ish Clerk;

a pretty girl, beloved by Nathaniel Pipkin, and also by her cousin Henry, whom she marries. (Ch. xvii.)

Lobbs, Old. Father to Maria Lobbs; a rich saddler, and a terrible old fellow when his pride is injured, or his blood is up. (Ch. xvii.) Lowten, Mr. A puffy-faced young man, clerk to Mr. Perker. (Ch. xx, xxi, xxxi, xxxiv, xl, xlvii, liii, liv.)

Lucas, Solomon. A costumer. (Ch. xv.)

Luffey, Mr. Vice-president of the Dingley Dell Cricket Club. (Ch. vii.) Magnus, Peter. A red-haired man, with an inquisitive nose and blue spectacles, who is a fellow-traveller with Mr. Pickwick from London to Ipswich. The two gentlemen chat cosily on the road, and dine together on their arrival at "The Great White Horse inn. Mr. Magnus, being naturally of a very communicative disposition, and made more so by the brandy and water he drinks, confidentially informs Mr. Pickwick that he has come down to Ipswich to propose to a certain lady who is even then in the same house. The next morning at breakfast he recurs to the same subject, and the following conversation takes place :

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Pickwick; but have you ever done this sort of thing in your time?" said Mr. Magnus.

"You mean proposing?" said Mr. Pickwick.

"Yes."

"Never!" said Mr. Pickwick with great energy, -"never!"

"You have no idea, then, how it's best to begin?" said Mr. Magnus. "Why," said Mr. Pickwick, “I may have formed some ideas upon the subject; but, as I have never submitted them to the test of experience, I should be sorry if you were induced to regulate your proceedings by them."

"I should feel very much obliged to you for any advice," said Mr. Magnus, taking another look at the clock, the hand of which was verging on the five minutes past.

"Well, sir," said Mr. Pickwick, with the profound solemnity with which that great man could, when he pleased, render his remarks so deeply impressive, "I should commence, sir, with a tribute to the lady's beauty and excellent qualities; from them, sir, I should diverge to my own unworthiness."

"Unworthiness for her only, mind, sir," resumed Mr. Pickwick; "for to show that I was not wholly unworthy, sir, I should take a brief review of my past life and present condition. I should argue, by analogy, that, to anybody else, I must be a very desirable object. I should then expatiate on the warmth of my love and the depth of my devotion. Perhaps I might then be tempted to seize her hand."

"Yes, I see," said Mr. Magnus: "that would be a very great point."

"I should then, sir," continued Mr. Pickwick, growing warmer as the subject presented itself in more glowing colors before him, -"I should then, sir, come

to the plain and simple question, Will you have me?' I think I am justified in assuming, that, upon this, she would turn away her head."

"You think that may be taken for granted?" said Mr. Magnus; "because, if she did not do that at the right place, it would be embarrassing."

"I think she would," said Mr. Pickwick. 66 Upon this, sir, I should squeeze her hand, and I think, — I think, Mr. Magnus,- - that after I had done that, supposing there was no refusal, I should gently draw away the handkerchief, which my slight knowledge of human nature leads me to suppose the lady would be applying to her eyes at the moment, and steal a respectful kiss. I think I should kiss her, Mr. Magnus; and, at this particular point, I am decidedly of opinion, that, if the lady were going to take me at all, she would murmur into my ear a bashful acceptance."

Mr. Magnus started, gazed on Mr. Pickwick's intelligent face for a short time in silence, and then (the dial pointing to the ten minutes past) shook him warmly by the hand, and rushed desperately from the room.

Mr. Pickwick had taken a few strides to and fro; and the small hand of the clock, following the latter part of his example, had arrived at the figure which indicates the half-hour, when the door suddenly opened. He turned round to greet Mr. Peter Magnus, and encountered, in his stead, the joyous face of Mr. Tupman, the serene countenance of Mr. Winkle, and the intellectual lineaments of Mr. Snodgrass.

As Mr. Pickwick greeted them, Mr. Peter Magnus tripped into the room. "My friends, the gentleman I was speaking of,- Mr. Magnus," said Mr. Pickwick. "Your servant, gentlemen," said Mr. Magnus, evidently in a high state of excitement. "Mr. Pickwick, allow me to speak to you, one moment, sir." As he said this, Mr. Magnus harnessed his forefinger to Mr. Pickwick's buttonhole, and, drawing him into a window-recess, said,

"Congratulate me, Mr. Pickwick: I followed your advice to the very letter." "And it was all correct, was it?" inquired Mr. Pickwick.

"It was, sir, - could not possibly haye been better," replied Mr. Magnus. "Mr. Pickwick, she is mine!"

"I congratulate you with all my heart,” replied Mr. Pickwick, warmly shaking his new friend by the hand.

"You must see her, sir," said Mr. Magnus: "this way, if you please. Excuse us for one instant, gentlemen." And, hurrying on in this way. Mr. Peter Magnus drew Mr. Pickwick from the room. He paused at the next door in the passage, and tapped gently thereat.

"Come in," said a female voice. And in they went.

