—the pain in her side, dear? Does she suffer
at nights?"

"Shoulder, shoulder, papa! Don't you
recollect? Well, but she is dying to know, and
so are we all; Mr. West, too."

"Oh," he said, carelessly, and speaking fast,
"about Sir John Trotter and the Seat! Well,
to tell you the truth, he behaved so infernal
stuck up, and impudent, and patronising — and
' I must have this,' and ' You must do that'
that I declare to you, one fine evening, I turned
my back, and told him to take himself and his
rotten borough to the deuce. A wretched old
Jacobite, and as mad as any hatter that made a
headpiece for a Christian."

"Oh, papa," she said, stopping in front of
him in the little street, and speaking with deep
reproach, and even anger. " You did this, and
after all your promises and engagements to us,
and to Mr. West, who helped you so!"

"Oh, never mind me," said Mr. West, calmly;
"I did not expect much more, recollect."

"And what did you expect, sir?" said the
father, turning on him a little fiercely. " Tell me
that, sir. What did you expect?" Then, with a
change of tone, " But go along now! Are you
both to be down on me in this way? Can I
help it? Can the leopard change his spots, or
the black his skin? Surely you know Harkey
Dacres. Ask them on the western circuit about
me; they'll tell you there's not a better man
on it. And now I declare, Lulu, it would have
rejoiced the cockles of your little heart to see
the way they received your poor dad — big wigs,
seniors, all! And I had a power to do. The
two best cases that turned up. A grand slander
case; damages, five thousand. What a burning
speech I gave 'em! I have the Liverpool
paper here, with full report. Now, wasn't this
a deuced deal better than cringing to a dirty
mean Scotch baronet for his old borough? No,
no. Harcourt Dacres, ma'am, would sooner
earn a crust honestly at his profession than
have the applause of a British senate purchased
by an obsequious sacrifice of principle!"

Mr. West, walking with his eyes on the
ground, made an involuntary face to the stones.
Lulu smiled, and shook her head.

AMIABLE THEODORUS.

THERE is at least one bishop on earth who
can derive very little enjoyment from his
episcopal position. He is alternately petted and
tortured, feasted in a royal palace or immured
in a royal prison. He places the crown upon
a chief's head, and, by the simple act of
anointing another, he deposes the monarch
he had consecrated. This is the Abuna, or
Coptic bishop of Abyssinia, whose person
the Emperor Theodore guards so carefully
that he hides him in a dungeon whenever a Ras
of more than ordinary spirit or ambition
approaches the imperial residence.

To procure the liberation of the English
captives in Abyssinia, Doctor Beke proposed that
the English and French governments should
recognise Gobazye, hereditary Prince of Lasta, as
Emperor of Abyssinia. But to induce the natives
to abjure their allegiance to Theodore and transfer
their loyalty to Gobazye, the partisanship of
the Abuna must be secured. The success of
the plan would depend wholly on his consenting
to anoint Gobazye as emperor, and actually
performing the rite. The moment the Abuna
completes the ceremony, the sceptre is believed
to fall from the emperor's hands; and even
though Theodore by force should retain his
throne, the legality and prestige of his power
are gone. Theodore seems to have
apprehended that the Abuna might be gained over,
for either he closes round his prison at Amba
Magdala a garrison of six hundred
musketeers and one thousand spearmen, or he
sweeps the unhappy bishop over steppes and
mountains in the midst of his army, and
beheads or burns alive any chieftain who contrives
to procure a conference with him.

The Abuna is always a foreigner, generally
an Egyptian consecrated by the Armenian patriarch
at Jerusalem or Constantinople. Although
the telegram from Constantinople which
announced the liberation of the British captives
in Abyssinia is known to be false, it must have
been framed by one well acquainted with some
incidents curiously illustrative of the intimate
connexion existing between the various Coptic
tribes and their patriarchs remotely distant.
An Armenian sojourning in St. Petersburg,
learning that the efforts of the English government
to recover the prisoners had failed, spoke
strongly of the influence possessed by the
Armenian patriarch at Constantinople, and
recommended that he should be appealed to. His
authority he represented to be paramount over
all tribes in his communion. Her Majesty's
ambassador at St. Petersburg reported this
counsel to Lord Stanley, and the latter, to
leave no available means untried before entering
upon war, directed Lord Lyons to place
himself in communication with the patriarch and
obtain his intercession. This patriarch, who
styles himself " BOGHOS, Chief of the Bishops,"
readily engaged to give all the assistance in his
power. As the most effective means of influencing
the emperor, the patriarch wrote a
pastoral letter, in which he attributes to Theodore
all imaginable Christian virtues. The
epistle was magnificently illuminated, and
Boghos prays that Providence may defend the
noble person and royal dignity, for the glory
and honour of the Christian religion. He
affirms that the justice and clemency of the
exalted emperor and all his religious virtues
are well known, notwithstanding the distance
between the countries of Abyssinia and
Constantinople. In the language of a suppliant, he
begs for the pardon and " liberation of his
majesty's slaves," the English consul and his
companions, " who have no refuge or help save
in the mercy and clemency of his majesty."
He admits the prisoners to be guilty, though
he does not specify the charge, and then