THE Arlton Court-house was an old building, and its age was the solitary claim it possessed to the affectionate admiration of genuine Arltonians. A very careful scrutiny, by an artist of great experience, had resulted in pronouncing it to be akin to the Gothic order of architecture in its original form; and the date of its erection was loosely fixed at "any period which History might show to have been remarkably deficient. in artistic skill, and at the same time powerfully addicted to the use of purple bricks." Some years before the date of our story, a considerable change had been effected in the West, or High Street aspect of the mouldy edifice, and the change came about in this wise. The magnates of the town, smitten with compunction when they contrasted this mean temple of Justice with their own stately little palaces of stone, and at the same time resolved on retaining the only piece of antiquity of which they could boast, contrived a graceful compromise, by which their consciences might be relieved without detriment to their truly noble conservatism in matters of taste. The plan adopted may be described as follows-the main body was to be new fronted with an imposing façade, along which there should be inserted six Doric pilasters ("well masticated," the worthy B proposer said), then a good bold porch in the middle, with two Doric pillars, as thick as possible, and of real stone. Since the change, a casual observer was almost sure to be overwhelmed with the magnificence of the structure, until he received the rather spiteful explanation of his guide, that "it looked a vast sight better than it was;" whereas, in the old times, honest Arltonians would exultantly apologise for its external meanness by assuring their friends on a visit, that it was a vast sight better than it looked. The commercial prosperity indicated by this improvement in the front elevation of the Court-house had continued with occasional drawbacks; but the time had not yet arrived for pulling the old part down, and making the building uniform. Indeed, the philosophic spirits of the town had very early, perhaps prematurely, accepted and acted upon the opinion of their first literary authority, "that there is a point beyond which it is not desirable to carry civilisation, and when that point is reached, it is the duty of all men to spread it over as large a space as possible, instead of pursuing the process of refinement any further." The Arltonians, then, consented to regard the new front as quite civilisation enough to do any real good, and in accordance with the maxim of their oracle they had thenceforward addressed their energies and superfluous cash to the pleasing, but difficult task, of bringing the rest of the town up to the Court-house standard. CHAPTER II. THE YARD. THE court-yard was spacious enough for all communal gatherings, whether for business or pleasure. There stood the hustings, when an appeal to the country was going on; and here, too, stood the crowd of the great unrepresented, to maintain their poor share of popular privilege and to discharge their solitary political duty-that of asking impertinent questions, and then drowning with deafening roars the equally |