odore, and frankly
expressed as much; inquiring, at the same time, if many attained to
the same skill. Both the commodore and the brigadier laughed at the
simplicity of the question; the former answering that the people of
Leaplow were exceedingly active and adventurous, and both lines had got
to be so expert, that, at the word of command, they would throw their
summersets in as exact time, and quite as promptly, as a regiment of
guards would go through the evolution of slapping their cartridge-boxes.

"What, sir," I exclaimed, in admiration, "the entire population!"

"Virtually, sir. There is, now and then, a stumbler; but he is instantly
kicked out of sight, and uniformly counts for nothing."

"But as yet, commodore, your evolutions are altogether too general to
admit of the chance selection of patriots, since patriotism is usually a
monopoly."

"Very true, Sir John; I shall therefore come to the main point without
delay. Thus far, it is pretty much an affair of the whole population,
as you say; few refusing to toe the mark, or to throw the necessary
flap-jacks, as you have ingeniously termed them. The lines, as you may
perceive, cross each other at right angles; and there is consequently
some crowding, and occasionally, a good deal of jostling, at and near
the point of junction. We begin to term a monikin a patriot when he can
perform this evolution."

Here the commodore threw his heels into the air with such rapidity that
I could not very well tell what he was about, though it was sufficiently
apparent that he was acting entirely on the rotatory principle. I
observed that he alighted, with singular accuracy, on the very spot
where he had stood before, toeing the mark with beautiful precision.

"That is what we call gyration 3d, or position No. 4. He who can execute
it is considered an adept in our politics; and he invariably takes his
position near the enemy, or at the junction of the hostile lines."

"How, sir, are these lines, then, manned as they are with citizens of
the same country, deemed hostile?"

"Are cats and dogs hostile, sir?--Certainly. Although standing, as it
might be, face to face, acting on precisely the same principle, or the
rotatory impulse, and professing to have exactly the same object in
view, viz., the common good, they are social, political, and I might
almost say, the moral antipodes of each other. They rarely intermarry,
never extol, and frequently refuse to speak to one another. I