that affair,
at these, or indeed at any other times; and it may be that the prophetic
limitation of a fast to forty days is now the urgent occasion of his
return from vagabondism. One thing we may be sure of,--that he has made
plentiful use of a certain magical drug hid away in his
waistcoat-pocket. Like Wordsworth's brook, he has been wandering
purposely and at his own sweet will, or rather where his feet have taken
him; and he has laid him down to sleep wherever sleep may have chanced
to find him.

The result we have here, in this uncouth specimen of humanity, in the
matted hair, the soiled garments, and the straggling gait; and what
gives the finishing touch to this grotesque picture is his utter
unconsciousness of the ludicrous features of his situation, as they
appear to other eyes. Soon, it is true, he will go through an AEson-like
rejuvenation; for, in a certain cottage, there are hearts that anxiously
await his return, and hands ready to fulfil their oft-repeated duties in
the way of refitting him out for another tramp. But, before this
transformation is effected, let us suppose the case of his being set
down in the streets of London, somewhere in the vicinity of Cheapside.
What an eddying of stragglers about this new-found focus of attraction!
what amazement, and curiosity to find him out, if, indeed, he be
find-out-able, and not, as the unmistakable papaverian odor suggests,
some Stygian bird, hailing from the farther side of Lethe. But, Stygian
or not, neither Hermes nor Pan (nor Panic, his namesake) could muster
such a rabble at his heels, supposing _him_ to appear on Cheapside!

In his innermost sensibilities he would have shrunk from this vulgar
notice as from pollution itself. It would be monstrous to conceive of
him in such situations, except for the purpose of showing that he had
very much in his outward habit that would readily attract such a notice.
In the same light we are to regard some illustrations which J. Hill
Burton has given in "The Book-Hunter" of similar features in his
character, and which I take the liberty of introducing here; for,
although they have appeared in "Blackwood," and more lately in a
book-form, they are still unpublished to many of my readers.

Thus, we have him pictured to us as he appeared at a dinner, "whereto he
was seduced by the false pretence that he would there meet with one who
entertained novel and anarchical views regarding the 'Golden Ass' of
Apuleius. The festi