against the yoke which her matronly prudence thought it fitting to impose upon him. She contented herself then with obtaining from Dummie the intelligence, that our hero was under Mac Grawler's roof, and therefore, out of all absolute evil; and, as she could not foresee the ingenious exertions of intellect by which Paul had converted himself into the 'Nobilitas' of the Asinæum, and thereby saved himself from utter penury, she was perfectly convinced, from her knowledge of character, that the illustrious Mac Grawler would not long continue that protection to her rebellious protegé, which, in her opinion, was his only preservative from picking pockets or famishing. To the former decent alternative she knew Paul's great and jejune aversion, and she consequently had little fear for his morals or his safety, in thus abandoning him for a while to chance. Any anxiety too that she might otherwise have keenly experienced was deadened by the habitual intoxication now increasing upon the good lady with age, and which, though at times she could be excited to all her characteristic vehemence, kept her senses for the most part plunged into a lethæan stupor, or,
