r fleas,
And so--_ad infinitum_."

This, however, is not strictly true. Parasites attach themselves only
to the great. Upon those they can fatten. Having your blood sucked, is
therefore, a great proof of high heraldry and perfectibility in the
scale of creation. If animals were endowed with speech and pride like
man, we might imagine one creature boasting to another, as a proof of
his importance.

"And I, too, also have my louse!"

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

Liege, May 30th.
What strange meetings take place sometimes! I recollect once, when I
was sitting at a _table d'hote_, at Zurich, being accosted by a lady
next to me, and being accused of having forgotten her. I looked with
all my eyes, but could not discover that I had ever seen her before. At
last, after allowing me to puzzle for some time, she said: "Sir, you and
I met at dinner four years ago, at Mr K--'s house in Demerara." It was
very true; but who would have thought of running his memory over to
South America, to a cursed alluvial deposite, hatching monthly broods of
alligators, and surrounded by naked slaves, whilst out of the window
before him his eye rested upon the snow-covered mountains of
Switzerland, and he breathed the pure air of William Tell and liberty.
This morning I fell in with an acquaintance whom had not seen for years,
and him also I did not recollect. I am very unfortunate in that
respect, and I am afraid that I have very often given offence without
intending it; but so imperfect is my memory of faces, that I have danced
with a lady in the evening, and the next day have not known her, because
she was in a bonnet and morning dress. Sometimes the shifts I am put to
are quite ludicrous, asking all manner of questions, and answering those
put to me at random, to find out some clue as to who my very intimate
friend may be. They ought not to be angry at my forgetting their names,
for sometimes, for a few minutes, I have actually forgotten my own. It
does, however, only require one clue to be given me, and then all of a
sudden I recollect every thing connected with the party. I remember one
day as I was passing Whitehall, somebody came up, wrung my hand with
apparent delight, and professed himself delighted to see me. I could do
no other than say the same, but who he was, and where I had seen him
before, was a mystery. "I am married since we parted," said he, "and
have a fin