Juan this morning, and offer to pay him ten per cent of the duties, down, in hard dollars, ten per cent more in six months, and the remainder in state bonds. What did he reply? That he could not wait so long, and that the state securities were only waste paper;-which is very true, but owing to the misgovernment under which the country groans. What is the consequence? It is that we must send the vessel to another port, and that the population must suffer, on account of the unenlightened policy of a tyrant."

And what we want, and what the inhabitants of Milcarrambas are prepared for," Mr. Smith put in," is a revolution, which shall place you in power, and enable us to carry on our trade."

tween his vaulting ambition and the unlimited sovereignty to which it aspired.

discontent to lead him a dance through scenes of trouble and discomfort, with the possibility of an end horrible to think of.

A little before sunrise he was roused by a brown servant, who brought him his chocolate, and informed him that his name was shouted by the people at a tumultuous meeting in the great Plaza of the town, coupled with the wildest vivas and the most emphatic allusions to liberty, the constitution, and other political blessings, which he was expected to bestow in the course of a few hours. The chosen one groaned in spirit, for he was not accustomed to get up quite so early, and the abstinence and excitement of the previous day had broken his sleep until a short time before this untimely disturbance. Moreover, as he drank his fragrant chocolate and nibbled his crisp biscuit, he felt a soothing of The heart of Don Ramon Redondo beat fast, animosity against his political rival; perhaps he as the path of ambition, from which he had been even wished that his foreign friends had not jostled by an adverse electoral vote, was thus re-taken advantage of his moment of weakness and opened before him. Difficulties presented themselves, however, to his cautious mind; but these were removed one after the other by his kind and judicious bottle-holders. He was told that several officers of the National Guard had been sounded, and that they all worshipped their old commander, and were ready to "pronounce" in his favour; while the poorer classes, and the Indians of the town, sighed for a return of the happy days enjoyed by them under the gentle sway of the noble and generous Redondo. Finally, upon an intimation from Mr. Jones that he and his partners were prepared to defray the "necessary expenses" of the affair, Don Ramon began distinctly to feel that he was the natural ruler of Milcarrambas, the only representative of the "party of order and enlightenment;" and that his fellow-citizens had claims upon him, not to respond to which would be quite a crime. At his suggestion the party adjourned to the quietest chamber in the house, where a transfer of specie immediately took place; also several pieces of paper were produced, and one or two were solemnly burned:-a proceeding which gave the prospective saviour of his country so much pleasure that it is to be presumed they bore his signature.

However, the wine was drawn, and it was necessary to drink it to the dregs; so Don Ramon arose and girt on a ponderous sabre, with regard to the antecedents of which he was in the habit of telling the most wonderful stories to the guests assembled round his hospitable board. Descending to the front door of his house, he found about thirty or forty ragged patriots eagerly awaiting him, by whom he was hailed as their approaching deliverer from the oppressions of Cachorro. A smart young fellow, in a red shirt and green scarf, who was first mate of the Pepita, acted as fugleman to the cheering, and, on the appearance of his chief, handed him a paper, on which a short proclamation had been drawn up by the eloquent and politic Lecarottier. This was immediately read aloud by a volunteer secretary of state, and, although not listened to with much attention, excited the popular enthusiasm: which was doubled when Don Ramon, in a short but spiritstirring speech, ordered his nautical lieutenant to lead the heroic and enlightened citizens to the nearest house where alcoholic fluids Messengers were then despatched to summon were sold. The revolutionary forces accordquietly a few of the heroes of the National ingly proceeded thither in good order, gainGuard and other leaders of public opinion; upon ing so many recruits on the way that the stock whose arrival, other little pecuniary matters were of pulqué and mescal in the first tavern they arranged to the satisfaction of all parties con- occupied was consumed in a marvellously short cerned. Before the meeting broke up, a confi- space of time. A good deal of marching and dential servant brought from Mr. Smith's house counter-marching then took place, in order to a bag containing a quantity of silver in small visit all the shops where arrangements had been change, to be used to stimulate the enthusiasm made by Don Ramon's agents for the granting of the populace. And every one of the conspira- of unlimited credit to the friends of order and tors felt that the morrow was destined to be a enlightenment. A dropping fire of old flint great and memorable day in the annals of Mil-muskets and horse-pistols was also kept up, to

carrambas.

Don Ramon retired to snatch a few hours of troubled sleep, full of dreams of glory and power, such as may be supposed to have been present with Napoleon on the evening of the 17th Brumaire; or to have haunted the pillow of Sultan Mahmoud before the first cannon had been fired against the Janissaries who stood be

the injury of no one, as the pieces were gene. rally pointed directly upward, but with the effect of rousing at a small expense that rapturous feeling of combativeness which is said to be experienced by soldiers in the heat of battle. When, towards mid-day, Don Ramon, mounted on a tall grey mule and attended by a score of devoted and influential friends, rode into the

Plaza, the loud viva which rent the air appeared repented bitterly of having allowed himself to to proclaim that the revolution was accom- be seduced from the quiet sphere of private life. plished and Milcarrambas saved. He found that the cares of state interfered with his regular hours of refreshment and repose, and threatened to ruin his digestion. The populace and the citizen soldiery were unwilling to return at once to their ordinary avocations after the exciting interlude of political strife they had enjoyed, and were deeply discontented to find that the drinking-shops were no longer open on credit.

