have been set running on castors as the animals then trained for the purposes of racing in France. Some such remark was uttered by a well-mounted Englishman to a companion, as Caroline and Von Hoffman rode by; the latter, turning round, exclaimed, "Ah! friend Ridsdale, moste happy meeting you: and the shanse that bring you to Parish?"—

"A run of bad luck in London, and the need of some security from the sharks of the law," replied Ridsdale, carelessly, "are the chances which afford me the good fortune of meeting you in France." As he spoke this to Hoffman, he looked it to the fair Englishwoman who rode at his side. "Let me," said the Jew," have the plaishure do indroduce my vife,”—and, from that hour, Launcelot became a constant inmate of the hotel in the Place Vendôme.

The springs of human action are too complicated, and too many to be detected by the most experienced professor of natural philosophy. The occasion that had made me acquainted with the German, at the cottage at Thames Ditton, had supplied good reasons for believing that he and my cousin were associates, neither of a recent acquaintance, or ordinary character. What had become of their friendship, from that period till they were found together in Paris, I never learnt. It is possible that Von Hoffman was really captivated by Caroline, and had removed her from the probability of being seen by Ridsdale-it may have been that the meeting in the Bois de Boulogne was an affair previously concerted-upon those points I was never enlightened.

At the season when I was thus tasting the champagne of existence that constituted the life of the gayest capital of the world, one half the roués and vauriens of that metropolis of pleasure were leagued to defraud and plunder the other. It was a complete system of moral Thuggism-the fine gentlemen sparing themselves, however, the menial business of the executioner, and leaving their victims to cut their own throats. Bands organized for play in all its varieties, having captains and other officers appointed-with signs and countersigns of fraternityexisted in the principal quarters of the city. Women, the engines of power alike during the reigns of absolutism and republicanism, have ever swayed the genius of France. Caroline, both in person and in character, possessed all the requisites for becoming a formidable instrument where female influence was to be brought into operation. To beauty the most imposing, she united extraordinary readiness in reading the dispositions of those around her, and that promptness of action when the plan is formed, which is almost the guarantee of success.

Soon after the interview between Ridsdale and Von Hoffman at the races in the Bois de Boulogne, they became the leaders of one of those associations. Aided by the talent and fascination of the fair

Englishwoman, the circle at the hotel in the Place Vendôme became the most attractive in Paris. The career of the confederates was a golden one, whose very sunshine led to the storm that caused its destruction. Enormous sums were won from an Italian nobleman, and the appropriation of the spoil produced the jealousies, recriminations, and personal rancour, whose climax was effected in the salon de jeu of the Palais Royal.

Among those to whose soirees I had the honour of being admitted, was an ancient lady of the haute noblesse, whose acquaintance my mother had long enjoyed, and at whose hotel she had met, I believe, the unfortunate Louis and his fair and ill-starred queen. The exalted flavour of the society, or the elaborate stew which the French imagined to be tea in those days, had never left the maternal palate. She never ceased eloquently to describe the condescension of the Duchesse, and enjoined my regular attendance at her hotel as the means calculated to elevate me degrees in social importance. The grande dame was a little lady, with a cushion of astonishing dimensions on her head, whence grew, or appeared to grow, a whole garden of artificial flowers. Her dress was like a monstrous curtain, open in the front, and so surprisingly short-waisted that it appeared, a miracle how she contrived to raise her arms. Beneath it was a petticoat of white satin, studded with coronets embroidered in gold. The parchment visage, gorgeous apparel, and railroad utterance of that awful old woman, will never be erased from the tablets of my memory. As I arose one evening from a long worrying which this antiquated causeuse had been inflicting upon me, she concluded her harangue with these words of warning :-"Gardez vous bien de vos compatriots, Messieurs les Anglais, ce soir, et touts les soirs. Il y en a, parmi eux, d'affreux Cartouches. Vous ne croyez pas ? Eh bien, je vais vous reconter." I laughed, but did not wait for her story, and seeking one of the breezy allées of the Champs Elysées, I soon recovered the effects of the soporific dose I had been compelled to swallow.

