ours from the time we left Varna, we a. We could hear, now and then, the

to windward; and we could see the g from the heights. We had scarcely e were boarded by a tumultuous and rs off duty, looking pale and haggard anxious faces and hurried looks, brawny ovenly servants, on foraging expedidly recognise them as the trim, smart Constantinople so short a time ago. some surprise at being accosted by ing, I suppose, by my speculative that I was not a military man, ocure us quarters for a consideration. er all, things cannot be quite so bad if a young chap, of no account like od and shelter.

when wanted. Our stumbling-block in ducation. New advantages of our spirited unpolite. A small but voracious worm. h captains on being first introduced to it. riness. Opinions of a true British sailor triking development. A novel species of mothered in clothes. His remonstrances. Crimean comforts.

eople. If we want to know anyconceivable subject, the mass of presents itself to our inquiries is th away, and wear out three pairs e use of writing about that which

so voluminously? What can w or interesting, which has not over already? But wait awhile. of paper before you. The binding

will often not be the only part which reminds you of a but what need for a bad joke? What I mean to say is, strike into our books on the most popular subject, and collect the particular facts you wish to know in an emergency from them if you can. Therefore, our stumblingblock in the Crimea has been our entire want of all useful information. We were obliged to do everything in the dark, to feel our way forward at every step. Thus we knew that the casual visit of a Frenchman, about sixty years ago, had first given political importance to the Crimea.

We knew

that the name of this Frenchman had been of course forgotten. We should like to hear the name of the Frenchman who suggested the building of old Westminster Bridge, or any other work, on which our national pride reposes. I warrant it would be as hard to come at as that of the founder of Sebastopol.

Then we knew there was a bay which Strabo called the Ctenus, and a Tartar village by the name of Aktiar (ancient). We knew that the appellation of Sebastopol was altogether an invention of the respectable but lively Catherine. Indeed, there was no end to the things we knew, which were not of the smallest importance to anybody of ancient Cherson. We knew all that Dubois de Montpéreux and Kohl had to say upon the subject, and that I am sure was confusing enough to read, especially when slightly sea-sick. With regard to Balaklava particularly, we knew all about the colony of Symbolum (the Cembalo of the Genoese), also about Ulysses and the Læstrigonians. We were well up in various matters relating to Diana, her fondness for roast strangers, the elegance of her temple, and the mysterious functions of her friend Theos; while we need, of course, scarcely allude to Orestes and Pylades, who have been, so to say, old familiar friends of ours these five-and-twenty years. We could have recognised their lodging even by the description of a Zouave, who offered himself as a sort of amateur laquais de place. The imperious Iphigenia was also a lady with whom we were well acquainted by repute, and we were fully instructed about subterranean Inkermann and the Arians. Our education, indeed, like that of most of our clear-headed practical countrymen, had been altogether in