Trying To Change A Sovereign.

only before the attempt for which Witless was then taking his trial , is addressed to " Mr . Oxford , at Mr . Robinson ' s , Hog in the Pound , Oxford Street , " and summons the conspirator very peremptorily to attend a meeting of the Club that evening , to consider " some communications of an important nature from Hanover . " The bathos with which the missive ends is again exquisite" You must attendancl if your master will not give you leaveyou

, , , must come in defiance of him . " Surely all this must have been in Dickens ' s mind when he , but very shortly afterwards , ponrtrayed the career of Sim Tappertit , in " Barnaby Rudge . " Well , the articles were produced , and the documents and letters duly read . " But what gave rise to no little surprise , " as Barliam says in " The Jackdaw of Rheiins" was the singular factincontestably provedthat document and

, , , letters were all in the handwriting of the prisoner himself—summonses to attend the imaginary meetings of a mythical society , addressed by himself to himself . Yes , so it was ; the republican association "Young England" had no other existence than in the disturbed brain of the cachinnatory visionary drawer of " Meux ' s Entire " ; the " properties " had no use but to be contemplated with grinning gratification in the garret of the " Hog in the Pound" where the

pot-, boy patriot slept—ancl—ancl dreamt I All this was relied upon b y his sorrowstricken friends to prove the plea of dementia . He was fond of scribbling ; he had some idea of rhyme ; he couldn ' t address the public-house nurserymaid , his sweetheart , without seeking to kindle the risibility of the letterdistributor by the form of the direction of the letter .

" Fly , postman , with this letter bound , To a public-house—the Hog in the Pound , To Miss Chittenden there convey With speedility ( sic ) obey ; Remember , my blade , The postage is paid . "

The Solicitor-General , in his learned reply , caps this rhythmical superscription with another—• ' * This is for David Pollock , Esquire , For him in Elm Court enquire On the first floor , look no higher , There you'll catch him ! " He'll twopence for this letter

pay you , He never paid it for a better ; If he does not , like a setter , Watch him !" ancl , sententiousl y deduces Mr . Solicitor , " Doggerel poetry in the direction of a letter was no proof of insanity . " I wonder if Master Oxford had ever heard of the parodthen popular

y , , upon "My lodging is on the cold ground , " the song that is said to have changed the sleeping apartment of the singer , Moll Davies , from the cold and muddy ground , under a bulkhead in Covent Garden Market , to the Royal bedchamber at Whitehall . It is not wholly unconnected with poor Witless ' s profession , and so he had probably heard it , and , as it might have inspired him , I'll quote it : —

" My lodging is in Drury Lane , A parlour that's next to the sky , Exposed to the wind aud the rain ,-But the wind and the rain I defy .

" Such love warms the coldest of spots , As I feci for Glovinda the fair , Ancl she lives by the scouring of pots , In Dyot Street , Bloomsbury Square . " Not much more cogent evidence of insanity than writing rubbishing rhymegood heavens ! what multitudes would escape punishment if such proof were