Every man has some peculiarity of manner or address. I am conscious of many. As I sauntered onwards, the figure of a very elegant woman attracted my notice, and, as my habit is, I put my hand under my eyebrows-horizontal with them-the better to distinguish her. A passer-by at this moment arrested, as if by the slight movement, regarded me fixedly, and then made the same use of his right hand. I thought it a piece of impertinence, and continued to shade my face as before. The man who was of most questionable appearance as regarded his appointments (like the great class of independents in France, gentlemen of some 500 francs of annual property, who live within their incomes) approached nearer, and laying his fore finger on

my shoulder, said, significantly, "Frère d'Argus-"

"Cent diables!" cried I, roughly, "what do you mean?" "Cent et cent," returned the speaker, with a satisfied air; "I know you, brother, by your sign: one of our fraternity has pressing need of your service; he is English, too -come with me."

I am by no means indisposed for a bit of enterprise now; but twenty years ago I would have descended the crater of Vesuvius if there had been the chance of an adventure at the bottom. A fiacre, therefore, was straightway procured, into which, after giving the driver his orders, my strange companion followed me. The place to which he conducted me was a country retreat, apparently three or four miles from Paris. The dwelling-house, of which I caught the indistinct outline, appeared to be small; but in the rear, by which our approach was made, there was an extensive garden, surrounded by lofty walls. It was a brilliant moonlight, and from the height on which it stood might be traced the shadowy indications of Versailles, Marly-le-roy, St. Cyr, Meudon, Trianon, and St. Cloud. But the two individuals of either sex, who walked through the grass-grown paths of that desolate garden, saw not, neither cared for, the flood of glory that poured its golden light upon them. The man was young, of a slight frame that had evidently suffered from recent disease—with fine marked features, but their handsome expression marred by the strange wildness of two large, coal-black eyes. These never for an instant rested upon any object, but roamed unceasingly, as if in search of something they eagerly desired to detect. He leant upon the arm of a woman as tall as himself, and she whispered to him in soft and tender accents, as one would address a child.

"I have saved your honour and your reason," she said: "all is now well the days of my thraldom are numbered."

"Beautiful Caroline!" returned the youth, passionately, "you, before whom my spirit bows-to whom my soul turned in those terrible hours of lonely darkness-tell me that we shall, indeed, never part again. I will make my fortune available in England. My friends will not look with surprise on this, as the letter I wrote months since, dated thence, will have prepared them for it. Let us begone at once! Is there aught to prevent our going? Why should we linger here? Is he not dead?"

"He lives still," replied the woman. "Is there, then, a hope of his recovery?" asked the young man, stopping abruptly, and gazing upon her wildly: "is there a possibility that he may live to tear you from me again?" "None; dream not of it," whispered his companion, laying her hand forcibly upon the arm that leant upon her,—" nonethere is no hope for him. His sands are run-he is of the quick for whom the grave is dug.-This night is his last!"

TRAINING FOR ATHLETIC EXERCISES,

THE superintendence of those who are about to go through a course of training, for the purpose of invigorating the frame, so as to render it capable of supporting and sustaining an unusual degree of fatigue, and of making efforts to which, in its usual state, it would be found unequal, is generally entrusted to men who are totally ignorant of the animal economy; and whose sole knowledge consists in an acquaintance with the process to which they have themselves been subjected, at some period, and which they deem applicable to every constitution. The object of the following pages is to give a few rules for the attainment of the highest state of physical power, and to point out, at the sa ne time, those cases which require, during the period of training, certain precautions dependant upon their natural or acquired state. It is not, however, the object of the writer to investigate all those diseases which militate against the development of considerable muscular power, as such a scrutiny would necessarily be, to a vast majority of readers, both tedious and uninteresting-but rather to point out the means by which a tolerably healthy man may invigorate his constitution generally, and materially increase his physical strength—an object which, whether to be attained for the purpose of promoting the natural functions of the body, with the sole view to enjoy the sweets of robust health, or of performing feats by which money, and a certain degree of fame, are to be obtained, is equally desirable.

