"Forgive me! " he exclaimed, " forgive me
for my audacious ignorance."

David laughed heartily; and, taking his
hand, shook it with fraternal cordiality.

By this time the news of the discovery had
spread; the tavern was crowded with persons
anxious to drink the health of their celebrated
visitor; and the good old man, standing in the
middle of the room, pledged them heartily.
In the midst of the merry-making, the sign-
painter's daughter, the pretty Susette, threw
her arms round her benefactor's neck, and her
intended husband raised a cloud of sawdust
out of his jacket from the violence with which
he shook the French master's hand.

At that moment, the friends whom he was
expecting arrived. They were M. Lessee, a
theatrical manager, and the great Talma.

KING CHARLES'S POST-BAG.

THE Post-bag of Queen Victoria is a somewhat
bulky affair, with its tens of thousands
of newspapers, its innumerable letters, and
its millions of money. John Bull of 1852
is very proud of his Post-bag, and talks about
it with remarkable vehemence. Yet, not
with less vehemence, did Mr. Chamberlayne,
in the year 1679, propound to his associates
the wonders of King Charles's Post-bag. Mr.
Chamberlayne, at about that time, published a
ninth edition of his very notable book on
"The Present State of England," wherein he
crammed many curious and instructive facts
for his great-great-grand-children. It is easy
to imagine Mr. Chamberlayne, with a some-
what pompous manner, primly attired as a
learned doctor, discoursing with uncontrollable
pride of the doings and the profits of his
royal master's Post-bag.

In the first place, he informs his company
that the profits of the Post-bag are settled
by Act of Parliament on his Royal Highness
the Duke of York; and that the
Postmaster General for the time being
is the Right Honourable Henry, Earl of
Arlington, Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty's
Household. He then proceeds to develop,
to an astonished public, the wondrous regulations
which govern the bag. First, he tells
them, every Monday letters and " pacquets"
are despatched to France, Italy, Spain,
Flanders, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and
to Kent! Perhaps his audience think that
after the transaction of so much business,
the Governors of the Post-bag enjoy a day's
rest. Not so, however, declares Mr Chamberlayne,
dallying with his ruffles, for, on
Tuesday, letters and " pacquets " are
despatched not only to the United Netherlands,
Germany, and other foreign parts, but to
all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
After these exertions, his hearers think,
surely the Governors of King Charles's Post-
bag have a day's respite from work. Not
quite this, but something like it; for, on
Wednesdays, Mr. Chamberlayne declares,
letters and " pacquets " are despatched to
Kent only, and the Downs. On Thursdays,
letters start on their way to France, Spain,
Italy, and all parts of England and Scotland;
on Fridays, to the Spanish and United Netherlands,
Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and to
Kent; and on Saturday, to all parts of
England, Scotland, and Ireland. And, says
Mr. Chamberlayne, " the answers of the said
letters and ' pacquets ' are received in the
said office in due course; and, from thence,
dispersed, and delivered according to their
respective directions with all expedition."
These facts, Mr. Chamberlayne opines, are
sufficient to make every English subject of
the enlightened seventeenth century proud of
King Charles's Post-bag. Yet other wonders
of management remain to be communicated.
The Post-bag is managed by deputy—my
Lord Arlington, of course, having nothing
whatever to do except to receive his salary.
Seventy-seven persons " actually " give their
attendance to the business of King Charles's
Post-bag in London; besides one hundred
and eighty-two deputy postmasters, scattered
through the three kingdoms.

Mr. Chamberlayne's throat swells with the
fulness of exultation, when he informs his
wondering company that King Charles's Post-
bag gives employment to two " pacquet-
boats " between England and France; two
between England and Flanders; three
between England and Holland; three between
England and Ireland; and two stationed at
Deal to ply to the Downs. " As the masterpiece
of all those good regulations," continues
Mr. Chamberlayne, the " market-towns are so
connected with the capital, that all
' considerable ' cities of the kingdom have an 'easy
and certain conveyance for the letters thereof,
to and from the said grand office, in the due
course of the mails, every post.' " Mr.
Chamberlayne now proceeds to contrast the
magnificent contents of King Charles's Post-
bag with the paltry Post-bags of the olden
time. He informs his company — who are by
this time bewildered with excess of admiration
—that although the number of letters
"missive " in England was not at all
considerable in their ancestors' days, yet it is
now prodigiously great, " since the meanest
people have generally learned to write; " so
great, that his Royal Highness of York is
able to farm the Post-bag for thirty thousand
pounds per year. Mr. Chamberlayne bids his
friends note also, that by King Charles's bag
letters are conveyed with more expedition,
and less charge, than in any foreign country.
A letter, containing a whole sheet of paper, is
conveyed eighty miles for two-pence; two
sheets for four-pence; and an ounce of paper
for eight-pence! This cheap conveyance is so
rapid (the Post-bag travelling by night as
well as by day), that a letter travels one
hundred and twenty miles in four-and-twenty
hours: so that, continues Mr. Chamberlayne,
to make a great impression upon his company,