is long silent about him, though conjecture is busy. It has been surmised that Mr. Jones is passing through Bucarest for the purpose of taking the command in chief of our armies in the Crimea. Some have been even heard to whisper that his destinies are yet higher, and that he has actually arrived for the purpose of replacing the British agent and consul-general for Wallachia. It has been hinted that he is a contractor on a large scale come to buy up all the food and clothes in the country. There have been meetings among the Jews and Greek corn-dealers, in consequence of the prevalence of this idea; but, in point of fact, Mr. Jones's real mission is a mystery.

His appearance was preceded by electric telegraphs, and special messengers came riding in hot haste with news of him. A boat was sent up the Danube, in spite of the gathering frost, to meet him, and at last this coming man dawned upon Bucarest in two carriages and ten, a travelling cook, and a secretary.

Expectation was on tiptoe, as well it might be, yet nothing transpired of the mysterious visitor. It was known that he was continually sending off despatches by the electric telegraph, and appeared likely to do so till further notice, with that reckless disregard of expense, supposed by foreigners to be so truly Britannic, but which might lead Britons to suspect that he had something to do with the concern. It is hinted, in well-informed circles, that the officer in charge of the telegraph was waylaid, and the contents of one of Jones's despatches extracted from him while in a state of panic from bodily fear. It is certain, at all events, that it transpired. It was written in mystic character, however, apparently, and so only to be read of course by the Austrian and Prussian police authorities, through whom it will be transmitted with touching confidence.

I am happy to be able to give the contents of that despatch entire, as communicated to me by a personal friend, who had bribed the butler of a very important personage to obtain an authenticated copy :—

"1/1/55. B. safe. Fine, frosty; no bother. Mr. C. Trump. No difficulty whatever. Ten per cent. at least,

perhaps more. 36 flannel waistcoats. Varna."

Kiss Bessy. 5th,

Such is the whole of this remarkable document, and the sensation it has created among all classes here may be better imagined than divined, -a sensation which has become almost painful, since it transpired that a letter has been received by Messrs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from their cousin, a gentleman of Caucasian origin, attached to our embassy at Timbuctoo, and who is very well known to be the private banker and confidential man of no less a person than his Excellency Lieutenant-General the Earl of Fiddlededee.

The contents of this important missive, which arrived at midnight by a special courier, have not of course been made public. Messrs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, understand too well the necessity of preserving a sacred mystery on all diplomatic matters communicated to them by their distinguished relative, to allow the exclusive information obtained at so much cost to become generally known.

Sufficient that the head of the firm was thereby enabled to call on Mr. Jones, and display such an intimate knowledge of his concerns, that this gentleman_immediately found it necessary to take Messrs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, into his farther confidence.

Couriers were therefore despatched immediately after the interview to Baron Benjamin, in London; to Baron Methusaleh, at Frankfort; to Baron Mordecai, at Naples; and to Baron Shadrack, in Paris,—all distinguished members of the great firm of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but what may be the nature of these communications of course remains a mystery, a diplomatic mystery, and probably a very profitable one to Lieutenant-General the Earl of Fiddlededee, and the eminent Jewish gentlemen in his confidence.

Meanwhile Mr. Jones improves on acquaintance. He is a broad, square, powerful, handsome man, with a certain collected air and orderly manner of doing things, which is, I think, peculiarly English and imposing. He is not too clever. He has no prickly and uncomfortable ideas. All is smooth and rounded about him. He has a fair knowledge of most subjects,-brilliant thoughts upon none. I should

think that he had never said anything memorable in his life, and would assuredly never do anything great; but I am not quite sure that it is necessary to do great things, or that genius adds a whit more to a man's social position than it does to his happiness. Perhaps really it is a stumblingblock in the way of both. Mr. Jones has a fair average intellect, which is by far a better thing for him. He knows all the last current news of London and Paris. It requires no effort to follow his talk. It is all on the beaten track and smooth highway. He has an even, easy, pleasant way of telling an anecdote, which bespeaks an habitual diner-out. He converses upon political subjects in an agreeable and moderate manner: he is enabled to do so from the constant rumination of the leading articles in the Times; but if you look for anything striking or original in his remarks, even on the subjects which interest him most, you will be of course disappointed. A man of the world could predict what Jones would say on any given topic; and when he comes into the House of Commons, as is likely in the course of things, he will be looked upon as one of the most consistent, solid, and safe men of his party.

