had ingeniously
contrived, in the nighttime, to get access to the house, and having
secured his spoil, had resorted to the pantry and wine-cellar for
refreshment. Of the stores from the latter receptacle, he had partaken
so liberally that he was thrown into a deep slumber, from which he was
roused by the unwelcome voice of the Officer who had been sent for to
take him into custody."

Our perambulators had now passed along the bridge, and advanced a short
distance on Blackfriar's road, when they observed a spacious travelling
caravan, stationary by the side of the high way, intimating that there
was to be seen within, the great northern bear, known by the name of
"Autocrat of All the Russias," while a fellow with a speaking tube
invited in the most alluring terms of itinerant oratory, the gaping
multitude to walk in,--"Walk in, ladies and gentlemen, and behold
this most wonderous of all wonders that ever was wondered at in this
wonderful world,--the _Ursa major_,--that gives its name to one of
the constellations, and was taken by a _ruse de guerre_ in one of the
hitherto undiscovered deserts of the remotest Siberia! This stupendous
animal was sent from these unknown regions as a present to a certain
great personage in this country, who having a superabundancy of native
bears already prowling about him, was pleased to order the dismission
of this northern stranger, without a pension; and thus it came into the
possession of its present exhibiter!"

~146~~ This irresistible invitation was accepted by several of the
auditory, including the baronet, Dashall, and the Squire, who were
gratified beyond their anticipations, with a sight of the great polar
bear, the desolate inhabitant of a frigid and dismal clime, where
Nature has forbid the vegetative, and stinted the growth of the animal
creation, with the exception of the shaggy wanderer of the desert
and the floundering leviathan of the ocean. The animal was perfectly
tractable; and its exhibition well compensated both for time and
gratuity.

The proprietor, however, in answer to an enquiry apart by Dashall,
acknowledged that his Ursine companion had never been attached to the
household of any great personage; although a northern quadruped of
lesser interest was under the protection of one of the Royal Dukes and
frequently played its mischievous gambols in the environs of Kensington
Palace.{1}

1 The Bear at Kensington Palace. Early on Sunday morn-ing it
was