committee examine witnesses?' and it was decided that as this was specially allowed by the authority which appointed them, it would be within their powers to do so. Three hundred and seventy-nine witnesses proved on oath (except the Quakers, who swore) that they had never seen any impurity get into the Stench, or any or either of its tributaries; while upwards of 200 equally respectable witnesses, who were not asked as to the getting in, swore that they had never seen an impurity get out.

This evidence was not without startling results : the Chairman muttered something to the committeeman on his left to the effect that they must come there by some underhand means.' A member who had bitterly opposed him on the great question of the relative importance of the thirty-nine questions caught the opportunity of capping him, and called out in a loud voice, 'underground.' It was an inspiration! In less than seven weeks from that day, more than two-thirds of the sub-committee had convinced themselves and each other that the impurities, or at least some of them, entered the river by means of the drains; for it was a well-known fact that every drain and sewer in the city of Rum emptied itself into the river Stench before that river left the city, and consequently above the waterworks.

The next question that arose was, 'Could the subcommittee venture to incur the expense of appoint

ing engineers to examine into and report upon the drainage?' As nothing was said on the matter in their special powers, it was decided to refer the point to the Authorities; who desired the question to be argued in the Court of Asses. In seventeen days the arguments were exhausted, and it was decided by the Court that it was an open question. Upon this decision being communicated to them, the Authorities granted a power to employ engineers; but the engineers refusing to go into the drains themselves, the point cropped up whether the power included the right to employ such day-labourers as the engineers might require; to which the Authorities, on being consulted, replied that the sub-committee might go to Heligoland and employ as many workmen as they pleased.

Delighted at this success, the Chairman of the subcommittee now thought of nothing less than knighthood as the brilliant termination of his labours.

Thirteen engineers were appointed, who employed a large gang of intelligent navvies and skilled artisans, as they are called in Rum. In an incredibly short time the engineers reported to the sub-committee. I do not say brought up their report-they brought up thirteen reports; for no two among them agreed on the question of drainage.

The Chairman of the sub-committee dreamed of a baronetcy-could he but surmount this little difficulty.

Strange as it shall sound to our English ears, there are

honours, disgraces, jealousies, intrigues, successes, and disappointments in the city of Rum. My dear sir, I have hardly told you anything of what is said or thought or done in the city of Rum; and that for many reasons. In the first place, I want to keep clear and distinct before my courteous reader the great question of drainage; and I have other reasons, which, as they do not affect that subject, I withhold; at least for the present.

Things had now reached a terrible crisis at Rum; they were burying their dead by hundreds daily in deep pits without the city walls; and a committee of charitable undertakers was raising funds for a fifth fever hospital. A conviction was steadily growing in the minds of the people of Rum that the question of the day was drainage. The sub-committee were in a state of pitiable indecision: the reports of the thirteen engineers were certainly confusing. They were all printed at full length and bound in scarlet paper covers; they filled collectively 907 pages of printed matter. On one point they were tolerably unanimous; to wit, that as long as things continued as they were, the water was not likely to be improved. The Chairman saw that his hopes were fading; the difficulty was growing daily, hourly; one plank alone could carry him into the haven where he would be; the sub-committee was breaking up; unless he could- But indeed I have no authority for disclosing the little

hopes and ambitions of the Chairman or any other individual in Rum.

The days of the sub-committee were numbered; not a man among them imagined that it was within their powers to decide on the respective merits of the thirteen engineers' reports, or even to invite them to send in plans for the improvement of the drainage, Remembering the result of their last appeal to the Authorities, they trembled lest a reference thereto should result in a dismissal yet more unceremonious. Only one course was open to them; they must bring up their report. Five weeks sufficed for its preparation; in seven days more the proofs were corrected; it occupied 1,000 printed pages, many of which were filled with extracts from the thirteen reports of the thirteen engineers. It concluded with this apposite sentence: To improve the water-supply of the city the drainage must be improved.' Who could say they had failed in their labours? Were they not appointed to discover and report how the water of Rum might be improved? And could anything be more intelligible or concise than their decision, by improving the drainage?' The excitement in Rum was absolutely boundless when a decree was promulgated appointing the Drainage Committee, with powers fuller and more lasting than had been granted to any executive body since the foundation of the city.

The people (oi rooi) looked up with an almost

superstitious veneration to this august assemblage : they reckoned in fact upon them for their salvation. A state and magnificence almost regal were accorded to them four sugarcandies (civic guard), arm in arm, paraded in front of the place where they assembled; these were relieved every five minutes. One of the first labours of the committee was to decide on the official dress in which they should appear at their meetings; and the question arose whether it would not be desirable to have an undress to be worn in their secret meetings, and a more gorgeous apparel for their public functions, such as examining witnesses, &c. The discussion occupied a short time only.

Public notices were issued, and advertisements inserted in the leading papers, inviting all who chose to send in to the committee plans for an entirely new system of drainage for the whole city. Five-andtwenty of the most considerable engineers in the place competed. In the meantime the committee was engaged (in full dress) in taking medical evidence on the subject. This was slightly conflicting.

And here one might easily be seduced into making a few remarks on the wonderful variety of aspects which any given object will assume when viewed from different standpoints. To myself, my conduct in that little affair of A. B. appears tolerably honest as things go; in your sight, dear sir, I am painfully aware that