before railways are antediluvians -- we must pass away. We are
growing scarcer every day; and old -- old -- very old relicts of
the times when George was still fighting the Dragon.

Not long since, a company of horseriders paid a visit to our
watering-place. We went to see them, and I bethought me that
young Walter Juvenis, who was in the place, might like also to
witness the performance. A pantomime is not always amusing to
persons who have attained a certain age; but a boy at a
pantomime is always amused and amusing, and to see his pleasure
is good for most hypochondriacs.

We sent to Walter's mother, requesting that he might join us, and
the kind lady replied that the boy had already been at the
morning performance of the equestrians, but was most eager to go
in the evening likewise. And go he did; and laughed at all Mr
Merryman's remarks, though he remembered them with remarkable
accuracy, and insisted upon waiting to the very end of the fun,
and was only induced to retire just before its conclusion by
representations that the ladies of the party would be incommoded
if they were to wait and undergo the rush and trample of the
crowd round about. When this fact was pointed out to him, he
yielded at once, though with a heavy heart, his eyes looking
longingly towards the ring as we retreated out of the booth. We
were scarcely clear of the place, when we heard "God save the
Queen," played by the equestrian band, the signal that all was
over. Our companion entertained us with scraps of the dialogue
on our way home -- precious crumbs of wit which he had brought
away from that feast. He laughed over them again as he walked
under the stars. He has them now, and takes them out of the