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few days previously, « here,—write, 'I am engaged' upon this, and hang it up at the window. »

Gipps mechanically proceeded to do what he had been bidden. Seizing the pen and ink, he printed the prescribed words in a large and bold character-thus :

I AM ENGAGED.

This specimen of chirography was unheeded by the parties most interested in the announcement it contained—the widows, who still bent their total amount of eye upon the street-door. The self-same humorist, however, who had before dislodged the unhappy Gipps from the window, either imperfect of sight, unskilful as a reader, or perfectly mistaking the tenor of the notification held aloft by its author, undertook to expound its contents to the throng about him. He in that there paper, cried he, says he, I am enraged;' when what he 's got to be in a rage about, I'm blowed if I think none of us can tell. It's us that ought to be in a rage-What d'ye say?-let's toddle to the market and fetch a few 'taturs and cabbage-stalks, and pelt the old muff-shall us? »

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«I'll tell you what, » cried Metcalfe suddenly, this won't do any longer. Come from the window, Mr. Gipps, do. You are only exposing yourself. I'll be hanged if there's a window on the other side of the street that hasn't half-a-dozen heads thrust out of it; and, very extraordinary; there's a decent sprinkling of widows among them, too. Now don't you think, Gipps, taking that gentleman by the arm, if I can disperse this assembly, I shall do you a good turn ?-Shan't I be entitled to your gratitude?»

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"You will, indeed, returned Gipps, holding up his spread hands; I shall almost be ready to worship you."

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"Ah! what, indeed! cried Gipps. Go, then, at once, and away with them-all of them!»

When Metcalfe was gone, Gipps threw himself upon his face on the sofa, and plunged his head under one of the cushions.

CHAPTER IV.

The Dispersion. The Widow, and wind-up.

Metcalfe, having undertaken the desirable business volunteered by him, proceeded to go through with it in a businesslike manner. By dint of coaxing some and terrifying others; by examining with the argumentative, explaining to the obtuse, and condoling with the disappointed, he succeeded in his mission. In half an hour the whole had disappeared. All this while, Gipps's head was under the sofa-cushion. Metcalfe did not return to restore confidence to him. He went forthwith to his own house, at the door of which, having knocked, he indulged in the following brief soliloquy.

«How precious absurd all this! That fellow Gipps is well to do in the world, and bears a respectable character. If he knew how long I'd had my eye upon him! He advertised

for a widow-but he wants a wife; and it shan't be my fault if he doesn't get one, before any of us get much older. » In the evening, when Gipp's self-possession and returned, Mr. Metcalfe was announced--and a lady.

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«I have brought my sister; - Mrs. Revell, Mr. Gipps, " introducing them she has come with me to condole with you on your unlooked-for levee this morning. »

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"I am most happy-this is indeed an unexpected pleasure, stammered Gipps, a blush overspreading his face and temples, se extraordinarily fiery as almost to threaten the ignition of his partially grey hair. Pray, madam, be good enough to take this seat. »

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A short silence ensued. Mrs. Revell did not speak Gipps did not know what to say.

In the mean while, Mr. Metcalfe had been elevating his chin towards the pictures that ornamented the walls. «Um » breadth - fine tone

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By the way, said he, turning about suddenly, what a fool I am. I have forgotten a particular business that of all things ought to be attended to. Will you excuse me, friend Gipps? I shall not be gone very long. I leave a good sub

stitute, that's one comfort. Talk to my sister, will you? Louisa, do pay particular attention, I beg of you, to Gipps' facetious stories. Our friend is full of anecdote! »

Now, was there ever such a wanton, such an unfounded assertion? However, Gipps did not much care. He did not know how it was, but he was not at all nervous this evening. He had had too many widows about him to-day to be afraid of one, and she, certainly, was a very charming woman. He had no idea before that she was so handsome. This comes of looking through the wretched medium of sheet glass.

How-very-very ridiculous-the concourse of this morning, my dear madam,» observed Gipps.

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It is all your own fault, returned Mrs. Revell. single gentlemen, who are bent upon being old bachelors, deserve it all. »

« Well but, my dear lady,» said Gipps, we can't do without housekeepers; we must have our little comforts-our- » « Well, sir, and why don't you marry, and get them,» innocently inquired Mrs. Revell.

