fill the
paper. As our rustic pair had never visited the metropolis, they did not
know but Leadenhall Street and Hyde Park, Lambeth and Portland Place,
might all be close neighbours; therefore, however distant the different
fires might be, they fancied they all occurred nearly in the same place;
and from the time Mr. and Mrs. Flybekins resolved to visit Town,
scarcely a night passed in which they did not start in terror from their
dreams, screaming "Fire, Fire!"

All was hurry and preparation at "the Lodge," until the anticipated
arrival of the "Barnstaple Sociable," one morning at the door, summoned
the ambitious pair, and on the _fourth day_ of their departure
from Devonshire, they were duly set down at the White Horse Cellar, for
road-making had not then received the magic touch of Macadam. The next
day was occupied in searching for, and entering, suitable lodgings; and
the following day, having hired a carriage, which their unpractised eyes
considered most elegant in style and equipment, they sallied forth,
armed with a card-case, and a long list of commissions, the practised
horses going at the full rate of six miles an hour.

A friendly and familiar visit over, to some Devonshire friends in
Devonshire Place, they essayed next to discharge the now almost dreaded
call of state; for that which, contemplated at a distance, imparted joy
and hope, when at hand possessed something of awe mingled with these
feelings. Arrived in Grosvenor-square, after sidling along the gutter
close by the foot pavement, the distance of two or three houses, and
with a little preliminary tug of the reins, the coachman drew up
opposite the door of No. ----. Two powdered lackeys in rich livery were
peering through the long narrow windows on each side of the door, and
anticipated the intention of the diminutive, bandy footman, of knocking,
(that is, if he could have reached the knocker.) To the question of
"Lord and Lady B. at home?" a negative answer was delivered; they were
gone to the country, but were expected back to dinner. A card was then
handed in, inscribed in the neatest, spider-pattern handwriting of Mrs.
Flybekin: and they drove off to pursue the agreeable pastime of shopping
and going through part of the list of commissions, vivenda and agenda,
with which they were provided.

As the Flybekins drove along the streets, the words "PATENT
FIRE-ESCAPES," in large letters, upon the front of a tall house,
attracted their attention, a