ance of Taee's sister, her gentle looks and
caressing words, vividly returned to me; and so impossible is it for one
born and reared in our upper world's state of society to divest
himself of ideas dictated by vanity and ambition, that I found myself
instinctively building proud castles in the air.

"Tish though I be," thus ran my meditations--"Tish though I be, it is
then clear that Zee is not the only Gy whom my appearance can captivate.
Evidently I am loved by A PRINCESS, the first maiden of this land, the
daughter of the absolute Monarch whose autocracy they so idly seek to
disguise by the republican title of chief magistrate. But for the sudden
swoop of that horrible Zee, this Royal Lady would have formally proposed
to me; and though it may be very well for Aph-Lin, who is only a
subordinate minister, a mere Commissioner of Light, to threaten me with
destruction if I accept his daughter's hand, yet a Sovereign, whose word
is law, could compel the community to abrogate any custom that forbids
intermarriage with one of a strange race, and which in itself is a
contradiction to their boasted equality of ranks.

"It is not to be supposed that his daughter, who spoke with such
incredulous scorn of the interference of parents, would not have
sufficient influence with her Royal Father to save me from the
combustion to which Aph-Lin would condemn my form. And if I were exalted
by such an alliance, who knows but what the Monarch might elect me as
his successor? Why not? Few among this indolent race of philosophers
like the burden of such greatness. All might be pleased to see the
supreme power lodged in the hands of an accomplished stranger who has
experience of other and livelier forms of existence; and once chosen,
what reforms I would institute! What additions to the really pleasant
but too monotonous life of this realm my familiarity with the civilised
nations above ground would effect! I am fond of the sports of the field.
Next to war, is not the chase a king's pastime? In what varieties of
strange game does this nether world abound? How interesting to strike
down creatures that were known above ground before the Deluge! But how?
By that terrible vril, in which, from want of hereditary transmission, I
could never be a proficient? No, but by a civilised handy breech-loader,
which these ingenious mechanicians could not only make, but no doubt
improve; nay, surely I saw one in the Museum. Indeed, as absolute king,
I shoul