The right of Translating Articles from ALL THE YEAR ROUND is reserved by the Authors.

Published at the Office, No. 26, Wellington Street, Strand. Printed by C. WRITING, Beaufort House, Strand.

ALL THE YEAR ROUND.

A WEEKLY JOURNAL.

CONDUCTED BY CHARLES DICKENS.

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED HOUSEHOLD WORDS.

painting. Of the fine arts, music alone attracted | had leaped the railing that divided the meadow and pleased him. His conversation was often from the road, and, in so doing, the poor child, eminently suggestive, touching on much, whether perched on his shoulder, had, perhaps from surin books or mankind, that set one thinking; but prise or fright, loosened its hold and fallen heavily I never remember him to have uttered any of its cries were piteous. Margrave clapped his those lofty or tender sentiments which form the hands to his ears-uttered an exclamation of connecting links between youth and genius. For anger-and not even stopping to lift up the boy, if poets sing to the young, and the young hail or examine what the hurt was, called to the other their own interpreters in poets, it is because the children to come on, and was soon rolling with tendency of both is to idealise the realities of them on the grass, and pelting them with daisies. life: finding everywhere in the Real a something When I came up, only one child remained by that is noble or fair, and making the fair yet the sufferer-its little brother, a year older than fairer, and the noble nobler still. itself. The child had fallen on its arm, which was not broken, but violently contused. The pain must have been intense. I carried the child to its home, and had to remain there some time. I did not see Margrave till the next morning; when he then called. I felt so indignant that I could scarcely speak to him. When at last I rebuked him for his inhumanity, he seemed surprised; with difficulty remembered the circumstance, and then merely said-as if it were the most natural confession in the world

In Margrave's character there seemed no special vices, no special virtues; but a wonderful vivacity, joyousness, animal good humour. He was singularly temperate, having a dislike to wine, perhaps from that purity of taste which belongs to health absolutely perfect. No healthful child likes alcohols, no animal, except man, prefers wine to water.]

But his main moral defect seemed to me, in a want of sympathy, even where he professed attachment. He who could feel so acutely for himself, be unmanned at the bite of a squirrel, and sob at the thought that he should one day die, was as callous to the sufferings of another as a deer who deserts and butts from him a wounded comrade.

I give an instance of this hardness of heart where I should have least expected to find it in him.

Oh, nothing so discordant as a child's wail. I hate discords. I am pleased with the company of children; but they must be children who laugh and play. Well! why do you look at me in that way? What have I said to shock you ?"

"Shock me-you shock manhood itself! Go; I can't talk to you now. I am busy."

But he did not go; and his voice was so sweet, and his ways so winning, that disgust insensibly melted into that sort of forgiveness one accords (let me repeat the illustration) to the deer that forsakes its comrade. The poor thing knows no better. And what a graceful beautiful thing this was!

He had met and joined me as I was walking to visit a patient on the outskirts of the town, when we fell in with a group of children, just let loose for an hour or two from their day-school. Some of these children joyously recognised him as having played with them at their homes; they The fascination-I can give it no other name ran up to him, and he seemed as glad as them--which Margrave exercised was not confined to selves at the meeting.

He suffered them to drag him along with them, and became as merry and sportive as the youngest of the troup.

me, it was universal-old, young, high, low, man, woman, child, all felt it. Never in Low Town had stranger, even the most distinguished by fame, met with a reception so cordial-so flatter"Well," said I, laughing, "if you are going to ing. His frank confession that he was a natural play at leap-frog, pray don't let it be on the high son, far from being to his injury, served to road, or you will be run over by carts and dray-interest people more in him, and to prevent men; see that meadow just in front to the left-all those inquiries in regard to his connexions off with you there!"

He

and antecedents, which would otherwise have
been afloat. To be sure, he was evidently
rich'; at least he had plenty of money.
lived in the best rooms in the principal hotel;
was very hospitable; entertained the families
with whom he had grown intimate; made them
bring their children-music and dancing after
dinner. Among the houses in which he had
established familiar acquaintance was that of the
mayor of the town, who had bought Dr. Lloyd's
collection of subjects in natural history. To that
collection the mayor had added largely by a very
recent purchase. He had arranged these various
specimens, which his last acquisitions had en-
riched by the interesting carcases of an ele-
phant and a hippopotamus, in a large wooden
building contiguous to his dwelling, which had
been constructed by a former proprietor (a

head of the musical department in the Queen of the Hill's administration.

