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THE

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE

AND

HUMORIST.

CONTENTS FOR AUGUST.

PAGE

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THE KING OF PRUSSIA'S NEW YEAR'S GIFT. BY THE AUTHOR
OF "CHANTILLY"

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379

LOST AND FOUND. A FACT FROM THE SOUTH COAST

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'DARNLEY," "RICHELIEU," &c.

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THE BRITISH ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

THE OUT-STATION; OR, JAUNTS IN THE JUNGLE. BY J. WIL-
LYAMS GRYLLS, ESQ.

THE BUNDLE OF RAGS.

BY J. E. CARPENTER, ESQ.

MARGARET GRAHAM. BY G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ., AUTHOR OF

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THE ENCHANTED PRINCESS. FROM THE SWEDISH

LIFE AND REMINISCENCES OF THOMAS CAMPBELL.
REDDING, ESQ.

THE PRIEST OF ISIS.

AN EGYPTIAN ROMANCE. BY THE AUTHOR OF AZETH, THE EGYPTIAN."

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SECRET HISTORY OF THE COURT, MINISTRY, AND TIMES OF
GEORGE IV. BY AN OLD DIPLOMATIST
FOUR-AND-TWENTY HOURS AT BOULOGNE. BY THE HONOURABLE
PERCY FITZ-HOWARD

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A GRAYBEARD'S GOSSIP ABOUT HIS LITERARY ACQUAINTANCE.
No. VI.

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MR. LUMLEY AND GUISEPPE VERDI

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TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Mr. AINSWORTH begs it to be distinctly understood that no Contributions whatever sent him, either for the NEW MONTHLY or AINSWORTH'S MAGAZINES will be returned. All articles are sent at the risk of the writers, who should invariably keep copies.

THE AUGUST NUMBER OF

AINSWORTH'S MAGAZINE.

EDITED BY

W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, ESQ.

Contents.

I. JAMES THE SECOND; OR, THE REVOLUTION OF 1688.

AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE. EDITED BY W. HARRISON

AINSWORTH, ESQ. ILLUSTRATED BY R. W. BUSS.
BOOK THE FOURTH.-Chap. IV. Thornleydown Inn.-Chap. V. Salisbury
Plain.-Chap. VI. The Flight of Sunderland.-Chap. VII. The Royal
Nurs ry.-Chap. VIII. The Restoration of the City Charter.

II. THE EVENING STAR. BY THOMAS ROSCOE, ESQ.
III. AL PENDURADA. BY WILLIAM H. G. KINGSTON, ESQ.

IV. THE HUNCHBACK AND THE FAIRIES.

GEND. BY W. HUGHES, ESQ.

A BRETON LE

I. How Benead Guilcher got rid of his Hump.-II. How Perr Balibouzik got Guilcher's Hump.-III. How Guilcher paid his Debt.

V. THE GIFT OF MIND. BY MRS. PONSONBY.

VI. BETTER THAN IT PROMISED.

BY MRS. WHITE.

VII. THE ANGEL EAGLES. A LEGEND OF LONG ISLAND. BY

FRANCIS WYMAN.

VIII. LAUNCELOT WIDGE.

BY CHARLES HOOTON, ESQ.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH.-Affectionate discourse between Launcelot and his Father.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.-The Robbery.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.-Gabriel reads his Son a few Heads for a Moral Essay, and concludes with a very sad Announcement-Richard Stretcher comes in as Comforter with an astounding Proposal. CHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTн.—Mrs. Juno Widge and Mr. Gabrial Hercules at the Royal Academy; with a personal Encounter between Mr. Culloden and Mr. Snowden, two Artists of celebrity in their own Opinions. IX. THE ISLANDS AND SHORES OF THE PACIFIC.

X. SUGGESTED BY GIBSON'S STATUE OF QUEEN VICTORIA. BY THOMAS ROSCOE, ESQ.

XI. THE GASCONS OF 1585; OR, THE "FORTY-FIVE." AN

HISTORICAL ROMANCE. BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS.

I. The Gate of Saint Antoine.-II. The Muster of the Forty-Five.-III.
The King's Box at the Hotel de Ville. -IV. M. de Salcède.-V. The
Execution.

