The red faced man trembled--he turned pale, and cast a supplicating glance at the other two inmates of the carriage, as who should say--"Pray help me--I may be murdered--I really think the wretched imp must have a stiletto or loaded pistol in his pocket." The glance seemed satisfactory--for the great gentleman after a short pause mildly said--"I will not, Sir!" In a second--a large silk pocket handkerchief was suddenly jerked from its place of repose by the diminutive tormentor of his gigantic victim. With a face of ashy hue he held out the Indian kerchief with one hand--the other reclined gracefully on the region of his heart. Anger had passed away from his brow--slowly and deliberately he cast an unearthly look on his trembling victim, and said-- "Then--Sir--you--must--take the consequences, (here he gave symptoms of spasmodic affection,) for--I am--going to be--sick!" * * * When the Royal Mail entered the town of S----, it was observed by the loiterers round the King's Head yard, where it changed horses, that, though a chilly day--_both_ windows _were down_. A tall fat man too was observed reclining in the extreme corner of the vehicle, with a handkerchief tied round his face--evidently suffering from cold. His opposite neighbour--a little man in black--had his head out of the window--and there was a smile on his countenance. * * * * * Sympathy for our fat friend, writhing and shivering in the corner of the mail, at the mercy of that little black imp with a smiling countenance, naturally enough suggested "FATNESS" as a topic of conversation; everybody, as everybody does in these cases, giving his opinion upon the moral and physical tendencies of obesity; some regarding that condition as rather civic than courtly, and others speculating as to its effects upon the temper and disposition; this person holding a proper degree of it to be indispensable to a fine woman; and that asserting a plentiful supply to be essential to the weight of every person in authority. One contended that nobody could have good humour or generous wit without fat, and another, that genius and fat have from the very beginning of the world been divided. It was easy to gather, however, that fat, in the social code, was associated with a certain amount of respectability, and had always the invaluable property of redeeming its possessor from insignificance. We could observe too that those who had it were neither proud of it nor pleased with it, while those who had it not would give the world for a good slice of the blessing. We also noticed that every speaker in turn, apparently unconscious that his neighbour had just done the same thing, quoted the line--"Who drives fat oxen must himself be fat."