Now, it has unfortunately happened that Mr. Pickwick, on the night of their arrival, had occasion to leave his room to get his watch, which he had left on a table down stairs. Returning in the dark, he lost his way, and groped about in search of his room for a long time.

A dozen times did he softly turn the handle of some bedroom-door which resembled his own, when a gruff cry from within, of" Who the devil's that?" or "What do you want here?" caused him to steal away, on tiptoe, with a perfectly marvellous celerity. He was reduced to the verge of despair, when an open door attracted his attention. He peeped in-right at last! There were the two beds, whose situation he perfectly remembered, and the fire still burning. His candle, not a long one when he first received it, had flickered away in the draughts of air through

which he had passed, and sunk into the socket just as he closed the door after him. "No matter," said Mr. Pickwick: "I can undress myself just as well by the light.

of the fire."

The bedsteads stood one on each side of the door; and on the inner side of each was a little path, terminating in a rush-bottomed chair, just wide enough to admit of a person's getting into or out of bed on that side, if he or she thought proper. Having carefully drawn the curtains of his bed on the outside, Mr. Pickwick sat down on the rush-bottomed chair, and leisurely divested himself of his shoes and gaiters. He then took off and folded up his coat, waistcoat, and neckcloth, and, slowly drawing on his tasselled night-cap, secured it firmly on his head by tying beneath his chin the strings which he had always attached to that article of dress. It was at this moment that the absurdity of his recent bewilderment struck upon his mind; and, throwing himself back in the rush-bottomed chair, Mr. Pickwick laughed to himself so heartily, that it would have been quite delightful to any man of well-constituted mind to have watched the smiles which expanded his amiable features as they shone forth from beneath the night-cap.

"It is the best idea," said Mr. Pickwick to himself, smiling till he almost cracked the nightcap-strings, "it is the best idea, my losing myself in this place, and wandering about those staircases, that I ever heard of. Droll, droll, very droll!" Here Mr. Pickwick smiled again, a broader smile than before, and was about to continue the process of undressing, in the best possible humor, when he was suddenly stopped by a most unexpected interruption; to wit, the entrance into the room of some person with a candle, who, after locking the door, advanced to the dressing-table, and set down the light upon it.

The smile that played on Mr. Pickwick's features was instantaneously lost in a look of the most unbounded and wonder-stricken surprise. The person, whoever it was, had come in so suddenly, and with so little noise, that Mr. Pickwick had no time to call out, or oppose their entrance. Who could it be? A robber! Some evil-minded person who had seen him come up stairs with a handsome watch in his hand, perhaps. What was he to do!

The only way in which Mr. Pickwick could catch a glimpse of his mysterious visitor, with the least danger of being seen himself, was by creeping on to the bed. and peeping out from between the curtains on the opposite side. To this manœuvre he accordingly resorted. Keeping the curtains carefully closed with his hands, so that nothing more of him could be seen than his face and night-cap, and putting on his spectacles, he mustered up courage and looked out.

Mr. Pickwick almost fainted with horror and dismay. Standing before the dressing-glass was a middle-aged lady in yellow curl-papers, busily engaged in brushing what ladies call their" back hair." However the unconscious middle-aged lady came into that room, it was quite clear that she contemplated remaining there for the night; for she had brought a rushlight and shade with her, which, with praiseworthy precaution against fire, she had stationed in a basin on the floor, where it was glimmering away, like a gigantic lighthouse in a particularly small piece of water.

"Bless my soul," thought Mr. Pickwick, "what a dreadful thing!"

"Hem!" said the old lady; and in went Mr. Pickwick's head with automatonlike rapidity.

"I never met with any thing so awful as this!" thought poor Mr. Pickwick, the cold perspiration starting in drops upon his night-cap, "never! This is fearful!"

It was quite impossible to resist the urgent desire to see what was going forward. So out went Mr. Pickwick's head again. The prospect was worse than

before. The middle-aged lady had finished arranging her hair, and carefully euveloped it in a muslin night-cap with a small plaited border; and was gazing pensively on the fire.

"This matter is growing alarming," reasoned Mr. Pickwick with himself. "I can't allow things to go on in this way. By the self-possession of that lady, it's clear to me that I must have come into the wrong room. If I call out, she 'll alarm the house; but, if I remain here, the consequence will be still more frightful." Mr. Pickwick, it is quite unnecessary to say, was one of the most modest and delicate-minded of mortals. The very idea of exhibiting his night-cap to a lady overpowered him; but he had tied these confounded strings in a knot, and, do what he would, he could n't get it off. The disclosure must be made. There was only one other way of doing it. He shrunk behind the curtains, and called out very loudly,

"Ha, hum!"

That the lady started at this unexpected sound was evident by her falling up against the rushlight-shade: that she persuaded herself it must have been the effect of imagination was equally clear; for when Mr. Pickwick, under the impression that she had fainted away, stone-dead, from fright, ventured to peep out again, she was gazing pensively on the fire as before.

