"Awkward," said Mrs. Rodney "What!cutting it up, General !-La! What d'ye think of skinning it, Sir?"

If Rodney had not interfered with some new assault upon Sir Frederick as to taking wine, Mrs. Rodney would, without any doubt, have proceeded to detail in the minutest and most circumstantial manner, the process to which she had so triumphantly alluded. Sir Frederick gladly availed himself of his host's offer to change the conversation; and having declined eating any of the favoured animal, hoped to escape an observation made by Mrs. Rodney, which in this case might have been spared, since the party assembled were blessed with noses.

"Dear! Mr. Rodney," exclaimed the mistress of the house, "it is quite bad, I declare. I knew it would not keep; only you were determined it should, for we thought you'd like a bit of something like game, General."

"I am extremely obliged to you," said Sir Frederick, gravely, "I seldom eat rabbits, ma'am."

"Lord! how unlucky," said Mrs. Rodney; "I'm afraid we have not got any thing you like; however, to-morrow, Sir, you'll have an uncommon good dinner at the parsonage.”

"What," said the General, somewhat alarmed and surprised at the suddenness of the proposition, "are we engaged any where to-morrow ?"

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Not exactly engaged, Sir Frederick,” said Rodney, "the Rector, a most excellent person, has invited us, and intends calling to request the honour of your company."

Sir Frederick was about to say something in the way of acknowledgment, when Mrs. Rodney undertook to enlighten him, by observing that long as the Willows's had been there, they had never asked them to dinner before; and it was only because Fanny was going to be married to a great man, and that the great man himself was there, that they asked them now.

The discussion into which this would evidently have carried them, was much to be dreaded; but as luck would have it, the boys' supper-bell resounded in the hall, and the active matron, making her excuses, in spite of all the entreaties of her husband to allow the servants for once to superintend the meal, hastily retired, expressing her firm conviction that if she did not go herself, something disagreeable would happen. To say truth, Rodney felt when she left the room, as an unskilful tumbler must feel when

he finds himself safe on the ground, making his concluding bow, after a perilous exhibition on a lofty tight-rope. Even Fanny, she knew not why, seemed more at her ease after her mother's departure; and the celerity and quietness with which every thing was managed and cleared away to make room for the dessert, when the operations of the servants were uncontrolled by the neversleeping watchfulness of the mistress, formed an agreeable contrast to the perpetual mishaps, awkward manoeuvres and uncouth noises with which the company had been incessantly greeted during the surveillance of that exemplary lady.

It would be tiresome to trace through all their minute variations the innumerable contre temps, which were perpetually occurring during the stay of Sir Frederick Brashleigh at the academy; nor could much entertainment be derived from elaborate descriptions of the dinners which that hero was compelled to undergo, while he remained beneath the roof of his intended

father-in-law. Lord Springfield called upon him, and gave the party an invitation which of course was accepted. But the distance being considerable, (at least that was the reason Rodney gave,) Mrs. Rodney did not fulfil her

engagement with his Lordship. Poor lady, she felt herself out of her element in good society; and if the truth must be told, her constant declarations to that effect, and the many practical proofs she gave of their sincerity, had determined Sir Frederick, long before, the expiration of the week's probation, that to take her to London with his intended bride, would be to excite the most dreadful insurrection amongst his friends and relations; indeed so deeply was he wounded by her excessive homeliness, and the abruptness with which she blurted out the most uncouth observations upon the most delicate topics, that he almost began to regret the lengths to which he had carried his negotiations with the family, (little thinking what happiness his defection would bestow,) and felt that if her daughter had unluckily been destined to remain in England as a wife, the chance of an association with such a mother, would have opposed an almost insuperable objection against making her one.

With all these varying feelings agitating their minds, how strange it appears that the match should have been persisted in, but so it was: the suitor felt that he had gone too far to retreat. Honour, therefore, led him to complete the ne

gotiation. Mrs. Rodney was delighted at the éclat of such a wedding, and her small ambition induced her therefore to hurry its conclusion. Rodney, as we know, was prompted to the measure by absolute necessity; and Fanny submitted through a sense of duty. And in all this composition, not one grain of love is to be discovered. The love, alas! was abstracted when poor Francis went; and how far the expectations of the other parties to the ill-omen'd treaty were fulfilled, we shall hereafter see.

Having, as I before said, been enabled by his now constant association with her, perfectly to appreciate the social qualities of Mrs. Rodney, Sir Frederick determined that the safest and wisest mode of proceeding in the present affair, would be that which is generally adopted by elderly gentlemen in a similar situation; namely, to marry first and take opinions on the merits of his bride afterwards. Accordingly he submitted his plan to Rodney, who, fearing the slips, which we are told happen so often "'twixt the cup and the lip," felt no disposition whatever to throw any impediment in the way of the marriage, which (since Fanny had expressed her perfect readiness to acquiesce in any arrange