Squills, "it is easy to see, from the phrenological
development of the organs in those several heads which Pisistratus has
allowed us to examine, that we have seen no creations of mere fiction,
but living persons, whose true history has set in movement their various
bumps of Amativeness, Constructiveness, Acquisitiveness, Idealty,
Wonder, Comparison, etc. They must act, and they must end, according
to the influences of their crania. Thus we find in Randal Leslie the
predominant organs of Constructiveness, Secretiveness, Comparison, and
Eventuality, while Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Adhesiveness, are
utterly nil. Now, to divine how such a man must end, we must first see
what is the general composition of the society in which he moves, in
short, what other gases are brought into contact with his phlogiston.
As to Leonard, and Harley, and Audley Egerton, surveying them
phrenologically, I should say that--"

"Hush!" said my father, "Pisistratus has dipped his pen in the ink, and
it seems to me easier for the wisest man that ever lived to account for
what others have done than to predict what they should do. Phrenologists
discovered that Mr. Thurtell had a very fine organ of Conscientiousness;
yet, somehow or other, that erring personage contrived to knock the
brains out of his friend's organ of Individuality. Therefore I rise to
propose a Resolution,--that this meeting be adjourned till Pisistratus
has completed his narrative; and we shall then have the satisfaction of
knowing that it ought, according to every principle of nature, science,
and art, to have been completed differently. Why should we deprive
ourselves of that pleasure?"

"I second the motion," said the captain; "but if Levy be not hanged, I
shall say that there is an end of all poetical justice."

"Take care of poor Helen," said Blanche, tenderly: "nor, that I would
have you forget Violante."

"Pish! and sit down, or they shall both die old maids." Frightened at
that threat, Blanche, with a deprecating look, drew her stool quietly
near me, as if to place her two proteges in an atmosphere mesmerized to
matrimonial attractions; and my mother set hard to work--at a new frock
for the baby. Unsoftened by these undue female influences, Pisistratus
wrote on at the dictation of the relentless Fates. His pen was of iron,
and his heart was of granite. He was as insensible to the existence of
wife and baby as if he had never paid a house bill, nor rushed from
a n