announcement, that Sidhoo's Mugger was still
alive, and on his old beat, apparently
uninjured. It was evident that we had blasted
the wrong Mugger! We consoled ourselves
with the reflection that if he were not Sidhoo's
murderer, it was very likely he was not wholly
innocent of other atrocities, and therefore
deserved his fate.

Of course it was impossible to rest while
Sidhoo's Mugger remained alive, so we were
not long in preparing for a second expedition.
This time we took the precaution of not
charging the battery until we were certain
that the bait was swallowed. The acid,
diluted to the necessary strength, was,
therefore, carried in one of those brown
earthenware jars called grey-beards, which
had come out to us full of Glenlivet whiskey.
We commenced dragging the kid up the
stream, as before; but, having walked more
than a mile without getting a bite, we were
getting rather disheartened, and sat down
to rest, struck a light, and smoked a cheroot.
Hall laid down, having manufactured an
impromptu easy chair out of his coil of rope,
with the inflated goat-skin placed above it.
My brother was not long in imitating his
example, and I laid down, under the shade
of some reeds, near to the water's edge.
The heat was oppressive — and we were
discussing the probability of getting a bite that
day, and lamenting that we had not brought
some pale ale along with us, when, all at
once, I got a sharp blow on the leg, while my
brother came spinning down the bank like
a teetotem; a companion picture to Hall,
who was revolving down the opposite bank.
The ropes and skins went rushing down
the nulla at a tremendous pace. As soon
as we recovered from the laughter into which
we were thrown by this droll contretemps,
we set off in pursuit, guided by the track
which the inflated skins made in the water.
On they went, dashing from side to side,
as they had done in our first attempt. On
coming to a place where the nulla made
a sharp turn, they stood still under the high
bank, on the inner curve of the bend. It
unfortunately happened that the bank, near
to which the skins were floating, was too
precipitous for us to get near them, without
starting the Mugger from his present position.
With much labour, we detached some loose sods
from the top of the bank, and sent them with a
loud splash into the water, directly over where
we imagined him to have taken up his
quarters. This had the desired effect, for the
skins began to move slowly down the stream
as if the Mugger were crawling leisurely
along the bottom.

Leaving my brother with the coolies in
charge of the battery, I ran on to where
the bank was more shelving. By good luck,
the stream was rushing up, after its sudden
sweep, and sent a strong current against
this bank. I had not waited many minuses,
before the skins came floating round the
corner, to where I was standing. I seized the
one to which the wire was attached, desiring
my brother to charge the battery, and
bring it down. This he did much sooner than
I could have expected; for as the battery was
now empty, one cooly was able to carry it on
his head while my brother took the jar of acid
in his hand. It was evident from the motion
of the other skin in the water that the Mugger
was still moving; so no time was to be lost. I
made the connection with the battery with one
of the wires. In another instant the circuit
was complete, and the Mugger's doom sealed.

There was a momentary pause — owing, I
suppose, to some slight loss of insulation in the
wires—then came the premonitory shock; then
the rumble, the smoke, and the sparks; and a
great bloated mass of flesh and blood rose
to the surface of the water. Hall called
out to us to drag it ashore, and see whether
we could get any trace of poor Sidhoo. We
tried by means of a bamboo pole to pull it to
the bank; but the glimpse we got of it as it
neared was so unutterably disgusting, that we
pushed it off again, and allowed it to float
away down with the current.

That this was Sidhoo's Mugger, there could
be no doubt; for he was never seen or heard
of in the neighbourhood again.

CHIPS.

A ROYAL SPEECH BY JAMES THE FIRST.

As a strong contrast to the Speech from
the Throne, mentioned in the first article of
this Number, we are enabled to give—  from a
pamphlet which has fallen into our hands — a
condensed report of a speech made by Her
Majesty's pedantic ancestor, James the First,
on the 20th of June, 1616. It was delivered
in the Star Chamber, on the occasion of the
Judges setting out on their several circuits.
The report was drawn up by Edward Wakeman
from his own notes taken, in the
Star Chamber, from the Royal lips. He
was the son of John Wakeman, Esq., of Beckford,
in the county of Gloucester; and a
Barrister of the Inner Temple, of which
Society his father was also a member. The
original is indorsed in the father's
handwriting thus: — " The Kinges Speech in the
Starre Chamber, 20h Junij 1616 taken by Ned
Wakeman "  It is believed that no report of
this curious specimen of Royal eloquence had
ever till lately been printed, although the fact
of James the First having delivered a charge
to the judges in the Court of Star Chamber has
not entirely escaped the notice of historians.

The copy now before us was recently
printed by Thomas Wakeman, Esquire, of
Graig, near Monmouth, a descendant of the
reporter.

The minutes commence by stating that the
King, " in the beginninge of his Speache he
remembred a peece of Davides Psalmes rnakeinge
a briefe discourse concerning the exposition