emporaneous we will not be
over-nice in the criticism."

"At least," continued Sparkle, "you will admit it is better to be a bad
poet--than a bad man."

"Agreed--agreed," replied Tom.--"But who in the name of wonder have
we here--the emperor of hair-dressers and head-cutters turned
print-seller--Why, this was Money's, where I have, before now, had a
clip."

~~431~~~ "Nay, nay," said Sparkle, "don't be in a hurry to form your
judgment--his ingenuity is at work, and really it will be worth while
to have a cut all round; for I find he gives a portrait, displaying
the most fashionable Parisian dresses to every customer. Some you
know present bank, or, more properly speaking, flush notes upon these
occasions; but certainly this is a less exceptionable plan.--What say
you?"

"With all my heart:" and into the _Magazin de Mode_ they marched; to
which they were welcomed by the artist himself--ushered up stairs
with all due politeness, and in two minutes Sparkle was under his
incomparable hands, while Tom and Bob amused themselves with a peep at
the newspapers and the Gazette of Fashion.

"Fine morning, gentlemen," said the friseur.

"Is there any news?" asked Sparkle.

"We have the Paris papers, Sir, regularly, and a constant supply of
drawings of the newest fashion."

"I am more for domestic or home news," continued Sparkle.

"Not aware, Sir, of any thing particular--oh, yes; I recollect I was
told last night, over at the Haunch, that the mermaid is discovered."

"What," said Tom, "discover a mermaid over a haunch!" laying down the
paper.

"Beg pardon, Sir, beg pardon, a trifling mistake, Sir--nothing more--I
usually pass a recreative hour, after my daily studies, at the Haunch
of Venison, over the way: the landlord is an intelligent, accommodating,
and agreeable sort of man, and we have many gentlemen of considerable
consequence, both literary and scientific, who meet there of an evening
to pass a convivial hour--to hear and impart the news; and, Sir, as I
was saying, the mermaid is stated to be a fine hoax upon the credulity
of John Bull, being nothing more than the body or skin of a smoke-dried
old woman, ingeniously connected with the tail of a fish. I don't vouch
for the truth of the report, I only state what I hear, and can only
assert with confidence what I am acquainted with in my own business."

"I suspected the mermaid from the first," answered Tom, "I thought there
was some deceit in it."

"There is