WHOSE WATERPROOFS ARE THE BEST? CORDING'S HAVE BEEN TESTED FOR SEVERAL YEARS. Their General use by the Nobility and Gentry of the United Kingdom and the Officers of the Army and Navy in all parts of the world, is a guarantee of their service and durability. They are acknowledged by those who have used them to be THE BEST AND ONLY ONES TO BE RELIED ON IN ALL CLIMATES BY SPORTSMEN, TOURISTS, AND EMIGRANTS. CORDING'S FISHING BOOTS AND STOCKINGS ARE USED BY MOST CRACK ANGLERS, AND ARE FOUND MOST SERVICEABLE FOR COMFORT AND HEALTH. LIFE BELTS, AIR BEDS, COMPRESSIBLE SPONGING BATHS FOR TRAVELLERS. A LARGE STOCK OF FIRST-RATE GOODS ON HAND, AND ANY ARTICLE MADE TO ORDER. CAUTION.-All Genuine Goods are stamped with the name, J. C. CORDING, 231, STRAND, TEMPLE BAR, W.C. HOBBS'S PATENT PROTECTOR LOCKS. HOBBS'S MACHINE MADE LEVER LOCKS. 28. 6d. and upwards. May be had of all respectable Ironmongers in Town and Country. Illustrated Lists of Locks, Iron Safes, and Doors, Cash Boxes, &c. sent free on application to HOBBS, ASHLEY, AND CO. 76, CHEAPSIDE, LONDON. E.C. PARKINS & COTTO, 24 & 25, OXFORD STREET, LONDON. PHOTOGRAPHIC ALBUMS. A very handsome one for 30 Portraits, bound in real morocco, with two gilt clasps, 10s. 6d. Ditto for 50 Portraits, 12s. 6d., sent POST FREE upon receipt of a Post-office Order. DRESSING BAGS FROM 31s. 6D. TO TWENTY GUINEAS, DRESSING CASES FROM 21s. TO FIFTY GUINEAS. SLACKS SILVER ELECTRO PLATE IS A STRONG COATING OF PURE SILVER OVER NICKEL, MANUFACTURED SOLELY BY RICHARD AND JOHN SLACK. The fact of Twenty Years' wear is ample proof of its durability, and in the hardest use it can never show the brassy under surface so much complained of by many purchasers of Electro-plate. EVERY ARTICLE FOR THE TABLE AS IN SILVER. OLD GOODS REPLATED EQUAL TO NEW. 12 TABLE FORKS. O 12 110 O 115 O BRLBLACK STRAND, SLACK'S TABLE CUTLERY. Messrs. SLACK have been celebrated 50 years for the superior manufacture of their Cutlery. Best Quality, Warranted not to come loose in the handles. SLACK'S CATALOGUE, with 350 drawings and prices, gratis or post free. No Person should furnish without one. Ladies having Schools to employ Supplied with all the Laces, Works, Linen, Long-cloth, &c. Lace Collars and Sleeves, Cambric Handkerchiefs. White Dressing Gowns, 1 Guinea; Cotton Hosiery, 2s. 6d.; Patent Corsets, 16s. 6d. Real Balbriggan Hosiery. THIS PART OF THE BUSINESS UNDER THE LADIES' RIDING TROUSERS, Waterproof Riding Talma, 1 Guinea, Young Gentlemen's Superfine Cloth Jackets, 350. Young Gentlemen's Shirts, 58. 6d. RIDING HABITS, 5 TO 8 GUINEAS. Lindsey Riding Habits for little girls, 24 Guineas. Everything of the Superior Excellence for which the House has been Celebrated for Thirty Years. 53, BAKER STREET. MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE. FEBRUARY, 1862. A QUIET NOOK; OR, VAGARIES OF AN OLD BACHELOR. IN FOUR CHAPTERS. BY JOHN RUFFINI, AUTHOR OF CHAPTER I. LORENZO BENONI," HOW I STUMBLED UPON SCHRANK STEINBAD. AFTER a nine months' uninterrupted enjoyment of the sweets and bitters of a great metropolis, a man, without being a misanthrope, may own to a strong inclination to wish his fellow creatures well at a certain distance. It was in such a frame of mind that one fine day, in June, no matter the year-dates at a certain time of life become invidious witnesses-I left town for Switzerland, in quest of a quiet nook, wherein to dream in peace, and watch leisurely some flowing stream. Understand me, pray, cum sale discretionis. When I speak of a quiet nook, I mean relatively so. I am no Utopist. Give me a little space, a little air, a little privacy with a patch of green and water, my ambition goes not beyond. A modest programme, I hope; yet, as I had to learn to my cost, not easy to realize. Not certainly at the Hydrotherapic Establishment, which I tried first, on a friend's recommendation, and where I found a house crammed to suffocation, sixty-seven crinolines, and twenty-six panamas in full array, salon en permanence, concerts, amateur theatricals, tombolas, and what not! Bore for bore, I might get it cheaper in town. Equally, if not worse glutted, was the Spa, to which I next applied, and the No. 28.-VOL. V. what-is-its-name Kulm, up to which I climbed next. I was told at the first, to come again within a week, and there might then be a small room free; and, at the second, I had to fight my way to dinner-literally fight my way through and against hundreds of ravenous tourists, a good fourth of them young ladies, in all the eccentricity of fashion. Positively, Malthus is right; the world is sick of a plethora, we are too many of us in it-and, upon this wise conclusion, down I hurried ab irato; and here I was, after four days of an odious and ignoble race, jogging aimlessly along the railroad, like an unmasted vessel, and casting fond, almost envious glances at the châlets, which dot its sides, and at their happy occupants, the railway signal-men, who seemed with their signals to sneer at the homeless wanderer. Pretty neat cozy wooden boxes, those diminutive homes of the Swiss railway attendants, with delightful mosaics of pastures, and forest-covered ridges in front, or perhaps the chain of the Alps; easy work withal on those easy-going lines-no more than necessary to tickle a man's conscience agreeably with the sense of duty fulfilled; frequent contact, and near enough, with his fellow-creatures to keep his milk of human kindness fresh and sweet-yet distant and transitory enough to avert all danger of its turning sour. U |