t
I always do: the water is delicious, and I think my rheumatism has
departed from me. Mr. Manifold, hob or nob!"

"No," replied Manifold, "confound me if I will. You are the fellow that
eats nothing but vegetables, and drinks nothing but water. Do you think
I will hob or nob with a water-drinking rascal like you? Do you think I
will put my wine against your paltry water?"

"Don't call it paltry," replied the Pythagorean; "it is delicious. You
know not how it elevates the spirits and, so to speak, philosophizes the
whole system of man. I am beginning to feel extremely happy."

"I think so," replied the friar; "but wasn't it a fact, as a proof of
your metempsychosis, that the great author of your doctrine was at
the siege of Troy some centuries before he came into the world as the
philosopher Pythagoras?"

"Yes, sir," replied his follower, "he fought for the Greeks in
the character of Euphorbus, in the Trojan war, was Hermatynus, and
afterwards a fisherman; his next transformation having been into the
body of Pythagoras."

"What an extraordinary memory he must have had," said the friar.
"Now, can you yourself remember all the bodies your soul has passed
through?--but before I expect you to answer me,--hob or nob again,--this
is famous water, my dear philosopher."

"It is famous water, Father Mulrenin; and the parson's consecration has
given it a power of exhilaration which is astonishing." The doctor had
thrown another glass of usquebaugh into his cup, of course unobserved.

"Why," said the friar, "if I'm not much mistaken, you will feel
the benefit of it. It is purely philosophical water, and fit for a
philosopher like you to drink."

The company now were divided into little knots, and the worthy
philosopher found it necessary to take his seat. He felt himself in a
state of mind which he could not understand; but the delicious flavor of
the water still clung to him, and, owing to his shortness of sight,
and the doctor's wicked wit,--if wit it could be called,--he continued
drinking spirits and water until he became perfectly--or, in the
ordinary phrase--blind drunk, and was obliged to be carried to bed.

In the meantime, a new individual had arrived; and, having ascertained
from the servants that there was a great dinner on that day, he inquired
if Mr. Goodwin and his family were present at it. He was informed that
Mr. Goodwin and Mrs. Goodwin were there, but that Miss Goodwin was
unable to come. He asked whe