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Mr. Wingfield, looking under his eyelids, to see what effect this announcement would produce.

"Ha! ha!" said Mr. Parker; "always fond of a joke, Mr. Wingfield. Seriously speaking, however, you may be inconvenienced if you delay making your purchase."

"Upon my word, Mr. Parker, I am in earnest; I mean to come, and I mean to come without a ticket."

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My dear sir, the thing is impossible. We have given express orders to the beadles to admit no one without a ticket signed by myself and my friend Ross, as secretaries of the festival."

"Well, Mr. Churchwarden," said Wingfield, buttoning up his coat, and looking very obstinate, "we shall see. You throw open the church on a publick occasion. I, a parishioner, present myself for admittance- -you refuse me. If that's law, I'm a fool : and if it's not, some other people are. We shall see. Good morning." And out went Mr. Wingfield, leaving the assembled party somewhat astonished at his sudden exit, and singular (to use their own term) delusion.

Mr. Churchwarden Parker happening to meet his colleague, Mr. Ross, that afternoon, and mentioning the interview he had had with "old Wingfield," they were struck with the thought, "What if there should be anything in the objection raised?" And as they were near the rectory, they determined to step in,

and hear Mr. Fortescue's opinion. That gentleman appeared considerably staggered with the consideration, and asked whether Mr. Wingfield seemed determined to persist in his resolution.

"I never saw a more obstinate man, sir," said Mr. Parker: "I really believe that he will make an uproar, if we do not find some way of stopping his mouth."

"What say you," asked Ross, "to presenting him with a ticket? Surely he will give us no further trouble, and the loss will not be much."

"Why," suggested Mr. Fortescue, "that would be rather a dangerous precedent. We should have, I fancy, a good many other parishioners as much set. on free admission as this somewhat particular person."

"The best way then would be, perhaps, to admit him without a ticket," said Mr. Parker, "if he is troublesome."

"Perhaps,” added the rector, "in the first place, we had better know whether we can legally keep him out, in case he will not pay. If we find that we cannot, and I assure you, gentlemen, I have my doubts on the subject, we will take care that the matter does not become publick at least till the tickets are sold. I will see Mr. Hutchinson this afternoon, and learn his opinion; and if you will look in towards eight o'clock, I will let you know the result. How goes on the sale, Mr. Parker?"

"We have nothing to complain of, sir: out of our

two thousand tickets, we have disposed of nine hundred; and that includes most of the reserved seats, and they are still going off very well.”

“That's right,” replied the rector. “I have been speaking to the carpenters, and they tell me that by beginning early on the Monday morning they can make sure of having everything ready by Wednesday; so that we need not be uneasy on that score.”

While these proceedings were going on, Mr. Wingfield was taking steps of another kind. Our readers will remember that we do not propose this somewhat eccentric personage as a subject of imitation ; we are merely, as faithful historians, describing what his proceedings actually were on the present occasion. He called at the cottages of one or two labourers whom he knew to be out of work, and fixed an hour for them to call on him "for a job." As soon as they were come, he said:

"Now, my boys, I'll tell you in two words why I've sent for you. There is going to be a great display of musick, as you know, next Wednesday, down at the church. They mean to keep out every one who does not pay ten shillings for a ticket. Now they have no more right to do so, than I have to keep any of you out of your own house. They will be liable to an action if they do it. Every parishioner has a full right to go to church whenever it is thrown open, without paying a farthing. Now I will give each of you, and as many more as you can find who want to earn a little money, half a crown each to do

as I shall tell you. The doors are to be opened at ten o'clock. A little after I shall go there, without a ticket, and try to get in. If they refuse, I shall tell them that I am a parishioner; and if they keep me out, it will be at their peril. Do you do the same, one after another, and quietly, mind you. Bring your wives and children with you, if you like-so much the better. But, mind-no noise-no row of any kind-don't try to get in by force. Dick Holmes, bring me a list of any others-say five and twenty or thirty, that will be willing to do the same, by Tuesday evening next; only you must take care that they are all members of the parish, else they would have no right to the church." Having given them a few more cautions on the necessity of behaving with order and decorum, Mr. Wingfield dismissed his coadjutors, charging them at the same time not to spread the news further than they could help.

Punctual to eight o'clock, the churchwardens called on the rector, and received from him the news, that it was out of the question for them to exclude legally any parishioners from the proposed meeting.

"We might very well let in Mr. Wingfield the first day, and trust to good fortune that the idea of a right to come would not enter into any one else's head," said Ross: "but then, what's to become of us on the Thursday? Every one would be pressing in, and the tickets would be just no use at all."

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"If you will leave me to manage it with him," replied Parker, "I think I will answer to settle the whole thing comfortably. I know Wingfield pretty well, and if I can get hold of him the right way, I will bring him round."

"I think we cannot do better," observed the Rector: "and the sooner you see him, Mr. Parker, the more to the purpose. To-night it is almost too late; but to-morrow morning you could perhaps accomplish it."

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'Certainly, sir;" answered Parker. And the churchwardens left the rectory.

True to his word, the musickseller was ushered into Mr. Wingfield's parlour at ten o'clock the following morning, and found that gentleman engaged, as his custom was, over his newspaper.

"I am very sorry," he began, "that you should have been led to entertain any feelings hostile to our proposed plan, Mr. Wingfield: I had hoped that we should have been enabled to enlist you as one of the friends of the cause."

"What cause, Mr. Parker?"

"The cause for which we are making this effort, I mean, sir; the Dispensary, which, as our excellent Rector stated in his last charity sermon, is now nearly £200 in debt; and for which, so far as I can see, this is the only chance of regaining a flourishing condition."

"Well, Mr. Parker, I am a friend to the cause, I

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