"By means of a condensing syringe," replied his father; "but I will take an opportunity of exhibiting the instrument in operation."

The reader will be pleased to recollect that the major agreed to pay a passing visit to the vicarage: it now becomes our duty to record what happened upon that memorable occasion; and we, perhaps, cannot better represent the nature of the discussion that took place than by relating the account, as it was given by the belligerent parties themselves, in conversation with Mr. Seymour.

"Well, gentlemen," said Mr. Seymour, "is it peace or war? I trust you have amicably adjusted all your differences." "Upon my word," answered the vicar, "I have just reason to complain of the major's unjustifiable scepticism upon points that are perfectly unquestionable."

"You continue then to smart under the major's stinging criticisms, majore sub hoste.' There is a Latin pun for your consolation," said Mr. Seymour.

"The vicar alludes, I suppose," said the major, "to the doubt I expressed respecting the authenticity of his leathern money

"That is one of the many subjects upon which, I must say, you have betrayed a deficiency in historical knowledge. Seneca informs us that there was anciently stamped money of leather; and the same thing was put in practice by Frederick II. at the siege of Milan; to say nothing of an old tradition amongst ourselves, that, in the confused times of the barons' wars, the same expedient was practised in England."

"You strangely mistake me," replied the major; “I never questioned the truth of these historical statements; I know full well that numerous substances have, at different times, and in different countries, been adopted in exchange, as conventional representatives of property. I have already stated that cattle were employed as the earliest measure of value. We find, for instance, in Homer, that the golden armour of Glaucus was valued at a hundred, and that of

*Hence Pecunia from Pecus, and Opes quasi Oves.

Diomedes at ten oxen.* Among the Indians, couries, or small shells, are used; and the Abyssinians employed salt, bricks, and beads for this very purpose. The ancient Britons, according to Cæsar, circulated iron rings as money. The Hollanders, we know, coined great quantities of pasteboard in the year 1754; and Numa Pompilius certainly made money both of wood and leather."

"And yet you doubt the authenticity of my leathern money, which I am fully persuaded was coined in 1360, by John, king of France, who, having agreed to pay our Edward the Third the sum of 3,000,000 golden crowns for his ransom, was so reduced as to be compelled to a coinage of leather, for the discharge of his household expenses."

"I have only questioned the authenticity of that particular specimen which I saw in your cabinet," replied the major; "and so must any person who views it through a medium unclouded by prejudice. I will stake my whole library to a horn-book that our friend Mr. Seymour will agree with me in pronouncing it a fragment of the heel of an old shoe; let him observe the perforation, and say, if he can, that it has not been produced by a nail or peg. But really, my dear Mr. Twaddleton, you have forced me, much against my inclination, into this controversy."

66

Your

Very good, sir! very good! the heel of an old shoe, forsooth! But I thank you, Major Snapwell," exclaimed the vicar with some warmth; "I thank you, sir. assertion, while it evinces your own want of historical information, establishes, beyond doubt, the authenticity of my treasure, and the triumph of my opinion."

"Assuredly," said Mr. Seymour, with a wicked smile. "I dare say there may be numerous holes in this leathern coin; for many have been the antiquaries who have, doubtless, pinned their faith upon it."

"Psha, psha!" cried the vicar; "for once, at least, Mr. Seymour, let me entreat you to be serious; the subject,

*The term CAPITAL, in its original signification, expressed the rude enumeration of the stock by the HEADS of the animals of which it was composed. We derive the word Calculation,' from that rudimental period, when pebbles (calculi) were used, as now, amongst savages, to facilitate the practice of counting.

sir, is important, and merits your respect. It is from that very hole that I am enabled to identify the coin; yes, major, from that very hole, which you affect to despise, I am enabled to derive its principal claim to antiquity. Are we not expressly informed that the leathern money of John of France had a little nail of silver driven into it ?"

"Well, then," continued the major, "what say you to that tell-tale stitch, which I so unfortunately picked out with my penknife ?"

