t's the crown and the sceptre makes the king," said he, "'tis the
same with the science that makes the doctor; and no man can be despised
when he has a rag of ould Galen's mantle to cover his shoulders."

"So you're going to take blood from him?" asked Harcourt, as he met him
on the stairs, where he had awaited his coming one night when it was
late.

"No, sir; 'tis more a disturbance of the great nervous centres than any
derangement of the heart and arteries," said Billy, pompously; "that's
what shows a real doctor,--to distinguish between the effects of
excitement and inflammation, which is as different as fireworks is from
a bombardment."

"Not a bad simile, Master Billy; come in and drink a glass of
brandy-and-water with me," said Harcourt, right glad at the prospect of
such companionship.

Billy Traynor, too, was flattered by the invitation, and seated himself
at the fire with an air at once proud and submissive.

"You've a difficult patient to treat there," said Harcourt, when he had
furnished his companion with a pipe, and twice filled his glass; "he's
hard to manage, I take it?"

"Yer' right," said Billy; "every touch is a blow, every breath of air is
a hurricane with him. There 's no such thing as traitin' a man of that
timperament; it's the same with many of them ould families as with our
racehorses,--they breed them too fine."

"Egad! I think you are right," said Harcourt, pleased with an
illustration that suited his own modes of thinking.

"Yes, sir," said Billy, gaining confidence by the approval; "a man is a
ma-chine, and all the parts ought to be balanced, and, as the ancients
say, _in equilibrio_. If preponderance here or there, whether it
be brain or spinal marrow, cardiac functions or digestive ones, you
disthroy him, and make that dangerous kind of constitution that, like a
horse with a hard mouth, or a boat with a weather helm, always runs to
one side."

"That's well put, well explained," said Harcourt, who really thought the
illustration appropriate.

"Now, my lord there," continued Billy, "is all out of balance, every bit
of him. Bleed him, and he sinks; stimulate him, and he goes ragin' mad.
'T is their physical conformation makes their character; and to know how
to cure them in sickness, one ought to have some knowledge of them in
health."

"How came you to know all this? You are a very remarkable fellow,
Billy."

"I am, sir; I'm a phenumenon in a small way. And many people thinks,