Mrs. Poyntz retired to her favourite seat near the window, inviting me to sit beside her; and while she knitted in silence, in silence my eye glanced towards Margrave in the midst of the group assembled round the piano.

Whether he was in more than usually high spirits, or whether he was actuated by a malign and impish desire to upset the established laws of decorum by which the gaieties of the Hill were habitually subdued into a serene and somewhat pensive pleasantness, I know not; but it was not many minutes before the orderly aspect of the place was grotesquely changed.

retired fox-hunter) as a riding-house. And being a man who much affected the diffusion of knowledge, he proposed to open this museum to the admiration of the general public, and, at his death, to bequeath it to the Athenæum or Literary Institute of his native town. Margrave, seconded by the influence of the mayor's daughters, had scarcely been three days at L-before he had persuaded this excellent and public-spirited functionary to inaugurate the opening of his museum by the popular ceremony of a ball. A temporary corridor should unite the drawing-rooms, which were on the ground floor, with the building that contained the collection; and thus the fête would be elevated above the frivolous character of a fashionable amusement, and consecrated to the solemnisation of an intellectual institute. Dazzled by the brilliancy of this idea,the mayor announced his intention to give a ball that should include the surrounding neighbourhood, and be worthy, in all expensive respects, of the dignity of himself and the occasion. A night had been fixed for the ball-a night that became memorable indeed to me! The entertainment was anticipated with a lively interest, in which even the Hill condescended to share. The Hill did not much patronise mayors in general; but when a mayor gave a ball for a purpose so patriotic, and on a scale so splendid, the Hill liberally acknowledged that Commerce was, on the whole, a thing which the Eminence might, now and then, condescend to acknowledge without absolutely derogating from the rank which Pro-it-words certainly not in Italian, perhaps in vidence had assigned to it amongst the High Places of earth. Accordingly, the Hill was permitted by its Queen to honour the first magistrate of Low Town by a promise to attend his ball. Now, as this festivity had originated in the suggestion of Margrave, so, by a natural association of ideas, every one, in talking of the ball, talked also of Margrave.

The Hill had at first affected to ignore a stranger whose début had been made in the mercantile circle of Low Town. But the Queen of the Hill now said, sententiously, "This new man in a few days has become a Celebrity. It is the policy of the Hill to adopt Celebrities, if the Celebrities pay respect to the Proprieties. Dr. Fenwick is requested to procure Mr. Margrave the advantage of being known to the Hill."

I found it somewhat difficult to persuade Margrave to accept the Hill's condescending overture. He seemed to have a dislike to all societies pretending to aristocratic distinction-a dislike expressed with a fierceness so unwonted, that it made one suppose he had at some time or other been subjected to mortification by the supercilious airs that blow upon heights so elevated. However, he yielded to my instances, and accompanied me one evening to Mrs. Poyntz's house. The Hill was encamped there for the occasion. Mrs. Poyntz was exceedingly civil to him, and after a few common-place speeches, hearing that he was fond of music, consigned him to the caressing care of Miss Brabazon, who was at the

Miss Brabazon having come to the close of a complicated and dreary sonata, I heard Margrave abruptly ask her if she could play the Tarantella, that famous Neapolitan air which is founded on the legendary belief that the bite of the tarantula excites an irresistible desire to dance. On that high-bred spinster's confession that she was ignorant of the air, and had not even heard of the legend, Margrave said, "Let me play it to you, with variations of my own." Miss Brabazon graciously yielded her place at the instrument. Margrave seated himself-there was great curiosity to hear his performance. Margrave's fingers rushed over the keys, and there was a general start, the prelude was so unlike any known combination of harmonious sounds. Then he began a chant-song I can scarcely call

some uncivilised tongue, perhaps in impromptu gibberish. And the torture of the instrument now commenced in good earnest: it shrieked, it groaned: wilder and noisier. Beethoven's Storm, roused by the fell touch of a German pianist, were mild in comparison; and the mighty voice, dominating the anguish of the cracking keys, had the full diapason of a chorus. Certainly I am no judge of music, but to my ear the discord was terrific-to the ears of better informed amateurs it seemed ravishing. All were spell-bound; even Mrs. Poyntz paused from her knitting, as the Fates paused from their web at the lyre of Orpheus. To this breathless delight, however, soon succeeded a general desire for movement. To my amazement, I beheld these formal matrons and sober fathers of families forming themselves into a dance, turbulent as a children's ball at Christmas. And when, suddenly desisting from his music, Margrave started up, caught the skeleton hand of lean Miss Brabazon, and whirled her into the centre of the dance, I could have fancied myself at a witch's sabbat. My eye turned in scandalised alarm towards Mrs. Poyntz. That great creature seemed as much astounded as myself. Her eyes were fixed on the scene in a stare of positive stupor. For the first time, no doubt, in her life, she was overcome, deposed, dethroned. The awe of her presence was literally whirled away. The dance ceased as suddenly as it had begun. Darting from the galvanised mummy whom he had selected as his partner, Margrave