Pantomime corrects history, and, whereas we
had always been instructed that Jack's first
victim was eighteen feet high, and resided in
a cavern commodiously situated on the top of
St. Michael's Mount, we now found that he
began with a little stunted victim of ten feet
and a half, who had no ostensible residence at
all. That Jack's departure on this errand was
celebrated by a ball, in which sixty young ladies,
in light and brief habiliments, formed some very
pretty tableaux—caused us no more surprise
than it did the elder John, who sat and smoked
the while; for, but little is known of Cornish
domestic life in the days of King Arthur, and this
pleasing demonstration might have filled the
place of what would now have been a public
dinner.

Such a hop-o'-my-thumb as we have described
gave the intrepid Jack, as might be expected,
very little trouble. His head (he had but one),
was quickly on the road to Lyonnesse—as,
now-a-days, one places a remarkable sturgeon
at the foot of royalty. But the next giant
was a totally different affair. His heads were
three in number. His stature was variously
estimated from eighteen to twenty-four feet.
His temper was irascible, his appetite without
limit. That this terrible monster was on
the move, was rendered manifest by the
numerous rustics who, with countenances pale
and elongated, passed with long strides across
the stage, or huddled in terrified groups at the
wing. It subsequently became known that
Gorgibuster's appetite was, this morning, singularly
keen: he having breakfasted early, and
slenderly, on a single ox. Furthermore, he was
known especially to desire human flesh, having
but recently devoured two-thirds of a school
who had been permitted, by an indiscreet usher,
to bathe near his dwelling. Some of the parents
having remonstrated, Jack had been appealed
to, and hence his present enterprise.

It has been a point of much dispute among
modern writers, whether giants roared. This
one did. A low rumbling sound, increasing in
volume at every utterance, announced the
monster's approach. Music of a colossal nature
accompanied the sound of mighty steps, which—
had there been such an instrument near—we
might have attributed to the big drum—and
Gorgibuster floundered on the scene.

As he was the largest, so was he the most
complete and workable giant I had ever seen.
His legs displayed as much tractability as if
their lower fathom or so had been cast in the
mould of nature, not of art. His heads were on
the best possible terms, and, but for the
peculiarity of the eyes being situated in the chin, and
the nose on the forehead, might have been called
human. Moreover, those eyes (being practicable)
admitted of being winked; and the very
first wink the giant gave was the signal for a
demonstration we had not expected. The giant
was accosted by stentorian voices as " George!"
was offered the compliments of the season,
was congratulated on his growth and
generally robust appearance, and was otherwise
greeted so much in the style of an old
acquaintance, that I referred to the bill for
information, and thereby discovered that the vital
principle of the giant was composed of Mr.
George R. Bungaye, renowned for feats of
strength and comic minstrelsy.

The giant did not always roar. He spoke
in colloquial tones, and threw some light
upon another mysterious question, by frankly
admitting that, with regard to "fee—faw-- fum"
neither he (Gorgibuster) nor any of his
brethren, had the remotest idea what was intended
to be conveyed by those remarkable expressions.

I have dwelt long upon this giant—for the
truth is, we liked him—we took to him. He was
not the furious ill-bred monster we had been
taught to expect. Rumour had belied him.
Gay, frank, genial, he showed himself possessed
of the most attractive social attributes. He
sang, he jested, he actually—though at the cost,
we feared, of much pain and weariness—shuffled
through the sailors' hornpipe: using his vicarious
legs with as much spirit as though wicker-work
were instinct with life. His very club—formed
of timber which possessed the rare and curious
property of collapsing, when brought into
contact with any hard substance—partook of its
master's yielding and peaceable disposition. And
as for his appetite—when it is remembered
that he had three mouths to feed, and some
twenty feet of stowage-room demanding freight,
I affirm that it was by no means inordinate.

With regret we witnessed the fate of this so
young and happy giant! In the bright heyday
of life—in the flower of appetite, always peckish,
yet never voracious—he was cut off by that
unfair weapon, Jack's sword of sharpness;
retiring into his own stomach, so as to admit of
decapitation, his three heads were cut off; and, with
faces wholly unchanged, beaming and winking
as in life, were transmitted to the king. An
adjuration to the prostrate trunk from the
gallery, to rise and give them " Hot codlings," was
treated with the contempt it deserved, and in a
few minutes we were in the full swing and riot
of the harlequinade.

Glorious was the fun. We were fortunate in
our clown. More accomplished fooling was
never seen, since the sun of Folly went down,
in Grimaldi. All four of us, exhausted with
laughter, were taking advantage of a moment's
pause in the hurry of events, to lean back and
wipe our brows, when Mattie uttered an
exclamation. Following the direction of her eyes,
my own fell, astonished, upon the lady to whom
our attention had already been directed. She
had turned round, and was leaning forward,
flushed with excitement, and devouring the
scene with the interest of a child of ten. Miss
Cavalier!

Our parties subsequently met in the passage,
Miss Cavalier walking between an old gentleman
with a pleasant face and reverend grey
head, and a fair lady, who seemed to be bis
daughter. As I boldly presented my charges,
Miss Cavalier blushed and smiled.