the present instance, succeeded. He speaks of you all frequently, with evident caution, but at the same time with the deepest respect and sympathy." This postscript it was, which, as I have already intimated, suggested to Mr. Aubrey to seek the interview with Gammon which has been described, and during which it was frequently present to his mind. While, however, under the pressure of Mr. Gammon's benumbing presence and authority, Titmouse was for a brief while leading this sober retired life at Yatton--why, he hardly knew, except that Gammon willed it--a circumstance occurred which suddenly placed him on the very highest pinnacle of popularity in metropolitan society. I hardly know how to suppress my feelings of exultation, in retracing the rapid steps by which Mr. Titmouse was transformed into a LION of the first magnitude. Be it known that there was a MR. BLADDERY PIP, a fashionable novelist, possessed of most extraordinary versatility and power; for he had at the end of every nine months, during the last nine years, produced a novel in three volumes--each succeeding one eclipsing the splendor of its predecessor, (in the judgment of the accomplished and disinterested newspaper critics)--in the "masterly structure of the plot"--the "vivid and varied delineation of character"--the "profound acquaintance with the workings of the human heart"--"exquisite appreciation of life in all its endless varieties"--"piercing but delicate satire"--"bold and powerful denunciations of popular vices"--"rich and tender domestic scenes"--"inimitable ease and grace"--"consummate tact and judgment"--"reflection coextensive with observation"--"the style flowing, brilliant, nervous, varied, picturesque," _et cetera_, _et cetera_, _et cetera_. We have, in the present day, thank Heaven! at least two or three hundred such writers; but at the time about which I am speaking, Mr. Bladdery Pip was pretty nearly alone in his glory. Such was the man, to whose trading brain it suddenly occurred, on glancing over the newspaper report of the trial of _Doe on the Demise of Titmouse_ v. _Jolter_, to make the interesting facts of the case the basis of a new novel, on quite a new plan, and which was infinitely to transcend all his former works, and, in fact, occasion quite a revolution in that brilliant and instructive species of literature! To work went Mr. Pip, within a day or two after the trial was over, and in an incredibly short space of time had got to the close of his labors. Practice had made him perfect, and given him infinite facility in the production of first-rate writing. The spirited publisher (Mr. Bubble) then quickly set to work to "get the steam up"--but ah! how secretly and skilfully! For some time there appeared numerous intimations in the daily papers, that "the circles of ton" were "on the _qui vive_" in expectation of a certain forthcoming work, &c. &c. &c.--that "disclosures of a very extraordinary character" were being looked