"Admirable ingenuity! most refined sophistry! provoking perversion!" exclaimed the vicar. "It is really amusing to observe the address with which the prejudiced observer distorts every fact to his own advantage. Why, bless me, sir, that stitch is strong enough to drag fifty such opponents out of the slough of unbelief."

"Do explain yourself," said Mr. Seymour.

"Explain myself! the stitch speaks for itself, sir. Were not these leathern coins strung together in different numbers, to facilitate payments? For you will admit that it would have been extremely inconvenient to have coined single pieces of leather, of different denominations. But stop, sir, stop; look at this, look at it, major, with care and attention. That," said the vicar, as he drew a small coin out of his waistcoat pocket with an air of imperturbable gravity and self-satisfaction, "is a current halfpenny, in lead, of James II.; and if your eyes are not hoodwinked by prejudice, you may probably perceive a piece of copper in its centre, which, we are told, was thus introduced for the purpose of rendering the currency lawful."

The dinner was announced before the conclusion of the discussion; and as the reader will probably agree with us in thinking that a question of such grave historical importance ought not to be decided without due care and deliberation, we shall afford the disputants a reasonable time for reflection, and put an end to the chapter.

A SHORT CHAPTER BROUGHT TO A VIOLENT AND UNTIMELY END.-TIE DOINGS OF DR. DOSEALL, UNLIKE HIS STEAM, ADMIT OF CONDENSATION. -THE VICAR'S CONSTERNATION.-AN EXPLOSION.THE CASE OF THE BUSY PESTLE versus THE LAZY MORTAR.-VERDICT FOR THE DEFENDANT. -A MORAL.

WE should have supposed, after the instructive accident related in the foregoing chapter, and the excellent advice it had elicited from the vicar, that Tom Plank would have desisted from his experimental vagaries, and that the doctor, at all events, would never have consented to become the subject of them; but there are those whom experience can never teach, nor failure ever discourage.

The very next morning after the catastrophe recorded in our preceding chapter, as the vicar was taking his early

walk along Forest-lane, gathering primroses and wild flowers, his placid and contemplative frame of mind was abruptly disturbed by the sudden vision of a dragon, vomiting flames of fire from its jaws, with a troop of dogs barking and yelling at its heels. As it drew nearer, the well-known person of the village doctor presented itself to his perplexed vision, mounted on its back, and shrouded in vapours, which the imagination of the vicar suggested could be no other than the pestilential effluvia from the nostrils of the unknown and frightful monster: but there was little time to allow his reason to correct the fallacies of his senses; in a moment-in the twinkling of an eyean explosion shook the air, while the ground beneath his feet trembled like an aspen-leaf: shot, as thick as hail, but in aspect far less pure, poured down in all directions, while a thunderbolt, whizzing past his ears, safely deposited itself in the adjoining bank. As soon as the fumes had passed away, and the vicar's self-possession been sufficiently restored, the prostrate doctor was seen struggling in a mass of mud, like a fly in one of his own electuaries, excepting, of course, a conserve of roses, and who, on removing the "black dose" from his mouth, was audibly heard to denounce the carelessness of his man Spindle, who, as he believed, had either screwed down the safety-valve, or, like the prince on the enchanted horse, in the Arabian tale, had ignorantly turned round the wrong peg in his flying locomotive. The unhappy doctor then, in a strain of humble lamentation, proceeded to state that the carriage, or "steam velocipede," had Deen designed by the ingenious Tom Plank, and that, while it was designed to carry him forward to visit his distant patients, it was, at the same time, so constructed as to actuate a revolving movement for the formation 'of his pills. It was now evident, that the shower of bullets which had followed the explosion, consisted of pills, and that the thunderbolt was no other than the rebellious pestle, which had taken advantage of the general confusion to bolt from its lazy and sleeping partner, the mortar, with whom it had so incessantly, but unfairly laboured, for the benefit of Doscall and suffering humanity.