and fifty young rogues, full of frolic and fun, waving their caps, and following Hodgkins, shouted out as loudly as they could bawl, "Look at his back! look at his back!" Hodgkins was in a fury, and would perhaps have done some mischief to his young tormentors had it not been for the sudden appearance of Mr. Johnson, the schoolmaster, who at that moment came out of the school-room. The boys gave over their hallooing, for Hodgkins directly told Mr. Johnson that they were "an impudent set of young jackanapes, and everlastingly in mischief." Mr. Johnson, who had heard the uproar among the boys, and caught a glimpse of Hodgkins's back, replied mildly, that he would never encourage any thing like impudence in his scholars, but that perhaps Hodgkins was not aware of the cause of their mirth; he assured him that he had so large a chalk

mark on his back, that it was enough to provoke the merriment of older people than his boys, and advised him if he wished to avoid being laughed at, to get rid of it as soon as possible. Hodgkins said peevishly that his back was "nothing to nobody," and muttering to himself, walked on, feeling his cross heavier than ever.

The reflections which passed through Hodgkins's mind were not of the most agreeable description. It was, to be sure, a rare thing to live rent free; but if every man, woman, and child in the village were to be everlastingly tormenting him, there would be no peace from morning to night. Then again, even if his neighbours got used to the cross on his back, and said nothing about it, he knew that his wife would never let him rest. On the whole, the more he considered about it, the more was he disposed to think

that the bargain was not quite so good a one, as he, at first, had taken it to be. As Hodgkins went on towards the public house, he saw, at a distance, his landlord, Mr. Starkey, and directly after, to his great consternation, his neighbour, Samuel Hullins, come stumping along, with his wooden leg, in company with Harry Stokes the carpenter. Now Harry Stokes was quite the village wit; and Hodgkins dreaded nothing more than to be laughed at by him, in the presence of Samuel Hullins. His first thought was to pull off his coat, but then, what would Mr. Starkey say to that? Not knowing what else to do, he took refuge in the tavern, but soon found the house too hot to hold him; for when those who were drinking there began to laugh at the cross on his back, both the landlord and landlady declared, that no customer of theirs should be made a laughing-stock in their house, while they had the power to hinder it. The landlord got the clothes-brush, and the landlady a wet sponge, and Hodgkins was obliged to make a hasty retreat, to secure his coat from the sponge and the clothesbrush of his persevering friends.

When Hodgkins left home he intended to go to a neighbouring village, about some work which he had to do, but his temper had been so ruffled by old Fallows, Patty Stevens, the blacksmith, the butcher, and Peggy Turton, as well as by Mr. Johnson, and his scholars, the company at the inn, and the landlord and landlady, that he determined to get

home as soon as he could, thinking it better to be railed at by his wife, than to be laughed at by the whole village.

If you have ever seen, on the first of September, a poor wounded partridge, the last of the covey, flying about from place to place, while every sportsman he came near had a shot at him, you may form some notion of the situation of poor Hodgkins as he went back to his cottage; sometimes walking fast that he might not be overtaken, sometimes moving slowly that he might not overtake others. Now in the lane, then in the field; skulking along as though he had been robbing a henroost, and was afraid to show his face. The cross by this time had become almost intolerable.

No sooner did he enter his cottage door, than his wife began: "And so you are come back again, are you, to play the tomfool! Here have been halfa-dozen of your neighbours calling to know if you are not gone out of your mind. If ever there was a madman, you are one; but I'll put that coat in a pail of water, or behind the fire, before I will have such antics played by a husband of mine; come, pull off your coat, I say, pull off your coat!"

Had Hodgkins's wife soothed him, he might have been more reasonable, but as it was, her words were like gunpowder thrown into the fire. A violent quarrel took place, words were followed by blows, and dashing, crashing, and smashing resounded in the dwelling of Robert Hodgkins.

the expounder of the question those slips in which the number thought of occurs. To discover this number, the expounder has nothing to do but to add together the numbers at the top of the columns put into his hand. Their sum will express the number thought of.

Example. Thus, suppose we think of the number 14. We find that this number is in three of the slips, viz. those marked B, C, and D, which are therefore given to the expounder, who, on adding together 2, 4, and 8, obtains 14, the number thought of.

The trick may be varied in the following manner; instead of giving to the expounder the slips containing the number thought of, these may be kept back, and those in which the number does not

occur be given. In this case, the expounder must add together, as before, the numbers at the top of the columns, and subtract their sum from 63. The remainder will be the number thought of.

The slips containing the columns of numbers are usually marked with letters on the back, and not above the columns, as we have expressed them. This renders the deception more complete, as the expounder, knowing before-hand the number at the top of each column, has only to examine the letters at the back of the slips given him, when he performs the problem without looking at the numbers, and thus renders the trick more extraordinary.

AT St. Mary's church, in Dantzic, West Prussia, is a large astronomical clock, made in the year 1470 by Hans Duringer, a native of that city. It has been stopped for more than three hundred years. When going, it showed not only the hours and days of the month, but also the nightly position of the planets, and was besides furnished with a variety of figures set in motion by the works within. The story goes that Duringer (who had obtained great celebrity by this master-piece of ingenuity) was invited by the citizens of Hamburgh to make one of the same kind for them.

But the people of Dantzic, jealous that any other town should possess a clock equal to theirs, insisted on Duringer's refusing the invitation, and finding that he could not be prevailed on to decline an honourable and lucrative proposal, they put it out of his power to accept it, by barbarously depriving him of his eyes. He did not long survive the melancholy condition to which he had been reduced by his wicked townsmen; and shortly before his death the blind artist caused himself to be led to the clock which had proved so unfortunate to him, and which was then in regular motion