which he thought looked too stiff; then he had it 'My dear
Sir,' which he thought looked too loving; next he had it 'Dear Spraggon,'
which he considered as too familiar; and then he tried 'Dear Mr. Spraggon,'
which he thought would do. Thus he wrote:

'DEAR MR. SPRAGGON,--

'I am sorry to be obliged to put you off; but since I came in from
hunting I have been attacked with influenza, which will
incapacitate me from the enjoyment of society at least for two or
three days. I therefore think the kindest thing I can do is to
write to put you off; and, in the hopes of seeing both you and my
lord at no distant day.

'I remain, dear sir, yours sincerely,

'CHARLES JAMES JAWLEYFORD,

'_Jawleyford Court._

'TO JOHN SPRAGGON, ESQ.,

&c. &c. &c.'

This he sealed with the great seal of Jawleyford Court--a coat of arms
containing innumerable quarterings and heraldic devices. Having then
refreshed his memory by looking through a bundle of bills, and selected the
most threatening of the lawyers' letters to answer the next day, he
proceeded to keep up the delusion of sickness, by retiring to sleep in his
dressing-room. Our readers will now have the kindness to accompany us to
Lord Scamperdale's: time, the morning after the foregoing. 'Love me, love
my dog,' being a favourite saying of his lordship's, he fed himself, his
friends, and his hounds, on the same meal. Jack and he were busy with two
great basins full of porridge, which his lordship diluted with milk, while
Jack stirred his up with hot dripping, when the put-off note arrived. His
lordship was still in a complete suit of the great backgammon-board-looking
red-and-yellow Stunner tartan: but as Jack was going from home, he had got
himself into a pair of his lordship's yellow-ochre leathers and new
top-boots, while he wore the Stunner jacket and waistcoat to save his
lordship's Sunday green cutaway with metal buttons, and canary-coloured
waistcoat. His lordship did not eat his porridge with his usual appetite,
for he had had a disturbed night, Sponge having appeared to him in his
dreams in all sorts of forms and predicaments; now jumping a-top of
him--now upsetting Jack--now riding over Frostyface--now crashing among his
hounds; and he awoke, fully determined to get rid of him by fair means or
foul. Buying his horses did not seem so good a speculation as blowing his
credit at Jawleyford Court, for, independently of disliking