the fever you ought to have been in the civil service-dear me! iced water, he says-will you call Qui hai-I forgot-no-don't-I'll do it my

self. 'Qui hai!'-my voice though is so weak :ah! here's a bearer-Burruf-ka-pauni' (cold water). I must go now and see to Poggleton: good byehow yellow you are-and where are your curls? Recollect, that dear Dr. Fitz-simon is the sweetest creature in the world: don't forget-he is so kind."

Peregrine forgot many things in the course of his after life, but he was never in danger of forgetting the kindness of Dr. Fitz-simon.

CHAPTER IV.

Which does not contain any thing particularly interesting, but is highly necessary to the Development of this History.

Ir is said, and with an amazing degree of truth, that there is nothing in the whole world which is got with greater difficulty, and yet parted with so easily as money. Now, if the converse of this were said of Arracan fever, there would be an equal measure of truth in the saying; for nothing is picked up so easily and yet got rid of with so much difficulty; as a proof of which we have merely to say, that Peregrine Pultuney was only a few minutes getting his fever, and yet was a great many months striving, struggling to shake it off.

Oh, it is a fearful visitation, indeed; a fearful visitation, this same Arracan fever—clinging—clinging to its unhappy victim, as the poisoned robe of the Centaur clung to the luckless giant-god. Strength is nothing; youth is nothing; skill is nothing Peregrine had all these in his favour; but slow, very slow was his return to health, for the

progress of one week was sure to be retarded by the fever of the next; and more than any lunatic that ever lived, was he affected by the changes of the moon. Constant ague-fits and most distressing attacks of sickness, are the little offsprouts of Arracan fever, which continue to harass the sufferer long after the great enemy himself has made offleaving these behind him in addition to a painful organic affection, which often torments the poor victim for years; and sometimes, as we have heard, a heavier curse than that-a curse which the soul sickens at—a curse not to be put into words in the pages of this history.

The season was against Peregrine: he had arrived in Calcutta at the beginning of the rains and the damps of Bengal; the steaming blankets were sadly inimical to his recovery. The wonder is that he lived at all; or wonder it would have been, had he not been located where he was; but the fever-king in the end was baulked.

Peregrine, it must be acknowledged, had many advantages on his side; and he thought, as he remembered his sufferings in Arracan, that sickness at No.-, Chowringhee, was, after all, mere holiday work. Only they who have been at the point of death in a strange place, amongst strangers, and in a wretched house, cut off from the commonest comforts of life, which are the necessaries indeed of the sick chamber, can know how to enjoy sickness, in a habitable place, and in the very midst of one's

friends, with every comfort around one, and every wish easily gratified. Thus it was with Peregrine Pultuney: he had suffered too much in Arracan to think much of his sufferings in Chowringhee. How much was there to mitigate the evil of sicknessthe unceasing kindness and attention of Dr. Fitzsimon, to say nothing of his great skill; the comforts, the luxuries of his sick chamber; the constant inquiries and visits of his dearest friends; the knowledge, too, that he was in the very midst of them, added to a host of minor advantages, such as newspapers, periodicals, and new books, all helping to divert the poor fellow's mind.

Julian Jenks did not lose a day, indeed, not an hour, in visiting his dear friend, and greatly did he regret that the ties of the service, by keeping him at Dum-Dum, prevented him from giving himself up day and night to perform the duties of a nurse. Mrs. Poggleton, too, was frequent in her visits to the couch of her sick nephew; whilst poor Julia was left at home to take care of her father and write chits to her beloved cousin, which, indeed, she did, three or four times in the day to the great delight of that young gentleman, who was never tired of receiving them. Poor girl! it was very hard upon her-but they could not both be absent at a time, and Julia being a spinster, and the people of Calcutta as illnatured and censorious as they could be, she could not go alone to see her cousin, though the chances are that her presence by his bed-side would have

done him a world of good, if he could have been persuaded to keep himself quiet.

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Well, Peregrine, how do you do to-day?" would Mrs. Poggleton ask on these occasions, as she seated herself by her nephew's couch. "I do not think you feel quite so hot as usual-only think, what a dreadful thing this Arracan fever is to be sure !-and yet, dear me! that horrid liver, is almost as bad, I declare-poor Poggleton's is all liver-yours is spleen -both very bad. Only think! liver and spleen-not a sound place between the two; and Julia is poorly besides-oh! nothing, you need not be frightened-heart, I think, Peregrine-who'd have thought it— such a boy as you are-dear me ! this comes of your being so much together; well, well! it is all my fault— and Lucretia Gowanspec's going to be married-only think, to that Mr. Drawlincourt; well, Peregrine, I was going to tell you that Julia sends her love; I dare say you would like to see her; but people do talk so, Peregrine, I couldn't let her come by herselfand she couldn't come with me, you see, for poor Poggleton must have somebody with him. And you like Dr. Fitz-simon, I know. Did not I tell you he was such a dear thing; only think, I've known him these-ever since I have been in the country-he'll soon make you well, that he will— you're a great deal better already." And thus she would go on from one subject to the other, never pausing but to take breath, her right hand vigorously at work with her feather-fan, and her left