XII. A MAN IN THE HOUSE.

BY E. P. ROWSELL, ESQ.

XIII. SIR HARRY SMITH. A SONG FOR ENGLAND'S SOLDIER.
XIV. NOVELS OF THE MONTH.

I. Grantley Manor.-II. Russell: a Tale of the Reign of Charles II.-
III. All Classes.-IV. Daughters.-V. Cromwell in Ireland.

CHAPMAN AND HALL, 186, STRAND.

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FIDO BEGINS HIS HISTORY, AND TELLS HOW HE WAS PRESENTED BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA TO THE LITTLE PRINCESS AMELIA.

MUTILATED and solitary as I now appear, I once had a brother whom I fondly thought would have been my inseparable companion through life; a brother born in the same hour with myself, yet not exactly a twin-brother either, for he was neither fashioned by the same hand, nor cast in the same mould. But yet I loved him well. We were ushered into existence precisely at the same moment; he was the object upon which fell my astonished gaze when I first woke into being; and for many years we remained ogling each other, with languishing fondness, upon the same mantelpiece.

It was towards the end of December, in the year 17-, that, having been pronounced "herrlich" by a chorus of thirsty workmen in the great china manufactory of Berlin, I was suffered to burst the bonds which held me in darkness, and to claim a share of that admiration which my brother had already excited. "Wie schön! Wie herrlich! Wie gottlich! Wie WUNDERBAR!!" greeted my ears, and I was borne forth with companion to the obermeister of the works, a great man in his was evident by the anxiety with which his opinion was waited for.

my

way, as

He was at supper when we were announced, and his growl at being disturbed so terrified the poor workmen who carried us that they were on the point of bearing us back to the fabrique, when one of them more bold than the others exclaimed

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Baron

"Herr Obermeister, we have brought his majesty's puppy-dogs.' No sooner did he hear the words, than he rushed to the door, calling out, Bring them hither-bring them hither! Why did you not say, at once, that you brought his majesty's puppy-dogs? I have been in a fever the whole day, lest they should not succeed again this time. Blumensdorf has sent every hour to learn the progress of the baking. One would think there was truth in the story which is going about, that the king had threatened him with the schlague, in spite of his high rank, if they were not taken to the palace by to-night. They are his etrennes

to the Princess Amelia!"

Aug.-VOL. LXXX. No. CCCXX.

2 c

He lifted the napkin, beneath which we were softly reposing upon a bed of willow shavings, and uttered the same uncouth expression of delight which had saluted our entrance into being, and in the ecstasy of his enjoyment, promised an extra jug of beer to each of the workmen that very night; which promise was followed by so feeble a cheer, that I half suspected that they knew he would not keep it. We were that very instant placed in a wooden case and conveyed, on the high-mettled steed of the court estafette, to the royal palace at Potsdam.

It was late when we arrived at the palace, and we were immediately borne to Blumensdorf's apartment. He must have been awaiting us in a state of the most cruel anxiety, for he snatched the box which contained us from the hands of the trembling valet who held it, and uttering a most frightful oath, began to tear open the lid, which was fastened down by iron tacks, without any other assistance than that afforded by his long bony fingers, and his hard blunted nails! He tore us rudely from the couch of willow shavings amid which we had rested so cosily, and never even deigning to glance towards us, he placed us on a silver salver which was ready at hand; then giving one frightened look at the mirror to see that his uniform and accoutrements were all in order, he strode hurriedly across the room to the Buhl timepiece on the console opposite. Looking closely down into its very face (for he was near-sighted and blinked dreadfully), he shrieked out, in accents of the greatest terror

"Mein Gott! only five minutes to eleven! just five minutes left to gain his majesty's dressing room! two flights of stairs; and my right knee stiffer than ever with this sudden thaw after the hard weather!"

