On entering the royal palace, Bruce was at
once enabled to detect the king by his stature,
which exceeded six feet, his majestic costume,
and his snow-white beard, which descended to
his waist. The turban of the monarch was
of white satin, covered with feathers of the
most beautiful colours, his jacket and petticoat
were blue, and his robe was purple. Great
Britain, it seems, enjoys a good character
among the Centralians, for the king no sooner
heard that Bruce was an Englishman than he
congratulated him on his good fortune. "The
Britons," said he, "were always a brave,
generous, and free people, and never failed to
reward merit whenever they discovered it."
An invitation to dine with the monarch was a
natural result of this favourable opinion, and
Bruce had the pleasure of meeting at table a
countryman named Thompson, who had
distinguished himself in England as an honest
lawyer, and who, having about a hundred
years previously tumbled through one of the
marshes of Lincolnshire or Essex, had thus
reached the Central World, which had agreed so
well with his constitution, that he did not look
above forty years of age.

Crime being so extremely rare in the Central
World, Bruce might deem himself particularly
lucky when he heard in the palace that a
trial was to take place on the following day,
and that he would have an opportunity of
witnessing it. Eight o'clock in the morning was
the hour appointed for the judicial proceeding,
and the persons who were to go with the king
having assembled at an early hour in the palace,
they all set off for the place of trial, which was
a large field. On this occasion the king, who
seated himself on an eminence raised for the
purpose, with seventy of the oldest persons in
the country ranged on each side of him, wore
a black dress and turban, without the usual
ornament of feathers.

As soon as the prisoner was brought before
the court, the charge brought against him was
formally stated by the king, who opened his
discourse by averring that, although he had
lived nearly four hundred years, this was the
most painful moment he had ever experienced.
He had known the prisoner from infancy, and
could affirm that the life of the unhappy man
had been blameless, until a silly curiosity had
caused him to pay a visit to the foreign quarter,
where he had remained for above a month.
When on his way homeward, he began to fear
that he had offended his father by his long
absence; so he called upon a friend, who was the
prosecutor in the case, and implored him to do
his best as a well-wisher to the family. The
friend, accordingly, waited on the father, but
finding him somewhat sternly disposed, kept the
returned wanderer at his house for some three
weeks, continuing his solicitations in the mean
time. A reconciliation was at last effected, but
the unworthy prodigal was no sooner reconciled
with his father, than he informed him that this
very friend had persuaded him to remain so long
absent, and had even caused him to visit the
earthly quarter. He had also behaved in an
indecorous manner towards his friend's daughter,
a young lady who was of the tender age of
thirty, and therefore quite unable to take her own
part. All these facts made up a case of
ingratitude: a crime which the Centralians regard
with an abhorrence equal to that of the ancient
Egyptians.

The prisoner pleading guilty, the king
pronounced the sentence, which was to the effect,
that he should be conducted back to the place
from whence he came, and that after he had
there had his hair and beard cut off, he was to
be taken to the earthly quarter, never to leave
it upon pain of death.

Shortly afterwards an express arrived from
the earthly quarter, conveying the information
that the inhabitants of that unblessed region,
then increased to the number of two thousand,
were all up in arms, and contemplated nothing
less than the immediate destruction of the
Central Empire. The evil design was thwarted:
a sudden incursion proving so effectual, that
the enemy was utterly disabled from wreaking
further mischief. The banished man, on this
occasion, exerted himself so heartily in the
cause of his fellow-citizens, that he received a free
pardon, and was allowed to return from exile.

One day, while he was walking in the fields,
Bruce perceived in the air a dark body, about
the size of half-a-crown, which was evidently
descending from the earth above. When it had
fallen, it proved, on closer inspection, to be a
man who had treated him with base ingratitude
prior to his departure from England. With the
aid of the bottle of ointment he raised the man
from the ground, forbidding him, in accordance
with the lessons he had received, to embrace
his knees. Mr. Worldly—so the man was
named, no sooner recognised Bruce, than he
showed the deepest contrition, and explained
his unhappy situation by saying that he had
fallen down a chasm in one of the Derbyshire
mountains. In spite of all the care bestowed
upon him, the miserable penitent expired in
three days.

Bruce having learned from Worldly deceased
that his relations had shown great grief at his
supposed death, and would probably be charmed
to see him, his repugnance to quit the Central
World at the end of the year—which limited a
stranger's right to dwell in that blest abode—
was lessened, though he did not exactly see
how his return to the upper regions was to be
effected. As he had still two or three months
on his hands, he thought he could not do better
than pass them with the good old gentleman
who had been so kind to him on his arrival.
This wish he enunciated to the son, who, it
will be remembered, was his travelling
companion, and whom he found even more anxious
than himself to quit the capital. The youth
had that very day received a letter from a lady
in his father's neighbourhood, accepting an
offer of his hand, and was desirous to
complete his happiness with all possible speed.
Bruce, when returning to the residence of his