From the irregular life which most men lead up to that period when certain monitory symptoms of decaying powers impress themselves so forcibly upon the observation, that they may not pass unheeded, it usually happens, that the greater number of those who go into training—more particularly if inhabitants of large towns-have acquired habits of indolence and debauchery of many kinds, which have both vitiated the natural and healthy secretions of the different organs of the body, and have likewise tended to debilitate the muscular fibre, and to increase the deposition of fat in various parts of the frame. To remedy this improper state, the great requisites to the man who is not labouring under any active form of disease, are, pure air, exercise proportioned to his strength, medicine, and diet.

The greater number of my readers may probably be unaware of the mode by which the atmospheric air, operating upon the blood in its passage through the lungs, produces in it that material change by which animal life is in a great degree supported; but as an explanation of this fact would, perhaps unnecessarily, lengthen this paper, suffice it to say, that the advantages of breathing a pure air are so generally appreciated, if not understood, that it is needless to dwell much upon a subject upon which there can not be a diversity of opinion. There are two points, however, connected with this portion of our treatise, to which it may be necessary to direct attention. The first is that, although the constituent parts and proportions of atmospheric air are found to be everywhere the same, their influence upon the human

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frame seems to be considerably modified by soil and situation. A wet marshy country is certainly not nearly so healthy as a dry soil, at a moderate elevation. The exhilaration of spirits, and the freedom of respiration that are experienced in the latter, are far greater than in the former situation; although here and there the reverse may be found to be the case in peculiar constitutions, particularly if afflicted with asthma, or some other form of pulmonary disease. The second point is, that it is not sufficient that pure air be only breathed when at exercise abroad, it should likewise be respired within doors as much as possible; and thus, confined rooms, a bedroom without a chimney, or a house surrounded by, or in the immediate neighbourhood of, stagnant water, should be avoided as a residence.

Having thus summarily treated the all-important items of air and situation, we shall proceed to deal similarly with the topic of medicine; because, unless a man be perfect master of that branch of knowledge, he should never attempt to make use of any but the simplest medicaments, but avail himself at once of the assistance of some surgeon of eminence, upon whose skill he can rely, and in whose knowledge of his constitution he can place confidence. The only medicines, therefore, which a trainer should venture to meddle with, are such as will gently assist the removal of too great a quantity of adipose matter; and the principal of these are such as operate upon the bowels and the skin. Before a person, unaccustomed to fatigue, becomes capable of enduring so much exertion as will make him perspire freely (supposing him to be too fat), it may be as well to subject him to the influence of such medicines as will produce this effect in a moderate degree, and they may at the same time be safely and efficaciously combined with mild purgatives. For this purpose let him take, for three nights consecutively, from eight to ten grains of compound rhubarb pill, with two of blue pill, and two of powdered ipecacuanha, and let the dose be repeated if necessary. These medicines are mild in their operation, and the doses ordered cannot do harm, even in ignorant hands.

When more active purgatives are required, as in the case of men, for instance, of a very plethoric habit, or who are subject to determination of blood to the head, saline aperients, as the sulphates of potash or soda, or Epsom salts, may occasionally be used; but these medicines, in full doses, and many others, as castor oil, jalap, and scammony, whose principal operation is confined to the mucous membrane lining the bowels, are by no means to be frequently repeated, as their effects are too debilitating, and they are too often productive of serious mischief, to be safe remedies in the hands of the uninitiated in the mysteries of medical science.

It is generally considered by ignorant persons, that the chief requisite for making a man strong and muscular is to give him plenty of food of the most nutritious kind; these people never stopping to consider for a moment, and, indeed, being incapable of judging, whether the stomach is capable of digesting the aliment it is made to receive. Thus, a man taken out of London for the purpose of being trained for some match, and whose excesses, of various kinds, have materially disordered the natural powers of the stomach and bowels, is made, all at once, to swallow daily a large portion of barely-cooked animal food, which, the enfeebled state of the stomach rendering it incapable of