His present circumstances, it may hereafter be seen, made the cause of a great change in his desires; and the conversation he held that night with the ingenious and skilful Augustus went more towards fitting him for the hero of this work than all the habits of his childhood or the scenes of his earlier youth.

Young people are apt, erroneously, to believe that it is a bad thing to be exceedingly wicked.

The House of Correction is so called, because it is a place where so ridiculous a notion is invariably corrected.

The next day Paul was surprised by a visit from Mrs.Lobkins, who had heard of his situation and its causes from the friendly Dummie, and who had managed to obtain from Justice Burnflat an order of admission.

They met, Pyramus and Thisbe like, with a wall, or rather an iron gate, between them; and Mrs.Lobkins, after an ejaculation of despair at the obstacle, burst weepingly into the pathetic reproach,-- "O Paul, thou hast brought thy pigs to a fine market!" "'T is a market proper for pigs, dear dame," said Paul, who, though with a tear in his eye, did not refuse a joke as bitter as it was inelegant; "for, of all others, it is the spot where a man learns to take care of his bacon." "Hold your tongue!" cried the dame, angrily.