r glass of wine, and then proceeded to make himself more
comfortable by unbuttoning three more buttons of his waistcoat, pushing
his wig farther off his head, and casting loose all the buttons at the
knees of his breeches; he completed his arrangements by dragging towards
him two chairs within his reach, putting his legs upon one while he
rested his arm upon the other. And why was not Mr. Witherington to make
himself comfortable? He had good health, a good conscience, and eight
thousand a year.

Satisfied with all his little arrangements, Mr. Witherington sipped his
port wine, and putting down his glass again, fell back in his chair,
placed his hands on his breast, interwove his fingers; and in this most
comfortable position recommenced his speculations as to the non-arrival
of the _Circassian_.

We will leave him to his cogitations while we introduce him more
particularly to our readers.

The father of Mr. Witherington was a younger son of one of the oldest
and proudest families in the West Riding of Yorkshire; he had his choice
of the four professions allotted to younger sons whose veins are filled
with patrician blood--the army, the navy, the law, and the Church. The
army did not suit him, he said, as marching and counter-marching were
not comfortable; the navy did not suit him, as there was little comfort
in gales of wind and mouldy biscuit; the law did not suit him, as he was
not sure that he would be at ease with his conscience, which would not
be comfortable; the Church was also rejected, as it was, with him,
connected with the idea of a small stipend, hard duty, a wife and eleven
children, which were anything but comfortable. Much to the horror of his
family he eschewed all the liberal professions, and embraced the offer
of an old backslider of an uncle, who proposed to him a situation in his
banking-house, and a partnership as soon as he deserved it; the
consequence was, that his relations bade him an indignant farewell, and
then made no further inquiries about him: he was as decidedly cut as one
of the female branches of the family would have been had she committed a
_faux pas_.

Nevertheless Mr. Witherington senior stuck diligently to his business,
in a few years was partner, and at the death of the old gentleman, his
uncle, found himself in possession of a good property, and every year
coining money at his bank.

Mr. Witherington senior then purchased a house in Finsbury Square, and
thought it advisabl