tunate tenant, or, as he styled him, friend, expressing his anxiety to satisfy himself by actual inspection, if there were indeed no hopes of reanimating the vital flame. The landlord accordingly, with a shake of the head, which expressed as strongly as a shake of the head could express any thing, his full persuasion of the impossibility of accomplishing so desirable an event, preceded his guest to the apartment (a small double-bedded room at the backpart of the house) in which Mr. Jordan had directed the corpse to be placed, for the purpose of applying those means of resuscitation which his experience suggested.

Here, extended on a flock-bed, Beresford perceived the body of this victim to the severity of the elements, when a very slight examination convinced him that the assertions of his host, who roundly declared the poor gentleman to be" as dead as Harry the Eighth," were indeed too fatally founded in fact.

Breathing therefore a sigh to the fate of

the

the unfortunate sufferer, he proceeded, with the assistance of Clincher, to scrutinize the pockets of the deceased—a ceremony which that conscientious innkeeper asseverated was still to be performed. The produce of their search, when arranged upon the opposite bed, appeared, after the most minute investigation, to consist of a large black pocketbook, closely claspeda leathern box, containing a few pinches of Lundyfoot-half-a-dozen shillings, and about ninepence in copper-the remains of a handkerchief, which seemed to have seen considerable service-and, lastly, Mr. Beresford extracted from an inner breastpocket a moderately-sized bunch of keys, to which was attached one of a very peculiar construction.

Having satisfied themselves that no part of the effects belonging to the deceased had escaped their observation, Mr. Beresford dispatched his assistant for a light, by the help of which he proceeded to affix his seal to the pocketbook, which, toge

ther with the other articles, after having made the landlord take a correct inventory of them, he then deposited in a closet in the room, the door of which being also sealed, the key was committed to the care of Clincher, with an injunction to send him early intelligence of the hour which the coroner might appoint for the inquest. Beresford then mounted his horse, inattentive to the repeated insinuations of Mr. Clincher, as to the rawness of the morning, and the beneficial effects of " peppermint cordial," or " cherry brandy," on the coats of the stomach in cold weather, and directed his course, as expeditiously as the nature of the road would admit, to the habitation of his late tenant, at the door of which he perceived old Andrew Robinson, the kind of half-domestic, half-companion, we have before alluded to, in conversation with one of the persons who had assisted in conveying his master to the Royal Oak.

On perceiving his approach, Stephen,

for

for it was himself, retired, civilly touching his hat as he passed, while Andrew, drawing near, with a rueful aspect, exclaimed, in a dolorous tone-"Bad news, bad news, your honour! Your honour has heard, maybe, what has happened to poor master? well, well, to be sure, all things last but a time! I thought how it would be -my mind always misgived me, somehow, these Lunnon journeys would do him no good at last, travelling all night a-top o' them coaches, in all sorts of weather, and then three long miles to walk. No, no-it wasn't for nothing the deathwatch ticked so close to my ear all last night, and the coffin flew out of the fire; besides, I dreamt of water, and to dream of water, you know, sir, always signifies

"Never mind what it signifies, my good Andrew," said his auditor (alighting, and cutting short a string of prodigies, which, though of a humbler nature, might have vied in number and variety with those which

C 5

which the historian records to have attended "imperial Cæsar, dead and turned to clay"); "it is but too true, Andrew, that your master has left this world, I trust, for a better; and all we can do now is to pay proper respect to his remains, and secure his effects for his son, who, it is to be hoped, will benefit society by a judicious use of those hoards which my unfortunate friend must have accumulated."

"His son? Ah! poor lad-poor young gentleman! it will be a sad loss to him, for his father loved him even better than he did his money; nay, the very day he set out on this last journey, he told me he should soon see his dear Charles; it is now five years since he left home to go to Oxford college, or some sich place, and master has been more near and stingy-like ever since, always scolding and grumbling at me for being wasteful, and saying I should ruin him, and sich like; always a-scraping and scraping, and all for master Charles: a fine lad he was, to be sure, for all he was a