the old
hall, the uncultivated sadness of the lonely garden, preyed upon his
spirits. At length, impatient to get a view of the world without, he
mounted a high stool in the hall, and so contrived to enjoy the prospect
which the unglazed wicker lattice, deep set in the wall, afforded. But
the scene without was little more animated than that within,--all was
so deserted in the neighbourhood,--the shops mean and scattered, the
thoroughfare almost desolate. At last he heard a shout, or rather hoot,
at a distance; and, turning his attention whence it proceeded, he beheld
a figure emerge from an alley opposite the casement, with a sack under
one arm, and several books heaped under the other. At his heels followed
a train of ragged boys, shouting and hallooing, "The wizard!
the wizard!--Ah! Bah! The old devil's kin!" At this cry the dull
neighbourhood seemed suddenly to burst forth into life. From the
casements and thresholds of every house curious faces emerged, and many
voices of men and women joined, in deeper bass, with the shrill tenor
of the choral urchins, "The wizard! the wizard! out at daylight!" The
person thus stigmatized, as he approached the house, turned his face
with an expression of wistful perplexity from side to side. His lips
moved convulsively, and his face was very pale, but he spoke not. And
now, the children, seeing him near his refuge, became more outrageous.
They placed themselves menacingly before him, they pulled his robe,
they even struck at him; and one, bolder than the rest, jumped up, and
plucked his beard. At this last insult, Adam Warner, for it was he,
broke silence; but such was the sweetness of his disposition, that it
was rather with pity than reproof in his voice, that he said,--

"Fie, little one! I fear me thine own age will have small honour if thou
thus mockest mature years in me."

This gentleness only served to increase the audacity of his persecutors,
who now, momently augmenting, presented a formidable obstacle to
further progress. Perceiving that he could not advance without offensive
measures on his own part, the poor scholar halted; and looking at the
crowd with mild dignity, he asked, "What means this, my children? How
have I injured you?"

"The wizard! the wizard!" was the only answer he received. Adam shrugged
his shoulders, and strode on with so sudden a step, that one of the
smaller children, a curly-headed laughing rogue, of about eight years
old, was thrown down at h