"Most extraordinary female this!" thought Mr. Pickwick, popping in again. "Ha, hum!"

These last sounds, so like those in which, as legends inform us, the ferocious giant Blunderbore was in the habit of expressing his opinion that it was time to lay the cloth, were too distinctly audible to be again mistaken for the workings of fancy.

"Gracious Heaven!" said the middle-aged lady, "what's that?"

"It's—it's only a gentleman, ma'am," said Mr. Pickwick from behind the

curtains.

"A gentleman!" said the lady with a terrific scream.

"It's all over," thought Mr. Pickwick.

"A strange man!" shrieked the lady. Another instant, and the house would be alarmed. Her garments rustled as she rushed towards the door.

"Ma'am," said Mr. Pickwick, thrusting out his head, in the extremity of his desperation," ma'am."

Now, although Mr. Pickwick was not actuated by any definite object in putting out his head, it was instantaneously productive of a good effect. The lady, as we have already stated, was near the door. She must pass it to reach the staircase, and she would most undoubtedly have done so by this time, had not the sudden apparition of Mr. Pickwick's night-cap driven her back into the remotest corner of the apartment, where she stood staring wildly at Mr. Pickwick, while Mr. Pickwick, in his turn, stared wildly at her.

"Wretch!" said the lady, covering her eyes with her hands, "what do you want here?"

"Nothing, ma'am, - nothing whatever, ma'am," said Mr. Pickwick earnestly. "Nothing!" " said the lady, looking up.

"Nothing, ma'am, upon my honor," said Mr. Pickwick, nodding his head so energetically, that the tassel of his night-cap danced again. "I am almost ready to sink, ma'am, beneath the confusion of addressing a lady in my night-cap (here the lady hastily snatched off hers); but I can't get it off, ma'am (here Mr. Pickwick gave it a tremendous tug in proof of the statement). It is evident to me, ma'am, now, that I have mistaken this bedroom for my own. I had not been here five minutes, ma'am, when you suddenly entered it."

"If this improbable story be really true, sir," said the lady, sobbing violently, "you will leave it instantly."

"I will, ma'am, with the greatest pleasure,” replied Mr. Pickwick. "Instantly, sir," said the lady.

"Certainly, ma'am," interposed Mr. Pickwick very quickly,-" certainly, ma'am. I-I-am very sorry, ma'am," said Mr. Pickwick, making his appearance at the bottom of the bed, "to have been the innocent occasion of this alarm and emotion, deeply sorry, ma'am."

The lady pointed to the door. One excellent quality of Mr. Pickwick's character was beautifully displayed at this moment under the most trying circumstances. Although he had hastily put on his hat over his night-cap, after the manner of the old patrol; although he carried his shoes and gaiters in his hand, and his coat and waistcoat over his arm, nothing could subdue his native polite

ness.

"I am exceedingly sorry, ma'am," said Mr. Pickwick, bowing very low. "If you are, sir, you will at once leave the room," said the lady. "Immediately, ma'am, this instant, ma'am," said Mr. Pickwick, opening the door, and dropping both his shoes with a loud crash in so doing.

"I trust, ma'am," resumed Mr. Pickwick, gathering up his shoes, and turning round to bow again, -"I trust, ma'am, that my unblemished character, and the devoted respect I entertain for your sex, will plead as some slight excuse for this" But, before Mr. Pickwick could conclude the sentence, the lady had thrust him into the passage, and locked and bolted the door behind him.

Mr. Pickwick finally encounters Sam Weller, his valet, who leads him to his room; but this night-adventure disturbs him considerably. The remembrance of it wears away, however, and, at the moment of being introduced by Mr. Magnus to his betrothed, the occurrence is not in his mind at all.

"Miss Witherfield," said Mr. Magnus, "allow me to introduce my very particular friend, Mr. Pickwick. Mr. Pickwick, I beg to make you known to Miss Witherfield."

The lady was at the upper end of the room; and, as Mr. Pickwick bowed, he took his spectacles from his waistcoat-pocket, and put them on, a process which he had no sooner gone through, than, uttering an exclamation of surprise, Mr. Pickwick retreated several paces, and the lady, with a half-suppressed scream, hid her face in her hands, and dropped into a chair; whereupon Mr. Peter Magnus was struck motionless on the spot, and gazed from one to the other with a countenance expressive of the extremities of horror and surprise.

This certainly was, to all appearance, very unaccountable behavior: but the fact was, that Mr. Pickwick no sooner put on his spectacles than he at once recognized in the future Mrs. Magnus the lady into whose room he had so unwarrantably intruded on the previous night; and the spectacles had no sooner crossed Mr. Pickwick's nose than the lady at once identified the countenance which she had seen surrounded by all the horrors of a night-cap. So the lady screamed, and Mr. Pickwick started. *

"Mr. Pickwick!" exclaimed Mr. Magnus, lost in astonishment, "what is the meaning of this, sir? What is the meaning of it, sir?” added Mr. Magnus, in a threatening and a louder tone.

"Sir," said Mr. Pickwick, somewhat indignant at the very sudden manner in