to the rector's daughter, with the comprehensive interrogatory, 'Well, Miss Nanny?'

'Well, Mr. Irwin?' Nanny responded, with a long-drawn sigh, and in a very absent manner.

Hey-day!' he exclaimed, 'what is the matter? and he glanced both at Mr. Hastings and me in a way that shewed he considered one or both of us implicated in producing a change in the spirits of the happy and contented Nanny Bawn.

She probably observed it as soon as we did, for she immediately said,

'I am in low spirits, Mr. Irwin.'

'Nothing has happened, I hope,' said the little man, becoming instantly serious, for Nanny's voice was truth.

'It is very true, Irwin,' said the rector, we are all much distressed. A melancholy affair has occurred

in the parish.'

The details of this parish history were then given him. It was curious to watch the shades of interest deepening over his rather singular physiognomy as they proceeded.

'Tennisson,' he murmured, 'John Tennisson-at the fair of close to the higher cross roads.'

'Between the hours of nine and ten o'clock?' 'Yes.'

'I can prove an alibi!'

The rector sprang forward, caught his arm, and stared in his face. His daughter burst into tears, clasped her hands, and cried, Thank God!' and then whispered to me with a face of wonder, 'What is an alibi?'

(To be concluded in the next number.)

LETTER FROM A MISOKYNIST.

DEAR MADAM,

LET not my address alarm you; it denotes no ungentle feeling towards any member, however humble, of our own race. No! it is directed against the foes of my pedestrian excursions, the enemies of my morning visits, the snarling, barking, growling, grumbling set, called dogs.. I do not forget the old fable of the lion and the man, and will endeavour to say nothing of my canine antagonists, which is not warranted by justice and impartiality, while I detail the various causes of my dislike towards them.

First, you knock at a friend's door, and are answered, not by the maid, but a furious barking within, which continues incessantly, until the servant opens the door. You are then invited in, while this four-footed dragon stands guarding the bottom of the stair-case, resolutely expressing his opposition to your ascent. You perhaps have seen two or three papers in the shop-windows during your walk, cautioning the public, in gigantic letters, against MAD DOGS! You therefore feel unwilling to enter into such a contest. Oh, he won't hurt you, maʼam,' says the maid. Down, Wasp, down, sir! Here, Waspy!' And by this means Waspy is coaxed and scolded into the kitchen, and the door shut. Meanwhile you ascend the stairs, earnestly hoping, that the maid may not fail to be in waiting on your descent.

Secondly, you hear the arrival of a welcome friend announced. As soon as you have entered the room, before you have had time to greet your visitor, up starts her four-footed attendant, and flies at you in a fury of barking. Oh, pretty creature, it is only his way,' says the visitor, who obliges him to retreat under his own chair, whence, during the rest of the visit, he fills up the pauses of the conversation with a low growl, which you momentarily expect to give place to some more positive and violent token of his displeasure.

Nor is this all: for the sake of one's friends, one might perhaps be able to bear with their dogs, according to the old adage, Love me, love my dog;' but one is apt to encounter these vexations in public, where there is no claim of friendship, to counterbalance the annoyance. Sitting quietly in an omnibus, you feel something touch your shoulder, and looking round, to see who your next neighbour is, you behold a disagreeable looking dog! Now, as I am one of those who think politeness, or social courtesy, an essential duty of Christian women, I dare not object, or express my dislike by my looks-for that which is rude can hardly fail to be unchristianlike; but I really do think that all ladies who have occasion to ride in an omnibus ought to leave their dogs at home, and to consider that there may be, in a public vehicle, other Misokynists besides myself.

I do not wish to detract from the merit of the dog, as a useful and valuable animal, but only to speak of those occasions when I think his company is illtimed or misplaced. It reminds me of a beautiful Newfoundland dog, which belonged to a relative of ours. Neptune had fallen into the mistake of sup

posing that every person who was bathing was being drowned, and that it was his duty to save them; consequently, whenever he happened to see any one enjoying a bath in the river, he plunged instantly into the water, seized, and dragged him to shore. Great was the consternation among the truant little bathers of the village, when the doctor, with his horse and dog, was seen approaching; they rushed in all directions to the banks, to be landed in safety, before Neptune should be in among them, exerting himself to save them, as he supposed, from a watery grave. Poor Neptune! such efforts in a better cause might have gained him a pension for life, and a respectable niche in animal biography. As it was, they only drew down upon him the fear and dislike of all the little boys of the village.

Now I certainly think that if we are to have dogs on the rug, dogs on the sofa, dogs under the table, and dogs in the omnibus, they ought to be welltaught, well-educated dogs, who should know when to bark, and when to be silent, and how to sit still in an omnibus, with becoming propriety.

Submitting this to the notice of all the possessors of canine attendants, whether they be of the long-eared, long-haired, short-tailed, black, brown or spotted race. I remain, dear Madam, faithfully yours,

A MISOKYNIST.

If Fido should object to the insertion of this paper in the Magazine, tell him the present company and all friends are always excepted.

[Having ascertained that Fido would make no objection, we decided on inserting the foregoing mani

festo against his noble race. Sorry we are to breathe a hint in any way prejudicial to a correspondent, but the well-known fact of every dog being intuitively a physignomist would almost induce a conjecture unfavourable to the outward aspect of our worthy Misokynist. We have known instances of very excellent gentlemen who, having failed in attracting to their own persons the approving smiles of the fair, became, in the season of their sere and yellow leaf somewhat jealously disposed against the unconscious quadruped pets who seemed, in their estimation, to usurp the affectionate interest which might perchance have been their own. On the other hand, the sagacity of their canine rivals speedily detects a lack of good will, and perchance the presence of something quite the reverse of good-will towards themselves. Hence, the approach of a Misokynist of this class is rarely welcomed otherwise than as our correspondent has so feelingly pourtrayed it.

With regard to the Omnibus, our experience in that line of travelling has not been very extensive : we never remember to have met a dog in one of those contrivances. What transpires, however, from time to time, at the police offices would lead us to commend the prudence of a person who should place his or her pocket under a guardianship so vigilant and so sure as that of a dog. How far a general plan of canine education on the approved basis of modern liberality might tend to obviate our friend's objections, we are not prepared to decide, or to what peculiar path of utility it would be desirable to direct the energies of a philanthropic Newfoundlander, whose untutored instinct wastes them in lugging little boys out of the water. For our part, we would