t for the support of the house, should be appropriated for
the purchase of new books; but the salaries necessary for the officers,
together with the contingent expenses, have always exceeded the
allowance; so that the Trustees have been repeatedly ~10~~ obliged to
make application to defray the necessary charges.

Mr. Timothy Surety, the before mentioned Bearbinder-lane resident,
of cent per cent rumination; his accomplished sister, Tabitha; his
exquisite nephew, Jasper; and the redoubtable heroes of our eventful
history, were now associated in one party, and the remaining visitants
were sociably amalgamated in another; and each having its separate
Conductor, both proceeded to the inspection of the first and most
valuable collection in the universe.

[Illustration: page10 British Museum]

On entering the gate, the first objects which attracted attention
were two large sheds, defending from the inclemency of the seasons a
collection of Egyptian monuments, the whole of which were taken from
the French at Alexandria, in the last war. The most curious of these,
perhaps, is the large Sarcophagus beneath the shed to the left, which
has been considered as the exterior coffin of Alexander the Great, used
at his final interment. It is formed of variegated marble, and, as Mrs.
Tabitha Surety observed, was "_kivered with Kerry-glee-fix_."

"Nephew Jasper," said his Uncle, "you are better acquainted with the
nomenclature, I think you call it, of them there _thing-um-bobs_ than I
am--what is the name of this here?"

"My dear Sir," rejoined the Exquisite, "this here is called a _Sark o'
Fegus_, implying the domicile, or rather, the winding-sheet of the
dead, as the sark or chemise wound itself round the fair forms of the
daughters of O'Fegus, a highland Chieftain, from whom descended Philip
of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; and thence originated the
name subsequently given by the highland laird's successors, to the
dormitory of the dead, the Sark o' Fegus, or in the corruption of modern
orthography, Sarcophagus."

Timothy Surety cast an approving glance towards his Nephew, and
whispering Dashall, "My Nephew, Sir, apparently a puppy, Sir, but well
informed, nevertheless--what think you of his definition of that hard
word? Is he not, I mean my Nephew Jaz, a most extraordinary young man?"

"Superlatively so," answered Dashall, "and I think you are happy in
bearing affinity to a young man of such transcendent acquirements