that which I well recollect did far more to renew our courage was the fact of our finding ourselves in a comfortable hotel, wherein, having refreshed ourselves by ablutions, we joined the party assembled at a really first-rate table d'hôte-three francs a-head, good and abundant wine included. This, however, recollect was in the era, when fine ladies were wont to call Birmingham" Brummagem," boiled mutton "biled mutton," and a plucky individual a "spunky man." "Such times are changed," says

the cat's-meat man.

Spite of these recent sufferings-I pass over my own, the recollection of which is too terrible to dwell on-Piggy the younger and his friend Mac set to at the eatables placed before them with a vigour which I have never seen surpassed; hitherto they had imagined, I take it, that Frenchmen lived on frogs, and Russians on lamp-oil; thus fillets and fricandeaux, delicacies hitherto scarcely known in the lowlands, were soon discussed; in fact, as at the wedding of Ballyowen "whole barons of beef were cut down, sir, demolished unto the back-bone."

The oft-told story of the man who entered a beef-shop in London at a shilling a head occurred to me, who, being a good feeder, and having demolished about half-a-crown's worth, expressed his satisfaction to the landlord in the following words :

"Your beef, sir, is excellent, regular cut and come again." On which he received the following reply :

"You may cut as much as you like, sir; but I am dd if you come again.

If fancy the anticipation of our host as to profit out of our three francs a-head must have been cruelly disappointed; at least, matters are strangely altered in this the year 1869, when you pay treble and obtain half.

After this copious repast, washed down by a cup of good, clear, strong coffee, now rarely obtainable à chasse, of real cognac, equally unobtainable, and at which the lads smacked their lips, having secured the coupé of the diligence-we travelled by night, the better I conclude to see the uninteresting country-in due time, and a long time it was, reached that paradise to all Frenchmen called Paris.

Paris, as I have said, that paradise of any Frenchman, who having once been located there seldom desires to leave it, in the hour I write is no more like the Paris when we three rambled there than Piggy the present to Piggy the past; indeed, there are few of my acquaintances having means and being desirous of getting rid of those means without much trouble, but that will agree with me in admitting that for a brief season it is by no means an unpleasant abiding place; and although my young fellow travellers were utterly dissimilar in disposition and taste, save in the matter of sporting, they were nevertheless equally pleased with the novelty, while I blush not to admit that in those days of my early manhood, B.A. though I was, I judged both the chaussure as the general mise of the French grisettes far more seductive than at present, the gastronomical indulgences far superior, and all things, save fine buildings, draining, and general polish, infinitely more attractive and agreeable, to say nothing of the outlay.

Why, my dear friend, a gentleman with "dix milles livres de rente," as the French have it, or about £400 per annum, was then a millionaire, now he is simply a beggar. It may be that in the first thirty years of existence one scarcely takes cognizance of trifles, the world appears so cheerful one is less apt to find fault with the strength of one's coffee, or the toughness of a steak. Be it so as far as I am concerned, I feel far more pleasure in looking back to those days of early travel with Piggy and Mac than I should now experience if located on the fourth floor, of a "Grand Hotel," with little to contemplate at the "table d'hôte" save the gilding on the ceiling of the room in which the travelling world assemble, which so materially lightens the gilding of one's purse.

Piggy and Mac, I have already remarked, were totally different in character: the former had a bad habit of boldly speaking out everything that was on his mind; the latter, on the contrary, was more silent and reserved; nevertheless they were both amiable and warm-hearted lads. This candour, if I may so call it, on the part of Piggy on more than one occasion however got him into boyish scrapes, as even at "table d'hôtes" he bounced out the few words of French he soon picked up, and listened to the few he understood with no common keenness of observation, but utterly devoid of tact. Thus being one day placed at table next a somewhat fat and vulgar lady fresh from the provinces, who had helped herself to the last two cutlets in the dish, he boldly exclaimed to his companion:

"Mac, confound the old woman, no wonder she is so fat and greasy,

she might have left one for me," when the good woman turning on him said:

"Sar, I spaks English a leetle, and understands it betterer. You are an imperent boy. Your nation is one nation of shoplifters"-meaning possibly shopkeepers, a remark said to have issued from the lips of the Great Napoleon.

"We have no manners, no manners," bounced out Piggy, "nor appetites either you imagine, at all events we do not live on frogs" On which both the lads laughed, and the fat lady turning away her head exclaimed:

"Mon Dieu! quelle canaille !" and forthwith replenished her plate with a copious helping of fricandeau. Endless in fact were the little

scrapes the dear lads obliged me to rescue them from.

Well do I recollect on one of the last days of our sojourn in the Imperial city a most absurd little historiette, which though serious at the moment, I can scarce recall without laughing at its bare recollection.