Look where you will, turn him in your mind how you please, you will find no fault in Mr. Jones, or his antecedents. The more you ask about him, the more you will learn to his advantage. Everybody speaks so well of him that he can hardly be a remarkable man, but he is certainly a most respectable one:

He does not belong to one of those august and quasi royal families, whose scions people are always criticizing, and hating, and envying, when they get any of the loaves and fishes. He is in no way connected with the greedy placehunting gang of the Greys. He is the son, and the younger son, of a poor lord, whose race have made no figure in public life for several generations. As the Honourable William Henry Jones, he belongs to the aristocracy, and cannot be sneered at as a vulgar dog, an upstart, a parvenu: but his mother was the daughter of a cotton-spinner, and his uncles are in trade. His father is one of those poor but estimable men connected with the Presbyterian church party, for whom everybody feels a sort of kindness and good-will,

There is a tradition that the seventh Viscount Brownmere behaved remarkably well towards Queen Caroline, and resisted the court faction with laudable though silent energy.

There are those still living who remember that hearty, honest old nobleman, and are pleased to see his son doing well in life, especially as it is rumoured he supports his sisters, and that he helps on his brothers at the bar and in the army.

Indeed, there is not a more satisfactory instance of the certainty with which political honesty and resistance to unjust things is rewarded in England than the distinguished career of most of the men who took such a forward part against the king in this instance, and the Joneses were not forgotten in the good things which fell so thick and fast on Denman, Scarlett, and Brougham.

Everything goes well with Jones. He sails with the stream, and goes as merrily on to fortune and repute as can be. He has friends in crowds, and a good word and a smile for every one of them. He is never abrupt and preoccupied with abstruse thoughts. He rouses no man's jealousy; he is always affable, courteous, gentle, and well-bred. He admires orthodox things: he condemns those at which the respectable portion of mankind set their faces. He is the oracle of elderly ladies, and the guardian of several young ones. A father could hardly give more excellent worldly advice to his son, than "Model your opinions on those of Jones, and change or modify them at the respectable time he does so, if you would do well in life. Depend upon it, that Mr. Jones and the majority of the world are always agreed about everything. You cannot do wrong if you follow him. If you differ, therefore, keep your ideas a profound secret, and get rid of them for being utterly unserviceable as soon as possible.

"Above all, beware of incurring the hostility of Jones, by thwarting his interests in any way, he has a remarkably keen eye for them. He is a much more influential man than he seems; and his wife has as good a position and as sharp a tongue as any lady in Eaton-square. If you cross them, Mr. and Mrs. Jones will damn you with an efficacy

and quietude of condemnation which will dispose of you at once without benefit of clergy. You will be looked upon as a person altogether without the pale of good society. You have the bad word of Jones, the quietest, best, most harmless fellow in the world; or Jones shrugs his shoulders, and declines to enter into the conversation when your name is mentioned, that is enough. People do not desire to hear more. If they do, let them come next Sunday to one of the most careful and proper dinners in Belgravia. Jones is disengaged then, and woe betide the imprudent delinquent who has offended him, be the culprit who he may,-for Mr. Jones is Mrs. Grundy."

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Our consular friends again. The chief of the police. An interesting fact about British subjects in Turkey. A Greek gent. He strikes an officer. He runs away; and finds an asylum in his consulate. He sheds tears. A British sea captain. His unobtrusive demeanour in a foreign country. Fine instance of energy in a British viceconsul. An agreeable colleague in office.

I AM aga or prefect of police in a town of Wallachia. It is not a very good business as times go. I have no power to repress abuses, or act for the public good, and the safety of persons or property here. The foreign consuls completely cow and override me. It is my opinion that if a foreign subject were to go about robbing and murdering at pleasure, he would escape with impunity; indeed, foreign subjects have done so, and have escaped.

Some time since, I detected several deliberate attempts to set the town on fire; many of our houses are of wood, they would catch easily. I forbade smoking in the street; I found a person infringing this order; I requested him to put out his cigar. He answered that I might forbid what I pleased to the Wallachians, but he was a Greek. I explained to him the reason of the order I had issued, and again demanded his compliance. He was a more powerful man than