for it, the fine
arts is just snares,--devil a more than snares! And whether it is soft
sounds seduces you, or elegant tints, or the union of both,--women, I
mane,--you 'll never arrive at anything great or tri-um-phant till you
wane yourself away from the likes of them vanities. Look at the haythen
mythology; consider for a moment who is the chap that represents
Music,--a lame blackguard, with an ugly face, they call Pan. Ay, indeed,
Pan! If you wanted to see what respect they had for the art, it's easy
enough to guess, when this crayture represints it; and as to Paintin',
on my conscience, they have n't a god at all that ever took to the
brush.--Pass up the sperits, Mickey," said he, somewhat blown and out of
breath by this effort. "Maybe," said he, "I'm wearin' you."

"No, no, no," loudly responded the meeting.

"Maybe I'm imposin' too much of personal details on the house," added
he, pompously.

"Not at all; never a bit," cried the company.

"Because," resumed he, slowly, "if I did so, I 'd have at least the
excuse of say in', like the great Pitt, 'These may be my last words from
this place.'"

An unfeigned murmur of sorrow ran through the meeting, and he resumed:--

"Ay, ladies and gintlemin, Billy Traynor is takin' his 'farewell
benefit;' he's not humbuggin'. I 'm not like them chaps that's always
positively goin', but stays on at the unanimous request of the whole
world. No; I'm really goin' to leave you."

"What for? Where to, Billy?" broke from a number of voices together.

"I 'll tell ye," said he,--"at least so far as I can tell; because it
would n't be right nor decent to 'print the whole of the papers for
the house,' as they say in parliamint. I 'm going abroad with the young
lord; we are going to improve our minds, and cultivate our janiuses, by
study and foreign travel. We are first to settle in Germany, where we
're to enter a University, and commince a coorse of modern tongues,
French, Sweadish, and Spanish; imbibin' at the same time a smatterin' of
science, such as chemistry, conchology, and the use of the globes."

"Oh dear! oh dear!" murmured the meeting, in wonder and admiration.

"I 'm not goin' to say that we 'll neglect mechanics, metaphysics, and
astrology; for we mane to be cosmonopolists in knowledge. As for myself,
ladies and gintlemin, it's a proud day that sees me standin' here to
say these words. I, that was ragged, without a shoe to my foot,--without
breeches,--never mind, I wa