bove four degrees--accidentally dabbling in the colours of some
Tradesman whose shop he had plundered--painted himself, or caused
himself to be painted (for the story varies) with the twelve colours of
a Dodecagon. Going into the Market Place he accosted in a feigned
voice a maiden, the orphan daughter of a noble Polygon, whose affection
in former days he had sought in vain; and by a series of
deceptions--aided, on the one side, by a string of lucky accidents too
long to relate, and, on the other, by an almost inconceivable fatuity
and neglect of ordinary precautions on the part of the relations of the
bride--he succeeded in consummating the marriage. The unhappy girl
committed suicide on discovering the fraud to which she had been
subjected.

When the news of this catastrophe spread from State to State the minds
of the Women were violently agitated. Sympathy with the miserable
victim and anticipations of similar deceptions for themselves, their
sisters, and their daughters, made them now regard the Colour Bill in
an entirely new aspect. Not a few openly avowed themselves converted
to antagonism; the rest needed only a slight stimulus to make a similar
avowal. Seizing this favourable opportunity, the Circles hastily
convened an extraordinary Assembly of the States; and besides the usual
guard of Convicts, they secured the attendance of a large number of
reactionary Women.

Amidst an unprecedented concourse, the Chief Circle of those days--by
name Pantocyclus--arose to find himself hissed and hooted by a hundred
and twenty thousand Isosceles. But he secured silence by declaring
that henceforth the Circles would enter on a policy of Concession;
yielding to the wishes of the majority, they would accept the Colour
Bill. The uproar being at once converted to applause, he invited
Chromatistes, the leader of the Sedition, into the centre of the hall,
to receive in the name of his followers the submission of the
Hierarchy. Then followed a speech, a masterpiece of rhetoric, which
occupied nearly a day in the delivery, and to which no summary can do
justice.

With a grave appearance of impartiality he declared that as they were
now finally committing themselves to Reform or Innovation, it was
desirable that they should take one last view of the perimeter of the
whole subject, its defects as well as its advantages. Gradually
introduction the mention of the dangers to the Tradesmen, the
Professional Classes and the Gen