ing the electricity by different channels to
the ground. The lower end of the conductors should be carried down
into the earth till it reaches either water, or at least a moist
stratum.--_Library of Useful Knowledge._

* * * * *

The Sketch-Book.

THE MYSTERIOUS TAILOR.

_A Romance of High Holborn._

It came to pass that, towards the close of 1826, I found occasion to
change my tailor, and by chance, or the recommendation of friends--I
cannot now remember which--applied to one who vegetated in that
particular region of the metropolis where the rivers of
Museum-street and Drury-lane (to adopt the language of metaphor)
flow into and form the capacious estuary of High Holborn. Whoever
has sailed along, or cast anchor in this confluence, must have seen
the individual I allude to. He sits--I should perhaps say sat,
inasmuch as he is since defunct--bolt upright, with a pen behind his
ear, in the centre of a dingy, spectral-looking shop, quaintly hung
round with clothes, of divers forms and patterns, in every stage of
existence--from the first crude conception of the incipient surtout
or pantaloons, down to the last glorious touch that immortalizes the
artist. His figure is slim and undersized; his cheeks are sallow,
with two furrows on each side his nose, filled not unfrequently with
snuff; his eyes project like lobsters', and cast their shifting
glances about with a vague sort of mysterious intelligence; and his
voice--his startling, solemn, unearthly voice--seems hoarse with
sepulchral vapours, and puts forth its tones like the sighing of the
wind among tombs. With regard to his dress, it is in admirable
keeping with his countenance. He wears a black coat, fashioned in
the mould of other times, with large cloth buttons and flowing
skirts; drab inexpressibles, fastened at the knee with brass
buckles; gaiters, which, reaching no higher than the calf of the
leg, set up independent claims to eccentricity and exact
consideration on their own account; creaking, square-toed shoes; and
a hat, broad in front, pinched up at the sides, verging to an angle
behind, and worn close over the forehead, with the lower part
resting on the nose. His manner is equally peculiar; it cannot be
called vulgar, nor yet genteel--for it is too passive for the one,
and too pompous for the other; it forms, say, a sort of compromise
between the two, with a slight infusion of pedantry that greatly
ad