R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

42 Hugh Walpolehimself in the river where his father once wished toextinguish him.The satire is vigorous and at times savage; it is remarkablyalive to-day, not at all out of date and one'sfeeling, as one reads, is that civilisation has progressednot at all—a pessimism unjustified but natural.Here are one or two agreeable little pen-pictures:The Constable's dilemma.Unhappily the baby was on his beat, and he was delivered fromthe temptation of transferring it to the other by the appearanceof X 101's bull's-eye not far off. What was he to do? The stationwas a mile away—the inspector would not arrive for an hour—andit would be awkward, if not undignified, to carry on his rounds ashouting baby wrapped in the largest daily paper. If he left itwhere it was, and it perished, he might be charged with murder.He was at his wit's end—but having got there, he resolved on thesimplest process, namely to carry it to the station. No provisionwas made by the regulations of the force to protect a beat casuallydeserted even for a proper purpose. Hence, while X 99 was absenton his errand of mercy, the valuable shop of Messrs Trinkett andBlouse, ecclesiastical tailors, was broken into and several stoles,chasubles, altar-clothes and other decorative tapestries wereappropriated to profane uses.At the station the baby was disposed of according to Rule. Dueentry was first made in the night-book by the superintendent of allthe particulars of his discovery. Some cold milk was then procuredand poured down the child's throat. Afterwards, wrapped in aconstable's cape, he was placed in a cell where, when the door waslocked, he could not disturb the guardians of the force.The same night, in the next cell, an innocent gentleman, seizedwith an apoplexy in the street but entered on the charge-sheet asdrunk and incapable, died like a dog.Is not this rather pertinent to-day?Sir Charles Sterling resumed his interest in the boy. He had beengallantly aiding his party in other questions. There was the Timbuctooquestion. A miserable desert Chief had shut up a wanderingEnglishman, not possessed of wit enough to keep his head out ofdanger. There was a general impression that English honour wasat stake, and the previous Fogey Government had ordered anexpedition to cross the desert and punish the sheikh. You would