Immediately opposite my young charges at the table d'hote there sat a somewhat aged Frenchman, who had the misfortune to be the owner of a nose, such as I have never beheld either before or since. In length, breadth, and colour it was truly marvellous, whether natural or derived from any physical cause I do not presume to assert: suffice, it was the most extraordinary nose that can be well conceived. Its owner appeared temperate alike in his eating and drinking, and withal bore himself most courteously, but the nose! alas the nose! It was in vain that I endeavoured to eat my dinner or look around me. Again and again I found my eyes resting on that remarkable nose. Could it be a mask! no, it was no carnival time; the nose was nothing but a nose-flesh and blood-human, but certainly not divine. Good breeding said no, humour said yes, it was impossible to resist the risible effects it created. In vain I endeavoured to pay no attention to the boys, or to take not the slightest part in their conversation; turning to help myself however to a somewhat enticing volauvent, I heard my young friends in deep confab as confab as to its falseness or reality, and felt nervous to a degree at their remarks, expressed somewhat too loudly, under the impression that they were not understood, for they were neither uncourteous nor unfeeling lads.

"Be dad," said Piggy; "is it a true nose or a false one? if the latter I should like to pull it off, for it spoils my dinner, though he himself seems to have a good appetite."

"I dinna ken," replied Mac in broad Scotch, "but I never saw the like in the Highlands nor the Lowlands either; may be its a French nose, and we shall get accustomed to them," on which both the lads laughed.

"Be quiet boys," said I, "eat your dinners without any rude remarks on those around you.'

"Eat my dinner," replied Piggy, "with that nose opposite! I might just as well be expected to relinquish a fresh-hooked salmon. Why, you might drive a waggon over it. Poor man; it is a polypus."

"Polypus," said Mac, "I dinna ken what that may be; but I fancy the gentleman has been bred in the elephant line. It's a trunk, and

no mistake." And again, notwithstanding napkins applied to their mouths, they were bursting with merriment.

I sat as it were on thorns. I saw the owner of the nose watching them narrowly. Whether the remainder of the company were accustomed to such noses, I know not; but, generally speaking, little notice was taken of the possessor of this wonderful aspect of human nature. At length the dinner was over, the company rose, and I felt for the moment relieved. Alas! the worst was to come. The unfortunate possessor of the nose, instead of going direct towards the doors of the saloon, crossed over to the side where Piggy and Mac were sitting. Both stood up as he passed; and, while almost bursting with laughter and excitement, which the good cheer had increased, in a most unfortunate moment, Piggy exclaimed, "Adieu, Nosey! When shall we three meet or see the like again?”

On which the Frenchman turned, and his eyes sparkling with rage, his nose as it were flaming like an eruption of Vesuvius, addressing me, he said in tolerable English, "Sare, if these young English dogs-I will not call them gentlemen-are your sons, you ought to teach them manners, or not allow them to sit at a public table. Le Bon Dieu made the defect in my face, not I." And, raising his hand, he gave Piggy a box on the ear that sounded through the vast apartment.

In an instant both Piggy and Mac flew at him. Boys as they were, they forced him into a corner, tore off one of his coat-tails, and had not I and several others come to the rescue, I do believe they would have had a pull at the nose. As it was, the box on the ear was happily pronounced a positive insult by the majority; whereas he could not prove they were certainly laughing at him, though he swore to having heard the word nose repeatedly pronounced in plain English. And I must admit that subsequently I became well accustomed to it; for on all occasions it was alluded to hereafter. This little adventure in Piggy's life appears tame in the writing-it was far otherwise, in fact. Peace, however, was at length proclaimed, and two days after saw us en route for Switzerland.

For a time the lads revelled in the fine mountainous scenery, fresh air, lake and river fishing. Study, however, was out of the question; and, after two months of pure mental idleness (anything but physical idleness), we returned to Paris, but not to the same hotel, and then settled down in the provincial town of Abbeville for the autumn and early winter, with the promise of recrossing the Border by Christmas. Dull as to many might appear a residence of three months at Abbeville in the days we live, without some special object or occupation I own to never having experienced it, though, by St. Hubert, I was in a constant state of hot water, so various were the scrapes young Lowlanders called on me to relieve them from. Now there was a melee with the college or school boys, when various unpleasant epithets were made use of, such as "John Bull" and "Johnny Crapaud"-compliments now happily dispensed with. Blows were given and returned, and if some of the French lads went home with black eyes and bloody noses, forsooth both Piggy and Mac afterwards returned with broken shins or a kick in the abdomen, and my whole day was passed in the endeavour to make peace-the stronger party always being as it appeared in the right; my lads in the wrong.

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