truly sorry, that, by this confession, I have forestalled the discovery with three-and-twenty critics, who were all gaping, open-mouthed, to charge me with the crime. 'Tis a vile plagiarism, certainly; for I must plead guilty to the knowledge of seven novels, be they of volumes more or less, three tales, two romances, thirteen plays, and one sermon, beginning precisely in the same manner-to say nothing of its being an invidious piracy from the commonplaces of the day; for, does not every husband, when, conscious of much wine, he comes home late, and meets the scowling brow of the soother of his soul, and views the gathering remonstrance trembling on her lip, like a bee hanging with its sting in the rosebud,-does he not, I say, arrest it ere it fall, with the altisonant, Zounds! and, after this happy commencement of his chapter, has he not all the words and sentences that follow, his own way, as I intend to have in mine?

And yet, I have a little to say in defence of

this boisterous "Zounds!" I can assure the pietist that, notwithstanding its etymological derivation from the awful and right royal outbreak of "God's wounds," that it is not an oath: and, in the sense he will hereafter find it used, it is nothing more than a pain-relieving expletive, guilty of no more impiety than its more modest and querulous brothers," Ah me!" "Alas!" and "Lack-a-daisy!"

And I can assure the young gentleman with the gilt spurs, and mosaic gold chains, that, inflated as it is, it is by no means vulgar; for it was used, with astounding emphasis, by the first gentleman of the age, and the first sovereign of Europe, his late majesty, upon a dirty little boy, who, when in search of the twopenny postman, and stumbling upon royalty, in the Windsor uniform, and alone, had thrust a penny in the regal palm, with a crumpled letter.

"Zounds!" said the possessor of the lives and

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fortunes of so many loyal Britons, "Zounds! boy, whom do you take me for ?”

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There is not a more loyal man in his majesty's dominions than myself; so do not expect that I shall be guilty of lèse majesté in recording the innocent and very ignorant answer. have only related so much of the anecdote as is necessary to my purpose, to prove that the word, per se, is not vulgar.

but

That, at the beginning of a book or chapter it is a plagiarism, I again acknowledge; surely the readers of novels will pardon mefor I assure them, if they strain at this word, they will be precisely in the situation of Rabelais' giant, who could swallow, digest, and thrive upon windmills, yet was choked by endeavouring to bolt a pound of butter, near the mouth of a heated oven. Surely those who are in the habit of devouring, greedily, dished-up plagiarisms, in the shape of sentences, paragraphs, plots, and chapters, ought

not to make wry mouths at a single pirated word.

"Zounds!"

This thunder-mocking word was ejected, almost at the loudest pitch of the human voice, in a large and lofty room of a splendid mansion, near Trestletree, in the county of Herts. This apartment had nothing to distinguish it from the generality of those of an estated English gentleman, at the close of the last century; with the exception that it contained many pictures, all relating to nautical matters, and the portraits of Howe, Duncan, Benbow, and most of the worthies who have built up the proud monument of England's naval glory. There was also, amongst the other furniture, and in a place of honour, a superb model of a ninety-eight, with a commodore's broad pendant attached to the main royal head, and several specimens of Indian weapons of war were resting in the corners of the room.

Now, this apartment opened, by the means

of a glass door, upon a carefully kept lawn, decorated with large and oval beds of roses; and the fragrance of many flowers from wellfilled stands, containing vase upon vase, made the air near the door balmy and odoriferous, and almost overcame the aroma of tobacco, that was too distinctly perceivable within.

At the moment that the terrific interjection, with which I have commenced this veracious history, was launched forth, this apartment, the lawn drawing-room, as it was called, was occupied by four persons, with whom I wish my readers to be most familiarly acquainted. Let us retrospect for one single moment; for, after the explosion of the terrible word, all was confusion and disarray.

Observe attentively that stout, broad-built old gentleman, with his back to the light; mark his high and bald forehead: the structure is ample and noble; but its pure and marble brightness is disfigured by a deep red seam, which, if you will trace it from the

apex