the tools of the worst of men for the worst of
purposes; and that they cannot be endured
by your poor father, or by any man, woman,
or child, of common sense, who has the least
connexion with us."

Little John, who had gradually left off
squaring, looked hard at his aunt. Miss
Eringobragh, Mr, Bull's sister, who was grovelling
on the ground, with her head in the ashes.
This unfortunate lady had been, for a length
of time, in a horrible condition of mind and
body, and presented a most lamentable
spectacle of disease, dirt, rags, superstition, and
degradation.

Mrs. Bull, observing the direction of the
child's glance, smoothed little John's hair,
and directed her next observations to him.

"Ah! You may well look at the poor thing,
John!" said Mrs. Bull; "for the Bulls of
Rome have had far too much to do with her
present state. There have been many other
causes at work to destroy the strength of her
constitution, but the Bulls of Rome have been
at the bottom of it; and, depend upon it, wherever
you see a condition at all resembling hers,
you will find, on inquiry, that the sufferer has
allowed herself to be dealt with by the Bulls of
Rome. The cases of squalor and ignorance,
in all the world most like your aunt's, are to
be found in their own household; on the steps
of their doors; in the heart of their homes.
In Switzerland, you may cross a line, no
broader than a bridge or a hedge, and know,
in an instant, where the Bulls of Rome have
been received, by the condition of the family.
Wherever the Bulls of Rome have the most
influence, the family is sure to be the most
abject. Put your trust in those Bulls, John,
and it's in the inevitable order and sequence
of things, that you must come to be something
like your Aunt, sooner or later."

"I thought the Bulls of Rome had got into
difficulties, and run away, Ma?" said little John,
looking up into his mother's face inquiringly.

"Why, so they did get into difficulties, to
be sure, John," returned Mrs. Bull, "and so
they did run away; but, even the Italians, who
had got thoroughly used to them, found them
out, and they were obliged to go and hide in
a cupboard, where they still talked big
through the key-hole, and presented one of
the most contemptible and ridiculous exhibitions
that ever were seen on earth. However,
they were taken out of the cupboard by some
friends of theirs—friends, indeed! who care
as much about them as I do for the sea-
serpent; but who happened, at the moment,
to find it necessary to play at soldiers, to
amuse their fretful children, who didn't
know what they wanted, and, what was
worse, would have it—and so the Bulls got
back to Rome. And at Rome they are anything
but safe to stay, as you'll find, my dear,
one of these odd mornings."

"Then, if they are so unsafe, and so
found out, Ma," said Master C. J. London,
"how come they to interfere with us, now?"

"Oh, C. J. London!" returned Mrs. Bull,
"what a sleepy child you must be, to put
such a question! Don't you know that the
more they are found out, and the weaker
they are, the more important it must be to
them to impose upon the ignorant people
near them, by pretending to be closely
connected with a person so much looked up to
as your poor father?"

"Why, of course!" cried little John to his
brother. "Oh, you stupid!"

"And I am ashamed to have to repeat,
C. J. London," said Mrs. Bull, "that, but for
your friend, Young England, and the
encouragement you gave to that mewling little
Pussy, when it strayed here—don't say you
didn't, you naughty boy, for you did!"—

"You know you did!" said little John.

Master C. J. London began to cry again.

"Don't do that," said Mrs. Bull, sharply,
"but be a better boy in future! I say, I am
ashamed to have to repeat, that, but for that,
the Bulls of Rome would never have had
the audacity to call their connexion, Master
Wiseman, your poor father's child, and to
appoint him, with his red hat and stockings,
and his mummery and flummery, to a portion
of your father's estates—though, for the
matter of that, there is nothing to prevent
their appointing him to the Moon, except
the difficulty of getting him there! And so,
your poor father's affairs have been brought
to this crisis: that he has to deal with an
insult which is perfectly absurd, and yet
which he must, for the sake of his family, in
all time to come, decisively and seriously
deal with, in order to detach himself, once
and for ever, from these Bulls of Rome; and
show how impotent they are. There's
difficulty and vexation, you have helped to bring
upon your father, you bad child!"

"Oh, oh, oh!" cried Master C. J. London.
"Oh, I never went to do it. Oh, oh, oh!"

"Hold your tongue!" said Mrs. Bull,
"and do a good exercise! Now that your
father has turned that Pussy out of doors, go
on with your exercise, like a man; and let
us have no more playing with any one
connected with those Bulls of Rome; between
whom and you there is a great gulf fixed, as
you ought to have known in the beginning.
Take your fingers out of your eyes, Sir, and
do your exercise!"

"—Or I'll come and pinch you!" said
little John.

"John," said Mrs. Bull, "you leave him
alone. Keep your eye upon him, and, if you
find him relapsing, tell your father."

"Oh, won't I neither!" cried little John.

"Don't be vulgar," said Mrs. Bull. "Now,
John, I can trust you. Whatever you do, I
know you won't wake your father unnecessarily.
You are a bold, brave child, and I
highly approve of your erecting yourself
against Master Wiseman and all that bad set.
But, be wary, John; and, as you have, and
deserve to have, great influence with your