.

"Vinegar and brown paper," echoed the old woman.

"Addressed to the governors of the hospital," continued the porter.

"Apply to the dispenser of the hospital," continued his wife.

"And sealed," said he.

"Get it healed," said she.

"The linen is good; it must be the child of no poor people. Who
knows?"--soliloquised the old man.

"My poor nose!" exclaimed the old woman.

"I must take it to the nurses, and the letter I will give to-morrow,"
said the old porter, winding up his portion of this double soliloquy,
and tottering away with the basket and your humble servant across the
courtyard.

"There, it will do now," said the old wife, wiping her face on a towel,
and regaining her bed, in which she was soon joined by her husband, and
they finished their nap without any further interruption during that
night.

The next morning I was reported and examined, and the letter addressed
to the governors was opened and read. It was laconic, but still, as most
things laconic are, very much to the point.

"This child was born in wedlock--he is to be named Japhet. When
circumstances permit, he will be reclaimed."

But there was a postscript by Abraham Newlands, Esq., promising to pay
the bearer, on demand, the sum of fifty pounds. In plainer terms, there
was a bank note to that amount inclosed in the letter. As in general,
the parties who suspend children in baskets, have long before suspended
cash payments, or, at all events, forget to suspend them with the
baskets, my arrival created no little noise, to which I added my share,
until I obtained a share of the breast of a young woman, who, like
Charity, suckled two or three babies at one time.

We have preparatory schools all over the kingdom; for young gentlemen,
from three to five years of age, under ladies, and from four to seven,
under either, or both sexes, as it may happen; but the most preparatory
of all preparatory schools, is certainly the Foundling Hospital, which
takes in its pupils, if they are sent, from one to three days old, or
even hours, if the parents are in such extreme anxiety about their
education. Here it commences with their weaning, when they are
instructed in the mystery of devouring pap; next, they are taught to
walk--and as soon as they can walk--to sit still; to talk--and as soon
as they can talk--to hold their tongues; thus are they instructed and
passed on from one part of the establishment to another, until they
finally are passed ou