join and receive twenty per cent of the whole
net profits of the winding-up business, but
that we could not make any offer, or promise
anything to the solicitor and accountant which
he had with him. To this he readily agreed, and
made terms of his own with his partners, consenting
to give them a third of all he earned by
our mutual arrangement.

The day at last came when the Vice-Chancellor
had to deliver judgment in this matter.
His Honour was very decided that the bank
should be wound-up under inspection, and also
appointed my friend the accountant to be official
manager and liquidator of the winding-up. No
sooner was this done, than the accountant named
his friend the attorney to become solicitor
for the winding-up. The same evening the official
liquidator took charge of everything in
the bank. The clerks of the establishment
were at once sent about their business, one
or two only being kept to show the accountants
how the books were kept, and to explain
any difficulties they might find in the
correspondence connected with the business of
the bank.

Thus the Bank of Patagonia, which had cost
me so much trouble to bring into existence, and
which I had received five thousand pounds to
launch upon the world, was already dead, and I,
amongst others, was paid for having killed it.
When too late, some of the shareholders began to
see how they had been victimised, and how much
better off they would have been receiving even
a small dividend from the bank at work, than in
having to pay up on their respective shares
pretty large sums for the liquidation of the concern.
But the fiat had gone forth. The bank
was ordered to be wound-up, and no power in
England could prevent that order being carried
out. In the mean time, we, who were partners in
the little speculation, had a pleasant as well as
a profitable time of it. The solicitor's costs, to
say nothing of the official liquidator's fees, came
to a nice round sum, and this we divided every
week. Short accounts make long friends. My
share of the profits amounted to more than fifteen
hundred pounds, besides having a nice warm
office in which I could do any business I had in
the City, could write all my letters, and receive
friends.

For me the speculation has been a good
one. To get five thousand pounds for bringing
a company into the world, and a year
later netting a cool fifteen hundred for helping
to kill off the same concern, is what does
not fall to the lot of every man. I am quite
contented with what the Bank of Patagonia has
done for me, but I often wonder whether the
shareholders are equally pleased with the way
their money has been spent. They were first
induced to take shares in the bank, and then
so frightened that they consented to those
shares being wound-up, which led to their
having to pay much more for giving up business
than they would have had to do in order to
carry it on. But, after all, must not promoters,
solicitors, and accountants, live; and, if
shareholders were wise enough to trust their own
money to their own management, where would
then these professions be?

A WISH AND A WARNING.

WHEN thou think'st of days gone by,
                                          Lady fair,
May thy bosom heave no sigh,
                                          Lady fair,
May no bitter thought reproach thee
As the fading days approach thee,
Free from tear-drop be thine eye,
                                            Lady fair.

If such blessing thou would'st gain,
                                            Lady fair,
Give no bosom present pain,
                                            Lady fair.
With no honest heart dissemble;
If thou dost—oh, lady, tremble:
Thou wilt drag a heavy chain,
                                            Lady fair!

If a wedded fate thou meetest,
                                             Lady fair,
(Fate the bitterest or the sweetest,
                                              Lady fair),
Faith and truth must have a place there
If without—there is no grace there;
But with these, joy is completest,
                                              Lady fair.

MY TWO DERBIES.

I HAVE been twice to the Derby. On the
first occasion I went as a snob, in a greengrocer's
van, with an eighteen-gallon cask of
stout hanging over the tail-board; on the second
occasion—two Wednesdays ago—I went as a
swell, in a barouche and pair, with a champagne
hamper under the coachman's box. I believe I
am justified, from the barouche point of view, in
regarding the occupant of a greengrocer's van
as a snob; and equally, from the van point of
view, in regarding the occupant of the barouche
as a swell. I will not say which character I
assumed for the occasion—whether, being a
swell, I pretended to be a snob, or, being a snob,
I pretended to be a swell. Sufiice it, that on
both occasions the part I undertook, at very
short notice, was " adequately sustained."

I cannot, by mentioning the name of the
winner, indicate to my sporting readers the
exact year when I travelled to Epsom Downs in
a greengrocer's van; but it was a good many
Derbies ago. The greengrocer's pretty daughter,
who was courted all the way down by a young
man (of whom I did not approve), is now a
matronly person with a considerable family, all
the hideous image of that young man, who is
veterinary, of a morose disposition, and subject
to spasms of drink. I sigh when I think of
that pretty girl, so fair, so gay, and light-hearted
then; so careworn, so toil-burdened now. She
married that young man for happiness—as if
she had not been happy then—and now she