glimpse of me, exclaimed, 'Come
in--come in by all means'; and then proceeded, as before, speechifying
and gesticulating. Filled with some surprise, I obeyed his summons.

On entering the room I perceived another individual, to whom Francis
Ardry appeared to be addressing himself; this other was a short spare man
of about sixty; his hair was of badger grey, and his face was covered
with wrinkles--without vouchsafing me a look, he kept his eye, which was
black and lustrous, fixed full on Francis Ardry, as if paying the deepest
attention to his discourse. All of a sudden, however, he cried with a
sharp, cracked voice, 'That won't do, sir; that won't do--more
vehemence--your argument is at present particularly weak; therefore, more
vehemence--you must confuse them, stun them, stultify them, sir'; and, at
each of these injunctions, he struck the back of his right hand sharply
against the palm of the left. 'Good, sir--good!' he occasionally
uttered, in the same sharp, cracked tone, as the voice of Francis Ardry
became more and more vehement. 'Infinitely good!' he exclaimed, as
Francis Ardry raised his voice to the highest pitch; 'and now, sir,
abate; let the tempest of vehemence decline--gradually, sir; not too
fast. Good, sir--very good!' as the voice of Francis Ardry declined
gradually in vehemence. 'And now a little pathos, sir--try them with a
little pathos. That won't do, sir--that won't do,'--as Francis Ardry
made an attempt to become pathetic,--'that will never pass for
pathos--with tones and gesture of that description you will never redress
the wrongs of your country. Now, sir, observe my gestures, and pay
attention to the tone of my voice, sir.'

Thereupon, making use of nearly the same terms which Francis Ardry had
employed, the individual in black uttered several sentences in tones and
with gestures which were intended to express a considerable degree of
pathos, though it is possible that some people would have thought both
the one and the other highly ludicrous. After a pause, Francis Ardry
recommenced imitating the tones and the gestures of his monitor in the
most admirable manner. Before he had proceeded far, however, he burst
into a fit of laughter, in which I should, perhaps, have joined, provided
it were ever my wont to laugh. 'Ha, ha!' said the other,
good-humouredly, 'you are laughing at me. Well, well, I merely wished to
give you a hint; but you saw very well what I meant; upon the whole I
t