cheats, and villains of all descriptions. And let me not forget that we also have our kind-hearted and talented doctors like you, sir, without whose help in time of need our lives would not be worth a farthing.'
'Well,' said he with a laugh, 'you can flatter and poke fun, I see and hear, Mr. Oliver Ubertus. You will make a capital private secretary to the Demon; that exalted individual knows how to choose his servants. And as a new husband for Bellagranda you will be unrivalled. Tell me something more. What are your social habits? What are your fresh scientific discoveries, and your latest great literary productions. Tell me the names of your wonderful men and women; tell me everything. I believe your world above ground is far more astonishing than this which is below it'
'We are certainly living in a wonderful world, Doctor,' I answered. 'We are living in a plurality of worlds. Our fashionable world is naturally gay, giddy, and thoughtless, but not having been born into it I know but little about it. Of our sporting world I am still more ignorant. Our literary world is more to my taste, but it scarcely reaches so far from England as Tasmania. There is but sorry encouragement for literary men in our quarter of the earth. The world is full of books, and books do not produce wool or even goat's hair. England supplies us with plenty of literature of all kinds, and we have our public libraries and local newspapers to keep us abreast of the times. Our scientific world is indeed a world of wonders. Our electric telegraph flashes intelligence to us from England, a distance of sixteen thousand miles, in a couple of hours. By means of the telephone we can converse with each other while we are many miles apart. The phonograph brings to us again the voices of the dead just as they were spoken, and of the living who are at the other side of the broadest oceans. We can
