and down the hall in visible inquietude, the priest drew his chair towards the Counsellor, and said : "You are suffering from the gout in your left foot, my lord."
"Why do you conclude so?" asked the old gentleman, "the leg does not appear to me swoln, although you have guessed rightly."
"The swelling," continued the priest, "is certainly almost imperceptible; but you often step lighter and more gently with this foot, probably without being conscious of it, perhaps this joint is a little contracted in proportion to the right, and therefore has not the strength of the latter."
"That is very critically observed," said the Counsellor.
"My honoured sir," continued the priest, "it is incredible how consistent and reasonable nature is in all her productions. To analyse her in her minutest parts is instructive, however ridiculous it may appear to the unpractised. More than a century ago, the Neapolitan, De la Porte, wrote an excellent book on physiognomy comparing the hu-