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Gipps looked as though he had never thought of that before, and then looked at Mrs. Revell, and said, « who'd have me? I shall not relate how, before Metcalfe returned, Gipps, who had suddenly acquired the art of wooing, pestered Mrs. Revell till she was fain to answer I would, to Gipps's question. Suffice it to say, he had put his arm round the reasonably small waist of Mrs. Revell, and was just about to seal the bargain upon her lips, when (such things will happen) Metcalfe entered the room.

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«Fie! fie!» said he, that is very naughty, Gipps. Well, you wanted a widow this morning, and hav'n't you got one? » « I have," said Gipps; that is to say, I hope I have. But you must stay supper. I'll bring out the wine. »

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It was not very long after this that Gipps' friend Simpson received an elegantly-folded note, enclosing two cards united by satin ribands: « Mr. Samuel Gipps; « Mrs. Samuel Gipps. » Underneath the former, «Come and take a cup of hyson poured out by the delicate hand of my housekeeper. » (BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.)

VOL. I.

36

MISCELLANEA.

NEW MUSKET FOR THE SERVICE.-The musket that Colonel Hawker has suggested to the Ordnance (subjected to a severe trial, which has been begun, and will continue through the winter months) is the most simple, and the most water-proof that has yet been in use. He has availed himself of that clever invention, called the patent spring-musket (without a lock) of Wilkinson, and shortened the communication, by doing away with the chimney, and cutting deeper the concave under the stock; so that the stud of the nipple now screws directly into the under part of the barrel; and by taking Westley Richards' hermetically-sealed primer, he gets rid also of the distance which is taken up in firing down the orifice of a copper-cap nipple. The great advantages of these combinations are, that the detonating flame fires directly into the body of the charge, so that the soldier may use (and even without biting off the end of his cartridge) the coarsest cannon-powder, which stands all weathers, and which, Colonel Hawker has proved, shoots much stronger, and keeps its strength much longer, than fine powder; and he gets rid altogether of the copper-caps, which, like the fine powder required for them, he never, he says, could depend on, in sea-coast shooting, and any other continual damp; although they answer extremely well for the flood and field» sportsman, and may even weather an occasional wet day. With regard to the stocks, he says, in his work on Guns and Shooting, »« If strength and consequent cheapness require them to be so straight that I defy a man to shoot with them, put some elevation (similar to that on

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a rifle), instead of obliging the soldier to incline his head over, beyond the true line of aim. The Colonel has added to the stock of the musket, now on trial, a little knob of wood, merely put on with one screw, and similar to a pistolgrip, which gives great steadiness in firing, and a firm hold for the soldier if an enemy were attempting to disarm him. Should this musket be adopted, the motion of support arms,» would require to be superseded by that of « slope arms, » there being no cock or hammer to it. But this would be an advantage rather than an objection, as one motion less would be called for, thus saving the jackets of the men from being soiled by damp hands, or whitened by pipe-clayed gloves. Westley Richards has also a new patent musket coming out, which he anticipates will beat all others; and, if so, Colonel Hawker, who is to receive one for trial, will not, we are sure, hesitate to give it a preference, having no interest in either, beyond a desire to benefit her Majesty's service.

(UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL.)

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A YANKEE WITNESS.-A Yankee is cautious more so than a Scotchman. It is amusing often to see the dexterity with which he will avoid giving a direct answer to a question, where he suspects it may not be altogether safe to speak positively it is no small undertaking, at times, to extract evidence from a witness in court.

«Did you ever see the prisoner drunk?» asked a counsel of a fellow on the stand.

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Why, I've seen him jolly. »

But did you ever see him drunk? »

« I've seen him pretty well to live. »

« But did you ever see him drunk? »

"I've seen him when I thought he had full enough. »

But was he drunk, or was he not? »

Why, he might have been drunk; and then, again, he

might not; I can't say he wasn't drunk, and I can't say he

was. »

« Pray, did you see the defendant throw the stone?»

"Why, I saw him have a stone; and I suppose he might have thrown it. »

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