soon found himself getting too popular for his peace. Many old men, and even some

young ones, affected to call themselves disciples of Nous: one copied the unc-ut of his beard, another the lisp in his speech, and a third the limp in his gait; till finding his very identity in danger, the Cynic, in disgust, determined to travel in search of some happy country, where he could keep his originality to himself. To this end, having consulted his geographical books, he openly declared his intention of setting out for the city of Yad. In vain he was told that he would infallibly be devoured by the Great Serpent which notoriously infested the country he would have to traverse; he made no answer, except by bestowing an abundance of ironical blessings on his advisers,— but cursing the whole of his fellow citizens

inwardly as a parcel of Apes and Parodists,— prepared for his departure. His very disciples, however, refused to copy him any farther, when they beheld him setting out without any weapon or provision, except a great bottle of oil-by way of dressing perhaps, when he came to live upon salad.

As might be expected, Ali did not escape the standard danger of the route. He had scarcely accomplished half the distance to the desired city, when all at once he heard a dreadful hissing, of which none but a condemned Dramatist can form any conception;—and lo, from a neighbouring thicket there darted an enormous serpent, making as straight towards the traveller as a reptile could, by dint of sinuosities. It was an awkward predicament enough: but Nous was not disconcerted. Looking out for a

tall tree, not encumbered with branches, and finding one suited to his purpose, he was soon, having let his nails grow till they resembled the claws of a cat, at the very top, where he posted himself like a capital prize, or what the French call a Mât de Cocagne. But the Mât de Cocagne is well greased; whereas Ali having no tallow about him, was fain to anoint the stem with the contents of his bottle, and only in good time, for the snake and the oil arrived together at the foot of the tree. And now those who have witnessed that amusing operation, the climbing-up a greasy pole for a pair of velveteens at the top, may form a tolerable notion of the fun. The Snake made many trials, but was always oil'd and foil'd. Again and again he wound his folds upwards, as if saying to himself, "Now for

a good twist;" but the meal was beyond his reach there is many a slip, says the proverb, between the cup and the lip, and so there was between the Serpent and the Philosopher, who enjoyed the joke amazingly, and chuckled and rubbed his hands with all the glee in the world. At last, finding that he took nothing by his motion, the "spirited sly Snake" grew dispirited, and made off again hissing louder than ever, as if hissing at himself and his own failure. What a pity of pities, muttered Ali, as he descended from his perch, that our Mother Eve did not climb up the Tree of Knowledge with a bottle of palm oil!—with which conceit he merrily resumed his journey, and arrived without further adventure at the city of Yad.

The sensation his arrival produced among

the inhabitants was intense. Nobody within the memory of man had made the passage. "In the name of all that is wonderful, how did you get here? Why did you venture? What did you see? Where did you encounter the snake? How did you manage?" -To all of which Nous replied by relating his adventure in as few words as possible.

"Bismallah! Inshallah! Fallallah! Was such a miracle ever heard of! A mere bottle of oil! And we who have Magistrates, and Wise Men, and Conjurors, and Naturalists, and Zoologists, and Projectors, and a Faculty of Doctors, and a Committee of Public Safety, and a Society of Snake Charmers and yet they never thought of a bottle of oil!" And the authorities wished to present the freedom of the city to Nous; but he declined the honour. "I am free of