"But," said the Captain, "you are a lad of too much spirit, Pisistratus, to keep us always in the obscure country quarters of Hazeldean--you will march us out into open service before you have done with us?" PISISTRATUS, magisterially, for he has been somewhat nettled by Mr. Caxton's remarks--and he puts on an air of dignity, in order to awe away minor assailants.--"Yes, Captain Roland--not yet awhile, but all in good time. I have not stinted myself in canvas, and behind my foreground of the Hall and the Parsonage I propose, hereafter, to open some lengthened perspective of the varieties of English life--" MR. CAXTON.--"Hum!" BLANCHE, putting her hand on my father's lip.--"We shall know better the design, perhaps, when we know the title. Pray, Mr. Author, what is the title?" MY MOTHER, with more animation than usual.--"Ay, Sisty--the title?" PISISTRATUS, startled.--"The title! By the soul of Cervantes! I have never yet thought of a title!" CAPTAIN ROLAND, solemnly.--"There is a great deal in a good title. As a novel-reader, I know that by experience." MR. SQUILLS.--"Certainly; there is not a catchpenny in the world but what goes down, if the title be apt and seductive. Witness 'Old Parr's Life Pills.' Sell by the thousand, sir, when my 'Pills for Weak Stomachs,' which I believe to be just the same compound, never paid for the advertising." MR. CAXTON.--"Parr's Life Pills! a fine stroke of genius! It is not every one who has a weak stomach, or time to attend to it, if he have. But who would not swallow a pill to live to a hundred and fifty-two?" PISISTRATUS, stirring the fire in great excitement.--"My title! my title! what shall be my title!" MR. CAXTON, thrusting his hand into his waistcoat, and in his most didactic of tones. "From a remote period, the choice of a title has perplexed the scribbling portion of mankind. We may guess how their invention has been racked by the strange contortions it has produced. To begin with the Hebrews. 'The Lips of the Sleeping,' (_Labia Dormientium_)--what book do you suppose that title to designate?--A Catalogue of Rabbinical writers! Again, imagine some young lady of old captivated by the sentimental title of 'The Pomegranate with its Flower,' and opening on a treatise on the Jewish Ceremonials! Let us turn to the Romans. Aulus Gellius commences his pleasant gossiping 'Noctes' with a list of the titles in fashion in his day. For instance, '_The Muses_' and '_The Veil_,' '_The Cornucopia_', '_The Beehive_', and '_The Meadow_.' Some titles, indeed, were more truculent, and promised food to those who love to sup upon horrors--such as '_The Torch_,' '_The Poniard_,' '_The Stiletto_'--" PISISTRATUS, impatiently.--"Yes, sir; but to come to My Novel." MR. CAXTON, unheeding the interruption.--"You see, you have a fine choice here, and of a nature pleasing, and not unfamiliar to a classical reader; or you may borrow a hint from the early Dramatic Writers."