With these words, he snatched us up from the table and hurried from the room. The man was a perfect giant, six feet two at least, with a coarse grizzly beard, and thick moustaches; and yet he was in such terror, that he could scarcely stand, and more than once during the journey up those narrow back stairs was on the point of letting us slip from his grasp, so violently did he tremble. What in the world could occasion this childlike terror? Nature had intended him to fear no man on earth. No doubt, then, he was called upon to meet some dire and awful peril, the very thought of which made me quake and slide about upon the salver in perfect convulsions of alarm. Meanwhile, with sundry accompaniments of swearing, puffing, blowing, we had mounted the double flight of stairs, and reached a small low door panelled in the wainscot at the end of a long dark corridor. I was astounded. The Colossus, the man-monster who carried us, having placed us upon the floor, knelt down beside us, and scratched gently and humbly upon the door, just as I myself should have done, if I had been gifted with the power of motion, and in dread of a whipping from my offended master. The door was opened by a figure much of the same dimensions with that of Blumensdorf, and who wore the same uniform, but with less ornament and embroidery. He ushered us with great haste and bustle, through a curtained door into a small low room, whose tapestried walls, and closed shutters, prevented the slightest sound without from reaching the ears of its occupants. The room was almost in total darkness; for the single individual seated there, had taken the single taper to hold betwixt his eye and the long written report which he was perusing. Every thing throughout the apartment bore the stamp of avarice and contempt of comfort. Although there were but two thin logs of wood upon the hearth, they could not agree to burn in harmony,

for they did nothing but hiss most angrily at each other, and send forth, in lieu of flame, two separate and meagre veins of bluish smoke, which, rather than unite even in going together up the chimney, came forward creeping lazily along the dingy-looking glass, and were lost in the carved foliage of the ceiling. The walls were destitute of furniture; the tiled floor was uncarpeted even before the fire-place; and the draught which blew from the uncurtained window caused the flame of the solitary taper to flicker so violently, that the moustaches of the reader and the document under perusal, shared alternately the danger of ignition. Blumensdorf approached, with every sign of awe and respect, this studious individual, and knelt down at his feet, holding the salver upon which we were placed in amazement at arm's length towards the personage, whose countenance I was unable to see, for it was completely hidden by the paper he was reading. But nothing could arouse the latter from the intense study in which he was plunged. Not even the noise of Blumensdorf's iron boots upon the tiles, nor the announcement of his entrance by the Hercules who had ushered him in, had power to cause him even to turn towards where the poor baron knelt, humble and trembling, as if awaiting sentence of banishment or death.

I know not how long we might have remained thus, had not the chillness of the atmosphere struck upon the nerves of poor Blumensdorf, and caused him to sneeze most tremendously. Ye gods, how he did sneeze!once_twice-thrice! The very roof rang again each time the awful sound reverberated through the apartment. Never was I in such awful peril; for the mysterious personage, before whom poor Blumensdorf was kneeling in such humility, suddenly rose, and rushed upon the unhappy colonel in a kind of insane fury, with flaming visage and uplifted sword, in an attitude which threatened to put a period to our three existences at one and the same moment. Blumensdorf bent his head almost to the very dust, and so got but one vigorous blow of the plat d'épée upon his shoulders. His presence of mind saved him from annihilation. He held up the salver before he ventured to utter a syllable, and the sight at once calmed the ire to which the sneezing had given rise.

"Pardon me, your majesty," at length faltered out the culprit, and not daring to add another word, he paused, and held us close beneath his majesty's nose. His majesty smiled a grim smile, but his rage was forgotten; and, having examined my brother with approbation, he took me in his grasp and held me to the light. I can safely say, that the investigation was mutual, for I really was curious to behold the person whose presence could thus subdue a man of such mould as Blumensdorf, and render him more puling and crouching than a little child.

I had expected to find in the man who held me, some wondrous being, some death-distilling Jupiter, whose frown alone was all-sufficient to terrify, whose nod was powerful to annihilate. Blumensdorf had addressed him as "Your majesty," and I had imagined in my simplicity, that the title was meant to imply something awful and majestic, and superior to the rest of mankind. But no-the person so addressed was of thin, spare form, and long pale visage. His small black eyes peered from beneath their overhanging brows, like two living sparks of fire-every feature in his countenance seemed to partake of the same strange restlessness, for his ashy lip quivered unceasingly, and his nostrils dilated, with a quick sharp motion, which would have made me

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