almost contemptuously, "why tastes the stuff,
o' course, an' finds it as good cold whisky-an'-
water as I ever put my lips to."

This extraordinary story came to the ears of
the master, and the water-tap, which stood in
the distillery-yard, was openly examined before
all the servants. Water was drawn in tumblers,
mugs, and pails, and tasted by all present. No
one could detect the slightest flavour of spirit
in the liquid, and the ostler, by common
consent, was laughed at as a dreamer. He
adhered to his story, but his tone was less
confident than it had been before the experiment.

A few more weeks passed by, and the story
of the temperate horse, who got nicknamed
"Father Mathew," began to fade away. Even
the excisemen, who were always about the
place although not welcomed as members of the
family, and who had taken a strong interest in
the groom's narrative, ceased to talk about it.
As the weather got much colder, no more
mysterious cases of water-intoxication were heard
of among the females of the household, and
the establishment became as quiet and well-
conducted as the establishments of a dean and
chapter in a cathedral city.

Soon after Christmas, however, when the
weather was very severe, this calm was broken
by a discovery. A spring of water, possessing
peculiar properties, suddenly bubbled up,
in the middle of a public highway in
Whitechapel. It was not a saline spring, nor an
alkaline spring, nor was it flavoured with sulphur.
It was not tested by any people more scientific
than a knot of cabmen, boys, and east-end
idlers; but, one of these bystanders—no mean
authority on a question of ardent spirits—boldly
pronounced the spring to be "some kind of gin."
A fountain of gin spouting up in the middle of
the roadway was such a remarkable fact, that
no one present could believe it without tasting
the liquor. A few hesitated to try the drink,
more from fear than from holding temperate
opinions; but when a score or two had drunk,
and had loudly agreed with the opinion of the
first taster, a general scramble for the precious
water took place. The mob increased very
rapidly, and several wiry boys who had glided
in between the men and women, and had taken
a fair share of the mysterious fountain, began to
show symptoms of youthful intoxication. A few
policemen came on the ground, but were unable
to dispel the crowd, or account for the mystery.
Some few drinkers suggested that charity had
something to do with the spring, and that
spirits-and-water were being unostentatiously
supplied by a friend of the people. This
suggestion was rather favourably received, and the
health of the unknown benefactor was noisily
drank by the mob, who seemed inclined to take
all that the fountain could yield. The policemen
had no rule to guide them in such an
unexpected emergency, and they only formed part
of the mob. Never, since the days when the old
water-conduits ran wine on high festivals, was
such a scene witnessed in a public thoroughfare.

In the present state of the law and the
national finance, it is impossible to cut the
connexion between excisemen and ardent spirits.
Wherever one is seen, the other is sure not to
be far off: the spirits following the man, or the
man following the spirits. The street-fountain
of what turned out to be whisky-and-water
was soon taken into custody by a body of
inland revenue officers, who had more experience
in such matters than the astonished policemen.
They tasted the running liquid, and at
once began to trace it to its source, unchecked
by any theories about remarkable springs. A
broken pipe of a well-known east-end water-
company was the first thing discovered; and
this pipe—burst by the frost—was traced at
one end into the distillery where the female
servants had made themselves "ill" with "water."
The other end of this pipe was also traced, through
a long distance, into another distillery, where it
may possibly have conveyed whisky underground,
without the knowledge of the excisemen, and
without volunteering an account to government.
This pipe was ostensibly a private branch watermain,
laid down by the two distillers (who
happened to be brothers) to supply their works with
water, and no one was more astonished to find
the pipe filled with cold "grog" than the
suspected manufacturers. One or two scientific men
stepped forward in their defence, and discoursed
about peculiar waters, and remarkable springs,
and several other theories, in explanation of
the spiritual manifestations. The government,
however, were not to be satisfied without a trial
in a court of law; and a jury, after patiently
hearing the case, inflicted a fine of seventy-
five thousand pounds sterling on the two
distillers. The sobriety of the maid-servants was
incidentally vindicated; the ostler was relieved
from the suspicion of being a madman; the
excisemen were rewarded; the public revenue was
benefited; and Whitechapel, in being deprived of
a peculiar spring which might have converted it
into a "spa," was doubtless the only actual loser.

NEW WORK
BY SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON

NEXT WEEK
Will be continued (to be completed in six months)
A STRANGE STORY,
BY THE
AUTHOR OF "MY NOVEL," "RIENZI," &c. &c.

On the 27th of September will be published, price 5s. 6d.,
bound in cloth,
THE FIFTH VOLUME
OF
ALL THE YEAR ROUND.
Containing from Nos. 101 to 126, both inclusive.
The preceding Volumes are always to be had.